4 Tips to Earn Client Trust & Gain Invaluable Referrals

If you want to be successful, you must earn clients’ trust and garner their invaluable referrals. As you know, word-of-mouth referrals are the bread and butter of our industries, which is one of the reasons SIP works to create partnerships with the area’s top real estate agents.

Here are four tips on how to win clients over.

1. Put The Needs Of Your Client First

You should act more like a partner in pursuit of your client’s interest than a salesperson. This is the difference between a professional and a self-centered amateur. Provide homebuyers with the information they need to make a smart home-buying decision – even when it’s not in your best interest.

First-time homebuyers and new clients know you earn a commission, making them wary of where your interests truly are. Any evidence you’re trying to bag a quick sale will cause them to find someone new. In the age of Yelp and Google reviews, you can’t afford a single person to walk away thinking you weren’t on their side 100% of the time.

2. Provide Valuable Information

When potential home buyers visit your website, they should be greeted with well-crafted, valuable information about how to ensure they purchase the right home for them. They’re not interested in copy-pasted home listings or dry statistics.

Yes, it makes sense to include information about the quality of schools or the percentage of crime in a particular area, but homeowners often do that type of research on their own. Clients trust you for expertise on how to find the right house at the right price, whether they’re purchasing a forever home or an investment property.

3. Connect With Realistic, Personalized Leads

The more time you spend getting to know your buyers and their needs, the more personalized your leads will be. If you send a bunch of random leads based on “market trends” rather than your client’s specific needs, they’ll feel inundated with junk email rather than excited to open your next update.

That said, if you find a good-fit home outside of their preferred parameters, let them know the reasons why you think so. Finding the right home is a process of trial and error, so the more you give your clients to work with, the more likely it is that they’ll see something they like.

4. Encourage Smart Purchasing Practices

If you’re working with first-time homebuyers, or buyers who haven’t been in the market for a while, encourage smart purchasing practices to set them up for success.

Let clients know how important it is to:

• Have their financial paperwork ready to go in one location
• Get a pre-approval rather than just a pre-qualification
• Shop around for the best interest rates (ever quarter point matters)
• Keep their credit clean
• Schedule a full home inspection before completing the purchase

One of the smartest things any home buyer can do is get an independent home inspection. Many issues can lurk behind the pristine exterior of a home that has been recently “curb appealed,” and we’ll red flag all of them so you can help your client’s make an informed decision.

SIP Supports Positive Agent-Client Relationships

Partnering with SIP is a win-win for us and for Volusia County real estate agents. Our professionalism, follow through, and guaranteed 24-hour turnarounds on inspection reports help you build trust with your clients.

For more information on how an independent home inspection can benefit you and your clients, contact us at Super Home Inspection Pros.