grow your real estate business Archives - Wade Webb Real Estate Coaching

The Power Of An Annual Client Event

Wade Webb on November 27, 2024

This is a great time of year and the upcoming holiday season for an annual client event. A client appreciation event is an opportunity to strengthen relationships, show gratitude, and create lasting memories.

For real estate agents, these events can also serve as a powerful marketing tool, helping to generate referrals and attract new listings from your database. By hosting a thoughtful and engaging appreciation party, you not only express your gratitude but position yourself as a trusted resource in your clients’ lives.

This is especially important for first-time homebuyers who may need additional support and homebuyer education. It may not be about education but showing that it’s available in a friendly context can work wonders.

How Do You Throw a Client Appreciation Party?

Throwing a successful client appreciation event is all about early planning, leaving a lasting impression, and engaging with your database in a meaningful way. Start by choosing a unique venue that offers a memorable experience. Next, consider the space and logistics—secure your venue and send out invitations well in advance.

A Memorable Experience: Hosting a holiday client appreciation party at your office is nice, but it doesn’t exactly scream “memorable experience!” And while hosting a holiday movie screening is a fun and popular idea but it doesn’t allow you the opportunity to talk and connect. It’s all about leaving a lasting impression. “Your holiday party is about rewarding your clients for being a part of your business and your life. Come up with something that’s going to reward them.
Get a Greeter: If you want your party to serve its intended purpose and be worth the money for you, you need to be there. By that I mean, get a greeter. You can’t talk with people and nurture relationships if you’re standing at the door all night. A greeter helps guests navigate the reception area, provides them their ticket or wristbands, and helps them with whatever else they need. Free up as much of your own time as possible so that you can simply connect with your past clients and the people they bring. The things you learn here can inform your touches later such as pop-bys, closing gift ideas, or other thoughtful gestures.
Think About Food: You don’t need to serve a lavish meal to impress your guests. Instead, focus on carefully selected appetizers that cater to both kids and adults. Donna’s party features a charcuterie board for adults and kid-friendly options like grilled cheese and soup. She also adds a fun twist with a hot chocolate bar, creating a unique experience that everyone can enjoy.
Event Promotion & Plan Early: Timing is everything when it comes to scheduling and promoting your party. Thursday is a great day to avoid conflicts with other holiday gatherings. Communications go out three weeks in advance, starting with an e-vite and followed by text messages to all her past and current clients, ensuring they know that they can bring whomever they’d like but must RSVP them.
It’s About Appreciation: While some agents may feel inclined to ask for referrals during their appreciation parties. It’s about showing appreciation and genuinely thanking them for working with you, not turning a thoughtful event into a reciprocal deal.” This strategy not only fosters goodwill but also naturally leads to referrals without the need for direct requests.
Use for Marketing: Successful client appreciation holiday parties are a goldmine for marketing. Hire a videographer to capture the event, including client testimonials, which you then share online and in email newsletters. This not only showcases her commitment to your clients but also serves as a powerful marketing tool for attracting new business.

Client Appreciation Event Ideas

Pay attention to what unique gems your city has to offer. Getting your clients tickets to Disneyland would obviously be a memorable experience but might not necessarily be a wise financial decision. You’d be surprised by the great experiences that can be had on a reasonable budget.

Local Art Galleries: Rent out a local art gallery for an evening. Clients can enjoy the art while mingling, and you can even feature local artists to enhance the community feel.
Community Centers: Utilize a community center that offers space for gatherings. This is a cost-effective option that can be decorated to fit your theme.
Winery or Brewery: Consider hosting your event at a local winery or brewery. Many offer tasting rooms and scenic views, providing a relaxed environment for your clients to enjoy. Some will even offer enough kid-friendly options and entertainment to make it a family-friendly event.
Outdoor Parks: If the weather permits, an outdoor picnic, or barbecue in a local park can be a fun and casual way to connect with clients. Bring in food trucks or caterers for a unique twist.
Culinary Classes: Host a cooking class at a local culinary school or restaurant. This interactive experience allows clients to bond over food while learning something new.
Historic Sites: Look for historic homes or buildings in your area that offer event space. The unique setting can provide a memorable backdrop for your appreciation event.
Cruise or Boat Tour: If you’re near a body of water, consider a sunset cruise or boat tour. This offers a relaxing and scenic way to celebrate your clients.

Feel free to reach out and share some of your amazing client event ideas and experiences. I trust this inspires you to host your first and not last event yourself.

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

Open House Strategies For Agents in 2024

Wade Webb on August 14, 2024

I always loved REALTOR© Open Houses to build my business and now is the time to prepare for the spring market and the open house season. Here are some of my personal favorite ways to prepare for and maximize your effectiveness and time invested into open houses.

How Do I Hire Help as A Realtor©?

Wade Webb on July 17, 2024

Awesome! I just got some deals under contract, and have a lot to look forward to, such as hours of paperwork, setting appointments, coordinating with attorneys, lenders, inspectors… and… best of all, I’ll have no more deals lined up when I’m done.

