There is no doubt that we live in uncertain times; the constant shifting in the way we do business has agents trying to find their balance amidst the chaos. So, how do we best address the global difficulties when contacting our client list, especially with our clockwork monthly email send-outs?
Many agents are torn between trying to move forward like its business as usual, while others insist that we need to be hyper-sensitive to the situation, being particularly mindful of the plights of our clients and other agents. How to we find the balance?
- Understanding the Tone Deafness Spectrum
It is important to remember a few things when crafting your client emails, the most vital being to avoid sounding tone deaf. What does that mean, exactly? It means that when you write your client emails, be sensitive to the ever-changing reality that we are all faced with. This isn’t business as usual, it’s business-unusual, and our emails to our contacts need to address that we are in a new real estate reality.
There is a thing as being too sensitive, which can leave our clients wondering if our business has been crippled, or if you will still be able to provide the services they will need?
We all know about the “fight, flight or frozen” response mechanism ingrained in us, but it’s important to make sure that we portray both sensitivity and confidence to acknowledge the difficulties and still give our clients the confidence that we will all make it through this together.
- Address the Automatic-Ness in Your Emails
One of the beautiful things about having a great CRM is that we can set-and-forget a lot of features; for example, our monthly emails. These are often written long in advance of being sent, but with the quickly changing circumstances of our communities, the content of these automatic emails should be addressed.
Acknowledging the changing needs of our communities requires us to reword our emails to lose their usual sense of automatic tone and be re-written with empathy and sensitivity to the potential problems our clients may be facing.
- Commit to the End Result
We can’t freeze up when it comes to our business, and with the ever-changing circumstances that we face, we need to become problem-solvers, and commit to the end result. We rarely see if we could run a marathon before we commit to running one; we decide to run one, and then start training like crazy to reach the finish line. The same goes for our businesses—we commit to our business goal and then find the way to make it happen.
When it comes to emailing our client lists, we need to walk the fine line between acknowledging that we are facing challenging times and being positive about those challenges. Yes, acknowledge that your clients may be struggling, and in a difficult financial position, but that is also the perfect time to remind them that you are still here—you are still working. It might be from your kitchen table or spare bedroom, but you are still committed to providing them with the services they need (one way or another) and this will give them the reassurance and confidence they need to move forward.
This is an incredible moment to remind your clients of the true importance and value of “Home,” and that you are still here to provide them the very best service that you can, because we are a community, and we are all in this together.
Darryl Davis, bestselling author of “How to Become a Power Agent in Real Estate” and owner of Darryl Davis Seminars, has trained and coached over 100,000 real estate professionals around the globe for more than 27 years. He is the founder of the Next Level® real estate training system, The Power Program®, which has helped agents double their production over their previous year. For more information, and the new agent tools that can help take you to your Next Level®, please contact darryl@darrylspeaks.com or head to www.DarrylSpeaks.com/online-training.
