One of the most overlooked opportunities for generating relationships and business for real estate agents is the B2B or business to business side of real estate. Every time I sit with another business owner or a service provider that I feel is a good fit with my business I am always trying to see where we can expose what they do with all the people I know and what I do. The universal principle of giving to get always has and always will work for me and my business hence the focus on me wanting to leverage with others and what they do and who they know with what I do in real estate and who I know. Imagine what a business owner or service provider would think or feel if you went out of your way to help expose, grow and enhance their business? So what are some of the ways real estate agents can leverage the B2B opportunities in today’s market place?
1) Start your own B2B business owner or service provider networking group. There are many excellent platforms out there, like BNI groups, but I liked to build and grow my own through the relationships I had made already. We met as a group once a month at a small deli in a good size meeting room at 7 am mid-week and spent time as a group sharing about each of our businesses. Sharing our challenges with each other for feedback on how to handle each of the situations. Most of all connecting as a group and sharing ways to grow our own business but help grow others in the group as well.
2) Cross marketing opportunities. Think of places where you could expose or promote and showcase other business owners and service providers. For example I had a section of interviews with each of my network group members on my Youtube channel. One of the most viewed pages on my own website was the business directory page that listed all the preferred business owners and services providers I knew and recommended. I added service providers contact info to my newsletters and every month had a discount voucher in the newsletter as a value add to my clients.
3) Review them and their business. I went ahead and gave as many of them I could reviews on google, testimonials on Linkedin, Yelp and some of them Tripadvisor without any of them asking me to do that for them. Most of them did the same for me in return.
4) Create a hard copy service directory book every year filled with every business owner and service provider I know and the ones that they all refer or recommend to me. I place everyone’s business information free and then offer one business card ad spot per category for $25 to help cover the costs of printing the small directory books each year. I get calls from all kinds of business owners and service providers asking how they could get in the directory each year. I hand the directory out to every one of my clients at the beginning of the year and use them for relocation packages, open houses and other opportunities I may meet someone new to the community as a little token gift.
5) Own your own service directory app. About a year ago a friend of mine created an app that allowed us to take the traditional service directory booklet and launch it on an app. Check out www.clientlinkt.com and load all your business owners and service providers information and any special discounts or offerings they might have and then get everyone you know to download your service directory app on their android or iphone in seconds! The app is customized to you and your relationships and your clients will love it but more important so will your B2B relationships!
These are just a taste of some ideas you can do to really tap into and leverage the B2B community out there. We forget there is this large pool of business owners and service providers out there that would just love to connect with an agent willing to help them with what they do with what the agent does and the people you know. I was incredibly blessed to have so many great business owners and service providers as a referral source to my business and I know it will do the same for you so Get At It!
Strength and courage,
Wade
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