Sound familiar? If it does, it’s about time to start hiring some help – specifically in the form of a transaction coordinator. But there’s a lot to consider before you do, and that’s why I’ll walk you through the process in today’s blog. Before I go into what to look for in a transaction coordinator (TC) or where to find them, let’s start with understanding the role.

What Is a Real Estate Transaction Coordinator? So… What is a real estate transaction coordinator?

Simply put, a transaction coordinator is a dedicated role that handles all of the paperwork, organization, and communication associated with a transaction. Depending on what state you live in, you may need to do some training to become a certified transaction coordinator, though certification isn’t required everywhere.

This position is all about organizational and communication skills, so making this your first hire is one of the surest ways to make your life a lot easier.

What Does a Transaction Coordinator Do? Now, we’ve already touched on it, but exactly what does a transaction coordinator do? Once you get a client under contract, a transaction coordinator is the one who takes the ball and carries that transaction all the way to close. That means they’re responsible for:

Scheduling inspections
Coordinating with the closing attorney
Coordinating with the lender
Handling all the paperwork
Taking care of the client, answering all their questions, and making this a pleasant experience during a typically stressful time

So, your Transaction Coordinator is more than just a paperwork processor – they’re vital to the image of your brand.

Do I Need a Transaction Coordinator?

I’m glad you’re busy, but ask yourself, “Am I busy working or am I swamped with ‘busy work’?” If what you’re doing isn’t bringing in the clients and scaling your business, then it’s something you should be paying someone else to do.

Having a TC will not only help you scale your business but also keep it running by preventing a realtor’s worst enemy – burnout (more helpful tips on avoiding that here). Sure, there are plenty of other roles that could help save you time such as an assistant or another agent, but for my money, the transactional coordinator is an essential.

What Should I Look for in a Transaction Coordinator?

First off, let’s start with the basics to look for in every person you hire. Even if you’ve never hired anyone before, you have a list of the traits you’re looking for memorized so you can spot talent when it arises. For that, check out this blog I wrote about what to look for in a new hire. Next, there are four main things to add to the list:

Customer service oriented
Knowledgeable about real estate
Proactive rather than reactive
Organized

Customer Service Oriented:

Remember, this isn’t just a paperwork gig. It’s a client-facing role. You need someone with excellent communication skills who will ultimately be representing your brand during a portion of the home buying process.

Is this person pleasant to talk to? Would you be comfortable with having them speak for you in your absence? A Transaction Coordinator can make or break your online reviews and ability to earn referrals.

Knowledgeable About Real Estate:

Now, a Transaction Coordinator doesn’t need to have a real estate license or be an expert on the local market, but as the title implies, they need to understand every step of the process.

Even if they haven’t been in real estate before, prior administrative experience is essential because they’ll be comfortable enough with systems to focus on familiarizing themselves with your world. With this position in particular, it would absolutely be worth paying extra for someone who has worked in the industry before.

Proactive Rather than Reactive:

You already have the deal in your hand, but don’t forget it could still slip through your fingers. Your TC should be the one comfortable reaching out to people first, checking in on clients before they have a problem, and handling small mistakes before they become big ones.

Also, they need to be honest with you about their workload and comfortable saying when they are overwhelmed. Your Transaction Coordinator should be able to cut you off from giving them more clients if they feel like it could compromise all their others.

Organized:

This is a hybrid job – half client care and half administrative. If you were to hire a salesperson for this role, they’d excel at one half and might make some crucial mistakes on the paperwork.

Virtual vs. In-Person. Online Transaction Coordinators are a big trend right now, and they certainly aren’t a bad option, but there are several pros and cons to consider.

Pros of An Online Transaction Coordinator

Less expensive
Likely has more experience in real estate
Easier to replace or find a temporary fill-in if something goes wrong
May be willing to work part-time – if you don’t need a full-time TC

Cons of a Virtual Transaction Coordinator

May not look as good for your brand, as in-person meetings are important to long-term client relationships
May compromise the quality and thoroughness of their work
May be living in a different time zone and have limited hours
You’ll be less able to integrate them into all aspects of the team

Ultimately though, the best option is the one that fits your situation.

Where to Find a Transaction Coordinator. Now that you have your checklist, where are you going to find this magical person?

If you’re looking for an online Transaction Coordinator, it’s as easy as going to Google, where you’ll find plenty of lists featuring reputable services like ConciergeClose, Transactly, and MyOutDesk, but you could also put ads out on LinkedIn and Indeed.

If you want to go the in-person route, run those same online ads, but also try reaching out to other agents in your area – this is probably the best course to go, anyway. Get in touch with local recruiting companies, and always make sure you’re able to interview candidates first.

Questions to Ask. Finally, we’re here at the interview. What kinds of questions are you going to ask? I’d start with:

What prior work in real estate do you have?
Do you know how many clients you can handle at a time?
How many closings can you do in a month?
When you get overwhelmed, will you ask to stop taking on clients or continue to take on more?
Will you be able to work outside your normal hours if something comes up?
Have you ever used the systems that we do? If not, are you willing to learn? (And ask yourself, do you have time to teach them?)

If you’re looking for more interview questions, you can find a longer list here.

