For years, agents and brokers were valets. Their value proposition was that they held the key to the room with all the information in it and you had to go through them to get in. They also held the key to get into any house that was on the market. Basically, they just opened doors.
Though there are still many agents that still want to be valets, the days of valet agents is coming to an end.
It’s time to be the concierge of real estate in your area as well as your area in general.
Not the mediocre one at a mediocre hotel who grabs your bags from storage or hands you a pamphlet with stuff to do in the area and says “Here you go. Good luck.” I’m talking about the concierge that knows everybody in town and can get you into places that only the ones “in the know” know about and can get into. The concierge that knows every club doorman, every hostess and restuarant manager and every tour director in town. The one who everyone wants to turn to to get the “insider” information on what’s going on in the area, where to go and how to get in.
A great concierge will ask you, “What are you looking for?”, suggest one or several places to go or things to do and make sure you get in and are taken care of. At the end of the day (or night), you’ll be saying, “That concierge sure picked the right place to go to based on what I was looking for. He/she is definitely the go-to person for finding out what to do and where to go in this town!”
How do your clients view you?
Your clients should view you the same way when it comes to real estate and your community. You should be the one that knows everything and anything real estate and community related in your area that people can turn to for answers and guidance.
If there’s a rumor of a new shopping mall being built in the future, you should know whether it’s true or not and what stores are going in and when.
If a house just came on the market, you should know what all the ones that sold before it on that street looked like, how much they sold for and how they compare.
If there’s going to be a lot release by a builder in your area, you should know about the release date, which models will be available and what incentives you can negotiate before anyone else.
If there are foreclosures and short-sales in your market place (which is most likely the case), you should know the ins and outs of how the process works and how to effectively negotiate an offer with the bank.
If someone in your area wants to know this kind of information, they should automatically want to turn to you because the word on the street is that you’re the one “in the know”…the one who’s got their finger on the pulse of real estate in the area…the one who knows how to negotiate more effectively and better than the rest of them.
Work at it to earn it…
In order to earn this type of credibility and notoriety, you have to put in a lot of work to earn it. That concierge didn’t stumble into those hook-ups and strong connections by accident. That took, and continues to take, a lot of dedication and effort. It takes up a lot of time each and every day. It requires constant communication with those in the community. It takes staying on top of what’s going on at all times. And then it takes satisfied people telling all their friends and even those they don’t know about him/her.
If you want to a be a great concierge agent rather than just another valet agent, you have to put in the same type of work and dedication. You have to impress your clients with your knowledge and expertise so that they tell their friends, coworkers and even those they just met, “(your name) is the one to talk to when it comes to real estate in (your town) and to find out what’s going on”.
Much like a great concierge makes a ton of tip money from people coming in to pick their brain for advice, you’ll find yourself with a steady stream of clients and commissions as the local expert. And just like the valet watches the concierge’s success in disbelief, the agents who think that opening doors is enough will wonder why you have so many clients and how you’re closing so many deals in this market.
