Million Dollar Team Principle #66
Every New Client Gets a Handwritten Letter & Gift From the Company
Agents get it all wrong because they only see the client as “real” once the deal closes.
If you wait until closing to show appreciation, you’ve already missed the opportunity to build trust, loyalty, and reciprocity.
Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize-winning psychologist and author of Thinking, Fast and Slow, explained that people don’t remember every detail of an experience.
They remember the peak moments and the ending.
If the only “peak” moment your client remembers is when the deal closed, you’re gambling with their long-term impression of your business.
BECAUSE MOST CLIENTS DON’T CLOSE!!!
Do you get this concept? Your reputation is built by the clients you close; it is built on the backs of those who don’t.
Instead, you must create early peak moments.
Robert Cialdini, in his work Influence, identified reciprocity as one of the most powerful principles of persuasion.
When you do something genuine, thoughtful, and unexpected for someone, they feel a strong pull to reciprocate, not because they’re forced to, but because it’s human nature.
A handwritten note and a gift at the very start of the relationship trigger this principle immediately.
Most agents rationalize: “Why spend money if I don’t know if they’ll transact?
Why invest in someone who might not close?”
But that’s wrong. You already spend money on marketing their home or gas in your car for showings; those are transactional costs.
They don’t build relationship equity.
At our company, every new client who signs a buyer or listing agreement gets:
A handwritten letter, mailed to their home, is personal, tangible, and lasting.
A gift and swag package when they come to the office for the first time, something thoughtful they’ll keep and use to remember us.
A mailed gift that arrives at their house to surprise them, solidifying the relationship from day one.
This isn’t about the transaction. It’s about the decision. When people do decide to buy or sell, they won’t shop around because they already know who values them most.
As Kahneman reminds us: “We are not thinking machines that feel, we are feeling machines that think.”
Clients will rationalize with numbers, but they decide with emotion.
And as Cialdini taught us, the person who gives first creates the strongest pull toward loyalty and action.
Every new client is a chance to create goodwill and raise the standards of how real estate is done in your community.
Don’t wait until the closing table. Lead with gratitude, and the business will follow.
