agents and their sales and marketing Archives - Wade Webb Real Estate Coaching

REALTORS© What Should We Do Now?

Wade Webb on July 20, 2022

REALTORS what should we do now? The burning question that every agent is asking is “Are we in a housing correction?” If you’ve been keeping up with This Week in Housing, you’ll already know the answer to this one.

It’s NO!

No, we are not in a housing correction! That last sentence right up there, is what today’s blog is all about. I’m not going to go over all the data points in detail – you can check those out on your own. What I want to do instead is hammer home what we do in a shifting market? INFORM!! Many people in your market are likely thinking the worst right now, and it’s up to you to correct those thoughts with factual information. Keep reading so I can give you some ideas on how to communicate your message more efficiently – and keep your transactions moving.

What’s on Everyone’s Mind? The hot word on everyone’s mind right now is “recession.” What does “recession” remind the average homeowner of? Exactly… that nasty period of 2008. That’s what people are thinking right now and that’s why the fear is so high. Of course, we know that a recession DOES NOT EQUAL A HOUSING CRISIS. As a matter of fact, in four of the last six recessions we’ve seen since the 80s, home prices actually appreciated. But… Just Because You Know the Truth…

…doesn’t mean your clients do. You stay up to date with Keeping Current Matters, This Week in Housing, and all the other reputable real estate news sources, but remember that your clients probably don’t – it’d be pretty embarrassing if it was the other way around. They are seeing articles with headlines like, “Is the Housing Boom Over?” When people hear all kinds of conflicting information without anyone to explain it to them, it creates uncertainty, and no one likes to make moves when they are uncertain. The only way you are going to continue to grow your transactions going forward is to alleviate the fear in your marketplace. People need reassurance and if you’re the one who provides that, you’ll be the one they choose to work with.

There are two ways we need to tackle this. On a broad scale and on a personal level. Let’s start with Broad Scale. There are four things I recommend:

1. YouTube Market Update Videos and News Commentary – Tackle the issue head on by signaling out the news articles directly. Jeremy Knight does his news commentary in front of a green screen with the front page of the article imposed behind him. You should be doing something similar.
2. Weekly Email Newsletters with Links to Your Videos – I’m just curious, how did you get to this blog? Was it through an email we sent out with a direct link? Do the same – email your database to drive them to your market updates.
3. Direct Mailers to Your Geofarm – Imagine getting a piece of mail that inspires hope and optimism instead of fear and urgency… So many of our clients have seen success by including QR codes which bring people to their home value estimates.
4. Social Media Quick Facts – It’s a great way to leverage your short content for views on your longer pieces.

The Personal Level. Your broad scale marketing will open the door for you, but this is where you need to invite them inside.

1. Make Your CALLS – Don’t forget, even though we’re not in a housing crisis, no one said this was going to be an easy market for you – which means you MUST be making your calls, now more than ever.
2. CMA-a-Day – Follow our proven strategy. Create a CMA for a past client, send them a video text message before you send it, then email the CMA and follow up in a day or two with a phone call to discuss the value of their home. Repeat this process with a different past client daily and watch your listing opportunities skyrocket!
3. Equity Reviews – This is a great way to touch base with your past clients every year and possibly get some referrals, but it’s also one of the best strategies for getting your message out. Doing an annual equity review puts you face-to-face with your clients in person, which is where real connection happens. John Ely prefers to call these “real estate reviews” because he covers so much more than just equity, from the state of the market to possible investment options.
4. Ask that People Share Your Content – You are here to educate, serve, and help people build wealth. If you care of your clients and give them reassurance, they’ll want you to do the same for their family and friends.

Keep the Conversation Going. Above all, keep in mind that just because you’ve said the same thing a thousand times, doesn’t mean that everyone has heard it. Just because you posted a video several weeks ago that details the state of the housing market doesn’t mean that everyone has seen it. Say it again. Post another video. Get the word out there! Now is still a great time to buy or sell, and when you help people to realize that, you’re improving their lives. Keep up the good work.

Strength and courage,
Wade

The Money Is The Monster Not The Real Estate Market

Wade Webb on June 8, 2022

Consumers live in the payment and not in the price. Think of how we all justify logically when buying something by the monthly payment and let’s be honest never really consider the price of the big ticket items. Now more than ever Realtors© need to know and understand the financing world and lending world and how it is impacting our real estate markets. Remember the classic monthly payment sheets that we had the lender do for our listing showing what the down payment amounts were, the monthly payments and minimize the purchasing of the home down to the simpler decision?

We see it in the cars, boats, electronics, pretty much everything is living in the payment to make the buying decision easier for the consumer. We need to take those payment sheets now and put them on steroids. Show the consumers what the down payments are, the monthly payments are but more importantly what they will be if they wait and time the market! Show them the financial impact on them if the payment goes just 2% higher on them. How does that look for them now? The payment jumps on them but show them the overall impact of borrowing costs for the higher interest rate if they wait.

