Wade Webb, Author at Wade Webb Real Estate Coaching

Top Rated AI Tools and Apps for Real Estate Agents in 2024/2025

Wade Webb on November 13, 2024

The real estate industry is rapidly evolving, and staying ahead means leveraging the latest technology. Here are the top 10 AI tools and apps that every real estate agent should consider in 2024 to enhance their productivity, improve client interactions, and streamline your operations saving you time and money.

Top Rated AI Tools and Apps for Real Estate Agents in 2024/2025

Top Rated AI Tools for Real Estate Agents

CINC: Best for AI Lead Generation & Nurturing. CINC uses AI to categorize leads and automate follow-ups, ensuring no potential client slips through the cracks.
Saleswise: Best for AI Real Estate Marketing Text Creation. This tool helps create compelling marketing content, from property descriptions to social media posts.
Style to Design: Best for AI Virtual Staging. Style to Design uses AI to create virtual staging, helping buyers visualize the potential of a property.
VEED.IO: Best for AI Video Creation. VEED.IO simplifies video creation, making it easy to produce high-quality videos for listings and virtual tours.
Lofty: Best for AI-Enhanced CRM System. Lofty offers an AI-powered CRM that personalizes client interactions and improves overall client management.
ChatGPT: Best for AI Content Creation. ChatGPT can generate blog posts, social media updates, and other marketing materials, saving agents time and ensuring a consistent online presence.
Ylopo: Best for AI-Powered Lead Engagement. Ylopo uses conversational AI to qualify and nurture leads, enhancing client engagement and conversion rates.
Revaluate: Best for Predictive Analytics. Revaluate uses AI to predict which homeowners are most likely to sell, helping agents target their marketing efforts more effectively.
Zillow Premier Agent: Best for AI-Driven Market Insights. This tool provides AI-driven insights into market trends, helping agents make informed decisions.
Rex: Best for AI-Powered Transaction Management. Rex automates transaction management, reducing administrative tasks and allowing agents to focus on client relationships.

Top Rated Apps for Real Estate Agents

In the competitive world of real estate, leveraging the right technology can make all the difference. Here are the top 10 must-have apps for real estate agents in 2024, designed to enhance productivity, improve client interactions, and streamline operations. These apps are essential for real estate agents looking to enhance their productivity, improve client interactions, and stay competitive in the market. By integrating these tools into their daily operations, agents can streamline their processes, provide better service to their clients, and ultimately close more deals.

1. Realtor.ca – Best For: Browsing local listings and market trends. As the official app of the Canadian real estate. Realtor.ca offers comprehensive and accurate real estate listings, market trends, and neighborhood information.

2. DocuSign – Best For: Electronic signatures and document management. Docu Sign simplifies the process of signing and managing documents electronically, making it easier to close deals quickly and efficiently.

3. HouseSigma – Best For: Market analysis and property valuation. HouseSigma uses AI to provide accurate property valuations and market analysis, helping agents and clients make informed decisions.

4. CurbHero – Best For: Open Houses. One of this category’s top-rated real estate apps is Curb Hero, an innovative app that streamlines the entire open house process.

5. ShowingTime – Best For: Scheduling and managing property showings. ShowingTime streamlines the scheduling and management of property showings, ensuring a smooth experience for both agents and clients.

6. Trello – Best For: Task and project management. Trello helps agents stay organized with customizable boards and lists, making it easy to manage tasks and projects.

7. Canva – Best For: Creating marketing materials and social media graphics. Canva enables agents to create professional-looking marketing materials and social media graphics with ease, enhancing their online presence.

8. Evernote – Best For: Organizing notes and client information. Evernote helps agents keep track of notes, client information, and property details in one convenient place.

9. Foreworn – Best For: Realtor safety is a real concern for agents. It allows you to grab background information quickly and easily on potential clients or property owners before meeting them face-to-face

10. Magicplan – Best For: Creating floor plans and virtual tours. Magicplan allows agents to create detailed floor plans and virtual tours, helping clients visualize properties more effectively.

Integrating these AI tools and apps into your daily operations can significantly enhance your efficiency, improve client satisfaction, and help you stay competitive in the fast-paced real estate market. Whether you’re looking to automate lead generation, create compelling marketing content, or streamline transaction management, there’s a tool or app to meet your needs. Feel free to email me any other amazing AI tools or Apps you recommend!

Strength and Courage,

Wade

Agents Critical Year End Analysis Process

Wade Webb on November 6, 2024

“You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Measure.” Now is the time for agents and their critical year end analysis. As we head into the final months of 2024, for most of us, there will be some “downtime”. Downtime driven by both the holiday season, as well as a general slowdown of activity, especially after the first two weeks of December. This is an ideal time to start planning for 2025. I have honed a process for preparing for the New Year. There are 3 reviews you need to complete before you can set a path for growth of your real estate business in 2025. The three reviews include your transaction history, your prospecting efforts, and your personal marketing efforts.

Review Your Real Estate Business Transaction History

Where do we start? We start with the past, we start with the review of what you’ve done financially, the actual transactions that you’ve completed, and all the elements associated with those opportunities. Once you understand where you are, you can identify where you are going.

Ask yourself, what was your average deal size last year, the year before that, the year since then? What clients did you work with? Which clients were the most attractive to you, both now and in the future? What were the average size deal with those clients provided for you?

Where did you get those clients? What was the source? Was it a prospect call? Was it a website, off a lead, a company referral? Was it the same clients? Where were those clients and opportunities located? What market are you best to focus on moving forward? What product type have you really been successful for in the past and what product type is best for you moving forward?

