Top Signs Your Real Estate Marketing Is Not Working

improve realtor marketing 2017Could your marketing be outdated, ineffective, or even harmful for you and your business?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!

Strength and courage,
Wade

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The Secret To Getting Listings In a Market With No Listings

low or no house listing inventory for realtorsMost of your real estate markets across North America are experiencing historical low listing inventory levels. Other markets across North America have good inventory but the agents are struggling to get good saleable house listings in their pipeline. So what if I told you I finally found the secret to getting listings and getting good listings in any market condition in North America? I want to show you how to find those listings in your marketplace which is a really important topic, and one that some agents are scared of…

THE SECRET?…….EXPIREDS.

Some of you are already thinking about not reading the blog post, but I don’t want you to miss out on a lead source that many agents are simply too afraid to use because they don’t know how!

Why Agents Don’t Work Expired Listings…

1. Their fixed/ego mindset tells a story about expireds! Some agents even get mad and blame those agents who do work expireds!

2. Their fixed mindset stops them … Fear! Because they don’t know what to say, and the agent takes the rejection personally.

Remember these are clients who need to be served!

They already own a house.

They already want to work with an agent. They are willing to pay our fees. How could we not want to work with these clients?

When you call expireds you are calling someone who has an unmet expectation and who now has a rise in an emotion because of the whole scenario. You need to understand when you work with expireds and they are upset, it isn’t about you! Just put yourself in their shoes, and use some of these tips…

How to Effectively Work Expired Listings…

1. How Do You Win? Make a choice: You can work all of them or you can cherry pick the ones you want. This means you see the opportunity. You work with the expireds in the areas you know and can bring value to.

2. Use the Right Engaging Questions. Follow a script similar to these examples….
“If I brought you an offer yesterday to sell your home with terms that are desirable, where are you moving to?”

“If I sold your home in the next 30 days would you still like to move?”

“So, if I could, would you be willing to meet with me for 20 minutes to show you how we sold 31 homes? 10 that were previously listed like yours with other agents and sold for 99% of list price in an average of 23 days, and every one of them gave me a five-star review. Would it be worth 20 minutes of your time?”

“What’s important to you in the next agent you choose?”

3. Create a Case Study Marketing Piece Similar to This:

-Picture of the house with all the details (address, previous number of listing agents, days on market, etc.)
-Listed by your team (after expiring)
-Executed our marketing plan
-13,000 online views
-92 agents at preview
-173 buyers at open house
-3 offers
-99% of list price
-Sold in 21 days
-5 Star review

What are the 3 biggest stumbling blocks / mistakes agents make along the way?

1. Not following up enough on expireds that you hadn’t reached on the first try. Recommend you call, door knock and mail for a combined 6-9 touches.
2. Not role playing the scripts and dialogues to build rapport and demonstrate your value.
3. Not developing a mail system sooner to drip out to them and get them to call you.

What are the 3 top tips to someone starting out on Expireds?

1. It costs nothing at first, so you can start tomorrow. Just do it!
2. Role play and know what to say.
3. Come from a position of helping and serving because these people need an agent like you and I who can get the job done!

Take the time and look back at the expired listing. Remember you don’t have to work with all of them, cherry pick the ones you want! Do you have it in your head and do you have it in your heart to serve those clients?

There is your secret to listing success in 2017. Only one thing stopping you is a little work. I dare you to give it a try and add it to your marketing strategies this year.

Strength and courage,
Wade

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Real Estate Marketing Innovations From Around The World

2017 real estate innovations

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.

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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.

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REAL ESTATE MARKETING INNOVATION #3

Personalized & Immersive Virtual Tours…

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Last year the latest was Matterport…

https://youtu.be/vFqa-IsRHqI

This year is the 3D googles and VR360 cameras…

REAL ESTATE MARKETING INNOVATION #4

Dedicated Property Sites or Personalized Seller Sites…

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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.

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REAL ESTATE MARKETING INNOVATION #6

Virtual Home Staging…

Computer enhanced virtual staging helps the consumer see the potential in the properties.

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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.

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E Suivit – Electronic Follow Up ( France ) Online seller communication platform providing stats, feedback, showings, marketing etc.

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E_suivit E_suivit_1 E_suivit_2 E_suivit_3 E_suivit_4

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REAL ESTATE MARKETING INNOVATION #8

Worldwide Listing Exposure With – List Globally…
www.listglobally.com

 

REAL ESTATE MARKETING INNOVATION #9

Attracting Buyers With Buyer Specific Websites…

· Virtual Buyer Waiting Room

· Buyer registers what they are looking for

· Auto listing alert when they have a match

· Seller sees all the buyers and contacts the agent that their home is a match and will sell

Buyer_website

REAL ESTATE MARKETING INNOVATION #10

Seller Concierge Services…

3 year client follow up concierge service. $220 / Year

Lixil
Lixil_2

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.

Strength and courage,
Wade

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5 Steps to 5 Star Customer REALTOR Reviews


90% of Consumers decisions are influenced by 3rd party online reviews

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80% of Consumers trust online reviews as personal recommendations


Negative online reviews or reviews of 3 stars or less can cost a business or service provider as much as 30 new customers

 

 

 

 

 

Crazy Review Stats to Pay Attention To…

  • Zillow reviews receive 36 million views a month
  • Realtor.com reviews receive 18 million views a month
  • Yelp has more than 26,000 reviews posted every minute
  • Google has 100 billion review searches every 30 days


Does your online reputation match your offline reputation?

