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This post was updated May 9, 2025.
When agents dream of their ideal business, it’s usually driven by most of the business coming from referrals and their sphere of influence. That is the type of business Jana Bruce, serving the Houston, Texas, market, has built. In this article, she shares a model that you can duplicate in your market and how appreciation, hospitality and relationships are the driving factors behind her success.
Everything starts with appreciation
The foundation of every great referral-based business is showing appreciation and staying top of mind. Many agents are overwhelmed by the thought of large client appreciation businesses and forget that appreciation doesn’t have to be lavish or over the top. Often it is the little things that are most appreciated by clients.
Bruce said, “Letting my clients know how much they are appreciated is always my main focus. For me, it starts with the basics of handwritten notes. These could be thanking someone for a referral, sending a note of condolence when someone suffered a loss in their family, or congratulations on a family or business achievement. These notes only cost a stamp and the time to write them, but those personal notes give me the ability to genuinely communicate how much I appreciate them as friends, not just as clients.”
In luxury, uniqueness and quality matter
When it comes to luxury quality, unique marketing is expected. Bruce maintains this through her unique mailers to her “VIPs” and through her social media posts that define her brand. “I maintain a VIP list of clients and people who have sent me referrals. This list accounts for a large part of my business, so I send them postcards or unique mailers roughly twice a month,” Bruce shared.
This is an example of a mailer to her VIP group she has prepared for St. Patrick’s Day. She will be including a lottery ticket with the following messaging.
When it comes to social media, Bruce focuses on sophisticated photography to turn posts that many agents produce into unique content. This is an example of a typical market update done in her style.
Another example of a unique spin on a typical agent post is the following. Instead of the standard Happy Valentine’s Day post, this post highlights interior design features themed in the tones of the holiday.
Hospitality deepens relationships
Hospitality can take the form of many variations, but the heart of it is in making others feel special. Bruce provides hospitality in a number of different ways.
One monthly way is through a local bakery that provides her with custom cookies made with varying messaging for home anniversary months. Some of the cookies include a picture of the client’s home, others Bruce’s logo, while still others say Happy Anniversary with their home purchase date. These are delivered to all her past clients with home anniversaries for the month. She delivers these personally to her clients’ homes along with a handwritten note.
She also loves hosting people in her home for dinners or special occasions. The dinners involve her inviting three or four other couples into her home to join her and her husband for a dinner party. These dinners include friends, clients and prospective clients. They can be as simple as serving a meal she’s prepared to breaking out her silverware and having a caterer come into her home to serve a fine dining experience for them and their guests. These dinner parties create lifelong friendships and clients.
She and her husband also host themed events in their home for groups as well. From themed Super Bowl parties to a Fat Tuesday event during Mardi Gras, events also play a part in the hospitality she shares. These events involve hiring staff to serve dinner to the guests, a bartender, and even entertainment like a brass band for the Fat Tuesday event. The guests feel welcomed and appreciated. That is the connection and emotion that lead to repeat clients and referrals.
Community involvement matters
Bruce is involved in her community as well. This varies from being present at the local country club she and her husband are members of to giving back to the community that has given so much to her. Her involvement in the country club includes playing tennis, golf, and additional group activities with other ladies in the club. This again leads to deeper and new relationships as she meets and interacts with other ladies.
She also stays involved with giving of her time to community-focused events. The following is a post about her involvement with the Houston Business Journal’s Mentoring Monday event. This is an event where she is able to provide mentoring to others through her experience and successes in the same way mentors have helped her along the way in her career.
Events expand reach
As her business has expanded, so too have the size and scope of the events she puts on for her clients. She recently hosted a client appreciation Valentine’s Mahjong Tournament. This event featured drinks, food, Mahjong, and client giveaways including a Gucci serpentine clutch. The event included a Chinese lion dance performed in between rounds of play, culminating in an event her attendees will not soon forget. To see a video showing some of the highlights, check it out in the Instagram Reel linked below.
If you’re looking to build a referral-based business, don’t get overwhelmed with all that Jana Bruce does. It didn’t start out with the high-end events and dinner parties that she does now. It all started with her heart to connect with and serve others.
Bruce closed by saying, “I genuinely care about all of my clients. Most become friends if they are not already friends before we do business. If you want to grow your business, start by finding a group of people you enjoy being around and serve them at a level where they know how much you care and they feel appreciated. By continually being connected to your clients and sphere of influence, you will have success.”
Jana Bruce can be found on Instagram.
