How you ever thought how your real estate business is really just math? That’s right your business is numbers and formulas and equations if you really take the time to break it all down. There are only 4 simple activities that an agent can do each year to improve their business and make more money than previous years. Do you know what those activities are?
Increase your average sale price. Increase the average sale price you increase the average commission payable per sale, right?
Increase your average commission sales rate. Stop cutting your fee and fight for your value. Start asking for more at a listing 7% and making them feel like they got a concession if you have to and settling at 6%.
Increase the transaction activity with your clients. Get the repeat, referral business or start selling them investment properties over and above their personal residences.
Simply sell more properties each year than the previous years.
So let’s look at the math part of it. Take the goal for 2020 of 26%increase. Does 26% increase sound too high? Unattainable? Unrealistic to you? Let look at the math of our business using the goal 26%.
Look at this example below of an agent in their first year who earned $50,000 gross in 2019. Average commission income per sale was $5,000 and basically did 10 deals the past year. Now lets implement the 26% goal to their first year business and see what starts to happen…..
Year 1- 5 Agents Numbers ( Just adding 26% more sales ) not changing commission rate or frequency
Income Avg. $ Earned # Deals
$50,000 $5,000 10 Deals
$63,000 $5,000 12.6
$79,380 $5,000 15.87
$100,018 $5,000 20
$126,022 $5,000 25.2
Did you see the math and compound effect of 26% on number of sales and what happens every 3 years?
An agents income and number of deals doubles every four year setting an annual goal in just one activity!!
Years 6-10 Agents Numbers the same result every 3 years still. The math doesn’t lie!!
$158,787 $5,000 31.75
$200,071 $5,000 40
$252,018 $5,000 50.4
$317,542 $5,000 63.5
$400,102 $5,000 80
Take the time to run these same numbers by increasing the sale price ( which will increase your commission number ) and see what the numbers do? What if you add an increase of repeat, referrals and start welling clients investment properties? Imagine what kind of a compounding effect 26% would have for you and your business? Focus on how I can increase my sale price in 2020? How can I increase my commission average per sale? How I can increase my referrals, investment sales? How I can increase my number of sales? Let the math and the compound effect work for you in the coming years!!
For almost three decades I have been in real estate and you always hear about the people needing to know you, like you and trust you. In 2020 this is not enough to thrive in the real estate industry any longer. We are now in a time where it is imperative to an agents success the people know, like and trust you but now they also have to see you!!
Every agent needs to up their game in 2020 and find ways to be known, liked, trusted and seen. Gone are the days you can get away from showing up and being seen by people. We are inundated with information, visuals, messages and we are getting more and more guarded with our time, space and attention…Out of sight, out of mind!! So how can we focus more on being seen in 2020 and capture their attention and be more top of mind? Here are my top ideas to be seen in 2020.
Morning Coffee Routine – every morning for the last 30 years I go to a coffee shop and enjoy hanging with the regulars. It never fails we end up talking about real estate and business comes from that time year after year after year. The secret is to be social and interact and talk to people. Not sit on your phone or in a book or on your laptop. The owners of the local coffee shop just last week asked me about a development land piece they just put an option on and what to build and need a proposal for marketing what we feel they should build. Not bad conversation for a $4 coffee and 30 minute conversation in the morning?
Coffee, Breakfast, Lunches – make a point to meet with your clients and give them the gift of your time and take the time to break bread with them. Easy to do but easier to not do day after day. Deepen that relationship with others and increase top of mind and make them feel truly important to you and your business.
Video email or text – 86% of communication is nonverbal. Tone, voice inflection, eye contact and body language and video delivers that punch! Why email and text when you can wow and awe your people with a video email or text. BombBomb ($) or Loom (Free) are great tools to use for this. Just a little secret your phone does video email and text too and its free!!!
Call – Are you ready for this crazy little secret? Your phone makes incoming and outgoing calls!!! Take the time to just call and say hi. Stop underestimating the power of the simple. Remember the old ad that said “Reach out and touch someone”? Take the time and do it and make them feel important and cared for.
