Kim Renshaw of Arroyo Grande, California has always taken a personal approach to her real estate business by showing care for the local community she serves, whether it’s lending her local expertise to her neighbors with home-related questions, referring other local businesses, or sponsoring Adopt-a-Highway programs to create a safer and litter-free neighborhood.
With over 14 years of real estate experience and an ongoing commitment to give back to the community, it’s no surprise Kim’s real estate business was thriving. But when it came to local advertising and getting the word out about her business, she felt her options were limited and lacked a personal touch. She had no problem getting lead contacts from other real estate advertising solutions, but the leads were cold and ineffective. When Kim discovered Nextdoor for real estate agents, she later found that it was the missing piece to her marketing puzzle.
By using postcards in the same ZIP codes she sponsored on Nextdoor, neighbors began to take notice and began reaching out. It turned out that Kim’s neighbors had also recognized her face through her Adopt-a-Highway sponsorship signs in the town, and used Nextdoor to communicate with her.
This led to a neighbor asking for help selling his home. The neighbor needed help with a carpet job in his house, and Kim responded with a recommendation. It turned out the carpet job was one of the ways he was preparing to sell his home, and he later reached out, asking her for help selling his home. She says, “He said, ‘As soon as I get the house ready, you’re the one’. Who wouldn’t want that versus someone shopping around and talking to five other REALTORs?”
In getting started with Neighborhood Sponsorships, Kim did her homework. She states: “I understand the importance of taking the time to get to know the system to be successful. If an agent took the time to do their marketing correctly, he/she would get more qualified leads from Nextdoor. You may get volume from other competitors, but I would prefer to get one quality warm lead over dozens of cold leads.”
On how she found success on Nextdoor, she advises, “You can’t go into this expecting you signed up for the next big thing to be fed leads. You have to do the work. Don’t expect it in the first month. Or the second month. You need to be engrossed in the community and the ZIP code you sponsor. You need to build your relationships to build trust, and not ask for anything back.”
Kim believes her efforts are paying off: getting exposure offline with marketing postcards and building an online presence through Neighborhood Sponsorships in the same ZIP codes, continuing to pursue her community building programs, and being a helpful neighbor to those in need. “I have built and continue to build my real estate business not off a list of contacts but by trusted relationships developed over time. I don’t want to be known as an agent that is there to sell sell sell or buy buy buy. What is more important to me is what can I do for my community to add value and help other local businesses and the neighbors.”
As a business owner who has built the success of her business on the local community relationships, Kim says, “Nextdoor makes my marketing whole. If an agent wants to approach his/her business with a personal touch and become a community leader, Nextdoor is the perfect platform.”