There’s so much noise out there on how to navigate a challenging market. This April, let Inman help you cut through the clutter to make smart business decisions in real time. All month long, we’re taking it Back to Basics and finding out how real estate pros are evolving their systems and investing personally and professionally to drive growth.
Success is a process, but real estate sales is an if-then business. If you do certain things, then you can expect certain results. With transactions down, an understanding of the rules that apply to the game can help you regain momentum.
The following are seven unexpected and often-forgotten rules of real estate sales.
1. It’s not who you know, but who knows you
There is a common saying: “It’s not what you know, but who you know.” This may be true to a certain extent, but as a real estate agent the next level is, “It’s not who you know, but who knows you.”
Who knows you as the expert resource for buyers and sellers in your market? Is it people in your farm area or the community where you live? Is it a relocation director for your city’s largest employer? Or maybe you’re known by agents in other cities as the resource for them to send referrals to in your city.
No matter how they know you, the more people who know you and your business, the more success you will have. So how do you get more people to know you?
Here are a few ways:
- Build a social media following by posting consistent informative and/or entertaining content about yourself and your business
- Farm a geographical area with consistent, value-added marketing
- Become active in your community through service organizations, clubs or local charities
- Build a database you consistently send valuable information to via a weekly or monthly newsletter
- Become the “digital mayor” of your area by producing video content about local real estate and area businesses
Focus on expanding the group of people who you know, as well as those who know you —…