I watched an agent design a tag for a pie giveaway last week. It was a nice pie. The problem was the tag. About 90 percent of it was the agent, their logo, their headshot, their pitch and almost none of it was about the client it was going to.
A gift that was supposed to show gratitude ended up saying, “Look at me.”
That is the trap this time of year. We call it a pop-by, a gift, a reverse pop-by, whatever you want. If it is really about the referral, your client can feel it. The referral is already implied.
If you are good at your job and you stay in touch, they will send you people. You do not have to ask, and the asking is what cheapens the whole thing. So the rule for everything below is simple. Make it about them, not about you.
5 real estate gratitude ideas
1. Let them come to you
Every fall, our offices open their doors and agents invite their clients in to pick up a pumpkin or apple pie. The agent pays for the pies and sends the invites, and we handle the rest.
Company-wide, our agents hand out thousands of these, and it is one of the best returns on investment they get all year. Clients are happy to swing by, grab a pie and actually spend a few minutes with their agent heading into the holidays.
You can still drive around dropping off treats if you want, but letting them come to you turns a delivery into a visit.
2. Make the work social
Writing cards to your whole sphere is a boring job most agents do alone, so they put it off. We flipped it. In early November we host a Wine and Signs night, where the office buys holiday and Thanksgiving cards in bulk, puts on festive music or a movie, pours some drinks, and everyone writes their cards together.
The task gets done, the agents have a good time, and the office feels like a team. Find a way to make the chore something you look forward to and it actually happens.
3. Spend your time, not your money
Go to the Dollar Store, Dollar General or any local shop, and you will find plenty of holiday items that work just fine. The vast majority of your clients do not care what you spent, and they never will. What they remember is that you took time out of your day to think of them.
The gesture is the gift. The price tag was never the point.
4. Make it about who they are
If you want each gift to feel personal, stop by a home decor store and grab a mix of things, candles, nice utensils, a toy for the client with a dog. Match the gift to the person, and it lands completely differently than something generic with your name on it.
This is the opposite of that pie tag. The more it reflects them and the less it advertises you, the more it works.
5. Pick a time nobody else picks
Here is the move most agents miss: November and December, everybody is reaching out. Your client’s inbox and porch are crowded with it. You do not have to compete in that pile.
It is perfectly fine to hold off, reach out in January, wish them a great 2027 and surprise them with a pop-by then. A thank-you in the quiet stretch stands out far more than one more thing in the holiday rush.
Remember what you’re actually doing
None of this is about the pie or the candle. Those are just the reason to reconnect. What you are really doing is keeping a relationship warm with the people who built your business: your clients and the friends and family they send your way.
In a market where anyone can pull a home value off their phone in a few seconds, the relationship is the part that is yours. Nobody can automate the fact that you showed up, you remembered, and you cared enough to do something about it.
Treat your sphere like people you are grateful for, not a list you market to, and the business follows.
And it does not matter if you are doing this for 10 clients, 100 or 1,000. If you want to be remembered, this is what it takes. So if you are not already doing something like this every quarter, use the next 60 days as a trial run. Do it once, see how it feels and how your people respond, and let it convince you to do it at least four times next year.
That is how you stay the agent they think of, long after the pie is gone.
Kyle Crawford is VP of Strategy for Century 21 New Millennium. Get connected on LinkedIn and Instagram.
