A major part of an estate agent’s job is to show people around properties and urge them to purchase or rent it. They win sales by showing them the tiny details in the bedroom or the added mod-cons in the kitchen. But when employed remotely, working your estate agent magic to represent your real estate brand isn’t so easy.
This doesn’t mean it’s impossible, though.
We live in a world of video calls and collaboration tools to help us talk to both clients and teammates alike. Here are 6 tips on how to win sales when working remotely.
Make a Home Office
It can be very tempting to stay in your pyjamas and work from bed. But let’s face it, it probably won’t be very effective. It definitely won’t impress clients or make you look professional. So, the first thing you need to do in your day is to get dressed and wear something appropriate.
Keep in mind when you are setting up your remote workspace is that you will be doing a lot of secure video conferencing. Think about what a customer can see in the background of your space. It’s okay for a workmate to see a picture of you, drunk in your student days, but it’s not okay for a client to see this.
When people are investing money into buying a house, they want to know they can trust the company they use.
The next thing you need to do is create an actual workspace. Invest in a desk and chair and find a quiet space to set yourself up. If you don’t have space for a dedicated office, make use of what you have. Maybe the dining table would make a good desk, or your bookcase a professional backdrop.
Then think about the tech you normally use in the office and make sure you have that all set up on your computer. Do you use wfo software to sort out who is available to talk to clients? A productivity app to assign tasks? Maybe you use a VoIP phone system.
Whatever you use, add it to your home repertoire and use it just like you would in the office.
Source: Visualisation
Stick to Schedule
For some industries, working remotely might mean being able to be more flexible. However, as an estate agent, you need to be able to talk to clients at specific times. That means making sure you stick to your usual hours and that no one disturbs you at home during these hours.
Think of your day like using a cold call script. Set things up the same way each day and get into a rhythm with how you do things. This will make each day easier and through having a routine, you know you can get the job done just as well as you used to.
You need to make sure that you are available to teammates and customers during working hours. Especially as so many people use email alternatives today. This increases the chance they’ll call you to discuss their needs. You need to be near your phone – no going off to randomly play with the dog or work on a personal project.
That said, however, do make sure that you give yourself a break and switch off at the end of the working day. An estate agent with burn out is not a productive one.
Keep Work and Home Life Separate
When working in the office, you probably wouldn’t have spent half an hour talking to friends on the phone. So don’t do this when working remotely either. It can be really hard without the physical divide between work and home space. But it’s important to see a workday as a workday to get the job done and avoid distractions.
Depending on your role, you could use performance marketing software to help. Take time to check in on how you’re doing – what you’re finding distracting, and what you’re doing well with. By looking at these areas, you can figure out your problem points.
That way when it comes to doing the tasks that show you have low performance, you know to put extra effort into concentrating. Just remember: you’re still at work. Even if you aren’t in a physical office.
If you really need to get in the mindset of seeing the home as the office, you could get a room divider and create an office space dedicated to work. It’s worth considering blocking certain websites from being opened during work hours if you struggle to remain on task.
Source: Time Camp
Stay in the Moment
Okay, so we’ve already established that working from home has 1001 distractions. Which is why you may need to focus on staying in the moment and getting the work done. It can be really hard to focus when your partner is singing really loudly in the shower. Or when the neighbors won’t stop arguing. But you need to break through that wall of frustration and try and focus on what you need to do.
There are loads of emerging tech trends that can help with keeping focus when working remotely. Even finding a quiet space or investing in some noise-canceling headphones can help.
But when you just can’t block out that noise or still find yourself idly browsing social media, a good old fashioned timer can help. Set a timer and try to focus on the task at hand during that set time. Don’t check your emails. Don’t send any texts. Simply do the task until the timer sounds.
Make sure to set reasonable times. You don’t want to overestimate – trying to concentrate for an hour is challenging, whilst twenty minutes is much more achievable. Equally, you don’t want to overestimate or you’re more likely to let yourself get distracted.
For example, if you have to update the product descriptions for ten houses, you know you can do this in 30 minutes. Whereas if you need to need to set up a whole new project for a contractor, you may need an hour.
It’s important to be kind to yourself here too. Emergencies happen, children need attention, and technology breaks. Staying in the moment is important – but let yourself deal with the important things too.
Rethink the Way You Sell
Not being able to speak to people face-to-face brings its own challenges. It can be hard to read people’s body language over webcam – meaning you don’t know when to put that extra oomph into a sale. It’s challenging to have a friendly conversation when the internet keeps cutting out.
Therefore, you might have to re-think your approach in sales. Doing something as simple as updating or improving your website is a good way to explain to clients that you have changed the way you work. This will help build trust and get them on your side.
You can also create a pre-recorded video tour to show people properties. This way, they can look at the property any time, without you all having to spend hours at an open house. It can be shared multiple times, saving you time and money.
You could even host a live video of a property if it’s extra special. Then, by using a contact center as a service, people can ask any follow-up questions they may have.
Spend time ensuring that your calls run smoothly – make sure you can be seen, that there’s no distracting pings from other programs, and that there’s nothing other than work open when you screen share. Part of making a sale involves presenting a professional image, and you need to do that differently when it’s over a video call.
Source: Job Cluster
Make Communication Digital
Most of us are used to using digital communication in our social lives. So, why not introduce the digital into our working lives too? Responding to people via social media or text can make the interaction so much quicker.
There’s lots of technology available to make your remote sales easier. Using a team communication tool is a great way to catch up with the rest of your team. Other solutions include adopting AI to talk to customers, or investing in an omnichannel service desk. When you are having a busy day or you can’t get to the phone, using an auto attendant will make sure that calls are still being answered. And of course, we’ve already mentioned the benefits of using video calls to talk to people in a more personal way.
Source: Nate Gibson
Working from home has both good and bad points. You may be happier, so are a little more confident when speaking to clients. But at the same time, it can be easy to lose focus when surrounded by all your belongings.
Spend time conquering the pitfalls that remote working brings. Soon, you’ll be on your way to being a champion at winning sales. You might even want to work from home forever.
