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82 I N D U S T R Y I N S I G H T / A L F R E E D M A N e reality is that REO inventories are down and it is more and more difficult for brokers to get business that used to come readily. What can you do to get more business when there is less inventory? How can you get more business when there is actually less business out there? As an REO broker, you need to stand out. You need to be proactive. You need to wow your clients, and make them want to choose you. e question is: How do you make yourself stand out and be the broker who gets the business? How can lenders and servicers nationwide find you? Learn what you can do with these marketing insights, and elevate your REO broker business. PROVIDE CREDIBILITY e first step in ramping up your business is to establish a proven track record. Excel with the clients that you have right now by establishing your reliability and integrity with a work ethic that includes great communications and always follows through. is will undoubtedly get you high ratings from your current clients. Providing your clients with excellent customer service will naturally translate into other clients. One of the best ways to do this is to obtain testimonials from asset managers and service managers from banks. It may feel like a challenging task to ask for accolades, but if you are doing a great job, it is not a far stretch to obtain positive confirmation from those who also benefit from your professionalism. A somewhat easy and quick way to obtain and document testimonials is to leverage your professional contacts on LinkedIn. Search your connections for the bank contacts you interact with by leaving a positive and sincere recommendation, and request one from them on your behalf. If your contacts are sharing content, comment or interact with what they have written, or be a part of the discussion. If they see that you are engaged with the content that they are sharing, it will help to keep you top of mind. However, this tactic only works if you are already connected with the people you are doing business with currently. If you are not, then go back a step and quickly connect with them and after a week or so, start the process of giving them recommendations. BROADEN YOUR BASE LinkedIn also provides a golden opportunity for identifying assets managers at banks that you aspire to work with. Search for new servicers and banks on LinkedIn that you aspire to do business with and identify the asset manager or service manager. Once you identify an appropriate person, send them an invitation to connect and tell them that you are currently servicing other REO clients. Let them know that you have a few openings for additional properties and ask if they would be interested in using your services. When searching for servicers at banks, don't limit yourself to the large, well-known national banks—that may have worked when REO in- ventories were high and there was a surplus of properties. But when REO inventories are low, it is important to broaden your customer base by making connections with multiple banks, rather than just working with one bank. Don't limit your- self; make connections at local, community, and regional banks. Sometimes, smaller community banks are not even aware that there are specialized REO agents that handle distressed properties. MARKET YOUR SPECIALTY Often the servicers at banks don't realize that ELEVATING BUSINESS