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2018/2019 Tech Leaders for Real Estate Industry

Wade Webb on November 28, 2018

Whether you’re running a top producing team or just starting out, having the best real estate software at your disposal will put you well ahead of other agents. Is this finally the year the real estate industry gets the disruptive tools and apps other industries enjoy? Read on to check out our 20 top picks for the best time saving, lead generating, and innovative real estate software:

1. kvCORE (Lead Generation, CRM)

One of the early movers in the all-in-one real estate lead generation and CRM platforms, Inside Real Estate’s kvCORE platform is finally ready for its close up. Their team focused platform for 2018 boasts lead generation, a robust CRM with AI features like behavioral lead response, text messaging, and even an auto dialer.

2. Structurely (AI Chatbots, Lead Qualifying)

While AI chatbots have been threatening (not in a skynet sense, but you get the idea…) to “disrupt” real estate lead nurturing for a long time now. The only problem is that the vast majority of solutions on offer weren’t quite ready for prime time. They were clunky, slow, or too robot-like to be useful. Structurely’s AI chatbot Aisa (Artificial Intelligence Sales Agent) Holmes allows you to qualify your web leads while you’re out showing and pitching. It also talks to a ton of your favorite lead gen/CRM platform’s like Real Geeks, BoomTown, Kunversion, Placester and more.

3. Amitree Folio (Super Lightweight Transaction Management)

Amitree’s Folio has always been the well kept secret weapon of many newbie agents. After all, it’s free, sits right on top of Gmail, and offers some pretty amazing transaction management and organization tasks for busy Realtors. Even better, Sand Hill Road has taken notice. Amitree recently closed a $7 million round of funding to build out more functionality into an already fairly robust platform. Get on board while it’s still free!

4. BombBomb

After interviewing dozens of Real Trends 500 agents over the years, one thing really stands out. As you might imagine, they’re all absolutely amazing communicators in person or over skype. It’s almost like a hypnotists act. You just can’t help but trust whatever it is their saying and leave the conversation wanting to hear more. It’s uncanny. Of course when you get emails or texts from the same agents… well the magic not only fades, it pretty much disappears. This is why almost every single real estate tech pundit from Gary Vaynerchuck to Peter Lorimer agree that video is the future of real estate marketing. That’s why BombBomb is a must have for any serious agent. It let’s you create video at tehe drop of a hat and reach your leads where they’re most likely to pay attention, via email and text. They also offer lead capture, landing pages, analytics and more with your account.

5. Contactually (Relationship Focused CRM)

While it may not be free, Contactually helps you automate and manage your most valuable asset as a Realtor. Your relationships. While many CRM’s let you tag leads and send out drip campaigns, Contactually takes it a step further and offers complex automation and lead nurturing features in order to help you build and maintain relationships. It will even use AI to tell you when the best time to reach out to different leads is.

Contactually is one of the best platforms for Realtors who are serious about automating their relationship marketing and reaching the right lead, with the right message, at the right time.

6. Cloud MLX

One of the most common complaints I here from newer Realtors is that their MLS interfaces look and feel like they were built in 1994. Tiny fonts, dozens of tiny checkboxes and dropdown menus, and a design aesthetic that screams AOL 95. Blah. Want to know why? Your MLS doesn’t have the time, resources, or expertise to design and build sleek, modern tools to access their treasure trove of data. That’s where companies like W+R Studios come in.

Their Cloud MLX app sits right on top of your mls and gives you a Google-like way to access that data faster, easier, and without the headaches.

During a recent chat with W+R CEO Greg Robertson, he let me in on the mantra that helps them make such innovative software: Make it simple, make it elegant, and make it easy to use. Cloud MLX nails all three and then some. Even better, Cloud MLX is designed to work seamlessly with the other apps in their Cloud Agent Suite; Cloud CMA, Cloud Attract, and Cloud Streams. The whole package together gives agents a formidable arsenal of tools for searching your MLS, buyer and seller lead generation, lead nurturing with gorgeous listing updates, and finally powerful listing presentation software to seal the deal.

7. Follow Up Boss

Follow Up Boss is a lightweight, laser targeted lead management system designed for Realtors and teams to nail their lead nurturing targets day-to-day quickly and easily. Follow Up Boss sits right on your email and logs emails and texts, manages drip campaigns, sends automatic texts (open rates are WAY higher than email). and generally keeps agents focused on lead nurturing and converting clients instead of getting bogged down by endless listing blast emails, work drama, and everything else that keeps agent’s from their core tasks. It also has great features for team leaders to check in on how their agents are doing at a glance. They also seamlessly integrate with Real Geeks, IDX Broker, Ihomefinder, CINC, and more.

8. Buffer (Social Media Scheduling Tool)

If you’ve already dipped a toe into social media only to get turned off by the constant demand to post, then Buffer is for you. Do you want to reach your twitter followers at 7:30 am even on days you sleep in? Want to send out that infographic to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. AND Instagram with one click?

Buffer let’s you figure out what times and type of content your leads on each platform respond to, then helps you create a posting calendar loaded with content. Once you have your calendar ready to go, you can sit back and let the likes, pins, and retweets comes rolling in.

Did I mention Buffer is free for up to three social accounts and ten scheduled posts?

9. Homesnap (Buyer Collaboration Tool)

Let’s face facts. Email is dying. In some tech offices, email has been almost entirely replaced with Slack, IM, or video conferencing. Homesnap lets you give your clients an awesome home search experience and notifies you when they like a property. You can also get deep dive property info and even build free CMA’s for your listing pitches. Since it’s linked directly with the MLS, the information about the house status is in real time. You can invite your clients to join the app and when they like something you are notified immediately. For your clients it gives information about what schools are in the areas and what other homes are for sale in a particular school zone. You can send them any new listings in their chosen area that you’ve come across and reach out to the listing agent with questions that you or your client may have on the spot. Not to mention the ability to create a CMA ,( comparative market analysis ), for your clients right from the app . If all of that weren’t great enough you’re able to book a showing, map how to get there and share the directions.

