Starting your real estate career is not easy. You still have to go through a lot before you can build your own leads and become truly a name that can be trusted in this industry. Building reputation and clients does not happen overnight. It takes a lot of effort and of course whole lot of strategy.
Getting clients is one the first obstacles that you have to get through first. Clients are the ones who fuel your career, who will give you financial back up to move forward, who can build your reputation that you can definitely use in the near future. It’s important to get a good batch of first clients to jump start your real estate career.
The first thing that you have to do if you want to attract clients is through branding. Branding means that you are creating a name or a symbol for your product that is different from competitors. Your branding should be able to distinguish you from others. Here’s how you can build a good brand for yourself:
1. Be unique: What type of real estate agent are you? What types of properties do you want to sell? Which market do you think you will hit the jackpot? Find out what makes you unique from other agents and benchmark on that.
2. Online presence: Everyone is online these days. Create a strong online presence so that you’ll get in touch with more people, especially the millenials.
- Build a website where you can put all your services and contact number.
- Write tips and advice on your blog to brand yourself as a true professional.
- Talk and find prospects through Facebook. Show properties on Instagram.
- Be part of an online real estate portal to gain more clients. Being visible is key to being known.
3. Consistency: To build good branding and reputation, you have to be consistent. People can smell if you don’t really know what you’re doing. Be consistent on what you’re saying to people and make sure that you deliver.
Now that you already have an idea on creating a brand, it’s now time to learn how you will get good clients. Starting small is effective. First, you have to communicate with the people who you know. Build a network of people who will help you get in touch with the right people. The following are the steps on how you can create your own network:
- Work your way to networking by listing down the people that you know. Keep tab on each person’s contact number and email address. Make it known to them that you are open for business. Give out flyers, send the invites to like your Facebook page. Stop sitting there and start making a noise.
- Open houses still works nowadays. It’s a way for people to see the house that you’re selling and a chance to get to know them better. Make sure that you have your business card ready.
- Check out real estate portals. As mentioned, everything is online these days. People often go online if they want to see properties. You can sign up for free on Persquare and get your property on the big world wide web.
- You can also target FSBOs who are new to the industry and needs assisting.
- Attend seminars. People often headhunt for agents during seminars. Socialize with the people there, give them your card, and make sure that you left a good impression. Coming up with your own events is also a good idea.
- Create a marketing plan. Having a marketing plan can help you become organized. Also make sure that you have a system where you can save all your contacts effectively.
- Listen carefully to your clients’ wish list. It’s very important to meet their needs and expectations. Take note of what they are looking for in a property, of what kind of renovations that they want to be made, and of course answer every real estate question that they ask. Your hoard of clients will be nothing if you won’t be able to please them. Unhappy clients equals bad reputation and worse sales.
Ultimately, your success will always go down on how you handle your clients. Your business won’t be able to grow if you don’t get your job done. So get out there, and do your very best!