Review Your Prospecting Efforts as a REALTOR

What was your financial goal for net income goal for 2024? Money that you take home for you and your family. That’s something we really care about. What did you achieve, and what was the goal? Hopefully, it was greater than your goal. If it was less than your goal, maybe you set too high of a goal. I love goals that push you but be careful, so they don’t demotivate. How many exclusives did you secure?

How many listings you got went to closings? You want to explore that. Make sure you understand some of the ratios financially of your meetings, to listings, listings, to close. Look at the numbers. Look back on your efforts last year and see where those are. Define your average gross commission income. What was your average net commission per closing? Of the listings/representations/assignments you secured, how many were unsuccessful?

When it comes to your clients, think about your top five clients. When I say top five, people go, “Okay so these five made the most money for me, they’re my top five.” Fine. That’s how you want to define top five, look at it that way. Some say, “No, top five really means those that provided me, and will provide me the greatest opportunities moving forward.” In 2024, this may have been one deal, but it’s going to lead to more deals down the road.

That’s going to be a top client for you, or a client that always gives you multiple opportunities. Same client opportunities or refers you. All they did is one or two deals with you maybe historically, yet they’re one of your raving fans. Therefore, they’re your top client. Identify your five top clients based on your parameters. Finally look at your prospecting efforts. Prospecting is a disciplined act of asking for business.

Think about what you did to specifically ask for business. Look back at some of the quantitative, and qualitative aspects of your prospecting. How many prospecting meetings did you hold in 2024? How many calls to you attempt vs. complete, and how many prospect letters (not emails) did you send?

Review Your Personal Marketing Efforts

Prospecting is hard enough when folks know you, or at least heard of your company. Prospecting without a personal presence is downright difficult. Your personal marketing efforts will reflect strongly on you prospecting results. I always focus on three elements of presence, or personal marketing.

Personal, Physical, and Digital. Upon your review of your personal marketing efforts in 2024, ask yourself how many personal meetings did you have from a marketing perspective? These are meetings to get to know people. These are not prospecting meetings. These are relationship building opportunities.

Maybe it was going to a conference, or going for a drink with the guys, or whatever it might be. How many personal marketing meetings did you hold? Look back at your calendar. This is vital to growing in 2025. Physical marketing efforts consist of tangible items you have mailed, gifted, or sent. From the physical side, mailing side, how many times did you mail out? How many times did you send out post cards, or flyers.

How many gifts did you send, or articles you shared. Again, look at your calendar, look at your marketing efforts, look at your budget, look at your expenses. Lastly, think about the digital side. Yes, the tweeting, the blogging, the LinkedIn groups, Facebook interactions, that you participate in. Just because you’re a member of a LinkedIn group, and you never participate that does not count. That’s probably 95% of folks out there. Think about the digital efforts. What did you do digitally? Even e-mail blasts, and newsletters.

As noted, the first step in any process of change is always the biggest. Reviewing your transactional history, prospecting efforts and personal marketing activities will take you some time. Potentially several days. But don’t forget you will have several days of “downtime” in the weeks ahead.

You can either review and then implement change, or simply do what you have always done in the past. You know, and we know that positive change, and income growth, are not products of simply doing the same thing year after year.

Commit to making 2025 your best year as a REALTOR ever. I dare you!

Strength and courage,

Wade

What’s The Plan For 2025?

Wade Webb on October 30, 2024

A mentor of mine said to me “agents aim for nothing and hit it with amazing accuracy!” 2024 is wrapping up and what did you aim for? What did you hit? It is the perfect time of year to aim for something in 2024 and hit it with amazing success!

So, when 2024 begins to wind down you should not wait until the very end to start planning for 2025 in your real estate business. This means having a crystal-clear understanding of the successes and challenges of your current year, how it impacts your upcoming year, and developing a vision of what you want to accomplish, and how. Many agents aim for nothing every year and most hit it with amazing accuracy!! I believe you should always start working on your next year strategy months in advance of the new year.

This awards you enough time to make an impact on your final quarter and lay the groundwork for making sure your next fiscal year starts off on a solid footing. For agents who want to achieve greatness, push the envelope, and grow their business through market share, market penetration, paying down debt, increasing sales, profits, and cash flow, I urge you to get going now!

The way I see things is, if your business isn’t growing, pushing the envelope, thriving, and maximizing profit, then all you’re really doing is suffering a slow death. Believe me, your competition is fighting the fight every day, and they didn’t wake up in the morning and say “Gosh, golly, I hope I stay even in 2024.” They want to eat your lunch, take your business, absorb your market share, and steal your customers away. Some people might ask me if they should start planning by looking at their competition, and I say NO. Why focus on the competition, instead of focusing on yourself? When it comes to my business, I don’t care what others do. I care about what I do.

Recognize your competition for what and who they are, and then put your best foot forward by pushing the envelope in your business. You should approach the new year as if you are going to battle, and for that you should develop a strategic plan. Business Plan – a written document that describes in detail how a business, usually a new one, is going to achieve its goals. A business plan lays out a written plan from a marketing, financial and operational viewpoint.

FACT: LESS THAN 3% OF REAL ESTATE AGENTS HAVE A BUSINESS PLAN.

FACT: ESTIMATED 3% OF REAL ESTATE AGENTS IN NORTH AMERICA DO 97% OF THE BUSINESS

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Writing a business plan may seem a daunting task as there are so many moving parts and concepts to address. Take it one step at a time and be sure to schedule regular review (quarterly, semi-annually, or annually) of your plan to be sure you are on track to meet your goals. It is that time of year again when we begin to build our plan for 2020 so let’s look at the key areas of the agent’s solid business plan.

Step 1) “Success and history always leaves us clues.” I began by looking back to identify the clues that have been left for us and the business. I would look at the real estate market first and search for the following clues.

