Could your marketing be outdated, ineffective, or even harmful for you and your business? There are several signs your real estate marketing strategy might need an update in 2017. This week we look at the top signs and what to do!
1. Your Inbound Marketing Is Being Ignored.
It’s not just about the advertisements in magazines or online. Inbound marketing focuses on providing customers with valuable content, instead of pushing out a specific message. Inbound marketing has been proven to be far more effective than traditional advertising. Pulling the customer and not pushing on them is the key to marketing success today. We pull by providing killer content that they find valuable, helpful and assists with their biggest challenges in today’s marketplace. Take a minute and think what their challenges are? What would help them with those challenges? Are you providing valuable content the consumer considers valuable or is it just the same old content we think they would find valuable? I always say find what they are praying for before answering their prayers!
2. You’re Using Social Media “Just Because”…
If you’re using social media just because you think you are supposed to, you likely aren’t seeing much benefit. Create a strategy beyond gathering followers. Use it to promote your content, build a community, and address any customer concerns or questions. That said, don’t use social media to just push your agenda or promote your listings or blog posts; use it to engage. Just like your inbound marketing strategies your social media marketing strategies need to provide value, solutions to pull and engage the consumers. No more ego selfless promotions posts but add value, answer questions and engage them in your social media marketing by having a plan. Create a strategy and be intentional and not just because you think you “have to” marketing strategy.
3. You Fail To Update Or Don’t Have A Blog.
You don’t need to contribute a new blog post every day but you should be blogging about one time a week. If you’re posting less than a month, you need to revisit why you even have a blog because you’re not likely generating much traffic from it to make it worth it. This is a long game marketing approach but an approach that will pay large dividends in the future. Take it from me who began sharing and giving my knowledge and ideas to the real estate industry about three years ago and now tens of thousands of agents read agentsboost.com every month in over 100 countries around the world. The world is looking for experts and someone to advise them and a blog positions you as the expert in your community so go and take that title of expert in your community today!
4. You Have Not Looked At Your Analytics
Everything in your marketing should be data-driven. Don’t repeat the same mistakes over again by not looking at your analytics. Carefully evaluate what your data is telling you about your audience and about their likes and dislikes. Check your website, email, and social media analytics at least once a week. You never know what the customer will value and what they will not. You need to track and measure all your marketing and your content and know what is working and what is not working. Once you know what is working then give them more of that!
5. You Don’t Segment Your Audience.
If you’re trying to target everyone, you are likely really targeting no one. You can’t be all things to all people and gain traction or own a piece of the market. Everyone gravitates to the expert or someone who specializes rather than the agent that seems to do everything and do it equally to everyone else. Figure out who your ideal client is. Focus on attracting those consumers with your marketing. “Otherwise, you’ll be wasting a lot of time and money on people who will never buy from you anyway. So many agents are residential, commercial, farm and acreage specialists!!
6. You Do Not Rank Or Exist In The Search Engines.
If your business name or your name isn’t in the first few spots of the Google search rankings, you have a problem. Just try googling your name or top realtor in _________ and see what comes up? If your competitors all outrank you, you have a big problem. Focus more on mastering to get higher in the search rankings but just start by increasing your presence first. This likely will mean more content building to increase your search engine presence and ranking. Start blogging, posting video and sharing more killer valuable content to your community.
7. You Create Lots Of Content But Little Traction.
Seventy-five percent of content gets zero links, and 50 percent gets two or fewer Facebook interactions, according to the site Moz. Get others to read your content by using a three-step plan: Research topics and issues your audience cares most about to use as the basis of your content; write high-quality and 1,200-plus word articles and videos about those issues; and have a plan to promote your content via email and social media. Find what they want and what their issues, needs and wants are in the marketplace and give it to them!!
So there you have it the top ways to determine if your marketing needs a makeover in 2017 and whether it is working or not. Just take one day a week to provide the killer content to the consumers that provide solutions to their issues in the marketplace and just watch what happens over the remainder of 2017!
I love to see what is happening in real estate in other countries and where we are going with real estate innovations when it comes to marketing. This week’s content is a great taste of what we are seeing in other parts of the world and what we are seeing to innovate our own real estate marketing in 2017.
REAL ESTATE MARKETING INNOVATION #1
Business Models…
*Portugal – Average transaction commission is 3%. Exclusive listings only. No Office cooperation with one another at all
*France – Average transaction commission is 5-7%. Mandatory posting of your commissions displayed in your office window to the public. Just starting to cooperate with one another. Social interaction is key to their culture.
*Belgium – Average agent in the Netherlands do 35-40 ends a year and the top solo agent did 290 ends in a year. Buyer comes in, they tell you, you show them and they buy it! Social interaction with a consumer is an insult and complete waste of their time.