10. First.io

First.io is another real estate software platform to take advantage of predictive analytics.

11. Focus Booster (Pomodoro Timer)

Have you ever sat down to write ad copy or put together a CMA and looked up to see that it’s 4 hours later and you’ve got nothing done? It doesn’t matter how much time you devote to a project, but how much time you spend FOCUSED on that project… If you constantly find yourself putting in login hours but not getting good results, you might be a candidate for the Pomodoro Technique. Here’s how it works: Instead of giving yourself a few hours or (eve worse) an unlimited amount of time to work, Pomodoro makes you limit your work to just 25 minutes. After that 25 minutes, no matter what you have cooking, you turn off the computer and take a five minute break. When you complete 4 Pomodoro cycles of 25 minutes of work split by 5 minute breaks, you take a real, 15-20 minute break to eat lunch, chat with coworkers, or head out for coffee. Thousands of creative workers and software engineers swear by Pomodoro, (including me) and the short bursts of focused work seem to limit distractions and increase productivity. You can even try it when cold calling. While all you really need to use the Pomodoro technique is a timer (preferably shaped like a tomato, hence the name) apps like Pomodoro timer give you a timer and even analytics to track your progress.

12. HouseCanary (Home Valuation and Price Prediction Tool)

Like AI, predictive analytics has been an unavoidable buzzword for real estate software lately. While there are a ton of fakers out there (we won’t name names) who claim to use predictive analytics to parse real estate data, HouseCanary actually does. And it’s a game changer. HouseCanary’s home valuations are based on dozens of data points both public and private, and instead of going back a year or two, actually consider trends from the past few decades when coming up with their valuations. Think if it as Zestimates with a brain transplant…on steroids. While HouseCanary’s valuations are the most accurate many in the industry have seen, they’re not out to replace agents anytime soon. In fact, they offer affordable valuations that you can use to supplement your own hard work.

13. Trello (Project Management)

Now on to a tool that our office uses daily. Trello. Trello is one of those dead simple apps that will transform the way you work with your team. Trello lets you create and keep track of long term projects and todos with your entire team. It’s also super easy and intuitive to use. Even better, Trello is FREE for small teams. For just $10 a month, you can add a whole bunch of time saving features. There. Now you have no excuse to stay disorganized!

14. Open Home Pro (Open House Sign in)

Here’s another real estate software platform you’ll kick yourself for not inventing… No, it doesn’t do transaction management or or build IDX pages and butter your toast in the morning like so many swiss army knife platforms these days. It only does ONE thing. It turns your Ipad or Android tablet into a fast, powerful open house sign in sheet. Now instead of squinting at a list of unintelligible names as you hunt and peck them into your CRM, you can leave your open house with your leads already in your CRM. In fact, Open Home Pro offered such an elegant solution to a common pain point for Realtors, they got bought out by Placester.

15. Grammarly (Writing Assistant)

Let’s eat Grandma!…. Let’s eat, Grandma! Two sentences, only one will get you disinvited from next year’s Thanksgiving dinner. The Grandma safe version uses what’s called the oxford comma, something a grammar app like Grammarly will spot and fix for you.

Yuo cna aslo porbalby raed tihs esaliy desptie teh msispeillgns rhigt? Your leads probably can too, but are they going to call you back? Better not risk it in that pitch email. Grammarly checks your grammar, spelling, and even sentence structure and style for free.

16. Feedly (Media Aggregator)

Since some people spend their entire careers following and writing about real estate news, catching up with the latest can be a full time job. Since you don’t have time to read the Wall Street Journal, The Real Deal, The New York Times, and your local paper every morning, Feedly can help. Enter in a few websites or news categories you want to follow and Feedly sends you a nice curated list of the top stories every day. Combine this with Buffer and your leads will think you have a full time editorial staff finding them the best articles. Feedly is also FREE.

17. Dotloop (Transaction Management Software)

Although the competition was fierce, it looks like Dotloop has come out on top for the best real estate transaction management software for another year. If your office doesn’t offer real estate software like Dotloop along with your other perks, then it might make sense to jump in and track your deals with Dotloop. Did we mention the industry leading transaction management platform is now FREE for individual agents?

18. Expensify (Expense Recording app)

Instead of a shoebox, I had a manila folder stuffed with receipts for yellow cabs, lunches, printing, and printouts of my (enormous) Uber bills. Needless to say come tax time I’m ankle deep in paper and miserable. Smarter agents use expense tracking software like Expensify. Expensify automatically scans and tags your receipts so you don’t have to. This way in April you have everything organized and ready for your accountant to scrutinize.

19. Realtors Property Resource (RPR) (Property Data Software)

Good old RPR! If you’re unfamiliar or have the app moldering away in your app tray unused, you owe it to yourself to fire it up soon. Offered exclusively for Realtors, RPR parses a massive trove of data to bring you quick answers to your client’s pressing questions right at your fingertips. It’s also a great way to build up a CMA on the fly to impress your tire kickers.

20. Chime Real Estate CRM (Real Estate CRM)

Last but certainly not least, Chime has been quietly building the killer real estate CRM while flashier competitors focused on bells and whistles. Instead of just a CRM, Chime is building out a full fledged real estate software platform to handle almost everything from lead generation, to lead nurturing, to transaction management, to analytics. If you need further proof of Chime’s strategic place in the real estate industry, San Francisco tech thought leaders Climb Real Estate use Chime.

