{"id":2576,"date":"2021-10-19T18:16:52","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T18:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/preprod.realtrends.com\/blog\/2021\/10\/19\/how-real-estate-agents-can-grow-their-network\/"},"modified":"2025-03-13T02:39:23","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T02:39:23","slug":"how-real-estate-agents-can-grow-their-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/preprod.realtrends.com\/blog\/2021\/10\/19\/how-real-estate-agents-can-grow-their-network\/","title":{"rendered":"How real estate agents can grow their network"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ask experienced real estate agents how they\u2019ve managed to acquire new business over the years, and the odds are slim that they\u2019ll mention Google<\/strong> Ads, sponsored tweets, or door flyers. Although those publicity tools often have a place in an agent\u2019s marketing mix, networking acumen \u2014 in the sense of knowing how to build and maintain a real estate network of people who refer new business \u2014 will always be the most important part of your ability to grow your real estate network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are more bad ways to go about networking than there are good. Nobody wants to receive a LinkedIn invite from a real estate agent merely because you seem to have a lot of contacts in common. Perhaps the most important networking tip is to get the right audience in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The limits of strong ties<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The most common mistake in looking to grow a real estate network is, indeed, that people tend to focus too often on their \u201cstrong ties,\u201d which are typically family, colleagues and close friends. These people already know what business you\u2019re in. If they come across anyone who could be of value to you, they will usually let you know. They don’t actually meet that many new people; however, and that\u2019s mostly because they tend to network among themselves. Your sister visits your brother, and the three of you see your best friend every other week for a drink in town. However, things can look very different when you also take \u201cweak ties\u201d into consideration.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1973, Stanford Sociology Professor Mark Granovetter published\u00a0a seminal paper<\/a>\u00a0on “The Strength of Weak Ties.” Granovetter examined if the strength of a tie had any impact on finding a job. Through his research, he found that people you have weak ties with (we tend to call them \u201cacquaintances\u201d in everyday parlance) are of tremendous value when finding a job because they are bridges to other networks. Such networks offer new and unique information and job opportunities. In other words, the study found that people who only consult the people they have strong ties with were not as successful in finding a job as are those who also call on their weak ties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exploring weak ties<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

What Granovetter discovered is also applicable to business referrals, and it doesn’t matter whether you are a lawyer, a consultant or a real estate agent. The laws of social networking<\/a> \u2014 as studied by Granovetter and many others in the past decades \u2014 continue to apply and show its worth.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, who would typically make up a real estate agent\u2019s weak ties? Everybody has a different story, and for that reason, a different network. If you want to grow your real estate network, your weak ties are most likely found through:<\/p>\n\n\n\n