One Investor Client Is Worth a Decade of Transactions

Ask a room of agents how many closed a deal last year for a client they will probably never hear from again, and most hands go up. That is the general buyer and seller model, and it is a treadmill. Every month starts from zero, the service is easy to price-shop, and the relationship ends when the keys change hands.

Retail versus investor

• Retail buyer or seller: one commission, then goodbye. A commodity service in a price-shopped market, with emotional, slow, one-at-a-time decisions.
• Investor client: buys again and sells again. Hands you the management too. Makes numbers-driven decisions quickly. Introduces other investors like them.

Five payoffs from one relationship

1. The sale commission, the same one a retail client would pay.
2. A recurring management fee that continues month after month.
3. The next purchase, because investors rarely stop at one property.
4. A referral to another investor in their circle.
5. The eventual resale, when the property has served its purpose.

The effort to win the client is about the same as for a retail buyer. The investor pays you in five ways over years. That is what makes the business more durable and higher-margin, and it is why management income carried us through slow sales markets.

The honest caveat

Building this took years and a lot of documentation. A niche is not an overnight switch, and it does not mean abandoning your retail clients. It means choosing one group of clients to go an inch wide and a mile deep with. Investors are a good choice because their decisions are driven by numbers, and numbers are something an organized agent can bring.

Next, learn where to find them: Find the Investors You Already Know.