The cost of borrowing will be higher than the anticipated correction of their house payment I guarantee it. For our sellers we then show the income qualification that is required for a buyer to purchase their home and show them how fewer buyers can actually qualify to buy their home at the new interest rates versus the interest rates in 2021 folks.

The money is the monster not the market and not the agents. Know and understand the money and advise the impact on buyers now with the rates, payments, down payments, income and qualification criteria getting tougher every week now and the sellers that buyer pools are being eliminated that are able to buy their home now. This isn’t about the market and the agents and what is happening in North America, it is all about the money.

Think about it, the government wants to curb inflation, curb our spending, allow for supply chains to catch up and make sure those that used their home and rates to spend away, get out of the housing market before defaulting and they are doing that through the money and raising the interest rates. Our clients need advisement on the money and education on the impact of the money on them at home, if buying or if selling and it is our jobs with the help of our mortgage partners to do that and educate them now more than ever. Should I refinance? Should I buy? Should I sell? What finance options are best for me the next 5 years? What do I need to do to get my cost of living in check? How do I avoid defaulting on my home? These are the conversations, questions the consumers (including myself the other day) are asking and wondering if I should be locking in my variable mortgage now?

Join the conversations the consumers are having and show up and educate and advise our clients on the financial and economic shifts and changes that are happening. Don’t by like my financial advisors who have been silent and never even called, emailed me as the stock market has completely shifted the last few months and not a word. Don’t be that advisor agents! Show up and explain, advise and educate our clients on the shift and we are here to help. Remember this is just a correction and a shift and not a crash and what else has been better for anyone investing than real estate. This is time to gain market share agents and to really do what we do for our clients.

Strength and courage,
Wade

Selling Without Being A Salesperson

Wade Webb on April 6, 2022

Sales is a four-letter word— how often as a Realtor© have you felt that? There is scarcely a culture in the world that doesn’t regard the idea of selling as a little icky. But in truth, we are all practicing that four-letter word—in every area of our lives. Leaders are selling their ideas to the board, their staff and the community. Employees are selling their skills and knowledge to their employers. Parents are selling broccoli and bedtime to their kids. And if you’re looking for a significant other—admit it—you are selling your attributes and personality to that special someone.

So, why the “ick” factor? Bad salespeople. Many of our issues with sales stem from our experiences with pushy, even aggressive salespeople, and often we end up relenting just to get out of the conversation. This kind of selling used to be effective. It was a one-and-done model that led with a lot of smooth talk and rarely resulted in repeat business. But in an age of hyper-connectivity and relational selling, that model starts to come undone. Try to get away with icky sales tricks and be prepared to have your reputation exposed—and commented on, shared, and warned against.

What if we think more broadly about the concept of selling and instead consider engagement, influence and even persuasiveness—a useful, and slime-free, skill? In fact, it is often this soft skill that determines our capacity to succeed. Almost universally, though, it is underdeveloped in otherwise brilliant people and acts as a handbrake on both their careers and their ability to engage others with their ideas. So what do we need to do to prevent the death of our essential inner salesperson?

1. With all due respect to Simon Sinek, start with who not why. Your why is obviously an important motivator. But your why is not necessarily my why, and yet so many people try to persuade others to join their cause or buy their product or service from a position of how good they are. A better approach is to begin with an environmental assessment. Start the conversation where they are, with what they believe or wish to achieve.

2. Selling is a listening skill. You have two rows of teeth and one tongue, so learn to bite down. People will actually tell you how to influence them—by telling you who they are and what they want the world to know them as. Selling is a process of values and identity alignment, so let the other person do the talking and you might be surprised how persuasive your silence can be.

3. Be easy to agree with. It’s extraordinary how often we lose a sale, an argument or even workplace engagement simply because we’re difficult to agree with. Many times, people will remain unconvinced, not because your argument is flawed, but because they just don’t want you to win. So consider not just the points you are making, but also the barriers you are building between yourself, your audience and the agreement. Our capacity to sell—or engage, influence or persuade—defines our success in our business lives, our personal relationships and even our own self-awareness and effectiveness. But in order to drive the results we really want, we need to flip previous models on their heads and instead learn to sell in reverse.

Strength and courage,
Wade

The 2021 Final Quarter Push for Realtors©

Wade Webb on September 1, 2021

I don’t know about you but the first part of the year and my summer seemed to just fly by and I cannot believe it is September 2021 already. We are beginning the last quarter of the year and there are only two outcomes for us Realtors©. Will you finish in the red, or finish in the black? Will you finish strong or will you miss your targets and goals? Winning near the end of a game, final quarter or the year is a trait of all the best sales people I’ve ever met. Closing out strong is primarily the effect of a consistent quarter, there are still a handful of things you can do to strike off checkboxes in the win column to finish 2021 strong.

