Here are 19 tips from real estate agents who have dozens — if not hundreds — of reviews:
Be upfront with your clients
- Ask for reviews. Very few people will just write a real estate agent review on their own. You have to ask them to do it. If you’re just starting out, aim to get at least five reviews.
“A big change we made — one that changes the ball game and one I highly recommend every team makes — is to use the team review system,” remarked Robert Trefethren, director of strategy and development for Fargo, ND-based Hatch Realty, which has more than 400 reviews. “We were doing them all under individual profiles, but if people expect their agents to go out and get reviews, they’re kidding themselves.”
- Start talking about reviews from day one. If the first time a client hears how much you value a review is at closing, how likely are they to believe that it’s important at all? Don’t make closing time the first time you mention reviews: Let people know you’ll be requesting a review, then bring them up early on when meeting a client or potential client.
- Drop a hint. In your day-to-day dealings with a client, they will often say things like, “Wow, thanks for pointing out that stain in the ceiling. Not sure I would have noticed that.” What a great opportunity to say, “That would be a perfect statement to put in a review!” Even if they don’t use that specific example in the review, dropping those hints helps reinforce the importance of reviews. One Premier Agent I talked to is VERY straightforward when it comes to this and he will often say, “Here’s a pen and some paper, write that down because it’s going in my five-star review you’re writing later.”
- Don’t wait until closing. Ideally, you’ve been mentioning reviews from the get-go. Still, lots of real estate agents say they wait until closing to ask for a review, as that’s when the clients are happiest. True, but it’s also when they are the busiest. Closing is a stressful time; if your client hasn’t yet submitted a review, wait until a couple of weeks after closing to ask again — but no longer than that. Here’s where that drip email campaign can come in handy.
- Make a personal call. It’s even harder to ignore a personal phone call. Yes, it takes a little more effort, but even if you don’t get the review, you’ve made contact with a past client — and that’s never a bad idea.
Make getting reviews a regular habit
- Make reviews part of your daily business. Real estate agents who have the most success getting reviews consider them integral to their business marketing. They mention reviews (and the process for writing them) to every client.
“About a year ago, we started putting a focus on getting reviews,” recalled Joe Garcia, director of marketing and innovation for Mark Spain Real Estate in Alpharetta, GA, a team that has more than 1,000 reviews. “We saw stats from Zillowshowing that people reach out to three, four, five agents at a time, and when consumers see someone with 100 reviews versus someone with five reviews, it’s an overwhelming indicator to choose the one with more reviews.”
- Incorporate “the ask” into your process. It never ceases to amaze me how often I hear a real estate agent say, “Oh, I just forget to ask for reviews.” Don’t forget. Make it a part of your process. Enter it as a calendar reminder and add it to your buyer and seller checklists. You can even include it in the material you hand out to clients: “Don’t open a credit card account. Read all documents. Leave me a five-star review!”
“We have two strategies for requesting reviews: We cast a wide net to people who are older in our system — who bought a while ago — and we send a more personal message to people who closed in the last month or so,” Trefethren explained. “You have to do both: Casting a wide net gets a rapid response while personal messages get a higher response.”
- Don’t rely only on closed transactions for the opportunity to get a review. Many agents seem to feel that the only people they should ask for reviews are clients who closed a transaction with them. Not so. On Zillow, there are several types of client relationships that don’t include a finalized transaction for which you can get real estate agent reviews. There’s no reason you can’t get a great review from a buyer who didn’t close the transaction.
- Use a drip email campaign. People tend to need reminding more than once to write a review. It’s hard to keep bugging people to do it. If you use a drip email system, set up a “request review” campaign and send monthly emails requesting reviews from those who haven’t left them.
“It’s important to have a system to track who you’ve done business with and do gentle follow up later,” Garcia pointed out. “It’s never too late to share your experience about your home buying or selling experience.”
- Personalize the language in the standard review invitation. Most review systems use canned language in their review requests. Delete it and write a personal message instead. Remind clients of what you did and how important reviews are to your real estate business.