There you have 2018/2019 tech leaders for our industry. Please comment below any of your favorites you would like other agents to know about, appreciate you sharing with us all!

Strength and courage,
Wade

https://https://plus.google.com/u/1/113259707478722993209/posts/LtKTGaM8hnt

Finish Your Year Before It Begins

Wade Webb on November 14, 2018

Jim Rohn, the legendary business philosopher always said to “Finish your week before it begins.” He meant that we take control of our schedule and real estate business and plan for the week ahead before it even happens. If we don’t take control then someone else or something else always does!

So when the year begins to wind down you should not wait until the very end to start planning for next year. This means having a crystal clear understanding of the successes and challenges of your current year, how it impacts your upcoming year, and developing a vision of what you want to accomplish, and how. Many agents aim for nothing every year and most hit it with amazing accuracy!! I believe you should always start working on your next year strategy months in advance of the new year. This awards you enough time to make an impact on your final quarter, and lay the groundwork for making sure your next fiscal year starts off on a solid footing.

For agents who want to achieve greatness, push the envelope, and grow their business through market share, market penetration, paying down debt, increasing sales, profits and cash flow, I urge you to get going now! The way I see things is, if your business isn’t growing, pushing the envelope, thriving, and maximizing profit, then all you’re really doing is suffering a slow death. Believe me, your competition is fighting the fight every day, and they didn’t wake up in the morning and say “Gosh, golly, I hope I stay even in 2019.” They want to eat your lunch, take your business, absorb your market share and steal your customers away.

Some people might ask me if they should start planning by looking at their competition, and I say NO. Why focus on the competition, instead of focusing on yourself? When it comes to my business, I don’t care what others do. I care about what I do. Recognize your competition for what and who they are, and then put your best foot forward by pushing the envelope in your business. You should approach the new year as if you are going to battle, and for that you should develop a strategic plan.

Business Plan – a written document that describes in detail how a business, usually a new one, is going to achieve its goals. A business plan lays out a written plan from a marketing, financial and operational viewpoint.

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

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

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Writing a business plan may seem a daunting task as there are so many moving parts and concepts to address. Take it one step at a time and be sure to schedule regular review (quarterly, semi-annually, or annually) of your plan to be sure you are on track to meet your goals. It is that time of year again when we begin to build our plan for 2019 so let’s look at the key areas of the agent’s solid business plan.

Business Plan for the Successful REALTOR©

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

What have the number of sales been doing the last year? 2-5 years? Up? Down?

What have the number of listings been doing the last year? 2-5 years? Up? Down?

What have the average and median prices been doing?

What price ranges are experiencing more activity? Less activity?

What neighborhoods or areas are experiencing more activity? Less Activity?

What property types are selling more? Less?

What buyer types are buying more?

Where are the buyers coming from? Local? Next state or province? Over Seas?

Imagine the targeted and strategic plan you would be able to build for you and your real estate business with this kind of information?

Now you are not just winging it. You really know where and what to focus on.

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

What have my sales been doing? Up? Down?

What have my listings been doing? Up? Down?

What is my average price? Can I raise my average selling price?

What is my Gross Commission Income doing?

What is my average deal worth?

Where are my listings and sales coming from? Sources of business?

What types of buyers do I represent?

Where are the buyers coming from? Local? Out of area?

What are my pending sales?

What do I have for potential buyers and sellers?

Strategic Business Planning for Your Real Estate Business

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

Step 3) Activity Plans – Take the time to lay out your activity plan calendar a year in advance. Focus on the activities you know you are good at and you see a return on your invested time and money. I am guessing for most agents it would be your sphere of influence, referrals and face to face or voice to voice activities.

Step 4) Budgeting – Profit is the goal in business. Knowing what your personal life and your business world cost you monthly is so important. Expense management is just as important as your income and earnings. Have a clear picture of your expenses and measure all of them for their return on investment or if they can be reduced in any way.

Step 5) Goals – If your “Why” is big enough the “how” will take care of itself. What is your purpose? Vision? Values? Mission Statement? Taking the time to know what it is you want and why you want it is a game changer for us all. Nothing gives me more joy than impacting and improving people’s lives personally and professionally every day.

In my own real estate business, taking the time over the last 25 years to create a business plan has been so incredibly beneficial for me and I know it will for you as well.

In today’s post I have given you a brief business plan overview. To help you get going with your own plan I put together a Step-by-Step Real Estate Business Plan Workbook you can download for free by clicking the link below.

Click here to download the new 2019 business plan PDF….

Strength and courage,
Wade

https://plus.google.com/u/0/113259707478722993209/posts/2RRJazsokBC

Creating Vs Waiting

Wade Webb on October 31, 2018

Almost every week I open my email and see a last minute travel deal or an item for sale from one of my favourite brands like Under Armour even though I am not in the market for these things at that particular time. Have you ever seen an ad, read an email or read something that just grabs your attention and is such a good deal you end up buying it or sharing that deal with someone else?

I was over playing cards with friends of ours one evening and my friend shared how his car salesperson from GM had called him that day just to touch base and let him know he had this great deal on a used Honda on the lot and wanted to see if my buddy was interested in it or knew someone else who would be. I am sitting playing cards and remember my personal trainer and I were talking the past week about him getting another vehicle and I texted my trainer right then about this used Honda and the sales reps info at GM to contact if he was interested. The next day I get a text from my personal trainer saying Thanks! I bought it.

