How to create lasting client relationships as a real estate agent

As a real estate agent, the most crucial component of your real estate business success is your leads. Although there are many ways to generate quality real estate leads, one of the vital methods is through referral. All your clients for whom you successfully completed a real estate deal are potential goldmines for getting referrals.

However, the problem is most real estate agents either do not devote sufficient time and effort towards building a relationship with their clients or are unaware of how to do so. It is integral for the growth of real estate agents to learn how to build long-lasting relationships with their clients. Building and sustaining lasting relationships with your clients will lead to many referrals and this, in turn, provides you with a continuous pipeline of quality real estate leads.

The Secret To Building Relationships For Your Real Estate Business

Relationships with people are the foundation of realtors' business. Relationships lead to referrals, which make our businesses sustainable. Real estate is just a job, not a career, and we are (effectively) unemployed after each and every deal. The art of establishing relationships is one of the most difficult practices to master, but it’s well worth the effort. The key is the one secret to building meaningful relationships (and really, it's not such a secret): Getting close to people.

Emotional Marketing Is The Key

Now before we get to how to build relationships with your clients, let us take a moment and understand what exactly are we trying to achieve here. All client-oriented businesses rely on emotional marketing for their growth.

Think about it, you must have a favorite restaurant that you always go to, a check-out cashier you always chat with when picking up groceries, a particular neighbor with whom you always stop to talk. What is happening in these scenarios?

You are bonding, yes that is right. Being recognized by the manager and waitstaff gives you a sense of happiness. Chatting with the cashier or neighbor gives you a sense of steadiness. It could be a place or a person, we humans are hardwired to bond with other people. Now as real estate agents you need to ensure that you are able to build this emotional bond with your clients. You basically want to be their first thought when it comes to anything related to the real estate business. You want them to talk you up to their friends and family at every opportunity of home buying or selling. You want to be the best realtor in the eyes of your clients.

This is what we are trying to achieve. Once you have understood that the real estate business is not a purely information-based transactional business, but needs you to offer services that lead to connections and expands your professional and social community, then you are already on the path to success as a real estate agent.

Build The Foundation With Your Real Estate Business Clients

The focus should always be on building a strong base. You cannot overnight build relationships with your real estate clients. It takes time to build and nurture such lasting relationships with your clients. So, let us first focus on how you can make a start.

Build Your Knowledge Base

The primary action for you to take as a real estate agent is to make sure you have expansive knowledge about all aspects of the real estate business. This will ensure that you are able to offer better service and provide the right guidance to your clients. Make sure that you have thorough and in-depth knowledge. Make sure that you are well equipped with all the necessary information that the clients would require. Housing regulations and requirements, pricing in different neighborhoods, the school districts, and more.

Your clients rely on your market expertise and expect you to be helpful in carrying out the real estate sales transaction. It is important as a real estate professional to always explain to your client all the relevant aspects of the transaction. This will help you connect better with your clients as they will see you as someone who has the necessary skills of the real estate profession.

Know Your Real Estate Clients

It is critical to effectively communicate with your clients as a real estate agent. It is not just about talking to them but also about listening to their interests. When you listen to your clients you will pick on the important information which will help you find the best home or buyer for your clients.

Always keep your clients' requirements in mind and offer valuable honest advice to them at all points of a real estate transaction. For building relationships, honesty is the key. You want your customer to know that you will do everything necessary to help them.

Keep on learning about your real estate clients and show them through your words and actions that you exactly understand their real estate needs and requirements. Also that as a realtor you have both the skills and expertise to provide them a good deal. This will leave a positive impression in your clients' minds and will help get you many repeat referrals from them in the future.

Effective Communication

As a real estate agent, it is crucial that you have effective communication skills. When you have a conversation with your clients always remember to be helpful. Establish your expertise but always be honest about the deal. All clients appreciate transparency and honesty in their real estate agents. If there is an issue be upfront about it and try to find a solution while keeping your clients in the loop. This goes a long way in effectively building a professional relationship.

Most clients believe that those real estate agents who keep them posted on everything, provide the right advice, and help them in creating value are the kind of realtors with whom they would want to have a long-term relationship.

Channels Of Communications Real Estate Agents Should Use

Once you have built a good relationship with your client, the next step is to convert it into a long-term one. A real estate client may not have a frequent need for your services but the client is still a valuable resource for referrals.