*Turkey – Completely unregulated profession and now just starting to see large franchises moving into the country to increase professionalism. Consumer is actually willing to pay more with a franchise because of the perception of professionalism vs. haggling culture.
REAL ESTATE MARKETING INNOVATION #2
Augmented Reality…
Phone technology that allows the consumer to scan over properties and the properties listed for sale pop up as you scan over through the phone. Click on the pop up on your phone and get all the details of the listing immediately. You can also take static real estate marketing piece and bring it to life.
Dedicated Property Sites or Personalized Seller Sites…
REAL ESTATE MARKETING INNOVATION #5
Single Property Websites…
This concept has been around for a few years now where the seller has a dedicated website for their property. ( Example www.1234maplestreet.com )The key to lead capturing using this marketing tool is to provide different photos, details, videos, neighborhood information, documents etc. in this platform that you don’t offer on the MLS listing platform and get them to enter their contact information to login and see all the extras you have on the property on the single property website.
REAL ESTATE MARKETING INNOVATION #6
Virtual Home Staging…
Computer enhanced virtual staging helps the consumer see the potential in the properties.
REAL ESTATE MARKETING INNOVATION #7
Seller Follow Up…
One of the biggest complaints we hear from sellers is that they listed with an agent and never heard from them again.
E Suivit – Electronic Follow Up ( France ) Online seller communication platform providing stats, feedback, showings, marketing etc.
· Seller sees all the buyers and contacts the agent that their home is a match and will sell
REAL ESTATE MARKETING INNOVATION #10
Seller Concierge Services…
3 year client follow up concierge service. $220 / Year
I hope to start seeing uses of these real estate marketing innovations popping up as you begin testing and implementing them in your own areas of business.
Effective Real Estate Strategies Just Before Christmas
On the First Day of real estate my true love gave to me…
Spend some focused time on your real estate database prior to 2017. If you don’t have a database then assemble one. Take the time to build a monthly database touch system for 2017 making specific activities each month to add value and deepen your relationships with your database. This “give to get” activity is the best way to increase repeat and referral business in 2017.
On the Second Day of real estate my true love gave to me… Create a buyer or seller landing page. These landing pages capture a seller who is curious what their current property value is or a buyer who wants to be notified of hot new listings and beat other buyers to them. A nice steady stream of buyer and seller leads from a good landing page keeps you from those peaks and valleys in your business. This is a great way to create more buyer and seller leads all year long while you are busy serving your active buyer and sellers and when you don’t have the time to prospect.
On the Third Day of real estate my true love gave to me… 2 daily hours of power. High-volume agents don’t just service existing business and then start lead generating once they have closed the majority of their transactions. Instead, they block time (usually in the morning so it gets done) to do something each business day that gets them closer to earning a new client. In a nutshell, there are two ways to be successful in real estate: By Default: live in the same area for years where everyone knows you and eventually sends you business; or By Design: time-block a relatively small portion of each business day to proactively generate for new leads.
On the Fourth Day of real estate my true love gave to me… Listings is the name of the game. The power of the spin is where a listing can generate up to 15 other pieces of business if done right! If a real estate agent is working more than 65 hours a week and not closing more than 45 transactions annually, the agent either has a time management problem and/or is working with far more buyers than sellers. You can handle four times as many listing sides than buyer sides at the same time. So, top producing real estate agents always focus their lead generation activities on the listing side.
On the Fifth Day of real estate my true love gave to me… Face to Face activities and prospects who already want to sell. For real estate agents looking for immediate business, top agents know the quickest conversion ratios come from contacting FSBOs (for-sale-by-owners) and expired listings. They also know conversion is higher when you are face to face and the prospect can tell if they like or trust you quickly and want to do business with you. Although many agents are reluctant to reach out to people they don’t know, these are people who typically want to sell their home right now.
On the Sixth Day of real estate my true love gave to me… A realtor to realtor referral system with other agents working the areas where the people and business is coming from to buy real estate in your market. Contact them once a month and stay top of mind and be that referral agent of choice in your market area. Share tips and ideas with other agents to keep top of mind and make them feel like they want to refer you their clients moving to your area. This is a lucrative business opportunity if done consistently.
On the Seventh Day of real estate my true love gave to me… The power of words. Scripts and dialogs are important. Successful real estate agents understand that whether they use someone else’s scripts, dialogs or their own, they’ll eventually start saying the same things they know will work. Using tested real estate scripts created by others simply eliminates the trial and error process and enables agents to start seeing desired results more quickly. Sound like your planned and engage and attract the clients to want to work with you with your powerful words of persuasion.
