Do our clients hire us just for our professional expertise or are they placing their bets with a whole person? I trust that if I talk about real estate to my clients, I would be amazingly efficient (and could catch up on my filing), but I would certainly FAIL. I’d fail to make a lasting impression, create bonds of loyalty, or even miss a potential friendship.
YOUR CLIENT IS MORE THAN A BUYER OR A SELLER
Your client is a whole person with a complex set of desires, hopes, dreams, and fears. That you already know, as sometimes, your clients tell you much more about things that are too personal for them like their marital problems, issues with their health, and other negative aspects of their life. Much of our time is used refocusing some clients back on real estate, because our business plan doesn’t include providing psychotherapy. Other clients remain somewhat reserved and aloof , making it more difficult to build the trust needed for a good partnership.
By directing the conversation to the positive side of your clients life that they care deeply about, we can avoid the problems of overengaging in personal issues or underengaging and being seen as bores. Outside of everyone’s daily work, everyone has some kind of interest that they are passionate about. If you can find out what that interest is and make a connection, your clients will be grateful for the effort you’ve made to know them as a person and will look forward to seeing you again.
There is one client who had devoted all her life by trying to learn and practicing gardening, another client was involved in monotype printmaking, and so on. By engaging them with these topics I learned more about them on a new level and made a deeper connection. These connection permit me to stay in touch with them and subsequently, lead to referrals to new clients.
YOU ARE MORE THAN A REAL ESTATE AGENT
You are also a person with a complex set of desires, hopes, dreams, and fears. Your clients don’t want to go that deep into your personal psyche any more than you want to go there with them. So keep your deepest darkest secrets and fears just to yourself. Instead , let your client know more about your avocations and interests as they come up naturally in conversation.
You don’t have to talk much about your personal interests for your client to have the impression of you as an interesting person, who they would like to get to know further. If they ask questions, you can pursue the topic further. Never brag about your accomplishments with your avocations. Bragging is a cardinal sin in this kind of business. It will only defeat your very purpose. Your goal is to make a connection with your clients and to let them know there is more there than just a hard working, professional. Inside there’s a whole human being.
My own avocation is running a grassroots environmental organization, which I founded 8 years ago. That raises a few eyebrows because Singapore property estate developers and environmental activists are often are at odds with one another.
CULTIVATING RELATIONSHIPS
The best gardens have a mixture of plants, not just one variety. They are also weeded, watered and fertilized. In the same way, your relationships with clients are like that. You have to cultivate it by the way your conversation is leading. Next time you are with your clients, trymanipulating the conversation away from negative personal topics with grace and diplomacy, of course, and start to discover the point of interest of your clients, his passions, his goals and aspirations and you can start from them. Nest let them take a glimpse into your own passions. I’ll bet you have a life that extends beyond your real estate profession . However, you don’t have to give away the most personal details of your life to establish that connection.
