Phoenix Real Estate

All sales professionals should work diligently to build their database, but more importantly we should be building relationships.  In any business, working by referral is significantly more rewarding than spending precious time and marketing dollars to find new clients.  Clients who are referred to you understand the person who sent them trusts your character and service and referred them simply because they care, not because they gain anything from it. Developing personal relationships and reciprocating referrals with those you do business with makes your job more pleasant and creates a consistent source of incoming leads.

Below are some questions you can ask yourself to rate your networking skills. 

• Do you have a large network of people to call upon when you need help, information or a resource? 
• When you meet someone new do you record and file information about that person within 24 hours?
• Do you add someone to your database of contacts at least every week?
• Do you ask others what you can do to build their business or help them succeed?
• Do you follow up with new contacts right away – write a note, make a phone call or send an article?  If you don’t have a specific reason to contact them, follow up in 6 months.
• Do you keep track of special things that matter to your contacts like their family, hobbies and achievements?  How much do you really know about the people your clientele, friends, etc?
• How easily can you find out when was the last time you were in contact with someone?  Are your contacts organized?
• When you mail out something – a resume, sales letter, change of address, can you count on having the correct name spellings, titles, and addresses for everyone in your network?
• Do you know about and acknowledge special dates like birthdays, anniversaries and graduations?
• When you want to give a business gift can you count on your file to provide you with an excellent idea of what the person might like? Use a concierge form to have clients and vendors document their likes and interests.
• Do you make it easy for others to add you to their networking by providing your business card, notifying them of address changes and informing them about career progress?
• When friends ask you for a good resource, do you have trouble in providing one?
• When the moment comes, can you really “wow” a customer, prospect or potential employer with special information or ideas that show you care?
• Do you regularly educate your network of your preference to have the name and contact information of referrals so you can be proactive, rather than them giving out your information and waiting for the referral to contact you? 

Hopefully this will prompt you to evaluate your skills and work on ways to improve them.  Remember that networking is not about handing out your business card!  It is about meeting like-minded people so you can help each other succeed.  Always ask, “What can I do to build your business?” or “What kind of client are you looking for?” and then keep your eyes and ears open so you can send those contacts referrals, information, advice or items of value to show you listened to them.  When you seek to build others, you will then be ready to receive!

Tags: business skills, database, marketing, Networking, referral, relationships

Posted on Monday, January 31st, 2011 at 10:12 pm and is filed under Real Estate as a Career. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.