SendOutCards For Realtors – 25 Tips For Maximum Success
We often get so busy as Realtors that we don’t have as much time to invest in our client relationships as we would like. The solution to this is SendOutCards for Realtors.
SendOutCards is an automated, web-based system that helps you stay connected and have a lasting impact on your clients. For a full breakdown of SendOutCards’ pricing plans and an in-depth tutorial on setting up the system, check out this post.
Below, I’ll share 25 tips on how to best use the SendOutCards system.
SendOutCards For Realtors – How It Doubled My Referral Business
1. Update Your Database Regularly
Ideally, you should update your database with new contacts monthly or quarterly. This way, if a contact’s birthday is at the end of the year, they will still get a card. I prefer to add new contacts monthly and update my current contacts every six months to keep my database accurate.
2. Add Potential Clients to Your Database
Even if someone hasn’t purchased a home from you, add them to your database so you can keep in touch with them. These are people you already have a relationship with, who know, like, and trust you. These could be friends, family, or co-workers. Adding these people to your database is an excellent way to use SendOutCards for Realtors to get more referrals.
3. Utilize Heartfelt Cards
These are one-off cards that you send outside of your scheduled campaigns. Use Heartfelt cards to thank someone after meeting with them, after they give you a referral, and whenever you hear about a special occasion in someone’s life.
If you select one of SendOutCards’ paid plans, you’ll receive a certain amount of Heartfelt cards each month.
4. Send Your Campaign Whenever You Want
Campaigns usually come with a pre-selected send-out time. Cards are typically sent out at three month intervals from the time your purchase the campaign. However, you can customize this so that you can send your cards whenever you like.
For example, you can choose to send the first card of the campaign immediately, and send the follow up at six months.
5. Attach Gifts
SendOutCards has many different gift options, such as cupcakes, brownies, treat packages, and novelty gifts. However, the more expensive gifts can quickly add up, especially if you have hundreds of people in your database.
I’ve created a top 25 tier in my SendOutCards database, made up of clients of mine that give me the most business and referrals. I make sure to send them more expensive gifts to show my appreciation.
6. Import Your Entire Database at Once
If you have separate databases for your prospects, current clients, and sphere of influence, combine them into one database to upload to SendOutCards, rather than uploading each one separately.
Once you’ve combined all of your databases into one big spreadsheet, make sure you delete any duplicate entries, ensure the information is accurate, and then create groups for each segment of your database. These groups will appear in SendOutCards when you import your database, so that you can easily organize your list by the desired group.
7. Only Input Relevant Information
Even though SendOutCards has fields for phone numbers and email addresses, you don’t need to collect this information because you are only sending physical mail. The only information you should collect is name, mailing address, birthday, home purchase anniversary date, and spouse’s name, if applicable.
8. Use Groups to Organize Your Database
In your spreadsheet, have a column that assigns each person a group. You can have a group for your contacts receiving just birthday cards, another for your contacts receiving only anniversary cards, and one for those receiving both. You can also create groups for your sphere of influence, potential clients, and top 10 tier.
You can have as many or as few groups as you want. Once you import your database, SendOutCards will automatically sort them into these groups.
9. Do Something Special for Your Top Clients
You can keep everything simple by keeping all your clients in the same group. But if you want to go the extra mile, set up a separate group for your top clients and reward them with special gifts. If you can afford to do so, giving nicer gifts to your valuable referral partners is a great way to show your appreciation.
10. Stay Top of Mind with Current Prospects
Even if you don’t have a close relationship with your prospecting group yet, you can still consistently send them cards to stay top of mind. I personally send cards to my prospecting group quarterly, on top of the campaigns for my other groups.
These should contain a simple message thanking them for their support and telling them that they can reach out if they ever need anything.
11. For Smaller Databases, You Don’t Have to Set Up Campaigns Right Away
You can simply import your database to SendOutCards without setting up a campaign, and the system will send you email notification reminders for when your contacts’ birthdays and anniversaries are coming up. This way, you can send people one-off cards as each date approaches. While this works for smaller databases, you’ll want to utilize campaigns if you have a hundred or more contacts.
12. Sign Up for a Paid Plan for Best Results
To get the best out of SendOutCards for Realtors, including discounts on gifts, you should sign up for a paid plan. The best SendOutCards pricing plan for you will depend on how many contacts you have in your database.
In general, I recommend the “Card A Day” plan for databases of less than 200 contacts, the “Unlimited + 100” plan for 200 – 500 contacts, and the “Unlimited + 250” plan for 500+ contacts.
