Building the Right “Net”
I was recently speaking to a Real Estate agent in Rochester who had been getting irritated. As far as she knew, she was doing everything right in order to generate relationships. She was offering to take clients out for lunch and coffee. She was holding client appreciation events, and she was constantly calling her database. Yet with all of these activities, she had been capped the last couple years in terms of business growth. She was getting irritated.
Most people do not know how difficult real estate is. They see HGTV and think that it is little more than opening doors for potential buyers. In reality, it is entrepreneurship without any training wheels. Nowadays real estate agents are expected to not only know how to talk to you about a house, but they need to know the mortgage writing process, the inspection process, the legal requirements. They need to be experts in CRMs, Social media, video production, and mass emailers. They need to know how to create and maintain relationships, generate new ones from scratch, and build a marketing plan. They need to know how to work with home-owners, builders, landlords, flippers, and investors in order to make sure that they do not leave anything on the table.
Simply put, it is not a job. It is a dozen jobs all rolled into one.
So with all this in mind, think about this poor woman up in Rochester. She had been listening to all sorts of advice on how to grow he business. She bought coaching programs and courses but never saw the needle move.
The problem was she knew that she had to get people to know her, like her, and trust her. But she did not realize that the work would get much easier if she spent the time to get THE RIGHT PEOPLE to know, like, and trust her.
Rather than trying to be everybody’s friend, what I advised her to do is figure out THE RIGHT PEOPLE to be friends with. I suggested she find some of the larger companies in the area that have a lot of employee turnover and a wide recruiting net. In her case, I suggested major corporations in the region or prominent universities. Then her job is to become friends with the right person in charge of recruiting and hiring.
You see, Real Estate is a direct to consumer business for the most part, and many people do not think past that. So they reach out to their past clients and say “Hey, if you know anyone looking…”. Sure, they may get one or two prospects per year like that, but it is very sporadic.
However by creating a strategic relationship with someone who knows when someone is moving into or out of town once per month, this Relator would be able to create way more referrals on an consistent and ongoing basis. Rather than spending the money to get a single customer to like you, spend the money on the person who can get five+ customers to like you every year.
Think of it like a net. You job is not to work around the edges where there are only two or there intersections. You want to find the people in the middle of the net of your ideal customers. Who are the people that make their living with your ideal customer that you can partner with very easily?
What kind of services do your ideal customers use? If you are a nutritionist, make sure you know all the gym managers. If you offer credit repair, make sure you know all the F&I managers at car dealerships with guaranteed credit approval.
Make sure you take the time to think “What is the biggest rock blocking my path?” and seeing if there is a single thing you can leverage in order to move past it.