Old-school gifting is certainly effective, but the multiple processes involved in getting a campaign from strategy to delivery require a near-prohibitive time investment, and require a staff member to monitor, track, and manually report on the success of items sent. This time investment costs money in terms of man-hours, and bogs down your sales or marketing teams in manual processes that take them away from their main objective: making connections, and sales. Calculating these human capital costs into your campaigns reveals the real value in moving to an automated solution.
I’ve been told by many of our real estate customers in the business, “Real estate is not rocket science.”
Every successful realtor knows their industry is a relationship-based business, and their biggest source of business comes from referrals.
In order to build a thriving referral business, you work on providing the best service and fostering the best relationships with your current and past clients. Nearly every realtor across the nation is doing the same thing: they are all doing the same transactional items, running the same comps, looking at the same properties, and running similar comparative market analysis.
So how do the best agents set themselves apart from a sea of people doing the same thing?
Why Real Estate Gifts Work
What differentiates the top agents (besides having top market knowledge and savvy negotiation skills) is the relationship we build with your clients. Building that trust and rapport is not only having the competence, but also having your clients’ best interest at heart, is the key to continuing those relationships beyond the sale as life-long advisors and confidants.
Gift-giving is a great strategy for some of the most successful and well-established real estate agents in the industry. Many real estate agents give gifts when their buyers have found a home, sellers have made a sale, clients hit the year-mark of living in their new homes, and commonly throughout the holidays as well. Gift-giving can and should also extend beyond your clients and include everyone else involved including lenders, handymen, painters, transaction coordinators, and sometimes even cooperating/fellow agents.
Taking good care of not only your clients but also your entire entourage is necessary because it takes the hard work of multiple people and several moving pieces to bring a transaction to a successful closing – it truly takes a whole village! But this is not to say you can just give a gift and you’re set – the thought and intention behind the gift is very important. (We can help think of some great gifts too).
Giving a gift doesn’t mean you automatically secure that meeting or establish a good relationship, but it is a part of the many ways to cultivate and invest in your relationships, and it shows clients that you actually care.
Sending Made Simple
Here are four companies you should look at for your gifting.
- BestSelf Weekly Action Pad - Has a corporate gifting platform that offers discounts and custom printing to incorporate your brand.
- Milk Bar Treats - The cult-favorite bakery based in New York, delivers its decadent cakes, cookies, and truffles to gift recipients' doorsteps.
- The Sip - We have a corporate gifting giving platform that allows me to automate the process of gift-giving. Real estate agents know all too well that time is our most valuable currency and asset. We curate boxes of Champagne straight to your buyer or sellers door. In one easy step you can purchase 1, 2 or 3 gifts and tell us when to send them. So you can set it and forget it and we will do all the hard work ensuring your recipients receive their gifts on the dates that matter the most.
Ready to set it and forget it? Check out The classic box, Rosé all day, or The deluxe box! Your recipients will not be disappointed.
Cheers,
Erica