Your reputation partially comes from the public knowing who you are and how you can help them. Your reputation does not come from magic. It comes from daily effort and time. From working with buyers, sellers, clients, and individuals day after day. As you work within your real estate investing niche, you become more and more of an expert and authority.

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Notice: This article does not talk about the myriad of methods and approaches to marketing and advertising yourself. Instead, this article deals more with the human connection of investing.

Below please see the 5 ways to continue building your local real estate investing reputation.

Get Involved at Local Real Estate Investor Groups

From my experience, deals, leads, friendships, best friendships, acquaintances, questions answered, new businesses, mentors, and a sense of personal accomplishment have come from on-and-off involvement within local real estate investor groups.

Keep in mind it may be beneficial to have a policy of giving more than you receive. Aim to find out about other people and spend time learning about active people and potential future friends.

Pro Tip: Active real estate investors like to be around other active real estate investors. So continue asking questions and being active daily to further your investing business.

• Network and chitchat. (Have action-based questions to ask if you’re a newbie.)
• Learn what others do.
• Aim to get phone numbers in order to talk real estate later.
• Aim to get to know the person and their goals before talking about how they can help you.
• Have questions ready for the group, and don’t be afraid to ask them. Asking questions may help people remember you.
• Aim to learn something new to further your business at every meeting.

Advertise Multiple Ways Weekly

Is there a single best way to advertise for buyers or sellers? Perhaps you can truly only answer this for your business after months and months of testing/verifying what is/isn’t producing quality leads.

• If you are just starting to invest in real estate: Time is something that you typically cannot buy more of. Do not be shy or timid when it comes to marketing and advertising for buyers and sellers. Aim to advertise in as many mediums as you can think of that seem effective and affordable. Understand where all your incoming calls found your phone number to track which advertising mediums are superior over others in this specific area during this time of the year.
• If you are a seasoned real estate investor: Think honestly about your current advertising and marketing campaigns. Do people in your area know who you are and how you can help them? If this is not as good as you would like it to be, then perhaps it may be wise to start from square one and start advertising and marketing like a madman or madwoman.

Remember that advertising only gets your foot in the door. It is up to you how you treat your clients, what actions are taken, what decisions are made, how you follow up with others, and other things that are equally important.

End Most Phone Calls With a Call to Action

What type of leads are you looking for? What kind of reputation are you trying to develop locally? Do people know they can call you if they have certain questions, updates, or specific leads? End most of your business phone calls with a specific and clear message.

Let callers know:

• They may always call you back with any real estate related questions—and you’ll always be happy to help answer their questions.
• To solicit or pass around your number to any seller who may need to sell quickly.
• They may always call you if things change with their situation and if they ever need to sell.
• To call you anytime with any potential leads that may fit your criteria.
• That you will likely call them back as well if anything changes on your side or if you are able to help them in the future.

In short, end most phone calls by telling the caller to keep your name and number. It is our goal to keep an open doorway of communication in almost all the relationships we open.

Related: How to Keep an Amazing Reputation in the Real Estate Business

Network Every Day

It is my opinion that personal connection is not focused on enough when it comes to real estate investors. Most of us are looking to build more relationships in order to be able to help more people and make more connections, to therefore create more value.

Set a goal to make a specific number of “successful calls” every day to people who may likely bring you leads/opportunities in the future. Note: A “successful call” is a phone call where you actually talk to the person you were intending to call. If you leave a voicemail or get a wrong number, this is not a successful call.

People you may wish to make calls to often include:

• Realtors/brokers
• Other real estate investors
• Sellers and buyers you have already spoken with
• New sellers who fit your criteria
• Certain banking departments (depending on your specific real estate investing business)
• Handymen or handywomen
• Potential bird dogs
• All other human lead sources (depending on your specific real estate investing business)

The goal of these calls is to let others know when/where they should contact you if/when they find specific leads or they have permission to pass along your phone number to any serious sellers.

Pro Tip: Be tactful and aim to understand the person you are speaking with and their needs. Once you understand their needs, you can then begin to understand if you will be able to help them (or if they are able to help you to create value).

Partner with Other Local Investors

Working with other local investors may allow you to become involved with more real estate opportunities than working alone. When networking with other investors aim to be very clear how you can help these investors and when they should contact you.

These additional ways to help investors could be…

• Providing money to help facilitate the deal
• Offering necessary how-to instructions and experience to facilitate the deal
• Providing the sweat equity and repairs to facilitate the deal
• Offering the lead that starts the deal
• Providing credit to help facilitate the deal

Aim to make lasting relationships and friendships here. You will typically not become financially free through only one real estate investment. You will hopefully have a long-term career in this business. Aim to treat others as you wish to be treated.

Related: Word of Mouth Marketing: The Completely FREE Way to Find Hidden Deals

Bonus: Educate Local Sellers and Be a Local Authority

Sellers are not stupid. They understand when you are being condescending, manipulative, or simply do not want to put in the extra effort needed to help them. Sellers remember this moving forward. Aim to treat a seller like a distant family member you think fondly of. We want to give sellers helpful and honest advice while obviously not doing anything that doesn’t make good financial business sense.

In your business, it may be important to let sellers know…

• All of their options
• How you can help them
• Other alternatives they have
• An honest evaluation of their home as you see it based on your experience
• Any and all purchase offers you may make on the property
• There is an open door for either party to call back in the future for questions or concerns
• To keep your number; that they may solicit your name and number to other sellers they know or find

Conclusion

Success, in most real estate investing niches, requires daily action to let the public know who you are and how you may help them. The amount of people who know you is a direct reflection of the amount of time and effort you make to connect with others, advertise, make offers, network, and devote time to your business each day. Aim to take action daily to reach out to folks and build your reputation deal after deal.

What tips do you have for building your reputation and spreading word about your business?

Share them below!