What have the number of sales been doing the last year? 2-5 years? Up? Down?
What have the number of listings been doing the last year? 2-5 years? Up? Down?
What have the average and median prices been doing?
What price ranges are experiencing more activity? Less activity?
What neighborhoods or areas are experiencing more activity? Less Activity?
What property types are selling more? Less?
What buyer types are buying more?
Where are the buyers coming from? Local? Next state or province? Over Seas?

Imagine the targeted and strategic plan you would be able to build for you and your real estate business with this kind of information? Now you are not just winging it. You really know where and what to focus on.

Step 2) Looking At The Present State of Your Own Real Estate Business

What have my sales been doing? Up? Down?
What have my listings been doing? Up? Down?
What is my average price? Can I raise my average selling price?
What is my Gross Commission Income doing?
What is my average deal worth?
Where are my listings and sales coming from? Sources of business?
What types of buyers do I represent?
Where are the buyers coming from? Local? Out of area?
What are my pending sales?
What do I have for potential buyers and sellers?
What is working? What is not working?
What do I need to start doing again? Stop doing?

What if you took the time to really track and measure and reflect on your business at a deeper level and see your strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of yourself and your own business?

Step 3) Activity Plans – Take the time to lay out your activity plan calendar a year in advance.

Focus on the activities you know you are good at, and you see a return on your invested time and money. I am guessing for most agents it would be your sphere of influence, referrals and face to face or voice to voice activities. Set up a schedule for a month or two in advance of your activities for generating business. What is the activity? When? How? To Whom? Track and measure each of these scheduled activities to help identify the best of the best.

Step 4) Budgeting – Profit is the goal in business.

Knowing what your personal life and your business world cost you monthly is so important. Expense management is just as important as your income and earnings. Have a clear picture of your expenses and measure all of them for their return on investment or if they can be reduced in any way.

I understand this may be terrifying for most of us to see what we are spending personally and professionally but it is the foundation of your business plan to know what your personal and professional lives cost and then be able to set a financial target that is enough to cover them both and leave you some profit! So many of us stay away from this and run in a deficit and that is not good practice for any of us.

Step 5) Goals – If your “Why” is big enough the “how” will take care of itself.

What is your purpose? Vision? Values? Mission Statement? Taking the time to know what it is you want and why you want it is a game changer for us all. Nothing gives me more joy than impacting and improving people’s lives personally and professionally every day. I have realized that the driving compelling force in my life is serving others and having the means to create memorable experiences with the people I care about most and nothing else has given me more joy than these amazing WHY’s in my own life.

In my own real estate business, taking the time over the last 30 years to create a business plan has been so incredibly beneficial for me and I know it will for you as well. In today’s post I have given you a brief business plan overview. To help you get going with your own plan I put together a Step-by-Step Real Estate Business Plan Workbook you can download for free below.

Strength and Courage,

Wade

Being Known, Liked & Trusted Isn’t Enough Anymore

Wade Webb on October 23, 2024

“We have automated and “teched” our way out of people’s lives and relationships.” For almost three decades I have been in real estate, and you always hear about the people needing to know you, like you and trust you.

In 2024 this is not enough to thrive in the real estate industry any longer. We are now in a time where it is imperative to an agent’s success the people know, like and trust you but now they also must see you!!

Every agent needs to up their game in 2024 and find ways to be known, liked, trusted, and seen. Gone are the days you can get away from showing up and being seen by people. We are inundated with information, visuals, messages, and we are getting more and more guarded with our time, space, and attention…Out of sight, out of mind!!

So how can we focus more on being seen in 2024 and capture their attention and be more top of mind?

Here are my top ideas to be seen:

Morning Coffee Routine – every morning for the last 30 years I go to a coffee shop and enjoy hanging with the regulars. It never fails we end up talking about real estate and business comes from that time year after year after year.
The secret is to be social and interact and talk to people. Not sit on your phone or in a book or on your laptop. The owners of the local coffee shop just last week asked me about a development land piece they just put an option on and what to build and need a proposal for marketing what we feel they should build. Not bad conversation for a $4 coffee and 30-minute conversation in the morning?
Coffee, Breakfast, Lunches – make a point to meet with your clients and give them the gift of your time and take the time to break bread with them. Easy to do but easier to not do day after day. Deepen that relationship with others and increase top of mind and make them feel truly important to you and your business.
Video email or text – 86% of communication is nonverbal. Tone, voice inflection, eye contact and body language and video delivers that punch! Why email and text when you can wow and awe your people with a video email or text. Bomb Bomb ($) or Loom (Free) are great tools to use for this. Just a little secret your phone does video email and text too and its free!!!
Call – Are you ready for this crazy little secret? Your phone makes incoming and outgoing calls!!! Take the time to just call and say hi.
Stop underestimating the power of the simple. Remember the old ad that said, “Reach out and touch someone”? Take the time and do it and make them feel important and cared for.
Handwritten Notes – The power of a personal handwritten note with your business card attached. It always gets opened, always gets read, shows you took time and care, and always leaves people feeling better than they did before. Sadly, this is a lost art and something that never dies.
Personal Mail – We never get mail anymore and if we do it is a bill. Mail that is personal, like a handwritten note, gets opened and read, and if it contains something valuable to the receiver and not to you, then it makes an impact on them. I guarantee it!
Social Media – It is not about looking at what everyone else is doing and what you are posting. Dale Carnegie said, “People don’t care what I know unless they know that I care.” Be seen and show them you care.
Like, comment, message, and make them feel important to you. How powerful would a quick Facebook message be that asks someone how they are doing? How’s their family? Anything I can do to help? How would that make them feel and how would you show up to people if you took the time to do it?
PS In two years, 100% of the content feed on Facebook will be video. Do you post video content?
Client Events – Hosting annual client events like seminars, appreciation parties or my personal favorite, hosting their housewarming parties always makes an impact on others and a fantastic way to show up and be seen in 2024. Do you see them? Appreciate them? Add value to them? Make them feel like a rock star and host their housewarming party?
Deliver the Unexpected – every spring, summer and fall find an item and a funny tag to add to the item and drop by your client’s place of work and let them feel the love!
Every summer I love delivering everyone at their work place the BBQ triple packs of Ketchup, Relish and Mustard with a tag on them saying “Just ketching up and relish your referrals and not all agents cut the mustard.” People at work ask who I was, what that was for and look at the tag and laugh out loud every time.
Give Back – The amount of people you get to meet and interact with when you are part of an event as a volunteer and the joy and sense of purpose you get from giving back is the perfect one-two punch! I always end up connecting with someone new and someone old and such a great way to show up and be seen and make a difference.
B2B – I started my own business networking group and CEO mastermind groups to meet monthly and idea share and connect professionals in the community with one another. Such a powerful way to be seen and add value and be seen in the community and be the straw that stirs the drink in your community.

