Connecting Yourself
Your clients look to you as a one stop resource for all real estate related information and more. But, who do you look to in order to find out the answers? Connecting yourself to reputable resources enables you to position yourself as the local referral expert. Everyone from medical professionals to a handyman are all great resources that you can provide contact information on to your clients. For those clients that are relocating they look to you to learn about your recommended dining choices, hotels, and local activities to partake in.
Building a Professional Team
A team of professionals can be put together with ease once you decide to align with other experts. While you may not always use the same person for the service, it is always good to have a go to that you can trust and have done business with in the past. Everyone from a loan officer, home inspector, escrow/title rep, insurance agent, termite inspector and home warranty representative are all good to have on your contact list. Additionally, a 1031 exchange representative and general contractor are also helpful members of the team. Not only will the relationship that you develop with other affiliates help your clients, but there could be another payoff as well if you get a referral from one of these sources. Aligning yourself with these resources also enables you to learn more about the respective business and can help you provide valuable information to your clientele, in addition to referring them to a reputable resource.
Quality service professionals have a vested interest in the realtor community because a lot of their business comes from the real estate industry. While you don’t guarantee or endorse a service provider, a referral to a client allows the client to check references and business details in order to see if they want to do business with the provider. Some service providers will be members of a local realtor association which will help you more easily connect with them and also find out the experience of other realtors with the provider.
In addition to aligning yourself with other professionals that conduct business related to real estate it’s also important to get to know your fellow realtor community. While another realtor may be viewed as your competition, they may also be able to help you in a variety of ways. If you have a client that is looking for a specific property you can put your feelers out within the realtor community to help find a property that may not even be on the market. You will probably bump into the same consistent realtor base through attendance at MLS meetings and caravan tours and potentially also work with many other realtors throughout real estate transactions in your career.
If you find yourself too busy to handle all of the related business tasks that go into being a realtor, then it may be time to consider hiring an assistant to help with certain duties. Often your time is better spent with clients rather than working on social media posts and other marketing activities. You can find a local (or virtual) assistant that can help take the tedious tasks off of your to-do list. Another handy person to have on your team is a transaction coordinator. If your office does not have an in-house person and you have enough business to keep one busy or can find a virtual assistant to help with this duty, then you can spend your time making more money. By connecting yourself to reputable resources you will be able to gain valuable business relationships and help your clientele along the way.