1. Be Active – There’s no substitute for being pleasantly persistent and respectfully blunt. Get out there and be straightforward. Taking action and getting after it is a choice and work on the high quality leads and not the low quality leads. Ask yourself “If you were me, would you forecast this listing or buyer prospect to buy or sell this month or in the next 90 days?” Remember, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Being direct will help you get real with your buying and selling customers and align yourself with the true sales cycle. It might also enable you to pull out a quick win.

2. Be Relational – For more than two decades now I have heard from thousands of top producing agents and almost 60% of their business comes from repeat and referral business. Focusing first on the people we already know, like and trust is working effectively and efficiently in this business. If you don’t have enough people that know, like and trust you then get out there and “S.T.P. – See The People” If you have a list of relationships in place that have not “felt the love” then get out there and see them and find ways to add value to them. Give them a call, email, text, handwritten note, small gift or even a coffee and just watch and see what happens with your last quarter.

3. Be Face to Face – Sales is a contact sport and we need to be belly to belly. Anyone of us making a large buying decision needs to know the person we deal with is someone we like and can trust. The only way we can sense if we like or trust someone is meeting them in person. Commit to the final quarter on sales activities that are primarily face to face and belly to belly activities like Open house, door to door, kiosk, networking, office duty, coffee, lunch, pop by, volunteer, client appreciation event or convention. This is a relationships business so get out there to create and deepen those relationships.

4. Stack-Rank Your Leads – We will never be able to manufacture more time, but we can manufacture more focus. I recommend looking at your pipeline and grading each opportunity on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being “highly closeable by the end of the quarter.” Then, focus your closing efforts on the 3’s and 4’s ONLY. You don’t have time to waste. If you don’t have enough 3 and 4 prospects in the funnel then take action and increase your marketing plan and daily prospecting, lead generation with planned marketing, activities that bring the level 3 and 4 prospects into your pipeline to finish 2021 strong.

5. Purge Your People – Almost every sales pro has them. They’re those big opportunities in the pipeline you’ve been working for months. The one deal that constantly disrupts your focus or the need to take action. The buyer or seller who is the time and energy vampire but you let them suck the life out of you because you don’t have anyone else to work with. Every time you think about punting them, you get a glimmer of hope from them. It’s time……Remove them!! They don’t deserve to be on your radar right now. Coming clean with yourself will open new vistas and invigorate you to add more productive opportunities to your pipeline.

6. Start Planning for 2022 – How much revenue do you plan to book in Q1 2022? Exactly how many new deals do you need to earn that amount? Knowing exactly what you plan to earn acts like a magnet to attract business your way. Having this exact number also allows you to project your required activities into month one of the new quarter. If you’re accurately measuring your deal metrics, you’ll be able to predict with some certainty how many calls, emails, appointments, presentations or opportunities you’ll need to make it rain. Ask for a review by management. Knowing your numbers is one thing, but to positively affect the business, it’s equally vital to understand your “why”, purpose and goals and have someone hold you accountable to them.

Bonus Tips: What NOT to Do in the last Quarter Of 2021

1. Don’t Work With Any Clients Just to Make your Numbers – Any client outside of your ideal customer profile will complicate servicing, produce a higher likelihood of churn or failure, and ultimately cost you more time and resources than it will be worth. Instead, focus on filling the pipeline with high quality leads for next quarter. It’s never too early to start filling the funnel.

2. Never Give Away More Than You Should – It’s just not worth it. You only have one reputation for your brand and offering, treat it respectfully. Concessions can quickly become a crutch that hides other issues. Sell on value, not on price. Don’t cut your commissions, offer cash backs or any other silly incentives just to get something before the year is done.

The key to closing out your quarter strong is to keep up the momentum that got you to where you are now. If you’re struggling to meet your numbers, it’s a time to embrace new sales insights and start building effective rhythm. Take the last minute shots on goal listed above, but remember to always be thinking about the bigger picture: Your reputation is the product of your past actions. Sales that allow you to produce predictable revenue are the future. Finish the last quarter and your year strong. I dare you!!

Strength and courage,
Wade

First Quarter Progress Reporting Time For Agents

Wade Webb on April 7, 2021

Wow! Welcome to Q2. Three months of the new year have already flown by……And the next nine aren’t likely to slow down. So my question for you is… How are you doing? Have you achieved 25 percent of your 2021 goals yet? Are you on track? Or do you need to reevaluate your behaviors to catch up? Let’s examine these questions as a “progress report” and make sure you do what’s needed to achieve everything you set out to in 2021.