So, there you have it, ways to be seen in 2024. Show up and be seen and not just known, liked, and trusted in the coming year. I dare you to just try one of these ideas and let me know how it worked. Feel free to add more comments on how you show up and be seen that works and adds values. Love to hear from you all!!

Strength and courage,

Wade

10 Ways Agent’s Can Just Keep Going & Not Give Up!

Wade Webb on October 16, 2024

Many of you may or may not know this but I really love and hate golf. Golf like real estate is one of the most humbling things I do, but I love it! One of my favorite lines I say out on the course when I miss a shot is, “Golf is hard.” Like being a golfer is tough, being a real estate agent is rough. Things never go as planned and take 10 times longer than intended. There are highs and lows, and many times it feels easier just to give up and throw in the towel. Here are the top ten ways you can keep your motivation levels up and never give up!

1. Know Your Purpose & Work On It.

The secret of the most successful people I know is they can stay motivated, activated, inspired, and moving no matter what happens around them. Motivation is that inner drive to move toward or away from something. To get and stay motivated, you must find your purpose. So many people are going to work doing something they don’t believe in. You don’t get burnt out from work. You burn out because you aren’t working on your purpose. Get motivated, get on purpose, and you won’t feel like giving up.

2. Don’t Ever Feel Sorry For Yourself.

All my best successes came on the heels of a failure, so I’ve learned to look at each belly flop as the beginning of something good. If you just hang in there, you’ll find something is right around the corner. It’s that belief that keeps me motivated. I’ve learned not to feel sorry for myself, ever. Just five minutes of feeling sorry for yourself takes your power away and makes you unable to see the next opportunity.

3. Achieve Your Goals.

I always focus my mindset on achieving my goals no matter what’s going on around me. Every savvy entrepreneur understands we solve problems for a profit. If you can’t handle getting punched in the throat by market conditions, changes in consumer behavior, teammates quitting, losing clients, or working 100 hours per week, get out.

4. Remember… It’s Supposed To Be Hard.

Understand if it were easy, everyone would be doing it. This keeps me going when I encounter struggles. It’s OK to fail, make mistakes and get frustrated, but it’s never OK to get discouraged. I accept my failures, learn from them, and persevere with a positive attitude. But persevering with a maniacal Type-A drive is highly overrated. My first ambition is to enjoy the heck out of life. Business should never get in the way of that. If it does, then I’ve compromised my values for the sake of a dollar.

5. Stop Viewing Problems As Accidents.

Fixing problems is part of your job as a business owner, so you should stop seeing problems as accidents to be afraid of. Problems don’t go away as you grow and make more money. They become bigger. Once I changed my perspective and stopped labeling problems as negative accidents, I developed a thicker skin and focused my energy on fixing them more effectively.

6. Look At The Obstacles Others Had To Face.

In my first business, it took me three months of getting kicked in the teeth every day to land my first paying client. In my latest venture, it took nine months to get my first signed contract. I always look to the backstories of successful entrepreneurs. I study their successful actions, but I get really motivated by the massive barriers they had to overcome. There are hundreds of examples of wildly successful people who had to go through worse problems than I have. This reminds me I can do it, too.

7. Remember Your “Why” and “Why Not”.

I remembered why I am doing this in the first place: To help people. Just as motivating was the “why not”: I did not want to work for someone else or be a person who couldn’t truly take care of himself. Every day I can impact people personally and professionally and provide a very nice lifestyle for myself and my family in return. Zig Ziglar “Help others get what they need in their life, and they will help you get what you need in yours.”

8. Relentlessly Focus On Your Mission.

Entrepreneurs are extremely passionate about their company or current project. That passion is born out of the end-result desired, which is the “why” or mission of what you’re doing. We believe people will be better off with our product, solution, or service than without it. For me, Helping you is what I do, and I simply focus on that, and it provides massive motivation.

9. Keep Your Vision Clearly On The Top 1 Percent.

When your vision is clear, nothing can stop you from accomplishing your goal. If the feedback you receive is not as planned, then don’t waste time labeling it and allowing yourself to be distracted. Stay focused and persevere because there is very little competition in the top 1 percent.

10. Take Time To Reset.

I believe true motivation only comes from within and passion is the best motivator. I love what I do, and it gets me through the days I don’t like. When things get tough, I remember my clients chose me to be their leader, mentor, and coach. I take time away to meditate, train or travel to clear my mind and reset.

So, there you have some of the top ways to keep yourself motivated and avoid throwing in the towel. I challenge you to implement and review these strategies daily, weekly, and monthly and never give up!!

