luxury properties

Building Your Personal Brand Will Help You Grow Your Business:

Do you consistently work on strengthening your personal brand as a luxury real estate professional? It’s important to remember that your personal branding is different from the branding associated with your brokerage. While the two may in fact be very similar, they aren’t exactly the same, and they don’t have the same impact on how your potential clients may perceive you.

Your personal branding as a luxury real estate professional is what potential clients are going to associate with you. It’s the thing that’s going to help encourage them to partner with you — and potentially refer future business your way. In order to more effectively grow your luxury real estate business, you need to make sure that your personal branding accurately reflects the type of service clients can expect to receive, and always align your website messaging with your personal branding to create a more consistent, well-rounded experience for them.

Finding Your Niche in Luxury Real Estate:

In order to set yourself apart from the competition, it’s important that you highlight the aspects of your brand that make you different from your competitors. Similarly, finding your niche in luxury real estate can also help you stand out more to potential clients. By establishing yourself as the authority in a particular type of property, you’re not only segmenting yourself as the first choice among a group of niche buyers and sellers, but you're also building out your luxury real estate brand in a more unique way that will potentially yield better results in the future.

Before you establish your niche though, it’s important to determine the set of guiding principles that you want to adhere to throughout your tenure as a luxury real estate professional. For instance, if you are determined to always respond to client correspondence the same day, make sure that you commit to doing so all the time, with every client. This guiding principle will in turn help shape your brand as a luxury real estate professional, which will ultimately help you more effectively establish a foothold in a specific luxury real estate niche.

Topics and Questions You’ll Uncover During this Episode:

• How a well-curated brand image can help set you apart from competitors
• What should be included in a luxury real estate website?
• Why establishing a niche in luxury real estate can be an effective growth strategy
• Building a personal brand image around authenticity
• How branding and reputation should impact your marketing efforts

Resources Mentioned within Episode:

• Official Website - Luxury Presence
• Official Website - Malte Kramer
• Connect with Malte Kramer on LinkedIn
• The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing

Why Delivering the Highest Level of Service is Always Key:

When it comes to working with luxury real estate clients, there can sometimes be a disconnect in terms of the quality of service provided versus the expectations from the client. The best way to avoid this disconnect? Always strive to deliver the absolute highest level of service imaginable. Remember, just like in the world of luxury concierge services, the more details you take into account, the more likely you’ll be able to mitigate any missteps and ensure an incredibly memorable experience.

To deliver the best service possible, it’s important that you never stop improving your skill set. There’s always something new to learn, and always a way to make any experience better — or custom tailored — for each individual client. If you’re never satisfied with just being okay, you’ll always be improving the quality of service you deliver to your luxury real estate clients. And the better the service is you deliver, the greater likelihood you’ll have of expanding your sphere of influence and growing your referral pipeline.

Understanding the Needs of Luxury Real Estate Clients and Building Your Brand:

Being able to adapt to individual client needs is one of the most vital aspects of being a successful luxury real estate professional. While many client needs may be similar, it’s important to remember that no two clients are completely alike. By cultivating individual relationships with each one of your clients, you can better deliver on their specific needs to ensure a memorable or even bespoke experience that they’ll be sure to tell their own sphere of influence about.

As a real estate professional, you always have to keep in mind that you are your brand. Who you are as a person, what you offer as a professional, and how you choose to interact with clients all help shape and build your individual brand. Remember, how we represent ourselves is going to speak to our clients, and impact the types of clients we are able to attract. When it comes to working with the upper tier, delivering on what you say you’re going to deliver on, and constantly striving to exceed expectations, is the key to building a successful brand and cementing your place as the go-to real estate resource in your respective market.

Topics and Questions You’ll Uncover During this Episode:

• The similarities between a luxury concierge service and a luxury real estate professional
• Why is understanding client needs so truly important?
• How always striving to be better within your industry is so critical to your success
• How is branding shaped by relationships with clients?
• Building better rapport with luxury clients via the double platinum rule

Resources Mentioned within Episode:

• Official Website - Travel Concierge Corner
• Follow Travel Concierge Corner on Instagram
• The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing

Differentiating Oneself is Key in Luxury Real Estate:

Capitalizing on your past experiences and current skill set is a great way to set yourself apart from every other real estate professional in your market. One huge differentiator that you can leverage to stand out even more? Continually educating yourself.

