Whether you’re new to the real estate industry or you’re an experienced agent, you probably understand the importance of real estate networking. Meeting new faces and talking about your business to others is not only essential for a successful lead generation strategy, but also for obtaining referrals. After all, real estate is a people business. Therefore, learning how to network effectively is a must for every real estate agent.
The following blog post contains some helpful networking tips for a new real estate agent to keep in mind. So, without further ado, let’s jump right in.
#1 Where to Network
Anywhere that brings different members of the industry or potential clients together can be considered an opportunity for real estate networking. Local charity events, industry conferences, seminars, and membership group meetings all can provide significant opportunities for real estate agents to get the most out of their time, often with thousands of potential contacts gathering in one place.
If participants have paid to be at the networking event, it’s even better! This is because people who pay to join a real estate agent network are generally more serious and more likely to be open to speaking with other industry members.
In addition, you may want to create your own events or host a seminar. Though they can take a lot of planning, they’re definitely worth your time and efforts as people will be lining up to speak with you after the event if you do it well.
Remember that real estate networking is about engaging. Thus, try to engage in conversation with as many people as possible and exchange business cards with those that you speak with. Moreover, treat these events as opportunities to learn about new market information and innovations your colleagues are using. This is great not only for expanding your network, but it’ll also strengthen your knowledge of the real estate market and introduce you to new marketing strategies.
Related: Real Estate Marketing Tips for Agents: Old-Fashioned to Online
#2 Real Estate Networking Online
Though personal engagements are best for establishing a real estate agent network, social media is also a powerful tool to build connections. Successful real estate agents use social apps like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to interact with other users, share content that people can engage with, and market their properties in an easily shareable format. When you’re engaging with other people’s content as well, you have the chance to get to know them and build stronger bonds for when you meet them in real life.
Real estate agents should also take advantage of current and potential clients they already met by asking to follow them on social media. After connecting with them, it’s important to follow up – like some of their photos, comment on their posts, and reach out to them via email or message them through the social media platform and ask for an in-person meeting. While real estate networking online has its benefits, a face-to-face meeting is essential if you really want to close the deal!
#3 Real Estate Networking With the Right People
For real estate agents, an important tip is to network with a diverse group of people in the industry – not just other agents and potential future clients. A real estate agent network that involves competent and trustworthy people is critical to the success of your real estate agent career.
In addition to professionals with whom you work and collaborate with, it’s smart to also build relationships and establish connections with individuals and firms in your community with whom you don’t compete. For example, add lenders, contractors, real estate attorneys, and developers to your network. Say your client isn’t familiar with the mortgage lending process. If you have a trustworthy lender in your network, you can connect him/her with your client. This helps in closing deals faster and gives you a reputation as a hot real estate agent.
One final real estate networking tip in this regard is to connect with property investors! Investors will add great value to your real estate business because they close deals faster, prefer working with the same agent, understand the housing market, and are a great source of referrals. In fact, investors might as well be the best leads you could ask for and there’s a lot of them!
To increase your visibility to real estate investors, claim your free agent profile at Mashvisor today!
Related: Become the Best Real Estate Agent for Investors with This Guide
Mashvisor works with real estate investors seriously considering buying investment properties and connects them with agents in their city! To learn more about how we can connect you to investors, click here.
#4 Master the Art of Listening
Being a successful agent doesn’t mean you have to do all the talking. In fact, listening is an essential skill for any real estate agent to win more sales. Whether you’re talking to potential buyers or you’re at a real estate networking event, failing to listen properly means you’re missing out on valuable knowledge that matter to the people you’re communicating with.
Furthermore, many think that the goal of a real estate agent network is to get as many referrals or collect as many phone numbers as possible. However, that can be annoying and make you look desperate. Instead, you should make your goal to help and make meaningful business relationships. Thus, when at a real estate networking event, give referrals instead of asking for referrals.
Moreover, you can be a more successful real estate agent when you ask people for their business cards, instead of just giving them yours. This gives you the opportunity to contact them and continue building a connection. However, if your goal is to give out as many of your cards as possible, you might end up waiting for calls which may never come.
Related: 7 Characteristics of the Most Successful Real Estate Agents
#5 Stay Connected and Follow Up
As soon as you’re back from an event, save all the relevant contact details and information to your CRM to have them available. Make notes of where you’ve met them, their line of business, and any important details that could help you recall the interaction. This also helps real estate agents create a strategy for how and when to follow up and eventually turn them into clients.
This leads us to our final, and probably most important, part of real estate networking and that is to follow up after the event is over. Failing to follow up means your real estate agent network will not be effective or show positive results. Therefore, make sure to send an email to everyone you’ve met when you get home or the next day. Furthermore, stay connected through phone calls, social media accounts, and newsletters. This ensures that you’ll end up with happy clients.
Mashvisor helps real estate agents stay connected with their leads and clients through our Agent Dashboard and CRM services. You can upload your contacts, filter them by the city, state, or type of property they’re looking for. Then, you can send out emails, log a call, text, or notes to easily stay connected with them! This is a unique feature only for real estate agents subscribed to Mashvisor. To get access to our agent dashboard, schedule a demo.
The Bottom Line
In closing, remember that real estate networking is important for your agent career. It’s an important element of your sales success and is one of the best ways to get ahead and make long-lasting relationships. It also allows you to learn from members in the industry and improve your profile and strategies to generate leads and close more deals.
Don’t forget that Mashvisor can help you in 1) generating qualified real estate leads (property investors) and 2) staying in touch with them through CRM services to close more deals. To learn more about our agent program and how we’ll help you increase your client base, click here or schedule a demo!