Strength and courage,

Wade

Thriving In A Slowing Market

Wade Webb on October 9, 2024

In any economic downturn, real estate agents face unique challenges. However, with the right strategies, it’s possible to not only survive but thrive even when the economy is slowing down. Here’s how agents can adapt and succeed in a sluggish market.

1. Embrace a Niche Focus

When the broader market slows, narrowing your focus can be highly effective. Specialize in specific property types, such as first-time homebuyers, luxury estates, or rental properties. By becoming an expert in a niche market, you can better cater to the needs of a more targeted group of clients and stand out from the competition.

2. Strengthen Client Relationships

Building and maintaining strong relationships with clients can be a game-changer. Take the time to understand their needs and offer personalized service. Regular check-ins, valuable market insights, and proactive communication can help you stay top-of-mind and encourage referrals. Remember, a personal touch goes a long way in building trust and loyalty.

3. Leverage Digital Tools and Marketing

In a slower economy, your online presence becomes even more critical. Invest in a user-friendly website, optimize it for search engines, and utilize social media platforms to reach potential clients. Virtual tours, high-quality photos, and detailed property descriptions can attract buyers who are browsing from home. A well-executed digital marketing strategy can help you stand out in a competitive market.

4. Provide Valuable Market Insights

Position yourself as a knowledgeable resource by offering valuable market insights and educational content. Share updates on market trends, investment opportunities, and tips for buying or selling in a slower economy. Blogging, hosting webinars, or creating informative videos can establish you as an authority in the industry and build credibility with your audience.

5. Be Adaptable and Flexible

Economic slowdowns often bring shifts in market dynamics. Be prepared to adapt your strategies based on current conditions. This might involve adjusting your pricing, offering flexible terms, or exploring new revenue streams like property management or consulting services. Flexibility can help you navigate changes and capitalize on emerging opportunities.

6. Enhance Your Customer Service

Exceptional customer service can set you apart in a slow market. Be attentive, responsive, and empathetic to your clients’ needs. Go the extra mile to make their experience as smooth and pleasant as possible. Providing outstanding service not only helps you retain clients but also encourages positive reviews and referrals.

7. Build and Maintain Your Network

Networking remains a powerful tool, even in a slow economy. Strengthen your relationships with other real estate professionals, financial advisors, mortgage brokers, and local businesses. A robust network can provide valuable referrals and collaborative opportunities. Attend industry events, join local business groups, and stay engaged with your professional community.

8. Stay Informed and Educated

Continuously educate yourself about market trends, economic indicators, and changes in real estate regulations. Staying informed allows you to make better decisions and provide accurate advice to your clients. Consider investing in professional development courses, attending industry seminars, or joining real estate associations to stay ahead of the curve.

9. Focus on Long-Term Relationships

During slower economic periods, long-term relationships become more valuable. Cultivate a network of past clients, prospects, and industry contacts. Regularly check in with them, offer assistance, and keep them informed about market conditions. Building a strong network of relationships can lead to future business opportunities and referrals.

10. Embrace Innovation

Innovate your approach to meet changing market demands. Experiment with new marketing tactics, explore different types of properties, or adopt emerging technologies. Embracing innovation can help you stay relevant and position yourself as a forward-thinking agent.

Conclusion

Navigating a slowing economy requires adaptability, innovation, and a proactive approach. By focusing on niche markets, strengthening client relationships, leveraging digital tools, and staying informed, real estate agents can thrive even in challenging conditions. Embrace these strategies, and you’ll be well-positioned to succeed and grow your business, no matter what the economic climate brings.

By implementing these strategies, you’ll not only weather the storm but also emerge stronger and more resilient in the ever-changing world of real estate.

Strength and Courage,

Wade

What Does An Ideal Day Schedule In Real Estate Look Like?

Wade Webb on October 2, 2024

One of the things we all love about real estate as a career is it is never the same day twice. The freedom and flexibility with our time is something that empowers us or THIS, however, can also be our recipe for disaster.

We are Sleeping ‘til 10am, a long lunch until 2 in the afternoon, then scrolling through Facebook until 5pm … before you know it, an entire day has slipped through the cracks, and you have nothing to show for it. Can you relate?

You’ve heard me say it before, “Routine is the sign of an ambitious individual.” Routine is what separates the average agent from the top producer.

Agents constantly know what the most important skills are to reach success, and to that, I always say, the ability to PLAN and EXECUTE. That’s why today we are sharing an hour-by-hour plan for an ideal day for the top producer. It is up to you to implement and execute!! So here we go!

Hour by Hour Plan for a Top Producing REALTOR©

5:00 AM – 6:00 AM: Wake-up + Exercise + Nutrition

Use this time to fuel your body and energize yourself for the busy day ahead!

6:00 AM – 8:00 AM: Morning Routine + Getting Ready

Set yourself up to be in a peak mental state – this is crucial to reaching your goals. If you don’t have a morning routine, then here are some ideas. My morning routine recommendations: prayer, meditation, visualization, audiobooks, gratitude, journaling, affirmations, inspiring videos etc.

8:00 AM – 9:00 AM: Prepare + Review

Connect with your assistant (or sit down with your calendar) and go over your objectives and outcomes for the day. Visualize your activities and purpose for the day.

9:00 AM – 10:30 AM: Appointment Setting Time

No distractions, just 90 minutes straight of prospecting and appointment setting (DO NOT SKIP THIS!). Get the most important activity out of the way in the morning. Follow up all your leads and make all your calls first thing in the day. Plant those seeds and set the buyer and seller appointments.

10:30 AM – 11:00 AM: Break

Take a brisk walk to mentally recharge before your next tasks. Clear your mind and get some air and reload.

