Relationship Management – Understanding  The Importance of Relationship Management

 You’ve identified and are managing strategies for Existing Listings (EL’s), Hot Buyers (HB’s), and Future Listing Prospects (HLP’s). Now it’s important to add the next major group, Your Relationship Management Group (RMG) . This group includes your Past Clients, Advocates and Sphere of Influence. These are mostly people that already like and trust you. Prospecting with this group is critical to growing your business.

Your RMR Group is one of the most difficult groups to manage because it can include hundreds of people. Take the following steps to manage your contacts with this group.

1. Identify the individuals in the group that are making or can make the biggest impact on your business- You should plan on having regular, or at least monthly face-to-face meetings with this group. The best approach is to invite individuals to a power lunch, or to share a cup of coffee. Attending social events that includes members of this group, is also a great way to keep in touch with your best advocates.
2. The most important people you know that you don’t have an opportunity to see face-to-face should be contacted at least monthly by phone. Cordial discussions and business updates are great conversations to have.
3. Be sure to have a default contact campaign for everyone else. Sending a generic e-mail once a month and a direct mail piece monthly ensures these people remember to refer prospects to you. If you have the opportunity to send information about Real Estate Market Trends, or interesting real estate related articles, it’s great. If not, anything counts, including remembering birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc.

Maintaining regular contact is key to continuing to grow your business year-after-year. Be sure to make a list of everyone you know and take advantage of these valuable relationships at every opportunity.