Like a great bottle of red, relationships take time to develop. Many people in our suburbs and communities are cynical and skeptical of our roles as real estate agents, and who we are within the community.

If you take the time and put in the effort to work with this group, you will come to the next stage of developing relationships, which is the prospect stage.

Many people in our industry believe that it’s the prospect stage where the real relationship lives. I believe it’s further on. As you interact with prospects and work with their agenda – not your own – over a period of time, they become clients.

If you ask many agents who their clients are, they would nominate their current listings. The new breed of real estate agents are recognising that their clients are part of a different group. From this existing client list, a consistent and strong flow of business can occur but it’s not the end of the relationship model.

If we continue on beyond the sale, we start to develop the advocates. Your advocate group is where the long and sustaining business lives.

Ask yourself: are you taking the time to develop your relationships through all these stages, or are you continuing to drink cheap and nasty red?