If you are looking to buy a product offered by different companies, how would you decide who to buy it from? If you’re like most of us, you’d just grab your smartphone and read reviews online about each company and make up your mind on those reviews. Well, the same goes for anyone who is possibly going to use your real estate services.
With the internet and technology making it quick and easy to access information about anyone, your potential customers will be looking for reviews about you. The reviews and testimonials you find online can be the difference between getting new customers or losing them to someone else.
Get a testimonial from your client after every closing
It is important that you get a testimonial after each closing if your clients are happy with your real estate services. Closing time is usually a happy time for the client and therefore a perfect time to request a testimonial. It is always more difficult to get that testimony at a later time.
Tell your customers it could be short and just a few sentences. Many do not like to write long reviews and may not give you one for that. A short testimonial that gets to the point is just as effective.
Take a photo with your client in front of the property
In addition to asking for a testimonial at closing, you should definitely take a photo with your clients. It is always preferable to take a photo on the property. An effective photo is taking a picture in front of the property while your clients are holding the SOLD sign or keys. The photo can be taken when you meet your client at the property to hand over the keys.
Display your testimonials on your real estate website
The most important place to display your reviews and testimonials is your own real estate agent website. Your real estate agent’s website typically ranks higher in search engine results than your Facebook page and profile pages on Zillow, Trulia, realtor.com and other big real estate marketplace websites. Therefore, you will definitely want to display your testimonials on your agent’s website.
You should have clearly visible testimonials on your home page along with a separate page displaying all of your testimonials. Your real estate agent’s website platform should contain an interface that allows you to enter reviews and testimonials along with images of your clients.
Post on Facebook
If someone is looking for reviews about you online, they will most likely land on your Facebook page. Therefore, it is very important to create a “Just Sold” post after each close. The post must contain your client’s testimonial AND the photo you took with them in front of the property. Be consistent and do this every time you close on a property.
Ask clients to submit a review on Zillow, Trulia and realtor.com
Anyone looking for online reviews of you will likely end up on Zillow, Trulia, and realtor.com. All of these sites accept reviews and it is important that you accumulate the number of reviews and your rating on these big market real estate websites.
Your customers submit the review from their profile page on each of these sites. A customer can submit a review by clicking the “Submit Review” button on their profile page. To make it easier for your clients, send an email with links to your profile page to Zillow, Trulia, and realtor.com.