by Caroline Gabsewics
Staff Writer
What happened to talking on the telephone and meeting with someone face-to-face?
Has technology gotten in the way?
In the state of the current market, communicating with each other has gotten to be more and more important. Whether it be communication between Realtors and site agents or Realtors and their clients, or even communication between co-workers, working together and knowing what is going on in every aspect of the industry has been a top priority for many in the real estate industry.
“With our industry being in such a critical state and with the times being slow, it is very important to keep everyone going and on the same page,” said Selby Kaiser of Legends of Real Estate.
There are several ways to communicate — by phone, e-mail and face-to-face meetings.
Realtor Judy Hicks believes e-mail has taken away from the basic lines of communication, and now is the perfect time to get back to the basics.
“Too many people are relying too much on e-mail,” she said. “And it’s in both this industry and in society.”
Hicks explained that e-mail is very impersonal and many believe that it is faster to e-mail someone rather than picking up the phone.
“To me using e-mail is passive communication,” she said. “I’d rather see aggressive communication.
“When you talk to someone you hear the passion in their voice that they have for something — you don’t get that in an e-mail.”
Darla Furst, real estate broker for Michael Saunders & Co. in Sarasota and chair of the Florida Association of Realtor’s Communications Committee, agrees that using e-mail is very impersonal when it comes to working with clients.
“You can’t build a rapport through an e-mail. It has to come from face-to-face communication,” she said. “In a market like this people want to do business with people that they know and trust.”
Furst believes that getting to know people is more about being in front of them rather than using the phone or e-mail.
“Being involved and networking is huge again,” said Furst, who has been in the real estate industry for over 30 years.
Ways to get involved include:
• Charitable projects.
• Business related ventures.
• Community involvement.
“To begin building trust with someone, I believe you have to be physically in front of them,” she said. “Consumers are not using e-mail to find their Realtor.”
But Furst believes that technology has been an added tool for Realtors to help get their name out there.
“Technology like Web sites, e-newsletters and e-mail build on relationships, but they don’t create relationships,” said Furst. “It has gone full circle and we have come back to the basics.
“Even marketing only reinforces relationships. That isn’t how you get to know someone.”
There isn’t a step-by-step process to help people pick up the phone rather than type an e-mail, said Hicks. But she believes it is almost like trying to quit a bad habit — like smoking.
“You just have to do it,” she said. “You need to say to yourself, ‘today I am not going to use e-mail.”
Hicks added that she thinks some people fear talking to someone because they fear rejection.
“It has to be a part of your action plan everyday,” she said. “You may feel the fear, but do it anyway.”
Through the past year, Hicks believes the communication between Realtors and site agents has really dropped off. Because of that, she wanted to help make a change.
Hicks is the chair of the SMC Realtor Relations Committee and since January she and her committee have proposed many new ideas to SMC to get people on board to communicate more with each other.
“SMC is all about sales and the site agents want more Realtors to go and they don’t,” said Hicks. “It’s a perfect place to network and gain knowledge.”
Hicks added that the committee’s goal for the year is to teach Realtors and site agents to network with each other.
“No one is networking like they used to,” she said. “Everyone has been so busy and the little things have slipped away.”
Hicks suggests that everyone should leave with a card from each SMC meeting and a few days later have a follow-up meeting.
Hicks and her committee have several events and programs to help facilitate communication between site agents and Realtors.
“We are going to host a Realtor/site agent after hours later this year,” she said. “We are doing that in conjunction with SMC’s Networking Committee.”
At SMC meetings, the committee is asking that all site agents stand up and recognize a Realtor who brought a potential homebuyer to their model home.
The Realtor Relations Committee is having postcards printed for site agents to give to Realtors who bring their client to a model home. The postcard invites the Realtor to an SMC breakfast for free.
“In order to get people involved, you have to get to know them,” said Hicks.
“Our approach is one-on-one ... instead of shooting someone an e-mail.”
Another way Hicks and her committee are helping site agents and Realtors get to know each other is by sending them on a “mission.”
Their “mission” is to go to lunch using a gift card provided to them. The committee has a set of questions that must be answered. At the following month’s SMC breakfast, the Realtor and site agent must report back and tell everyone the answers to the questions.
“New relationships are being formed and people are loving what we are doing,” said Hicks.
Kaiser, a member of SMC and a regular attendee of the breakfasts, likes what the committee is doing.
“One of our Realtors, Holly McMurray, was in the first pair (of the Realtor and site agent meetings) and she had a delightful time,” said Kaiser. “They found a lot of similarities and differences. The main difference being that Realtors are more mobile and get out and see things, whereas site agents usually stay in one place all day.
“I think it is a great program. It is always helpful to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.”
As a Realtor, Kaiser has seen the importance of knowing many site agents.
“It is so beneficial to walk into a model home and you are greeted by a site agent who knows you,” she said. “It gives you credibility.”
Kaiser believes the more people someone knows, the better off they’ll be.
“I never understood why most Realtors don’t see the obvious benefits in getting to know site agents,” she said. “It is such a win-win situation.
“The more any Realtor or site agent knows about the area and its products, the more effective you are when assisting buyers.”
Hicks hopes that by bringing in these new programs into organizations like SMC, they will help open the line of communication again.
“We need each other and we need each other now,” she said. “This is very real and it is a touch job.
“It’s all about getting back to effective communication.”