I just returned from a week at Inman Connect and over and over I heard “it is all about the relationships”. It left some of us feeling a little disappointed that there weren’t more tips and tricks from technical standpoint that could take our blogging and our real estate business in general to the next level. My goal was to leave with some fabulous new tech tricks that I could implement into my business.
The focus of many of the topics was higher level and discussion revolved around ways to enhance relationships with the melding of offline and online.
Guess what? Despite the fact that some of us techie geeks might have been a little disappointed, it is so true- it is all about the relationships.
Anyone who says relationships can’t be built online have not tried it.
I went to Inman after “connecting” with people through blogging, twittering and other social media over the last year and a half. I felt like I was meeting old friends, not new people for the first time. I could quote back stories of people’s lives, relate to what was going on. These people weren’t strangers -they were friends who I had learned about over the last few years. I knew when their parents passed away, their kids were in car accidents, when they were having a bad day. I know about their business successes and failures, and so much more.
I can almost bet I know more about many of these people than their local “friends” do.
Relationships DO start online and taking them offline deepens them tremendously. I am talking about friendships here but consumer relationships also start this way. For those of us who have been blogging for a little while, we have met or talked to people who can quote back things we wrote about in our blog. Our blog readers are getting to know us on a deeper level.
The Most Important Lessons Don’t Come From The Experts
I have a broadcast journalism background and have written for television and radio. This makes it tough for me to get more personal in my blogs but it is something I am continuing to strive for. The most important thing I learned this week was not from a speaker on stage- it was from the personal relationships that I continued to develop. The message I learned- it is ok to blog about me. This week really nails it home for me. I need to let my personality shine in my blog- not in a conceited way, not in a “I am the number one agent in my office way”, but in a more personal way.
When you are in the service industry, people hire people. On Tuesday, I closed a transaction from a client who was referred to me by a past client. They weren’t really thinking about using me until they checked out my blog. After reading my blog, they realized that I was the perfect fit for them, that I knew their neighborhood, and that I seemed trustworthy. This is what it is all about.
People hire real people.
So go ahead, tell me what you did last weekend, blog about your cat. I am more likely to refer you to someone if I like you.
