What are Estate Agents Really Selling?
Jerry Lyons of the Estate Agent Content Club sums it up best:
"As estate agents, you sell houses, right? And as letting agents, you find landlords then place the best tenants in their properties, correct? But before you do any of that, surely you must sell something integral to any successful relationship - TRUST.
Whoever I do business with, trust is my number one must-have, and it’s the same for many people. You could have the best doctor in the world giving you advice, but if you didn’t trust his or her motives, you’d forever be second-guessing their advice."
So how do you go about building up trust? Here are some quick and handy tips:
Resist the Urge To Sell
As agents it is almost second nature to us, we have the inbuilt ability to sell snow to Eskimos. But when it comes to trust, sales talk is what tends to but doubt into the mind of the person that you are selling your services to. Nobody likes to be sold to, and hard sales just helps to perpetuate the negative stereotypes that people think of when they talk about estate agents. Instead, keep your communication and messaging light and informative. Try and appear helpful, provide facts and information that might assist someone who is beginning to think about moving. Don’t forget, people only move a few times in their entire lifetimes, so what might be everyday subject matter for you, is entirely new for them.
#SocialProof
Genuine reviews and reputation go hand in hand, but whereas it can take you a number of days to gather a good number of five star reviews, it can sometimes take years to build a solid reputation. So how do you build this quicker? Well if a picture says a thousand words, then a video can be said to speak volumes! If you have genuine happy customers who are happy to spend a few minutes talking to you on camera about their home move experience and the value that you were able to add as their agent, then this is reputation gold! Active social proof in video format slips really well into your social media marketing and helps to build trust and reputations quickly.
Knowledge is Power!
Appearing knowledgeable around your core area of expertise is something that people remember. Using video, blogs and informative infographics in your direct communications and social media marketing will help demonstrate that you know your stuff. We need to remember that this is either the most expensive purchase a buyer will make, the most important investment a landlord will make and the biggest tax free asset that sellers have. It isn’t fancy pie charts that help to instil confidence and trust, it will be knowledge and expertise. You want to appear a ‘safe pair of hands’ to look after their homes and be custodians of their trust, and one of the best ways to do this is with simple fact filled information.
