Real estate agents aren’t just selling real estate. They’re in the business of finding you the best deal on a house, condo, or townhome in your budget. However, they also have another job, expanding their sphere of influence (SOI). This means ensuring that everyone you meet knows about you and what you do.
An important thing you can do for yourself as an agent is when someone hears about your company, they’re more likely to choose me over other agents. If they choose me, they’ll be more likely to buy a house from me than someone else.
What is an SOI?
It’s a personal network of people they know, trust, and respect. For example, a real estate agent may have a large SOI with other agents in the area or with people who are involved in the local community. The agent also has direct relationships with clients and other professionals that can help them sell more homes.
A real estate agent’s SOI is one of the most important assets to help them sell more homes. When you’re on the market to buy a home, you may already have an idea of who you want to work with. That’s why it’s important to start by identifying those individuals who might be part of your future SOI.
How You Can Use Your Existing SOI to Help You Expand Your Sphere of Influence:
Create a list of all the people you know in real estate that you don’t know personally but would like to meet. These might be people who work elsewhere and are interested in buying or selling a home. You should also include anyone who might be able to refer clients to you.
Start by reaching out via email or phone and asking if they would be willing to meet up with you at some point as part of this list. If they say no, try again — don’t give up. If they agree to meet up with you, ask if they have other friends who might like to join them for coffee or lunch soon after the meeting.
Building Your SOI
Though it’s not simple, creating an SOI for oneself is doable if you put your thoughts and effort into it. Here are some fundamental pointers to get you started:
Ask for Referrals
The best way to increase your SOI is to ask for referrals from past clients or colleagues. If you’re a new agent, ask around to see if anyone who knows someone who needs a real estate agent has recommended you. You can also use this strategy in the future if you move away from your current location or if you want to expand your sphere of influence by marketing yourself as an expert in a specific area like investment property investing or luxury home buying and selling.
Post on Social Media
Using social media marketing sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram regularly is an important part of real estate marketing. Such platforms help them share useful information with their followers about markets they cover, tips for selling houses quickly, or even announcements about upcoming events or promotions that interest them (such as free house tours).
Use Realtors Websites
Posting on websites like Realtor.com and Zillow is another way for the agents in your local market to see what you’ve got going on.
Keys to Consistently Staying in Contact with SOI
Here are some tips on how to stay in touch with your SOI:
- First, be proactive: Don’t wait for them to text or call you first. Instead, text or call them right back, saying, “Hey, how are you?” Those questions are just friendly icebreakers that let them know you care about their well-being.
- Send a picture: They love seeing pictures of their home and family. So take a selfie with them or take a group picture in front of their favorite place. You can also send an indoor photo if it’s easier for both of you.
- Check-in once a week: If they live close by, visit them once every week, so they know that you care about their client’s well-being and that they haven’t forgotten about them.
- Be flexible: If they have something going on in their life (like traveling), be understanding and flexible with the timing of your visit. If it’s an emergency and they need immediate help from someone close by who can help with the situation, be there for them.
- Show clients that they matter: You should also make sure that you don’t forget anything important: take notes of what was discussed with your clients during conversations and try not to leave things out because then they may feel like they were forgotten about (even if they weren’t).
Other factors that will help you expand your SOI
Attend Various Networking Events
Real estate agents need to be social creatures and network with other agents in their area so they can build relationships with them. This is how they will get referrals from people within their network, which will lead to more business for themselves.
Also, attending such networking events and finding a neighborhood, and starting to mail postcards with market updates or automated home valuations can be effective ways to expand your sphere of influence.
Find a neighborhood and mail postcards with market updates or automated home valuations
Many people want to buy homes but don’t know where to start looking for one. So, agents should go door-to-door in their work neighborhoods and introduce themselves as real estate agents.
They should also mail out postcards offering free home valuations or market updates on what’s going on in the area. This way, they’ll get new clients through word-of-mouth marketing without spending any money.
To ease the process, you may consider setting a schedule: Utilize technology that enables bulk emailing and messaging (example: Real Geeks). Send postcards and emails whenever you open or close a listing.
There are many ways the agents can expand their sphere of influence. The most effective way is to be generous with clients and prospects. Generous real estate agents will have a better chance of growing their business than stingy or selfish ones.
Conclusion
Another way real estate agents expand their sphere of influence is by using social media to promote themselves and their services. Social media platforms are great platforms for real estate agents who want to get their brand out there, but it’s important to use social media effectively.
To do this, you need to figure out which platforms are best suited for your business and develop strategies to help you get the most exposure possible on these sites.
