3 Tips for Building Relationships that Build Your Business

By Vena Jones-Cox

If you don’t think that real estate investing is a relationship business, you haven’t been paying attention.

Your connections with other investors bring you local market knowledge, referrals to trustworthy professionals, funding, partnerships, and deals. Those relationships are what help you succeed, not just this year, but for years to come.

But these relationships don’t just happen for most people. You have to be intentional about building and maintaining them, just like you’re intentional (I hope) about building a rental portfolio, a buyer’s list, or a marketing plan.

REIA groups exist, in large part, to provide a platform for you to find and interact with like-minded folks who can encourage and help you be successful, but you have to do your part, too. Here are some tips for the 95% of us who aren’t natural connectors:

1. Be intentional about your professional development.

There’s no job you can have or business you can be in where your value isn’t enhanced by knowing more.

And in real estate, that value comes in two forms: knowing more simply means you can do more deals and make more money, but it also means you have more to offer your colleagues.

Knowledge is one currency that you can share to get what you need from others, and it’s a way of offering value to other people. Plus, it’s not fair to expect other people in the community to teach you every single thing you need to know about real estate. If you’re not attending meetings, investing in your education, and clearly serious about growing your skills and knowledge base, it’s hard for others to take you seriously.

Take a few minutes to think about what you most need to learn next, and how much time and money you’re willing to invest in learning it. With our chapter meetings, focus groups, workshops, and online training throughout the month, chances are the topic you need will come up sooner than you think.

2. Be intentional about who you need to meet.

There are a lot of people at your local REIA, with a diverse set of strategies, experience levels, and areas of expertise. It’s going to be a long-term project to get to know them all, so you need to think about who you most need in your life. Is it serious buyers? Potential cash partners? Accountability buddies? People who are very experienced with creative finance deals? Contractors? They’re all here, and if you can tell us who you need to make connections with, we can direct you to a whole slew of them.

3. Be intentional about networking.

Come to each meeting with a clear idea of what you have to offer (it’s something, even if you’re brand new), and decide how many meaningful conversations you’re going to have before you leave.

Think about it: even if it’s only five per meeting, you could have dozens of new connections each month, but not if you sit with the same people, only talk to the person you came with, or, worse yet, don’t talk to anyone at all. And if you don’t know who’s who yet, ask. Our board members, staff, and long-time members can all point you to people who have what you want and want what you have, if you’ll just tell us what that is.

Relationship-building isn’t instant, but it’s one of the highest-return investments you can make in your business. Increase the value you bring to others, make new connections every chance you get, and watch how those relationships begin to open doors over time.