Hand Written Notes – The power of a personal hand written note with your business card attached. Always gets opened, always gets read, show you took time and care and always leaves people feeling better than they did before. Sadly this is a lost art and something that never dies.
Personal Mail – We never get mail any more and if we do it is a bill. Mail that is personal like the hand written note gets opened, read and if it contains something valuable to the receiver and not to you then it makes an impact in them I guarantee it!
Social Media – It is not about looking what everyone else is doing and what you are posting. Dale Carnegie said “people don’t care what I know unless they know that I care” Be seen and show them you care. Like, comment, message and make them feel important to you. What would a quick Facebook message to someone asking them how they are doing? How’s their family? Anything I can do to help? How would that make them feel and how would you show up to people if you took the time to do it? PS in two years 100% of content feed on Facebook will be video. Do you post video content?
Client Events – Hosting annual client events like seminars, appreciation parties or my personal favorite, hosting their house warming parties always makes an impact on others and a fantastic way to show up and be seen in 2020. Do you see them? Appreciate them? Add value to them? Make them feel like a rock star and host their house warming party?
Deliver the Unexpected – every spring, summer and fall find an item and a funny tag to add to the item and drop by your clients place of work and let them feel the love! Every summer I love delivering everyone at their work place the BBQ triple packs of Ketchup, Relish and Mustard with a tag on them saying “Just ketching up and relish your referrals and not all agents cut the mustard” People at work ask who I was, what that was for and look at the tag and laugh out loud every time.
Give Back – The amount of people you get to meet and interact with when you are part of an event as a volunteer and the joy and sense of purpose you get from giving back is the perfect one two punch! I always end up connecting with someone new and someone old and such a great way to show up and be seen and make a difference.
B2B – I started my own business networking group and CEO mastermind groups to meet monthly and idea share and connect professionals in the community with one another. Such a powerful way to be seen and add value and be seen in the community and be the straw that stirs the drink in your community.
So there you have it, ways to be seen in 2020. Show up and be seen and not just known, liked and trusted in the coming year. I dare you to just try one of these ideas and let me know how it worked. Feel free to add more comments on how you show up and be seen that works and adds values. Love to hear from you all!!
There is this myth in real estate that lead generation is expensive or it has to be expensive for it to be effective marketing in today’s world. Although I agree there are some very pricey marketing tactics in play right now, I assure you there are countless highly effective tactics that are “zero” cost or low cost to the agent and I know from the thousands of agents I have done work with these 20 lead generation activities work for any agent in any place in the world….
1. Agent to Agent referral system. It is who we know and who knows us to send us the referrals.
2. Always follow up and add value to any no sale or no appointment client lead. You just never know when they are ready.
3. Divorce attorneys. Bank foreclosure attorneys.
4. Sphere of influence. You need to be known, liked, trusted and seen. Top of mind.
5. Buyer house warming or Seller farewell parties that are financed by your professional service providers.
6. Mortgage lenders or bank loan managers.
7. Trades, contractors or small business owners.
8. Volunteer at charity, fundraiser or community events.
9. Estate attorney or notary.
10. Networking events like chamber, rotary or business after 5pm.
11. Attend community event calendar events where there are people to meet.
12. Find a club on www.join.me like a hiking or running club.
13. Attend garage sales or help people host their garage sale. Offer garage sale kits or hosting services for no cost.
14. Email marketing campaigns don’t cost a thing.
15. Social media campaigns.
16. Video campaigns.
17. Blog – written or video.
18. Open house.
19. Expired listing (if applicable) For Sale By Owners.
20. Career apparel – car logo, name tag, logo on clothing.
Bonus…
1. Seminars.
2. Public relations submitting articles to the editors.
3. Testimonials – google, yelp, written, video.
Don’t let the myth stop you from taking action and I challenge you to take action and implement and execute some of these lead generation ideas in 2020. Let me know how you make out and please share in the comments below any other fabulous low or no cost lead generation activities that work for you year in and year out.
