By Rich Schiffer, REALTOR, e-PRO

A lot has been written on the topic of Motivating clients.  Here are a few examples:

• Real Estate Strategies: Motivating Buyers David Britt, MBA wrote about his "broad brush" method for uncovering what motivates his clients, and presented 10 questions that can help you identify what makes your buyers "tick."
• What motivates Buyers to buy? Gary White wrote about a sort of psychological, sociological, and demographic profiling technique that helps him identify the likely buyer for his listing.
• It's A Buyers Market. So, When Are You Going to Buy? Lupe Soto writes about the market factors that are lining up that should be prompting buyers to pull out their checkbooks.
• Motivating Sellers Bob Haywood demonstrated a very logical method for analysis of local market conditions that has current conditions and the realities of the current market hit home for sellers who are want to sell, but aren't very realistic about their expectations.
• "Honey, Stop the Car!" The Importance of Curb Appeal.Lori Kim Polk presents a Stager's perspective on what motivates home buyers to stop the car and look at a house.
• ADVANCED: PSYCHOGRAPHICS-UNDERSTANDING BUYER MOTIVATION   Hal Douthit applies psychographics to real estate sales, and breaks buyers and sellers down into 5 archetypes, or "tribes"

• What Motivates Buyers To Select You was written about the Business Travel industry, but author Russell Hart points out something universal: 

1.Who are the people that view your product or service as important?
2.Why is it important to them?

"If you cannot answer these questions easily, you are going to struggle to attract clients."

As housing markets in many parts of the country shift into Buyers' Market conditions, the topic of motivating clients becomes ever more timely.  (What makes a Buyers' Market? -- see Absorption Rate: What it is, and Why you Should Know it)

Here are some things that may help you motivate your clients:

1. Know your clients reason for doing this in the first place. Some clients have their own motivation, and need to be reminded of it only occasionally.  Sometimes a subtle hint can suffice, though not always  ("You want to be moved in before the baby is born, right?")
2. Be informed.  Share what you know.  Some clients need continuing guidance to keep their goal in focus.  As you read local market reports and real estate articles, read them through the filter of "how does this apply to my clients?"  Then, forwarding an article to a buyer with a note about how you see it applying to their situation serves to keep them focused on the desired result, and also keeps you positioned in their mind as someone who is really looking out for them.
3. Be the Expert. Some clients get scared by national news reports.  Part of your job is to localize the national reports for them.  Give them an analysis of how that report actually fits to the local conditions.  The national average may be one thing, but the local conditions are far more important to them.  They simply need a trusted source to educate them.  Let that source be you. 

Most people who know me, know that I am a strong proponent for using technology to our advantage, especially when it doesn't cost a lot of money.  In keeping with that theme, here are some Technology Tools that can help you accomplish the task of motivating your clients:

1. To help you know your clients, and keep up with what they do, use free online tools like Digg, Twitter, Plaxo, and Google Alerts.  (Set up a profile on Digg, Twitter and Plaxo, then invite your clients to join your "network."  Set up a Google alert for each of your clients names, and their children's names -- you will be notified instantly anytime their name is mentioned on the Internet)  Checking out your client's MySpace or Facebook page is a good place to look, too.
2. To help you be informed: read read read.  Read industry publications (print and online), read the local papers, and use Google Alerts.  (set up an alert to let you know anytime your market area or "hometown" is mentioned online.)  When you see something that might be of interests, share what you know, and forward a link to it to your clients.
3. To be the experton your local area, write relavant articles about your market area for sites like Localism.com.  Answer questions from consumers on sites like Trulia and ActiveRain's Q&A