This Newsletter Strategy Gets Me Replies (And Referrals)

Most real estate agents know they should be staying in touch with their sphere—but the typical newsletter strategy isn’t working.

In this episode, I’m breaking down why most real estate newsletters get ignored, why your sphere isn’t sending you referrals, and the simple email strategy I use that consistently gets replies, conversations, and repeat business.

If you’ve been relying on market updates, just listed emails, or templated newsletters, this episode will show you a better way to stay top of mind—without social media and without spending hours creating content.

This is a practical, repeatable system real estate agents can use to generate more referrals from their database in less than an hour a month.

What You’ll Learn:

•  Why most real estate newsletters don’t get replies 
•  How to stay top of mind with your sphere consistently 
•  The “holiday letter” method for real estate agents 
•  How to generate referrals without social media 
•  A simple monthly email strategy for your database 
•  How to write a newsletter people actually respond to 

Links Mentioned:

👉 Dear Sphere Workshop on May 14th (write your first letter + system)
https://happyagent.co/dearsphere

👉 Join the Happy Hustle Email
https://happyagent.co/subscribe

👉 Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/lindsay.dreyer
https://www.instagram.com/happyagentco

*****************************************************

Let's stay connected! 

💼 Coaching with Lindsay – happyagent.co/coaching

Get personalized strategy, support, and mindset shifts to scale your real estate business without sacrificing your joy.

🎓 Happy Agent Academy – happyagent.co/academy

Your go-to resource for freebies, on-demand courses, templates, and tools to help you grow a thriving real estate business. 

📩 Join the Happy Hustle Newsletter – happyagent.co/subscribe

Weekly insights, strategies, and real talk to help you build wealth, lead boldly, and create a business you love. 

📲 Connect with Happy Agent Co. on Instagram or Facebook – instagram.com/happyagentco

