Client Acquisition
As you all know, I believe that the best way to build a successful Real Estate practice is to be excellent at what you do. When you offer a service that is significantly more valuable than your competitors, you end up with lots of business. Think of Massage Therapists, Restaurants, Kiteboard Instructors, Psychologists (or even Prostitutes). Those that are excellent always have a waiting list and don’t have to stand on a corner begging for business.
And some of you may say to yourselves, “ I am good at what I do but no one knows it.”
So, for this first blog of 2019, let’s talk about client acquisition because if you are new to being excellent, you will need to build some momentum up and if you are not new to being excellent, and you don’t have an abundance of clients, you need a better plan.
Being excellent matters more than anything else, but the next closest thing is people knowing that you are excellent. This happens organically from the people you serve. (If the people you serve don’t naturally refer you, you are likely not as valuable as you think you are.)
People learn of your excellence through other people they trust or through having a quality conversation with you that focusses on them and their needs and displays your value. I call these types of conversations deliberate conversations because they are remarkably different than our everyday chats. A deliberate conversation has an intention, a rhythm that comes from a mindset of curiosity and uses high level skills including powerful questioning, deep listening and presence. A deliberate conversation makes people feel heard and cared for and invites them to share more of their story. This creates a connection between you and them that will often parlay into a relationship. That relationship could be as their trusted REALTOR® if they are in need of one, or into a professional relationship where they will recommend you to people they know.
A deliberate conversation is almost the opposite of a script. It’s natural, authentic and in service of the person you are speaking to versus being canned, manipulative and designed to serve the agent. As you master the art of deliberate conversations, you will find talking to people very comfortable, natural and enjoyable and that resistance around client acquisition will vanish.
So, for this new year, if you don’t feel that enough people know that you are excellent at what you do, make a commitment to have deliberate conversations with people. How many depends on both your business goals and your conversation skills but it’s easy enough to speak with 5 or 6 people each day which is the number of deliberate conversations that most of my clients need to have to generate their high 6 and low 7 digit GCE’s.
So, in closing, to rock 2019, continue to build your skills to be excellent at what you do, learn and master the art of deliberate conversations and make a commitment to have a handful of these high level conversations each day. Regardless of what the market does, some people will need to buy and sell and increasingly, they will be looking for someone who is excellent – someone like you.