Onward to Your Best Use of Time! I hope that this has helped, and I hope that you find the right TC who is going to help you even more. Now, I know I gave you a ton of criteria to look for, but we need to keep in mind that there are no unicorns out there.

Sometimes the right person isn’t always the perfect person (you can go ahead and steal that line and apply it to anything in life). If you’re drowning in administrative work and can’t seem to find your dream transaction coordinator, it’s worth hiring someone who is at least capable, ready, and willing to learn. Best of luck in your search!

Click to Download This Free Guide To Hiring Help….

Strength and Courage,

Wade

Dos and Don’ts For Agent Email Marketing

Wade Webb on July 10, 2024

You’ve undoubtedly heard that you need to be sending marketing emails. Real estate email marketing is known as the “Greatest marketing channel of all time.” But here’s the kicker… Bad marketing emails can hurt you just as much as good ones can help establish your market credibility.

Real estate email marketing requires precision and not generic ChatGPT copy which would only demonstrate how out of touch you are with your audience. This week, I’ll show you some of the best real estate email marketing practices, how to write marketing emails, and the mistakes to avoid.

What is real estate email marketing?

Real estate email marketing involves using email campaigns to connect with potential buyers, sellers, and other stakeholders in the real estate market. By building a targeted email list, segmenting the audience, and delivering personalized, engaging content such as property listings, market updates, and home-buying tips, you can nurture leads and build strong relationships.

Automated email tools and performance analytics can help you optimize these campaigns, ensuring timely and relevant communication that drives engagement and sales.

Best Practices and Tips for Real Estate Email Marketing:

Provide More Value – Here is the No. 1 rule of email marketing for realtors which even experienced marketers violate way too often: Give more than you are asking for. You can have some purely promotional emails, but the entire idea of “brand content” is to establish trust and form a relationship with your audience.

Every email should have a message, and if you don’t have something of value to contribute, then don’t send an email. If you don’t know what to say, it’s simple. Identify problems and offer the corresponding solutions. It’s actually a good idea to come up with a few real estate email marketing templates to take the pressure of writing format out of the equation so you can focus on the message.

Be Conversational – Besides delivering value, the second most important way to establish trust and familiarity is through your voice – what you say and how you say it. Adapting a conversational, honest, and friendly tone will make your real estate email marketing seems more personal and less salesy (which is one of the biggest mistakes below). I’m not saying you should be overly casual and say, “What’s up, how’s it going’?” but also, don’t be so formal that no one can hear YOU in there.

Use Stylistic Techniques – Keep sentences short and clear but also pay attention to the rhythm and cadence of what you’re saying. Just read a sentence out loud to know what I’m talking about. Stylistic techniques can make sentences flow more naturally together.

Anyone who says you can’t start a sentence with “And” or “But” or “Just,” doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Use ellipses and exclamation points sparingly but use them to add stylistic effect if that’s how you speak! It’s not about being grammatically correct; it’s about what’s easy to read and makes sense to express your voice. Use whatever you can to make your writing more clear, interesting, and consistent with your brand.

Be Yourself. Are you…

Funny

Motivational

Down to earth

Information driven

Quirky?

Own it. Your real estate email marketing should sound like your brand, which should sound like you. To sound more like yourself, it’s important to write about things you really care about. Write down what you value, what you’re interested in, and how you can genuinely help people. A word of warning, though: People can sniff out insincerity and manipulation from a mile away. Don’t ever do that. Your success will be in direct correlation to your authenticity.

Leverage Vulnerability – Every now and then, it’s a good idea to share something about yourself that shows a little vulnerability, as if you’re sharing a super condensed blog post. Was there ever a time when you were in a bad position in life where the services that you now provide could’ve helped you? Use it.

Tell a Story – Another fantastic way to avoid the curse of sleazy sales language in your real estate email marketing is to tell an interesting story to demonstrate your point. If you can provide value, use a trustworthy brand voice, and tell a story within just a few lines, then you just wrote a masterpiece email. Take an email you sent recently and try to come up with a super short story that represents your main point. This exercise will make you a master at writing emails.

Understand the Sales Funnel for Better CTAs – What are the stages of your customer journey? I know you’d love to just send someone an email and then they decide to list their home with you, but that’s a big decision that requires more familiarity. It’s critical to understand the marketing sales funnel to formulate effective calls to action. You want to make the leap seem as small and secure as possible – the obvious correct decision. So, instead of directly trying to get someone to list their home in an email, offer a CMA or annual equity report – something free that purely adds value without a price tag – and focus your real estate email marketing content around that.

Focus on Subject Lines and Hooks – There are a few ways to create a great subject line/opening hook:

Urgency

Curiosity

Controversy

Exclusivity

Benefits

Personal

Transparency

Below are some examples of real estate email marketing subject lines for each.

Email Marketing Subject Lines for Urgency

The window of time to sell for more is closing.

Quality homes are disappearing from the St. Louis market.

Do not list your home if the agent doesn’t know this…

Email Marketing Subject Lines for Curiosity

The real secret to getting more than the Zestimate.

The biggest mistake when selling your home.

