Ya know what we miss?
Connecting face-to-face with other people.
A good conversation. A smile, unmasked.
That’s good for the soul. It’s good for the mind too. Significantly less impressive, but still noteworthy on some level, it also happens to be good for business networking.
Made up statistic that seems accurate: You are 72% more likely to do repeat business with someone who you’ve met with in person several times. We can only prove this anecdotally of course, and our math might not be perfect, but otherwise this is a reputable finding based on the implementation of logic and deductive reasoning.
These past several months haven’t been the same. The next couple of months probably won’t be the greatest in history either. But there are better days ahead, and we look forward to a time in the not too distant future when things are something closer to the way they used to be, maybe even better in some ways.
When we get to that point, when it’s safe for everyone, there are so many little things we should remember to not take for granted. Like losing touch with the outside world.
Seriously, because of New York City real estate, our lives have become intertwined with so many people we’ve met during the normal course of business over the years, it’s only a matter of how often our paths cross. On a human level, we’re proud that we’ve been able to establish so many long lasting relationships. But the truth is, making connections and building a network of clients whose trust you’ve earned is part of the job.
The importance of staying connected with our people is top of mind for us because Marie got a call this week from a longtime client, someone who we’ve met with face-to-face many times, someone who we’ve helped through multiple real estate transactions, and someone we feel personally connected to in a cosmic sort of way. Talking with this client reminded us that making authentic connections with the people we work with is the most meaningful part of our job.
The news from our old friend was all good. She got married! It was a tiny, outdoor, socially distant ceremony. Significant in many ways, among them the decision to leave the city behind and head to Westchester. As luck would have it, The Espinal Adler Team expanded into Westchester several months ago.
During our Facetime call, we were all excited to have the whole team back working together. For a moment we reminisced about the day we met at least 12 years ago at this client’s first ever closing. As fate would have it, her mortgage banker was there too, and all these years later, that banker is now an official member of the Espinal Adler Team. The odds of it all working out like that were astronomical. But that’s what happened.
Real-life facetime has been replaced by the Facetime on our phones, or by Zoom or some other similar method. These virtual conversation platforms are great for the people we’ve known for years, it’s a perfect way to reconnect. But a virtual meeting doesn’t make quite the same impact when it comes to making first impressions. The circumstances are not ideal for a first-time meeting, but like everyone else, we’re making it work.
It’s so important to us to really get to know our clients. For a couple of reasons, you might consider that selfish, and we might even agree, but ultimately our intentions are always honorable.
Why is it selfish?
For starters, people are really interesting.
There are few things in this world more mentally stimulating than a really interesting person. Whether someone is in our lives for ten minutes or for ten years, by association, interesting people make our lives more interesting too. We learn more. Maybe we laugh more. We definitely have interesting conversations – all those things that are good for the mind and good for the soul. So for us, it’s a total win!
Why else is it selfish?
It’s good for business. The better connections we have with our clients, the more likely they are to work with us again, and the more likely they are to refer us to a friend or a family member. When you put it like that, it sounds pretty self-serving. But here’s the thing: Human beings typically come equipped with an authenticity meter, which has also been referred to as a bullshit detector. Out clients can always tell that we’re genuine. They can always tell that we care. They can always tell that we’re listening to their wants and needs. All of that shines through with no B.S.
Making great connections is vital to our business and amazing for our own well-being. You can tell a lot about a person when you meet them in person. We’re anxiously awaiting a time when that’s normal again.