Moreover, the real estate needs of a client will keep changing with time. Important life milestones such as marriage, the birth of a child, graduation, and retirement are all going to necessitate a change in the housing needs of a client. Thus, if real estate agents establish effective long-term channels of communication with their clients, they can not only reap the benefits of referrals but also repeat leads from their past clients.

Direct Mail/Email

Our first suggestion would be to opt for direct mail or email to stay in contact with your clients. Send a nice postcard with a thoughtful message wishing them luck and happiness in their new home. Then after you can keep sending regular mails of seasonal greetings or a newsletter giving relevant information about the real estate business in your city. You can even send in information about homes up for sale, as this can result in referrals.

It is crucial to follow up with your past customers on a regular basis. It will help you in building trust. Now we well understand the demands on the time of a real estate agent, therefore, we would suggest having a client email list. This would be a great help in sending in regular updates about properties or real estate business news and also you can use it to wish them on their anniversaries or birthdays.

However, if you find that you would not be able to be regular with these emails then you could opt for a direct mailing/emailing service, which can send these direct mail or email at regular intervals and help you maintain long-term relationships with each customer. It is a crucial part and with more real estate business, you may not have the time to devote to this on a regular basis.

Utilize Social Media

Today, our lives spin around various social media platforms. Whether we use it to socialize or to expand our professional world, what matters is that as a real estate agent you must have a strong and relevant presence on all social media channels.

You must have a professional real estate profile on all these popular social media spheres. You can stay in contact with your past clients easily. It also provides you a quick glimpse into any major changes in their lives. Frequently commenting or replying to their posts and forwarding your real estate updates can help you stay in touch with your clients. This will ensure that in the future you would also get to know if they wish to relocate or move to a bigger home. This way you can be the first to help them find a new home or sell their current house if they are considering it.

The fact that they already have a well-established professional relationship with you as their realtor would put you at a distinct advantage. In the latest statistical data released by the National Association Of Realtors (NAR), over 76% of real estate agents utilize Facebook for their professional requirements. You should not miss out on this opportunity either.

Be A Content Creator

Now we have already advised you to stay in contact with your clients through emails, but another equally important and more effective means of building long-term relationships with past clients is to create content.

You must have a real estate website or blog and every time you post a new article or update you could send the same to your clients. These posts should be well written, helpful, and could be about tips regarding the real estate business, improvements to the home to increase its value, and other topics that are relevant both from the perspective of real estate and also to your clients.

There is a good chance that they may even forward these posts to their friends and family. This can result in attracting more real estate leads through referrals.

Additional Tips For Building Lasting Relationships With Your Clients

People Are More Important

Prioritize people. It is crucial to building these relationships in a genuine manner. Do not consider these relationships from a purely monetary perspective. Yes, you are trying to promote your real estate business and your skills as a realtor.

However, you should focus on building trust with your clients. If your clients are able to trust you then automatically they would want to work with you again and would also refer your services as a realtor to their social circle as well.

Utilize Real Estate Platforms

If you are relatively new as a real estate agent, then one of the first things you should do is to register yourself on an online real estate platform. Real estate platforms such as Dorrmat, offer you a host of additional benefits apart from providing you with quality real estate leads.

For instance, in Dorrmat, you get a professional individual agent profile page. On this page, you can showcase all your past successful real estate transactions and deals. You even have the option of putting up glowing testimonials from your satisfied past clients.

This would help you in building new relationships with prospective clients, as at a glance they can see your expertise as a realtor and it gives you an advantage when having a conversation with your prospective clients.

Maintain Communication

It is crucial to maintain communication channels with your clients. Make sure you devote part of your workday to nurturing these relationships. If you integrate it into your workflow you will realize that it is a fairly easy task to accomplish. According to the statistics from the National Association Of Realtors (NAR), around 41% of home sellers who used the assistance of a real estate agent, said that they found their agents through referrals from either their family or friends.

Approximately 26% of home sellers went to an agent they had worked with previously when they needed to buy or sell a home. And in the same survey, 74% of home sellers stated that they would definitely work with the same real estate agent again when they were looking to sell again.

Summary

We cannot stress enough the importance of building long-lasting professional relationships with your real estate clients. It is a crucial component of building success for real estate professionals. As agents, you must constantly strive to expand your contact network. This would help you gain both referrals and repeat business.