By Dorothy Tayloe MIRM, CMP, CSP Daniel Homes/Ingram and Associates

New-home sales professionals, builders and  developers spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on advertising, websites, social media, general brokerage promotions and the like in an effort to get new prospects through their door.

All of these marketing efforts are certainly worth pursuing, but they overlook the home buyers who already live in your community. These buyers are already enjoying fruits of your labor, so they should be a great source for referrals.

Like any marketing effort, generating referrals from your home owners requires a plan and a budget. Consistency, along with variety, is the key to getting results.

Many builder and developers don’t market to their past and current home owners because they either don’t truly believe it will be beneficial or they just don’t have enough money in their budget to take advantage of the opportunity.

Either way, they’re making a mistake not to cultivate referrals from people who have already bought their homes.

By continuing to maintain a relationship with your buyers after closing, you are reinforcing their decision-making; that they chose wisely when they bought from you. You also are letting them know not only that you are thrilled that they purchased from you, but that they are just as important to you now as when they were ready to buy.

Keeping in touch with them this way also conveys the message that you are different from the competition — which also reinforces their decision-making — so much so that they are willing to tell their friends and family about how great their new home and community are.

When developing your plan to cultivate referrals, be sure to get accurate contact information from your home owners.

Once the home buyer has closed, have your sales agent give them a small “welcome to the neighborhood” gift. Many, if not most, builders do this. But don’t stop there. This is only the beginning of what should be a long relationship.

Implement a ‘Friends and Family Plan’

One easy way to begin asking for referrals is to implement a “friends and family plan.”

Such a plan, for example, can simply give your buyers the inside scoop on new developments in your community — the opening of a new phase of home sites, models, the clubhouse, etc. A week or 10 days prior to the opening, contact your buyers and let them know that you’ve scheduled a “sneak peek” for their friends and family to see the community addition before it’s opened to the general public.

Do this every time there is a new development in your community. It’s an easy and pleasant way to stay in touch with your buyers, keeps them informed of what is happening in their neighborhood and helps make them feel special.

Almost everyone likes to feel special and to be the first to know something. A “friends and family” referral plan bolsters this feeling and, what’s more, it’s easy to implement and free.

Make Living in Your Community a Party

When developing your referral cultivation plan, include home owner get-together events. The events can be as low-key as a sales office drop-by for coffee and pastries or as involved as a community barbeque.

The get-togethers provide a friendly setting for buyers to meet each other and for salespeople to interact with the home owners.

Several parties and events should be scheduled throughout the year.

Drop by Owners’ Homes With Small Gifts

Another way to stay connected and build rapport with your home owners is to have your sales team deliver small seasonal or anniversary gifts. You can choose from countless gift options, but whatever you give, be sure to include a tag asking for a referral.

Last fall, our sales team dropped off sacks of candy corn to one neighborhood of home buyers with a note that read, ““Happy Fall –Y’all!” (We’re a Southern builder.) The note also included contact information and a message asking for referrals — “If you know someone who is interested in falling in love with a new home, just give us their name and number and we’ll be happy to help them fall in love with (community name) just like you did.”

These small “pop by” gifts are easy to deliver, relatively inexpensive and should be part of your referral marketing at least once a quarter.

Easy Party and ‘Pop By’ Ideas

To help you get started with your referral marketing plan, here are a few ideas for community parties and “pop by” gifts:

• Ice cream on a Sunday afternoon at the model
• A card or Bunco night
• A cookout and scavenger hunt
• Holiday activities for the neighborhood children — making Mother’s Day and Father’s Day cards, decorating pumpkins for Halloween, etc.
• Holiday decorating ideas, given by a local florist
• Sacks of red M&M’s for Valentine’s Day
• Cook a BBQ spice rub — include the recipe on the card
• Herb or tomato plants — include growing instructions and recipes

Be creative and make it fun. As with any marketing plan, there are no hard and fast rules. Just stay in contact with your home owners on a consistent basis.

Your home owners will appreciate whatever you do for them — and return your attention with referrals.

Dorothy Tayloe, MIRM, CMP, CSP, is a director of sales for Daniel Homes/Ingram and Associates based in Birmingham, Ala. For more information, email Tayloe.

This article originally appeared as an “Ask a MIRM” column on the NAHB Sales and Marketing Channel.

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