Tactics

Warm Buyer Lead Process

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Most of the buyers that I deal with either find me online or are referred to me by someone I know. That doesn’t mean I’m not interviewing to work with them or that I’m not otherwise on trial.

It usually begins as an email or a form they fill out on my website or sometimes as a text message. Almost never is this a phone call.

I greet them and then I move on to selling the appointment. I’m not selling them a house or anything else. The only thing I’m focused on is selling the appointment. I either want to get face-to-face (ideal, if they’re local) or on the phone.

It’s usually easier to justify the phone call as a first measure. It’s easy to do because I can step them up by selling them on a “quick phone call when it’s convenient for them.” If they’re warm (which all these kinds of leads are), this is rarely met with any resistance.

Once I get them on the phone, I—casually—work through the questions that I want answered. I qualify them. I usually begin by encouraging them to explain their situation to me. 1 Once they’ve finished, I’ll reiterate some of what they’ve said back to them, “You’re living in Virginia with your wife but you’re moving back up and want to begin your home search in the spring. That makes sense,” and then I’ll move into some questions that I have. I’ll usually preface this question-asking by saying something like, “I just have a few questions for my process that I’ll ask you now. Does that sound alright?” Then I’ll move through my qualifying questions. 2

  • What’s the best email for you?
  • How do I spell your last name (if that’s not already known)?
  • You mentioned your (spouse, wife, husband, children, dog, aunt, etc.). Is it just them that’s moving with you? (Identify the decisionmakers)
  • Great. What is/are their name(s)?
  • What do you expect is your budget? 3
  • Are you preapproved?
  • Are you open to speaking to my number 1 mortgage professional (whether they’re preapproved or not, I sell the relationship because he’s excellent at what he does and it makes a big difference in the experience)?
  • What’s your timeframe/when would you like to be settled?
  • What do you expect from someone in my position?
  • Do you have a house to sell?

I don’t robotically go through these questions unless there’s an utter lack of rapport, then sometimes it does feel a bit forced. I go through these questions conversationally with context added in and around them. With the question about what their expectations are, I might begin by saying something like, “You’ve bought a house before/sold a house before,” or, “Maybe you’ve never bought or sold a house before, but maybe you’ve dealt with an attorney or a financial advisor where the person you were interacting with was in a position to help you with an important matter. In situations like that one as well as our situation, what sort of things are important to you or do you expect from the person that’s in my role?”

In this portion, it’s pretty natural to touch on agency and why it’s important to have a relationship with an agent that is on a client level rather than a customer level. Today, the prospect mentioned that it seemed like their agent—when they bought their current home—was only showing them houses that the agent wanted and was less inclined to show them houses they wanted to see. I explained that usually in this situation, which is a common complaint among consumers, the agent was likely trying to steer them toward listings the agent or the agent’s office represented because there was a financial incentive to do so. I went on to explain that this is why it’s important to have a buyer agent who respects the nature of the fiduciary relationship and is out to represent the client and their best interests, not the other way around. This is a useful pre-frame for setting the second appointment/call where you review paperwork and secure the client.

If there’s some rapport, the conversation should flow somewhat smoothly.

Once I get through these, the next step is to sell the appointment/second appointment. 4 I’m working to establish the next steps as I’m concluding my conversation. If they’ve agreed to talk to the lender, I’m explaining that I’ll be sending them an email once we hang up so they’ll have my contact information and I’ll also include the mortgage professional’s contact information. If they’d prefer, I can have the lender reach out directly to them so it’s one less thing they have to think about. 5

The next step from there is to set up a time so we dig further into the agency laws and discuss more about what it looks like to form a representative relationship. At this point, too, we can really dial in the home search criteria and set up an automatic search using the MLS so they can begin seeing properties.

When’s a good time for them? This will either be a phone call or a face-to-face appointment. Depending on the level of rapport, I may insist on the spouse being present. If they’re not local, it’s difficult to justify their driving to meet me at an office or public place for this purpose, especially when we can e-sign everything. If they are local, that’s almost always my approach, but I’m backing off trying to get non-local people to drive to meet me just so we can review the paperwork. The warmest of them will, but I think it’s more of a challenge than most people are willing to bear. So opt for the phone call with one or both and review the client paperwork together to answer questions like you would in person. This is where you secure the client, and that’s the second step in the buyer process.

