Mark Camp, a real estate agent with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties.

Every week, we ask a real estate professional for their Short List, a collection of tips and recommendations on an essential topic in real estate. This week, we talked with Mark Camp, a real estate agent with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties, about how to keep in touch with past clients.

Past clients are the best way to obtain business and referrals. According to the National Association of Realtors 2014 Survey of Buyers and Sellers 88 percent of the buyers would use their agent again or recommend their agent to others and 63 percent of buyers who purchased their home in the last year have recommended their agent to other buyers. So why is it that so many agents are not keeping in touch with their past clients? You want to be on your client’s radar and top of mind for repeat business and referrals. Here are a few simple tips to keep in touch with your past clients:

1. Update your database so that you can easily access your clients’ information. This is crucial! If you are not so good keeping up the database, it is worth paying someone to keep your database current.
2. Call your clients! Have a reason to call but stay in touch by calling at least 2 times a year to say “hello”.
3. Use a multi-touch approach to reach your clients on a regular basis through direct mail, email and social media.   Connect with Facebook or LinkedIn so that you can keep up with what is going on in your client’s life.
4. Provide useful content to your past clients – “What is your home worth”? “What is happening in your neighborhood”?
5. Select Holiday Cards that are unique and that will be remembered
6. Send magnetic “to do list”,   college / professional football and baseball schedules that will be placed somewhere with a long shelf life. The “to-do list” seems to be a favorite.
7. Mail clever items that have value like a package of seeds in the spring with a message “the market is blooming” or a bag of popcorn with a message “the market is popping – call me”.
8. Remind your clients when they purchased their home with an anniversary card. Send a birthday card to your clients (don’t forget about the children or pets birthday).
9. Remember your clients on Valentine’s Day with a Valentine card / roses delivered to their home or a box of candy – you may be the only person who remembers your client – what a special realtor you will be and Facebook will be filled with comments.
10. Give a special present or closing gift that will be remembered for years to come – Tiffany’s candle holders, bowls or glass wear. The Tiffany’s blue box or blue bag will differentiate you from most other realtor’s.

Mark Camp has been a Realtor since 2001. Mark is an associate broker with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices of Georgia. He is ranked continuously in the top 2% of all BHHS Realtors internationally and is certified as a Luxury Collection Specialist.