Today’s blog post is written by a guest author that we’re very fortunate to have contribute to our blog. The article below is by Barbara Gifford who is the Northern Regional Manager of REVStaffing. REVStaffing is one of the leading real estate virtual assistance companies in North America and Barbara has been supporting many of the top performing Agents in Canada and the United States for over seven years. She specializes in real estate relationship-building and online marketing.
Relationship-building is key to success in real estate. It’s the agent who shows genuine interest and compassion that gets noticed and inspires loyalty. To not only make sales but also enjoy regular referrals, you have to focus on building real connections with prospects, clients and other professionals. Later in this article, you’ll see why a CRM for Agents is instrumental to this.
As Professional Real Estate Virtual Assistants, we try to assist our clients to build new relationships but most importantly to maintain and nuture the relationships they already have. After all it is much easier to KEEP a client then to find a new one.
Relationship-Building Tips in Real Estate
1. Use a CRM for Agents to Remember Client and Prospect Information
Use a CRM for Agents to keep up with your contacts and remember their contact details. There’s little worse than making a client or prospect wait while you try to figure out how you know them. Likewise, if you contact a client with the wrong information, you will not only waste time, but you will also seem less interested in his needs.
Use a CRM for Agents to quickly pull up important information about your clients:
- Be sure to include little tidbits of personal information that show that you pay attention, such as details about your clients’ families, nicknames they prefer, where they grew up, and why they’re selling or buying.
- Include important dates like birthdays, graduations and anniversaries, so you can remember to send the appropriate greeting when they come up
2. Make Consistent Face-to-Face Contact
Technology makes it easy to pursue a business relationship without much in-person contact, but doing so can be a mistake.
Use your CRM for Agents to set-up a meeting with each new client or prospect before taking them out to view a property or attend an open house.
If your prospect has never met you, how can you expect him to feel loyal to you or trust your advice? Take the time to meet with your client, discuss his needs and chat for a bit.
This helps you in a few different ways. First, it helps you develop a rapport with a client and encourage trust. Second, it allows you to get a better sense of the client’s needs than you can gain over the Internet or through telephone conversations. Third, many clients will experience an overall increase in customer satisfaction when you provide personal contact.
3. Use Your Connections
Optimizing your connections is another important part of building relationships as a real estate agent:
- Let’s say you have umpteen connections on Twitter and more Facebook friends than you can manage. Well, what are you doing with them? These people are an important source for mentions, referrals and future business.
- Take the time to stay in touch by sending periodic messages just to catch up, sharing valuable information, and responding to their messages and posts.
- Think of ways to connect in person too. Inviting an influential person out for coffee can go a long way toward relationship building.
4. Remember to Follow-Up
Always follow-up with your clients and prospects. You need their business, so be sure to show them that you’re interested. Some tips:
- Don’t make your clients have to call you to share their thoughts on a property or their next move. You should take the initiative.
- Be proactive and call to check in, ask how things went and discuss the next steps.
5. Stay in Touch With Past Clients
If you’ve already made the sale, don’t become a stranger to your client. You never know when a client will need you again or know someone in need of your help. Some tips:
- Use your CRM for Agents to set the client up on a drip email nurture campaign.
- Interact with them via social media
- Comment on their photos, birthdates and more
- Use your CRM for Agents to remind you of key dates:
- Home anniversaries
- Children’s birthdays
- Find a reason to give them a call or send them a card. Use your CRM for Agents to schedule quarterly keep in touch calls.
- If you gave a referral, following up is still important. You can find out if the client received the help he needed and ensure that the client remembers your willingness to go the extra mile.
IXACT Contact is my CRM of choice and I hope it will be yours too. As a top CRM for Agents, it includes many features such as detailed contact profiles and contact histories, quick search capabilities, and a top of the line calendar and task list. There is also a business area for managing all buyers and seller information and many email marketing features, like a completed monthly e-Newsletter.
Sign up for a FREE five-week trial of IXACT Contact’s CRM for Agents today!
Do you have any other relationship-building tips you can share with us?
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