Real Estate Agents Can Maximize Business Potential with Conference Calling

It is a challenge to connect professionals suspicious of sharing information with other professionals in the same industry — even though sharing expertise could benefit both parties. Conference calling technology provides an effective way to bridge this need for shared professional expertise. A real estate agent program provides a strong example of the benefits of sharing information at a distance using conference calling.

A sales representative from a large conference service provider (CSP) attended a real estate sales seminar hosted by an acknowledged industry expert on the best practices for achieving success in residential and commercial real estate. His seminars were attended by some of this country's most successful real estate agents. The sales representatives were told that surveys taken by the seminar's attendees indicated that the agents strongly valued the information obtained from the program's presentations and educational events. Surprisingly, the survey data showed attendees gave even greater value to the information shared among fellow sales agents during the many social and business networking events that occurred over the course of the three day conference seminar event.

The presenter explained the reasons supporting the surprising survey results. Real estate agents as “lonely professionals” are:

• Uncomfortable discussing challenges and opportunities with other agents in their local marketplace
• Fearful of sharing information with local competitors because it might impact their individual success

These fears are set aside when attending a national event where attendees are not viewed as direct competitors but rather as fellow professionals. This resulted in open, honest dialogues providing valuable marketing insights and served to provide positive motivation for the attendees when they returned to their local markets.

The presenter concluded his observations with a wish that attendees could continue the dialogues begun at the seminar networking events after the attendees return home. This last comment triggered a “Eureka!” moment in the mind of the CSP sales representative. He explained that conference calling technology could be used to connect groups of real estate agents for regular recurring meetings with their peers. With the presenter's support and encouragement, the details were worked out on how to present the concept to attendees and creatively invoice conference call hosts and attendees for their participation in the program.

The program design was presented to attendees during the presenter's next lecture. Dozens of networking groups were formed on the spot and many others formed by the conclusion of the seminar event. Follow up surveys confirmed that use of the conference calling program achieved many of its intended goals and several of the real estate conference calling groups are active today. This same approach can produce similar results with other “lonely professionals” benefitting by the use of conference calling technology.