SREI Blog Building Your Professional Platform in Seniors Real Estate and Housing

One of the most powerful and valuable assets overlooked by seniors housing and real estate professionals is that of the business to business relationship (B to B).Not only are B to B relationships key in fulfilling the client service role, but it is also critical in developing reciprocal opportunities for longterm marketing, lead generation, and sales.In the Seniors Real Estate Institute courses for the Certified Senior Housing Professional designation, we focus a large segment of our time on the development of a world class resource team to help support the senior housing professional as they serve senior clients. This resource team is at the heart of the Professional Platform crucial to the senior housing professional.Developing a Professional PlatformOf the 3 strategic platforms making up the senior housing professional's overall business platform, the Professional Platform is second only to the Personal Platform.Made up of intentional business to business connections with other like-minded professionals such as small business owners, sales counselors, community relations managers, C-level executives, and other senior service professionals, a Professional Platform serves to not only facilitate the effective delivery of client services, but to establish validity in the aging services arena as well.A senior housing professional's business to business professional platform is essentially a sub-section of their overall personal platform, but with a few very specific key differences:More time, effort, and consistency is required to create meaningful relationshipsExperience, skill, and knowledge are more heavily weightedThere is an expectation of value reciprocityValidity comes with personal proven track recordCorporate structures can hamper cooperative effortsBenefits of a Professional PlatformDespite the initial time and effort required to establish a solid professional platform, the benefits are great. Here are a few of the advantages:Professional contacts create leverageCooperative efforts often expand marketing exposure and reachStrategic partners enhance your value propositionCollaboration with like-minded people creates synergy and enhances creativityResources service are made available with a higher sense of urgencyLead conversions ratios improve when referred by trusted advisorsReferral sources are often positioned to refer more leads into your lead funnelB to B connections can be a springboard for your Public Platform Just as their are subcategories of the Personal Platform, a person's Professional Platform will also include relationships with varying levels of priority. As you build your platform, you will want to begin to identify those who are most critical to your network and those who are less so.You will spend the majority of your time and resources maintaining high priority relationships while cultivating new ones and strengthening those with the most potential.--------------------------