As a real estate agent, you typically do not hear from your customers until they are ready to buy a new house or about to sell their old house. Your services as estate agents are often only limited to the beginning and ending phases of their homeownership journey.
But this is not to say that your customers do not need some form of real estate service in the period between their buying the home and when they eventually sell it. They do, but those services are mostly provided by a professional property management company.
Although estate agents and property managers operate in the same housing market, the benefits they offer clients are different. This is why there is often little room for collaboration between property managers and estate agents as each business exists in a silo.
But considering that estate agents and property managers often deal with the same clients at different times, it makes sense for the two professionals to work together to improve their businesses and the experience of their customers.
As a real estate agent, have you ever considered how a property manager can help your business? Are there problems you face that could easily be solved through a partnership with a competent property management firm? This post will help you answer those questions.
Challenges faced by real estate agents
1. Finding new customers
Estate agents are constantly on the lookout for new clients. Your success depends not only on the number of leads you can generate within a given period but also on the quality of those leads. So, how do potential customers find your real estate business?
The typical avenues used by most estate agents are social media, email marketing, content marketing, holding open houses, and building a professional website. But the best customers by far will often come to you via your network of personal and professional relationships.
People trust you more when you are recommended by someone they know and trust. Before becoming your customers, your clients are customers of another business. How would it affect your customer acquisition costs if that business sent those customers your way?
This is what a partnership with a property manager will do for your business. Property managers are in touch with both your past clients and future customers. They know when the customer is ready to expand their portfolio by buying new properties or selling one of their properties.
2. Maintaining the relationship with existing customers
The majority of an estate agent’s clients will buy or sell their house through the agent and then forget all about the agent until the next time they are ready to buy or sell another house. Clients may not even use the services of the same agent the next time they are ready to buy or sell.
How can you increase the chances that your old customers will always contact you when they need an estate agent? How can you be more involved in the performance of their properties as well as their overall success as property investors?
Once again, the key lies in building a mutually beneficial partnership with a trusted property manager. By linking your clients who need property management with the property management firm, you solve your client’s problem and benefit the firm.
In return, the property manager will refer their own customers who are on the verge of buying a new house or selling their property to you. This creates a stream of high-quality potential customers for your business.
How does this arrangement benefit your own clients?
How estate agent/property manager partnerships benefit the client
A strategic alliance between your real estate agency and a property management company will benefit your own clients in the following ways:
● You can over-deliver on your promise
Where most real estate agents only care about earning a commission, you can show clients that you are invested in their investment goals by taking steps to ensure the success of their investment. You do this by connecting them to a reputable property manager.
● Save client’s time and money
Partnerships with reputable property management firms in your locality will transform your real estate agency into a one-stop shop where clients can find answers to problems they will face at every point in their property investment journey.
● Offer clients more options
Your customers can tap into your wealth of experience to successfully navigate the property market in the area. Even if you are not directly involved in the management of their properties, the trust you have built with them will let them use you as a sounding board for their ideas.
Lastly, taking the step to expand the reach of your business by linking up with a property manager in your area will let you create new streams of income for the business. For instance, you can earn referral fees for every new client you send to the property manager.
