Agents and brokers today are inundated with online lead options, social media products and predators using real estate data to sell leads back to them. When looking into your P&L and evaluating the value of a client, it’s easy to justify buying leads. When looking into the success of multiple coaching clients, there’s a thread that’s worth our focus.
The best ROI on any lead source is the business that comes as a result of a relationship. Relationships are the key to success in all ventures, especially real estate. The lifetime value of a client is in excess of $75,000 in net income to the agent who has a plan, stays in touch and provides value through the life of the client.
Here are seven key steps to elevate your relationships and increase your net profit by focusing on your No. 1 asset.
- Make a small investment into your real estate CRM. I recommend Realvolve due to its ability to manage teams and put intelligence into workflows and action plans, all of which separates their technology from the competition.
- Categorize your names with intelligence. Options include:
- Top 50
- Past Client
- Buyer
- Referral
- Seller
- Investor
- Lead Source
- Take copious notes on every conversation. This is critical for knowing what you said, as well as protecting yourself when there’s a different perspective on what was said or done.
- Focus on the Top 50. Most agents have anywhere from 200 to as many as 10,000 people in their database, so it’s critical to create a special list of the Top 50 who are most likely to send you one referral per year. Set a plan to have at least one personal touch with each of your Top 50 every month.
- Build for events. These events can be as simple as a backyard barbecue or as elaborate as renting out a theater and hosting a movie night. When you put on an event, it allows you to stay at the front of the mind of your important relationships without an attempt to sell them something.
- Refer business to your Top 50. Zig Ziglar always said that, “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” If you want more referrals, then give more referrals.
- Focus on the relationship, not on the sale. People do business with people they like and trust. You build trust by being sincerely interested in them and their needs, while also respecting their timing. If someone isn’t ready to move, they’re still valuable to you if you care enough about them to respect that and provide value to them for their current situation.
Relationships are the cure to lack of profitability in any business. If you focus on the relationship, your business will grow, your profit will increase and you will find more joy in your journey.
For a free copy of my eBook “86-50-1: How to Close 86 Transactions Working With 50 People Just One Hour a Day,” visit WorkmanSuccessSystems.com/86501ebook.
Verl Workman is the founder and CEO of Workman Success Systems (385-282-7112), an international speaking, consulting and coaching company that specializes in performance coaching and building successful power agents and teams. Contact him at Verl@WorkmanSuccessSystems.com.