Email Marketing Subject Lines for Controversy

I’m not saying that you should ever say something controversial that would isolate a segment of your audience. What I’m talking about here is grabbing attention by addressing a pre-existing controversy.

Selling through a portal is a mistake

Your home might not be worth what you thought

Mortgage rates won’t stop investors (this one also raises urgency)

Email Marketing Subject Lines for Exclusivity

Only 2 Equity Review Spots Available This Week!

{{Name}}, I just had a look at your Zestimate…

Personal Email Marketing Subject Lines

How I’m handling the new law changes

How I helped a family fulfill their dream

When I couldn’t afford my rent

Email Marketing Subject Lines for Transparency

Just say what’s inside the email. No gimmicks. This is particularly important if the email is particularly important and must be opened. That is not the time to get clever and start putting benefits in your subject line. Stick with something clear and simple.

Common Mistakes Made in Real Estate Email Marketing:

Being Too Salesy – It’s obvious and we already covered it, but it needs to be said again. This is a huge mistake. If you’re constantly harping on about the benefits of your services using bullet points, you’d be better off not sending the email at all.

Going Too Long or Too Short – There is no “correct” length for your real estate email marketing. In general, shorter is always better for an email, but never let space get in the way of your message, your benefits, or your brand voice. If you can stick to just three or four lines, that’s amazing, but if you have a longer story to tell, use the space you need to tell it if the hook is good enough to keep people reading. Once you’ve written your email, go through line by line and cut any words you can possibly stand to cut. I’ll be you there is a way to rephrase sentences to heighten the clarity and save some space.

Lame Adjectives – Awesome, Stunning, Cool, Winning, Best. Be careful with these and use them sparingly. Sometimes a little sales language is warranted and emphasizes your point, but often it’ll make you sound insincere.

Always Asking for Something – The opposite of providing value is sending out too many promotional emails that only state the benefits of your products and services. This does not create a relationship – it makes you annoying and people will become numb to it. Now, you could say that your services provide value and by getting people to use your services, you are giving value-add emails. That’s a lazy excuse for running lazy real estate email marketing. Yes, you can include a CTA in every email you send but try to offer something else in each send, even if it’s just insights into who you are and what you value.

Losing Focus & Going Off-Track – Each email should have one focused topic connected to one CTA – unless it’s a newsletter. You should be able to easily express the intention of your email in one sentence and provide a clear next step for everyone who reads it.

A newsletter is a little different because it will contain multiple bits of information which are relevant for different audiences. Be sure to clearly separate and organize the sections here so that people can get hooked by the headlines that resonate most with them.

Your Marketing Controls Your Market. The strength of every email you send will determine the success of your real estate email marketing campaigns. And the strength of your campaigns across email and every other channel you’re working will determine the effectiveness of your marketing – and that’s the lifeblood of your business.

Strength and Courage

Wade

Communicating Your Value Proposition in Real Estate

Wade Webb on May 1, 2024

Is there any competition in your marketplace? You and I both know there are a ton of real estate agents out there! There is this myth that all agents and all companies are the same and do all the same things. The challenge is how to separate yourself from the competition…

Here’s the truth… If you’re not unique, then you’re weak! Be committed to creating a better experience for your customers because you know your unique factors! What unique factors do you have that create a better experience for your clients? What is your value proposition, and how are you communicating it fast?! It is amazing to me how so many agents struggle responding to the questions, so why you? Why your company? Why now?

Let’s talk about Your Super Bowl Commercial. Imagine if you invested $5,000,000 in a Super Bowl commercial! It would be 30-60 seconds long and be seen by 114,000,000 people. What would your pitch be? What would you say about yourself and why should the customer want to work with you? On a smaller scale you are advertising yourself every day… When someone says, “you are in real estate?”, what do you say? Is it unique? Remember if I am not unique, then I am weak!

How Do I Create My Powerful Pitch?

Start with a problem. This is a hook, and the reason a customer should be interested. The goal here is to articulate a problem that connects with the kind of customers you want to serve. When you speak to people through their problems, you are speaking life into them engaging with you.
Amplify a problem. Use quick examples… Say something like “buying a home is easy…” Then list out some of the problems most of your customers might face. Remember to think about this from your customer’s perspective and the types of questions they are asking… Questions like: So, what? What’s in it for me? Can you prove it?
Offer Your Solution. Talk about facts, data, proof, and credibility. You can even use a script. “Clients work with us because we have the experience, we sell homes faster, and get our customers more money. We pride ourselves on customer experience and relationships, and we have 7x times more five-star reviews than any real estate agent in our marketplace. Our number one aim is to make sure you are our next five-star review, and we want to deliver that experience to you. These are my competitive advantages (restate them) that you can hold me accountable to.” Remember, even if you are a brand-new agent, you can still use the facts and data from your office (be honest and disclose that) to offer the solution to your customers.
C.T.A. You’ve got to have some kind of call to action! It could be something like visit our site, like our page, schedule an appointment, or sign the contract. Remember if you don’t close you can’t win!

The Most Persuasive Words. Have you heard of the 12 words that are the most persuasive? They are: You, Money, Save, New, Results, Easy, Health, Safety, Love, Discovery, Proven, and Guarantee.

