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This post was updated Sept. 3, 2024.
Real estate is a know, like, trust business, meaning the sales process involves people getting to know you, liking you, and ultimately trusting you enough to do business with you.
In light of the changes, uncertainties and confusion surrounding the NAR settlement, agent commissions and industry transformation, there’s never been a better time to build rapport and trust with leads and clients. These seven trust accelerators speed up the process and help you close more deals.
1. Harness the power of online reviews
A study by BrightLocal found that over 80 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. We truly are in a review economy where the quantity and quality of online reviews you accumulate can accelerate the trust level your prospects have in you.
Reviews usually come from simply asking your clients for them. Based on this understanding, building a campaign where you ask past clients and people in your sphere of influence for reviews should be a priority. The key to an effective review campaign can be broken into four essential steps:
- Choose the platform you want to focus on (Google, Zillow, Realtor.com, etc.).
- Make a list of clients and sphere of influence contacts who you believe would leave a positive review.
- Request the review via email or text including a link to the review page to make it easy for them.
- Follow up with an additional text that says, “Thanks again for your consideration” if the first request does not produce a review.
Choosing one platform to focus on provides you with the ability to increase your presence on the sites that are most important for you. Google Business Profile reviews do not require the reviewer to be a verified client that closed a transaction with you like Zillow and Realtor.com. This makes the opportunity on Google broader. Google also happens to be the website with the highest search traffic, making it an ideal place to focus your efforts.
2. Master consistency
Consistency breeds trust. Brand consistency across social networks increases the likelihood that you and your brand will be noticed by prospects. However, consistency in your marketing when it comes to timing and regularity can be just as important as consistent visual branding.
Do you have a specific day you send your monthly or weekly newsletter? Do you have specific days or times you post on social media? Do you have a Friday Favorite property you share each Friday or a Best Buy of the Week you share each Wednesday?
Subconsciously, when people begin to see you consistently providing value, it increases their trust in you. Build a content calendar that you can stick to for social media. Start or stay consistent with your email newsletter. Start or stay consistent with your direct mail to your geographical farm areas. These are the keys to consistency and earning the trust of your prospects.
Your focus and diligence on maintaining consistency will lead to more business.
3. Do what you say you will do
The easiest way to build trust is to do what you say you will do. If you say you will get them the information within an hour, send them the information within the hour. If you say you will call at a specific time, call them at that time.
By doing what you say you will do with the smaller things, it builds their trust that they will be able to count on you with the bigger things.
4. Embrace the power of video marketing
I don’t know anything that accelerates trust more than video marketing. It shows your personality. It creates connection and it gives people the ability to feel like they know you even though they may not have met you in person.
Familiarity is the precursor to trust, and nothing creates familiarity more than video content.
5. Share compelling stories
An article in the Harvard Business Review titled “Why Your Brain Loves Good Storytelling” reported on a study that shared how telling a story has the unique ability to influence the listener’s brain and trigger the release of oxytocin, a hormone that promotes trust. This study showed scientifically how stories in marketing generate trust faster than statistics and bland advertising.
Instead of sending a Just Sold card, why not tell the story of the process from listing to sale? Share the stories of how you help buyers overcome whatever struggle they had to buy their home. Tell the story of your favorite, hardest or most memorable closing.
Connection and trust are achieved more quickly when you use the art of storytelling.
6. Increase your competence
Trust is often earned through the confidence prospects have that you are a competent and professional agent. Become the most knowledgeable agent regarding sales details and market trends in your local market. Share your knowledge by learning how to produce video content that educates and entertains the prospects that need the information you have the most.
The more competent you become, the more trust prospects will have in you and, in turn, the more business you will do.
7. Prioritize likability
If asked which is more important, people knowing you, people liking you, or people trusting you, most people would answer, people trusting you. But trust is a process, and I would argue likability is the most important trait of all.
Everything starts with likability. Imagine going on a blind date and at the end of the date someone asked you what you thought. If you said, I think I can trust him/her, but I don’t really like them, would you go on a second date?
Now imagine if your answer was, I don’t know if I can trust him/her yet, but I really like them. Odds are you will go on that second date to find out if you can trust them.
You can be the most known and most trusted agent in your local market, but without likability, your business growth will be limited. So how can you become more likable?
Start with smiling more. Focus more on the needs of the client instead of your own. Show your gratitude and appreciation for people and their business. When you increase your likability, everything else will take care of itself.
The value of client relationships in our business has never been clearer. Now is the time to deepen your existing relationships and also to focus on creating new ones. Become the best version of yourself, provide more value, and you can expect the growth in your business you desire.