  • Step 1 – Secure the appointment/call
  • Step 2 – (Secure the second appointment/call so you can…) Secure the client
  1. This will be what their current situation is, who all is involved, etc. ↩︎
  2. I’ll write out these questions in a note in my CRM so I can type them in during the call and just click save. I used to keep them in my Notes app under a folder called Buyer Notes (and Seller Notes). I still will grab quick stuff there as it comes up but the CRM is the ultimate storage place for all things people. ↩︎
  3. Their response will tell you how much they’re aware of their ability to buy. Some people have this very dialed in, others will speak in terms of a monthly payment, and others will take a stab, arbitrarily, at a dollar amount for the house. It’s less about what they say and more about how they say it so you can intuit, in the moment, how to proceed. This question sets up your tonality and approach for the next two questions. ↩︎
  4. If I got the appointment in the first place rather than the call, I’ll go through all these things in person. I’ll almost always have at least a quick call before scheduling the appointment in person. ↩︎
  5. Usually this has appeal to it, assuming they’re open to the conversation with the LO. ↩︎
Warm Buyer Lead Process

The Autopsy Report

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Something I learned from an excellent real estate coach named Brian Moses is the importance of reflecting on things that go well and things that don’t. The emphasis was on things that didn’t go well, but it can be applied to positive situations as well.

Brian talked about filling notebook after notebook with what he called “Autopsies.” He would autopsy situations after they were done, in writing, to learn what he could do better next time when the situation presented itself again.

This is based on the professional wisdom that at a certain point, situations we encounter in business aren’t really new. My father-in-law talked about this during his last visit with us. He spoke about how employees that come into his business fit into archetypes and he can predict how well they’ll turn out in many cases because he’s seen and hired and fired the same guy (not literally) before.

Whenever I have a deal die or I have a lead that I feel should have converted but didn’t or when I lose a listing appointment, I autopsy it.

In practice, this basically looks like journaling about the situation. But more specifically, I ask myself where I could have done better, where I was at fault. On further reflection, It’s usually evident where I messed up.

The one that comes to mind is a listing appointment from last summer. They were sort of an odd couple, around my age, and the house was a bit unusual. Mostly because there were something like a half-dozen or more cats living there. There was one bedroom of the five that was actually for the cats.

The people were nice enough. He was a bit more forward, she a bit more reserved. I quickly grew comfortable with them because of our closeness in age. We toured the home, sat at the table, and I went through my presentation. Prior to the presentation, I felt that we had established rapport. I especially felt that way with the man.

Well, I have the unfortunate habit of vulgar speech. It’s rarely a problem in my professional life, but it’s a character handicap inherited from my parents and perfected in the Marines that I’d rather not have. Because I felt especially comfortable with the man, and to a lesser degree with the woman but still comfortable, at some point I began speaking freely as I would with friends.

At the time, it felt pretty natural. There were no adverse reactions, and there may have even been some reciprocity.

I followed up a couple times as it was just a matter of time for them to list. Then one day, she told me that her friend recommended she work with someone and she decided to take her friend’s recommendation. She wasn’t bitter about it, and she was obviously forthcoming and didn’t just ignore me. I asked her point blank if there was something more I could have done to win her business, or, if there was anything I could have done better.

She paused and seemed to consider it, then convincingly said, “No.”

I was a little pissed about the situation. It was in the bag. $12k, gone.

Of course, I hung up congenially enough. But I was hurting.

I thought of Brian. So, I opened a Word doc and wrote through it. It was informative for me. Similar to seeking direction the way I described in yesterday’s post, this is a way that I can uncover stuff that’s holding me back, stuff that I otherwise won’t notice that I’m coming up against.

