How to Ask For a Testimonial from a Real Estate Client

Why Testimonials Are the Lifeblood of Real Estate

Real estate is a highly competitive market and great testimonials will separate you from the competition. Whether your agency is based in a large metropolitan area or focused in on a much smaller market, testimonials can mean the difference between achieving or losing a sale.

Testimonials are highly effective because buying or selling a home is one of the biggest decisions people make. They want assurance that they are getting the right person for the job and one of the easiest ways of doing this is by providing social proof; examples of how other customers have used your services and benefited.

Testimonials can also be a great marketing tool for highlighting an aspect of your business, or service in a very natural and effective way. For example, if you want to focus in on the foreclosure market, providing written testimonials from customers that have gone through this process would be beneficial, so you need to learn how to ask for a testimonial from a real estate client

What Limited Testimonials Can Mean For Your Business

Having no, or limited testimonials can lose you customers. Not being able to provide solid client testimonials can indicate to prospects that you are either inexperienced, or do not have satisfied customers. So learning how to ask for a testimonial from a real estate client is very important.

Without testimonials, you will watch the competition move ahead of you. If one of your competitors can provide social proof, they will benefit, regardless of whether they provide a better service.

In addition, it will be very difficult to establish your authority as an expert. This is incredibly important, especially online when you do not have person-to-person contact and it will be difficult to establish yourself as a leader in your field without expert status.

How to Ask For a Testimonial From A Real Estate Client Effectively

Getting testimonials is not difficult; it just takes a small amount of planning and proactivity with former customers. For example, if a satisfied customer does not automatically provide you with a testimonial, contact them and ask for one. This takes you a short amount of time and can bring great results.

There are a few things to think about when looking for testimonials and one of the most important of these it to make sure that you pick a customer with an interesting story; your client testimonials will not be worth much if they send prospects to sleep!

In addition, it is wise to choose the right type of customer for your written testimonials.

Make sure it is someone who is representative of your target market and / or has authority within your market. An example of this is to make sure if your target market is a family, to represent this group in your testimonial example.

If possible, meet your testimonial provider in person and use a recorder for their interview; do not ask for email testimonials unless necessary as these are often less engaging. Also, be clear about the questions for real estate testimonials, be sure these relate to your business goals – is there a particular service area within your business you are looking to highlight or expand? Planning is a key factor in how to ask for a testimonial from a real estate client effectively.

Biggest Testimonial Mistakes You Can Make

When thinking of how to ask for a testimonial from a real estate client, these are a few things real estate agents shouldn’t do:

Provide false testimonials. This is unethical and can damage your status if discovered.
Polish the testimonial until it does not represent the original customers view; people want honesty and respond better to real language
Be overly positive – many people have worries, so if these are expressed within your client testimonials, do not worry it will seem more genuine.
Be vague – details of the benefits your services brought to people’s lives better engages future customers.