What kind of after-sales service are we talking?
Small actions go a long way when it comes to customer service. You could send a new home card. Or offer a list of local contractors – things like cleaning services, gardeners, pool cleaners for instance. It can be difficult to find reputable service people in a new area, meaning people are often grateful for a recommendation.
Using the knowledge you’ve built up about your buyers, it should be easy to go out of your way to provide timely and useful information. For example, help newcomers find out how to meet other local expats via regular meetings or activities. Or provide school prospectuses or details of healthcare providers to help relocators get the fundamentals in place quickly and painlessly.
And if you know your buyers were considering renting their property out for a proportion of the year, offer information on potential rental incomes, tips, and advice from your experience and the process they’d need to go through to get everything set up.
And finally, send keeping in touch emails.
But isn’t all this a waste of time?
No, not at all.
There are many benefits to fostering a good relationship with previous clients, not least the fact that it could lead to repeat business or referrals.
Building up a network of local service providers that your recommendations may take a little time upfront, but once you have your list, sharing those details won’t take much time at all. And you’ll be helping out local businesses as well as making life easier for your buyer. What’s more, you’ll also be building up a community of people who will potentially recommend you to the many other clients and customers by way of thanks.
By providing timely information regarding property rental you will put yourself at the forefront of your buyer’s mind if they are looking to rent out their home. And if you’ve provided great service and built up a good relationship why would they not choose you?
And by ‘keeping in touch’, you’ll leave yourself with an opportunity to market your services through these previous customers. You could perhaps incentivize people to make referrals by giving a bottle of local wine to anyone who brings in new business for you.
And of course, buying a house isn’t a once in a lifetime thing – make yourself memorable enough and years down the line you might find your buyer coming back to you to sell their property or help them buy a new one.
Ultimately, great after-sales services leave a long-lasting positive feeling about you in the minds of your buyers which can lead to repeat business, recommendations and word of mouth referrals – by far the best type of leads you can receive.
