What really makes an agent an expert? You could ask a number of people and get many different responses; however, I’d hedge a bet that being an effective and engaging communicator would be pretty consistent across the board.
Now, it’s quite difficult to be on the phone or face-to-face with the thousands of contacts in your sphere on a regular basis, so technology is playing a key role in allowing agents to make these connections. With communication tools like email and the specialized email marketing platforms that come along with it, agents are able to put their expertise on display much more frequently.
However, being perceived as an expert doesn’t simply happen overnight. An agent can’t just send one informative email to all their contacts and expect to be crowned an expert in the minds of consumers. It’s a long process that requires a methodical and consistent approach to the communications being sent out. They need to be regular, relevant and targeted at the right people.
There are simple ways to ensure you’re communicating effectively. Best practice (if you haven’t already) is to bucket existing prospects into categories that you believe define their property interests (e.g., investors, downsizers, upsizers, first-time buyers, recent customers, long-term pipeline opportunities).
If you aren’t sure where a prospect should sit, send them generalized property content and allow the system to identify their property interests based on their behavioral interactions. This will determine where to bucket them.
Segmenting your prospects—either manually or dynamically through an automated system—will drive the type of content you send, as each bucket will have different information needs.
With the help of tools such as ActivePipe, long-term pipeline opportunities can be nurtured with automated and dynamic localized market reports and even sold property reports relevant to their neighborhood, whilst more immediate opportunities should be placed in automated drip campaigns that deliver timely, dynamic property content based on their prospect profile and unique interactions with your emails.
The world is full of clever little ways to gather digital intelligence on your contacts, but there is a very basic technique that is often overlooked: Ask your sphere what they are interested in. You will likely be pleasantly surprised! ActivePipe has tools that allow you to periodically poll your sphere regarding their current market interests, as well as providing regular opportunities for them to update such as their circumstances change.
Becoming an expert requires an investment in time and communication. Being an empathetic expert, one that is concerned with the current situation of your sphere, requires just action. Combined, these two qualities will help stand you out from the crowd.
Mike Feller is chief revenue officer at ActivePipe. For more information, please visit www.activepipe.com.
