Are you genuine with your customer base?

Recently I had the pleasure of sitting down with Julie Hall over a cup of coffee to talk about her approach to being a successful gen Y real estate agent. Julie is a successful Associate Broker in our Renton office but her approach to engaging with her clients is different than what a traditional agent is doing today.

Julie is in her 4th year in real estate getting her start in 2006. In her third year in the business she was one of the high-producing agents in her office during one of the worst years in real estate. I was curious how a 28 year old new agent could do so well compared to many veteran agents in the real estate industry who were struggling.

My first question for Julie was “where does your business come from?” Here response was “Facebook.”

Julie has a very simple, genuine, and direct approach. She said by being involved in Facebook, people in her circle of friends post life changing events everyday and that allows her to be in their life. All she does at that point is interact with those individuals, whether providing a resource, lending an ear, or telling them she “likes” what they are doing. You won’t see her selling or bragging about her business. What you will see is Julie being Julie. On any given day you may see her say things like:

“CONGRATS to the Cronk’s today! We are doing final walk-through and signing for their new Quadrant home.” or

“Helping my client clean his hot tub, now keep your fingers crossed that it works! Can’t wait for hot tub Thursdays!”

In addition to celebrating client’s opportunities and victories you may also see Julie supporting her friends and their accomplishments, for example:

“Lisabet is great ~ if you think you want some spa love during the day think about using Mod Beauty Squad! Fan them on FB too.” (after recently seeing Lisabet on Evening Magazine).

I asked Julie to sum up for me what it is about Facebook that allows her to stay so connected to her circle of friends?

She replied “I get an opportunity to be a part of the small things in their lives that a cocktail party might not reveal; little things that can start huge conversations. There are many ways to integrate yourself into a conversation without being in their face all of the time. I also have the opportunity to meet people connected to my friends that I could not necessarily meet in another way – I have had many couples become clients because I have stayed in touch with them throughout their transition, whether a wedding, divorce, or a move. I look for change. Facebook is also a good chance to quickly brand yourself as an expert – I get many questions from friends because of how easy it is to use FB while staying in their comfort zone (and not scary to call up a real estate office).”

Julie wants other real estate agents to know that this has not happened overnight. She makes a conscious effort to grow her pool of friends and create quality relationships. She joined Facebook about 6 years ago. Since then Facebook has become a larger tool for social networking.

Now, go make friends and Facebook!