Skills to attract new customers

26 Mar Skills to attract new customers

Any real estate agent will attest to the fact that their industry is competitive and like no other. Only those agents always looking to improve and innovate their services truly excel and grow, and that is why it is worth reassessing whether you have developed some of the fundamental skills necessary to attract new clients.

“Working closely with agents nation-wide, we are no strangers to how those working within the industry continue to see significant changes in the digital age,” says CEO of view.com.au, Enzo Raimondo.

“The word disruption is overused in the real estate industry and while there have been improvements due to technology, specifically in access to market information, the real estate transaction is still handled the same way it has been for decades. Relationships, trust and service delivery differentiate a great agent from an ordinary one, which is why it is important to make sure as an agent you have those necessary skills and attributes to meet and exceed both existing and shifting consumer expectations.”

1. Communications skills
   

This term gets bandied about and can lose some of its specific meaning if used generically.

The communications skills necessary to produce a great agent are specific to their discipline. The cliché perception of someone with ‘great communications skills’ is an extroverted ‘go-getter’, but this doesn’t always apply when you are dealing with clients who are considering one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives. The heightened stress and importance of this moment in a vendor’s life makes them hyper-sensitive to an agent’s personality, style, competence and communications skills. This is why an overly extroverted individual who maintains eye contact a little too much may not be what a vendor is after.

Good communications skills for an agent are specific to their trade because of this heightened emotional sphere in which they deal with potential clients. The core of their communications skills is in developing trust with their potential vendors.

How to develop this trust?

Where a louder personality may dominate a conversation, a considered agent will be able to show that they can listen in a dialogue with their client, and turn what they hear into answers for their client’s questions.

For example, if an agent picks up on a potential client’s hesitation around a certain cost for a particular service, an agent can assure them of their options around that service, demonstrating that they have listened to the client and are willing to provide an answer to the problem.

Trust is also developed through the products an agent offers and the service history to which they can point.

Marketing preparation and presentation

Come prepared with a marketing plan and market-related data for your potential client. This will not be a comprehensive plan, this comes later, but a vendor will want to see that you have considered their property and its position within their local market and come to the meeting with a strategic approach to selling the property.

The presentation of this material is different depending on what it is. The presentation of market-related data for their local and larger markets should be communicated with a sense of authority, and can be a great opportunity to present them with information about your previous sales within the area. The presentation of their marketing options should be open, demonstrating a range of options for the sale of their property, and all of them need to be great solutions (just at different price points).

A resumé to be proud of

While you can weave your previous sales into your presentation of market-related data/information, it is important to assure a potential client of your successes in their local area and how you approached these successful sales differently. This is an important thing to remember as it is vital to your development of trust with a potential client, while highlighting that you understand how every sale is different, and that this will underpin your service from start to finish.

Some vendors may be quite dogmatic in their approach to questioning you about your approach and previous success. Be prepared for this and avoid ever becoming defensive in your responses. You are in a job interview, and your employer is simply trying to find out whether your personality suits their ‘company’ and whether your experiences matches the job requirements.

Tailored marketing and approach

Make sure a vendor understands that they have options, and that your service is negotiable. A vendor that may offer you relatively small returns now, if treated well and is given a fantastic service, may be a client in 10 or 20 years who provides you with seriously high returns. Those that are on the bottom rung of a property ladder should be treated in the same way as those on the higher rung not just because you are in the service industry and it makes sense to treat all customers the same way, but because repeat business is key to your long term success and growth as an agent and agency.