In fact, in order to fully adopt a luxury mindset, you need to constantly be learning how to be a better real estate professional, how to better serve your clients, and how to more effectively position yourself as a trusted advisor for all things real estate related. The moment you actively stop learning is the moment you stop trying to differentiate yourself, and the moment you stop differentiation yourself is the moment you begin to blend in with every other real estate professional in your market. Always be learning!

Deepening Relationships and Maintaining a Healthy Work-Life Balance:

Your relationships with other real estate professionals are incredibly important. Your relationships with your clients (both current and potential) are incredibly important. Finally, your relationships with individuals who aren’t directly connected to luxury real estate are also incredibly important. So how is it possible to balance all of these different relationships without potentially ignoring one of these groups? Simple — give yourself permission to blur the lines between them all and you won’t have to clearly delineate your time amongst different groups.

Granted, it is important to remember that your work as a luxury real estate professional should not spread into every other facet of your life. However, it’s critical that you recognize how all of the different aspects of your life are connected. It’s okay for your different universes to collide, provided you’re always actively working towards one very important thing: deepening the relationships with the people around you to help form stronger bonds with them. Remember, a more robust sphere of influence, one built upon strong relationships, is the key to a healthy referral pipeline.

Topics and Questions You’ll Uncover During this Episode:

• How to adopt a luxury mindset that will help advance your real estate career
• Why becoming a trusted advisor is so critical when it comes to building connections both within and outside of your target real estate markets
• Why is brokerage support so important?
• Deepening relationships with fellow real estate professionals is a great way to expand your sphere of influence
• Why is work-life balance so important as a luxury real estate professional?

Resources Mentioned within Episode:

• Official Website - Maria Babaev
• Connect with Maria Babaev on LinkedIn
• The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing

Being Authentic is the Best Approach When It Comes to Working with the Upper Tier:

Authenticity builds trust in luxury real estate. In order to start building a strong foundation of trust amongst clients, you have to ensure that they recognize it is your intention to help them every step of the way. Helping them is your top priority, and that doesn’t necessarily mean making a sale in order to do so.

While building relationships is important, maintaining trust is key for a healthy referral pipeline. If your clients trust you, chances are high that they’ll come back to you for future luxury real estate needs. If your clients trust you, chances are good that they’ll refer you to their own contacts for the same type of high-quality service you provided them with. When it comes to working in the upper tier, authenticity is the most important aspect of the relationship, and it’s critical that you never lose sight of it.

Making the Most Out of Opportunities in Luxury Real Estate:

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. While there may be some debate over where the quote originated, the idea behind it is 100% spot on. Every opportunity to go above and beyond on behalf of your client is important. If you have an opportunity to help someone, even if you don’t directly benefit from doing so, the best strategy is to assist them in whatever way possible — within reason, of course.

Also important is remaining positive throughout the relationship. This idea might seem fairly obvious, but it’s imperative that it be stressed over and over again. Regardless of market conditions, you have to remember that your client is counting on you to effectively guide them along their path to purchase or sale. Presenting information in a less-than-promising manner won’t help you in the long run, but it may hurt you and the relationship you have with the client. Remember to package less positive news in such a way that your client remains at ease, doesn’t question whether or not you’re going to effectively be able to assist them, and maintains confidence in you that you’re the right luxury real estate professional to have partnered with in the first place.

Topics and Questions You’ll Uncover During this Episode:

• How has consumer behavior recently shifted in luxury real estate?
• Why building your referral network has never been more important than in today’s luxury real estate market
• How expanding your sphere of influence can help weather any market conditions
• Some do’s and don’ts clients should keep in mind when purchasing a new home
• The importance of luxury real estate professionals transitioning into trusted real estate advisors

Resources Mentioned within Episode:

• Official Website - The Simms Team
• Connect with Tami Simms on LinkedIn
• The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing

Out-of-Market Luxury Purchases On the Rise:

The general shift in mindset that’s taken place the last two years will have a lasting impact on the world of luxury real estate. With remote work now more commonplace, buyers are no longer confined to either their existing or nearby markets. Consequently, out-of-market purchases are now growing in popularity as well, especially as home buyers seek out second and third homes that will provide them with the flexibility to comfortably work from home.

As a luxury real estate professional, it’s important to position yourself in such a way that your referral pipeline stretches outside of your local markets. It’s critical to not only network with other out-of-market real estate professionals to expand your sphere of influence, but to have meaningful conversations with your existing clients to determine whether or not their own sphere of influence can further intersect with yours.

