3 Things Every Agent's Newsletter Should Include

By Tammy Northcutt

Tammy Northcutt is the Operating Principal of Keller Williams Realty Preferred in Orland Park and CEO of The Wexler Group Team.

How do you stay in touch with your sphere without feeling like you’re bothering people every time you reach out?

We hear this all the time from agents. And interestingly enough, a lot of agents out there would rather talk to complete strangers than pick up the phone and call someone in their database because they feel like they’re going to be a bother. And we get it. Nobody wants to be that agent who only reaches out when they want something.

But here’s the thing. That’s not what staying in touch has to look like. When we coach our agents on database communication, we don’t teach them to call and ask for business. We teach them how to consistently add value so that people are calling them. And when you do it right, it’s amazing how quickly that shift happens.

So what does that actually look like inside a newsletter? Here are the three things we teach our agents to include every single time.

1. A real market update that helps people understand what’s going on.

Everyone wants to know what’s happening with their home’s value. Are prices going up? Are they going down? What are rates doing? And for the people in your database who might be thinking about buying or selling down the road, being able to interpret the market for them is big.

And that’s the key word: interpret. There are resources out there that give consumers data, but having a real person break down what those numbers actually mean for their specific situation is completely different. Don’t just list the stats. Tell them what it means. Should they act now? Should they wait? What’s the smartest move in this market? You being the expert on that is really important, and it’s what keeps you positioned as their go-to person when the time comes.

The market shifts from neighborhood to neighborhood, city to city. When you’re updating your clients on a monthly basis about what’s actually happening in their area, you’re doing something most agents never bother to do. And your database notices.

2. Something personal or community-related that reminds them you’re a real person.

People want to work with someone they know, like, and trust. A newsletter full of nothing but data and statistics is useful, but it doesn’t build the kind of relationship that makes someone pick up the phone and call you over the three other agents they could find online in five minutes.

Share a client story. Talk about a local event you attended. Mention a small business in your area that you think people should know about. Give a behind-the-scenes look at what your week actually looked like. It doesn’t need to be long or polished. A few sentences go a long way.

This is also where your vendor connections come in. You’ve got your rolodex full of names and numbers of people you trust. When you open that up to your clients, contractors, cleaners, landscapers, whatever they need, you become the go-to resource for homeowners. That kind of value keeps people connected to you in between transactions.

3. Helpful content that has nothing to do with selling a home.

This is the one most agents skip, and it’s the one that keeps people actually opening your emails month after month.

Include something genuinely useful that isn’t about buying or selling. Home maintenance tips for the season, a cleaning checklist, landscaping ideas, local events worth checking out. The content doesn’t have to be complicated. It just has to be useful.

And here’s the thing we always tell our agents: think about how many times you hear from Amazon. Think about how many times you hear from your favorite store. Is it excessive? Not really, because they’re providing value every time. It’s only excessive when people feel like all you’re doing is asking for a sale. None of your touch points should be asking for a sale. When you do it right, your clients are going to come to you and tell you they need your services before you ever have to ask.

The bottom line.

Staying in touch with your database doesn’t have to feel like a chore and it definitely doesn’t have to feel like you’re bothering people. When you’re consistently adding value through market updates, personal connection, and useful content, you stop being “that agent who keeps emailing me” and you start being “the person I’m calling when I’m ready to make a move.”

The agents we work with who do this well aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets or the fanciest tools. They’re the ones who show up consistently and genuinely care about being helpful. And that consistency is what turns past clients into repeat clients and referrals.

If you want to learn how we teach our agents to set this up so it runs on its own, or if you’re looking for a brokerage that actually coaches you on how to grow your business, we’d love to have you come in. We’ll sit down with you, go through what your needs are, and show you how our tools and systems might fit into the way you’re currently doing business. No strings attached. Call us at 708-906-6377, email us at tammy@our1thing.com, or visit growth.our1thing.com. We’d love to hear from you.