With the success of our online real estate lead generation system, we here at Real Estate Leads can safely assume that a good number of our new signups are going to be real estate agents who are new to the business and eager to hit the ground running. There’s no substitute for hard work and taking initiative to build your business, and getting our system behind you is a great co-starting move.
With that understood, networking is the real key to both establishing yourself in your region and making a name for yourself as a reliable professional. Learning how to network effectively is a must if this is going to be your chosen profession. With this understood, it’s quite surprising that so many realtors – both new and established – don’t do their best to maximize their networking efforts. Here’s our list of networking tips and suggestions which so many have found useful in the early stages of their real estate careers.
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Be Selective in Building your Professional Associates Team
Identify a successful realtor in your office or in the city. Chances are he or she has a collection of competent and trustworthy people that are critical to the success of their real estate business. The key is building relationships with individuals and firms in your community that have already built strong reputations for themselves.
These individuals can be your mortgage broker, home inspector, tradespersons, or anyone else with whom you’ll be doing repeat business that’s mutually beneficial. Also aim to build good working relationships with complementary businesses, most namely real estate industry vendors with whom you don’t directly compete. Make it a goal to identify and meet a network of vendors to whom you can refer clients, and vice versa. It will do immensely beneficial for your professional network.
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Create a Professional Website, and Start Blogging on It
It’s highly advisable to see your real estate business as a digital media business and communicate and promote it via digital means as often as possible. This starts with your website; make sure to have one that is modern, attractive, and laid out with functionality first in mind. We’ll go ahead and assume that few if any of you are capable of building one on your own, and so it’s best to spend the money it costs to have yours built and nicely detailed by a web design professional.
It’s also wise to buy into the belief that every house tells a story. Many times the character and story of a home is lost in its listing description, but if you host a blog through your site (and you should) you have unlimited opportunities to expand upon the detailing of the house and its benefits. You don’t have to possess any natural ability as a writer, just be yourself and start writing. If you’ve got concerns about grammar, spelling, or anything similar of the sort you can hire an editor to go over your stuff once a week.
Make use of local imagery and don’t rely on stock building and property photos. Showcase the best that your area has to offer by publishing high-res photos of local town landmarks and familiar sites. That successful real estate is often the product of great photography is oh so true. Keep that in mind for your website
Last but not least, take every opportunity to link to other reputable real estate information sources from your website / blog. It will establish your authority.
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Social Media
Social media is now well established as a powerful tool to connect with your clients, and it also creates a great opportunity to share your knowledge and expertise with your clients in an easily shareable and digestible format. When other users interact with your social media posts, respond to all inquiries, emails, and messages across all channels without delay (checking every night at some point is a good idea).
Interact with users, share good press, and promote your properties but don’t overdo it – you don’t want to bombard viewers with your listings and make them become resentful of the overload. Make yourself easy to contact and it’s recommended be an active user on multiple channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc). Facebook and Twitter are best for sharing your listings, and you then promote your properties on major real estate aggregators like Zillow and Trulia. Don’t be overly ‘salesy’ in your communications, keep it natural and more along the lines of ‘hey, you might want to just have a look at this.’
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Attend Conferences and Industry Events
Some people will not be receptive to this suggestion, and usually because they think ‘I go all day and I need to rest in the evening.’ Try to dial up the energy and commitment to get to these events, as they’re also very beneficial! These networking events are about engaging with other professionals in your industry. You should see them as opportunities to learn about new market information and innovations your colleagues are using to the benefit of their business. Not only will you learn for yourself, but they’ll be receptive to your interest and most of them will be happy to have further ‘work-related’ conversations with you in the future. Eventually, they may come to hold you in high regard and be willing to refer you.
When there, also try to expand your geographical network by engaging with influencers from other areas of your Province and, once you’re a veteran of these events, make it a point to look up your past connections for coffee or drinks. You’ll be maintaining and strengthening your relationships.
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Be Active in Your Local Community
It’s very important to be able to build rapport with others and relate to different types of when you work as a real estate professional. A big part of this for many is establishing a consistent presence within your own community and participating in community initiatives whenever the opportunity presents itself. Community involvement not only expands your client base, but it will also strengthen your knowledge of the neighbourhoods where these properties are located and the makeup of the community itself. Here are a few ideas of what you can do:
- Local sponsorship of festivals, teams, or events. Great for branding and business recognition
- Volunteer – Donate time to local groups and organizations. Volunteering for a local chapter of Habitat for Humanityis a smart choice for realtors given the relation to housing
- Education – Offer to be available for local schools during career days; it’s an engaging way to generate real estate leads. Offer your expertise to local colleges or universities teaching real estate courses.
Last but not least, THINK OUTSIDE OF THE BOX when it comes to ideas how you can expand and strengthen your professional realtor network. Be creative and don’t be afraid to take risks, particularly if there’s little to no cost involved for you. And again, don’t overlook the value of old-fashioned door knocking, especially if you’re a gregarious and well-spoken individual.
Sign up with Real Estate Leads here and receive qualified online-generated buyer and seller leads delivered to you exclusively for your exclusively-owned region of the country. It’s a great way to start building your bank of prospective clients, and from there you can put your skills to good use turning them from prospects into actual clients!
Best of luck to all the new realtors who’ve joined us here, happy to have you!