Awareness-Stage Content and Decision-Stage Content in Luxury Marketing Campaigns:

The easiest way to differentiate between these two specific content approaches is to position one before the other. Awareness-stage content refers to the majority of content that your potential clients, and even other agents, are going to be exposed to that helps brand you as a luxury real estate professional. Think of awareness content as educational content — content that seeks to inform individuals of whatever it is you’re promoting. Whether it’s a specific property you’re highlighting or a specific market, awareness content provides your audience with valuable information they can use to help make a more informed decision.

So, now that your audience has been informed and is ready to make a decision, what should you do next? This is where decision-stage content enters the conversation. With this type of content, you’re helping guide the individual towards using your services as a real estate professional. For instance, you might provide them with client testimonials to help serve as third-party proof of what it’s like to work with you. Think of decision-stage content as your call-to-action content. Whereas awareness-stage content will help them make a decision, decision-stage content will help them select to partner with you as part of that decision.

Topics and Questions You’ll Uncover During this Episode:

• What does the modern-day luxury mindset look like?
• Why it’s important to constantly work towards expanding your referral network
• The difference between awareness-stage marketing and decision-stage marketing
• How is seeking out a luxury lifestyle impacting today’s real estate purchases?
• The importance of nurturing leads to create a more valuable sphere of influence

Resources Mentioned within Episode:

• Official Website - Tobe Agency
• Connect with Andrew Hong on LinkedIn
• The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing

Navigating the Ups and Downs of Luxury Real Estate:

It’s no secret that the landscape of the real estate industry has changed over the last two years — especially when it comes to luxury properties. While adjusting to market conditions can be stressful at times, one way to mitigate this stress is to constantly work on expanding your sphere of influence and building out your referral pipeline. If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s that out-of-market buyers are now more willing to enter into other markets, which is why it’s critical that your referral pipeline include out-of-market real estate professionals who may be looking for referral partners to help their clients navigate a move into your specific market.

A Healthy Referral Pipeline Needs Constant Attention:

As a luxury real estate professional, you should always want to improve the way you do business. That could mean improving the experience you provide your clients with, enhancing the print materials you use to help market luxury properties, or constantly nurturing your sphere of influence to ensure that you’re top of mind for all things luxury real estate related. In order to build a strong luxury real estate referral network, you need to build strong relationships with every individual who’s part of that network.

So how do you build on these relationships (and create new ones) in order to grow your sphere of influence? Attending conferences and other out-of-market industry events is one way to meet up with contacts face to face, and even make new connections during the process. Remember, traveling to see your contacts is a business expense, and an important one at that. Make the time to visit out-of-market referral partners as frequently as possible to build on your relationship with them. Additionally, remember that your referral partnerships should never feel one-sided. Giving referrals is just as important as successfully receiving a referral, so be sure to reciprocate referrals in order to establish a stronger connection with your partners.

Topics and Questions You’ll Uncover During this Episode:

• How the pandemic affected the way we buy and sell homes
• Why outbound destination markets are so important in the upper tier
• The importance of constantly nurturing your sphere of influence to promote future growth 
• How to effectively build out your referral network to expand to new markets
• Why setting expectations with partners is the key to a healthier referral pipeline

Resources Mentioned within Episode:

• Official Website - Genuine Real Estate
• Contact Patrick Ryan
• Connect with Patrick Ryan on LinkedIn
• The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing

The Next Normal and the Booming Luxury Real Estate Market:

With consumer and purchasing behavior having shifted as a result of the pandemic, the way we value homes is forever changed. Where do we go from here though, and which factors do we need to keep in mind as we move into the next normal?

If 2020 was the year of resilience, 2021 was the year of reconciliation — a return to our next normal that will not only be impacted by health, wellness, and safety, but also by an evolving sense of which elements are truly desirable in today’s luxury housing market.

Another factor that is set to substantially drive the luxury market? The enormous growth in wealth, particularly over the past year. With 20% wealth growth seen throughout 2021, the number of people who now maintain a net worth of over $5 million grew by a whopping 600,000 individuals.

With such an influx of new capital, many luxury clients have begun shifting some resources from more traditional investments to the properties they choose to live in. The driving factor of this shift continues to be a desire to enjoy a certain lifestyle that comes along with the property being purchased, continuing a trend in luxury that has become more and more prevalent over time, particularly over the past two years.