On the Eighth Day of real estate my true love gave to me… Have powerful sales presentations and visuals. Don’t tell them but show and sell them. Have a visually powerful presentation for listings, buyers and pricing. Don’t just wing it and leave things to chance but engage people to want to do business with you, your company and NOW! Talk alone is cheap. The most powerful visual sales tool is a pad and pen and being able to show prospects and tell them has greater impact than words alone. Remember some of us are visual and some of us are auditory but we don’t know which one they are.
On the Ninth Day of Christmas my true love gave to me… Know your why, purpose and vision. My goal that drives me every day is to impact and improve people’s lives personally and professionally every day. Real estate is the vehicle that makes this happen. We all need to be part of something bigger than ourselves. If your why is big enough then the how takes care of itself!! I love having a vision board with images of the things that drive me, move me, I want and need to experience each and every year. Never underestimate the power of a vision, purpose or why!
On the Tenth Day of real estate my true love gave to me… Be a servant and focus on helping others get what they want and you in turn get what you want. Listen for the need and be aware of others fears, challenges and offer to help. So as to not “bother” the general public when prospecting for new business, top real estate agents always tie the reason they’re contacting people in with providing some type of value at the same time. Always come from a mindset of contribution. Helping you is what we do.
On the Eleventh Day of real estate my true love gave to me… Be a lean mean appointment setting machine. The money in sales is in the conversion to the appointments. No appointments then no presentations. No presentations means no contracts or agreements. The lead generation is great but not having the skill to convert to the appointment is a real estate killer. Know what you have and what you can offer for them and engage them to want to sit down and meet with you. What is your value proposition for a buyer and seller? Why you? Why now?
On the Twelfth Day of real estate my true love gave to me… Leverage by systemization and delegation. When real estate agents consistently do not have time to prospect for new business because they are too busy servicing their existing business it’s time to hire someone to help out. The first hire should be an administrative assistant, not a buyer’s agent. Administrative assistants help agents make more money by freeing up time for agents to perform more important revenue-generating activities. 3D test everything in 2017. “Do I do it? Do I delegate it? Do I just dump it?”
I trust your holiday season is full of love, happiness and joy
3 Reviews to Increase Your Real Estate Biz in 2017
As we head into the final month of 2016, 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 2017. 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 biz in 2017. 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 2016? 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 2016, 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 2016? 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 2016, 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 2017. 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 actually 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 2017 your best year as a REALTOR ever. I dare you!
So what do they want that I have? That is the magic question in real estate lead generation. This week we have what I feel are the some of the top offerings in real estate that create the most amount of leads for agents. It’s best to have a range of offers that appeal to your different customer types so that no matter who hits your website there’s an offer that appeals to them.
12 Different Types of Offers to Generate Real Estate Leads:
1. Free Samples: Offer a free sample or a free consultation as a way for your prospects to experience your product or service.
2. Tip or Fact Sheet: Create a tip sheet that outlines how your prospects can do their job better. For example, you could create a Tips Sheet on “10 Things to Consider Before Selling Your Property.”
3. How-To Guides: Create simple guides for your prospects to download that help them do their jobs better. For example, create a guide to preparing for an initial sales meeting.
4. Checklist: Create a checklist of steps your customers can take to address a need your product or service addresses. For example, a due diligence checklist for real estate property.
5. Top 10 Industry Trends: Document the ten latest trends impacting your industry or marketplace this year. Write a short summary on new industry developments or write what you think will be the ten biggest changes to the industry during next year.
6. Infographics: Create an infographic to visually represent industry trends, marketplace competition, or other sets of information your prospect may find useful and valuable.
7. Common Questions: Write down the ten or 20 questions (or more) you most commonly hear from your prospects and then create a tip sheet or guide that answers each question. (Tip: these questions and answers also become excellent topics for your blog posts.
8. Whitepaper or eBook: Compile three to five blog posts that discuss similar topics and combine them into a whitepaper or eBook. You can also write a whitepaper or eBook from a previous research study or data set. Or, go to LinkedIn Answers and find every question and answer that relates to your industry. Compile them together in an eBook format.
9. Kits of Material: Once you have a bunch of content and offers, compile some of your related eBooks, guides, tip sheets and blog articles into a compelling Downloadable Kit offer. Another example is to compile your sales material and package this material into a toolkit visitors can download.
10. Case Studies: Show off your leading customers and share their experience with future customers. Video record their testimonials for even more content and to build credibility. Offer the case studies as free downloads at the conclusion of the video.
11. Videos: Create a video that shows off your product or service features and benefits. At the end of the video, give the lead an option to download a case study.
