Last week at our meetings we talked about asking your closest sphere for help, marketing to other agents, and how to work your database for business.
Here is a perspective from a successful agent.
As far as my personal sphere, I have a tiered system: an "A" is someone I’ve done a transaction with who has referred me or attempted to refer me. There are 63 of those. A "B" is someone who I think would refer me, but the right opportunity hasn’t come yet. I’ve got 79 of those. Then there’s the Cs — hundreds of people who I have relationships with, who know me and recognize my name — but they’re not the first people I call when my pipeline runs dry.
As far as agents, I have 292 agents who I am actively marketing to. I’m always interested in hearing (about and from) the Best of the Best, so I would welcome anyone who is interested in building a reciprocal referral relationship to contact me.
What do you use as your database product?
Agent: I use Top Producer, which my assistant is better at than I am.
And you’re marketing materials? Are you a call-people-on-the-phone person, or a drip e-mail person, or something in between?
Agent: I’m not into mass marketing. If the average stranger doesn’t know my name, that’s fine with me. But I find that I have a better life and I have a better business if I have real relationships.
A lot of the people that I know (meet for) a monthly dinner club, so many people cycle through once a month or at least once a quarter. I couple that with phone calls that are more personal, and then more generic e-mails.
You have to fit your communication style to the recipient. I used to think that if I gave generic marketing stuff to people who I knew they would be offended. I do want to reinvent the wheel, but it helps to start with the wheel that’s already moving. You will come to a dead stop if you take all the wheels off at once! So the balance was to find things that people I know would find value in.
You also have to fit your communication style to your limitations. I can’t drive to every person I know every quarter. When you touch your people once a quarter, you do that by phone or e-mail
What do you say?
Agent: I have a great line that I use — do you want to hear it? Here goes: I say to them, "Every adult knows six people per year who are either buying or selling. If you could refer half of them to me, that would make a huge difference," and then two weeks later they call and send me someone.
You say that maybe once a quarter to them, and then they’ll look for those opportunities.
It sounds odd, but you’re kind of giving them a quota. And remember, they want to help. It’s just that if you don’t ask, they don’t pay attention to the conversations that they hear over the water cooler.
Even in this slow market?
Agent: I know the market is tanking just as I’m trying to build a business, but the strong survive. It’s tough, but you hang in there and with the right relationships it happens. Also, (money is difficult in this market) — with short sales, they’re trying to renegotiate the commission after the contract.
I think it’s a mistake that we try to give the illusion that we work for free. I would prefer that someone say, "What do you charge?" And I can say, "This is what I’ll do for you." We really need to say what we’re worth, and if we can’t, then maybe we’re not worth it.
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