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Lunch + Prep

Prepare your hot sheets by filling in all your buyer and seller lead details. Details like name, contact information, source of lead, type of lead, follow up dates and appointment set yes, or no? After the hot sheets are done then plan for your afternoon appointments with buyer and sellers.

12:00 PM – 4:30 PM: Appointments + Listing Presentations

Use this 4.5-hour block to schedule in three 90-minute appointments or listing or buyer presentations. If you’re a new agent and don’t have 3 daily appointments or presentations booked, use this time for additional prospecting and appointment setting time.

Work your face off so you can go home at a decent hour and be present with your loved ones!

4:30 PM – 5:00 PM: Daily Wrap-Up

Close up the day and identify what you accomplished and what your goals are for tomorrow. Review your schedule for the next day and ensure the day is all set.

5:00 PM – 7:00 PM: Home + Dinner + Family Time

Work/Life balance is so important. If you want it to happen … you’ve got to schedule it in, just like everything else in your day! Stay present and enjoy a good meal with the ones you love. 6 pm is family dinner time, all of us at the table together with no electronic devices in our home.

7:00 PM – 9:00 PM: Personal Time/ Evening Appointments (if necessary)

Most top producers can get their clients to meet during daytime business hours, there are some exceptions where this isn’t possible so an odd evening appointment maybe necessary. Usually, you will mostly use the final hours of your day to hang out with your significant other, read an enjoyable book, or focus on a favorite hobby.

9:00 PM – 5:00 AM: Sleep

Rest and recharge for an action-packed day tomorrow. REMEMBER YOUR PERFECT BUSINESS STARTS WITH YOUR PERFECT DAY.

Strength and courage,

Wade

Top Skills Most Agents Are Missing

Wade Webb on September 25, 2024

Your real estate skills determine your success, but they could also be your downfall if left undeveloped. In a competitive market, there’s little room for skill development while managing your business, leading to anxiety and reluctance to try new things. This mindset can perpetuate the belief that certain tasks will always be difficult.

Let me clarify this: not everything should be difficult or uncomfortable if you have the know-how and confidence to handle it effectively. Let’s talk about three crucial real estate skills that are holding agents back at various career stages.

In this blog, we’ll delve into these real estate skills for a new real estate agent, novice, or seasoned agent. Let’s start off with what exactly I’m talking about when I say “skills.”

What Are the Elements of Skills in Real Estate?

I know… You already know what skills are. But when have you taken the time to break down what they really mean? Doing this can show you how to develop them. To make it very simple, a skill is the combination of two things: Your knowledge of how to perform a task in the most effective way possible.

Your confidence and ability to perform the task in your chosen way on command.

Understanding the essence of skills is vital for your development. Simply put, a skill is the combination of knowledge on performing a task effectively and the confidence and ability to execute it. While knowledge can be acquired through trial and error or guidance from experienced individuals, confidence and ability improve through practice.

But I can’t say this enough… DON’T PRACTICE ON YOUR CLIENTS! You only have one reputation, and every interaction affects it. Professional training programs are recommended for the simultaneous development of knowledge and skills. Remember, skills aren’t something you’re naturally good at; they require refinement and can deteriorate from learning bad habits.

What Skills Are Needed for Real Estate? Skills needed in real estate include effective communication, negotiation, marketing, time management, adaptability, problem-solving, local market knowledge, technology proficiency, networking, and integrity. Let’s take this one step further and talk about the fundamentals of these skills for real estate agents.

Common Real Estate Skill Deficiencies.

The Foundations – Nothing will slow down your progress like learning the foundations incorrectly – or in many cases not learning them at all. Learning the foundations correctly, or lack thereof, significantly impacts your progress in real estate.

When you were getting your license, how much did they teach you about running a business, doing effective real estate marketing, becoming competent at sales, and managing your time? I’m willing to bet, pretty much nothing.

Traditional real estate education often neglects crucial aspects like business management, effective marketing, sales competence, and time management. In today’s competitive market, there’s little room for new agents to make mistakes in real estate.

Now, I know it seems like cheating to call all these foundations one skill because they encompass just so much, but a large part of this has to do with when these skills are learned and how they’re integrated together into a routine and a mindset. Here are just a few of the elements of your foundational skills:

Understanding how to control your time
Mastering the art of the buyer consultation
Comprehensive annual reviews
Host open houses that are successful
Handling objections to close deals confidently
Creating real estate social media videos for brand growth

But the main reason I count them all together is because of the solution I’m about to announce which covers all of these and more… Stick around for it!

Phone Prospecting. – While the foundations come in first place because you absolutely can’t start making decent money until you have some grasp on them, phone prospecting is the hands-down No. 1 most common issue among all agents.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve found some other lead gen channel that’s working – if there’s a fear of the phone and you’re not making your calls then you’re not reaching your potential. The obvious culprit here is a crisis of confidence. It can be awkward to call strangers or people you barely know. It’s uncomfortable to ask for an appointment, and it can be a real confidence killer to be hung up on or to sense someone’s annoyance.

But it’s only awkward/uncomfortable/draining if you haven’t developed the skills for it. And please keep in mind that developing these skills is a part of your job. You might not like it, but it’s part of the career path you’ve chosen. Remember here that confidence comes from experience, and still, it’s only one-half of what forms a skill.

You need the knowledge of exactly what you’re going to say and the training to anticipate what they might say next. This is what will allow you to steer the conversation in the way you want it to go. Once you have that, confidence will come naturally, and phone calls will become predictable commission.

Leverage – The longer you’re in this business, the more you’re going to want to start delegating tasks to free you up to focus on the most important – and rewarding – aspects of the role. And that means building a team around you.

Think about it… wouldn’t it be lovely if you could work less and make exponentially more money? How about going on vacation while your business continues to run smoothly without you? These are just a few of the incredible benefits of having the right team. But the right team isn’t easy to build, especially when you first get started.

