If you want to be a real estate sales consultant, you must be good with people. Your tools of the trade are your words, your overall knowledge base, your ability to persuade, your integrity, and general likability. It is as if you are selling yourself to the customer more than the product itself. If you master only the tools outlined above, you can yield a considerable amount of success in real estate, but I can assure you that it will be short-lived. A key ingredient to building sustainable success in this business is to foster and develop strong client relationship building skills.
Of the 1,200+ homes that I sold during my career, the majority was from repeat business, or from new contacts that were referred to me from my existing client base. These results were a direct output of the time and effort I put into developing client relationship building skills.
Think about your relationship with your banker. You may start to see them at a young age, and will likely see them for many years. You can analogise this (albeit crudely) to a sales consultant/client relationship. A large proportion of clients may come to you as first home buyers. Over time, those same client’s financial and personal circumstances change, and they may wish to accommodate those changes with a new home. Their default position would be to come see you for that new purchase… unless you give them a reason to search elsewhere.
Developing client relationship building skills has never been more important than it is now. The expanse of information now available on the Internet balances the scales of knowledge between the client and sales consultant. It also demands sales consultants to act with integrity and thoughtfulness, and not leverage an asymmetry of information. Despite all this additional knowledge, the client will still consider you when purchasing a new home, but they have enough options besides you if you’re unable to create that critical relationship with them.
When reflecting on my past client relationships, my career seemed to naturally split into two halves. The first half were my early years, where I had to build my client base from the ground up. The second period involved capitalising on the fruits yielded from past client relationships. While my experiences were different, they were interwoven by the client relationship building skills that I had developed over years of sales experience.
The Early Years...
Approximately 4 months into my real estate career, a potential buyer came into my display home, seeking to make a purchase. I was in the midst of a scheduling nightmare and was unable to meet with him, however I took down his contact details and confirmed that I would meet him at his home that evening. I distinctly remember that he lived in the outskirts of the Perth metropolitan area; to provide some context, Perth is a coastal city and expands over 130 kilometres of coastline. To make matters more interesting, I was seeing another client prior to our meeting, who lived 50 kilometres in the other direction.
I was determined to not take for granted the potential buyer’s accommodations of my schedule, so I proceeded to his home a little later than expected – I recall arriving at his place around 10pm. As we were in touch throughout the day, he was still happy to meet with me despite the time. We signed a deal that evening and I reached home around 2:30 the following morning.
This experience epitomises my early days in real estate. I never took for granted the significance of that first interaction with a potential buyer. I obviously could not be in multiple places at once, but I was forthcoming in what I could deliver, and I was willing to go the extra mile (both literally and figuratively) to deliver on those promises. That buyer, along with my other clients at the time, appreciated my integrity and commitment to them, and rewarded me with their business at the time and into the future.
Some of you may read this and think my actions were excessive, and perhaps invasive. You may ask – why couldn’t I have just rescheduled for another time or day? My response to that question is that it comes down to being able to read the client. From our interaction, I knew I had a potential deal in waiting, and if I didn’t follow-through, that would have been the tipping point for that buyer searching elsewhere.
I have encountered several sales consultants who have misread the client’s intentions to their own detriment. One example that comes to mind was where one of my sales consultants was in the final stages of securing a sale. The client wished to meet with him early in the day, however he was planning to go on vacation that evening and chose instead to get ready for his trip. The end outcome was that the client went elsewhere for their home purchase.
I’m not suggesting that the moral of this story is to not take personal time for yourself. Instead, don’t take your client’s graces for granted, and be willing to show how important they mean to you. In a pre-COVID context, you can always reschedule your flight for a later time. However, you won’t always get a second opportunity to build a client relationship.
Client Relationship Building Skills: Seizing Opportunities Whenever They Arise
Another instance that comes to mind was perhaps one of the most fortuitous of my early career in real estate, however it stemmed from my commitment to client service. I had two potential client opportunities that were vying for a new land release in a southern suburb of Perth. Given the boom in residential construction and land being in short supply, this land release (comprising of 21 standalone lots) was a very attractive opportunity for young buyers. My two clients were eager to seize the opportunity and decided to ‘camp out’ at the land sale office overnight for the land release. In an attempt to show support, I mentioned to both families that I would join them shortly after closing my display.
