Creating a trusting rapport with your clients is an easy skill to master! Whether you are a newcomer as a real estate agent or you have had years of experience, brushing up on your people skills is a must if you want to be a successful agent.
New Agents: If you haven’t worked with any clients yet, there are a couple of things you can do to gain experience:
- Ask top producers in your real estate office if they would be willing to mentor you. Offer to help with certain tasks in exchange for the opportunity to learn the ropes. The hands on experience will help you learn the skills needed for the business.
- Many agents may willing to partner with you for your first couple of clients. They were in your position once and most likely benefited from other agents helping them to start out. Offering a portion of your commission for help with negotiations, paperwork, marketing ideas, etc; shows them you are thankful for benefiting from their expertise.
The goal of apprenticing or partnering with experienced agents is to give you hands on experience. The experience teaches you about your local real estate market and how to complete transactions as quickly as possible. It also reduces the risk of hiring a new agent in a potential client’s eyes!
Experienced Agents: No matter how hard you try there will be clients that you just can’t please. But if you are finding that this is becoming a frequent situation, there are a couple of questions you should ask yourself:
- Do you get a long with people?
- Do you enjoy conneting with other people?
- Are you a good listener?
- Do you genuinely care about others and their well-being?
- Do you allow them to talk about themselves first?
- Do you have good self-esteem? Do you have confidence in yourself as an agent?
- Do you enjoy brainstorming in order to provide solutions that help people?
If you are more focused obtaining your next listing or buyer than you are on client relationships, you will hit a brick wall and hinder the success of your business.
Change your focus from yourself to others. People are attracted to open, positive, and confident people. If you are feeling the pressure of gaining business it will reflect on how you relate to clients. Without realizing it, they will pick up on the “vibe” and turn them away. Here are some tips to help you create a trusting relationship with your client:
- Whether it is your first meeting, or another of many, greet your client with a smile and eye contact! A genuine smile puts your client at ease. Eye contact shows confidence!
- Use a firm handshake. A week handshake can give the impression of disinterest. A firm, confident handshake (not crushing) shows you are interested in meeting with your client.
- Remember your client’s name! This shows your client that they are important to you.
- Body Language! Sit up straight and lean toward your client to show them you are interested in them.
- Ask questions about their family, work, hobbies, interests, needs, etc.
- No one likes to be interrupted as it makes them feel what they are saying isn’t important to you. Wait a couple of seconds to allow the client to finish speaking, so you won’t interrupt them.
- Repeat back to the client their needs, concerns, etc., to show them you understand what they are telling you. Also ask open-ended questions that will allow your client to give you a greater insight on how you can fill their needs.
- Take notes you can refer to in the future so your client will feel you took a personal interest in them.
Being honest and approachable puts a client at ease. Focusing on the realtionship side of real estate will create client trust, referrals, and business!
Good luck and always be kind and courteous!
Contact Sheri Jones at 909-660-1838 sherijones2012@gmail.com
#ClientTrust #RealEstate #HomeBySheri
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