Lather, Rinse, Repeat – the secret to clean hair and real estate success

I attended the Inman Connect conference in New York last week. I attended several of the sessions and spoke on a panel about productivity tools. Throughout the couple of days, I got the distinct impression that many of the agents were there to get “the secret” about how to survive and thrive in a down market.  In my session on productivity tools, for example, I was asked the question, “What are the three tools that you would recommend to help me grow my business?”

While there were a lot of terrific technologies in attendance that can help agents, I think there is a more fundamental answer to the question. REALTORS®  need to fundamentally change their mindset about their clients. They need to be truly committed to responding to their clients in real-time.  Gone are the days when an agent can check their email once a day or check their voice mail when they get a chance.  Consumers now demand instant responses to answers. They know that if you carry a BlackBerry you are going to be receiving their email instantly so they expect you to respond. If they reach out to you via your website, they expect you to contact them immediately, not in 24, 48 or 72 hours. By then, they may have visited 5 more competitive websites or worse yet, found a home they like on their own.

A top producing State Farm Life Insurance Agent also gets asked often “What is your secret to success?”  He says the answer to the question is on the back of a shampoo bottle.  “Lather, Rinse, Repeat.”  Like insurance sales, the real estate sales process is not that complicated. If you follow the disciplines of any great salesperson you can succeed. Lather up your business by building an ever-expanding list of qualified leads and then make them feel so comfortable with you that they work with you to buy or sell their home. Rinse them off and move them down the sales funnel by continuing to provide them with information and guidance while they get ready to buy or sell.  Then, repeat. Build satisfied customers and continue to maintain relationships with them even after you sell them a home.

Sure, there are a lot of terrific technologies that can help automate the Lather, Rinse and Repeat sales process, but without an undying commitment to excellent customer service your hair will always remain dirty.

If you are ready to serve your clients better than any of your competitors there are a few technologies we would recommend:

  1. BlackBerry Smartphones – voted best by REALTORS® according to the WAV Group Smartphone Satisfaction Survey, because of its real time delivery of emails and long battery life among other reasons.
  2. VoicePad – a great way to capture leads from every marketing tool you use as well as measure response rates so you know where to focus your limited marketing dollars.
  3. MostHome – help scrub the leads you do receive so you can be sure you are focusing on the potential clients most likely to convert to home buyers or sellers
  4. realPING – a really cool tool for demonstrating incredible customer service – when a customer requests that you call them, their phone will ring within 5 seconds of the request. It’s almost freaky, the call comes in so quickly. Of course, it’s a lot more effective if you answer the phone when the realPING call comes in.

Alison Rogers, author of Diary of a Real Estate Rookie, had several other observations from the Inman conference as well.  To check out her article, click here.