The Rise of Secondary Markets and the True Real Estate Advisor:

Luxury real estate inventory is perceived to be in short supply due to the ever-rising demand for new purchases, but that isn’t necessarily the case. While most luxury markets are hotter than ever, more traditional secondary markets, and even new, emerging markets, are also being impacted by luxury market demand. These new growth areas rose in popularity over the last two years, and will remain attractive luxury markets in the near future, particularly with changes in lifestyle that have stemmed from the pandemic.

New technologies have also emerged recently, allowing real estate professionals to work with an even more geographically diverse group of clients. Despite these technological advances though, it’s imperative to note that the human connection has never been more important, and real estate professionals should embrace their roles as trusted real estate advisors. Afterall, consumers are looking for a sense of authenticity when it comes to partnering with a real estate professional. They’re looking for someone who can not only direct their real estate needs, but also address their lifestyle concerns that will inevitably be impacted by their home purchase. That’s why it’s critical that luxury real estate professionals spend the necessary time and effort in curating their marketing campaigns so as to frame themselves as the trusted real estate advisor who can assist clients in all matters related to the luxury lifestyle they’re hoping to embrace.

Topics and Questions You’ll Uncover During this Episode:

• What is the next normal going to look like for luxury real estate?
• How will the recent rapid growth in wealth impact the luxury industry?
• Primary, secondary, emerging, and global markets in real estate
• How technology is impacting the way luxury homes are marketed
• The evolving role of the real estate professional and the true real estate advisor

Resources Mentioned within Episode:

• The Report 2022
• Luxury Market Report: 2021 in Review
• View The Report 2022: Luxury Market Insights
• Coldwell Banker Global Luxury®
• The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing

Setting Yourself Up for Success in Spring:

Do you know what one of the biggest concerns of sellers is these days? It’s not being able to get above listing price for their own home — it’s being able to find a new home once their home sells. To help curb this very valid concern, luxury real estate professionals need to get the process started as early as possible for their sellers. Rather than wait for your sellers to officially declare their intentions to sell, it’s important to anticipate those intentions and start their luxury home selling/buying journey sooner rather than later to help set yourself up for a successful partnership.

The key here is being able to create confidence in your sellers. You need to convince them that they will be able to find a new home despite perceived inventory issues, and you can help ensure this by strategically targeting potential home sellers in the markets your clients are most interested in purchasing a home in. Rather than simply wait for new inventory to become available, be proactive in bringing the desired inventory to your client. While most homeowners might not be very receptive to immediately selling their homes, chances are still good that you’ll potentially be able to find at least one homeowner who has been strongly considering selling their home (and just hasn’t started the process yet).

Creative Targeting and Effective Agent-to-Agent Marketing:

Remember, not all home sellers necessarily want to stay in the same geographic area after they’ve sold their home, especially in today’s market. That’s why it’s so important to form strategic partnerships with real estate professionals in desirable markets your home seller may want to purchase a home in. Use the MLS to target real estate professionals in hot markets to potentially reach an even larger pool of potential buyers who might be interested in working with you. Not only does it create an opportunity for you to provide your client with an excellent experience they can tell their own sphere of influence about, but it also creates future referral opportunities from sellers interested in purchasing a home in your area.

Another creative way to potentially secure new partnerships? Tap into the real estate investment market by targeting individuals who aren’t necessarily looking to move into a new home, but are interested in potentially purchasing a home for investment purposes. Seek out properties that are for sale and investment ready, and target homeowners in higher price points who might be more receptive to purchasing the home as an investment property. Even though they may not be interested in moving into the property in question, they may very well be interested in purchasing the property if it features an investment-ready home they can add to their portfolio.

Topics and Questions You’ll Uncover During this Episode:

• How real estate professionals can tap into “other” markets
• An effective way to prepare for limited inventory setbacks
• Creating new interest in today’s luxury real estate market
• How you can attract real estate investors to partner with you
• Creatively targeting buyers (and buyer agents) in today’s luxury market

Resources Mentioned within Episode:

• Official Website - REAL Marketing
• Contact David Collins
• REALTOR.com Cross-Market Demand Report
• The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing

Knowing How to Balance Your Messaging Is Key:

When it comes to marketing, knowing your audience is the first step in determining how you should approach your messaging. If you’re targeting a specific market, you need to make sure that your messaging plays off of the ideas that are important to the individuals in that specific area. Remember, if your messaging isn’t striking the right balance between self promotion and providing your audience with something of value that they care about, you risk your messaging failing to have the impact you’ll need to turn these contacts into potential clients.

