January is a great time to reconnect with your past clients and sphere of influence. The hustle and bustle of the holidays are over. People are settling back into their regular routines (and likely doing a bit of hibernating and recuperating!) — it’s the perfect time to update your client records to make sure you don’t miss out on celebrating their birthdays and anniversaries and of course, make sure you stay top of mind with them throughout the year.
Think about what questions you want to ask. A beginning-of-the-year survey can be a great time to get birthdays and anniversaries that you may miss in your calendar. Still, it can also be a great time to update cell phone numbers (since we know those change!), addresses of those in your database which may be renting, kids’ names and birthdays, pets’ names (and birthdays!), and more. Also, consider asking for favorites: restaurants, flowers, hobbies, sports teams — find ways to connect with your clients outside of real estate and add details to your database that help you get to know your clients even better.
Here’s a version of our January Client Survey — I invite you to take the survey (don’t worry, I won’t share your info with anyone!), so you can take note of the questions and content, copy and paste what you like, create your own version!
And then schedule it to send to your database in the first week of January… If you really want to incentivize your clients to respond, offer a drawing for a gift card for anyone who completes the survey before the end of the month.
A few options for creating your own survey, if you aren’t already using a survey platform: Google Forms (free), Wufoo, Survey Monkey, and Typeform. I prefer Google Forms, but find the one you like best! To help you decide, here’s a great article that compares seven different online survey options.