Think about your marketing presentation; are you using those words? The most engaging agents know the words to say and how to say them, get people’s attention, and stand out!
– “Marketing Plan Sell’s Homes For More.”
– “I Create Buying Opportunities for my Buyer, Not Wait For Buying Opportunities.”

Sellers want to hire an agent who sells homes, not just list homes; there is a difference. The agent that nets them more money and sell them faster than everyone else in their marketplace. Buyers are looking for the agent who finds and creates their buying opportunity for them, not the agent who sits and waits and watches the hot sheets every day. Buyers want to know that you negotiate more off the asking price than everyone else in their marketplace. Now that is VALUE!!

You and the Competition.

Listen, when you follow all these steps you are creating a degree of separation between you and the competition. When you can articulate your uniqueness and how you can solve problems for your clients you are standing out from the competition! This makes it much easier for your clients to choose you over all those other agents in the marketplace. Take the time to really invest in your pitch and identify what it is that makes you and your experience unique. What are the problems that buyers and sellers are facing today in your marketplace? What do you do to provide solutions to the buyer and seller? You only have seconds to engage, persuade, and differentiate yourself from the competition. I challenge you to work on your power pitch and really stand out from your competitors.

Strength and courage,

Wade

How To Increase Capacity To Take More Action

Wade Webb on January 26, 2022

“I wish I could do more.” I hear that statement a lot from agents. The demands on their time, their skills, and their presence are always escalating, always making it seem like there’s never enough of them to go around. Usually, the emphasis is on the more in that sentence: I wish I could do more. More listings, more sales, more marketing, more emails and calls. The escalation is in outputs, checked-off boxes that make those around us feel better. We end up scheduling ourselves to the nth degree, increasing our activity while not necessarily increasing our accomplishment.

The more that we’re chasing isn’t wrong. It’s part of our journey as we grow, we expand our capacity, and with expanded capacity comes increased output. But increasing our output doesn’t correlate with increasing our impact—sometimes, to do more, we need to do different. There are three steps you must take to expand your capacity to act:

1. STOP Doing Only Those Things You’ve Done Before and START Doing Only Those Things You Could and Should Do – The first step toward success is becoming good at what you know how to do, but once you’ve mastered what you know, you begin to discover other things you could do. Doing what you’ve done before increases your efficiency, but it doesn’t do much for your capacity. Doing new things leads to innovation and new discoveries, which yields new things that you should be doing—things that likely replace those things you’ve done before.

2. STOP Doing What is Expected and START Doing What is Unexpected – Let me go ahead and clear this up: what most people never expect is to have their expectations exceeded. What others define as a ceiling, you define as a floor, and then seek to go up from there. Being an agent who gives in to the inertia of the daily routine, the same old same old, may allow you to be efficient but it will never allow you to be effective. You must push past the minimum and seek to do something beyond what’s expected. Show up early. Stay late. Listen well. Praise more. Reward faithfully. Share willingly.

3. STOP Doing Important Things Occasionally and START Doing Important Things Daily – If it’s important, it’s worth doing. That’s the leader’s mindset. Yet so often we surrender our time to the urgent or the pressing or the “needed” instead of to what’s important. To do what’s not important each day yields nothing for you or your leadership; it merely uses up your time. And to do what’s important only occasionally doesn’t lead to the consistency that compounds into results. You must do what is important daily if you want to achieve expansion in your capacity.

Have you been feeling the pressure to do more as an agent? If so, let me encourage you to intentionally invest time in expanding your capacity to act. Doing the things you should be doing, doing them beyond anyone’s expectations, and doing it daily is the key to expanding your capacity in ways you can’t yet imagine. The world is not made better by our intentions; it is made better by our intentional actions. As business owners, we must do more, but we must do more of what makes us better. We must increase our capacity for helpful and productive action.

Strength and courage,
Wade

Is Your Real Estate Branding Causing You to Lose Money?

Wade Webb on January 12, 2022

Have you branded your real estate business using your name? Does your branding reference what you do, where you do it, and who you serve? Do you have a brand that is hyperlocal or niched based? If not, you are losing potential customers because you are marketing with an ineffective brand. A great brand immediately calls the product to mind. To illustrate this point, how many of these brands do you recognize? The “UnCola,” the “Ultimate Driving Machine,” and the “Breakfast of Champions” (i.e., Seven-Up, BMW, and Wheaties). My personal choice for best-branded real estate brokerage is “Next Home.” Your name: the least effective way to brand your business when most agents and brokerages launch their businesses, they seldom have any training on what constitutes an effective brand. The result is they usually end up branding with their name. Here’s why branding with your name is a poor idea: Please Note: If you are currently branding with your name and have had success in doing so, do NOT disturb what’s working. Instead use the “niched” branding strategies outlined below as additional sources for generating more leads.

1. Interference – Do you have trouble remembering names? Almost everyone does and for good reason. Each day you are bombarded with thousands of names of people, places, products, and companies. All this incoming data results in what psychologists call “interference.” To illustrate how interference works, what did you have for dinner lunch yesterday? If you were able to answer the question, the information is stored in your long-term memory. On the other hand, can you describe what you had for dinner 365 days ago? Chances are you can’t. The reason is you have had 364 other dinners since then.

