We were lucky to catch up with Kathleen Flanagan recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kathleen, thanks for joining us today. Do you manage your own social media?

Social media is a key part of real estate. The first thing people do when they want to find a realtor or look for a home is go to social media. Therefore, I want to make sure I’m front and center. I don’t have a team or a person managing my socials. I do my social media myself. However, I have great tools that assist me in creating and scheduling the content. With these tools, I plan my monthly social calendar on the first of every month. I create and schedule everything that day or do it week by week so I don’t have to worry about posting daily. I’ve noticed that increasing my social posts and taking the time to create consistent and engaging content and really increased sales and leads I receive. I think the key to having a business that’s online is to be genuine. There can be a lot of pressure on how much you post or what you post, but if you are consistent in posting what you enjoy and what you are doing then people will be drawn to you. The last tip I would give, is track your insights, engage and know the algorithms. This goes hand in hand with your consistent content and showing your genuine self.

Kathleen, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a real estate agent and I have been for the past 5 years. I used to work at a law firm and the owner of the law firm also managed my brokerage, RE/MAX One. I watched the realtors and was intrigued so one day I signed up for the class, finished it and passed my test in a month. I started real estate on my own then joined a team and now I am on my own again. I would highly suggest to anyone wanting to start real estate to start on a team because it helps you gain immense knowledge! I absolutely love helping people buy, sell, rent and invest all over Maryland. I’ve been able to help my close family and friends. I’ve also been able to help new clients and build new relationships that I will know have forever. I take great pride in over communicating with my clients so they have as little to worry about as possible. I want to be transparent, efficient and reliable. I believe that helps set me apart in the industry, the genuine care I have for my clients and their process. I’m so insanely proud of being in the business for 5 years and developing a system to give my clients an amazing experience from start to finish. I work with buyers, sellers, renters and investors and I work all over Maryland. I would love to help you meet your real estate goals too!

Have you ever had to pivot?

When you first start real estate, it’s hard. The course itself teaches you the legalities and the details, however, it doesn’t teach you how to generate leads and actually do the work. Therefore, my first 6 months were extremely slow and I didn’t really know what I was doing. I was googling everything I can and trying anything I could find with not a lot of passion towards those things. However, when I joined my team, everything changed. I was able to be around other real estate agents who had been in the business longer than me and had skills they could share. I was on that team for over 2 years and learned how to be a real estate agent. I learned from others that creating a client process that you’re passionate about is important. It’s also important to generate leads in ways you’re passionate about. Do what you like, go places you love and build genuine connections.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Building your unique reputation in real estate is hard because there are so many real estate agents. I believe the keys to building a strong reputation is first, how you treat people. From clients, to other agents, to all of the parties involved. It’s extremely important to treat everyone with the same kindness and respect. Outside of that, provide and amazing client experience is important. When you create this, you hope to create raving fans of your business who will refer you to others. Lastly, I would say making sure you stay in contact with everyone. Make sure everyone knows that you’re still thinking about them. That goes hand in hand with your client experience you provide.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @homeswithkathleenflanagan
• Facebook: @homeswithkathleenflanagan
• Linkedin: Kathleen Flanagan
• Twitter: @homeswithkaty

Image Credits
Kathleen Flanagan