5 Ways You Can Be Communicating Better

Real estate is a funny business. While the industry is obviously focused on real estate, the day to day of the job is almost solely based on communication. Communication, while seemingly second nature, can always be improved. Take a look at our tips and see if you can change anything about how you’ve been communicating with your clients lately:

Ask More Questions 

We spend so much time wondering what clients are wanting, thinking, worried about, etc. and often forget that if we just slowed down and listened more, they may be telling us those very things! 

Be sure to always ask questions to seek more clarity and avoid yes/no questions to help get the most detailed explanations possible. If you feel like you could use more information, but aren’t sure exactly how to dive in further - remember that the easiest follow up question is simply, “why?”

Automate

For those that are on your communication list, but aren’t your active clients, by all means  - automate! Set aside time to come up with valuable content and then schedule emails in advance. This gets you out of having to waste time and energy during busier seasons trying to write and communicate with inactive clients. (Don’t forget to be collecting emails from everyone you interact with so that your email marketing list keeps growing!). 

One of the best parts about this is that when you’re writing these emails it is a time set aside to do your best writing. Trying to communicate well on the fly for large groups of people is dangerous territory! 

Personalize 

For new clients, especially active clients who you’ll be working with a lot, be sure to ask how they prefer to communicate. For people who cringe at the thought of phone calls for instance, you don’t want to be forcing them on phone calls for impromptu updates. Likewise, if someone isn’t a texter, texting open house schedules back and forth will not be productive. Understanding your clients’ communication preferences and making them more comfortable will ultimately make it easier for you, as well. Bonus Tip: It’s also helpful setting expectations for when you are and aren’t available for communication. This will help with burnout and take the guesswork off of their end of when it’s appropriate to reach out to you.

Make It Visual

As cliche’ as a “picture is worth a thousand words” is - trying to accomplish all communication tasks via words is just not pleasant. Especially for real estate, where after all, we are talking about physical properties - using photos and videos is a crucial help to your cause. 

Amazing photos, and impressive video walkthroughs are worth so many more than one thousand words, and may very well be worth the price to hire a professional to help you out. 

However, for social media - don’t feel like it needs to be professional quality. People will be happy to just get a rough look at what the home looks like from your feed, and aren’t used to high quality video on a more “live” feed.

Edit

It’s easy to set up the documents, emails and FAQ’s that we use all the time, and never look back. However, one of the most important parts of written communication is editing, and more editing. Set a rhythm throughout the year where you periodically go through and do an audit of all your written materials. You will be amazed at how much you’ve grown in your business, communication skills, and simply style in the time it’s been. The best part? Editing is always quicker than writing from scratch - so tell yourself that this is preventing you from every having to completely start from square later on down the road.