Selling Through Teaching

It always blows my mind when agents reject opportunities to do webinars, podcasts, blogs, or be on a panel. When they reject those opportunities, they are showing that they do not understand what it is to teach through selling.

When you teach through selling, you are establishing yourself as a credible expert. There are many ways to do this online.

The way real estate agents gain clients today is much different than it was 20 years ago because of all of the different tools that are available.

Let's talk more about how teaching and selling connect.

To be clear, when I say "teach" I am not always talking about a classroom setting, although that can work too. Some of the best ways to attract people to you are to teach through podcasts, Facebook posts, webinars, and blogging. All of these can be done from home on your computer.

The first mistake is that people want to push their service. Most people are turned off by this and build a wall straight away, even if they're interested. When you try and teach, it must be from a sincere desire to inform people. Get selling out of your mind for the moments when you are teaching. This will help establish trust. It's a great way for other people to relate to you as someone who delivers value without demanding the exchange of money.

When you develop a reputation for being someone who can teach people, then you get invited to places where you have the opportunity to sell.

A lot of people still believe that if you give too much away, you won't be hired. However, I believe the opposite, especially when it comes to real estate. As much as you can teach somebody, there are very few people who will use that information and conduct a transaction without you. Just think of all the new agents who need a mentor during their first few deals. The more you give and demonstrate your expertise for free, the more likely you are to attract that ideal customer. You will now be considered a person who is more concerned with helping rather than selling. Plus, you're helping people. It's a win-win.

Have a theme

Take time to sit down and figure out what your themes are. What are your strengths? What are your areas of expertise? Narrowing the topics allows you to focus on the important things that you should talk about.

Once you have established this framework, you can bring on guests to contribute. The reality is that you may run out of things to say. Bringing other people in will shed new light on your topic. You would be giving somebody else some press, but at the end of the day they are contributing to your forum. Again, the goal is to make it a win-win.

How to decide what to teach

No matter where you write or speak, you need to understand that the purpose of the content is to teach. It's to guide people down a logical path. My best advice is to teach what you are learning. As a real estate agent, you should be constantly learning. And you only truly understand something when you can articulate it to somebody else. Therefore not only will this create a client base, but it will also force you to learn your craft at another level.

There is another reason you are learning this information. It is relevant to the business you desire to practice. So the people who are interested in hearing this information will be the same people who are interested in your service regarding that given topic.

Encourage people to criticize you.

You want to give people the opportunity to say what they think. This can be in the form of reviews or feedback. If you are teaching information for free and you are truly educating people from the heart without asking for a sale, people are more than likely going to say fantastic things about you.

So make the reviews public. By having that content public, you have created a forum for public referrals.

This is a great way to get fantastic reviews out there about you. This is the modern era. People scour the internet for information about you before they hire you. Nothing is more valuable than other people's reviews.

Create content that can convert into leads.

If you get a new customer, that is great, but the goal of educating people is to create a following of people who are eager to hear what you have to say on a regular basis, thereby billing yourself as an expert. This is done by people signing up for your newsletter or being a fan on Facebook and Twitter.

The goal for a real estate agent should be to build your newsletter or your likes on your Facebook page. After that, the sales will come. This kind of regular interaction will build loyalty in your community.

Once you deliver a lot of value and have provided helpful content, you get to a point where you have earned the right to make a more direct pitch. Remember that the people who sign up to your newsletter and like your Facebook/Twitter accounts are your most loyal fans. They have requested to receive communication from you on a regular basis.

Best of all, these are all things you can do without having any extensive programming knowledge.