After years of mastering the fundamentals of real estate skills, becoming fearless on the phones, and raising their annual commissions, many experienced agents believe that they know it all just to find themselves completely lost again when it becomes necessary for them to expand. Recruiting is a different ballgame than any other aspect of the business.

On the one hand, you want to take the time to find the perfect people for every position and train them properly so that they can fulfill their roles. On the other hand, you don’t want your business to completely collapse while you take the time to do this and go completely bankrupt on paying people you can no longer afford. It seems like a Catch-22, right? It doesn’t have to be if you know how to:

Implement the right recruitment strategies
Find the right employee lead sources
Build a strategic recruiting plan
Identify the best talent
Craft an efficient onboarding process

Let’s go back to what I said at the beginning… Pride and ignorance are the opposite of confidence, and they can prevent us from recognizing where we really stand. It’s embarrassing to admit to ourselves that we didn’t master all the fundamentals when we first started, so sometimes we’d rather blame the market than admit to our own lack of skills.

It’s easier to say that we don’t have the time and energy to make our calls than to admit that it’s a lack of confidence holding us back. And it’s easy to say that you’ve become successful on your own, so you don’t need help in becoming a leader. These are all excuses that are holding you back. So, I challenge you to be honest with yourself.

Strength and Courage,

Wade

Navigating Your Shift In Real Estate

Wade Webb on September 18, 2024

Is the economy shifting?

That’s the question on everyone’s minds right now. As we know, the real estate market has remained slow amid high mortgage rates and inflation. It’s worth asking what’s going on in the economy and what it means for real estate agents trying to keep their businesses afloat.

What I really want to do is help you prepare your business for the type of market we’re facing. I’ll give you four strategies to recession-proof your business and seize this period of economic downturn for your advantage. As you can see, this is the best time to expand your market share if you do it correctly. This is a message of hope and not one of negativity.

Shift #1. Focus on Operational Efficiency – The Harvard Business Review researchers dove into different combinations of offensive and defensive plays that companies ran and rated them based on their effectiveness. Those who cut employees while focusing on market development and investing in assets performed the worst. On the other hand, those who used the same offensive moves while focusing on operational efficiency instead of employee reduction performed the best overall.

Streamlining your operations comes down to organization, continuous training, and tracking and measuring results, and non-stop development. When you study your business and cut all the things that don’t serve you, it creates space for more impactful actions. Right now, we can’t talk about efficiency without talking about AI.

According to Forbes, business owners who have adopted AI into their workflows report experiencing a 50%+ improvement in overall productivity. As a real estate agent who wears so many different hats, this is especially true. AI can help you edit videos, create social posts, improve your website, automatically set up appointments, interpret data, optimize your schedule, and so much more!

Shift #2: Strategic Marketing & Lead Gen – It’s not enough to just put out more marketing. To survive and thrive after an economic downturn, you need to get strategic about what channels you’re running to minimize costs and maximize results. If you’re just putting out more of the same and throwing money at the problem, that’s how you end up in that 26% Promotion group.

Start with your messaging. When people find themselves in a new economic situation, the messaging is more important than ever. Decide the story you want to tell and choose channels that will allow you to convey it to your target audience while remaining within budget. Luckily, there are a few marketing channels that cost next to nothing and have proven effective under any circumstances. And remember, most of your competition is as scared as you might be.

They will likely pull back on their marketing and regret it later. This is a massive opportunity for you to scoop up market share.

Shift #3: Mindset is Everything – That is so very important. Do not go reading the news in your free time. Take in just as much news as you need to stay informed and do your job effectively, and then get your head to a more productive place.

Buy one of the mindset books on this list – or all of them – and read a chapter every morning. Listen to them in the car or on the treadmill. Mediate, exercise, and eat well. Write out your mission statement, create a vision board, and keep a gratitude journal. Do whatever it takes to get out of the noise and keep charging the storm.

Shift #4: Invest in Training, Knowledge, and Guidance – If you want to achieve the first three plays in this list, this one is how you do it. Training and guidance and the most recession-proof strategy you can possibly adopt – for both you and your team.

We’re not in a Speed Market anymore. This is a Skills & Strategy housing market, so only those with the best skills and strategies will win. That’s where training sets you apart. It’s the reason that agents who join real estate coaching begin to multiply their GCI within the first year and continue to grow consistently after that.

When it comes to your team, providing training is your best tool for keeping them engaged and loyal. Researcher Bob Nelson states that other than direct recognition, career development opportunities are the best way to drive employee engagement. Data from Deloitte shows that 26% of all employees are actively disengaged but developing a learning culture and providing training can rapidly drive engagement and boost retention by 30-50%.

As I said before, this is an uncertain time, but there is nothing to be worried of if you have the skills, knowledge, and expert guidance to handle whatever the world can throw at you. Training = Confidence. Remember that.

Strength and Courage,

Wade

Seller Counselling & Price Repositioning (Reduction)

Wade Webb on September 11, 2024

Now this isn’t about getting new business.

It is not a prospecting script, but it may be the most important phone duty that anyone in your office does–asking for price reductions on listings.

Asking for price reductions can make or break a top real estate agent’s business. Not only will price reductions quicken the sale, and therefore, minimize overhead in a real estate agent’s business, but it will also prove to everyone your marketing systems work. Remember, price is 90% of any marketing plan and the faster you achieve market value, the faster everybody’s needs are met.

The challenge with price reductions is not solved with a phone script, but a series of planned events. This system you are holding shows you the right questions to ask prior to a listing presentation so you can learn their true motivation and then find ways to meet their goals. When the desire is to meet someone’s goals, they’re much more likely to listen to the plan that gets them there. As we all know, the correct price is the fastest road to the achievement of most goals that have to do with a sale.