Here’s the Autopsy Report below as an example:

Autopsy Report
 
(The Person’s Name Was Here)

I interviewed for the listing and she said she was going to clean the house and paint and get her shit out before listing in about a month. I followed up with her after 1 week via text saying, “Just checking in with you. Were you able to connect with Attorney _______ about the capital gains tax question?” She responded saying that she hadn’t had a chance to call him but would hopefully by the end of the week. I asked if she had any other questions or things I could assist with. She said, “No not yet. I’m working on packing and cleaning/painting.”
 
I followed up again two weeks later on 6/21/22 asking her how the painting was going. She responded “Hi, I’m doing good. I’ve just decided to go with a realtor that a friend of mine just used, but thank you for your time and advice.”
 
I asked her if there were any other differentiators besides her friend’s recommendation that helped her decide. She said no, it was just the recommendation.
 
Damn!
 
I could have communicated more often. I let two weeks slip by before I reached back out again. By then it was too late. How do I continue to add value while seller leads are in nurture mode? I didn’t establish sufficient trust for her anyway. I won over the boyfriend, but I didn’t win her over.
 
I swore profusely while I presented to them because I felt comfortable. That was a mistake.
 
My communication is limited to texts and emails on Tuesdays. While that’s a step in the right direction as far as what I’ve otherwise done previously (structure), it’s not a very upbeat rhythm. I need to increase communication, but do it systematically.
 
What else can I do to add value and help to build trust with sellers? Brian would say that I should have left with the client docs signed. Some of these sellers aren’t ready to sign though. I stumbled a little through the presentation too I remember because the listing sheets were the CloudCMA listing sheets and I wasn’t familiar with where some of the details are located on the page. I need to know them like I know my phone number. Even if there was some other factor, she wouldn’t say it. If there was some other factor, she may not even be aware of it. It’s more unconscious. Trust. You increase trust by increasing communication. But how do you increase communication with somebody without coming across as over-the-top? Maybe over-the-top would have been preferable to the bi-weekly texter…
 
She tells me she needs a month to get it ready to list. She finds a new realtor somewhere between week 1 and week 3. I could have called last week. I don’t call. I could have called ever. I could send her listings as they come on market. I could send them the digital pdf version of the report. I could increase the fear and tension rather than putting them at ease. How? By increasing motivation to list sooner because of market conditions worsening. Because of buyers disappearing and becoming more particular as time goes by.
 
The fact of the matter is, she felt no problem with taking another realtor over me and not letting me know. She didn’t care about letting me know because what I was delivering was a commodity service. There was no real relationship there. Nothing to speak of. Now, whether or not this is somebody that you would get lunch with, this is somebody that’s in the market to sell a $400k home. Transactional. She found you (number one) on her own, but then when push came to shove she preferred a referral from a friend of hers who’d just had a positive experience with someone else. You should use your referrals and Success Stories more in your listing presentations.
 
You could ask people who you’ve just helped if they know anyone who’s thinking of buying or selling in the next few months. Other agents do this, and this is part of the reason why they find themselves in these situations and you don’t. You have to learn how to ask for the referral.
 
Pay attention to who gets this listing. Irrespective, note that this is something that you do not know how to do and need to learn how to do. This is a weakness of yours, not a quality of your character.
 
Now don’t beat yourself up. God wants you to learn. Like Yoda said last night, “The greatest teacher, failure is.” Use it.

That’s a good example. I was able to uncover some ideas and insight that I wouldn’t have otherwise. Furthermore, I felt somewhat better after I wrote this out. I put my arms around it, identified where I fell short, and committed to not making those same mistakes twice. To me, this is the work of a pro. We all make mistakes. The question is whether or not we learn from them.

The Autopsy Report

Getting Direction

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I ended yesterday feeling as though I need to find direction for the energy I’m investing in my business. I was stressed and worried about money, and worried that I was spinning my wheels.

I’m unlike most people I know when it comes to seeking this kind of direction. I, like anybody, read things online to try to develop plans and designs about how to move forward and accomplish things.

The trouble with bigger questions is that the answers aren’t set in stone. They vary from person to person. Our tendency, as humans, to try to create a template for answering life’s questions is fallacious in that there are too many unaccounted-for variables for anyone to ever give the perfect answer.