📲 Connect with Lindsay on Instagram or Facebook – instagram.com/lindsaydreyer

Transcript

Why Typical Newsletters Get Ignored

The Holiday Letter Breakthrough Story

Workshop Invite And Why It Works

The Four-Part Holiday Letter Recipe

Consistency System And Using AI

Workshop Details And Final Push

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Hello, friends, and welcome. I am Lindsay, your host, brokerage owner, real estate coach, busy mom of three. And we are talking about something that I think every single agent needs to hear, including past Lindsay. And we are talking about your sphere. Specifically, why you're not staying in touch with them. And even more specifically, because you guys know I like sp specificity, is why the way most agents try to stay in touch actually isn't working. Now, before you tune out, because I know you've heard the whole like, you need to stay in touch with your sphere speech a million times. I promise that this is different. Because today I'm not just going to tell you to do it. I'm going to show you exactly how, with a method that I use that takes less than an hour a month, sounds nothing like the typical real estate newsletter, and consistently generates more replies, which means more conversations, which means more referrals and repeat business. And this is really more than anything else than I do in my business. It is a massive, massively generator. It is called the holiday letter method, and I created it, of course. And by the end of this episode, you're going to understand why it works and exactly how you can start. So this is stop ghosting your sphere and let's get into it. There is a lot of guilt surrounding ghosting your sphere. So I want to start with that because I know that it's a little bit uncomfortable. And most agents are ghosting their sphere. Like, let's just point blank say that. And I don't think that it's intentional and I don't think it's because they don't care about them, but it is honestly because life gets busy and your transaction pipeline takes over. And before you know it, six months have gone by and you haven't sent a single thing. And when that happens, most agents honestly feel really guilty about it because we care about our clients. We care about our people. And you know that you should be reaching out, but because you've waited so long, it now feels weird and it feels awkward. And so you wait a little bit longer, and that gap between their closing and you talking to them, it keeps growing. If that sounds familiar, you are not alone. Here's what I want you to know is that your sphere is not sitting around noticing that you haven't emailed them. They have a life too, they are busy, and most of them are not keeping score. They're honestly just living their lives in their new fabulous house or in their new fabulous city or town. But here's the issue is that when their neighbor or their coworker mentions that they're thinking about selling, your name doesn't even pop into their head. And it's not because they didn't they don't like you, it's not because they didn't like working with you, and it's not because they wouldn't necessarily recommend you, but it's because you haven't shown up in their world in a while and someone else has. There's a statistic out there that like every person knows at least 11 real estate agents. And I think that that is 100% accurate. And in order to be the agent that they think of, you have to stay in touch. And that is honestly the real cost of ghosting your sphere. It's like you just quietly fade from their memory. So if you aren't staying in touch in a meaningful way, you are missing out on business. I have seen it time and time again that the agents who get consistent referrals aren't necessarily the best agents, but they are the ones that are more present in people's lives. And I think with social media, we have really gone way too far down the path on this, where we think we're being present by posting on social media every day, every week. And that isn't presence. Like that isn't relationship building, that isn't necessarily showing up as you. And I know you guys know this, like I harp on this all the time, but you do not need social media to nurture your sphere. Is it a nice bonus? Sure. If you love doing it, great, keep doing it. If you don't, there are much more valuable and impactful ways to show up to your sphere that feels personal and that you can do consistently. Your sphere doesn't need to hear from you every single week, but they do need to hear from you every month. And my personal opinion is it needs to be at least twice a month. I like to do a direct mail, and then I also like to do an email. But one touch point a month is enough to stay top of mind if it's the right kind of touch point. And that is the key. Most agents are sending the wrong kind. And I want you to start sending the right kind of stuff to stay in touch in a meaningful way. So let's talk about what most real estate agents actually send when they are reaching out to their sphere. And I'm also using sphere as like your database. And to me, a database is people who know, like, and trust you, people who have used you in the past, and potential people who might use you. So here's what most agents are doing: they're sending market updates, just listed, just sold, um, Q3 recap, and it's like the quarterly newsletter with your headshot at the top and three tips for fall-home maintenance that you copied from your brokerage template. And here's the thing: none of that's actually bad, but it is completely forgettable. It's because it's all about real estate and none of it is about you. This might be a little controversial, but your sphere doesn't hire you because of your market knowledge. Yes, that's a bonus, but they are hiring you because they know you, they like you, and they trust you as a person. And sending a market update or just listed or just sold that doesn't build that. A true relationship does. So I want you to put yourself in your client's shoes. Think about this from a reader side or a client side. They get your just sold email. They think, oh, good for them, and then they move on. There's nothing about that email that made them feel connected to you. There's nothing in there that made them think of you when their neighbor mentioned they're thinking of selling. And the email isn't necessarily wrong. And I think that that's the hard part. It's just really ineffective. And it's actually training your sphere to ignore you. I remember I was talking to an agent and they were like, oh my gosh, I have this client. She always sends me business. She probably sent me like 15 referrals and she unsubscribed from my newsletter. And