Furthermore, the platform you’re using can also play a factor in how you approach your messaging strategy. For instance, your newsletter audience is likely going to interact with your messaging in a different way than your social media audience will. While there may be crossover between segments, always remember to follow best practices for each individual platform you incorporate into your marketing campaigns.

Building Your Brand with Digital Media:

Expanding your sphere of influence by making the most of each digital platform is one of the most effective ways of building your referral pipeline. Whether you’re trying to spark more of a conversation on Facebook, posting stunning professional photos of properties on your Instagram account, or providing a more in-depth analysis of a particular subject on YouTube, every marketing channel you focus time and energy on should have its own accompanying strategy.

So, if each platform has its own strategy, what’s the common denominator amongst all these different platforms? The answer is simple — branding.

Using social media and other digital platforms to continually push your brand image is an effective way to establish yourself as the go-to authority for all things real estate related in your target markets. Curating a brand image, and continually reinforcing that image, is the best way to sustain that image. If it’s your goal to become the expert in the markets you’re targeting, be sure to provide a consistency in the branding you’re incorporating into your digital media marketing efforts so that potential clients immediately recognize you and differentiate you from the competition.

Topics and Questions You’ll Uncover During this Episode:

• How to write the ideal newsletter based on your target audience
• What kind of social media content you should incorporate into your marketing strategy
• How you should adjust your approach on different platforms
• Incorporating your personal branding to drive your overall branding strategy
• Technological improvements in the world of luxury real estate

Resources Mentioned within Episode:

• Official Website - Alexander Brandau IV
• Subscribe to Alexander Brandau IV on YouTube
• Contact Alexander Brandau IV
• The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing

Continually Growing Your Luxury Database:

The key to a healthy luxury database is constantly building up your referral network. Whether your referrals are coming from past clients, your digital web properties (such as your YouTube channel), or from other real estate professionals in your network, it’s important to look for referrals from a variety of places.

And the key to maintaining your database? Reciprocating referrals. Remember, if you’re unwilling to refer business to others, there isn’t much incentive for them to refer business to you either.

Expanding Your Reach Via Digital Marketing:

Digital marketing plays an important role in any luxury real estate marketing strategy. Shayla explains that she devotes a lot of time to her carefully curated YouTube channel, posting videos that help show her personality, establish her as a local real estate authority, and even connect her to the community at large when she interviews local businesses, such as the humane society. In addition to YouTube, she also showcases content on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, noting which videos and content pieces perform best, and adjusting her overall strategy accordingly.

When it comes to any digital marketing campaign, ensuring that your content is properly optimized — the way Shayla does — will not only help your content rank better within search results, but it will also increase your number of impressions, which could in turn lead to additional referrals. Shayla even uses her email signature to highlight relevant market updates, the MLS, and her YouTube videos, constantly mixing it up to provide her email recipients with new information they may find value in.

And where does Shayla learn about these helpful strategies she’s implementing in her marketing campaigns? Podcasts (like this one).

Topics and Questions You’ll Uncover During this Episode:

• How a digital marketing approach can play a critical role in building your referral network
• How to properly tend to luxury database in order to enjoy continual growth
• Why you don’t need to hire a professional videographer to shoot your YouTube content (and why you do need one when crafting content around client homes)
• Shayla’s approach to YouTube optimization and expanding her overall presence by expanding her digital presence

Resources Mentioned within Episode:

• Official Website - Shayla Twit
• Subscribe to the “Get Sarasota Real Estate Fit with Shayla Twit” YouTube Channel
• Contact Shayla Twit
• The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing

Why Addressing Every Square Inch of a Luxury Property is Important:

In the world of luxury real estate, one of the most effective ways to set one property apart from the rest is to properly stage the home — and partnering together with an experienced luxury home stager is the key to professionally showcasing the property and unlocking the home’s true equity.

When a home is professionally staged, items are not merely being arranged so that they’re pleasing to the eye. Rather, effectively staging a home helps potential buyers envision the lifestyle that would come along with their purchase. Properly staging a home will help reveal the home’s maximum value in a way typical marketing strategies aren’t able to fully tap into. When it comes to showcasing luxury properties, professionally staging those properties is absolutely essential.