But we look for patterns, as is our wont so that we can simplify the world around us and thereby live without massive confusion at even the mere prospect of fetching the mail.

What does that mean? It means that when I try to solve my life problems with the internet I typically don’t get far. I’ll usually make a strong start on something in some direction, then I peter out and eventually get back to square one or someplace like it.

I began my day remembering that I wanted to seek direction as I mentioned above. Instead of looking for more input, which is very natural for me and probably most people, I try to get as quiet as I can.

I’ve spent years meditating off and on and you could regard this as meditation.1 For me, I like to do this by submerging the back half of my head underwater while lying in the bathtub. I do it such that my ears will be underwater. It’s the most quiet my life ever gets. Something about the stillness and the silence I find in the water like that allows me to think extremely clearly.2

I’m a guy that does a lot of thinking. Perhaps we all are people who do a lot of thinking—I’m not sure. But I know that the thinking I do has degrees of effectiveness. Never is there a higher degree of effectiveness than when I’m taking a bath with my ears underwater like this. I float, and I listen.

It’s important for me to acknowledge, even if I’m reluctant to do so, that I have a spiritual belief system. I believe in something and I call it God. I grew up in a church, but don’t really give much weight to that at this phase of my life, and haven’t for many years. I mention this in the interest of authenticity, but also to convey the complete message of what I do to think.

Once I’ve settled in the water, I say a short prayer, and I ask this thing I believe in to enable me to set aside everything I think I know for an open mind and a new experience. I ask it to help me see the truth of whatever I’m dealing with. Finally, I say in my mind, something to the effect of, “What would you have me focus on here?” and the intention, in this case, was centered on my work life.

Sometimes, in the past, I’ve done this and had things come up that weren’t pertinent to what I was seeking. Say I was seeking direction about work, I might get an intuition about my marriage, as an example.

Whether one believes in something greater than themselves, like a God or something or, if they don’t, I think there’s still value to this style of inquiry. Whether you regard it as self-inquiry or something more like I do, perhaps the results are similar.

Some interesting things came up. I’m a writer, self-admitted, and I’m also a collector, at least in an aspirational sense. The notion of content marketing for my real estate business is one I’ve long been interested in, and it snapped clear this morning in the bath that I just need to begin. I’ve spent months studying content marketing and nearly completing the Hubspot certification course on it, and I’ve read books and more books. But I haven’t begun. And that was part of the inspiration today, just that: begin. Make a beginning. Gather up some momentum, and then you can return to the fine details and fiddle and try your hand at perfecting later.

Even before that notion bubbled up (which I was very thrilled about, by the way, and felt massive relief compared to yesterday), one came first that was unexpected.3 My company is changing hands, and without breaching my NDA, I’ll say that there’s soon to be a new potential to generate revenue by means of recruiting agents to the company.4 This news was new last week, but the shift in perception in that I’m able to employ what I’ve learned about internet marketing on a national and global audience rather than a geo-local one is way cool and I’m pumped about it!

I keep a small notebook next to the tub on the floor and a hand towel so I can dry my hands and write legibly when ideas and things come up. In my experience, there’s a point of diminishing returns with this exercise. When I do it often, I don’t experience insight every time.5 When it’s irregular and I’m perplexed, it works for me.

This is the most important thing I could put down today, so I did. I feel fresh and relieved and I have felt that way all day. I was productive but not obsessive with my work. I read fiction for an hour. I worked on my novel for an hour. I spent time with my wife. I had an excellent day.

This is the reason why.

