Soon, real estate professionals may start hearing from honest, open leads and prospects that they chose to work with another agent because “they [the real estate professional] does not “know” who they are.”
You may have the blog going, the active Twitter account, the fans on Facebook, interactions on ActiveRain, and profiles everywhere, but are you interacting with your leads, prospects, clients and past clients? Are you getting to know them and their wants and needs as related to real estate? Are they people or are they merely a number on your spreadsheet?
Can you picture the type of house that the new buyer you met online is looking for…and know they will be able to grow into it as their life stage changes? Do you know what their constraints are for this home? What is their wish list? What do they dislike? Make an effort to know your buyer and take notes if necessary. With the advent of smart phones, you can carry every tid bit of information on someone everywhere you go and reference it instantaneously.
Can you help the home seller who has contacted you and has a complicated financial situation to iron out that is intertwined with their home? What is their timeline like? What is realistic? Now, what frame of mind are they in to make selling their home a priority? Do they have other concerns — family issues, job issues — that are going to affect their home sale? Take time to sort out what you can do to help this seller and listen and refer them to others who can help them on other fronts.
The family that has been referred to you and is relocating to your town from two states over has special needs and requirements for their new home. Do you know what they are to help them make the best choice for their move? Are you reachable on their schedule to answer their last-minute questions and be around when they are in town looking for a home? Determine if you can accomodate their needs or help them find someone who can help them with special requests quickly.
If you are doing more talking than listening, you might consider stepping back for a while and observing. Really listen to what the buyer and seller needs and pick up the nuances you might not notice if you weren’t listening closely.
If you don’t know your leads, prospects and clients, you aren’t going to forge the relationship and get that business.
How do you determine that you “know” your sellers and buyers?
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