Your job as a real estate agent is to help clients sell or find their dream home. While your general guidance is likely valuable, there are many ways you can make yourself a greater asset to clients.
Providing more value is a win-win, because when clients are impressed with you, they’re more likely to share their experience with friends, refer your services, and leave a great review—all of which drive more business opportunities. The following three ideas are just the tip of the iceberg, but can be used by every agent, regardless of location.
Offer Advice for Buyers
You may have sold enough houses to know what it’s like to be a new homeowner—overwhelming, exciting and stressful all in one. Sage advice and tips from you may be just what your clients need to feel at ease when going through this process. These tips from Movoto are helpful for first time and move-up buyers (it’s often been a while since a move-up buyer has purchased a new home).
Here are a few tips from agents that may spark a few ideas of your own:
- “Protect yourself: Get pre-qualified for a mortgage so you don’t spend more than you can afford for a home.” –Anthony Leone
- “Be patient and realistic when looking for your first home. It is important to find a home within your financial position at the time of purchase. Remember, your first home most likely won’t be your last.” –Kyle Seyboth
- “You will probably move in the next seven years, so make sure to think about resale value in the near future.”– Barry Krupp
Be a Data-Driven Agent
Being a data-driven agent automatically makes you more valuable. Not only are you making decisions based on data (not your gut), but you can also provide potential buyers with hard data that can’t be denied. This is a powerful combination.
Here are a few data points to include in your listings and when speaking with potential buyers:
- Walk score: This gives potential buyers an idea of how accessible everything is within the area of the home. This will be especially helpful for potential buyers who are moving to a new town, city or state. Only list the score, however, if it’s 71 or above, suggests 12 Ways to Use Data to Sell Your House Faster.
- End the listing price with “99”: This is a classic sales trick, called Psychological Pricing. According to a Zillow study, homes priced this way sold 3 percent (4.2 days) faster than those that didn’t.
Keep your lead capturing software up-to-date: Your lead generation tool is great for filtering potential clients, but if you don’t update the information regularly, you’re not able to use the data to its full potential. “The fact is, the effectiveness of real estate lead generation programs for brokers and teams is 100% reliant on how they track and report to drive higher conversion rates,” according to Inside Real Estate.
Give Them a Useful Gift
Many agents get their clients a homeowner gift, which is a great chance to provide more value to your clients.
Instead of getting them something like a welcome mat, which is fun and cute, think of something that’s more useful or that they may need immediately after the sale goes through. This shows that you care about the client enough to spend money on a truly thoughtful gift.
Here are a few useful gifts that will go a long way:
- A creative homeowner gift: If they don’t have the budget to install a security system just yet, get them a set of fake security cameras. They’re cheaper and still effective. If they already have a security system, you could consider getting them a home warranty, Home Depot gift card or subscription to a home/living magazine.
- Small appliances: Consider buying your clients a brand-new appliance they can enjoy in their new home like a Keurig, Nest thermostat or new cookware.
- Outdoor accessories: Giving your clients an outdoors accessory like tiki torches, a fire pit, an outdoor carpet or a potted plant is a thoughtful gift you know they will appreciate. These are especially great gifts if you’re in a year-round warm climate or the sale was made in the summer.
These are just a few ways that you can be a more valuable agent, and in turn, attract more clients. Keep them in mind as you work with your next client and see if you notice a difference in the experience—for them and you.
BIO: Jessica Thiefels has been writing for more than 10 years and been in social media and content marketing for five. She’s currently a full-time blogger and has been written for Lifehack, Inman, Reader’s Digest, Homes.com, and more. Follow her on Twitter @Jlsander07.