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Is it Time to Begin Contacting Your Past
Clients?
If
you've been in our business for awhile
now you probably have a good number of
clients you've already closed
transactions with. But one of the
problems in our industry is the nature
of our business doesn't normally require
ongoing contact with our clients after
we've closed transactions with them.
Attorneys, CPAs, and insurance agents
all have ongoing relationships with
their clients throughout the year. But
as a real estate agent, once you've
closed a transaction with a client, it's
easy to get out of relationship with the
client unless you proactively do
something to avoid this. When
you get out of relationship with your
clients and haven't contacted them in
sometime, you make it very easy for them
to begin working with another agent
whenever they're ready to buy, sell, or
lease again in the future. And if it is
your intention to build a solid base of
loyal clients who will continue working
with you throughout your career, getting
out of relationship with your clients is
the last thing you want to do. In
addition to mailing to your clients on a
regular basis, you want to be contacting
them on the telephone from time-to-time
also. Business professionals who have
clients normally contact them on the
telephone at various times throughout
the year, and you should be doing this
also. And if it's been years since
you've talked with some of these people
and you're feeling guilty about
it...don't worry. You'll feel a lot
better once you've reconnected with
these people once again, and they'll
probably be very happy to talk with you,
too. When
we begin our careers as real estate
agents we often don't have any prospects
we can immediately begin working with.
Our lives often become this process of
trying to find people we can show
properties to in the hope of
successfully closing transactions with
them. The problem, though, is if we
don't watch out, we can just continue
repeating this cycle. And in the process
of continually looking for new people to
work with, we can completely ignore the
people we've already worked with
successfully. If
you know it's been awhile since you've
contacted a good number of your past
clients, I have a recommendation for
you: Take
about 5-15 minutes and make a list of
all of your clients you haven't spoken
with for awhile. Then schedule some time
to contact these people and get on the
phone and call them. In the process
you'll be reconnecting with old friends,
you'll find out what their current needs
are, and you'll be able to ask them for
referrals, too. As
an agent you want your business to
involve both closing transactions with
new clients, and keeping your old
clients loyal to you. When you stay in
contact with your old clients and show
them that you care, you maximize the
probability that you'll be the agent
they'll want to work with once again
when the time comes for them to buy,
sell, or lease another property. 
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