6 Ways To Impress Clients With Business Experience

We have all heard the line many times: “It’s not personal. It’s business.”

Whenever I hear that, I am always reminded of the movie Taken. Liam Neeson’s daughter is kidnapped and sold as a slave. He tracks down the kidnapper and has him at gunpoint, at which time the fugitive comments, “It’s not personal. It was only business”

Liam Neeson responds with, “It was all personal to me.”

That is how I like to do business. It is all personal to me, and I want my sellers, buyers, and investors to feel comfortable enough that they understand they have a personal relationship with me and my team members.

We get so busy building our businesses and trying to do as many deals as we can, it is easy to forget that for many of these deals and negotiations, to the sellers, it is very personal.

As a real estate wholesaler, we are buying homes from people who may have an emotional attachment to them. They do not want to sell their homes to just anyone.

My goal with this article is to encourage and give a few tips on how to keep that personal touch with most of the people we meet as we do business.

For us, “It’s not business. It’s personal!”

It really is possible to flip that phrase and make it work to help enhance your business.

Related: 9 Things Real Estate Agents Wish Their Investor Clients Knew

6 Ways to Impress Clients With a Highly Personal Business Experience

1. Try out video emails.

One of the things I enjoy that has helped our business communication tremendously is the use of video emails. I simply make a video message for whomever I need to communicate with, embed the video in the email, and send it to them.

Some of the advantages of video email include:

Saving time writing long emails
Not having to worry about grammar, spelling, or editing
Putting a face with your name
Allowing you to show emotion, expression, and personality
Providing people with a personal interaction

We have used a lot of video emails lately to request reviews for our company. After we work with a buyer or seller, I send them a video email to tell them how much we appreciate doing business with them and to ask them to fill out a review for us. This action has tripled the amount of positive reviews that we have received.

I also use video email to send messages to my team throughout the week for encouragement and to keep them mission-minded.

2. Use screencast emails.

We also use screencast videos that record the computer screen along with a voiceover so you can show anyone how to access something on their computer. This is great, as team members need to communicate through tasks, train VAs, and help buyers and sellers navigate the website for information.

By using an email that contains a screencast, we are able to present offers faster and explain offers by pointing out and going through needed sections of information.

3. Text from your email.

We have noticed that not everyone checks their email throughout the day, and at times, communication falls through, so we send a text alert along with the email. We have found this feature super helpful. When we send an email, it will also send a text alert informing the recipient that they have an email from us waiting for them.

This is great when you are dealing with timely purchase agreements and closing documents.

4. Have an attitude of gratitude.

One thing that we have always done is to make sure that we show our appreciation to all of those that we do deals with or work with. Everyone wants to feel appreciated, and we want them to know how grateful we are to be doing business with them. Some of the ways that we show appreciation are:

Sending thank you notes to anyone and everyone—we use Postable for this
Giving gift cards to those who give us a review
Taking the largest clients or best business relationships out to dinner or sending them a gift card to their favorite spot
Presenting gifts to teams members as they meet personal and professional goals

5. Know your team members’ language of appreciation.

Being more personal as a team carries over into the relationships that we have with our clients. On our team, we try to understand the language of appreciation that each team member has so that we can communicate, encourage, and support one another.

Words of Affirmation: Some of our team members need to hear that they are appreciated.
Acts of Service: Sometimes people need to hear, “Do you need help with anything?”
Quality Time: Some of us simply need to spend time with other team members or as a group.
Giving Gifts: Some people like to be given a gift for a job well done.
Physical Act of Gratitude: Sometimes people just need a high five or a pat on the back.

Understanding the appreciation languages of my team has helped me to be a better communicator for my team and has helped me to understand how to encourage their productivity while showing them appreciation.

We have also allowed this practice of understanding each other’s appreciation language to show through as we are working with clients. By talking with them and building rapport, we can figure out the client’s appreciation language and use that information to help them and bring them opportunity.

6. Be vulnerable.

Allow people to know your story and hear who you are. We sometimes feel like we should cover stuff up. You should not feel embarrassed or inferior. Share your failures as much as your successes. That is what people will relate to. This brings out humility. People do not want to work with with someone they feel that they can’t reach.

It was Patrick Lyncioni who said, “You have to be vulnerable first.”

Do you agree that business can be personal?

Let us know how you are able to make your business more personal in the comments.

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.