Today’s Florida Real Estate prospects know more about the housing market than ever before. In fact, thanks to the Internet, there’s a good chance that most of the information many Realtors provide in FREE consultations has already been digested – meaning Florida Realtors need to work harder than ever to prove their specialized expertise.
Like no other time before, prospects today are distrustful until they see results and above all – they just don’t want to be sold. They are pinched for time and have little patience for anything that comes across like old hat hard sell advertising.
For this reason, Realtors must find ways to interact with leads and prospects without selling them. Their attitudes about us are being shaped from word one, and much of what they think we are all about has been filtered through to them from TV, web, and print sources that have absolutely nothing to do with us.
In order to prevent leads and prospects from bouncing away from you and onto other internet sites, trade publications, and eventually… (gasp)… your competitors, you need to transition from standard lead generation campaigns to meaningful conversations.
A key aspect of lead nurturing is the ability to provide valuable education and information to prospects up front. This allows you to become more than an expert; you become a trusted advisor. This can start by offering them some sort of substantial and valuable take away document as a download from your website in exchange for their contact information.
Once you have them as a lead, seek out ways to educate your leads and prospects over time. Doing so will keep you top of mind when they make the decision to sell or purchase. Once you have them as a client – for God’s sake keep in touch with them. More than a simple marketing report, consider providing a profile of local schools or perhaps a list of “trusted” service providers (dry cleaners, best restaurants, barber shops/beauty salons, and the like).
Mining past client databases is an area where many, many Realtors fall miserably short!
Though you may have heard this before, I’ll say it again… it’s all about the “touches!” Ask yourself this question:
When you close a deal with a client, do you see that client… or do you envision the number of future clients they might bring to you?
But how do you maintain a presence? It’s not as hard as you might think. And you don’t have to go broke doing it! Check with companies who specialize in facilitating a set number of touches per client per year. I recently signed up with a company who specializes and post-close client follow up. It’s all automated, and it frees me up to tend to the needs of my customers and Realtor clients. The cost is set per client, so there are no surprises.
The Power of Social Networks
But you don’t have to go this route all at once. Heck, get rockin’ on the social networks! Sign up for a Plaxo, Facebook, and Twitter account to start. Make these accounts available to link up with from your blog. (Yes – you need a blog!) You’ll be surprised at what this sort of casual and impromptu contact with your customers might bring you!
Other ways you can stay in front of your clients is to initiate drip email campaigns, newsletters, or education through articles – a sure fire way for you to be seen as a content area expert.
You can never predict exactly when someone will need to hire you, but maintaining pertinent and consistent dialog with potential clients leads means you’ll be on their minds when they do.
In all cases, relationships take time. Think of how long it takes you to gain trust in someone new and apply that to your prospects to gauge when it might be the right time to move from expert to sales professional.
And Please Remember…
You don’t have to go it alone. Vendors, such as loan officers, play an important role in the home buying process that affects the quality of your client’s experience. Before you refer your next client to another loan officer, give me an opportunity.
Better yet, don’t even wait until you have a client to refer. Call me at 863-604-3019 or send me an email and I’d be delighted to discuss ideas on how we can provide together a level of service that creates instant referrals and a lifeline of future business.
I hope you found this post useful! As always, if you or anyone you know is in need of a local Florida mortgage broker, I’m your guy. Call me at 863-604-3019 or apply online for your Florida mortgage. We’ll keep you posted and let you know when it’s time to pull the trigger!
Related posts:
- Buying Your First Home in Winter Haven? Be Sure to Read Tax Form 5405 Winter Haven First-Time Homebuyers interested in receiving their $8,000...
- Appraisal of Acreage – How Does it Work? The appraisal of acreage – whether it be raw land...
- The USDA Rural Development Loan Program: Top 10 Things Borrowers Need to Know Word on the street is that 100 percent financing is...
The client experience can be diverse, long running, it may span many channels, and is affected by any combination of external and internal factors. Trying to evaluate it effectively with one metric such as net promoter or customer satisfaction score is excessively simplistic and risky. Effectively directing the customer experience takes effective measurement and management of the portfolio of metrics that will offer a true indicator of what really working.
Mika´s last blog ..What is a Semi-Exclusive Mortgage Leads?