Marketing Movements – Relationship Marketing

In the international Removals, Relocation and Mobility industry there are many industries and businesses that have a close and relevant connection to ours. One of these is the Real Estate Industry and more precisely the residential real estate industry. The importance and business potential of a relationship with the real estate industry is often over-looked by removals companies, so this is why we wanted to focus this Marketing Matters article on this very topic.
The importance of building a solid relationship with some of the big real estate agents in your city is huge! Let’s just think about the basic principle here, these real estate agents are selling properties, when a property is sold a family, office or business moves in and a moving company handles this move! It’s as simple as that. Now if you, as a moving company, form a good relationship with these real estate agents in your city, then the likelihood of them recommending your services increases. With more recommendations comes more business and with more successful moves comes more happy customers, who in turn will leave online reviews or recommend you. These successes can be marketed by your marketing team and you are on your way to ‘Marketing Perfection in the Moving Industry.’
How to start building a Real Estate relationship?
Real Estate agents can sometimes be hesitant about referring a customer to a moving agent that they are not familiar with as it can reflect badly on them if the moving company isn’t up to scratch. These Real Estate agents have their own reputations to care for and don’t want any bad reviews that come directly from the referral they have made. However, with that being said, real estate agents would love to have a reputable moving company where they can send their clients as this makes them seem to be a caring agent who goes that little bit further in customer service.
A great way to start this relationship building is by using one of the marketing tools we have talked about in previous editions – Postcard Marketing. Get your design team to make up a postcard with clear branding and services listed and have this sent out to real estate agents in your area. Don’t expect them the be emailing you right away with a long leads list and multiple recommendations. This is just to get your company know and your brand recognised! This is step one complete!
The next step is similar but on a larger scale but without breaking the bank. Fliers are received through our doors every day promoting supermarket offers, business services and events happening nearby. We are using this marketing tool next but on a slightly bigger scale. Identify five or ten estate agents in your city, have fliers designed and printed showing your services and branding, put ten or twenty fliers in an envelope and send them of to each real estate agent. The Real estate has already been aware of your brand and services from the postcard that was sent previously so when the fliers are received, they are even more likely to look into your services more.
You can even go a little further by maybe adding an offer specifically for the real estate agent. This can be along the lines of, ‘For each referral you receive ……..’ This incentive can be exposure in your marketing and social media campaigns or even monetary with a % referral bonus. It’s up to you but incentives work as they are after new clients too and there is such a close synergy between moving companies and real estate agents it’s in their interest too!
Another way to build relationships is to be active in local Chamber of Commerce meetings. You can guarantee that all of the top realtors are in attendance at these meetings and events. Chamber of Commerce membership and event attendance can be expensive though so maybe a more direct approach is better, faster and more targeted.
One thing that you must remember though, is that if you do receive an estate agent referral it must be handled with the utmost care. Give it the whole VIP service and make sure that you send pictures and a small write up to the real estate agent after the job is completed as this firstly, reassures the realtor that you can handle a move and maintain their reputation. Secondly, it keeps you fresh in their mind and provides them with valuable marketing material which in turn gets you more exposure.
Relationship Marketing is very important and the relationship with realtors is important so do it right and you will have a huge boost in business. Take care of the Realtor and they’ll take care of you!
Written by: Matthew O’Hagan