Topics and Questions You’ll Uncover During this Episode:

• What is luxury home staging and styling?
• How do you properly stage a home to prospective buyers?
• What do buyers look for in luxury homes?
• How has the luxury market recently evolved?

Resources Mentioned within Episode:

• Official Website - Lori Pedersen Home Staging + Styling
• Official Website - Nissan Michaels
• Connect with Lori Pedersen on Instagram
• Connect with Nissan Michael on Instagram
• The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing

How Different Generations Use Technology:

When it comes to pointing out the differences between Millennials and Gen Z versus Gen X and Baby Boomers, technology is usually one of the biggest differentiators. Younger generations grew up with the technology we use today, or at least comparable, earlier versions of it. While it might take older generations a bit more time and effort to find and learn their way around new online communities, maneuverability is more or less second nature for Millennials and Gen Z.

While it’s safe to argue that this younger generation is more adept at adapting to new technologies, it’s also very true that this generation has become very reliant on what they hear from fellow members of the tribes they subscribe to. As a result, these younger generations are a little less trusting of institutions (and marketing messaging from said institutions), and are in fact very good at tuning out advertisements that clutter their news feeds and inboxes.

So what does this mean when it comes to real estate? Creating loyalty amongst the younger generation will naturally lend itself to expanding your reach as a real estate professional, simply because those who are loyal to you will potentially be more likely to refer you to their fellow tribe members. Building your own loyal base of clients and potential clients is key to sustainable growth, a healthy referral pipeline, and establishing yourself as a sought after professional in the luxury real estate space.

Prosocial Rewards and the Peak-End Rule:

One of the most effective strategies at capturing new referrals is by offering what’s known in psychology terms as a prosocial reward. These specific types of rewards refer to benefits that you as a professional don’t necessarily offer to potential clients, but, instead, your existing client base offers on your behalf instead. Consequently, these benefits aren’t being framed as having come from the professional, but rather having been given to a potential referral directly from an existing client (as a gift, so to speak).

With prosocial rewards, the person delivering the benefit, an already trusted source of information for the potential client, gets to play the role of insider as they give their friend something of value, all on the behalf of a brand or professional without the brand or professional having to really get closely involved in the process. This is a great strategy for securing new referrals from typically already qualified leads.

Another helpful tip when asking for referrals centers around the concept of the peak-end rule, a psychological term that refers to the highlight and culmination of one’s experiences as the lasting memories most easily recalled. Generally speaking, the peak and end are the two aspects of an experience that a potential client will remember most vividly. When asking for referrals of any kind, the best time to do so is as close to the peak of satisfaction as possible, namely because your client will never be as satisfied with your services as they are at that very point. By always keeping the peak-end rule in mind, you greatly increase the likelihood of filling your pipeline with qualified leads.

Topics and Questions You’ll Uncover During this Episode:

• Who are the next generation of homeowners?
• What is a niche tribe in marketing terms and how can you appeal to these groups to build out your pipeline?
• How can a real estate professional create a network among fellow real estate professionals?
• How and when is the best time for a real estate professional to ask their clients to refer them out to their network?

Resources Mentioned within Episode:

• How to Reach Barry Kirk
• Official Website - Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute
• Connect with Barry on LinkedIn
• The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing

Four Different Types of Loyalty:

Barry explains that there are four different types of loyalty that can be split into two different categories: transactional loyalty and relational loyalty. Within transactional loyalty, you’ll find two specific types of loyalty. Mercenary loyalty centers around the possibility of someone else being able to deliver a similar kind of transaction, and is based more on the end result itself than the service received. With inertia loyalty, clients tend to remain loyal to your brand simply out of convenience, often because they don’t have more than one option to choose from. In this instance, think of the type of relationship you may have with your cable company, and that more or less categorizes what inertia loyalty is all about.

Within relational loyalty, there are also two specific types of loyalty that Barry discusses. True loyalty centers around the experience you’re able to deliver to your clients, and often involves one going above and beyond in the service that was offered. The final type of loyalty is the one that is often the most difficult to earn. Cult loyalty is based on the value alignment clients are able to connect with throughout the purchase, and this idea is reinforced when they see other people also make similar purchases. This social proof keeps clients wanting to come back for more, mainly because of the values espoused by the brand and the connection they feel to the remainder of the client base.

