So What Are The Fab Five in Real Estate?

kelowna on August 16, 2017

top 5 real estate activitiesI am a huge believer of tracking and measuring everything we do in real estate so we can tell what is working, what is not working and what we are doing well and more importantly what we frankly should just do more of. The second half of the year is about doing more of what works and if you do more of that you obviously like your chances of finishing the year strong. I coach, train and speak to hundreds of agents a year and this is the top five activities that work with all the most successful agents I work with.

Fab 5 Activities in Real Estate

1) Database – All the most successful agents have at least 28 to 36 organized, planned and systemized activities a year that add value to their past and existing clients. They personally mail them, e mail them e reports, provide complimentary annual reviews of their real estate holdings, host client party events, hand written personal notes, birthday and “houseaversary cards, pop by gifts like ketchup, relish and mustard packs with a tag that says “Thought I would catch up and let you know I relish your real estate referrals and not all agents cut the mustard.” and more. They have a blend and balance of top of mind and give to get activities that continue to propel their repeat and referral business year after year!

2) Open House – There are literally very few activities an agent can do where the clients actually come to them and the agent doesn’t need to go find the client. Agents get to use their strengths as they get to meet the client face to face and engage their audience and the clients determine whether the agent is likeable and someone they can trust. Think about it open house is the rare place agents can use the interpersonal skills to get a client to engage and connect and feel they want to do business with them and why it is always in our fabulous five activity list year after year.

3) Door Knocking – 86% of communication is non-verbal meaning that eye contact, voice inflection, voice tone and body language make up a large portion of non-verbal communication which we are able to utilize going door to door and meeting face to face with the clients. Now don’t get me wrong I am not telling you to go bang on doors and ask everyone “Hi you want to sell your house?” the cold call approach is dead and gone, I am afraid. What I am telling you to do and I know for a fact works very well is warm call approaches using a Bona Fide buyer, New listing, Recent sale or invitation to your open house approaches. Think about it, what person wouldn’t want to help you find something for a buyer, hear about the latest asking or sale price on their street or be asked to snoop at the neighbors upcoming open house?

4) Geographic Farm – Almost every top agent stands out from the crowd and the way they stand out is being an expert or have a niche at something. Every agent is good at every type of real estate and very few make themselves experts, niched and stand out from the crowd! Being an expert at an area, neighborhood, property type or even a certain demographic will get you further and more recognized as an expert than just being like all the other agents. Top producers strategically pick, work and add value to their geographic farm and within 8-12 months it pays back in spades and if done correctly it always hits the top producers activity success list year after year.

5) Online Leads – This is not the silver bullet but something for a new agent to kick start their career, a veteran to top up their business and keep a bit more consistent and something a top producer uses to feed leads to their associates and increase their volume and leverage. Before anyone even turns this type of activity on I always make them buy, read and study Chris Smith’s book “The Conversion Code” it’s easy to buy and turn the lead machines on but converting the leads is where the money is at! Start at chapter 8 and learn the art of conversion before embarking on the online lead machine.

So there you have it, the top five activities that are consistently showing up as the most successful dollar producing activities of hundreds and thousands of agents I have had the pleasure of working with. Track, measure and see what your top five are and spend the second half of 2017 doing more of what it is your doing right and is making you money. Finish the year strong and don’t reinvent the wheel and take you and your business off course!

Strength and courage,
Wade

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Open Houses… Love Them or Hate Them Here Are My Top Tips

kelowna on April 3, 2013

OK Realtors are You Ready To Take Your Open Houses to the Next Level?

open houses for realtor tipsOver the years I have seen open house as an opportunity for most agents to catch up on
sleep, office paper work, TV reruns or raid their sellers fridge.

There are so many opinions on open houses in the industry…

Some realtors say they love them…

Other say they are a waste of time.

I want to share some of my personal strategies that changed everything for me and my business with holding an open house.

I’m often asked… “How long does an open house need to be open for it to be successful?”

My reply to that question is… Would you rather have the ability to choose when to leave an open house that is not attracting prospects or be tied down to a two hour open house that is not attracting prospects?

I am a huge believer in controlling my time. I like having the ability to host multiple opens a day versus one or two for a set period of time.

When I would host an open house I would only advertise my open house start times… for example “Open @” or “Open from”.

Taking this approach created two fantastic opportunities for me.

  1. Nobody knew when I was leaving or closing down so they would arrive early or on time and if they were going to be a bit later they would call prior to the open house to ensure I would still be there to meet them.
  2. It now let me pack up and leave 45 minutes after my open house started if needed and head to the next one that same day.

Another common question is… “What is the best time or day for an open house?”

My response is… If the home is well priced, in a good location with a well advertised open house, the serious buyers will come virtually anytime. I have had success with week-ends, week-days, morning, afternoon, suppertime and evening. Test your market to see what works best, just don’t get hung up on the details.

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  • Neighborhood Preview – hand deliver to all the neighbors a Neighborhood VIP Preview for the hour before your open house. This gets the tire kickers out of the way but allows you to add them to your database and focus on prospects during the actual open house and not the neighbors.
  • This is a bit controversial for some but I place a sign on the front door asking people to wait while I am showing the home to buyers. This creates a bit of a line up like a club or restaurant and people want to see what the attraction is inside. This allows me to focus on the buyers one at a time and also qualifies those at the door who are serious or not. If they are not serious then they tend to leave.
  • I always try to follow the rule of  “2 sign maximum”. This means the open must be only 2 signs away from the main road and traffic flow. I find if a buyer has to follow multiple signs, streets and turns the attraction is just not there.
  • Always take the time to prepare the home for an open house and creating the “homey” feeling with candles, music, lighting, fireplaces, baking and the smell of cinnamon in the air.
  • Build a bigger buzz by organizing the realtors with other listings in the area to all hold an open house at the same time. More action will bring in more potential buyers and leads for everyone.
  • Take the time to prepare your handouts with material other than a business card and feature sheet like everyone else. Why not “The 10 Deadly Buying Mistakes” sheets or the “10 Benefits to a VIP or Direct Buyer Relationship with an Agent” form. If you pop me a note on the comments below I would be glad to send you the 10 benefits.
  • The last nugget for you is prepare a list of other similar homes to your listing and use Google mapping to prepare a map and list for your potential buyers attending the open. At the end of their tour ask them “do you like this home enough to buy it?” If they say no then tell them you are here for your sellers and want to respect their home and choose not to talk about other properties but have prepared a package of similar properties for them to take home with them. Then simply say…  “all that I would ask is you give me the courtesy of showing you any of these homes in this package should you wish to view them and I would love to meet with you another time and discuss the benefits of becoming a VIP or direct client of mine.”

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I hope these tips will take your opens to another level.

Strength and courage,

Wade

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