As brokers face assaults on their worth from all sides, a very powerful factor they will do at present is to give attention to boosting consumer relationships, the Glennda Baker & Associates chief stated to Inman Join Las Vegas attendees.
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Glennda Baker, thought of by many to be the actual property business’s queen of social media, didn’t come to Inman Join Las Vegas to debate video.
The chief of Glennda Baker & Associates at Coldwell Banker had one thing extra urgent to speak about on Tuesday: relationships reimagined.
“There has never been a more important time to be in a relationship with your client,” Baker informed an brisk Inman Join viewers Tuesday on the Aria Resort & On line casino in Las Vegas.
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“Everybody is telling the consumer that we’re not worth it. We’re not worth the money,” Baker informed the group. “All we do is open doors. All we do is take you on a tour. We’re glorified tour guides. I disagree with that.”
For a very long time, brokers have been slotted right into a service supplier function, Baker continued, however at present, consumer relationships are extra essential to give attention to.
Baker took the chance to take a delicate dig at Zillow and its imaginative and prescient for the business.
“There’s this tech provider — I won’t say their name on video — and they think they can replace us with their platform,” Baker stated. “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re not here to be replaced.”
“Everybody wants a piece of the commission and that’s why it’s so important to be in a relationship with your client — so you’re not replaceable and they don’t forget you.”
Baker went on to clarify how an agent’s previous shoppers and sphere of affect, their neighborhood, and their agent-to-agent referrals are the most important relationships that pay again by way of returns.
When Baker creates a brand new relationship, as an alternative of inputting particulars that can get misplaced within the huge black gap of a CRM, she places their contact info, photograph and any notes about what she’s discovered about them as a brand new contact into her cellphone.
“You gotta take soft and hard notes, and you’ve got to exchange life stories,” she stated.
Along with exchanging tales and turning into a supply for the whole lot for shoppers, brokers also needs to discover ways to be a stalker, Baker stated, tongue-in-cheek.
“This is where I’m supposed to tell you, it’s ok to be a stalker,” she informed the Join viewers. “If someone posts something on Facebook or Instagram, they want you to know about it … It’s a great opportunity for you to memorialize it for them.”
“If you’re not capitalizing on the birthdays on Facebook, what are you doing?” she later added. “Y’all, it’s free.”
Baker stated she likes to “surprise and delight” individuals in her circle by wishing them a contented birthday with a custom-made video or by sending them cupcakes.
She additionally likes to host occasions that “create endless opportunity” for consumer connection, Baker added, like her “coffee and comps” occasion, the place she hosts espresso and discusses neighborhood comps and one in every of her new listings, or her “eight at eight” occasion, the place she invitations three {couples} to her house for dinner made by a personal chef.
She additionally hosts an “appetizers and appraisals” occasion, which shoppers discover particularly useful in at present’s market. “People have never been more confused about the value of their home than they are today,” Baker famous.
Breaking bread with individuals or inviting them into your private home establishes a extra private connection, Baker famous. Throughout a lot of these interactions, shoppers cross the edge from simply being a consumer into being a good friend. The identical transformation happens when brokers assist shoppers memorialize the milestones of their lives.
Baker added that, though closing items might be difficult, they’re yet another approach to set up a extra private reference to a consumer.
“Some people don’t believe in closing gifts,” Baker stated. “I’ll be honest with you, they’re tricky. You sell someone a $1 million home, what gift do you give them? They can buy whatever they want.”
One reward that has labored effectively for Baker is a cake with a photograph of the consumer’s new house on it. Her shoppers have cherished the reward, even when they’re celebrities.
“He saved that cake; he wouldn’t let anybody eat it, because it meant that much to him,” Baker stated of 1 high-end consumer in Atlanta who she helped buy his first house. “That guy bought a $2.3 million house — he can buy anything he wants.”
As Baker confirmed off the customized reward wrap she has made together with her face printed throughout it (courtesy of giftwrapmyface.com), she expressed her gratitude on the Inman Join viewers for sharing their time together with her.
“I love being a real estate agent,” Baker stated. “I’m honored that Inman gives me a platform to stand up and speak to you. It means more tho me than you’ll ever know that you took time to sit here. But more than anything else, is that you gave me your attention. Give that attention to your clients. Treat them like the valuable asset that they are.”