“We’ve found that the most effective method is sending a personal text message, dropping in personal language, and making the client understand the purpose behind getting a review,” Trefethren explained. “Don’t be afraid to tell them, ‘This helps me earn future business.’”
Make it easy to review you
- Explain the importance of real estate agent reviews in your business. Yes, asking for a review is a very “me” thing. But sometimes that’s what you have to do. Explaining WHY you’d like an honest review helps people understand the importance of them. “Reviews are an integral part of my business. You saw my reviews and they helped you make a decision to hire me. I’d appreciate it greatly if you would help others do the same by leaving me an honest review.”
- Offer examples. For many people, looking at a blank screen and trying to come up with words is extremely difficult. Make it as easy as possible for your clients. While you want the review to reflect the reviewer’s voice and not yours — in other words, don’t write the review for them — you can provide lots of examples of previously written real estate agent reviews, and even include a few sentences that clients can copy and modify. Also, don’t strive to get only five-star reviews: you don’t want any potential clients to question your authenticity. Let your clients know you want their honest and fair opinion about their satisfaction with you and the services you provided, and that it’s OK to give you fewer than five stars.
- Mine your database of past clients for those who haven’t written a review. Remember the client you sold a home to three years ago whom you haven’t reached out to in forever? Here’s your chance. Forget the awkward, “If you know anyone in the market, I’d appreciate a referral” notice and instead hit them up with a friendly request for a review. “Hey, Jim and Sally! Long time no talk! Hope you are doing well. I’ve started a new thing in my real estate business — client reviews — and would really appreciate it if you would consider writing one for me.”
“In the Zillow dashboard for real estate agents, you can literally go in there, type in the 25 emails you want to send and it tracks them for you,” Trefethren remarked. “If a review gets rejected, a client submits a review or if the client does nothing, it tells you and you can resend the email if you want. Our agents use the dashboard quite effectively in conjunction with text messages.”
- Send a video email. It’s easy to ignore an email, even if it’s personalized. It’s much harder to ignore your smiling face in a short video requesting a review.
- Post a “review of the week” on your Facebook business page. This appeals to the ego. People like to be recognized and see their “name in lights” so be sure to tag the person who gave you the review in your post. It’s simple to do and helps remind others to write a review for you.
Thank your clients for their time
- Offer a reward for completing a review. I know what some of you are thinking right now, but this is not “buying” a review. Let’s face it, leaving a review is a bit of a hassle. It takes time. A small token of appreciation — a VISA gift card, a Starbucks card — is not buying a review; it’s thanking someone for their time.
- Have a review party. Throw an end-of-the-year “client appreciation party,” but make it selective and only invite those who have left reviews. Actually, throw two client appreciation parties, one for reviewers, and one for those who have yet to leave a review. For the second party, bake some cookies with icing that says, “Review me today!”
- Hold a monthly drawing for a simple prize. Once a month (or once a quarter), enter everyone who has left you a review into a prize drawing. Again, it doesn’t have to be an elaborate or expensive gift. It’s just an opportunity to remind clients that you’re seeking reviews and offering a reward for their time. Offer something simple that everyone needs — a free carpet cleaning, fruit basket or bottle of wine.
“We might do a monthly or quarterly drawing for everyone who gives us a review to win a really nice gift, and that seems to be enough for most clients,” Garcia acknowledged. “But they’re really doing a review for the relationship or experience, and most say they’d do it for us anyway.”
- Invite reviewers to a special “only-for-reviewers” event. Another way to reward those leaving real estate agent reviews (and encourage others to do so) is to hold a private event just for reviewers; people will come. Take them out to a ball game, treat them to a movie, even just spring for pizza. You can also use this as an incentive in your follow-up emails when requesting reviews: “Hey! The only-for-reviewers ballgame is coming up next month. Get that review in now so you don’t miss the game!”
Source: zillow.com
