Building relationships that lead to success in real estate is a longer-term effort than many in the business realize, according to Toronto REALTORS® Thomas and Sally Cook.
They were among the presenters at the October 23 event in Toronto titled Emerge: Moving You Forward with the Tools for Tomorrow, organized as part of a series by the Ontario Real Estate Association. Held at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel, the Toronto event featured a slate of speakers on topics aimed at helping brokers and salespeople to stay on the cutting edge of technology in real estate. Emerge events have been held across the province, with upcoming sessions on Nov. 14 in North Bay, Nov. 21 in Windsor and Dec. 10 in Kitchener-Waterloo.
“Communicate with people, build trust and loyalty, and get to know them,” Thomas Cook told the audience of more than 280 attendees at the Toronto event. He cited a survey of people who bought services online, which revealed the 50-15-85 rule. “For every 100 people who inquired online about a service, 50 per cent of them eventually bought that service, but only 15 per cent bought the service within the first 90 days. The other 85 per cent of people, the vast majority, bought the service between 90 days and 18 months after their first inquiry.”
The same principle can be applied to real estate, he says. If you disregard prospects because they do not respond as quickly or immediately as you wish, you may be eliminating a large source of potential business, he says. “They may be someone who’s part of that 18-month cycle,” he says. “Don’t forget about them just because they’re not going to buy or sell within 30 days. Treat them as if they will be a valid buyer until they prove otherwise.”
Make prospecting a part of your regular daily routine and it will benefit your business in the future, says Sally Cook. “If you make these tasks and activities a part of your routine, they will become habits that you don’t think twice about. You must prospect on a daily basis, and we found that by doing that, we could build relationships with people, one sentence at a time.”
Thomas and Sally Cook were among the speakers at the recent Emerge conference. They have been working from leads generated online since 1998 and shared their insights and experiences about online lead generation and lead conversion. Other topics addressed by speakers at the event included: The Paperless Office; Niche Marketing; and Laptops? How Vintage! For more details on upcoming Emerge events, topics and speakers, or to register online, visit www.orea.com/emerge or send an email to emerge@orea.com.
Leave a Reply