Imagine as agents if we had a consistent system for communicating the buying opportunities and best buys in real estate to our audience? What do you think just might happen? Spending a set amount of time on the MLS system daily, weekly, monthly and identifying the best buys in real estate and then sending it out via email, phone, social media and print. Branding it your “deal of the day” “pick of the week” “Your Best bets”. Sending it out saying “I have no reason to believe you’re in the market for another property but if you know someone who might be interested in the hot buy, call me!”
Rotate the product type, price point, location to increase your chances of capturing a lead. Here is a list…

Create Your Own Real Estate Market

1) First time buyer
2) Down Size
3) Move up
4) Rental
5) Recreational
6) Commercial
7) Luxury
8) Investment

We can’t just ignore this strategy in real estate and now is the time to shake things up and create real estate instead of always waiting for real estate. Implement a buying opportunities strategy today and let me know how you make out. Feel free to share and comment below some of your existing strategies.

Strength and courage,
Wade

https://plus.google.com/u/1/113259707478722993209/posts/H4qGNUfzUrw

12 Ways To Get More Listings & Stop Being A Secret Agent

Wade Webb on October 10, 2018

The real estate market all over North America is beginning to see housing and commercial inventory levels rise and the difficulty of getting and keeping listings is beginning to fade away. So if the trend for inventory is on the rise but you are not getting listings or seem to be carrying any more than you normally did, what do you need to do to change that?

I use this analogy, that agents without listings are like a Starbucks franchisee without a coffee shop. How hard would it be to run a Starbucks and succeed without a place where they come to get their coffee? Not easy at all I am thinking. I would think it is just as difficult for an agent being a secret agent who isn’t carrying any listing inventory as well! So let’s look at ways we can trigger more listing inventory and finish 2018 and begin 2019 strong!! Here are the top 12 listing sources….

12 Ways to Get More Real Estate Listings

As I reveal the list, ask yourself if these strategies are something you do or something you’ve avoided. Remove the fixed mindset and bring an open mind to all of these being viable options to help grow your business.

1. Database – Not surprisingly, working your past clients and center of influence was the top strategy for Elite+ members to generate new business. With what frequency are you informing homeowners in your database? Do you truly know your customer? Become the knowledge broker for these people, and I guarantee you’ll win.

2. Mega Open House / Event – Who says Open Houses only attract buyers? When you create Mega Open Houses that truly give people a reason to show up, you can meet the neighbors, impress them and position yourself as the listing agent of choice. Provide food, drinks and fun, invite the neighbors and make the most of your Open Houses.

3. Geographic Farming – Identifying a group of homes with sufficient annual turnover to justify a large enough return on investment to offset the costs of your direct mail, marketing efforts, Facebook ads, etc. — and then inundate them with your message until you become their logical choice. Demonstrate proof of activity (Just Listed, Just Sold, Market Updates, etc.) to win over potential sellers and become the listing agent of choice in your marketplace.

4. Agent-to-Agent Referrals – A sharing of ideas and referrals many of our coaching clients cherish. But you can still capitalize on referrals by doing your research and forging relationships with agents in strategic locations. Determine the areas that statistically contribute the most people to your community, and then build networking relationships with agents from those communities.

5. Zillow/Realtor.com/Trulia/Homes.com/Online lead generation – Today’s most savvy agents are over-indexing on online arbitrage and seeing it as a significant listing opportunity. Why? Because those who are shopping for homes online often have to sell their own property before they can buy.

6. Expired Listings – Before you freak out and tell me how much you hate the idea of pursuing Expireds, think about this: A homeowner of an expired listing is just a human being facing a challenge. You’re a confident Rockstar listing agent. Be the knowledge broker and help that person solve their problem. When you do this, it becomes the Ultimate Proof of Success, showing how you achieved what other agents could not. So reach out — via direct mail, phone calls, door knocking — any way you want, but don’t allow a fixed mindset to blind you to the huge opportunity in Expireds.

7. Seller– Specific Online Marketing – “Curious about the value of your home?” Seven simple words that can get people to raise their hand and indicate the possibility of selling their home in the future. This isn’t a quick hit solution, but if you’re willing to provide information to these people, get them in your system and nurture them, you can convert over the long run.

8. Sign Calls – Have as many signs as your local regulations allow! (Another reason to do big Open Houses frequently with lots of signs.)

9. FSBOs – Love ‘em or hate ‘em, FSBOs are the fastest source of business opportunity. The truth of the matter is there’s a small percentage of people who won’t be able to sell their home themselves and will look to hire someone like you to help them achieve their goals. Remember, every home you list means more signs, more exposure, the ability to help more people.

10. Investors – There is so much money coming into the marketplace right now, and the question becomes are you paying attention to capitalize on the opportunity investors provide? What if you sat down with your title rep and asked for a report on everyone who owns three or more properties in your area. Identify them, work with them, help them sell when they’re ready, bring them meaningful value, and make them customers for life.

11. Builders/Developers – Similar to investors, you can capitalize on working with builders by having your title rep identify any properties zoned for R2 but currently only has one unit on it. Find those properties that have been owned 20+ years and ask the right questions to present the possibilities to the property owner.

12. Professional Networking / Corporate Relocation / Radio / Seminars / Yelp Reviews – These all tied for 12^th.

So there you have 12 of the top sources and activities for generating listings and I challenge you to act on one or two of these on our list and implement and execute them at the highest level. You can and see what happens to your final quarter for 2018 and your listing inventory.

Strength and courage,
Wade

https://plus.google.com/u/1/113259707478722993209/posts/7cmfNWGiQ6W

Asking For Real Estate Listing Price Reductions

Wade Webb on September 26, 2018

Now this isn’t really about getting new business. It is not a prospecting script, but it may be the most important phone duty that anyone in your office does–asking for price reductions on listings. Asking for price reductions can make or break a top real estate agent’s business. Not only will price reductions quicken the sale, and therefore, minimize overhead in a real estate agent’s business, but it will also prove to everyone your marketing systems work. Remember, price is 90% of any marketing plan and the faster you achieve market value, the faster everybody’s needs are met.

