ACHIEVING SUCCESS: ATTRACTING HIGH-QUALITY CLIENTS IN THE WORKPLACE
There is a client generation program that most agents are blind to and it is called Corporate Affinity. If you ask yourself at 1 pm on any weekday afternoon “where are my real estate clients?” The answer would be a work! So why not client generate at the workplace?
When I got back into residential real estate in 2006, I was sitting at Starbuck’s looking out the window at 1 pm and it dawned on me that my clients are at work. I then put my focus on creating a client generation system to help employees at small to medium-sized companies and municipalities in my market area buy and sell real estate. This is not relocation services, it’s helping local employees with their local real estate and cross town real estate needs.
I learned early on that Human Resource Managers have no interest in a straight real estate and mortgage benefit program. Time and time again I have talked to those enterprising agents that get Corporate Affinity but have failed at getting traction. The secret sauce is to chemeleonize real estate and mortgage by providing financial and health wellness education at the workplace. HR Managers eat this up. Especially if you can deliver these initiatives at no cost.
Corporate Affinity is like having a residential farm, but only better, more effective and at a greatly reduced cost of a direct marketing and campaign.
Further, you get the instant credibility of the company behind you. Employees are saying “If it’s good enough for the Widget Company, it’s good enough for me, let’s go out and buy a house!”
As an agent of customer loyalty, Corporate Affinity is all about leveraging Dunbar’s Law. Dunbar theorized that we all know 250 people, our sphere of influence. It’s all about who you know or who you know that knows of a key customer base employee, business owner or manager of a small to medium-sized business in your market area.
In addition, leverage further by adding professional partners to help you carry out the financial and health wellness education at the workplace. Find an Edward Jones agent, a Chiroporactor, Mortgage rep and Attorney. These professionals are connectors in your community. They know a lot of people and are as hungry as you are to find new clients to serve.
If you know 250 people and your 4 professional partners know the same, I guarantee that you can gather a list of 50 key employees, business owners or managers and land 6 corporate accounts with an average of 300 employees. Now you are serving 1,800 employees and
generating 18 new transactions each year. If you want to generate 30 new transactions a year, simply have 3,000 employees under management. You should have 1 transaction for every 100 employees that you represent.
As a single agent, this is how I am able to consistently help 80 clients a year. These clients are motivated and ready to go. No need to incubate them. These clients are of the same quality as if you received a referral from a friend or past client.
If you are looking to diversify your client generation and want to work with high quality, motivated clients, look at Corporate Affinity. It has made all the difference in the world to my real estate career.
Meet Jeff Dickinson
Jeff Dickinson, born and raised in Seattle, Washington, is a highly accomplished real estate professional. With a degree in Accounting and Marketing from Seattle University, Jeff entered the real estate industry in 1984, focusing on condominium marketing and recreational real estate.
Over his 39-year career, Jeff has developed 17 award-winning resort condominium communities across the western US and Canada. His expertise extends to various property types, including apartments, office buildings, and self-storage facilities in the Puget Sound area.
Notably, Jeff’s contributions to the industry have been acknowledged by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), ranking him as #21 on the prestigious list of Top 50 US Agents.
