Conducting Vendor-Sponsored Personal Service Meetings For Realtors
by Blanche Evans
Real estate professionals are pressed for time because of the multi-tasking nature of their industry. They are also inundated with vendors trying to get into their pockets. So how can vendors make the most of the 10 minutes the broker/manager allows them at a morning meeting?
If you are a vendor who wants to serve Realtors at the personal service level, you surely have permission from your company to take some time to build the relationship between yourself, your company and your target market - the real estate professional.
That means getting in front of real estate professionals face-to-face. One of the most effective methods of getting face time with agents is that their weekly sales meetings, usually held on Monday or Tuesday mornings.
Here's why sales meetings are a good idea: Broker/managers are under pressure to attract their independent-contractor agents to the office so that vital networking and information can be shared. While much of this exchange can be accomplished on the Internet, seeing warm bodies at the weekly sales meeting is a sure way broker/managers know that agents are getting new listings, promoting the brokerage's listings, solving transaction problems, and that they aren't harboring unhappiness with the brokerage. It's a chance for the broker/manager to monitor the morale and therefore the future of the brokerage.
Real estate professionals look at sales meetings a little differently. For them, the meeting is an opportunity to network, rub elbows with colleagues, and learn from competitors.
The weekly sales meeting also affords the perfect chance for the broker/manager to provide educational opportunities, and that's where you can come in. Many times a broker/manager will invite a vendor in to speak to the agents, but the agents may have a mixed response if they think they are being "sold."
So, first you have to sell the broker/manager on the idea of your making a short presentation, then you have to sell the agents on you and your company and its services and products without turning them off with a sales pitch. Here are some suggestions for getting in front of agents at their sales meetings:
Contact the broker with an educational plan
Keep in mind that sales meetings are about other agendas. Your program has to have value to the agents or the broker/manager loses face.
While you and your company want to make instant sales, that may not be possible. So be satisfied to educate and build trust first. It never hurts to build trust from the outset, especially if the real estate professionals you are going to get in front of have never heard of your company.
Offer an educational package to the broker, where you can come back several times to educate the agents about different aspects of services and products in general, as well as about your company.
For example, if you are selling cellular phone service, then you would want to educate agents about how the cellphone industry works, and then come back another time to talk about how to get better deals on phone service. Then come back another time and offer to do a session on how to transfer cell plans without losing a phone number or overpaying. Do yet another session on what should or should not be in a cell phone plan contract.
This willingness to come back again accomplishes several objectives - it builds trust and familiarity with the agents, and gets them to rely on you and your company as a source. Brokers will be grateful that they can rely on you for solid information without hard-selling the agents.
Arrange 10-minute talks
Plan to talk about what you and your company do for about 10 minutes, but try to keep the emphasis on educating the agents. Put yourself in their shoes. If you were trying to get a buyer, would you start out with a hard sell on a house? No, you might start out with the benefits of home ownership, and come back later with information on how to determine the right time to buy, who the players are, and which steps to take for a smooth homebuying process.
Concentrate on what the agents' needs are. The broker might be a good source to give you some agent concerns. Arrange to leave materials behind with your contact information. You should have a variety of topics that you can cover, and if you don't get to all of them, just tell the broker/manager that you are happy to come back again.
Don't assume that agents want or care about your products
It's easy to think that all agents will want your company's services and products as soon as they see them, but remember that agents are independent contractors and don't all think alike.
For example, an experienced agent might be doing so much business with personal referrals, that she sees little need for a Website or online lead generation, while a new agent who doesn't have past business to build upon might want to learn all about what Website and lead generation vendors have to offer.
Have realistic expectations
No matter what you have to sell, you won't get all the agents to buy in, so plan reasonable sales projections.
So many vendors look at the two-million agent population with stars in their eyes, but keep in mind, that not all these agents are top producers. Some sell as few as one home a year, or less, and some retain their licensees just so they can buy and sell their own homes every few years. Others are fierce producers, so a good rule of thumb is the Pareto principle - twenty percent of your actions get 80 percent of your results, or 20 percent of agents will give you 80 percent of your sales.
For example, the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems, Inc, the MLS that serves the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex has 16,000 subscribers and over 3,000 real estate offices. That would be enough to keep most small vendors busy, but getting all 16,000 to buy anything is another story.
Plan to come back, over and over
Real estate professionals value relationships they can trust. So many factors can capsize a transaction between a buyer and seller, that a real estate professional has to have sources, services and products that are reliable that help those transactions either go smoothly, or recover.
They also want value in what they buy or endorse, so it's your job to educate them and make them comfortable enough with your company's products and services that they feel 100 percent certain they are doing the right thing to order from you or to recommend your company to others.
That means getting in front of them over and over until they know your first name.
Published: March 31, 2004
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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment.
Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's.
Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68.
In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.
Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans.
Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR
"The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors
Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment.