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

Once the right questions are asked, the next step is an outstanding presentation with the correct verbiage during the CMA. We’ve all experienced the seller that no matter how much information is given them, including pre-listing sales packages that include pricing technologies and the right scientific research showing the exact value of their home–they still want more! What are we to do? What to do while battling another agent’s high evaluation or how to obtain pre-agreed listing reductions during the term of the listing. All I can do at this juncture is to assume the right questions were asked prior to and at the listing presentation, and they received information on how to price their property correctly. At the listing presentation this information was gone over and the scientific information was discussed. If after all of this has been done and the price is still too high your options are to not take the listing or to receive pre-agreed reductions based upon the success of marketing.

All this leads me to believe, if everything that should be done has been done, and you still have an overpriced listing, you (1) knew it was overpriced and took it anyway or (2) made a mistake based upon the fact you liked the property more than anyone else did. There’s also a possible third problem and that is the seller was a better salesperson than you, and sold you on the high price. All this is leading us to one conclusion, if you have been a victim of any of the previously mentioned three problems, you’re now going to have to consistently ask for price reductions, which may be the most embarrassing aspect of this business. How do you ask for price reductions when you told the seller you could market the home at the agreed upon price? Sometimes, their responses are furious, such as, “Well anybody can sell this house at that price,” “The other agent said that they could get more,” “I can’t buy my new home if I get that price,” or “Do you expect me to lose money?” All these questions ignore the main subject, and that is, market value is market value and none of the above questions have anything to do with or affect market value.

The following lead-ins can be used to ask for a price reduction, but it is very important you use new subjects as often as possible, so not to sound monotonous! Remember, an agent who asks for price reductions soon after the listing presentation will have a weary seller, so therefore, mix your price reductions with new and exciting marketing concepts. Concepts such as a page promoted on your website from your lender showing five ways, which the home can be financed. Adding a special home of the day button to your site or sending your evaluation surveys to all the agents who have seen the home– I’ve got a million of them. Remember, the seller likes the real estate agent who is ingenious in their marketing methods and also, the seller will then listen more intently to the following reasons for a price reduction.

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

1. There’s been a new sale in the neighborhood that affects your value.

2. Here are some of the responses we’ve received from other agents.

3. Here are the responses I received from buyers I have shown.

4. Here are responses I have heard from buyers shown by other agents.

5. Here are the responses from the agents in my office.

6. Here are the attitudes of the real estate agents who attended the Broker Open House.

7. Here were the attitudes of the buyers who walked through your home on the open house.

8. Here are the responses we have received from the ad that we’ve placed in . . .

9. Here are some suggestions I would do if it were my home to make it more appealing to buyers. Oh, by the way, rather than just making these improvements why don’t we drop the price to compensate for some improvements the buyer may want to make?

10. Why don’t we increase the selling office commission? If I sell it, I will stick to the original terms of the listing agreement.

11. May we add a selling office bonus?

12. May we add points so financing becomes easier for a buyer?

13. I know this offer was low and the buyer did not accept our counter offer, however, may I lower the home to the amount we mentioned in the counter offer to attract more interested buyers?

14. May we ask for some concessions on the home you’re buying and then supply those same concessions to any potential buyers on their home?

15. May we offer preferential owner financing and make the property more affordable to any potential buyers?

16. We have an open house / new ad / new internet blast going out and I would certainly love to be able to market this home at a new and improved price.

17. I’m going to be taking the property out of the MLS and resubmitting it as a new listing, therefore, acquiring a new look and new enthusiasm among the cooperating real estate agents here in town. I’d like to do that at a lower price.

18. Is there anything we could throw in that would sweeten the pot, appliances, vehicles, maybe even a free vacation at a time share?

19. Many times we have found emotions play a big role in the sale of a home. Therefore, can we make your home more emotional by having it professionally staged and decorated by a local design group?

20. Cooperation among real estate agents is paramount to getting the property sold. Yes, I am the one agent that is handling the marketing, but I am marketing to more than 3,000 real estate agents who handle a large percentage of buyers. My job is to market to them so they can express their excitement of your home to their buyers. Let’s discuss what we can do to make this home more exciting to the real estate agents here in town.

21. Real estate agents have many properties to show and sometimes the determining reason for showing is ease of access. Let’s do some items to improve the showing procedure to make it easily accessible to real estate agents at any time and at a moment’s notice.

22. I would like to obtain a price reduction and do some things I have never done to market a home, such as advertising them in the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal. Spending money on an ad that would reach outside our geographical area is risky, but I would be willing to go ahead and give it a try if we had a more marketable price.

23. I was looking at your holding cost and found if we drop your price and obtain a sale, we may eliminate many months of payments, taxes, insurance, and upkeep I believe would compensate for this price reduction. Let’s discuss how this might work.

24. In all the years I’ve done business, one of the hardest things I have to do is disappoint a client. The continued marketing of this property at the current price that I now find is too high only tends to disappoint you and therefore, I’d like to ask the following favor. Would you please consider a price reduction and if that’s impossible, would you allow me to discontinue my marketing efforts? It’s very difficult for me to express this to a seller that’s been fair with me and to a home I’d like nothing more than to market and sell; however, I truly believe unless we drop this price, the property will go unsold. I’m willing to give up my marketing effort and my listing to show you how clear I am we need to adjust our price today.

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

Strength and courage,
Wade

https://plus.google.com/u/1/113259707478722993209/posts/hrmmGoi2p6d

Is Your Real Estate Business Unshakeable?

