Why, when the people you sell a home to relocate and use a different Realtor? They had a great experience; you found a house in reasonable time, and a price they can afford. A few years past and now they have two kids and need an upgrade. Their conversation will go something like this.

"What was the name of our Realtor that sold us this home?" she replies," I'm not sure I don't remember if it was a man or woman."

This is a very humorous but sad situation for the old Realtor. They have no idea about the two new kids and the pay raise he has received. This lack of common information is a result of not looking at the customer as a repeat buyer or a referral source but as a one time "Help me pay my mortgage" sale. If they would have only taken the time to notice this is a family with needs and wants they could have seized the opportunity to sell them their second and third home. But this lack of vision plagues many in the market today.

The average person knows of three home transactions a year. Let's say you only sold ten homes last year. You would have the opportunity for thirty referrals if you stay on the forefront of your clients mind. Most Realtors would finish the year discouraged at their past performance instead of being focused on the fact they now have ten referral sources and possible repeat buyers.

Well, how do I get them to refer me to a friend or family member when the opportunity arises? I'm glad you asked. People will refer business to people they know, like, and trust. Appreciation wins over every time. When you genuinely reach out and show your customer appreciation they feel the need to give back and the only way they know how is to refer a friend or family member to you. Since the average person knows of three home transactions a year if you continually show them appreciation they can continually refer you business.

Appreciation can be shown in several different ways. But in our fast pace world today it is very difficult to express gratitude in the most personal way, a handwritten card. Thankfully there are companies online that can do all the leg work for you. They can print out your cards with your handwriting and your signature and kick them out in the mail for you. They can also add any picture to your card and even type a message on the front.

The time you save in using these systems is worth more than the system itself. You can set up sequential cards to stay in front of your customers and they will do it all for you. All you do is pick out the card you want type in your personal message, click send and they do the rest.