The Power of the Grapevine
Pushing the Limits of Word of Mouth

Part of the Professional Real Estate Agent Handbook Series

If you know the power of gossip, then you’re pretty much aware of the power the grapevine holds. A good rumor will expand to becoming a great rumor, while a bad rumor from the beginning will likely turn ugly as time passes. But regardless of however you see the moral and ethical value of gossip, you are certainly aware of the potency of the word of mouth. In fact, many professionals and entrepreneurs swear by the efficacy of word of mouth. You can look at word of mouth contributing to almost 35% of sales in the fast-food industry, which accounts for a lot more than the advertisements you put up on the highways or on television.

You can make use of this very potent tool in order to find solid real estate leads. It begins with efficiency and care for your existing customers. Obviously, they won’t refer you to a friend or an associate if they are not satisfied with the service you offer them. Understand that referrals from your client are backed up by their own credibility to their acquaintances, and they will not be willing to stand behind below-par service.

Therefore, don’t be afraid to cultivate meaningful relationships with your clients. By making sure your clients are satisfied with the service you already provide them, you are increasing the chances of you being mentioned over lunch or coffee to another potential lead. Because people who are on the receiving end of this referral trust from your client as it is, it won’t be very difficult for you to gain leads through a solid referral.

Moreover, should you want to be more active in your pursuit for leads, don’t be afraid to ask your client if they have friends or associates who would be interested in your service. Again, if you have a meaningful business relationship with your clients, they’d be more than willing to almost automatically provide you with a contact number of a friend who’d be interested in availing your services or your real estate property. By making this request to be referred explicit, it’s going to create an impetus for your client to mention you once in a while in his or her circles.

Give your clients an extra card or two with your contact information. This way, when he or she brings your real estate venture up or happens to be in the company of one who is looking for a real estate service, he or she would have something tangible to provide to the person she is referring to you. This creates greater probability of a call rather than when he or she simply mentions you, which increases the likelihood of not providing your contact details to the interested party.

Referrals allow for you to gain leads via the trust and confidence of a current client with you. Build a meaningful relationship and enjoy the benefits of client referrals.

Contractor and Home Builder shows are becoming extremely popular among folks who are looking to build their home or are even just slightly considering having one custom-built themselves. Some of them are also, perhaps, looking for considering already built property and are there to view some of the services of home builders and/or contractors for whatever revisions and renovations they may wish to make.

As a real estate agent looking for leads, this is obviously a goldmine of potential customers for you. But how are you going to take full advantage of this opportunity?

First, affiliate yourself with the most reputable contractors or home builders in the show. These individuals will come into the show with greater strength than others, and most likely, customers are more likely to flock to their booth or area than others. Make sure these contractors are referring the traffic back to you. You may also opt to set-up a booth where interested parties may gather further information on real estate. Not only will this allow you to communicate with potential clients, you are also getting the opportunity to collect information on them that may be valuable to your future contracts.

Don’t underestimate the contact that you can make in a contractor or home builder show. Unlike street signs or promotional brochures given out in random commercial spaces, the people crowding to these shows are more than likely to be very much interested in the services you offer, and are simply choosing among various alternatives. Moreover, because of this interactivity, you are able to communicate better your vision and your comparative advantage over the next best thing. It gives you more space to convince a potential lead to avail of your services, or simply give you information so that they’d receive supplementary brochures and catalogues from your company.

Make sure that you have your card ready. Your customer may be sold on the idea of hiring your services, but without your card, how will they be reminded of the impression you made on them. Moreover, how will they know where to get in touch? Always have it in handy while you make your remarkable sales pitch and you’re sure to get solid leads yourself.

While your potential customers are roaming around these shows, they are going to want to compare and contrast various offers made to them. Some of them would want to finalize decisions at home, while others would want to make those decisions on the spot. For on-the-spot decision-makers, a promotional handout or brochure featuring the attractive qualities of the real estate you are offering may actually help them compare your offer to the next best thing. A creative brochure capitalizing on the assets of the real estate will allow for you to stand out in the midst of competition.

For those who may wish to ponder on acquiring your service for a longer time, brochures will give you the sort of recall and accessibility you want. Again, the featuring of attractive qualities will reinforce the positive impression you already made on them. Moreover, an effective brochure will keep your customers well within the scope of your sales pitch they’d be looking at the same product you are selling and seeing the same benefits you highlighted in your pitch over and over.

Contractor and home builder shows, like all other shows, offer kits and giveaways for their visitors to take home. Want to give your potential leads further information on your brand of real estate and what you can offer? Include your brochure and information sheets in the show’s giveaway packages. Make sure to include your contact details, and don’t be afraid to offer brochures and catalogues the moment they get in touch with you or answer a questionnaire. While your customer may view this as a freebie in the show, you are in fact getting very valuable information you can use to generate more real estate leads.

The important thing to remember is this: make sure that you are prominently featured in the show, or if not, getting at least the equivalent amount of traffic if you were prominently featured in the show. With more people flocking to you for information, you have more opportunities to give them information on how they can get in touch with you, ask for their information for you to send them supplementary material on your company, and get in touch with the people who are most interested in availing your service. When it comes to these home builder and contractor shows, don’t be afraid to aggressively market yourself to your target population.