Good Things Happen When People Talk

In the world of real estate success, marketing is important, negotiation skills are important, but it’s completely possible that relationship-building skills trump all.

While participating in the RECA-hosted Symposium on Self-Regulation a couple of weeks ago, I watched 100+ individuals spending all day in a room together—the business cards changing hands, the LinkedIn contacts being added—it occurred to me that our real estate practitioners are experts at cultivating and building relationships.

There are many former industry members who now work within our associations, Boards and regulatory bodies, and they bring years of industry knowledge and experience to the table. What they cannot do when they switch roles is forget those critical relationship-building skills.

We don’t always have to agree with the person sitting opposite us, but we do have to remain professional, courteous and maintain a commitment to building these important relationships. Whether that takes place at industry conferences such as the Symposium or in a less formal setting, reaching out and connecting with other industry stakeholders on a regular basis can go a long way to ensuring those relationships remain productive and professional. As the Symposium facilitator, Charles Holmes, told us: “Good things happen when people talk.”

In an industry in which relationship-building between front line professionals is so integral to an individual’s success—what can we do to ensure that relationships are cultivated at the board/association/regulator level?