12. Contests: Create a contest with a prize in order to compel prospects to provide their information in exchange for being entered into the contest.
You’ll want to create offers that appeal to new visitors to the site (those whose contact information you do not currently have) as well as existing qualified leads in your system.
The nature of these offers will differ slightly, depending on your area, focus and your customer or prospect base, but the way offers work is the same no matter what: create content that is relevant and helpful to your prospect – content they will actually want to download and use – which is the best way to generate qualified leads.
So there you have it. Now get at it and create some content and offerings for your website and see the leads increase your business and income today. I dare ya!
One of the things I ran into when I first started really talking about staging houseswith sellers was I discovered I could get a listing against a lot of agents who were better than me — when I say “better,” I mean who were bigger producers than me. This would happen because when they would talk about staging the house they would tell the seller, “Okay, you need to do this, you need to do this, you need to do this,” they would actually put off the seller. They would often make the seller mad because the seller felt the agent was coming in and telling them to spend all this money and do all this work, and the agent was trying to boss them around. They’re going, “This is my house, and I felt like they were coming in telling me they weren’t going to list the house or it wasn’t going to sell well if I didn’t do all this work and put all this money into it.” The seller actually took it personally and decided they didn’t like the agent. Of course, the agent was trying to help them get the property prepared in a way that really works.
Now, when I first started selling real estate back in the 1990s, staging was not nearly as important as it is today. In fact, when I first started selling real estate back in 1993, staging was not even something I was trained on. It was not something in the training I went through, and I was with one of the number one companies in the world and they never talked about staging, really.
Some things have changed in the last 15 years that have made a dramatic impact on the importance of staging a house and getting it really market-ready.
2 Things that Have Increased the Importance of Real Estate Home Staging
Number one: Pinterest – Here’s the reality. Every lady, before she buys a house, she spends weeks, if not months, spending all of her free time looking at Pinterest pictures. They spend an hour at night sitting in bed looking at Pinterest, looking at all the cool pictures. What kind of pictures are they looking at? What kind of houses are they looking at? What kind of kitchens and bedrooms and master bathrooms are they looking at? They’re not looking at the fixers. They’re looking at the perfectly staged, perfectly designed, perfectly laid out, professionally decorated, perfect dream homes. Dream kitchens, dream closets, dream bathrooms, dream master bedrooms, dream backyards, dream front yards, dream flowerbeds. I mean, all of it is like, the dream, and that’s what they’re spoiled with. They’re like, “I want that! I want it!” It’s like a little kid. “I want that!”
Number Two: HGTV – If you watch HGTV you will know most of the shows are on real estate, and most of them are about people taking and finding an ugly house and making it a beautiful house. When they’re done, they’re looking at this gorgeous home and it’s perfectly decked out. Everything’s up to date, everything’s modern, everything has custom, professional interior designers that have come in and made everything match, and it just looks fabulous. They spend all their time watching this, and so they get in their mind, “That’s the house that I want!”
Today, when you’re showing houses, if the house is ugly, it will still sell, but it sells for less because people say, “That’s a fixer,” and they want to get a big time discount if a house doesn’t show perfect.
A vacant house? Oh my goodness… Vacant houses, used to not be a big deal. But now, a vacant house looks unloved. It looks unlived in. It doesn’t feel like a home.
Because buyers are so used to seeing the pictures on Pinterest and on HGTV and on all the other places, social media and on the internet, because they’re so used to that, people have a higher expectation of what they want their new home to look like. All of a sudden, (maybe not all of a sudden, but over time), staging has become a critical part of, not only the high end but even of bread and butter homes… the better a house shows, the more like a model home it shows, the better off it’s going to sell and for a closer to premium price.
25 Staging Tips To Win More Listings and Sell Listings For More:
1) Grimy bathroom walls are a major red flag to buyers. Here is an easy way to get rid of surface mold: Mix a spray bottle with one part water and one part bleach. Just spray it on the wall, and watch the mold disappear. Give it a fresh coat of paint, and your grimy bathroom will go from red flag to red-hot.
2) Don’t replace a yucky shower door: Just scour it. A grimy glass shower door can really wash out your sale. Instead of replacing it, clean it with a mixture of one part muriatic acid and about 10 parts water. Scrub with steel wool. After wiping it down, reinstall the door and you’ll have a shower that’ll help you clean up at the open house.
3) Avoid dated tile by painting. Bathrooms sell houses, but dated tile in a bathroom doesn’t. A low-cost alternative to replacing the tile is to use paint. First coat the tiles with a high-adhesion primer. Next, brush on a special ceramic epoxy covering. For a fraction of the cost of new tile, you will have an up-to-date bathroom that brings in big bucks.