2. The Ebbinghaus Curve of Forgetting. – Ebbinghaus’s research shows that we lose half of what we learned within the first hour after learning it. Within two days, that number climbs to almost 75 percent. In other words, even if the potential client remembers your name, 48 hours from now there’s only a 25 percent chance they will be able to recall it.

3. Your broker’s brand is usually better known. – Broker brand alongside your brand. My home was heavily prospected by agents sending out monthly postcards. I don’t remember any of the agents’ names, but I do remember who they worked for: Royal Lepage, Coldwell Banker, Keller Williams, and RE/MAX. Brokerage names are usually more visible due to multiple yard signs, their print and digital advertising, plus all the marketing pieces their agents send out that are branded with the brokerage name. If your brokerage also brands with a name (i.e., Berkshire Hathaway, Coldwell Banker, Keller Williams, Sotheby’s etc.) it’s even harder for potential clients to remember your name. They’re more likely to remember your broker’s big For Sale Sign as opposed to your name rider.

4. Name branding usually makes a business more difficult to sell. – Branding your business with your name also makes it more difficult to sell. “Wade Webb Realty” doesn’t work as a brokerage name for someone named Tom Smith.

5. No reference to the real estate industry. A strong brand references “real estate” or “properties,” yet many of the major brands have confusing name brands as well. For example, is “Coldwell Banker” a bank? Before Prudential was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway, I had a number of clients who commented, “I thought Prudential sold insurance, not real estate.”

6. No reference to your city, state, province, postal or zip code. – One of the biggest mistakes agents make, especially on their websites, is failure to include the state and zip or postal code where they specialize. To illustrate why this matters, did you know that there are 22 places in the U.S. named “Paris”? Consumers typically search by street name, city, and zip code. Always include these on your website, social media sites, plus any digital or print marketing you do. People don’t remember names, but they do remember features and functions. To illustrate how this works, assume my niche is selling probate properties. If I were to meet you at an open house, you would probably remember me as the blond lady who specializes in probate sales as opposed to remembering my name. When you need me to help sell a probate property eight months later, you will probably remember you met a blond lady who specialized in selling probate properties in Austin. To find me, you would probably enter “Austin,” “probate,” “real estate,” or “properties.” If several agents are serving this niche, you could easily see my profile and identify that I was the agent you met at that open house. Use these steps to expand your branding. Here are the steps to take to make sure leads who don’t remember your name can still find you: Use words or phrases that show you are in the real estate business: “real estate,” “homes,” “properties,” etc.

Reference the geographical location and/or the market segments that you serve. For example, do you have a geographical farm or specific subdivision where you specialize? Do you specialize in specific types of properties such as luxury estates, new construction, relocation, resort properties, second homes, 55+ communities, etc.? Do you serve a specific profession or type of customer? Examples include home-based businesses, seniors, couples in transitions, distressed properties, people who share your religion or politics, charities, clients born outside the U.S., investors, green or environmentally friendly, military, loft living, Mommy Market, golf properties, etc.

7. Putting your new brand to work. – We’re still at a point in time where you can build a strong digital real estate presence at virtually no cost. For example, you can set up a Facebook or Instagram business page for each niche or specialty market you serve. Add as much data as possible to that page and post regular updates. It’s also smart to create a Facebook and Instagram business page for each listing you take. Be sure to include the street address, city, state, and zip code as part of the name. Your clients will share these sites with their friends and followers, giving you free exposure to their contacts. These are also a tremendous conversion tool on listing appointments. In terms of your website, you can set up a separate subdomain that redirects back to your main site, although you can set these pages up to look as if they are your home page. Alternatively, you can also set them up as landing pages. The secret in getting conversions is to provide property reports and other data that would motivate web visitors to give you their contact information.

The bottom line is while it may be tempting to keep using your existing brand, going hyperlocal and having the highly niched branding strategies discussed here will give you a huge advantage when it comes to potential customers finding you, no matter where you meet them.

Strength and courage,
Wade

Agents Boost Most Read Posts For 2021

Wade Webb on January 5, 2022

2021 was another great year for Agents Boost thanks to you our readers. Again we had thousands of visitors from countries all over the world checking out our new and seasoned posts. Out of our years of contributions the 10 Ten read post by our agents for the year were as follows.

1. F.O.R.D. – Learn the Secret to Engage Your Clients

2. Powerful Pre Listing Appointment Questionnaire

3. The Top 7 Prospecting Methods In Real Estate

4. The Secrets to Getting More Offers Accepted in Todays Market

5. Shocking Real Estate Sales Stats That Will Change How You Do Business

6. Do You Have Systems, Checklists and Processes?

7. The Top Agents Daily Checklist

8. Getting More Listings In 2021

9. Must Read Books For Real Estate Agents In 2021

10. How Do I Schedule More Real Estate Appointments?

Strength and Courage,

Wade

Why Most Real Estate Agents Fail In The Business

Wade Webb on November 24, 2021

The real estate profession can be one of the most rewarding for many reasons. A few of the best things I love about being a professional real estate agent is the flexibility of my schedule, unlimited income potential, and of course, helping people with one of the largest transactions of their entire lives.