I'm like, yeah, because your newsletter is boring. It's not meant for connecting. So your sphere does not need more real estate content. They need more of you. So I want to dive into how I figured this out because I was doing exactly what you are probably doing right now. I was sending the typical real estate newsletters. They're professional looking, but they're really completely forgettable. The open rates were fine, but the reply rates were abysmal. So it was December, and holiday letters started rolling into my inbox as well as my actual physical mailbox. So, for you know, the ones from your relatives, your aunts, your grandparents. Like my grandparents' one is just like it's so funny because they're in their 80s and it just cracks me up. But I love reading them. And some of the ones we get from our friends from college are absolutely mind-bendingly hilarious, and I love them so much. So, you know, you know the type, right? It's the annual family update, what everyone did that year, the funny moments, the big news. And I honestly truly love reading every single one of them. And that's when the light bulb went off. And I was like, why am I not doing this for my sphere? So that day I sat down and I tried an experiment. I wrote my first holiday style update, and it kind of like was great because it was December. So it kind of like made sense. Um, it was personal, it was warm, it was like a little bit of real estate tucked in at the end, and I sent it to my list. I revolved around a story of how my husband is allergic to real Christmas trees, and he has been the entire time we've been together. So I have been torturing this poor man by bringing in a thing he is highly allergic to every single Christmas, and we decided to go fake tree. So I was basically telling this story of how I was gonna stop torturing my husband and we went fake tree. And so I was asking people what their opinions were on fake versus real. Um, I also included a little bit about like some winter maintenance. Um, and I ended up getting 12 replies. 12 replies from one email, and that had like, and I consider that like a newsletter email, right? That had never happened before. So I tried it again in January. Same thing, more replies from different people, new conversations. And I was like, oh my gosh, I think I'm on to this. And so I've been sending this every month since, and those emails consistently generate the most conversations, the most replies, and yes, referrals. So I am teaching you this in my workshop that I'm hosting on May 14th. The holiday letter method works, and I want to give you the whole system and help you write your first one. So on May 14th, the workshop is called DeerSphere. It is$47. Replay is included. You can grab your spot and learn more at happyagent.co slash Deersphere. And I'll give you the full Dets at the end of the episode. But if you're like, whoa, Lindsay, lib bulb moment, this sounds amazing. I think this would really work for my sphere and my database, then you'll definitely want to check out the workshop. The reason the holiday letter method works is because it leads with you, your life, your personality, and your world. It does not feel like a newsletter. It feels like a note from someone that they actually know. And I want you to think about why do we read those holiday letters from our relatives cover to cover? It's because they're personal, because they're warm, because there's a real human on the other side. And that's exactly what your sphere wants from you. And when it feels like that, people actually reply. They actually open the email. And then conversations happen. And when conversations happen, referrals flow. We are known and loved by our clients. Like they absolutely, like, there's nothing like it, honestly, like two over two decades in real estate. And I am still astonished at how close I get to my clients. Like by the end of a transaction, 95% of them feel like close friends. So it's not weird to send this to them because we have spent so much time getting to know each other. And people want to refer people that they connect, they feel connected to. And your newsletter is how you can stay connected at scale, which for the agents that have been in the business a while, your database is big. Like you have a lot of past clients and sphere in there. And so, how do you stay connected at scale? And the holiday letter method is a really powerful way to do it. And I want to share it with you. So let's dive into the actual recipe and what goes down, what goes into a holiday letter because it's so much simpler than you think. Every holiday letter has four sections, and it is the same four sections every single month. You can tweak the names, make it yours. I encourage you to do that. But what changes every month is what we put inside each of the sections. And once you have this recipe, you will never, ever, ever stare at a blank page again. And it is simple. Like we are making this text only. It does not have to have images. You can throw in an image or two if you like, if it supports the story or builds relationship. But let's get into the sections. The first section is the human moment. This is your hook. This is your personal story, life update, maybe seasonal moment. Maybe it's something that made you laugh, but this is the part that people read first and it's what makes them keep reading. The key is that it's real, it's warm, it's human, it's specific. It is something that AI could never ever know or write. And that is what we are craving right now. In the age of AI slop, everywhere, we want to know that there's a real person behind what we are sending. And that human moment, that hook, that is exactly what kicks this newsletter off on the right foot. Section two is real estate right now. This can be a useful observation about your market, not a data dump, not a pitch, but it's just one thing about real estate right now that your sphere would actually find interesting. And this is the section that reminds them that you sell real estate without ever having to tell ask them for referrals or asking them to buy or sell with you. And this is just, it even could be like a listing you found really interesting. So just real estate right now. You can customize it, make it yours. And that is section two. Section three is home and community. And this is also flexible. I don't know if you're seeing this, but it's flexible, and this is how we personalize it to our sphere. Home and community is one practical home tip or one local community call out. It could be a business you love, an event happening around town, could be a maintenance reminder. Um, the state of New Hampshire was giving out