4) A master bedroom should appeal to both sexes. When you are selling, your master bedroom should appeal to buyers of both sexes. Get rid of features that seem too gender-specific. Paint the walls a neutral color, and choose bedding that matches. Then accessorize with items that complement the overall color scheme.
5) Do you have an overpowering brick fireplace that sticks out like a sore thumb? Here’s an easy way to tone it down with paint. Use a rag or brush to rub a light coat of paint on the bricks, one at a time. This will give them a new tone without covering them completely. And, if you use a paint color that matches the walls, your fireplace will go from sticking out to standing out. Updating an old fireplace screen is a cheap (and quick) fix. After removing the screen and wiping it down to get rid of the dust, mask off the windows so you won’t get paint on them. Then, using a can of heat-resistant spray paint, give the screen a facelift. Hold the can about 18 inches away, and use long, even strokes. For less than $5, you will have a fireplace screen that’ll keep your sale from going up in smoke.
6) Stain dated kitchen cabinets instead of replacing them. Dated kitchen cabinets can be a big turnoff to potential buyers. Instead of paying big bucks to replace them, just stain them. First, apply the stain in even strokes, going with the grain of the wood. Add some stylish hardware, and your kitchen will have the up-to-date look that buyers love, for less than $200.
7) Stainless-steel appliances are definitely in with buyers. Instead of buying a new dishwasher, here is a low-cost way to resurface an old one: First, remove the front panels, and clean them. Next, apply a stainless-steel stick-on covering, and cut it to size. For just $20 your dishwasher will go from outdated to ultra-modern.
8) Fill existing hardware holes instead of making new, unsightly ones. Removing old kitchen hardware can leave your cabinets with stripped-out holes. Here is a trick to reusing the existing ones. First, dip a toothpick in glue and place it in the stripped hole. Cut off the excess piece. Once the glue dries, you’ll be ready to put in the hardware that buyers love.
9) Save money on granite countertops. Granite countertops are a huge selling feature, but they can be expensive. Here are a few ways to save on this investment: First, do the demo yourself. Also, ask the vendor for remnants from previous projects. Remember, any money you spend will definitely be returned in the value these beautiful counters add to your kitchen.
10) New kitchen appliances bring high returns from sellers. Studies show that new kitchen appliances bring high returns from sellers, so get rid of old appliances that make the rest of the kitchen look dated. Once you install the new equipment, it will scream “new kitchen,” and you will see that spending a little money will make you even more.
11) Need to dress up a window but don’t want to shell out big bucks for window treatments? Here’s a trick: Use place mats. First, apply a hook-and-loop fastener to the place mats and attach them in a row to a basic curtain rod. Now that the place mats are attached to the curtain rods, pin them together at the bottom, and you’ll have a stylish valance that costs about $12.
12) Adding drama to old hardwood flooring is easier than you might think. First, isolate damaged boards, cut them out and replace them with new pieces. Rent a sander from a local hardware store, and give the floor a good sanding. The last step is to stain the boards with a rich color, and watch your floor go from drab to dramatic in no time.
13) Buyers love built-in bookshelves. There’s a fine line between filling them with clutter and staging them to sell. The trick is to arrange neutral items in clusters. Make sure that no single accessory stands out too much. That way, you’ll show off your attractive built-ins, and not your personal belongings.
14) Curb appeal is vital to attracting buyers. Here is how to stop traffic using color. First, with two tones of paint, add a faux finish to any corner keystones. Next, bring out the color of walkway pavers using a stone sealer. Plant flowers in bloom, and you’ll have buyers swarming like bees to your front door.
15) A nice outdoor deck can be a big selling feature, but an old one is a major liability. To give your outdoor space new life, first sand the wood. Cover it with a light-colored stain instead of paint to give it a rustic, grainy look. Furnish it for entertaining, and watch your open house turn into a party.
16) Breathe new life into a worn patio. Do you have a red-brick patio surface that needs to be freshened up? Here is an easy way to give it new life with paint. First, roll a light coat of paint onto the bricks. Next, lightly spray them with water and then dab them before they dry to give them an outdoor look. When you are done, you will have a patio that looks fresh and reels in buyers.
17) Staging rooms to show off their true potential is essential when selling your home. Clear out clutter or other personal items that will distract buyers. Paint the walls a neutral tone, and furnish the space to show off how functional it is. When buyers come through and imagine themselves there, you can bet an offer isn’t far behind.
18) A shabby wood-panel wall is not a strong selling point. Instead of ripping it out, cover it up. Use wood filler to carefully fill in all the cracks between the panels. Then, use a sponge to wipe away the excess filler. Once it’s dry, paint the room. You’ll see an unattractive wall go from standing out to blending in.