The Next Generation of Homeowners:

Because of the prevalence of social media, millennials are a generation raised on tribal identity. Growing up, they were able to utilize a variety of social media sites and quickly find their niche tribe in the process.

When it comes to doing business, millennials are seemingly less price-conscious (despite struggling slightly more financially), and more connected to the values they associate with different brands. Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute ran a study on whether the values espoused by a business actually influence purchasing behavior, and 55% of respondents agreed that those values did in fact influence their purchasing behavior. Among those who identify themselves as brand loyal, it’s significantly more likely that the values of a particular business or professional drive their purchasing decisions as a result.

Topics Covered and Questions You’ll Uncover During this Episode:

• What does retention mean in luxury real estate?
• What is client engagement in the upper tier?
• What are the four types of loyalty and how do these apply to real estate?
• Who are the next generation of homeowners?

Resources Mentioned Within Episode:

• How to Reach Barry Kirk
• Official Website - Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute
• Connect with Barry on LinkedIn
• The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing

How Andrew Attracts Luxury Home Buyers in the Niagara-on-the-Lake Area:

With Niagara-on-the-Lake being recognized as one of prettiest towns in the world, the demand for available inventory is always high. To attract the right buyer, Andrew explains that he wins his listing presentations by tapping into his existing network and database. In fact, 85% of his business comes from agent-to-agent referrals. Additionally, he also partners with over one hundred luxury real estate listing sites to help get the word out to potential buyers throughout the world, utilizes traditional print marketing to help attract buyers locally, and (of course) takes a very strategic approach to building his social media presence and expanding his reach digitally. For Andrew, the first step though is always targeting his own personal network.

Why It's Important to Have Marketing Resources You Can Depend On:

While Revel Realty Inc. has its own internal marketing team, Andrew points out that it’s crucial for all real estate professionals to have reliable marketing resources at their disposal. Real estate professionals need to focus on lead generation, not building their own graphics and videos to use throughout the advertising process. For Andrew, it’s important to seek out and partner with individuals who align with your own vision, and rely on those individuals to handle the creative details involved with the production process. Each one of Andrew's own social media managers utilize their own expertise and creative vision in a way that compliments the way Andrew wants to market himself. The best advice Andrew can give? If you decide to partner with someone based on their portfolio, don’t micromanage them — rather, let them go to work in creating content for you that has a similar look and feel to what they’ve previously done so well and trust in their process as an expert resource.

Topics Covered and Questions You’ll Uncover During this Episode:

• How do you sell to a luxury home buyer?
• What are the common marketing mistakes that luxury real estate professionals make?
• How do you reach potential buyers beyond your region in order to create more consistent transactions?
• Why is it important to have talented marketing resources at your disposal?

Resources Mentioned Within Episode:

• How to Reach Andrew Perrie
• Official Website - Revel Realty Inc., Brokerage
• Follow Andrew on Instagram
• Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn
• The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing

Where to Start with Lighting and What “Lit Correctly” and “Dim Correctly” Means:

With lighting design, Lynne always starts with the lifestyle of the client, regardless of whether she’s starting from the ground-up or retrofitting an existing home. From her experience In Florida, Lynne often sees her clients replacing burnt out bulbs with light bulbs that are less than ideal. The rendering typically falls off over time, the dimming sometimes stops working, and Lynne is brought in to correct the situation.

When a home is “lit correctly” it means that the lighting is consistent throughout the space. Color consistency is present throughout the home and dim-ability functions as it’s supposed to. A properly lit home should create ambiance and just “feel right.”

Lighting in the Real Estate Industry:

To Lynne, lighting is typically one of the last things clients look at when it involves real estate. Ideally, proper lighting placement should be decided on during the construction phase of the home, specifically during the architectural stage. This allows designers to recommend the right product for the space, design the lighting scheme based around the lifestyle of the client, and provide the client with an accurate budget of what it will cost to properly light a home in today’s world.

Why is this so important? From Lynne’s perspective, people are typically home more often at night than they are during the day, and real estate professionals often fail to familiarize themselves with the existing lighting setup. She strongly recommends viewing properties at night to get a more accurate feel for the overall aesthetic and consistency — and to determine what needs to be fixed before the house is put on the market.

Topics Covered and Questions You’ll Uncover During this Episode:

• What is the technology behind the lighting in luxury homes?
• How has lighting evolved from fluorescent to LED?
• Why is lighting important and why should real estate professionals and homeowners consider it when selling and building a house?
• What is the future of lighting in luxury homes?

