We’ve all received those dreaded “sales calls” after filling out a form or requesting information online. Someone who is too pushy, not helpful enough, or doesn’t respect your time or what you’re trying to say can lead you to make a long-term decision to not work with them. On the flipside, an initial contact that leaves you feeling positive can create a lifelong relationship with benefits for both sides.

With online leads and referrals accounting for a huge part of the real estate business, it’s important to set up measures to ensure you’re building a great relationship with your prospects and clients from the very beginning. We’ve put together 3 tips to help you build better client relationships that will ultimately help you close more deals.

1. Establish Communication Preferences

As part of the initial on-boarding process with your new client, set expectations for how they prefer you communicate with them. Millennial client? Maybe they prefer text messaging over calling. Others may only prefer to talk over the phone or via email. Asking them for their preferences demonstrates that you care about the details and want to provide them with the best service possible.

In addition to how they want to communicate, try to establish preferences for when they want to communicate. What’s their work schedule? Would they prefer to talk about their real estate needs during the workday or after hours? Letting them know your own availability will also help to set their expectations for when they’ll be able to easily get a hold of you so there’s never a disappointed feeling if you’re “never available to them” (at 10:00pm!).

2. Get to Know Them

It’s tough to make recommendations for neighborhoods or specific homes if you don’t have a clear picture of your client’s lifestyle, needs, and wants. To start your relationship off on the right foot, ask questions so you can really get to know your new client and what they’re interested in getting out of your relationship. Asking questions and listening carefully to the answers will not only show your genuine interest, but it will also help you to tailor the information you provide to be as useful as possible. Creating a personal relationship between yourself and your client can have a tremendous effect on your business relationship.

3. Demonstrate Your Value

Now that you know your client on a more personal level, you can deliver information that is specific to their needs. What better way to demonstrate your value to a new buyer client than to provide them with a local market report that focuses on their area of interest and quickly aggregates data that would take them hours of searching to find for themselves? For seller clients, they’re looking for consistent updates about how their property is performing in the market and what you’re doing to advertise that property as widely as possible. Leverage the technology tools available to you to ensure you’re providing valuable information to your clients and really demonstrating the power of a real estate professional.
With the Business Builder Bundle, you can not only consolidate and route your new online leads with FiveStreet, but you can also connect with them throughout the remainder of the real estate lifecycle using the tools provided by ListHub and Market Snapshot. Get the edge over your competitors and improve your client relationships for one low monthly cost. Click here to learn more.