19) Use tape outlines on the floor instead of actually moving furniture around. Rearranging a room to stage it for your open house? Here is a tip to save time and effort: Instead of lugging the heavy furniture around the room to see what feels best, put outlines on the floor with painter’s tape. Arrange the room according to your outlines, and save your energy for counting offers.
20) Vinyl tile is an inexpensive way to update your home. Laying vinyl tile is an inexpensive way to update your home, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. You need to avoid laying patterns that look too perfect. Instead, make sure to switch up the direction and placement of the tiles to mix the tones. That way, you end up with a floor that has a natural feel.
21) Stage rooms with one purpose so buyers will know what it is. Potential buyers are confused by extra rooms that have a mishmash of uses. To avoid this problem, first clear away clutter and excess furniture. Paint the walls a neutral tone and then furnish the room with a desk to stage it as a home office in which buyers will want to get down to business.
22) Unpleasant pet odors won’t win over buyers. We all love our pets, but unpleasant pet odors can make a negative first impression. Be sure to get rid of old carpet that can trap offensive smells. Replace it with fresh new carpet in a neutral color. Plus, if you paint the walls to match, your living room will look bigger. It’ll go from designed to smell to designed to sell.
23) Pack up unnecessary items and furniture before you show the house. An over packed living room is a red flag to buyers that your home lacks storage space. Pack up unnecessary items and furniture, and move items to your garage or a nearby storage facility. Clear the way for a sale by letting buyers see your square footage, not your personal belongings.
24) Storage space sells! Potential buyers love homes that have lots of storage space. Since they will open your closets, it’s a good idea to clear out unnecessary clutter, and organize your shelves to show off how much storage you really have. Plus, it gives you a chance to start packing, as you will definitely be moving once buyers see all that closet space.
25) Create a nice flow in your rooms. Buyers are attracted to homes that have a good flow. You can create circulation by replacing square or rectangular dining tables with round ones. Cutting the corners adds room to this maneuver and creates a spinoff effect that adds flow to your home — cash flow, that is. Create a better flow in the house by starting with the floor. Want to create better flow in your house? Start with the floor. Join two rooms together by using the most cost-efficient material in the book: vinyl tile. First, use a snap-line to create a center point between the two rooms. Next, the fun part: Peel and stick the new vinyl tile down, and watch your kitchen and dining room go from old to sold!
So there you have some easy and affordable ways to stage a listing and beat other agents to a listing and sell the listing for more. Take these tips and create your own staging booklet or report as a listing tool with sellers and beat out the competition and sell your listings for more. I dare ya!!
I am always amazed when I get to see mastery in sales at work and how the best can make it look effortless and it really isn’t sales at all but something that is natural and who they are like poetry in motion. The legend, my friend and one of my mentors Floyd Wickman taught us to be effective consultants and not sales person’s with people by using what he called the “Diamond of Salesmanship.”
4 Points to the Diamond of Salesmanship
The Diamond of salesmanship was the perfect tool to help come across as a consultant or an advisor with people and not another salesperson. These four powerful activities allowed the best of the best to get the result they were wanting on almost every single appointment and you can to.
At the top of the diamond was “Use their names” when meeting with people. When you use someone’s name a lot they begin to feel like they are important and special to you. Using their names a lot also makes people trust and like you faster during your time with them.Let’s be honest here, who doesn’t like to hear someone say your name over and over again? I don’t know about you but personally I love this part of the diamond for another reason and that is I am excellent with faces but absolutely terrible with names and using someone’s name over and over again helps me internalize and remember their names so much easier.
The second point on the diamond of salesmanship is “Ask questions” the world’s greatest conversationalist is someone who says little or nothing because they ask powerful engaging questions and are then quiet and listen.Wouldn’t you all agree it is not by chance we all have 2 ears and one mouth and we were designed to speak less and listen more. The most difficult skill for myself is to ask more questions and to listen more and be present and attentive to the other person and their needs and not my own needs. When we ask more questions and let the other do the talking you find them saying “I don’t know what it is but I feel like I know you and that I could talk to you forever” and you just smile and say, “I get that a lot.” So remember, ask questions and listen more and you get the results you want.
The next point on the diamond of salesmanship is “Facial expressions and Voice inflections” the greatest part of communication is the non-verbal piece. Your client clearly understands and hears you better when communicating with the right facial expressions and voice inflections. We have all heard that your energy level changes when you smile while talking over the phone. The English language is so complex when you say a word and end it with a up voice or down voice inflection. For example the difference between really and reeeeaaallly.The first is heard like you are surprised or wow. The second is a response is heard as possibly an exaggeration. Never forget that almost 86% of communication in sales is from your facial expression and tone or voice inflection every time.
