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Protect REALTORS® by providing legal guidance and education.
Stay current on industry issues with daily news from Illinois REALTORS®, network with other professionals, attend a seminar, and keep up with industry trends through events throughout the year.
You are a relationship builder.
Maybe you enjoy spreadsheets or designing beautiful listing presentations or business planning. But, at the end of the day, odds are, as a REALTOR®, you’re a relationship builder.
Illinois REALTORS® advocacy tools offer the perfect excuse to reach out and strengthen client relationships.
Whether your ability is innate or learned, you’ve built your business by carefully acquiring contacts and cultivating relationships. But even the best relationship builders sometimes require a nudge; a special nugget of information or value-add to share.
Translation: sometimes you need an excuse to reach out!
According to the National Association of REALTORS®, only 12 percent of home buyers and sellers used the same agent they had used before. NAR posits this is because the client didn’t know how to find their former agent. Opportunity lost.
“ Clients may forget all the little details of your transaction, but they will never forget the way you make them feel. Keep that feeling strong, bring them information, and it will pay dividends to both you and your client.ˮ
– John LeTourneau
a broker with The Integrity Group at Coldwell Banker Residential in Hinsdale
After a recent presentation in which I appealed to REALTORS® to help stop Rent Control, John LeTourneau, a broker with The Integrity Group at Coldwell Banker Residential in Hinsdale, approached me with some advice to make my pitch to REALTORS® all about relationship building. I asked him to elaborate:
“In my education sessions I tell my agents: ‘It may seem uncomfortable calling your past clients, especially when you haven’t been in touch for an extended period. Reconnecting with them on Rent Control or other issues that have no short-term gain for you as an agent, are the best reasons of all to call. You aren’t asking for anything and are calling with the gift of information and care. Clients may forget all the little details of your transaction, but they will never forget the way you make them feel. Keep that feeling strong, bring them information, and it will pay dividends to both you and your client.’”
Reframing advocacy issues as an opportunity to reconnect with former clients is perfect. REALTORS® are an unstoppable force when it comes to protecting property rights and homeowners, so why not share this actionable information with your clients?
Here’s your first topic: Rent Control. Illinois REALTORS® has set up the consumer-facing website, www.AffordabilityForAll.com, where you can get some talking points and direct clients to take action.
If you’d like to dive deeper on this or any other topics, I encourage you to invite one of the Illinois REALTORS® outreach team to speak at your next office sales meeting.
To get involved contact Gideon Blustein at [email protected]
