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Blog by Niman Singh

Fremont, California

T-ReX Property Management Software for real estate investors to save them TIME and MONEY

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What Kind of Phone Call do I want to Get?

Posted at Property Management Software by Niman Singh

Jul. 8, 2008

Categorized in: Real Estate Marketing

Tagged with: real estate professionals, tips

Starred by: 3 Members

What Kind of Phone Call do I want to get?

I've heard of a couple people talking about FORD - Family, Occupation, Recreation, Dreams - and that's what they use to cultivate relationships with their clients.

I think it's on the right track, because it's important to let your clients know that they are more than just your commission. But I think it's even more important to be genuine.

I don't think that many RE Pros can pull that off. To be honest, in my experience, it hasn't rubbed me the right way when an agent gives me "a call" for just whatever reason. It's nice if you already have an existing relationship with your clients, but it doesn't always come across that way to investors.

One Instance I can think of:

I was busy one day, and I got a call from an agent I used to purchase an apartment. I had only dealt with this person once, almost a year before. Out of the blue, this Agent was on the phone with me for like 10 minutes (I'm not a phone person) - and was asking me all these strange questions and I just did not know where they were coming from. I only knew him for a couple hours during a property sale, and suddenly this agent was asking me weird questions like "how's the wife, how are the kids doing in college, etc..."

I was not close enough with this person for him to be asking me questions like this. He kept going on and on, and I said that I had to go, but he managed to let me know by the end of the phone call that there was a property I might be interested in. That was not cool... It was not genuine, it was indescribably eerie, and there's just no way I would have ever dealt with that agent ever again. Had he called me, asked how I was doing, and then shared the investment idea - then there's a chance I would have been all ears. But I was so put off by the end, I just wanted to hang up. It was clear to me that he did not have my best interest in mind, especially because he was asking me about things that I know he did not genuinely care about.

Now, Consider this Situation:

An agent that I had used 10 months previously - called me one day out of the blue (around tax season) to ask if it was OK to send my HUD statement to me in the mail. I said "what for, I already had a copy"... She said that there were some expenses that I would want to account for to help me on my taxes and that she would underline the line items and send depreciation instructions for my accountant. I said great! She called me a week later to make sure if I had received her letter, I said yes, she said great. She told me that if my tax person didn't know what she was talking about, she would be willing to explain to the tax person, and she also said that she had some nice people if I didn't have my own tax person.... With that, she told me to have a nice day, and she ended the conversation... I was stunned, no pitch!

A few weeks later, after I did my taxes, and after I realized how much money she saved me, I called her to thank her for helping me out. She told me not to mention it - this was something she did for all her clients. Then she asked me if everything else in my life was going well, and I told her it was. She mentioned something about the crazy weather we had been having, and it sparked a conversation with me over the next half hour (we were talking about how it would suck to go camping, as I had planned). The end result was that I made an appointment with her to look at some new properties.

Over the last 5 years, I have used this agent 7 times and have given her more than 10 referrals. Now she calls me up every now and then (happy birthday, happy anniversary, Do you want to go with my family to our cabin in Tahoe), we never talk about business! So I invite her to my barbecues - and that's when I approach her to ask about new deals I may be interested in - I set an appointment, and see her later in the week.

Now that's the kind of relationship I want to have with my agent, and I cannot stress enough. THAT is the way to succeed in the Real Estate Business - cultivate long term relationships with your clients, and the business will follow!

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