It’s about being a real person, there is no better time to connect with our database of people than RIGHT NOW!
Speaker/s:
Livia Monteforte
Moderator/s:
Howard Tager
It’s an absolutely crazy, unprecedented time, and we feel the stress and the anxiety, the angst. But it’s so important being a real person. And there is no better time to connect with our database of people than right now. It’s exciting in a non-horrible way that we have this commonality—we also have these fears, these anxieties.
Now that we get to reach out, throw the scripts out the window and talk to them like they’re people. We have the infrastructure, we have the technology, now is our chance to put “pedal to the metal”. We can use Zoom, BombBomb, or another video means, we have all these different things we can do to connect with these folks.
How to begin the conversation? One thing we need to do is ask them how they’re doing. Just talk to them and get them to start talking to us. And then have a plan on how you’re going to help them.
We’ve been incredibly successful with doing Zoom face-to-face meetings with our folks. We’re reaching out to past clients to check on their family and friends. And then at the end of the conversation, don’t forget to ask for more business: Do they know anyone else that you should be talking to right now?
Remind them that they can look at homes virtually. We’ve been doing 3D tours on our listings for many years now, and that is such as huge value add. If you don’t have the technology right now to do a 3D tour, you got a cellphone. Walk through your listings and take a video for them, and have that in your portal of things to send to them.
We’re offering them the ability to do virtual tours with us where we take the precautions, and I tell them what I do so that they know that I’m not disregarding the CDC or the guidelines either. I don’t want them to feel I’m disrespecting the environment. The relief that they emanate when you say to them that you understand this is an unprecedented time and that you can help alleviate the stress, is huge.
The practical thing you can do is set up campaigns, which has videos included. Make sure there is a video of you talking to them.
If you aren’t using BombBomb, they have a special that they’re offering right now where you’ll be able to send videos out to the real people in your database. If you want to try other means, some of my agents like the Google Video. Just make sure you incorporate video.
Depending on what CRM you’re using, have an evergreen video of yourself and make sure you send it to everyone in your database.
For the people that you know and they’re real people to you, you should be sending them a one-on-one video. And you wanna make sure that they know they matter to you right now, and that you have solutions and ways to help them navigate this crazy environment.
[06:30] Guidelines and precautions they do when showing homes around this time
The seller is really concerned about people coming through their house, which is a $3.4M listing. The seller said they feel uncomfortable about it. So we outlined to them what we’re doing: we have boots at the ready, asked people to take off their shoes or to put on boots, we have antibacterial spray, wiped everything down with chlorox. If people want to have a closet door opened or cabinet opened, we offer to open it for them. And then we spray down all the door knobs and surfaces when the folks leave. That put his mind at ease. We also told him we do ask all the folks coming in to look if they’re healthy. If they say yes, we give them the option of doing the 3D tour or seeing it in person.
We understand this is a new normal for people, hopefully a very temporary one, but it’s one that we’re completely equipped. We have the infrastructure; we’ve got technology, the videos. We can navigate this and we can stand out from the rest of the crowd. Because a lot of realtors, unfortunately, are taking this either as an excuse to disconnect from their database or as the reason why the market is plummeting and everything is horrible. It doesn’t have to be that. People still need homes.
Buyers feel better about it knowing there’s a virtual option. They do feel at peace of mind.
Offer the buyer and seller consults virtually, and make sure you’re doing that in a video.
We don’t need to be scared off by this. This is our chance to finally become the real people that we wanna be to them. We’re going through what they’re going through, and we’re pivoting just enough.
As realtors, we should be looking at this as an exciting chance to prove why we’re so good at what we do. Be the realtor that justify their valid concerns.