Numbers Aren’t the Only Factor Affecting Your Bottom Line

We are nearing the halfway mark in 2016 and the REAL Trends 500 rankings have just been released, presenting an ideal opportunity to review your business successes and celebrate your achievements.

As with the REAL Trends rankings, the success of a brokerage is often measured by the numbers. How you manage the numbers in your business from your accounting to your back office management plays a vital role in a brokerage's longevity and its bottom line. A solid infrastructure built on processes, technology and resources, provides the foundation for profitability. Once you have a solid infrastructure in place, then you can take care of how you're going to grow your business – your agents.

A key factor to the success of your agents is their ability to build and nurture relationships. According to the National Association of REALTORS 2015 Member Profile, 20 percent of all business resulted from referrals. And in the 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 88 percent of respondents said they would use their agent again or refer them. Missing out on referrals can be detrimental to your business's bottom line.

You might be thinking the relationships your agents have with clients are their own, but those relationships are with your business and your brand, too. As a broker, you can support your agents through the technology you've implemented in the infrastructure of your business. Helping your agents improve their connections with clients, communicate more effectively and consistently market themselves with tools and resources you provide will nurture those client relationships. A positive agent relationship and real estate experience will keep clients coming back when they're ready to make their next move.

Here are three concepts your agents can master when building relationships with clients.

Personal Connections: It's more than the real estate listing

As a consumer, it's incredibly important to feel like we're valued by a company. Personalized email, birthday e-cards and even special offers on products that our favorite stores know we love are all tactics that keep us going back.

The personal connection in real estate is just as important, if not more! This connection or relationship with clients is often where referrals come from and can have a positive impact on your business's bottom line. Frequent follow up with past clients, keeping track of client relationships, and sending personalized notes and cards to celebrate important milestones in clients' lives are all helpful ways to build that personal connection.

Maintaining personal connections with clients is made easier and more efficient with the right tools and technology. Customer experience management is becoming increasingly important in real estate as it focuses on the client as a person and the relationship they have with your business.

Effective Communication: Understanding each clients' communication preferences

Another key factor in building client relationships is effective communication. So many times, errors or confusion are caused by ineffective communication. Effective communication includes understanding how clients want to receive information and when they want to receive it. For instance, a client who works nights and sleeps during the day doesn't want to receive phone calls at 1PM. Waiting until the evening to make contact, unless the situation is urgent, lets the client know that you're listening to their needs and that you're an effective communicator.

Consistent Branding: Image plays a large role in building brand awareness

To clients, your brand isn't just your logo and your tagline; you want your brand to evoke a positive feeling, a sense of trust. Brand awareness is a vital contributor to the effectiveness of your business and its bottom line. If your agents aren't using the same branding in their marketing material as you've included in your brand standards and are using on your corporate marketing, how will clients recognize your brand?

Consistent branding shows a level of professionalism and consistency throughout your business that will build trust among clients with your agents and your brand.

So, in honor of the top performing brokerages on the REAL Trends 500, take this opportunity to honor and celebrate your business's own successes – the continued commitment to improvement shown by your staff and agents, their hard work and dedication to the business, and the partnerships and community built with clients who have become part of your brokerage family.

The success of your business is tracked through the numbers in your accounting solution but the future of your business is tracked through the relationships you're nurturing to ensure your brokerage will be chosen first every time. Numbers talk, but relationships listen.

Maggie Hall is the Communications Manager at Lone Wolf Real Estate Technologies. With a background in Public Relations, Maggie has worked in the real estate industry for more than 8 years, including roles with the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton and the REB4 Group.

For more information on Lone Wolf Real Estate Technologies visit www.lwolf.com or call 1.866.CRY.WOLF (279.9653).