Have you ever given up? Reached the point in real estate where you can’t go on any further? Remember that life is not a marathon or a sprint. It’s a series of sprints combined with a boxing match. You’re not just running toward a goal but you’re also getting hit along the way. I don’t know where you are on your journey, but I know there will be times you want to give up on a goal or dream. I know the importance of the right words at the right time. Whether now is one of those times or perhaps you’ll save this for a time you need to read it, I want to encourage you to keep going. Don’t quit! Here are a few ways you can fuel up your mind and soul for the journey ahead.
1) Keep your Vision Alive: It’s so important to keep looking forward and seeing the future you want to create. If you can see it you’ll keep moving towards it. Consider making a vision board or creating a vision notebook filled with pictures and words that remind you of what you are working towards. It’s wild how many things I wrote down that actually came true.
2) Fuel up with Purpose: There will be many times you want to give up but always remember that your purpose is greater than your challenges. It is the ultimate fuel for a meaningful journey. It gives you meaning and mission which helps you overcome adversity and avoid burnout. We don’t get burned out because of what we do. We get burned out because we forget why we do it. As you are moving toward your vision keep reminding yourself why you are going there. Consider creating a purpose statement that you can look at each morning to keep you going.
3) Believe the Best is Yet to Come: We don’t give up because it’s hard. We give up because we get discouraged. No matter what challenges you face along the way keep encouraging yourself. Maintain hope. Believe the best is yet to come. If you believe in what you are doing and know that this is what you truly want, then keep believing it will happen. Research from Duke University shows that if you believe it you are more likely to take the actions necessary to achieve it.
4) Focus on the Process, not the Outcome: There will be many times where the outcome is not looking good. You may not be hitting the numbers you want or getting the results you desire. The key is to focus on the process and just work to get better each day. Focus on small victories. Strive to hit milestones. If you have a vision you want to create and focus on the process each day, you’ll gradually move towards your goal and dream.
5) Trust in a Bigger Plan: Sometimes when all hope seems lost and you feel like there is nothing more you can do; I believe you can do something that will help everything. You can pray and trust in a bigger plan for your life. I did this many times when I almost lost it all in 1997 and 2008 during the global market corrections. I did it when we ran the company out of our personal savings. I did it when I was so unhealthy and having heart issues and needed to get into ownership. I did it when my first speaking and coaching events didn’t go very well. And each time I did it I had renewed hope and optimism that led me to this very moment where I wrote this blog and you read it. There’s a bigger plan and it includes both of us.
So don’t give up! Keep going! Because, you’ll be better for it and so will the people you impact along the way. I’m rooting for you!
On the first day of real estate my true love gave to me… Spend some focused time on your real estate database prior to 2019. If you don’t have a database then assemble one. Input names from your phone, emails, social media and client files. Take the time to build a monthly database touch system for 2020 making specific activities each month to add value and deepen your relationships with your database. Treat your clients like they are first class passengers on your own airline and not like their sitting in the back of your plane tossing them a bag of peanuts and charging them for luggage. The “give to get” activity is the best way to increase repeat and referral business in 2020.
On the Second Day of real estate my true love gave to me… Create an online lead generation system. 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. Check out Prime Seller Leads, Bold leads, Zillow or Agentlocator real estate leads for this. 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… 3 – 6 seperate twenty minute sessions daily prospecting and lead generation. Who doesn’t have 20 minutes? 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. Top listing sources are your sphere (complimentary equity analysis unsolicited every year), open house, FSBO, expired or door knock looking for a bona fide buyer.
On the Fifth Day of real estate my true love gave to me… Face to Face and belly to belly activities like coffee, lunch, door knock, open house, kiosk, floor duty, networking, volunteering and a “pop by” are all great. We 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. This is a full contact sport.
On the Sixth Day of real estate my true love gave to me… An Agent to Agent 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 source 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 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. Pre seller and buyer packages. 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! Create that vision board and place it on your screen saver.
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. Listen for the need. Take care of people and the cash takes care of itself.
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 face to face 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 2020. “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.