  1. Mostly “off,” by the way. But not an insignificant amount of “on,” to be fair. ↩︎
  2. I also have a hearing disorder called tinnitus which provides a constant ringing in my ears that’s amplified when I’m quiet and also when I think about it. The water doesn’t make it go away, but it gives me greater quiet and comfort than I’ve found otherwise. ↩︎
  3. These things tend to be unexpected, which is why I do it. This works for me, and it’s deeply more satisfying and intimate and personal for me vs. rewinding and playing a how-to Youtube video a couple times, taking a bunch of notes, and making some half-measure effort to do some thing that worked for someone once. This feels fulfilling. That feels obligatory. ↩︎
  4. Less than exciting at face value, but when I consider it, it’s an opportunity to have a global product that I can work to sell, and I can do so in a way that actually adds tremendous value for people. Looking at it through that lens excites me! ↩︎
  5. However, I do believe that when I was doing this exercise daily for several months, if not more than a year, I was producing both narrative writing/editing and real estate sales like it was effortless. I had a spring of power and energy and fortune that made for a very exciting period of my life. Why did I stop? Why do we ever stop doing what’s good for us? ↩︎
Getting Direction

Top Contacts

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This is something I’ve yet to perfect but I have a belief in it because of how many people have instructed me to do it or something similar to it.

As a real estate professional, I’m in the people business, much as I hate to admit it. See, I don’t hate people, no not at all. But I don’t particularly love having to interact with them for my work.

I’m what is frequently referred to as an introvert. But, I get along well enough with others, so I’m moderately successful at real estate sales. This doesn’t help me though when it comes to spontaneously reaching out to everyone I know so I can be top of mind.

Yes, it’s not something I’ve been doing well lately. We participated in a coaching program earlier this year with Workman Success Systems and this is one concept they’re known for.

I identify my top contacts. This might be 250, 100, 50, or somewhere in between. The working notion here is that these people are the people most likely to refer me business. From here, I design a contact plan of how I want to keep in touch with them. At WSS, it was as simple as a phone call or a face-to-face meeting once per month.

A book that influenced me a lot earlier on is 7L – Seven Levels of Communication.1 Strongly recommend it. I may reread it now that I’m thinking about it. I could use some motivation around this.

The premise of the book is that trust comes as a byproduct of communication. When we communicate with people more and more, they trust us as professionals and become more and more likely to refer business to us.

So, how do we keep in touch with these people? WSS keeps it simple with a phone call or a face-to-face once per month.2 7L provides lots of ideas, an example of one is their emphasis on writing personal notes.3

7L also prescribes the task of grading one’s database. WSS had a similar suggestion. Most people think in terms of A, B, C, and sometimes D, and F. The point is that if I grade them, I don’t have to remember who’s at what stage, I just search for the categorical letter and see the list of people.

WSS used A is for leads that are expected to buy/sell/etc. within 30 days, for instance, whereas, A+ is an Ambassador in 7L — somebody who has before, and you expect to in the future, refer you more than 1 deal per year. Typically A (or A+) is the optimal grading, and people less likely to close or less likely to refer us business (depending on which model is used) would be graded as B, C, D, F, etc.

Some people make their entire careers just focused on direct referral. In order to do that, we have to be referrable. In order to be referrable, we have to behave remarkably when we’re dealing with clients.

Old Sam doesn’t always deal remarkably with clients. We all make mistakes. The important thing is to actually do our best so we can lay our head on the pillow peacefully, and so we can ensure that we’re going to be talked about positively by the people we’ve helped.

When it comes to this aspect of the business, we’re rewarded for being good at relationships. I sometimes feel that the effort makes it insincere, inauthentic. I have an angle, after all. So, I’m going to challenge myself to find a way to do it authentically for me.

Writing comes much easier to me. I could finally get serious about a work-related blog and send content out to my people once a month, once a week, bi-weekly, whatever. I could call the ones that I feel comfortable calling because I like them and they seem to like me.

Another way I could increase my SOI activity is by visiting people. I’m always so busy like every other real estate professional claims to be. 4 Getting out, intentionally, and visiting with past clients and friends in the area where I work is much more up my alley than the phone call. The visit, as opposed to the call, feels more meaningful for them, and it’s more fulfilling for me.

So, there I go! Win/win.

  • Begin a blog for my company and email the post however often I decide.
    • I’ll begin with a monthly newsletter with a market update and whatever other ancillary things that matter that I can think of.
    • I’ll post that as a blog post on our company website.
    • Maybe I’ll read the market report to a video screen and call it a YouTube video.
    • I’ll link both in our MailChimp account and send them out monthly to our subscribers.5
  • I’ll challenge myself to visit with one past client/member of my sphere of influence (SOI) every week.

