Whether you are a solo real estate investor, or the CEO of an established brand, your competitors can hold the secret to boosting your profits. This applies whether you are buying and selling houses, buying and holding single-family rentals, vacation properties, hotels, or are even raising capital to invest in mortgage debt. This doesn’t even mean going head to head in battle with others in your markets. If you can recognize where they are dropping the ball, pick it up, and run with it, every future deal in your markets are up for grabs.
Learn to Rule Your Market from Bad Hotel Deals
No matter what real estate niche you are in, there is a chance you can learn a lot from the way a hotel operates. Bad hotel experiences are an excellent source of education for industry pros. Good experiences, for that matter, serve up great learning opportunities as well. Whether you know it or not. Real estate professionals can learn a lot from what successful hotels are doing. You just need to take a minute and listen to what they are telling you.
A company’s web presence, in particular, can learn a lot from what hotels are doing. There is a distinct similarity between the websites real estate investors make and those that advertise hotels. Learn from these sites and emulate what it is they are doing. Understand that nothing is too small of a detail when it comes to real estate. You are dealing with other people’s businesses and livelihoods, there is no reason not to give them anything they would need.
Give them peace of mind in your brand and service, and you’ll get trust. With trust, you’ll win more business, referrals, and repeat business. People will put a premium value on your service, and that adds to your profit margins, competitive advantage, and sustainability of your real estate career or business.
So what are some of the ways this can be applied?
Finding Opportunities When Competitors Fumble
Never compromise on the basics. Failure to deliver on promises is a fatal mistake. Neglecting to deliver kills trust and generates bad reviews.
Service is critical too. Every interaction will be evaluated by those you do business with. So is your service fast, friendly, and effective?
Sometimes things will go wrong. They will go wrong no matter how great your intentions are. Other people in the transaction will drop the ball, financing will get delayed by the bank, and property repairs will arise at the worst times. These are opportunities. Not opportunities to hide under your desk and turn off your phone, but to take advantage of. This even applies to complaints and requests for refunds. Sometimes clients might seem out of their minds and irrational. Remember that there is a lot of emotion that runs deep in these transactions, and people can take it as a personal threat when so much is on the line.
Try to find a little empathy, and embrace the chance to turn things around. Things will go wrong, but it is what a Realtor, investor, or firm rep does in that moment that defines who they are. Those results will go well beyond a single transaction. Show people that they can trust you to make it right, and fight to find a fix when others fail to. In doing so, you will build incredible loyalty and raving fans. They’ll come back for future needs, voluntarily provide reviews, and refer others at every chance they get.
