By Pat Nagle, Sound N' Shore Properties

Effective communication with clients as a real estate professional is critical to your success in this business. Communication is the key to building and maintaining relationships with clients — and clients and referrals are the lifeblood of your business. Agents can stay ahead of the competition by developing a communication strategy and implementing it daily.

The value of communication

Communication builds client trust and can lead to smooth transactions and new clients.

• Building trust   Communicating regularly with established and prospective clients helps them get to know and trust you. Well-thought-out and timely communication can build client loyalty.
• Smooth transactions   Because real estate transactions are an emotional process for clients, you must communicate with your client throughout. Remember, most of your clients go through the process of buying or selling a home only one or two times, so they have a high level of anxiety. You might need to educate them about the steps in a transaction. Informed clients lead to easier and smoother transactions.
• New clients   Good communication leads to happy clients, and happy clients send referrals. Referrals, in turn, lead to a profitable real estate business. When referrals come to you, they are ready to do business. Effective communication also gets your name out in the community and generates new clients.

Define your target market

Before designing a communication plan, you need to determine who your target audience is. Certainly everyone you know is a potential client, but it helps to define who they are. Determine who your target clients are — first-time home buyers, affluent professionals, urban dwellers, investors looking for income-producing property, military personnel, teachers, nurses, whatever the case may be — and design your communications accordingly.

Build and maintain a database

After you define your target market, build your database of current and prospective clients. At a minimum, identify names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses. You can use Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 and Microsoft Office Excel 2003 to store your client information.

Your database is a dynamic list of customers and potential customers that you never stop building and updating. Maintain your database daily to ensure its effectiveness.

Develop a communication strategy

Your strategy for communicating to your client database should outline the types of communication tools that you want to use. Your strategy might include newsletters, phone and personal contact, e-mail, and community visibility.

Newsletter   A newsletter that informs, educates, and provides interesting information on the real estate market is a very effective communication tool. You can use Microsoft Office Publisher 2003 to put together a professional-looking newsletter, and you can print address labels from your database. You can also offer clients an incentive to call you or to refer you some business. Invite them to lunch if they call, or arrange with a local retailer to provide a discount on something they would appreciate, such as a free car wash or half off lunch at a local hot spot.

Phone and personal contact   Today's highly technical marketplace can make doing business less personal. Many new high-tech tools are available to help manage and organize your business, but you must pick up the phone and engage in regular business events, like Chamber of Commerce and other association networking meetings, or other activities like newsletters, e-mail, and advertising won't be effective. Outlook 2003 is a tool you can use to manage your schedule for calling people and attending business events and meetings.

Your action plan should include how many people you want to talk with each day — and you must be disciplined and follow your plan. Scheduling your calls on your calendar should be one of the first things that you do every day. You never know who might have a lead or referral waiting for you.

E-mail   You might want to send out e-mail messages two times per month that provide a snapshot of marketplace conditions such as average home prices by neighborhood, number of sales, good investment properties, and information on mortgage rates and programs. There is plenty of valuable information, but it must be professional and timely. Remember that people can be sensitive about e-mail, so be sure that anyone you send messages to wants to receive them. Also, be sure to include a link to your Web site.

Community visibility   Don't overlook the value of getting involved with your community. Volunteer, tutor, coach, join a board of directors — you can do a lot of things to give back to the community that rewards you with business.

Measure the success of your communication strategy

Measuring the results of marketing and communication can be difficult, but is an important step in assessing how well your strategy is working.

One good way to evaluate your communication is to solicit client feedback. After you have closed on a transaction, send your client a thank-you note or housewarming gift. Include a simple questionnaire on how you performed your job and, specifically, what the client thinks about your newsletter, e-mail messages, and personal contact. You get important feedback that helps you become better at what you do. Asking your client's opinion also lets your client know that you care. When the whirlwind process of buying a home is complete, your clients always have valuable feedback for you.

Spread the word

The business of real estate depends on building and maintaining relationships, and relationships rely on good communication. You can build your business and stay ahead of the competition by developing a strong communication strategy. Follow your strategy to get your name out in the community, strengthen your relationships with current clients, and turn referrals into loyal customers.

About the author   Pat Nagle is a partner in Sound N' Shore Properties and handles financing for buyers of residential properties and commercial real estate investors. Sound N' Shore is located in Tacoma, Washington. For more information, visit http://soundandshore.net.