Wade Webb on September 19, 2018

It is time for North American real estate agents to accept the fact this is our new normal real estate market. Real estate markets are shifting all over North America and this is now the market agents are needing to be comfortable working in. The nice part about this new normal market is it is not a global recession or not a global housing crisis but it is also not the record breaking sales and increase in values we have seen over the last number of years either. Currently we have about 1.3 million real estate professionals in the U.S. and about 110,000 real estate professionals in Canada. Last year only 3% of the agent population sold more than 25 homes. Almost half of the agent population sold no homes last year. The forecast is 78 million people will move in the next four to five years. Ancillary companies invested 5 billion dollars into the real estate industry this year to capture a piece of the 100 plus billions of commission dollars that will be generated in real estate sales in the coming years. So how much of that pie do you want to capture? What do you need to do to ensure you capture a piece of that pie? Here are my top tips for you to create an unshakeable real estate business and to capture the biggest piece of the pie in the coming years.

Tip to Create an Unshakeable Real Estate Business

MINDSET – The most important factor to any agents success is their identity and how they see themselves in their own marketplace and how the marketplace sees them as the trusted expert in their community. You need to fall more in love with the fact you can change lives with your real estate business and what you do truly does matter. You need to have the mindset that this is my business and not a job or a hobby but this is my business! How I treat my business matters. How I run my business matters. How I step up my business matters. How the community sees me as a trusted real estate expert matters. Change you own identity and your communities identity about you and your business today!
STOCK PILE CASH – The biggest reason for so many agents leaving the industry in 2007-2008 was the fact they had not saved any of the money they made in the previous real estate boom. Having capital and some access to cash to live personally and to run your day to day business is critical. Start now and save. Begin to pay down debt now. Look at ways to consolidate your debt personally and professionally now. Get a business line of credit or enquire about increasing your existing business credit line now while you can. Remember in any economic correction cash is king!
TOP LINE REVENUE – I always love coaching successful high producing agents who are in a downward spiral with their real estate business. My first question to them is make a list of the top 10 activities you did to generate all the business success you had. Then tell me all the business activities on your list you are presently doing. The session is over and the light comes back on. There are so many ways to drive sales and revenue into an agents business. Create your list of top line revenue drivers in your business and get at them and double the amount of times you normally do these activities and watch what happens to your top line revenue.
REAL ESTATE IS MATH – Your business is just math and all agents business really breaks down to knowing exactly three numbers that will get you to any real estate income goal. The first number is the number of people a day you need to speak to about buying and selling real estate. That is your DAILY number. The second number is the number of bona fide listing or buyer appointments you need to attend a week. That is your WEEKLY number. The third and final number is the numbers of transactions or sales a month you need to perform. That is your MONTHLY number. Those three numbers equate to any agents annual income goal. Easy as 1-2-3 numbers to determine your income success!
TECH ENABLED – The biggest challenge with our on demand world is the agent who is struggling with the tech enabled business world we live in. You either need to learn it or get someone to do it for you that is tech enabled. The real estate business cannot be done to the speed of expectancy from the customers without technology. Apps, CRMS, Digital signatures, The Cloud, Paperless transactions, Email, Text, Video and on and on and on.
MARKETING – You just can’t be the one trick pony agent and be able to manage in the new normal market and economy. Agents need to have at least four to six marketing funnels generating buyer and seller leads a day for them to be able to cope with any correction in the market. If agents don’t have enough funnels then they don’t generate enough leads. Without enough leads there are not enough appointments. Without enough appointments there are not enough listings and sales. Get those four to six marketing funnels firing on all cylinders now before it is too late.
CONVERSION – The greatest problem in our industry is the inability of real estate professionals not being able to convert a lead to an appointment. You need to be a lean mean appointment setting machine in this business to survive. Lead conversion 101 is simply asking the consumer engaging thought provoking questions that allow them to discover the challenges, difficulties and pitfalls a buyer or seller may face in today’s market place and then having a system or process to help them navigate those challenges. After that all we need to do is L.G.T. “Let’s get together”
SCALE THE BUSINESS – We all have in some way shape or form issues with control. We have convinced ourselves we just cannot let go. The issue today is we only have so many months, weeks, days, hours and I don’t care who you are, you cannot do it all alone. Finding help and automating, systemizing and delegating allows an agent leverage and them a chance to really focus on what they do best and that’s people! Let go! It will change your life! Take it from me the president of the control freak club!

So there you have it, 8 powerful ways to help navigate and crush it in this new normal market. All that is left is you and making the choice to get at it! There is a huge pie of commission income available and you need to decide how much pie is going to be yours!

Strength and courage,
Wade

https://plus.google.com/u/1/113259707478722993209/posts/TUkCp3SpQW7

6 Secrets for Realtors© to Implementation & Execution

Wade Webb on September 12, 2018

Being genuinely disciplined as a Realtor© and in your personal life requires you develop the ability to take action. You don’t need to be too hasty, but you also don’t want to lose much time. The time to act is when the idea strikes us—when it is hot and the emotion is strong, before the feeling passes and the idea dims. If you don’t, you’ll fall prey to the law of diminishing intent. A month from now, the passion will be cold—a year from now, it won’t be found. So take action.

If you’re faced with a mental roadblock, put it down on paper. Remember, creativity is the first requirement for self-enterprise. When you put a problem on paper, you take the emotion out of it. With the emotion gone, you can look at the roadblock objectively. You can figure out what you did right. You can figure out what you did wrong. You can figure out how to change it. Pick a problem out of your head and pull out a piece of paper. And then draw a line down the middle. On the left-hand side, jot down the problem. On the other side, you put the solutions. And I have three questions you must ask yourself to find the solutions:

What can I do?

What could I read? You don’t need to reinvent the wheel… do your homework and find the solution.

Who could I ask? Approach them and say, “I’ve researched this material and I’m still short. Can you help me?”

