Last Updated on August 17, 2023 by Luke Feldbrugge
“Thank you clients!” is hopefully something you say to yourself often because of all they bring to your business. But there are many great ways you can show your own appreciation for the home buyers and sellers you’ve worked with, and also those prospects you hope to work with soon.
9 Ways for Agents to Thank a Client
Here are ten ways for an agent to thank a client (or prospect). These thank yous can come in all shapes and sizes, from simple thank you notes to gift baskets to themed events. They can also be for all kinds of reasons – referrals, closings, showings, listings and more. The truth is: the real estate process is a journey, and if you look for reasons to express gratitude along the journey, you will find a lot of opportunities.
Let’s start with the easy and obvious.
1) Thank You Note to Client
These are everywhere, covering every topic, because they are easy, inexpensive and thoughtful. And every step of the way, you could send out a thank you note to a client. That could easily gobble a lot of time, so you will need to prioritize and streamline. Here’s a partial list of opportunities when you could say thank you clients:
- Thanking a seller after a successful sale
- Thanking a new home buyer for hiring you
- Thanking a buyer after a difficult close
- Thanking seller for listing presentation
- Thanking previous clients when they give you a real estate referral
- Thanking a buyers for coming to open houses
- Thanking a buyer after successful negotiations
- Thanking a client after they attend your virtual event
- Thanking and congratulating a buyer when they get a mortgage pre approval
The opportunities to express your best wishes are limitless. Setting up some criteria for the events in your process that will trigger a thank you note to clients is a good idea. This could be a series of if/then statements when you have interactions with clients or you could even set up a workflow. If you use a CRM (contact relationship management) system like Salesforce or HubSpot, they can help a real estate expert create these workflows.
That covers prioritization; now you need to be able to streamline creation of the thank you note to your clients. You probably don’t want to create each one from scratch. Fortunately, there is a wealth of thank you note templates, specific to the real estate industry, out there online. Just type in the kind of thank you note, e.g. thank a buyer for their real estate business, and you will find a sample template to fit your needs.
Artificial Intelligence can Write Thank You Client Notes
Not everyone loves writing thank you notes. They can be draining and it takes a lot of discipline to crank out a bunch of them. Now, however, with the advent of AI and the tool ChatGPT, you can generate a lot of thank you notes instantly. This is a great time to learn more about what these tools can do for you. Here’s an example of what you get when you ask the program to write a thank you note to a customer who helped you find new real estate clients.
Dear [Customer Name],
I wanted to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude for your help in referring new clients to me. Your willingness to share your positive experience with others has been instrumental in helping me grow my business and reach new customers.Your recommendation of my services has been invaluable, and I cannot thank you enough for your efforts in helping me find new clients. Your support and loyalty mean the world to me, and I truly appreciate everything you have done.
Please know that I am always here to assist you in any way that I can, and I look forward to continuing to serve you and your friends and family in the future.
Thank you again for your kindness and for being such an amazing customer.
Best regards,
[Your Name]
With this AI tool, the more specific you get, the better results you will get. It will also learn as it goes, so your thank you notes will begin to sound more like you as time progresses.
2) Pizza on Move-in Day
Move-in day can be totally chaotic and pizza is almost universally welcomed by clients. If your clients are using professional movers, this is still a good idea. If they are using friends and family members, even better.
3) Specific Gift Cards
A gift card can be a helpful gift since your clients just dropped a lot of money, and went through all the work of moving their life. Of course, supporting the local business community has its advantages. A local restaurant gift card will likely be appreciated by your client. You know your clients. You know what they like, their hobbies, their interests. If they love going out to movies, that’s an easy gift card. But if they like quilting, fishing, rock climbing or golf, a gift card specific to their interest will show a special level of appreciation. If you can keep it local, it’s a win for the local business, and your clients.
4) Fridge Full of Food
When they get to their new home, what if they had food waiting for them in the fridge? It’s a great way to show your appreciation and understanding of all the details involved in a new move. On the day of the move, the last thing clients want to do is drag themselves through the grocery store. Even better, you could put a week’s worth of pre-made meals in their new fridge so they can focus on unpacking their stuff.
5) Kitchen Tools
Many people think the living room is the center of the home, but we all know it’s the kitchen. And for clients who like to cook, kitchen gadgets are something they will love and use. It will also remind them of you and your help every time they pick up their kitchen tool. There is also an almost limitless supply of these gadgets and new ones coming out all the time, so you can always find something they don’t have.
6) Seasonal Arrangements
Either indoor flower arrangements or outdoor decorations, you can tailor these to the closest holiday season to moving day. A Christmas planter for our front porch in December, or a tree they can plant in the spring. For the Fourth of July, you could get them a flag, and so on.
7) Invite Clients to Special Events
There are specific thank yous, where you send one gift of appreciation to one client, but there are also lots of general things you can do to thank your whole client base.
One agent we know gives away pies at her office to wish clients a happy Thanksgiving. Another agent has customers come to his office parking lot and pick up a Christmas wreath. A general client appreciation event can be a great experience.
The best thing about sponsoring these events is that you can have ongoing contact with former clients well into the future – when they might be in the market for another house.
8) Cleaning Crew
It’s difficult to imagine a more thoughtful gift to new homeowners than sending in a cleaning crew to their new house before they move in. Imagine not having to clean when you get to your new place. This is an above-and-beyond thank you that will create a lasting impression.
9) Help Them With Their Business
This is kind of a B2B thank you strategy. Since past clients have done business with you in buying a house, you can reciprocate by sending business their way. Whether they are a lawyer or an electrician or an accountant or a plumber, you will probably need their service sometime in the future. It only makes sense to work with a former client since these business associates have worked with you. Likewise, you can recommend them to your friends and they can do likewise. It’s a way to say thank you but it also makes good business sense.
Value of Saying Thank You Clients
Expressing your gratitude and thanking a client for their business goes beyond the transaction, that becomes a stronger, lasting relationship. From heartfelt thank-you notes tailored to specific milestones, to thoughtful gestures like providing a pizza on move-in day, there is an array of creative ways to convey your appreciation.
By embracing these gestures of gratitude to say thank you clients, you not only strengthen your client-agent bond but also contribute to building a network of satisfied clients who will remember your dedication and support for years to come.
Join Homes for Heroes – Be the Agent Heroes Want
At Homes for Heroes, our entire mission is to say thank you to our country’s heroes (first responders, active duty military and veterans, healthcare workers and teachers) for their service. We do this by helping them buy and sell homes, and also by saving them significant money when they close on a home with our local real estate and mortgage specialists.
Homes for Heroes can help an agent like you specialize in your market and grow your real estate business by helping your local heroes buy, sell or refinance a home. By joining Homes for Heroes, you can offer them something special, something beyond the transaction, by saving them significant money as a way to thank them for their service. It can help you stand out from the other agents in our market.
Complete your registration and schedule a time to learn more about the benefits of being a Homes for Heroes local market specialist, and become the agent your community heroes want to work with for their home and mortgage needs.
