4 Things to Do with Relationships

How Strong Are Your Connections?

One of my favorite weeks in the semi-annual Inman Connect event that takes place in New York City every January. I’ve had the opportunity to attend the last three years in NYC and also got to enjoy last year’s Inman Connect in San Francisco, which takes place in July every year.

While the agenda is chock-full of wonderful speakers (this year’s keynote was Arianna Huffington from the Huffington Post) and some engaging breakout tracks along with some incredible vendors, by far the best part of the week is endless personal connections you get to make from the moment your arrive in “the city that never sleeps.”

Anyone who knows me or reads this blog on a regular basis knows that my philosophy is pretty simple. I believe that real estate…and life…is all about building relationships, solving problems and having fun. If you can do those three things each day, you’re going to find a way to be a success. The solving problems and having fun part can only come, however, once you’ve built the relationships.

Create New Relationships

What did you do this week to build a new relationship? Did you talk to a stranger? Sign up for a new class? Introduce yourself to someone you have seen before yet never talked to? Four days in NYC with superstars from the real estate and technology world (not to mention the people from all corners of the Earth that inhabit the streets of New York City everyday) is a goldmine to create new relationships.

Everyone who attends Connect is looking to become better. A better Realtor, a better communicator, a better broker, a better social marketer. One of the surest ways to become better is to surround yourself with brilliant people and start building a relationship with them. I can’t even count the new relationships, voices to listen to and people to follow that I met last week but I am glad that I am able to add them in to my world so I can begin to leverage the ripple effect of their awesomeness.

Deepen Relationships

It’s one thing to build new relationships but it’s another to re-connect with those you already know from before and deepen that relationship. They say it costs less to maintain an old relationship than it does to create a new one. I’m guessing that there is a compounded ROI in deepening a previous relationship as well. While the old jokes are still funny and reliving previous times together is always fun, it’s nothing compared to going to the “next level” in learning about people’s families and day-to-day activities or their hobbies or their dreams.

Strengthen Relationships

Connecting with old friends is great but when you can truly start leveraging those relationships to help other people is the best. I always talk about how to be successful in a sales you must build a KuLT-like following. If you can build a loyal group of people who “Know u” and “Like u” and “Trust u” then you will be on your way to achieving success. But of those three, “trust” is by far the hardest to earn. The opportunities at Inman Connect to sit and talk, both during the conference hours and after the informal “time clock” has been punched are some of the best. Many of the best discussions I had in NYC are still going on today over Twitter and other social channels.

Follow up appointments are set; websites, apps and tech tips are shared; future meetings and events are confirmed. Any chance you get to continue to earn people’s trust is a time well spent.

Grow Relationships

I left La Guardia Airport almost exactly one week ago from the time I am writing this. I can’t even count the number of interactions, text messages, social pings and personal thoughts I have had about some of the incredible people I met (or re-connected with) last week. But much like a seed in the ground, I want to do everything I can to continue to nurture, cultivate and encourage those relationships to grow and bear fruit that will benefit all involved.

Who will be the next person you build relationships with?

How can you help solve problems today?

Are you excited about having fun doing whatever is on your agenda today, tomorrow and the day after that?

No matter who you are or how we might know each other, even if it’s just through reading this blog…I’m glad we are connected.

Want to learn more about Inman’s Real Estate Connect event coming this summer to San Francisco? Click here. Who knows….maybe I’ll see you out there.