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The chief executive officer of Laing+Simmons shares the green flags all agents should cultivate in order to secure a strong and lasting client base.
Leanne Pilkington, Laing+Simmons CEO and president of the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA), knows that real estate is a tough business.
In a recent episode of REB’s Secrets of the Top 100 Agents, Pilkington explained why cultivating a strong relationship with clients is the key to real estate success.
“We are dealing with people at their most stressed,” said Pilkington.
“There’s death, divorce, debt, there’s losing jobs, there’s all kinds of things that happen that aren’t great. So as agents, we need to be able to deal with people at their most stressed – and that’s not easy.”
Working with highly stressed clients is a delicate task, but getting it right is essential in order to have a sustainable business and build out a strong customer base.
“If I’m employing somebody, I would never not call around and speak to other people that have worked with them before,” Pilkington said.
The same goes for choosing a real estate agent – prospective clients may speak with former buyers and vendors before making their final choice, so it’s important to foster positive relationships.
However, as Pilkington emphasised, having positive relationships with clients does not mean bending the truth to suit their feelings.
“Vendors think their properties are worth more than anybody else’s,” said Pilkington, noting that when it comes to price guides, “some agents will tell you what you want to hear instead of what you need to hear”.
Misleading vendors into believing their property is worth more than it is may feel tempting in the short term, but Pilkington warned that agents who choose this path risk ruining their reputation when their promises fail to translate to a transaction.
Alongside transparency and the truth, the CEO also stressed the importance of thinking beyond oneself.
She believes getting involved in local causes is one way to foster strong relationships, sharing: “There’s a lot of people out there who are doing great things in the community.”
She stated that the best real estate agents “sponsor all of the local schools and events and sporting teams” instead of focusing solely on themselves.
Pilkington was less enthusiastic about “others who are more transactional, and it’s all about the GCI, and ‘Hey, how good am I?’”
All in all, the CEO is striving for higher standards within the sector, professing: “My wish is for everyone to shine the light on the things that aren’t being done in the way they should be so that we can really improve it for everybody,” the CEO concluded.
“We’ve got to work together as an industry.”
Listen to the full conversation with Leanne Pilkington here.
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