Word of Mouth Marketing: How to Turn Happy Homebuyers Into Lead Generators

People are likely to tell everyone they know about a bad experience with a business, and they’re usually thrilled to pass on information about good experiences, too. And that’s what word-of-mouth marketing is all about.

The home buying and selling processes are ones in which you become intimately familiar with your clients, and vice versa. This is a prime opportunity to get these clients to spread the word about your services.

Focus on creating an amazing client experience.

To create client experiences that people brag about, go above and beyond with customer service gestures for all of your clients. Customer service that goes beyond your client’s expectations involves everything from your response time to your level of transparency throughout the process.

Homebuyers and sellers, especially first-time buyers and sellers, will appreciate it if you create a map that boils down the process into easy-to-follow steps that make everything less daunting.

Another great way to stay top-of-mind when it comes to word-of-mouth referrals is by being timely with updates, responses, and alerts. Take the time to stay in touch with clients so they feel like their needs are your priority.

Use social media as a referral channel.

Sharing your clients’ social posts and creating photo ops for milestone moments that they will want to share on social media are excellent ways to get your clients to talk about you to their friends and family.

For example, say you take a photo of your clients with their new home in the background, keys proudly displayed in their hand as they smile at the camera, and you post it on your Instagram or Facebook account.

From here, clients have the photos you took highlighting their experience readily available for them to share and tell their family and friends about with the touch of a button.

Streamline the referral process.

Your clients shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to refer your services. Make the referral process as seamless as possible by taking steps like pre-printing referral cards to give to happy clients, or creating a templated email survey or testimonial request.

However, the most important part of streamlining the referral process is timing, timing, timing.

Make sure you’re capitalizing on the referral process while you’re still top of mind. You shouldn’t wait longer than a few weeks to ask for a referral. Conversely, you shouldn’t ask too soon either, or you’ll risk making a bad impression.

Ask for reviews/ratings/referrals.

Many agents don’t think to ask, but planting the seed in your clients’ heads is sometimes half the battle. Sometimes the most obvious way to get your clients to brag about how great of an experience they shared with you is by simply asking them!

It can even be simple as, “I’m so pleased you had a great experience! Let me know if I can ever help you with anything else, and if you have any family, friends, or colleagues who need help buying or selling a home, please let them know about my services.”

Offer incentives.

Lastly, you can also incentivize your clients to spread the word to friends and family by offering them things like thank-you notes, bottles of wine for their new home, and even tickets to events in their new area.

When the client uses the gift you give them, they’ll think of you and how great the home-buying or home-selling experience with you was. If they’re sharing the wine you got them with friends and their friends ask where they bought it, you and your services will immediately become the subject of the conversation.

Remember that getting referrals involves happy clients, so make customer service your top priority and you’re sure to have clients who are more than happy to spread the word. Happy selling!