The fourth and final point of the diamond of salesmanship it “Visuals” never “tell” but always “show and sell”. In sales we have always heard the statement “talk is cheap” and this is so important when dealing with others and not to tell but use visuals to show and sell.Half of the people we deal with are auditory learners and half are visual learners including myself but you will never know which one the client is so never tell, rather show and sell. Honestly the most powerful sales tool on the planet is a note pad and pen. While I am communicating I am always writing, drawing while communicating to visual enhance my communication with the other party.
So there you have it, the four things you do at any appointment to get the results you are wanting. Take the time to study and practice these skills and please don’t practice this on your clients first but on your peers, family member or spouse and become proficient in the diamond of salesmanship and take your business and effectiveness to another level.
I am often reminded of the importance (if you have never done it before), of googling yourself. Actually sit down, open up google and search your name on google and look at what you see or worse, what you don’t see.
So let me ask you a question. When you google yourself, how do you rank?
When you google yourself, what else came up during your search? Anything? Nothing?
When I google myself I gratefully rank on the whole first page of the search but I found a solar company by the name “Wade Solar” and a judge in the mid-west with the name “Wade” in the search.
Now more importantly, how many results were about your business and would they make you want to work with you if you were a buyer or seller looking for an agent online? In February of this year, Inman reported that businesses with 10 or more reviews get 3.5x the attention and 6.5x the inquiries. Client reviews and testimonials help boost your incredibility with leads like crazy. They also help boost your credibility with Google.
So, if you’re not getting the results you want when you Google yourself and your business, that means Google doesn’t quite trust you yet. There are really only 3 ways to get traffic to your real estate website (Ads, SEO, and Social). This week we’re going to explore how your social media pages can help you rank better and higher in Google searches.
While Google may or may not use signals on Facebook or Twitter such as the number of followers you have to boost your placement, it’s clear that each platform still ranks and ranks well, at least for broad searches. If your content performs well and is widely shared, it can help drive more traffic and qualified leads your way for years to come. But let’s get back to social media. Social profiles are often among the top results in search listings for individuals and brand names. While your Pinterest page may not have the same impact as a 5-star Yelp review, it’s still a great place to start.
Think about it. If a lead only knows your name, they may start with that as a way to find out more about you and let’s be real – social media platforms are becoming just as much of a search engine as Google is. It’s likely future clients are going to want to learn more about you and the quickest way to connect is through social networks. If you’ve got a stellar Pinterest presence with several well-crafted boards full of useful information and a decent number of followers, you’re well on your way to making a great first impression and achieving your goal of gaining trust with your viewers and Google.
Whether you’re active on two or 12 social sites, here are a few practices that will easily increase your SEO and help push you to the first page of Google. Whether you have 100 or 100,000 followers on any given network, the way in which they engage with you will help establish you as a credible source. Growing your follower base is one way to do this, but they’ve got to be high-quality fans. What does this mean?
Well, for one, that they’re not bought. Buying Likes/followers will do absolutely nothing for you. Do Not Buy Fans. It’s not worth it and will ultimately decrease your chances of ranking on Google. As I said before though, there’s still a lot of conversation happening around whether your sheer number of followers even influences your Google ranking and whether it does or it doesn’t, how you interact with your audience totally matters. When thinking about increasing your reach, I want you to keep these three words in mind – Resonate, Relevant and Reach… let’s quickly break these down.
The way you will resonate with your target audience is by producing relevant content and these two things will increase your reach. Listen to what your viewers are saying. This could be one person or 10. It doesn’t matter. Because if you can help one person solve a problem, chances are there are many more people looking for answers to the same question. Help them solve it to increase your reach.
Optimize Your Posts – Again, this all comes back to content. To make the most of your updates, make sure you’re sharing strong, valuable content consistently. A detailed blog post, video or infographic will help you accomplish this the fastest. Make sure to also say something about the content you’re sharing in the post description and try and include a keyword or term relevant to that search.
You can also focus on optimizing your posts for your local community and having them show up in big search engines. Hint: This is how you can start to compete with portal giants such as Zillow and Truila. It is impossible for you to be a local expert like them, so get out there and make it happen. An easy way to get started on this, aside from making sure your actual profile is up-to-date with your location and services..etc., is to engage other local players. Try Googling “best pizza (your area)” and see what comes up.
Choose the top 3 and then check out their social media profiles. Try out each one for lunch or dinner over the next few weeks and write your own guide for newcomers. You can then tag each place across social media and begin engaging them on a more regular basis.
