If you want to succeed in sales, relationships aren’t just a buzzword
Posted On March 28, 2023
What’s the secret to sales? You’ve probably heard enough people say “relationships” by now that it sounds cliché.
But a relationship isn’t just providing service to your customers, and it doesn’t stop with the sale. Angelo DePaola, The Coastal Connection, says it goes beyond that.
“I know everybody talks about relationships, but relationships run both ways and they last over a long period as time,” he said. “When people ask me what I do, I’m in the relationship business and we leverage that into real estate sales.”
DePaola, a realtor based in Orange Beach, was our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston.” He shared some of the steps he takes to foster those relationships, from regular status updates and check-ins with referral partners to his monthly “letters of the heart,” in which he shares whatever’s heavy on his heart at the time.
He also has a personal habit of writing at least four thank-you notes a day, a practice that does as much for him as it does for those he’s thanking. “It forces you to find gratitude every day,” he said.
People looking to buy a house will be thankful when prices come down, but DePaola says that time hasn’t come yet. Perhaps as a result, sales are down. But he added that it may be too early to tell for sure which way the market is heading.
“I think the economy is very much in flux right now,” he said.
DePaola deals often with the sales of vacation properties purchased either as second homes or investment properties. He’s finding more negotiating room with the former, which is often a decision driven by emotion more than hard numbers, than the latter.
With MLS listings from Mobile to Apalachicola, the Coastal Connection is uniquely positioned to help their clients buy or sell either, and working every day to cultivate and maintain the relationships to make it happen.