Develop the ability to brainstorm. We hear this term all the time. But what is brainstorming? It’s letting your brain go. It’s being free from all inhibitions and objections and negatives—just putting an idea into your brain and letting it take off, not planning a train of thought, but thinking freely. Effective brainstorming can only happen if you’re free from your ego. You can’t be worried about saying something stupid, or silly, or totally off the wall. Because your silly thought may trigger someone else’s brain to take it one step further. Brainstorming in a group is an experience of collective thought, an experience of developing one idea, or several ideas, through a variety of thought processes. It can’t be effective unless everyone involved is comfortable with each other. If you don’t feel comfortable within the group, you may withhold the very thought that provides the solution to the problem.

Imagine outlandish solutions. This is really an extension of No. 2. Get your brain out of the rut by considering ideas without considering their practicality. If you allow yourself to think without confinement, you might come up with a solution that seems totally inappropriate. But it also allows you to open up the process, which will eventually lead to appropriate solutions.

Doodle. That’s right: Doodle. The thing you got in trouble for in middle school is actually quite stimulating to the brain. Because the way you think while doodling is quite different from the way you think while creating a flow chart or writing a formula. Your doodles might end up looking like some symbol that will trigger your brain to think of an alternative solution. Doodling wakes up a different part of your brain. Try creating your flow chart to success. It doesn’t matter if it ends up being accurate or not. What matters is that it’s stimulating the creative thought process. Once you awaken that creative part of you, you’ll be amazed at the opportunities that were always there, ones you never saw before. It’s all a matter of how you look at life and opportunities.

Access the information highway. You need to start networking with people whom you’d otherwise never meet.

Commit yourself to learning. Feed your mind. Sharpen your interest in two major subjects: life and people. Learn how you can better interact with others. Learn more on how to get the most from life. Learn all that you can so you can become all you can become.

Learning is the beginning of a life worth living.

Learning is the beginning of wealth.

Learning is the beginning of happiness.

Learning is the beginning of health.

Learning and searching is where the process of creating your own personal miracle begins.

Learning is the beginning of self-enterprise.

Set up discipline when the excitement is high and your idea is clear and powerful. You’ve got to take action, otherwise the wisdom is wasted. The enthusiasm will soon pass, unless you apply it to a disciplined activity. Discipline enables you to capture the emotion and wisdom and translate that into action. The greatest value of discipline is self-worth, also known as self-esteem. Because once we sense a lack of discipline within ourselves, it starts to erode our psyche. One of the greatest temptations is to ease up just a little bit. Instead of doing your best, you allow yourself to do just a little less than your best. Sure enough, you’ve started, in the slightest way, to decrease your sense of self-worth. There is a problem with even a little bit of neglect. Neglect starts as an infection. If you don’t take care of it, it becomes a disease—and one neglect will lead to another. Once this has happened, how can you regain your self-respect? Act now. Start with the smallest discipline. Make the commitment: I will discipline myself to achieve my real estate and personal goals so in the years ahead I can celebrate my successes.

Strength and courage,
Wade

https://plus.google.com/u/1/113259707478722993209/posts/PQazv5NegDa

The Sales Skills All Real Estate Agents Must Have

Wade Webb on August 8, 2018

In selling it doesn’t matter the product or service, there are certain skills and processes you must have to be effective in selling anything. Don’t think for a minute the top real estate agents in this industry don’t master their sales skills and sales processes daily. They take the time to sharpen the sword and understand the impact this time spent has on their real estate business success. Let’s have a look at the most important sales skills an agent needs today!

Sales Skills All Real Estate Agents Must Have

1. Managing your own time – Most agent’s time is dictated and controlled by their buyers and sellers. Very few Realtors© exercise control of their own time. When the client says jump the agent normally responds with “how high”? Most agents put in a hard and long day and find at the end of the end they really didn’t get the results they were looking for. Working smarter and managing the highest and best use of your own time is a critical sales skill in real estate.

2. Engage in conversations with people – Every day you need to be able to engage in conversations with either people you know or don’t know about possibly buying or selling real estate. These conversations with people are the root of our database and key to our real estate success. Every day these conversations lead to you adding someone new to your database that don’t have an agent of choice. These people may buy or sell but just as important is them knowing someone else who might be and referring them to buy or sell with you. Get out there and have conversations every day in real estate.

3. Strong lead follow up – When someone gives you their name, phone number, email it is a customer trying to give you an opportunity to list something or help someone buy something. They are literally handing you the opportunity to earn their business and if served effectively you earn the commission. It amazes me the mindset of agents not wanting to “bug people” or the number of clients that said they never heard back from any agents. The discipline and skill of having strong lead follow up in real estate is another area where many agents can improve greatly.

4. Qualifying the buyer or seller – The ability to identify the “looker” from the buyer and the seller from the dreamer is another incredibly important sales skill for any real estate agent. My mentor taught me “Wade, learn how to lose them Tuesday before they use you and drop you on Saturday.” The power qualifying questions are as simple as “WHY?” “WHEN?” and “HOW? Cash or credit?” The answers to these simple but powerful questions are the secret to qualifying success.

5. Presentations – This is show business and your ability to wow and awe someone to buy or sell with you is key to your success. Having the ability to present to your audience and make them laugh, cry and feel is an incredibly powerful sales skill and something I just loved to master myself. Sales is storytelling and people love stories. Are you an engaging powerful storyteller or are you just someone that just talks, talks and tells? Master your presentation and storytelling skills and watch what happens for you and your business.

6. Handling objections, stalls and conditions – Knowing what to say and how to respond to basically twelve of the most common public responses is another powerful sales skill in real estate. Anticipating what they will say and respond to you and being able to respond with something that changes how they feel about how they think is such an important skill and process. Here are the terrible twelve most used objections agents will hear from clients. 1. We are going to wait 2. We aren’t sure 3. Will you cut your commission? 4. We don’t want a for sale sign 5. We are going to list with…. 6. We are going to try selling ourselves 7. We want, need or have to have $ _______ 8. We don’t want to put more money into 9. How much real estate do you sell? 10. How long have you been an agent? 11. Why didn’t you show our home when it was listed before? 12. You’re a new agent.

