Whether you're answering questions for a client or responding to an inquiry from a referral, you're going to want to acknowledge the message and set an expectation for a detailed answer as quickly as you can. When the issue is simple, you can quickly resolve it, but if you need more time say so! The point of this strategy is not to make you jump every time a client makes contact, it's to let the clients and potential clients know that your attention is on them. The right realtor communication tools can even automate this process, giving you a way to set up a couple of easy responses that you can use when you need to let a client know you've seen the message and you need more time to answer fully. This gives you the time needed to do good work, it takes some of the communication process and makes it easier to handle, and it also leaves the client feeling like you are ready to help them at any stage in the process. Make sure you login to your Agent Dashboard and set up your App's Chat bot message to automate a greeting to every new user in you App, so no one falls through the cracks.
If you represent sellers, you need to understand as much about their neighborhood as you can. It's the only way to effectively answer queries about the school district, neighborhood association, and other important features of the area beyond the borders of the property. When people buy a home, they're not just buying a property. They are also buying proximity to and involvement in the local community. That means being able to show clients which communities meet their needs will be vital to putting buyers into your sellers' homes. In a recent Tom Ferry podcast: Achieving Real Estate Success in a Luxury Vacation Home Market, he talks with BHHS Jackson Hole’s Kurt and Tim Harland about crediting their success to building relationships in their community.
"For me the connection to the community is huge...it's that connectivity with the people. Yes, you look outside and its beautiful, there's power of place...but what really makes this place hum is the quality of the people, and knowing that is what will build that trust." - Tim Harland
On the other side, if you are working for the buyers, you will want to brush up on the hottest parts of town. If you're in an area where you can learn all the neighborhoods in your city, that's even better because you will be able to guide clients who want something a little more out of the way as well as those heading in the direction of the current trends. Some cities are just too big to make that work, so stick to your territory through your real estate farming strategy and concentrate on researching for the client you are with, so you can present them with options that make you look like you know everything without dropping the curtain and showing them the behind-the-scenes prep.
Real estate email marketing is one of the most cost effective and time effective ways to stay in touch with clients who are in the early stages of their search. You can send messages with updates about new properties in the area, include notes about changes the entire client list might like to know like a rotation in the local school board leadership, and with the right realtor app you don't need to spend more than a few minutes a day to stay on top of things. It takes time to get into a good rhythm when it comes to updating the email list, but you can easily integrate forms into websites to get people signed up, and when you are sending them new homes to consider, they've got a good reason to take a look.
You need partnerships in the community to make this work, and the better the people you work with the better your business will be. That's because professional pest control specialists, home inspectors, and home improvement contractors all see people who are preparing houses to sell, which means they can pass your name along, giving you the same referral business you send their way when you connect your clients to them for inspections and other services. To stay on top of things you need to do two things. First, you need regular contact with your partners to stay in touch and follow up on recent events. You'll also need to devote some time to reviewing your choices to be sure their service is up to your quality standards. Yelp and other sites that have reviews should be a good resource for this. Remember, your clients will refer you if they have a great experience, and the services they get while buying and selling are going to shape that experience, so you want to be able to give good referrals if you expect to get them.
