3 Apps you should be talking about with your real estate agents – Help them, help you.

Leading up to the new year, I had been doing a lot of reflecting on what has worked and what hasn’t worked when helping our title agents with growing their businesses. I started thinking about new possibilities and ideas that differentiate. A common question in any sales capacity is, “what differentiates you from your competitor?” and the most frequent answer, you guessed it, is “service”. With service being the most common answer, it can’t exactly be a differentiator now, can it? A hard truth, but necessary to look at. I thought back to my time as a title rep, what I did that what was the most successful, and it kept showing up in all of my activities, value. I provided incomparable, massive value to my real estate agents, not only did I coach and train them, but I trained myself to become a presenter teaching social media, sales, and marketing. Listen, I’m not saying you have to do all that or become a trainer, but let’s explore the idea of providing massive value.

Last fall I started reading Human-Centered Communication by Ethan Beute and Steve Pacinelli, and last week when I reached chapter 9, there it was, simple, clear, powerful. ‘Selling is the art of helping people. Not of closing people. Not of helping yourself. Not of hitting numbers. Again, when we treat people like people the outcomes follow’. (Chapter 9, page 141) This is exactly how I saw myself when I was a title rep, providing massive value, helping people.

What do people (real estate agents) need? How do we provide massive value, and ultimately, how do we use this help to grow our business? It’s quite simple really. Generally, and yes, I mean generally, most real estate professionals will ask what you want in exchange for your help. Here you will be given the opportunity to let them know, that you don’t want anything in exchange, but that you see yourself as their business partner, and their growth means your growth. My favorite response was always to say, that I’m not looking to take any business away from your current title company, I just want the new business that results from our partnership. Also, remember that any time, and every time a prospect or client says “thank you” this is your opportunity to remind them that you are in a partnership together and that you’re looking forward to celebrating the next closing with them.

What does all this have to do with the Top 3 applications you should be talking with your real estate agents about? A lot. We’re looking for ways to give value to our clients and prospects, and what better way to do that than to educate them on tools that will not only help them make more money but will also make their jobs easier? That’s exactly what I’m doing here, sharing 3 applications that you can utilize with your clients and help them utilize with theirs.

1. BombBomb – No surprise here, this is one of my favorite tools, and I am also going to recommend the books, Rehumanize and Human-Centered Communication to go with the use of this platform and strategies in general. BombBomb is the quickest way to record, store and send video messages to clients and prospects. This is an amazing tool for you and for your realtors. It can be used to send introduction emails to internet leads, communicate updates with clients, lenders, and other affiliates, and introduce important emails like a request for repairs. Constant communication via video email also gives all parties the feeling of knowing one another very well, which will lead to more referrals and future business. For yourself, just imagine a closing where everyone shows up and they feel like they already know you.

2. GoogleMyBusiness – If there’s one thing I can’t stress enough it’s online reputation, if anyone still thinks they are not being googled by prospects, think again. Using the app on the phone makes it easy to quickly share photos and events the same way you would share them on social media, but with the opportunity to show up at the top of google search results for you, live under your business platform, and showcase your business. Having the notifications turned on within your app also helps you to “like” and respond to reviews quickly, and will keep the platform and growth of your reputation top of mind.

3. Canva – Let’s face it, everyone (well, just about everyone) is on social media, and today we are all marketers. Canva is the number one asset design tool for real estate professionals, with over 400,000 beautiful templates ready to go, you no longer need to have a marketing eye to create great content. Much of the content is geared for real estate, and you can create teams to quickly preview, authorize and share designs with staff and colleagues. From Facebook event cover photos to Instagram posts and listing flyers, Canva has everything needed for the real estate professional’s marketing.

You do not need to become an expert and train on these apps (we’ll do it for you) unless you want to. However, I do recommend learning enough about each of them to have those value-add conversations with your clients and prospects about how these apps can save them time and increase business.

Feel free to reach out to any of your WEST Marketing Technology Directors to learn more about these or any other apps for you and your realtors, and take a look around our product library for other apps and tools we recommend.