A Top Producer is a Connector

Becoming A Connector

The best way you can become a connector and make lots of friends and acquaintances is by systematizing your relationship building.  Your systems can take the place for any lack of gregariousness on your part.

Top producers have systems for all aspects of their business, but their most important system is their contact management system.  This system is critical in efficiently moving any contacts they make into an ideal customer: the highly satisfied, lifelong customer who regularly refers new business to you.  These top producers understand the different degrees between complete stranger and ideal customer – let’s call these degrees the relationship ladder.  These reps have devised a specific method for bringing a prospect at each rung on the ladder one degree closer to ideal customer status at the top rung of the ladder.

Top producers all use a contact management system of some sort (usually software based).  Whenever they make a new contact, they always get specific pieces of information from them such as full name, spouses name, mailing address, email address and phone number (home and cell).  I can’t stress the importance of getting all of this information as soon as possible.  Without it all, you’ll find yourself hampered in your ability to build relationships with these people at certain junctures.

One of the biggest ways real estate professionals lose out on potential business and fail to create weak tie relationships is by neglecting to keep in touch with all prospects and clients.  A relationship is either growing or dying.  The longer you neglect it, the more it dies.  The more you nurture it, the more it grows.  So top producers regularly keep in touch with all their contacts, and the best way of doing that is with a system.  This is how they create ‘weak tie’ relationships.

With a view to moving the prospect up the relationship ladder in the future, when they collect this basic info they also seek out meaningful reasons for contacting the prospect in future.  So they’ll try finding out future dates important to the prospect in some way.  For instance, there are dates universally important to anyone: birthdays and anniversaries.  Move-in anniversary dates (eg. 6 months after they move into first home) are worth recognizing.