For me, this feels both authentic and effective. It’s something I can get behind doing because it suits my personality and preferences more. Many people I know don’t mind making phone calls—it comes easily for them. Great. I think the important thing is mapping out a system and actually executing it for an extended period of time.6

  1. I’m a guy who’s had a considerable amount of my business come from people I know personally and from direct referrals from people I know personally. I believe this is due in large part to this book and the things it teaches. ↩︎
  2. I merely skimmed the Ninja real estate book you may have heard of. One concept that jumped out at me was this one. Very similar, they recommend a call every seven weeks to set up a meeting every eight weeks. Something like that. The approach is altered slightly everywhere but is otherwise ubiquitous. ↩︎
  3. Writing personal notes can be an effective and touching way to communicate. It feels very personal to see someone’s handwriting. A good rule of thumb with this would be to commit to writing X per day. In the 7L book, there’s an in-depth formula for how to write the cards. Use the formula if it’s helpful. If it deters you from writing them, it’s not serving you and you should just write notes. ↩︎
  4. But I’m rarely too busy for lunch with my business partner at the drop of a hat. ↩︎
  5. This will be distinct from the newsletter we’re already sending out, for this will actually be news! ↩︎
  6. Holiday cards, thank you notes, thinking of you notes, blogging, phone calls, client events, visiting them at their home, inviting them to visit you at your office or an open house, getting lunch/meals, play dates with their kids and yours, birthday parties, housewarming parties—the list goes on. ↩︎
Top Contacts

Reviews

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Several people I know in real estate don’t collect reviews. This is something I learned the importance of early on and made an effort to gather them since. I’m no multi-hundred review Realtor, but I frequently meet new clients primarily because of the reviews that I have displayed on the internet.

Another friend doesn’t like the term “review” and instead prefers to call them “testimonials”. I can understand his reasoning. The word review has a negative connotation to it. I’m not asking people to review me, as though it’s a grading sheet for how I performed, but more so to validate that they had a positive experience.

I still call them reviews. But creating a process around this has made a big difference for me. I tend to meet people who are looking online for a real estate professional in my market. I don’t get everyone, but I often at least get a seat at the table.

I’ve found that a lot of the time these people only interview me, but not always. They’re often people who do not know another real estate professional. This makes them easier to convert to clients. Win for Sam.

The process is simple enough. I used to wait until the deal was over before I would ask for the review. Sometimes I still do (especially with people that I have a strong rapport with) but this is more a point of bad form than it is process.

When it’s optimally executed, I wait for a high point in the transaction. Sometimes for listings, this actually precedes the transaction and is somewhere in the time between taking the listing and getting an acceptable offer. But in either case, I wait for a high point when I’m the obvious hero to them. In that moment of elation, when they’re happier with me than they ever have been or perhaps ever will be again, I ask them if they’d be willing to do me a favor.1

I’ve never had anyone that I asked this say no.2 Usually people are delighted, especially in the elated moment, to agree to do something like this.

So, then what? Hope that they are disciplined and get it done, eventually?

That’s what I used to do. Not always effective. What I’ve found is that most people want to write me a nice review, especially once they’ve learned how helpful it can be for me.3 Sometimes, oftentimes, that’s the problem. They want to write me a nice review. An excellent review. A perfect review.

And so the review never gets written.

This is a human problem. Being that the content of the review seems to be less important than the quantity of positive reviews, I emphasize this to them as well. I take it a step further and offer to write the review for them, highlighting things that went well, and then encouraging them to edit it to their liking and just to use it as a starting point.

Well, I did that for a while, but then I took it a step further. I just wrote it, and sent it to them along with a direct link to my Google Business Reviews where they would then just have to paste it and click once for it to be complete—if they wanted. I do this all through text messages or emails if I have to. Texts are optimal because I can share the language and the link and they can do it quickly. Of course, they are welcome to just use it as a starting point if they want to write me a review of their own, but I’ve found that most people are content with the review I write so long as it’s honest and well-written. They’d rather not spend more time on this than needed, their ambitions about writing an excellent review notwithstanding.

