Why Witty Agents Get More Business
FACT: Your ability to attract clients has less to do with your “credentials”… and everything to do with how people feel about you. As a
Most real estate agents were shocked enough when they heard that The National Association of Realtors and two brokerage firms were liable for $1.8 billion in damages, for allegedly conspiring to keep commissions artificially high. But when subsequent lawsuits started rolling in naming individual brokers, it got a lot more concerning.
It had agents asking themselves (and each other) a lot of questions, such as:
While you have every right to be concerned, keep in mind that this isn’t the first, last, or by any means only time agents have gotten sued. In fact, according to this article, 25% of agents get sued in their career for a lot of other reasons, such as:
But that’s not really news to most agents, so much as it’s a reminder that it can happen. The fact that an agent can get sued is something they drive home in licensing school. But as you spend some time in the field with clients, it kind of fades into the background for the most part. At least until something like these lawsuits hit the news, you make a mistake, or simply have a client that’s difficult to deal with. Then the fear creeps back in.
The bottom line is you need to take some precautions to protect yourself and try to avoid lawsuits as much as possible. For instance, here are 7 tips the lawyers at Provident Law specifically recommend to help real prevent estate agents from getting sued, and protect themselves if they do:
All solid advice you’ve probably heard before…
It’s almost impossible to dictate exactly how a relationship with a prospect will unfold from day one all the way through closing day. Even the most methodical, process-oriented agent has to roll with the flow when it comes to the path a buyer or seller takes with them.
But there’s always a beginning — a first point of contact, or meeting. Nobody can turn into a client or follow any route to the closing table without at least meeting you for the first time in some way, shape, or form.
More often than not, you’re not going to seal the deal with a prospect on that first contact. Unless it’s a rare client who’s in an absolute rush — and/or you’re a harcore closer — you’re unlikely to get a potential buyer to sign an exclusive agency agreement, or a seller to sign a listing agreement the first time you communicate.
Because each journey is different, it’s easy for an agent to forget, or simply not have the opportunity to discuss, things that a client should know about the process of buying or selling a house. Things that could help avoid misunderstandings, or outright mistakes that lead to a lawsuit in the future.
Which is why you might want to consider creating buyer and seller guides that you can give prospects as early on in the process as possible. That way you can make sure everything you want a client to know about the process is in writing, and in their hands, so you don’t have to worry about some aspect or nuance falling through the cracks.
Here are a few tips for creating your own guides:
Even if they don’t read it, at least you can show that you give each client something that explains the process, and shows that you care about them being fully informed.
But, if done well, you’ll be amazed at how many clients actually refer back to things you cover in your guide during the time they work with you! They may even forward it, or lend their copy to someone they know who is thinking of buying or selling.
Once you have a universal guide for sellers, and one for buyers, you may even want to drill down into some niche types of guides, such as ones for:
Don’t be overwhelmed by all of the potential options, though! Just having a solid buyer and seller guide to give out is better than most agents have.
But if you like the idea of having all of those at your disposal, and would like to skip past all of the work it’d take to create them, you should check out our Inner Circle membership.
As a member you’ll have access to not only an amazing seller guide and buyer guide, but all 20 of our Branded Booklets, including all of the ones listed above, and each one has a series of pre-written follow-up emails for you to send after giving one to a prospect.
All of those guides can be ready for you to offer buyers within a few minutes, by just entering your own contact information and branding so it looks like you actually wrote them. You can also edit every one of them to your liking, but they’re written in a fun, interesting, conversational tone that your prospects will enjoy reading, so the chances are you won’t even want to.
In addition to the Branded Booklet guides, you’ll also have access to tons of other marketing content you can add your own branding to, like:
All of that content can be used for you to educate and entertain clients from before they’re even an official client, and to constantly stay in touch and top-of-mind years after their closing.
Obviously, if you do something absolutely wrong that hurts a client financially or otherwise, a lawsuit is always a possibility. But using helpful guides and a robust content marketing campaign can help to create a more educated client, and a more trusting relationship between you, which will hopefully help you avoid lawsuits by creating a better, deeper, more communicative relationship with your clients.
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