Millennials would rather just find an agent from the internet with good reviews and don’t care about referrals.

Slide6

 

 

Out With the Old…

The Old Model =
1) See & Read
2) We Present
3) They refer

The New Model =
1) Search online
2) Read reviews
3) Use us

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The Review Widget

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Step 1 to a 5 Star Review

Listing and Buyer Presentations. “Tell or ask for the 5 star review in the future…”

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Script Asking for 5 Star Review

Buyer Counselling or Listing Appointment
(Click on the link above to read the script dialog)

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Step 2 to a 5 Star Review

The high point in the process.

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High Point Script

High Point in the Transaction
(Click on the link above to read the script dialog)

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Step 3 to a 5 Star Review

At the close of the deal

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At the Close of the Deal Script

At the Closing Table
(Click on the link above to read the script dialog)

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Step 4 to a 5 Star Review

The week or 2 after closing.

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One Week After Closing Script

One Week after Closing
(Click on the link above to read the script dialog)

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Step 5 to a 5 Star Review

Administration Assistant Call.

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Administrative Call Script

Administrative Call
(Click on the link above to read the script dialog)

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Google “Best Realtor In Kelowna (or your hometown)”

Join what comes up and especially if the review source is free for you to use.

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Follow the five steps to Five Stars today!!

Slide20

 

Strength and courage,
Wade

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Real Estate 12 Days Before Christmas Must Do’s 2017

Effective Real Estate Strategies Just Before Christmas

12 days of real estate ChristmasOn 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

Strength and courage,
Wade

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How To Make 2017 Your Best Year in Real Estate Ever

3 Reviews to Increase Your Real Estate Biz in 2017

2017 best real estate year everAs 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!

Strength and courage,
Wade

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The Top 12 Offers That Generate More Real Estate Leads

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.

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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.

checklist-1622517_640

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.

Top 10 AgentsBoost Posts for 2015

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.

Ask The Right Questions in real estate

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.real-estate-marketing-tips-ebook

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!

Strength and courage,
Wade

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The Diamond Of Salesmanship – The Four Things You Do On Any Appointment To Get Results!

realtor diamond of salesmanshipI 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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

Strength and courage,
Wade

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Agent’s Guide to Writing a Business Plan

business plan real estate

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 on are track to meet your goals. It is that time of year again when we begin to build our plan for 2017 and let’s look at the key areas of the agent’s solid business plan.

1) Defining Your Mission & Vision

Writing a solid business plan begins by defining your business’s mission and vision statement. Though creating such a statement may seem like fluff, it is an important exercise. The mission and vision statement sets the foundation upon which to launch your business. It is difficult to move forward successfully without first defining your business and the ideals under which your business operates. A company description should be included as a part of the mission and vision statement: what type of real estate do you sell? Where is your business located? Who founded your business? What is sets your business apart from your competitors?

2) SWOT Analysis

Once you’ve created a mission and vision statement, the next step is to develop a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for “Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.” It is difficult to set goals for your business without first enumerating your business’s strengths and weaknesses, and the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. Do you offer superior customer service as compared with your competitors? Do you specialize in a niche market? What experiences do you have that set you apart from your competitors? What are your competitors’ strengths? Where do you see the market already saturated, and where are there opportunities for expansion and growth?

3) Setting Goals

Next, translate your mission and vision into tangible goals. If your mission statement is to make every client feel like your most important client: how specifically will you implement this? Do you want to grow your business? Is this growth measured by gross revenue, profit, personnel, or physical office space? How much growth do you aim for annually? What specific targets will you strive to hit annually in the next few years?

4) Marketing Plan

You may wish to create a marketing plan as either a section of your business plan or as an addendum. The Marketing Mix concerns product, price, place and promotion. What is your product? How does your price distinguish you from your competitors—is it industry average, upper quartile, or lower quartile? How does your pricing strategy benefit your clients? How and where will you promote your services? What types of promotions will you advertise? Will you ask clients for referrals or use coupons? Which channels will you use to place your marketing message?

5) Forming a Team

Ensuring the cooperation of all colleagues, supervisors, and service providers involved in your plan is another important element to consider. Is your business plan’s success contingent upon the cooperation of your colleagues? If so, what specifically do you need them to do? How will you evaluate their participation? Are they on-board with the role you have assigned them? How will you get “buy in” from these individuals?

6) Implementation & Follow-up

Implementation and follow-up are frequently overlooked aspects to the business plan, yet enormously vital to the success of the plan. Set dates (annually, semi-annually, quarterly, or monthly) to review your business plans goals: are you on track? Were the goals reasonable to achieve, impossible, or too easy? How do you measure success—is it by revenue, profit, or number of transactions?

And last, how do you plan to implement your business plan’s goals? When will you review and refine your business plan goals? What process will you use to review your goals? What types of quantitative and qualitative data will you collect and use to measure your success? So there you have it your guide to building your 2017 business plan. Click here to download your Click here to download your free 2017 business plan template and make 2017 your best year in real estate!

 

Strength and courage,
Wade

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Hey Agents Have You Ever Googled Yourself?

Agent Google SearchI 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.

Wade_Webb_Google

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.

Best_Pizza

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.

Strength and courage,
Wade

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