If you've begun the New Year wondering how you can get more leads and more property listings, you could be missing a huge database of contacts that you already have access to – your sphere of influence (SOI).
If you’re not familiar with the term, your sphere of influence is the group of people that you know and have met in either a personal or professional capacity. This would include your family, varsity friends, rugby mates and so on.
Since you already have a connection with the people in your SOI, it should be easier for you to approach them (in a professional, non-intrusive way) to let them know that you’re in real estate and how it could benefit them.
To get started, make a list of everyone that you think falls under your sphere of influence. It doesn't matter if they’re currently looking for property or not – the point is to build a database of contacts that you can use to mine for business.
Your list should include:
Your family, both close and extended, and any of their friends that you have met
Your friends
Your spouse or partner’s friends and work colleagues
Everyone you worked with in previous roles
People in your children’s SOI – their friends’ parents, their teachers, their sport coaches
Your parent’s friends
Your neighbours
Your friends on social media like Facebook and Twitter
Everyone in social or sports groups you belong to- your running club, your touch rugby mates or people you take a photography class with.
Anyone who serves you including your doctor, hairdresser, landscaper, lawyer, mechanic.
People you have contact with on a day to day basis like the barman at your favourite pub, the manager at a local restaurant and the teller at your bank.
Your past clients. Even if they are not looking to buy or sell their property any time soon, they may know someone who is.
Continue to build up a database by seeing every interaction as an opportunity to network.
And at the same time, figure out the best way to communicate regularly with your SOI, whether it’s reaching out on Facebook, dropping them a post card or sending an email.
Your SOI should be an integral part of your business plan for 2015. Cultivating your SOI can be a great source of business over time.