Once the right questions are asked, the next step is an outstanding presentation with the correct verbiage during the CMA.

We’ve all experienced the seller that no matter how much information is given them, including pre-listing sales packages that include pricing technologies and the right scientific research showing the exact value of their home–they still want more!

What are we to do?

What do you do while battling another agent’s high evaluation, or how do you obtain pre-agreed listing reductions during the term of the listing? All I can do at this juncture is to assume the right questions were asked prior to and at the listing presentation, and they received information on how to price their property correctly.

This information was reviewed at the listing presentation, and the scientific information was discussed. If after all of this has been done and the price is still too high your options are to not take the listing or to receive pre-agreed reductions based upon the success of marketing.

All this leads me to believe, if everything that should be done has been done, and you still have an overpriced listing, you (1) knew it was overpriced and took it anyway or (2) made a mistake based upon the fact you liked the property more than anyone else did.

There’s also a possible third problem and that is the seller was a better salesperson than you and sold you on the high price. All this is leading us to one conclusion, if you have been a victim of any of the previously mentioned three problems, you’re now going to have to consistently ask for price reductions, which may be the most embarrassing aspect of this business.

How do you ask for price reductions when you told the seller you could market the home at the agreed upon price? Sometimes, their responses are furious, such as, “Well anybody can sell this house at that price,” “The other agent said that they could get more,” “I can’t buy my new home if I get that price,” or “Do you expect me to lose money?” All these questions ignore the main subject, and that is, market value is market value and none of the above questions have anything to do with or affect market value.

The following lead-ins can be used to ask for a price reduction, but it is very important you use new subjects as often as possible, so not to sound monotonous!

Remember, an agent who asks for price reductions soon after the listing presentation will have a weary seller, so therefore, mix your price reductions with new and exciting marketing concepts. Concepts such as a page promoted on your website from your lender showing five ways, which the home can be financed. Adding a special home of the day button to your site or sending your evaluation surveys to all the agents who have seen the home– I’ve got a million of them. Remember, the seller likes the real estate agent who is ingenious in their marketing methods and, the seller will then listen more intently to the following reasons for a price reduction.

Lead-ins to Ask for a Real Estate Listing Price Reduction….

There’s been a new sale in the neighborhood that affects your value.
Here are some of the responses we’ve received from other agents.
Here are the responses I received from buyers I have shown.
Here are responses I have heard from buyers shown by other agents.
Here are the responses from the agents in my office.
Here are the attitudes of the real estate agents who attended the Broker Open House.
Here were the attitudes of the buyers who walked through your home on the open house.
Here are the responses we have received from the ad that we’ve placed in . . .
Here are some suggestions I would do if it were my home to make it more appealing to buyers. Oh, rather than just making these improvements why don’t we drop the price to compensate for some improvements the buyer may want to make?
Why don’t we increase the selling office commission? If I sell it, I will stick to the original terms of the listing agreement.
May we add a selling office bonus?
May we add points, so financing becomes easier for a buyer?
I know this offer was low and the buyer did not accept our counteroffer, however, may I lower the home to the amount we mentioned in the counter offer to attract more interested buyers?
May we ask for some concessions on the home you’re buying and then supply those same concessions to any potential buyers on their home?
May we offer preferential owner financing and make the property more affordable to any potential buyers?
We have an open house / new ad / new internet blast going out and I would certainly love to be able to market this home at a new and improved price.
I’m going to be taking the property out of the MLS and resubmitting it as a new listing, therefore, acquiring a new look and new enthusiasm among the cooperating real estate agents here in town. I’d like to do that at a lower price.
Is there anything we could throw in that would sweeten the pot, appliances, vehicles, maybe even a free vacation at a time share?
Many times, we have found emotions play a big role in the sale of a home. Therefore, can we make your home more emotional by having it professionally staged and decorated by a local design group?
Cooperation among real estate agents is paramount to getting the property sold. Yes, I am the one agent that is handling the marketing, but I am marketing to more than 3,000 real estate agents who handle a large percentage of buyers. My job is to market to them so they can express their excitement of your home to their buyers. Let’s discuss what we can do to make this home more exciting to the real estate agents here in town.
Real estate agents have many properties to show and sometimes the determining reason for showing is ease of access. Let’s do some items to improve the showing procedure to make it easily accessible to real estate agents at any time and at a moment’s notice.
I would like to obtain a price reduction and do some things I have never done to market a home, such as advertising them in the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal. Spending money on an ad that would reach outside our geographical area is risky, but I would be willing to go ahead and give it a try if we had a more marketable price.
I was looking at your holding cost and found if we drop your price and obtain a sale, we may eliminate many months of payments, taxes, insurance, and upkeep I believe would compensate for this price reduction. Let’s discuss how this might work.
In all the years I’ve done business, one of the hardest things I must do is disappoint a client. The continued marketing of this property at the current price that I now find is too high only tends to disappoint you and therefore, I’d like to ask the following favor. Would you please consider a price reduction and if that’s impossible, would you allow me to discontinue my marketing efforts? It’s very difficult for me to express this to a seller that’s been fair with me and to a home I’d like nothing more than to market and sell; however, I truly believe unless we drop this price, the property will go unsold. I’m willing to give up my marketing effort and my listing to show you how clear I am we need to adjust our price today.

I hope you can use any one or all these reasons to obtain a price reduction or improvement in terms or value. The phone is the most effective way to do this. The use of your assistant calling for price reductions or doing it by mail has proven to be ineffective. There are times when the real estate agent must pick up the phone, and the price reduction is one of them.

Strength and courage,

Wade