Networking to Make a Sale

The buzzword, these days, is networking. Social networking via sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace are no longer simply ways for college friends to keep in touch or post photos. They are how businesses attract fans and patrons, how celebrities maintain a coveted position of fame (think Ashton Kutcher and Twitter), and how bands get their music heard often for the first time. As a real estate agent, you can use social networking sites to keep in contact with other realtors and keep a pulse on the market/competition. But will Facebook help you sell a home? Probably not; to do that, you may need to rely on a different form of networking - face-to-face.

Face-to-face networking is a tool you should rely on regularly to help get the word out about a home you have recently put on the market or a business about to go up for sale. It will work much faster and more efficiently than depending solely on the sign in the front yard and a fervent hope that someone driving past notices the balloons you’ve bought for an open house. However, networking can also be tricky. There is more to it than smiling at an average Joe on the street, so here are three tips for how to network and make the sale.

1. Know your target audience - if you are selling a small commercial building ideal for a boutique or café, you do not want to network with CEOs and big business executives with little to no interest in starting their own small, unique company. If you are selling a home perfect for a young couple just starting out, don’t network with well-established families working on their third or fourth child. They won’t fit in the house. They’ll know it, and your sale will be lost. Find the people who will make and can make the purchase.

2. Go to a networking event - Networking events are common and frequent. You can actually take advantage of almost any event within Austin to advertise your name, face and product. But again, know who you are targeting. Do the research to see what is happening when and where, and be selective. You don’t want to waste your time trying to interest prospective buyers at an all day beer fest. It’s likely they won’t pay a moment of attention, and if they do, they may not remember it in the morning.

3. Follow up - it is not enough to go to an event, shake hands, pass out cards and mention briefly the home two blocks from Austin’s Sixth Street you just put on the market. You have to continue the conversation. Get the person’s information and make a call the next day or, at the latest, the next business day. Show that you are committed to the product - the house - you are selling and that person will likely call you back, meet with you and settle down to discuss the intricacies of purchasing and taking out a mortgage on the home.

There are many other ways to maximize the outcome of your networking efforts. Above are three basic. But don’t be afraid to discover and adopt more rules of networking. The more you know, the better you’ll be and the more houses you’ll sell.

About the Author:
Joe Cline writes articles for Austin Texas Realtor. Other articles written by the author related to Cedar Park real estate and Austin real estate can be found on the net.