Leveraging Your Network to Close Sales

Leveraging Your Network to Gain Clients and Close Sales

Networking is important for most professionals, but for real estate agents, a strong network is vital to success. Networking enhances the amount of people that are aware of your real estate services, and gives you the ability to exchange ideas with peers. How, though, do you use this network to get more clients and close sales? 

Working With Other Local Businesses

One potential way to use your network to gain clients and close sales is by working with other businesses you’ve already established a partnership with. For example, you can make recommendations to your clients for top-quality maintenance contractors in your area; or if you have a real estate blog, you could work with a contractor in your area to write an information-based article on a relevant topic that mentions their services and links to their website. This will provide helpful information to your clients, promotes the contractor’s business, and will most likely lead to their willingness to raise awareness of your services through word-of-mouth. The more word-of-mouth you get, the more credibility you gain, earning you new clients and their business.

Referrals / Paying It Forward

Say you have a client who was new to the area and you just helped them find a property. This client may ask your recommendation for a pediatrician for their child, or your recommendation for a mechanic to change their oil. Referring them to someone you may want to add to your network brings this idea of paying it forward. When you help a local business owner or service provider by helping them gain another customer or patient, they just may respond in kind with a referral for you. With time, you may become a part of their network by adding them to yours. 

Social Media

Social media can be daunting for many, especially when just starting out. But it is a very useful marketing tool for gaining clients and closing more sales. Each social media platform has its own unique application and audience targeting. For example, Facebook has a large adult audience; Instagram an audience consisting largely of the younger generation of buyers; and LinkedIn a large following with professional interests, making it well-suited to the mature buyer or the individual/group looking for a commercial investment. As a no-cost, network-boosting action, you can create content that speaks to the audience and demographic that you’re targeting. Don’t be shy about asking your clients to follow you. Encourage social sharing, simply by asking or by running low-cost promotions. Be sure to include your social media links on every piece of digital marketing. On print pieces, you can include the social media icons; or when it makes sense, you can include your social media handles to make it even easier for your clients to find you. Your social media handle is the username that often follows the “@” symbol.

Conclusion 

There are several ways to use your network to your advantage, but the main points in this article are some of the most vital for gaining clients and closing more sales. Connecting with other peers and business owners in your area, suggesting their services to your clients, and leading potential clients their way may, in turn, lead them to do the same for you. In the real estate business, word-of-mouth is everything. It helps you grow your network and builds your reputation. The more word-of-mouth you generate, the more your network grows, and the more opportunities you have to close more sales. Without networking, new clients and the resulting sales are going to be much harder to come by, especially when you are starting out.

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