Resources Mentioned Within Episode:

• Official Website - Illuminated Design
• How to Reach Lynne Stambouly
• The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing

What C3 Stands For and John’s Marketing Vehicles:

C3 stands for Character, Culture, and Commitment, which are the three things John Simmons and his partner, Jesse Laner, focus on. What makes C3 different from other agencies — and one of the reasons why John is able to so effectively get his company’s message out in a competitive environment — is the trust that he and his partner have earned throughout the Northern Colorado area.

What to Keep Doing as a Real Estate Professional:

When John used to teach, he had what he called a “Wheel of Fortune” that he would incorporate into his lessons. Within the real estate industry, he uses it to identify how much time real estate professionals have and what their priorities are. John then creates an action plan according to the time these real estate professionals can allot for income-generating activities, and suggests this approach should be consistently implemented in order to maximize output.

“What are you handing out that’s of value to these buyers and sellers walking into your open houses?” John asks. In response, he teaches his team that, in order to stand out amongst potential clients, they need to always provide those potential clients with valuable content.

Topics Covered and Questions You’ll Uncover During this Episode:

• How C3 puts heavy focus on their marketing to further differentiate themselves from other competing brokers
• Why only taking professional photos should be an absolute must for any real estate professional looking to take their listings to the next level
• Why having high standards for print and online marketing is so essential
• Why maximizing social media accounts to connect with potential clients in both a personal and professional capacity is key
• Understanding that some marketing pieces  — namely photography, seller guides, buyer guides, and features in luxury magazines — should not be skimped on to save costs
• Why real estate professionals should always be open to communicating with their clients who already know, like, and trust them in order to continue nurturing the relationship

Resources Mentioned Within Episode:

• Official Website - C3 Real Estate Solutions
• How to Reach John Simmons
• The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing

Topics covered and questions you’ll uncover during this episode:

• Why “segmenting” your email list is key for sending the right marketing messages to the right people, creating a bespoke experience, and getting better results
• The importance of understanding technology’s role in facilitating the customer or client experience, and why it’s still essential to provide excellent face-to-face communication and service
• How to think about the content you create and share, and how to create content that’s actually useful for your email list
• A simple approach to getting started with online content and marketing if you aren’t posting or creating content strategically already, whether you want to do it yourself or outsource the work

Resources mentioned within the episode:

• Tobe Agency
• The Luxury Market Report
• The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing

Topics covered and questions you’ll uncover during this episode:

• When to use a sales script and when to improvise
• Why practicing Yastrow’s habit of “input over output” is key for closing more business deals and creating stronger client relationships
• How to create “conversational momentum” to keep your prospect focused only on you and your conversation, versus the handful of other people and tasks competing for their attention
• The different types of conversations that lead to creating an authentic connection
• Why it’s important to “size up the scene” when you’re walking into a meeting with a prospect or client
• How getting your prospect talking about themselves actually helps sell your service more than talking about your credentials
• The right way to communicate your success without making prospects feel like you might be too busy to work with them

Resources mentioned within the episode:

• REAL Marketing
• Ditch the Pitch
• The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing

Topics covered and questions you’ll uncover during this episode:

• Why getting outside of your market to network and train can benefit your luxury real estate practice and skill set
• The importance of designations and how they help distinguish you from the competition in a saturated market
• Why it’s helpful to mentor new luxury real estate professionals who are coming into the industry and how the mentor benefits as well
• How to be open to change in the industry, whether it’s buyer and seller needs and desires or changes in technology
• Why contracts and negotiations are getting more complicated and how to navigate them better
• The importance of being authentic and making strong connections with clients and peers
• Why having a “spirit of abundance” can help you reach your goals as a luxury real estate professional

Resources mentioned within the episode:

• REAL Marketing
• Parks Real Estate
• The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing
• The Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist Designation

Topics covered and questions you’ll uncover during this episode:

• Why it pays to take your time bringing a home to market versus rushing to get it listed and sold
• How to overcome the “have you sold anything in this neighborhood?” question — even if you haven’t
• The importance of giving prospects branded, data-driven market information
• The reason you should stick with your branding, even if you’re ready for a change
• Why postcards aren’t helping your marketing strategy and what to use instead

Resources mentioned within the episode:

• Supreme Auctions
• REAL Marketing
• The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing
• Luxury Market Report