Only one person has written a review altogether different than the one I provided them. As it turns out, I’m quite a bit better than the average consumer at writing a review for a real estate professional!4 I know which things to emphasize and am able to remember the points of the transaction that they may have forgotten. It all gets packed into the review. If it’s a high-priced property, or a transaction type that fits some marketing funnel I have, I accentuate that too so I can add it to those marketing funnels and channels. This will speak more specifically to prospective clients that fit those price points or demographics or stages of life. Did I get chosen over a well-respected Realtor in the market? It’s going in there. I wouldn’t name their name, but you better believe I’m writing it.

It works really well. I don’t feel shameful or unethical about it either. The client approves the language and posts it. That’s what’s important.

Some platforms have been easier to get reviews on than others.5 Zillow used to be a crapshoot. It might get published, but it might not. They would make the consumer click more times and go through more hoops. And it wasn’t always immediate. Bad enough I have to ask these people to do this shit. Worse still, when they do it and it doesn’t publish for unknown reasons, I have to politely ask them to do it again.

These reviews are money—they matter. But the client only cares a little about doing me a favor. After all, they’re paying for my service. “Raving fans” or not, the less friction I create by asking them for anything other than the order, the better.

In closing, I’ll add that it’s important to own the reviews as business assets. Keeping them published on these third-party sites (Zillow, Realtor, Trulia, Google) is good, but copy and paste them into a Word file and/or onto your website. If for any reason any of those companies dies, goes away, glitches out, deletes your shit, locks you out, etc., etc., etc., you are without those reviews. They own them, not you. Take it from me. I’m one of many people who were subject to a phishing scam where some jerkoff somewhere hacked into my Facebook profile and began posting obscene videos. Within seconds, Facebook locked my account. It was subsequently deleted and there was no recourse I could take. That was a kick in the balls for a guy with 2500 Facebook “friends” where I would post every new listing and sale. I still have some work to do around this gathering all mine into a file and republishing on my websites, and so I’m telling myself this as much as I’m writing it for others here.

So, go get those reviews! It doesn’t have to be a terribly uncomfortable act to ask someone. Wait for the high moment, ask them to do you a favor (after you’ve just made their day), and write up a scripted text that you send after they agree explaining that your business is dependent on people like them leaving positive feedback for other people thinking about doing business with you in the future. If they agree to write a review, then send them another scripted text explaining that in your experience, oftentimes clients want to write the perfect review, and so it never gets written. Because of that, you took a couple minutes to put together this quick review for them to use or not. They can use it as a starting point or just copy and paste it if it’s easier for them. Then send the direct link to whatever platforms you prefer if they agree. Follow up as needed if needed and be politely persistent.

  1. The closing is not always the high point. In fact, it’s usually not. It’s also awkward to ask for it because, at least for me, it feels way more forced and like they’re expecting me to ask them for a review before/during/after the closing. I think the client sometimes feels they’ve done me a favor when we’re at the closing because they’ve acknowledged once if not more times very recently just how much money my services cost them. ↩︎
  2. I don’t typically ask people for a review if the relationship feels strained for any reason or if something went poorly through the transaction. Call that what you want, but I’m actually not interested in people leaving me a negative review on the internet. ↩︎
  3. I explain to them that this is how many people either find me online or “interview” me before they reach out at all, both of which are true. ↩︎
  4. It’s important not to write it in Realtor jargon though. You’re playing the consumer here, so don’t say deal, double-side/double-end, over ask, DOM, or any of this other nonsense language we squawk to each other. The consumer doesn’t have a goddamn clue what any of that means, for one, and for two, they’ll likely intuit that it wasn’t their fellow consumer that wrote it. ↩︎
  5. I’ve found Google My Business (GMB) to be the easiest to work with. I have some on Realtor.com, more on Zillow.com, and most on GMB. I think I’m going to begin trying to get more on Zillow again but will prompt clients with both links and will not ask. The instructions will be to post them here and here, not one or the other. Ask for what you want, don’t hope for shit. ↩︎
Reviews