Sphere of Influence
Whether you call it your sphere of influence (SOI) or circle of influence (COI) or circumference of influence (LOL), the people you know can be a gold mine for business. So, who should you consider to be someone in your SOI? Basically, anyone you know is in your sphere of influence.
- Family
- Friends
- Neighbors
- Service providers (hair dresser, insurance person, etc)
- People from church
- Randos on Facebook that you’ve maybe never met but for some reason you’re “friends”
Think about it as people you know whom you may receive assistance from or give assistance to.
Feel free to exclude the people you hate. And the crazies. That should be obvious, but in case it’s not – you’re allowed to choose who you want to do business with.
So, how do you GET business from your sphere of influence?
How to get business from SOI
1. They could buy/sell a house with you.
2. They could give you a referral.
Yay, referrals!
The key with your sphere is to be cool and stay in touch. Obviously, you have a relationship with them already. So, if you call/email/facebook someone from your SOI to say hello/catch up/check on that problem they were having/etc – then they’re going to
A. appreciate you reaching out and
B. will naturally ask what’s new with you.
Plus, once you’ve been in real estate for a while, people naturally ask you “how’s business?” or “how’s the market?” so you can almost always be guaranteed the conversation will come around to real estate.
The important part of this is that you come from a place of sincerity. If you call the same 100 people every week and only ask them for referrals – they’re going to stop taking your calls, don’t you think?
We found this article from Inman with techniques to engage your sphere.
An oldie, but a goodie, from RISMedia.
There are many different strategies to stay in touch with your sphere.
- You could call them.
- Engage with them on social media. (You should check out our conversation starters.)
- Send them mail.
- Send them email.
- Pop bys.
- Invitations. (Ok, this is probably redundant with mail/call/social media.)
- Special events.
FAQs