I encourage you to take the time to really work on these specific sales skills and processes. Putting in the time to polish these skills will help take your business to a whole other level, I promise. Where are your skills and processes lacking from the above list? Take action and finish 2018 strong and have skills and not rely on chance or luck and be market and economy proof as an agent!

Strength and courage,
Wade

Identify Where Your Real Estate Biz Needs The Most Help

Wade Webb on June 20, 2018

In my 25+ years of working in real estate, these five categories have repeatedly emerged as the most crucial to any REALTORS© success.

•Marketing & Lead Generation

•Lead Conversion

•Productivity Hacks

•Teams

•Coaching & Acceleration

Where Does Your Real Estate Business Need the Most Help?

Quickly… rate your business in each of these categories on a scale of 1-10:

10= Good 5 = Fair 1= Poor

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Handling Objections, Stalls and Conditions?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Negotiation Skills?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Closing Skills?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Converting Prospects Face To Face Appointments?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Buyer Counselling (consistent follow up, contact, communication)?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Seller Counselling (consistent follow up, contact, communication)?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Questioning Skills?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Listing Appointment Skills?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Buyer Appointment Skills?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pre Listing Package?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pre Buyer Package?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Powerful Listing Presentation?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Powerful Pricing Presentation?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Powerful Buyer Presentation?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Systems. Checklists?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Lead Generation (steady stream of buyer and seller leads coming in)?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Lead Conversion (add value, help, wow them, until they put their hand up wanting my help)?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Lead Follow up? (Follow them up until they buy or sell average 10 months)?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Work Life Balance?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Leveraging. Do I do it? Delegate? Systemize Automate? Dump?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Daily, Weekly Activity Plans?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Finances? Personal and business. Profit?

So… Where do you need help most? And then… Where will you find it?

We all have our strengths and weaknesses. What’s easy for me might be difficult for you. But here’s the good part… We also all have the ability to learn and grow…

We just need to know where to find the right information. Agentsboost blog is jam packed with content to help you conquer these gaps. Attend a course or real estate event that can help you break through these areas that are holding you back. Coaching and mentorship is something all successful agents can appreciate the accountability and guidance has helped us all. Identify the gaps in your business and find someone or something that can help you make the rest of 2018 a game changing year!

Strength and courage,
Wade

https://plus.google.com/u/2/113259707478722993209/posts/9mXj2vMkinV

The Canadian Real Estate Insights

Wade Webb on May 30, 2018

This week we want to share with agents some valuable Canadian real estate insights from the latest Realtor.ca report and how it affects them in today’s market place. (**NOTE: Even though the data this week is specific to the Canadian market there is still tons of great insights Realtors© from all over the world can benefit from.) We begin with the fact that more than 97% of Canadians polled all say they use the Realtor.ca website and app as their primary or secondary source for real estate listings in Canada and more than 92% of Canadians are aware of Realtor.ca and it is known as the go-to place when buying or selling in Canada. Last year more than 2.6 million leads were generated from Realtor.ca and distributed to agents across the country. There were an average of 300,000 listings totalling $144 billion dollars, more than 30,000 of them were commercial listings and $274 billion dollars in residential sales was processed through MLS last year alone.

Realtor.ca had 72 million users, 264 million visits and 5.3 billion page views and 965 million property viewings in 2017. 62% of all this traffic was from a mobile device!! Last year there were 6.4 million visits to Realtor website, 4 million listings emailed to a friend, 2 million consumer emails to an agent, 480,000 phone calls to an agent, 306,000 social shares of a listing and finally 62,000 emails to a real estate office from the Realtor.ca website in 2017!

Consumers found Realtor.ca website through an Organic search 40% of the time, directly 35% of the time, 10% of the time from a referral, 9% from social media and 5% from an email they received. Realtor.ca reported that 67% of the visitors to their website were repeat buyers, 14% first time buyers and 7% real estate investors. The top 3 Canadian cities searched were Toronto, Calgary and Ottawa. 69% of visitors click on the photos and there were more than 4 million photos of properties to view but surprisingly 14% of listings did not include any photo!

Consumers are searching by price almost every time, $500,000 being the most common price search, 3 plus bedrooms searched more than 32% of the time, 2 plus bathrooms searched more than 47% of the time and top keywords are walkout basement, bungalow and basement suite. 26% of Quebec is searching in Ontario outside their province, BC residents are searching in Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia for listings.

Common stages of a Realtor.ca users are 42% just browsing, 21% in the getting started stages, 33% are seriously hunting and 5% have just purchased a property. 6.1 million agent profiles were viewed, 1.5 million searches for a realtor and 166,000 listings were viewed from an agent’s profile. Desk top searches for listings peaked from 12 noon to 2 pm and highest day of week Tuesday’s. Mobile searches peaked 8 pm to 10 pm and the highest day of the week was Sunday’s.

Interest in Canadian real estate is growing rapidly. International traffic has increased by 10% year over year. Notably traffic from China has increased by 42%. International visits was lead by the U.S. generating 57% of international visitors followed by the U.K. and China both about 5% of our international visitors.

One of the greatest value propositions for us as a nation is the unique ability to deliver the majority of our countries real estate data from one central source called Realtor.ca The data they have collected allows us to see what the market and consumer trends are and allow us to market to them better than we have before. I trust these Canadian real estate insights provide valuable information for you and your business in 2018 and help you take things to the next level!

Strength and courage,
Wade

https://plus.google.com/u/2/113259707478722993209/posts/TfUgmQesGqu