How successful is your Realtor?
I was out recently for coffee with a successful Realtor who is well-known in my office. I called the meeting after bumping into him at a company function. I had heard and seen his name in our company news and his signs are all over town. I claimed to want to ask him about the best way to dispose of investment properties but the truth is I’m always curious to know how other successful Realtors become successful.
How do they do it? How are their approaches different than mine? Are they salesy and/or pushy? Do they spend a lot of money on advertising? Are they connected to a builder? Do they specialize in Laurelwood, condos, investors? Do they live and breath real estate?
(Yes, that last one a is common attribute).
Knowing that successful Realtors are mostly successful in different ways, I was still surprised just how different his approach to working with buyers is to mine. He said that he only needs to show his buyers four or five homes before they buy one. I often like to show my clients double or triple that many before I feel that they are ready to buy. He is very analytical and businesslike so he really likes working with investors. I am, by contrast, more laidback and see myself more as a guide and an advisor than a professional deal doer, so I, by contrast really like working with first time homebuyers.
Similarities are as important as differences
But either way or all things considered, it matters not. I should not be discussing differences, I should be looking for similarities and frankly I should be looking for little things that can make me marginally more effective. You are never going to win all the clients, get all the listings, but if you can improve by 1% every day, then you will be 3800% better every year. Success is about consistency and incremental improvement.
The one, two or three pillars of success
You can’t do everything. You just have to work consistently and do one, two or three things well. If you can do that then you are going to be a real estate star. For example, my colleague does these things well.
- He gets most of his business through his extensive LinkedIn database. He simply posts his real estate activity (listings, open houses and sales). He has a lead capture form attached to this. If he captures a visitor’s phone number then they get an automated text. If he captures their email address, then they get put onto a drip campaign. So, he is very good at lead capture. It is systematic and automatic.
- The second thing that he is really good at is technology. He and his team are completely paperless. He does everything on his iPad, signing and sending documents, note taking…he can go from zero to hero as quick as firing up his iPad.
I’m sure there is a third and maybe even fourth thing he is good at. I know that he lives and breaths real estate and if there is only one common thing to all successful Realtors then this is it.
Why I love real estate blogging
I’ve been a real estate blogger for almost nine years now. I’ve always concentrated on google to connect me to clients because it is to google that I go to when looking for something. My whole approach is ‘what would I do’ and that approach has worked well for me if only because I attract real estate clients much like myself.
As a long time salesperson, I have never experienced the instant rapport with clients than I have with clients who have contacted me through one of my websites. They are actually better than clients that have been referred through past clients. You would think that friends of friends would be the best clients and they are good clients but friends of the blogs are better.
What this means for home buyers, sellers and investors
So, I guess what I am saying with this blog post is that successful Realtors are a reflection of their clients. As potential real estate clients, if you find a Realtor that you connect with then I think your purchase or sale will go well if you work with them. Don’t overthink it. I really believe that clients are a reflection of the Realtor that they choose to work with.