Once my day ended, I took a quick detour home and picked up some snacks and drinks for the camp out. Upon arriving at the land sales office, I quickly found that my clients weren’t the only ones to have this idea – there were a total of at least 22-23 groups of people waiting in front of the office. The environment was warm and jovial – one of the members even had a guitar! In the spirit of the evening, I opened up my snacks and drinks to the other groups and struck up conversations with them. It turns out that most of them were eager to secure the land, but had given no consideration to their builder.
To be clear, I had no intention of selling to those additional groups that night. My only objective was to tend to my client’s needs and address any questions they may have. My display of commitment to my clients was a strong enough indication to the other groups of my overall offering. As a result of that evening’s festivities, I ended up securing builds for 17 of the 21 standalone lots.
Therein lies the true power of effective client service. It’s contagious when done effectively. The truth is that it took very little on my part to show up for my clients, but the impact that it had was so far reaching and unexpected. That is my piece of advice to those of you in this business and seeking to differentiate yourself – give your clients that level of service that they didn’t even think to ask.
The Later Years...
Over time, I was able to build my client base to a respectable position, and progressed from display home duty to an office position. With this change in scenery came another important career fruit – referrals. A considerable portion of my client base built multiple homes with me, so as to capitalise on the appreciation value of the booming real estate market, and the healthy benefits offered by way of rental income and negative gearing. Some of these clients were also very vocal and trusted in their local communities, and proved to be extremely successful channels for reaching new clients.
This was not to say my referral rate was 100%. The point is that it doesn’t need to be 100%. I was obtaining referrals from a handful of existing clients, which turned out to be extremely lucrative deals. In a large number of referral cases, the build requests involved the construction of multiple unit homes as opposed to individual single-family homes. The true realised benefit was I did not have to increase my output to convert these multiple unit home sales. The referral alone and the endorsement that I received from my existing clients was more than sufficient to sell these builds.
I didn’t take this for granted. The sale may have not required additional effort, but it doesn’t mean that I compromised on service. I took those endorsements very seriously, and wanted to live up to the testimonials of my existing clients. This didn’t create additional pressure for me, as the way I viewed it, I was doing what I have been doing since I started my real estate career, and what I offered to my existing clients.
Client Relationship Building Skills: The Misconception of Referrals
It is somewhat known in the industry that a referral is effectively worth two sales, because it shortens your selling cycle, leaving you with more time to obtain new business. I didn’t follow this viewpoint for a few reasons. Firstly, I believe it is counterintuitive and somewhat ineffective. Secondly, while my selling cycle shortened, I used the remaining time to over-service that same referral client. This yielded considerable benefit for me, both in terms of client satisfaction and client retention. It also had the effect of spoiling that client, because if they were to invariably shop around with other builders, they were bound to be left wanting more from those experiences.
So in my later years, I enjoyed the benefit of having free marketing generated from my existing client base. This in no way meant that I could cheapen my service offering. This goes to the point made at the start of this blog post, in that clients value integrity. If I was not demonstrating my authenticity and commitment to my service, I could not fault a client from seeking alternative options.
Looking back, it was largely due to my maniacal approach towards client service that contributed to my sustained success over a long career. For any sales consultant seeking to replicate my success, remember that there are countless problems with over-selling, but never a problem with over-servicing.
I would love to hear from those sales consultants on how they developed their own client relationship building skills, and any stories they are happy to share about them going above and beyond for their clients. For those you that are not sales consultants but have received exceptional service from one, please feel free to share in the comments section below.
The content outlined above was written, edited and published by the Lost Realtor. The author has over 20 years or real estate sales and investing experience in the Australian property market. He has held senior positions in Australian building companies, including being the General Manager of the residential sales division of Collier Homes. His qualifications include a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Graduate Diploma in Building and Construction Law.