Most successful real estate agents are able to provide way more benefits than drawbacks of being a real estate professional. One thing that is rarely discussed about the real estate profession is the alarming percentage of agents who fail to succeed in the business. Depending on the source, the percentage of real estate agents that fail in the business within the first 5 years ranges between 85-90%.

When you think about it, nearly 9 of 10 new agents can expect to fail, which is an eye opener. I hear my coaching clients saying they were working with an agent who was brand new in the business. Long story short, the transaction didn’t go as planned and did not close. The buyer’s agent was pretty difficult to work with and certainly didn’t do his client justice with the service they provided which played a significant role in the deal falling apart.

This led me to start asking myself, is this agent going to make it in the business? What could be the reason why the agent isn’t going to make it?

This week we look at the top 10 reasons why real estate agents fail. If you’re thinking about getting your real estate license, are newly licensed, or are a 20 year veteran, you need to keep in your mind why most agents are failing in the business. Being aware of these reasons why real estate agents fail can greatly reduce the chance that you’re going to fall victim to the startling statistic of the percentage of agents failing in the business.

1. They Don’t Work Hard Enough. – Being a successful entrepreneur takes a lot of hard work. It doesn’t matter what industry, starting a business is going to mean long hours and lots of blood, sweat, and tears. One of the top reasons why real estate agents fail is because they simply do not work hard enough. Successful real estate agents work odd and long hours. There are few successful agents who work “banker hours” of 8 AM – 5 PM, Monday through Friday. Being a successful real estate agent means working many nights and weekends and being available via phone or e-mail nearly 24 hours a day. Advice: Find out what successful real estate agents are doing on a daily basis. Learning the habits of top real estate agents can go a long way. It’s no guarantee that what one agent is doing to build their business is going to work for the next, but the work ethic of top agents is often very similar.

2. They Get Involved In Real Estate For The Wrong Reasons. – Selling real estate is not for everyone, end of story. Another reason why most real estate agents fail is because they get involved in real estate for the wrong reasons. One of the most common reasons why people attempt to sell real estate is because they think all real estate agents make boatloads of money. This is a huge real estate myth and actually is the furthest from the truth. The average real estate agent makes less than $40,000 per year. Another very common reason people obtain their real estate license is because they love “looking at houses” or like watching shows on HGTV. Being a successful real estate agent is so much more than being a professional door opener. Becoming a professional real estate agent for one of the two reasons above is not a good idea. It’s important to get involved in real estate for the right reasons, otherwise, you may be another real estate agent that fails in the business. Advice: Make sure before getting involved in real estate that you evaluate why you want to sell real estate. If the answer is that you have a desire to help people with one of the biggest purchases of their lives, than real estate could be a great career for you.

3. They Don’t Save Enough Money To Live On. – Successful real estate agents spend money to build their business because they know how important it is. Whether it’s investing in promoting themselves to their sphere of influence or using top real estate marketing strategies to sell homes, it costs money. Many real estate agents fail because they don’t realize that it costs money to run their business and when they realize it does, they don’t have enough money to live on. Not having money to make car payments, student loan payments, buy groceries, or to buy other necessities is another reason why real estate agents fail. Advice: Before selling real estate, it’s extremely important you have enough money saved so that you can pay your bills and have money to also buy lives necessities. It’s highly recommended that before you attempt to sell real estate full time with no other means of incoming capital, that you have at least 6 months of money saved to pay all your bills.

4. They’re Selling Real Estate Part Time. – Another popular reason why real estate agents fail is because they’re attempting to sell real estate part time. Now, before part time real estate agents lynch me in the comments below, I acknowledge that it’s feasible to be a successful part time agent. The reality, however, is that the majority of part time real estate agents fail to make it in the business. Why do many part time real estate agents fail? Well for one, many buyers and sellers have to decide whether to hire a part time real estate agent or not. Many buyers and sellers will avoid hiring a part time agent at all costs, simply because they’re not readily available like a full time agent would be. Nothing against part time agents, but this is the thought process of many consumers. Advice: If you’re going to sell real estate part time, remember, honesty is the best policy. If you’re interviewing with a buyer or seller, explain to them that you’re a part time agent so that there are no problems in the future. If your full time position allows you to answer phone calls relating to real estate, explain to them that you’re able to answer calls and inquiries. If not, make sure you’re upfront about that as well. Being honest with buyers and sellers about your part time position will get you many more victories than it will defeats.

5. They Don’t Set Goals Or Have Action Plans In Place. – Goal setting and action plans are a critical part of any successful business. Most real estate agents fail because they don’t understand how to properly set goals or create action plans. Successful real estate agents are constantly setting and reviewing goals and action plans. It’s not as simple as setting a yearly goal and not revisiting it until the end of the year. It’s constantly being aware of your progress towards your goals and action plans. Advice: A few of the most important goals for real estate agents to set for themselves relate to their sales. Goals such as the number of transactions and number of sales are obviously important. Other goals and action plans, such as, how many weekly prospecting calls will be made, are also critical. Bottom line, setting goals and action plans can make agents more accountable which, in many cases, will lead to better results.

