In today’s world, things are changing. Virtual services are becoming more and more the norm and are becoming expected. To stay ahead of the curve, agents and teams should learn to adapt to unique circumstances and then determine what adaptations should be incorporated long term.
Real estate has always been a game of “survival of the fittest.” It’s a tough industry. The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) has reported that 87 percent of real estate agents fail and quit within the first 5 years. With everything becoming virtual, it is quickly changing the landscape of real estate. It’s taking “survival of the fittest” to an even greater extreme.
But what has that phrase taught us? What did Charles Darwin learn? He discovered that the ones who survive—the ones who thrive in a difficult environment—are the ones who adapt. These adaptations also help the “fittest” expand market share during times when others contract. Many of these changes won’t be temporary. As real estate professionals throughout North America discover new ways to conduct business, they will discover that these new practices that we are going to go over may be better than what they were doing before.
In this day and age, pretty much anything your team usually delivers physically can be delivered virtually. Virtual open houses, showings, buyer presentations, listing appointments, lender appointments, buyer seminars and investment seminars. These are some of the various activities your team should have a system for moving into a new age.
If you hire a coach, they can help you can learn how to thrive in the new age of virtual real estate. Here’s a hint, follow these four key points:
1. Make the powerful choice of creating accountability through awareness.
– What do you do to keep yourself accountable to your business?
2. “Virtualize” your services to fit current needs and to enhance the home-buying and -selling experience for your clients in the future.
3. Continue to provide information of value and needed services to your sphere of influence, past clients, current clients and to the community at large.
4. Go above and beyond to elevate your client care by enhancing and expanding your action plans and workflows.
– In times of trouble, people either rise to the occasion or fall short.
Hiring a coach to help with the implementation of virtual services can make the project a little more manageable and less stressful. Not only does this new and improved way allow us to connect us with our clients, but it also allows us to cover lots of ground for narrowing down their search. Keep in mind that even when the search is done virtually, we know that they’ll want to see the home in person before making their final decision. Take the steps to narrow down and complete several steps virtually, and it can save you time and money. This will make you a “premium agent,” and will allow you to cater to the comfort of your clients who don’t want to meet in person.
And as we have just discussed, it’s the agents and teams who continue to provide service in ways that make buyers and sellers feel confident, that will close the most business. Now is the time to buckle down and get to work on adding these services to your arsenal. It’s time to solidify customer loyalty and create raving fans for life!
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. For more information, please visit www.workmansuccess.com.
