Best channels to have effective communication with your clients

Strong communication helps foster strong relationships with clients

Communication channels play an essential role in customer relationships. Your communication manner indicates your proficiency and builds reputation. So it’s important to find a way to connect to any kind of client. For instance, young people prefer to communicate via messages and social media while older clients favor personal meetings or calls. 

Your task is to specify what channel is the most appropriate for your client and build your further communication based on their preferences. Different people have their approaches to collaboration, and you, as a real estate agent, need to be flexible and polite. Respect your client and if they want to be involved in every stage of your professional activity, let them do it. 

Once a person has an option, they become more positively minded towards you that increases chances to make a successful deal in the real estate market. Present them a communication plan that will prove your professionalism and improve their client experience. Identify their expectations and choose the best among plenty of communication channels. 

1. Personal Meeting 

Real estate agents should know the importance of interpersonal communication and personal meetings at the beginning of a collaboration with a client. A face-to-face talk will help you to know better the identity and preferences of a future client. You can see their body language, gestures, and facial expressions that are paramount for person-to-person interaction with the purchase and sale involved. It’s a great client engagement strategy used by many businesses. You’ll have a chance to find out their expectations to choose an effective communication manner and channel. Moreover, it’ll ensure a personalized experience for customers and build your good reputation. Pay attention to the place you meet, whether it’s formal or not, and on the basis of your talk, define what communication will look like in the future. Thus, take into account that your first meeting should be definitely in person despite the value of verbal communication being neglected now.

Advancing your team’s communication skills and defining the company’s communication culture is one of the crucial steps for effective interaction with not only customers but also internally among team members.  Avoiding unchecked negative attitudes during the meetings, listening closely without interrupting, and making communication clear and comprehensive enhance customer relationships. Organizing communication training programs for employees will help them master such skills and be more customer-oriented.

2. Messaging

Messengers are the most popular communication channels, but they are suitable for rather informal chats. If you see that your client is the one that communicates only with letters, always adding an email signature, do not dare to write them on WhatsApp. You can choose one of the best messengers, but do not forget the professional communication etiquette. Of course, emojis can make chat less boring; however, memes or vulgar jokes are not a good idea. Messaging has many advantages; for example, a client will quickly answer you, as we have our smartphones constantly with us. Moreover, it’d be easier for you to send them updates wherever you are. Texting entails an informal kind of communication, and you should respect the client and know your limits. 

3. Сalling

This communication channel is more traditional, but many people feel nervous when talking to someone via phone or video call. Do not call the client until you have agreed upon it in advance, as the person can simply not have time to talk. Despite talking over the phone, you can also make a video call. Such popular platforms as Zoom and Skype are available for every person and are easy and safe to use. It will enable you to show the client some photos and other visual data on the property and see the client’s attitude to your offers. When we talk, we use less formal words than in written language, therefore, do not forget to be polite and professional. Try to be patient when texting, we have more time to consider the suggestion, while a real-time conversation over the phone requires instant answers. 

4.  Emailing

Emailing is a reliable, traditional form of formal communication with clients. You can use it if there’s no need for immediate responses. It’s one of the most effective communication channels that will never become strange or outdated. This official exchange of information is perfect for older and serious people who are too busy answering calls or chatting via messengers. Moreover, estate agents can attach different files to the email like documents, photos, and videos. Today, businesses widely use videos for better communication with clients. Estate agents are welcomed to film with screen recorder videos, screencasts, and real estate demonstrations to share with the client. 

The only thing to keep in mind is the low weight of the video and the versatility of the format. So the user will have no questions about why the letter doesn’t open or how to open the never-seen VOB file. Read more about working with formats here.

You need to check the email often to provide clients with a letter as soon as possible. Many take advantage of automatic replies to show respect and ensure clients will get the answer soon. 

5. Social Media

We should underline that social media for real estate agents plays a huge role if they know how to use them properly. These platforms are perfect for the promotion of your services and communication with potential clients. Once you post your achievements and customer reviews regularly, people won’t doubt your proficiency and resort to your services. Moreover, you can make public updated data on the estate for rent or sale. Social media is a great marketing tool that ensures high client engagement. But there are so many platforms, and each of them has its benefits for effective communication. We recommend you choose social media that has an option to make an audio or video call to a client in case of urgency. Many find facebook live a perfect solution for real estate. Pay attention to your customer’s needs and demands when interacting via one of the social media channels. You may start your communication there but move to another channel if needed. 

Conclusion

You understand that communication channels are an indispensable tool for any business, and real estate agents should also benefit from this rich choice. The only prerequisite is to listen to the client and identify which channel is the best for them. It will help you to stay tuned and ensure a great communication experience with positive results. Generally, if you are an open-minded professional who does your best to help people, any communication channel will bring value to your clients and success to you.