Whether you work with a team or are a one-agent show, you are your brand. The best way you can increase your brand awareness and authority is by publishing quality content regularly. Your online reputation is essentially built upon your social media presence. In order to generate and maintain a credible image, you’ve got to keep active. Your social media presence, though important, is really just a way to give you more visibility online and drive traffic to your site. That’s where the real action happens.
We all know in real estate communication is everything and how we feel on the inside is what is coming out to people on the outside through your words, tone and energy. We all want the client to feel good when we communicate with them so it starts by us feeling good ourselves! You can’t be a lean mean appointment setting machine if you are someone who is sad, angry, depressed or totally stressed out on the inside because that is coming out in some way on the outside to the people you are communicating with.
So get right on the inside so you can be right on the outside and really attract, engage and make people feel good and feel like you are someone they really need to get together with! Let’s give you some more tips on becoming that appointment setting machine.
1. Know your customers pain and know their problems.
Examples: market conditions, past purchasing experiences. There are only two things in our lives that “move” people to take action and that is the avoidance of pain and the desire of pleasure. What are the buyers and sellers challenges? Fears? Frustrations? When you begin to share with the client about their pain they feel you really understand them and feel like you are in tune with them and want to connect with you and hear the solutions you can offer them.
2. Know your dialogues.
If you want to be good then you have to practice! The most in demand type of training in our industry today is role playing but it is the kind of training that is avoided the most and not practiced at all in our industry. I hear so many agents say “I hate scripts” “I don’t want to sound canned” Sorry but these are the same agents who don’t do high volume and are not great communicators in the industry and this just makes it easier on the rest of us. When you know what to say and how to say it, you can be more in tune to your customers’ needs.
3. Get to the point!
Example “I’m calling today to schedule an appointment…” I love the line “Why sell with blah blah blah when you can sell with blah?” or “If you don’t ask and get to the point then you don’t get!” So many times we find ourselves talking too much about “nothing” and actually forget to ask for the order or get to the point of the conversation. Have the courage to ask for the appointment and get to the point sooner than later. My favorite technique is the alternate choice close when you give the client two options for setting a time. “Would tomorrow at 2 pm be good or Friday at 1pm be better for you?”
4. Stand up when you are making appointments and keep your hands free of objects including when you are on the phone (use a head set). Your body controls your tonality and your emotional state. It is amazing when you stand and your hands are free and open what it does for you and your energy levels. People are engaged by your energy, passion and excitement and want to connect with you when you have that kind of enthusiasm. Standing keeps your body, breathing and mental state at a peak level and has a huge impact on your conversion rate for appointments.
5. On the phone = 20% effective sensory communication. You need to remember when you talk you are only engaging in one sense out of five. It is critical you speak clearly and slowly and be on point throughout the discussion. This is so important because you don’t have the non-verbal communication components now which make up the majority of communicating. They can’t see your body language, facial expressions, eye contact and hand gestures over the phone. All you have is your voice, tone and inflections to get the message across when trying to convert the appointment.
6. Get the fear out of the way with these 3 questions: For a lot of us it is uncomfortable talking to someone we just met so knowing what to ask and let them do the majority of the talking makes this part so much easier. Here are three excellent and engaging more dialog questions to get you past the fear and awkwardness of converting sales appointments.
1) What’s the worst case scenario?
2) What’s the most likely scenario?
3) What’s the best case scenario?
In addition to getting better at sales appointment conversion you also have to make sure you have the best environment possible for making those appointment calls so here are some great tips for creating the right environment for converting more appointments.
1. Appointment Tracker – Visual. Make it visual; think big appointment calendar.
2. Appointment Setting Shrine. Use a foam presentation board. Put pictures of your family, how much money you want to make, and even a mirror.
3. Eliminate All Distractions. Things like the voicemail light, messy desk, or having the Internet open in front of you can be distracting.
4. Stand Up Vs. Sit. You sound more confident on the phone when you are standing up versus sitting down.
5. Music. I like Van Morrison, but find something that works best for you.
6. Plant. Having a plant in your office can help improve your mood.
7. Get a good headset! I use a wireless Plantronics headset.
When you put together all these steps you can’t help but get better on appointment setting and remember, by removing the client’s fear it is easier for them to take action and for you to set appointments.
Here are some action steps for you to put this into reality.
1. Review this content daily.
2. Get your environment set for making appointments.
3. Practice the communication tips above.
4. Set those appointments!
Are you ready to take your appointment setting to the next level?
Could your marketing be outdated, ineffective, or even harmful for you and your business? There are several signs your real estate marketing strategy might need an update in 2017. This week we look at the top signs and what to do!
