Generate More Referrals with Pop-Bys

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Want to stay in touch with your best real estate clients in a fun way? Try doing Pop-Bys! It’s a simple, but powerful way to thank your clients for their business and generate more warm referrals.
Pop-Bys are small gifts that you drop off at a client’s home or office. It’s also an important tenet of Buffini & Company’s Work by Referral method, which is a simple, easy to use, multi-channel marketing system that helps you deepen your relationships and create advocates for you and your business.
Pop-Bys help you stay top-of-mind, but they will also help you nurture your best relationships, and in turn, generate future referrals.
Brian Buffini, the chairman and founder, notes that it’s not the value of the item itself that you drop off; it’s the thought behind the gesture that counts.
“These items can be simple. They can be fun,” he said. “They are conversation starters and just a way to let people know ‘I’m thinking about you.’ And people appreciate that.”
How to Start
- Plan one small gift item for each month. It could be a seasonal item, like gardening tools, a gift certificate for a car wash, or a scented candle.
- Create a small tag to go with it.
- Package up the item and attach the tag and your business card.
- Schedule an hour or two to deliver these Pop-Bys to your favorite clients. (Buffini Members can plot out their Pop-Bys on the Referral Maker® CRM.)
Drop Off Tips
If you happen to catch them when they’re home or at their office, be sure to keep the visit short. Let them know right away you’re just going to take a minute of their time but that you were in the area and thinking about them. It’s ok to have a quick chat but you don’t want to overstay your welcome.
If your client is not there, just leave the item on the doorstep, take a photo and text it to them, letting them know you’re sorry you missed them.
Pop-Bys in Action!
When combined with the other core components of the Work by Referral program (direct mail, email, phone calls, video messaging, targeted dialogues and hand-written notes) Pop-Bys add another personal layer to nurturing your best relationship.
Here are three stories of Buffini Members who after consistently staying in touch with their top clients through a variety of ways, including Pop-Bys, achieved amazing results.
As a real estate agent in Massachusetts, Carol McDonald McCree is all too familiar with messy winter weather. After one snowstorm she dropped off windshield wiper fluid to her best clients. Her total cost was $157. Her results? Twelve closed referrals and $132,000 in commissions!
One of Mary Beth Eisenhard’s favorite Pop-Bys is a condiments pack for the Fourth of July. One year her $300 investment resulted in nine referrals and $66,000 in commissions.
Wendy Moore purchased 25 bottles of sunscreen for a total of $63. This simple gift helped her gain $17,000 in commissions.
Learn More About Working by Referral
Would you like to, as Carol, May Beth and Wendy (and thousands of other Buffini Members) do, enjoy a thriving business built on relationships with people you know and like? Then contact us first for a free Business Consultation.
In this 30-minute call, we’ll help you: Get clear on your vision, uncover what’s holding you back and see what’s working for others just like you.
If it feels like the right fit, you’ll have the opportunity to partner with a full-time, Buffini & Company Certified Coach who will help you grow and scale in alignment with your strengths — so your business not only succeeds but truly serves your life.