10 new habits every real estate agent in Nigeria must inculcate in 2018

In order to become a successful real estate agent in Nigeria, you have to develop certain habits. It is even more important because we’re almost halfway into the year 2018, and there is no better time to re-strategize and learn new things.

How to Become a Better Real Estate Agent in 2018

As a real estate agent who loves his job and always wants to become even better in this industry, here are 10 habits you must inculcate or improve on before the year runs out:

1. Be Tech Savvy. 

Technology is not restricted to the internet alone. Millions of Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora are on the internet. Technology makes the task of reaching them, enlightening them and selling to them much easier than was possible 30 years ago.

In essence, leverage the power of online exposure to grow your businesses. For instance, you could use Apps to reach mobile customers. Using devices like drones also gives you an opportunity to capture images and videos showing exciting views of properties.

2. Respond to your leads and prospects promptly

As a real estate agent, responding to the leads is as important as getting them. Regardless of whether the leads come in via emails, phone calls or Direct Messages on your social media accounts, they are all important. Make it a priority to respond to them as quickly as you can.

As a house seller or buyer it can be stressful dealing with an agent who’s not a great communicator. The real estate market is time sensitive, so as an agent you need to be always on your A game.

Lately, because of the sheer increase in the number of agents in the Nigeria real estate market, it has become increasingly easy for other agents to snap up your potential clients if you’re found slacking.

4. Do more video content and post online.

It’s important to do what everyone is doing if you want to reach the larger market. However, to stand out, you have to go an extra mile and videos are powerful vessels to deliver your message. In addition to listing your property online, you should also upload videos of properties you have available to sell or rent.

Also, you can upload videos of tours of the neighbourhood where the properties are located. If you make your videos fun, interesting and engaging, you will reach a larger audience. YouTube offers you a platform to achieve this. Facebook edge rank currently prioritizes video content over other types of content. Also, Youtube users watch over 1 billion hours of videos daily.

5. Get an Assistant

As a busy property agent, there will be times when you will realise that you are struggling to respond to all your marketing emails, phone calls and other enquiries. When this happens, what you need is an assistant.

You might not be financially buoyant enough to put together a team that will share the burden with you, but you can  at least employ an assistant.

Delegation frees up time from petty stuff so you can concentrate on the most important stuff that brings direct revenue.

However, don’t be in a rush to hire a full-time assistant, most especially when you cannot afford it yet.

6. Know your niche like the back of your hand

To build a reputation of a reliable real estate agent, it is very important that you pick out a niche that you want to focus on and that you know the niche in details.

For instance, if you introduce yourself as a real estate agent with expertise on the island in Lagos, it would be a shame if you don’t know neighbourhoods like Lekki, Ajah, Ikoyi and Victoria Island.

However, it is not enough to know just the districts, you should also have a broad knowledge of the best schools around, the best restaurants, the kind of people who go there, the best places to shop. Your clients will have a lot of questions when they approach you to rent or buy an apartment or a property, which reinforces the need to know your neighbourhood.

Also note that when you really know your neighbourhoods, people can tell when you are talking about it and it leaves a strong impression about you and your work.

7. Bring your A game to Social Media

Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat is a massive part of marketing efforts for all top producers.

Taking control of your social media presence can seem overwhelming at first, but small steps over the next year will definitely lead to more business in 2019. Post consistently and create quality content as often as possible.

You should also encourage your friends to share your social media posts on their timelines. The idea is to reach far more people that you would have pulled on your own social media accounts to facilitate a quicker sale.

However, avoid promoting yourself and your business too heavily, because at its core, social media is about building mutually beneficial relationships with others.

8. Advertise online

Paid adverts are effective ways to reach your audience. You must understand that advertising is highly targeted. Your clients are people and companies that need your service. Therefore, you can create ads that target such people.

For example, Google is the most popular search engine in Nigeria and people use it to search for everyday stuff. Reaching people at the point of need using Google ads, for example, delivers better ROI than other channels of marketing.

Paid search advertising essentially stands out as an effective online channel, which leads to fast results. It also attracts good Return On Investment.

9. Add more value 

New technology and innovation is everywhere in the real estate industry, and clients expect the best service. As a real estate agent, consider ways to add value for your clients in a transaction. Clients appreciate simple things like hand-written thank you cards or pizza on moving day. Also think about going the extra step to provide professional advice, information, or insights when relevant.