6. They Don’t Know How To Lead Generate. – One of the best things about being a real estate professional are the numerous ways business can be generated. The problem though is that many real estate agents fail in the business because they don’t know how to lead generate. One common trait of successful real estate agents is that they understand how they’re going to generate new leads for their business. For example, there are many PROs and CONs of open houses, one benefit being that open houses can be effective for generating leads for agents. On the other hand, a successful agent may determine that open houses are not the way they want to generate leads and they’d prefer to get leads through online marketing or social media. The commonality is that successful agents will know how to generate leads which keeps new business opportunities coming in. Advice: One of the first things that new agents should do is decide how they want to generate new leads. Are you the type of person who wants to door knock? Hold open houses every weekend? Utilize Facebook ads to get real estate leads? Whatever the answer is, knowing how to lead generate will greatly reduce the number of real estate agents who fail.

7. They Don’t Understand How Or Where To Market Themselves And Their Business. – A fairly common reason why most real estate agents fail in the business is because they don’t understand how or where to market. There are dozens of places a real estate professional can market themselves and their business nowadays because of the internet. Real estate agents fail because they often use the internet as a “look at ME” venue. There are so many real estate agents promoting on their Facebook pages about their latest and greatest listing or about the number of homes they sold in a week. While this may seem like an effective strategy of marketing themselves and their business, it’s actually a great way to get unfollowed or unfriended. The majority of your connections on the internet aren’t in the market for your new listing or don’t care if you’ve sold 3 homes in a week, however, sharing with your connections helpful information relating to real estate may interest them enough to read it or share with someone they know who maybe making a move in the near future. For example, if you were to share on your social networks a helpful article you wrote on the most important steps to buying a house, there is a much higher probability your friends and family shares your post with their friends and family because it’s helpful, not self-promotional. The same can be said about a helpful video you create for first time home buyers in your area about first time home buyer programs and grants. Advice: Successful real estate agents, those who make it in the business for extended periods of time, aren’t always promoting themselves. Successful agents know the importance of providing value when marketing themselves. In the long run, agents who’re viewed as an authoritative real estate professional will be more successful. As your considering a new marketing technique, always ask yourself, is this going to be helpful for others? Is your marketing piece providing value? If the answer is no, resist the strong urge to use the marketing technique as it may end up making your look foolish or even worse, lose friends or potential business.

8. They Believe That Being Successful In Real Estate Is Easy. – Real estate agents fail to make it long in the business not only because they don’t work hard, but they also believe that being successful is easy. The top agents in any real estate market didn’t get to where they are easily, in fact, they’ve likely worked for years and years perfecting their skills and talents. For example, the top real estate agents in ________ didn’t drink a magic potion that made them multi-million dollar producers. These agents weren’t just “given” business, they’ve earned it. The same can be said in any city in the world. Being successful in real estate is anything but easy. Advice: Even though there is a common misconception that top agents often get to where they are easily, don’t fall for this misconception. Being a successful real estate agent is not easy and also doesn’t happen overnight!

9. They’re Difficult To Work With. – When you’re working in a profession that deals with other people, it’s extremely important that working with you is enjoyable. Another common reason real estate agents fail to make it very long in the business is because they’re difficult to work with. Whether it’s because buyers and sellers don’t enjoy working with an agent or other local agents don’t enjoy working with an agent, being difficult to work with is a surefire way to fail as a real estate agent. Advice: When working with buyers and sellers, always keep in mind that there are hundreds or even thousands of other agents in any given market they could chose to work with. If working with an agent is difficult, it’s easy enough for a buyer or seller to find a new agent that’s easy to work with. An agent who has a good reputation with other agents also has a greater probability of making it in the business. Many real estate agents fail because they’re difficult to work with and other agents will do everything they can to avoid working with them.

10. They Don’t Know How To Overcome The Tough Times. – There are dozens of reasons why real estate markets are different, in fact, markets can be significantly different even if they’re close in proximity. This means that one market could be strong while another is weak. Another reason why real estate agents fail to make it in the business is because they can’t make it through the tough times. While a real estate market is strong, it’s common to see the majority of agents doing well and thriving in the business. Since real estate is cyclical, it’s inevitable that a tough market is in the future, which is when you get to see if a real estate agent is going to fail or not. Many real estate agents fail because they cannot power through a poor real estate market. Advice: Always plan for tough times ahead. It’s extremely important to continually grow your pipeline, number of contacts, and your overall business even during a strong market. Successful agents are always learning and evolving how they can market themselves to strengthen their business further. Bottom line, don’t get complacent during a strong real estate market!

There is plenty of business to go around in the real estate industry. The percentage of real estate agents failing is way too high. It’s extremely important that all real estate agents, whether new agents or seasoned veterans, realize why real estate agents fail. If the number of strong real estate professionals entering the business increased, it would be good for the industry and profession. Stronger agents entering and staying in the business would mean a better experience for buyers, sellers, and other real estate professionals.

Strength and courage,
Wade