Appointments are the Lifeblood of Real Estate Success. Every real estate agent should know – and live by – this progression: Calls > Conversations > Appointments > Clients > Closings. Your 2021 business plan should have included how many of each of these you need to achieve your year-end goal. You also need to be tracking all these numbers on a daily basis. So get out your business plan, multiply your year-end target number by 0.25 and see where you’re at with your:

Calls made
Conversations
Appointments booked
Appointments won (turned the prospect into a client)
Closings (break it down to sellers/buyers)
Whether you like it or not, this business is all about prospecting and following up.

If you’re behind pace, follow the 5-5-4 plan every day. Make your calls until you’ve achieved:

5 conversations with people from your database
5 conversations with new people you’ve never talked to before
4 follow-up conversations

Here’s the thing: This stuff won’t happen if you just “hope” to get around to it. You’ve got to make it a priority. Schedule your prospecting block in your calendar and honor that time as sacred.

Now Let’s Talk Lead Generation. While we’re in the “review” mode, now it’s time to examine your lead generation efforts. Analyze each of your individual lead pillars to determine what’s working, what’s not, and what you can or should do about them.

Are any methods excelling so much that you should double down on them?
Can you identify pillars that are significantly underperforming or aren’t producing at all?
What new lead pillars might you consider adding to your mix?
How about social media: Are you sticking to a consistent posting schedule?
Are you generating engagement with your posts? If not, how are you going to shake things up to drive engagement?

Finally, Examine Your Bottom Line. Your business plan should include line items such as total number of closed transactions, your GCI, expenses and your expected profits. Are you 25 percent of the way toward these goals? If you’re falling short of your GCI goal and feel like you’re already maxed out on time, you may be in the “stuck” category I wrote about a few weeks ago. If that’s the case, it’s time to invest in yourself by hiring help or outsourcing some of the admin work that’s keeping you “busy” but not “productive.” Are your expenses higher than you expected? How about transaction volume – are you above or below your target? Bottom line… are you on course to reach your profit goal for 2021, or do you need to rethink your behaviors?

What Do You Need to Succeed? In closing, I hope you found this helpful. If this was difficult for you, I’d encourage you to stop sticking your head in the sand and start confronting whatever is preventing you from achieving your goals. Tracking and measuring your numbers is what will keep you on pace for greatness, so make it a habit or find someone who will hold you accountable. Go get it in Q2 – with so much existing activity on top of the regular Spring market, it’s probably going to be crazy! Now is the time to put your head down and make things happen.

Strength and courage,
Wade

Secrets To Agents Sales & Marketing Plans

kelowna on October 14, 2015

For more than two decades I have really underestimated the importance of having an actual plan for agents and their sales and marketing. I was always trying one thing or another to generate leads for my business with no actual plan or focus.

How many agents actually have a formal, written, systemized and scheduled plan for lead generation? Are you just winging it?

First we need to understand the difference between a Lead and a what I call a Hit. So many of us confuse ourselves with leads and that we have so many leads but the reality is we have so many hits and not that many leads. A Lead in my opinion is someone who has expressed interest in buying or selling now or in the near future, say 60-90 to 120 days. A Hit is someone who has filled out an online form, randomly emailed you about a property or is just plain curious and maybe one day would consider buying or selling some real estate.

Having the ability to qualify hits on their timing and motivation determines whether they are a lead or really just a hit. Now that we have determined the difference between a lead and a hit let’s look at the next step to a strong sales and marketing plan. We need to determine what strategies we want to implement and choose the strategies that are right for our personalities, strengths and what we believe that we would be good at. We have so many options as agents to generate leads with our sales and marketing but what ones do you enjoy? Would do without hesitation? Would suit your strengths? Here is a list to choose from.

Click Here >> Agentsboost – Prospecting Activities Chart

The next step to your strategy is to choose enough sales and marketing strategies to ensure enough leads for you and your business. You can’t be just a one trick pony and rely on maybe one or two strategies. The key to a strong sales and marketing plan is a minimum of six sales and marketing funnels. In fact most top producers have at least ten to twenty funnels of sales and marketing strategies generating leads for their business.

After you have chosen your minimum of six then you build your sales and marketing plan. Actually write out a plan for a ninety day period of the activity you are doing like when you are doing it, how you are performing it and all the pertinent details of each funnel. Clearly create the plan and visual so you can see the plan for the next ninety days in advance. Here is a sample of a three month sales and marketing plan to help you build your own.

Click Here >> Sample Marketing Plan

So there you have it. A sales and marketing plan for lead generation with a minimum of six funnels and a system to create consistent leads to keep your business at a smooth steady pace and not peaks and valleys of leads and then no leads. I trust you build a plan for your next ninety days and finish 2015 strong!

Strength and Courage,

Wade

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