13. Use SendOutCards to Update Addresses
If one of your clients has moved, the card you sent to them will come back to you. This way, you can know which address you need to update. You should change it immediately so that you don’t keep sending out cards to the wrong address.
You can also use county tax records to manually verify addresses in your database, or look up addresses that you may not have already.
14. Set it and Forget it
To set up a campaign, you only have to log in to SendOutCards at the start of the year. The campaign will last for the entire year, and you won’t have to log in again until later in the year to set up next year’s campaign.
However, to get the most benefit from the system, I recommend logging in routinely to send Heartfelt cards, as well as to add contacts to your campaigns. This way, new contacts can begin receiving cards right away instead of waiting until the following year.
But even if you choose not to login to the system again, it’s nice to know that you will always have a baseline amount of cards going out to your current database for the year. Any extra work you put into SendOutCards is icing on the cake!
15. Change it Up
Pick different cards every year so that clients don’t get the same ones every time. SendOutCards offers a wide selection of designs, and you can also create your own. You can either upload your own photos or use free stock photos from sites like Pixabay, Unsplash, and Shutterstock.
16. Personalize Your Cards
Use photos, fonts, and colors to create a personalized card and message. Family photos or a photo of yourself are better than a generic stock photo. Also, upload your branding, logo, and signature onto your cards. You can use a site like Canva to create a digital signature for yourself.
17. Use SendOutCards Even If You Are a Brand New Agent
SendOutCards for Realtors is useful even if you are just starting. If you don’t have much of a database yet, just send cards to all your friends in the area, letting them know that you are in real estate now and would love to work with them or anyone they know.
So many agents underestimate the power of sending physical cards. In an increasingly digital world, it’s a nice change of pace to receive cards in the mail. Plus, the unexpectedness of receiving that card will stick in someone’s mind for months to come.
18. For Smaller Databases, You Can Add Contacts Individually
If working with databases sounds too technical, you can add each contact individually into SendOutCard’s Relationship Manager. However, this only works if you have a small database. If you have hundreds of contacts, the import method will save you time.
19. Start Right Away
You should set up SendOutCards now, even if you’re starting in the middle of the year. This way, you’ll be able to reach all the people with birthdays or home purchase anniversaries at the end of the year.
20. Send Cards Throughout the Process
If you want to take an extra step, send cards to your clients throughout the entire buying or selling process, not just after the closing. For example, send one after your first meeting, when you get under contract, and after the repair negotiations and appraisal.
This will create a deeper connection with your client so that by the time you get to closing, they will be more likely to give you a referral.
21. Stay Top of Mind with People You Are Close to
Keep up with the contacts you are especially close to by sending them Heartfelt cards for special events in their lives, such as marriages or job promotions.
I use photos that I save from their social media accounts to create custom cards. It makes the card more personal, and people tend to save them because it’s a printed photo of the memory.
22. Keep in Touch with Other Realtors
You can also use SendOutCards to thank your fellow Realtors. For example, any agent you’ve gone under contract with, or any agent who has sent you a referral.
23. Advertising
Use SendOutCards to send out advertisements for your Just Listed and Just Sold announcements. This will act as your “Evidence of Success,” by showing your database that you’re active and successful.
However, don’t go overboard with this because then all your cards will feel like advertisements. I strategically send them out once or twice a year, either when I have a special listing or a unique client story to share.
24. Mail a Card to Get Back in Touch
Use Heartfelt cards to send a card with a thoughtful message to someone you may not have spoken with in some time. I’ve found this to be a great way to get a dialogue going again, and I’ve even had clients take photos of the cards and share them on their social media.
People love to be thought of, so you don’t always need to have a specific reason to send a card other than you were just thinking about them.
25. Reach out to Acquaintances
Sending cards to people you meet at networking events is another great way to use SendOutCards for Realtors, because it can help you get more referrals. If you do get referrals, send another card thanking the person who referred you.
This takes being more intentional. We meet so many people throughout our lives. If you take the extra step of finding out their address, either by asking them or searching through tax records, then send a card to let them know you appreciated meeting them, you can go from acquaintance to relationship very quickly.
The number one goal as a real estate agent is to create as many relationships as possible. The Realtor with the most relationships will typically be the most successful.
Final Thoughts on SendOutCards for Realtors
SendOutCards for Realtors can be used in many creative ways to get you leads, referrals, and more clients. But more than that, it will make a significant impact on your clients by showing them you care. If you’d like to sign up for SendOutCards, please consider using my link here.
Note: SendOutCards has updated its pricing plans since the date of this video. Check out this post for the most up-to-date pricing information.
Will my leads received a gift or just a postcard?