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It’s essential for real estate professionals to feed their business relationships by showing appreciation to clients, whether through online giveaways, swanky events or other marketing vehicles. Practitioners who recently gathered at Keller Williams Realty’s Family Reunion 2025 event in Las Vegas exchanged ideas for growing their sphere of influence. Here are a few takeaways.
1. Draw New Leads With Online Giveaways
Laura Gillott, GRI, founder of The Gillott Home Team at Keller Williams in Lebanon, Ga., has promoted weekly online giveaways and contests on Facebook since 2018 to expand her customer database. Prizes may include Yeti coolers, cups in the shape of the Stanley trophy or VIP box seats to events at the local racetrack.
To enter one of Gillott’s giveaways, participants are required to engage with the Facebook announcement post and complete a Google form to register for the drawing. The form includes questions about participants’ real estate interests (i.e. buying a home or investment property) and a link to subscribe to Gillott’s real estate newsletter or sign up for a class on home buying, selling or investing.
For example, Gillot did a Mother’s Day giveaway that included a gift basket of $1,000 in prizes, such as gift cards for a catered brunch, car wash, cleaning products and more. She originally purchased the items from a local Boys and Girls Club auction. Gillott’s giveaway drew about 533 registrations in five days and generated 34 CMA requests, 20 referrals, 110 newsletter signups and about 100 class signups. Three months later, that one giveaway continued to pay off: Gillott’s team booked eight appointments, showed properties to five clients, listed and sold one property, and added 116 new leads to their database.
2. Turn YouTube Views Into Clients
Will Sawyer, an agent with Keller Williams Greenville Upstate in Greenville, S.C., credits YouTube as a lead generation source, contributing to $612,000 in gross commission income for him last year. Sawyer’s YouTube channel targets relocation buyers moving to the area, particularly retirees and empty nesters. He posts engaging videos about what he wish he knew before moving to Greenville or why people are relocating from California to the Carolinas.
In January alone, Sawyer got more than 50 new customer leads from his YouTube channel.
To produce his videos, Sawyer partners with his listing photographer and videographer to ensure professional quality. He posts consistently every Friday with a new video about eight to 13 minutes long. He repurposes these videos into YouTube shorts—about 30 to 60 seconds each—which he also can post on Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms.
In each video, he includes a call to action within the first 45 seconds, asking viewers to subscribe to his YouTube channel, visit his website or contact him for more information on the Greenville real estate market. Along with his YouTube channel, Sawyer maintains a Facebook group with some 35,000 members. He also reaches out with a weekly or bi-weekly newsletter to prospects, which includes local news, new listings, recently closed properties and client reviews.
3. Make Client Appreciation Events Extraordinary
Danny Baron, founder of The Baron Group at Keller Williams Advisors in Cincinnati, hosts large-scale client appreciation events that draw people by the thousands. The events, which he hosts four times a year, bring together people from his expansive sphere, creating thankful prospects and keeping him top of mind in his market. For example, Baron once invited 3,000 clients to a Cincinnati Reds baseball game. He partners with vendors and contractors to help defray the costs of the events.
Each event results in multiple client touch points, from hand delivering invitations to sharing photos on social media after the event. Baron hires a professional photographer and videographer for each of his events.
Baron has used client appreciation events as his main marketing initiative since starting in real estate. Even before selling a single home, he hosted a launch party for his business and invited 175 guests. Six years later, 100 of those attendees are now past clients who remain in contact with Baron.
4. Nurture ‘Raving Fans’ for Consistent Referrals
Seychelle Van Poole, team director of Van Poole Properties Group at Keller Williams Realty in Dallas, created a “Raving Fan” gift box system to show her appreciation to clients who send referrals or post online reviews of her service. Van Poole’s team sends up to 150 boxes quarterly to local referring clients, out-of-town referring agents, anyone who writes a positive online review, and key vendors and business partners.
“A referral shows a level of trust, and we want to say more than just ‘thank you,’” Van Poole says. “We also want to stay in front of them” so they’ll continue to send referrals.
The “Raving Fan” gift boxes are filled with items from local businesses, such as menu recipes and ingredients from an Italian restaurant. Van Poole says she tries to purchase items for her gift boxes during times when local businesses are experiencing low cycles. Each of her gift boxes costs around $20 to $25, including packaging and shipping. The boxes include a branded card—with a reminder that more gifts come with more referrals—and a booklet with a market update for those looking to relocate.
5. Get Face Time in Your Community
Disen Cai, founder of the Disen Cai Real Estate Group at Keller Williams Peninsula Estates in Burlingame, Calif., had zero clients when he started in real estate in 2013. So, he decided to focus on door-knocking and open houses to get face time with prospects—a move that continues to pay off for his business.
For four years, Cai would go door-knocking in a specific farm area—a neighborhood where his high school was located and had about 1,200 homes priced around $1.5 million. He presented himself as a real estate resource offering a service rather than trying a hard sales pitch. One interaction led to an elderly woman asking if he’d drive her to a salon every Wednesday—which he did for four years. After she passed away, her family asked him to sell her home.
Cai also has leaned into capturing clients at open houses, which also keeps him visible in the community. Prior to every open house, he would blanket the area with 20 to 30 open house signs. “It makes it look like we dominate whenever we have an open house,” he says. “And it helps get face to face when building relationships.”
