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Glennda Baker, considered by many to be the real estate industry’s queen of social media, did not come to Inman Connect Las Vegas to discuss video.
The leader of Glennda Baker & Associates at Coldwell Banker had something more pressing to talk about on Tuesday: relationships reimagined.
“There has never been a more important time to be in a relationship with your client,” Baker told an energetic Inman Connect audience Tuesday at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
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“Everybody is telling the consumer that we’re not worth it. We’re not worth the money,” Baker told the crowd. “All we do is open doors. All we do is take you on a tour. We’re glorified tour guides. I disagree with that.”
For a long time, agents have been slotted into a service provider role, Baker continued, but today, client relationships are more important to focus on.
Baker took the opportunity to take a subtle dig at Zillow and its vision for the industry.
“There’s this tech provider — I won’t say their name on video — and they think they can replace us with their platform,” Baker said. “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re not here to be replaced.”
“Everybody wants a piece of the commission and that’s why it’s so important to be in a relationship with your client — so you’re not replaceable and they don’t forget you.”
Baker went on to explain how an agent’s past clients and sphere of influence, their community, and their agent-to-agent referrals are the biggest relationships that pay back in terms of returns.
When Baker creates a new relationship, instead of inputting details that will get lost in the vast black hole of a CRM, she puts their contact information, photo and any notes about what she’s learned about them as a new contact into her phone.
“You gotta take soft and hard notes, and you’ve got to exchange life stories,” she said.
In addition to exchanging stories and becoming a source for everything for clients, agents should also learn how to be a stalker, Baker said, tongue-in-cheek.
“This is where I’m supposed to tell you, it’s ok to be a stalker,” she told the Connect audience. “If someone posts something on Facebook or Instagram, they want you to know about it … It’s a great opportunity for you to memorialize it for them.”
“If you’re not capitalizing on the birthdays on Facebook, what are you doing?” she later added. “Y’all, it’s free.”
Baker said she likes to “surprise and delight” people in her circle by wishing them a happy birthday with a customized video or by sending them cupcakes.
She also likes to host events that “create endless opportunity” for client connection, Baker added, like her “coffee and comps” event, where she hosts coffee and discusses neighborhood comps and one of her new listings, or her “eight at eight” event, where she invites three couples to her home for dinner made by a private chef.
She also hosts an “appetizers and appraisals” event, which clients find especially helpful in today’s market. “People have never been more confused about the value of their home than they are today,” Baker noted.
Breaking bread with people or inviting them into your home establishes a more personal connection, Baker noted. During these types of interactions, clients cross the threshold from just being a client into being a friend. The same transformation occurs when agents help clients memorialize the milestones in their lives.
Baker added that, although closing gifts can be tricky, they are one more way to establish a more personal connection with a client.
“Some people don’t believe in closing gifts,” Baker said. “I’ll be honest with you, they’re tricky. You sell someone a $1 million home, what gift do you give them? They can buy whatever they want.”
One gift that has worked well for Baker is a cake with a photo of the client’s new home on it. Her clients have cherished the gift, even if they’re celebrities.
“He saved that cake; he wouldn’t let anybody eat it, because it meant that much to him,” Baker said of one high-end client in Atlanta who she helped purchase his first home. “That guy bought a $2.3 million house — he can buy anything he wants.”
As Baker showed off the custom gift wrap she has made with her face printed all over it (courtesy of giftwrapmyface.com), she expressed her gratitude at the Inman Connect audience for sharing their time with her.
“I love being a real estate agent,” Baker said. “I’m honored that Inman gives me a platform to stand up and speak to you. It means more tho me than you’ll ever know that you took time to sit here. But more than anything else, is that you gave me your attention. Give that attention to your clients. Treat them like the valuable asset that they are.”