free radon tests, and that's what I put for um February's message was that make sure you get your free radon test. We actually had a high level and we had a radon mitigation system. So that was like a good tip. This month we're doing um reminder on carbon or ants because it's a big deal right now in the spring when it gets wet and warm. Um reminding everybody like if you don't have a service contract or just keep an eye out for them. So this is what's positioning you as the hyperlocal expert who actually lives in the community. So again, it could be home related, it could be something in the community related, but it's showing that you're actually a hyperlocal expert who lives here. And then section four is just the clothes. This is your warm sign-off. It could be a soft question for them to reply to. Um, it could be how can they reach you? That's it. It is no hard sell, it's just a door left open. And this might seem so simple, but what I love about this recipe is that it works because it's balanced. You're a real person first, a neighbor second, a real estate agent third in that order every single month. So let me give you a real example of how this plays out. One of the agents I work with used the holiday letter method consistently over several months. And she got a referral for a seller listing from a neighbor of one of her contacts. So, someone who had never used her as their agent, never bought or sold with her. They literally just knew her from the few newsletters that she had sent out. And that neighbor had been reading her letters every single month and it felt like they knew her. And so when she was like hobnobbing with fellow neighbors on the street and they mentioned they were thinking of selling, that agent's name came up immediately in their mind. And that's the compounding effect of consistency. You're not just staying in touch with your sphere, but you're quietly building relationships with everyone they knew too. And that is something I think real estate agents forget, you probably forget it too, which is like you don't necessarily just want to do business with your sphere. We want to do business with your sphere's sphere. And that is the magic, is that if we can tap into that personal relationship, being a human first, it really does create this magic recipe for referrals. So if you want to dive in specifically on how I do the four sections, that workshop Deer Sphere on May 14th, you can get the full recipe. We'll write your first letter together, and you will leave with the system to make it happen every single month. And also how you can use AI to interview you to make it easier. Go to happyagent.co slash deersphere to grab your spot. Consistency doesn't just keep you top of mind with your sphere, but it reaches everyone they know. And I don't want you to forget that. All right, so you're sold, right? You're like, okay, Lindsay, I'm in. Let's do this. I want to write this letter. So it's all about making it a habit and making it sustainable. So the method only works if the letter actually goes out. And most agents don't fail at the writing portion, but they do fail at the consistency. So the fix is pretty simple. You make one decision and you just put on your calendar. I personally send it on the third Tuesday of every month, same week, same day. It's just one recurring calendar event where I write it and then schedule it. So it's one hour total, and like literally, that's the whole system. The other thing is I have a notes app during the month where I capture story ideas. So you never have to start from scratch. So if I have something that happens, I'm like, ooh, that would be a good idea for my newsletter. So essentially keeping that like running notes of what's going on or like ideas that I have. And then I've also trained AI to be my writing assistant. Like they're my writing tool. And so that helps me shape my draft. So it takes a fraction of the time. Do I let AI completely write it? No, absolutely not. But it is giving me a first draft based on what my story is, what I'm thinking, the ideas I have for that month. And that's it. Like after a few months, it really you get in the groove. Like it stops feeling like a task and it starts feeling like second nature. I also send the happy hustle, which if you are not subscribed, get on, because it's very similar to the holiday letter, um, happyagent.co slash subscribe. But that is, I've sent, oh my gosh, over a hundred happy hustles. And I will tell you, like once, and that's weekly, like once you get into the groove on sending an email, you're just gonna stick to it because you just get that momentum and you wanna keep going. And honestly, if you skip a month or it's a week late, no one's gonna notice. But that consistency is when the referrals really start coming in. And it's when your sphere starts realizing that you're showing up every single month without fail. So here's the thing: everything I just taught you is the why and the what, and the holiday letter method, the four sections, the recipe, the stories. But knowing the method and actually doing it are two very different things, which is why I wanted to host this workshop. So that's why I created Dear Spear, which is the 90-minute live workshop where we actually do this together. So here's what you're gonna walk away with. You will have the complete four-section holiday letter recipe that's yours every single month. We'll write your first letter, it will be done, it will be ready to send. I will also give you my AI super prompt, which will essentially have AI walk you through writing your letter section by section every month in your voice and the simple habit system so it actually goes out consistently instead of having it on your to-do list forever. It's Thursday, May 14th from 1:30 to 3 Eastern,$47 and replays included. So if you can't make it live, you can still get everything. If you're interested, grab your spot at happyagent.co/slash deersphere. Your sphere already likes you. They already trust you and they just haven't heard from you in a while, and that's okay. We don't have to make it awkward, and it won't be awkward when we kick it off with your first holiday letter. That one email a month seriously will change everything. Hope to see you on May 14th. Thank you so much for spending time with me today. If this episode resonated with you, I'd love it if you could share it with an agent friend who might need to hear it because honestly, every agent needs to be doing this. You can find me on Instagram at lindse.dryer or happyagentco, and all the links from today's episode are in the show notes. Go write that letter. Your sphere is waiting. Until next time, stay happy.