Knowing what the biggest objection you face over the next few months allows you the edge to be prepared when it strikes. We all know the #1 objection all agents are going to get from real estate buyers and sellers is “We want to wait until the spring.” So having the ability to change how the buyer and seller feels about waiting to buy or sell until the spring is imperative to your winter real estate success!! Don’t try changing their minds and building their defense mechanism up but educate them and change how they think and then they change how they feel about buying over the winter instead of spring. The fact of the matter is, the reasons and myths are endless so it’s our job as REALTORS® to be equipped with facts and a strong reality check to combat these reasons we hear every day. To help you educate the consumers through the winter season I put together some of my top reasons a client would want to choose this time of year to buy, sell and list a home.
Here Are The Top Reasons to Sell Real Estate Over The Winter
#1 – Only The Serious Buyers Are Looking Over The Winter
Yes there are fewer buyers, but those buyers are usually very SERIOUS about making a purchase or many HAVE to make a purchase. Who else would want to look at buying during the winter?
#2 – Fewer Winter Listings Means Less Listing Competition
Most sellers wait until the spring or summer to list, so your home will have far less competition
Spring = Greater supply = Same Demand = Less Money
#3 – January Is The Biggest Corporate Transfer Month
More corporate relocation moves happen during January than any other time of the year.
Catch the corporate relocation buyers while you can.
#4 – Better Personal Prompt Customer Service
By putting the home on the market during the winter you experience better, personal and faster customer service from movers, lawyers, banks, insurance providers etc. Listing realtors have more time to better serve their sellers and get all the marketing strategies in place.
#5 – More Bargaining Time to Get More Money
By starting to market your home early, you may be able to secure a higher price with more listing exposure time. This season allows a seller to not be in a rush to sell and allow for more market exposure time and ultimately generate a higher price than in the spring.
#6 – Timing Is Everything. So Sell Now & Buy In The Spring
If your home sells quickly, you will be able to shop for your next home during the winter, a great time to find a bargain!
More time to look and not pressure to shop and beat the other buyers. Sell first and then buy in the spring when the inventory and selection begins to rise for you when you are the buyer.
#7 – Standing Out In A Smaller Crowd
Most REALTORS® and offices have less inventory during the winter, enabling your home to stand out even more.
Less marketing noise out there for the buyers and they see your home with ease now.
#8 – 20% Of Sales Still Happen During the Winter
Buyers and Sellers are usually quite motivated to get the transaction completed. We still have 20% of the business in the year occurring during the winter.
This can mean less price haggling and fewer hassles during the process.
#9 – Buying Without Having Something To Sell First
By selling now you may have an opportunity to be a non-contingent buyer during the spring, when more houses are on the market!
Less “subject to the sale” offers from buyers and you are not one of them when you are buying your next home.
#10 – No Yard Work When It’s Freshly Covered In Snow
Great time for a home that needs a yard make over to sell.
No need to worry about your yard work. Snow makes it look fresh and white.
BONUS…..
#11 – Buyers Time Everything Too
Buyers begin the search and purchase for spring moves in January, February.
Busy move times are March Spring Break, April Easter, May long weekend and July long weekends
#12 – No Pricing Wars With Others Sellers
Less choice for buyers means less sellers to play pricing against each other
Buyers will often make more concession in their buying decision with less choice
#13 – A Holiday Magic Feel To Your Home
Property shows well, almost staged with holiday décor adding to the ambiance
Tis the season for your home to shine!
#14 – Higher Quality No Looky Loo Showings
Little chance of quick showings and not being prepared to show your home
Easier time of year to make appointments and give sellers advance notice.
Higher quality showings
#15 – Right Buyer, Right Time Odds
The odds are the same for the right buyer looking at your home regardless of the season.
Right buyer, right time, right home
Here Are My Top 10 Reasons to Buy Over The Winter
#1 – Fewer Or No Multiple Offers
Little or no chance of multiple or competing offers for the buyer during this time of year
#2 – Better Personal Prompt Customer Service
Better service from all service providers like the agents, banks, insurers etc. Not as busy now.
#3 – Sellers Are Motivated
Sellers motivated at this time of year if still trying to sell from summer or fall.
Sellers willing to negotiate, been on the market for some time now. Give and take.
#4 – Expired Listing Inventory
Buyers can shop the expired listings market, which has the largest selection this time of the year.
#5 – Better Closing Options
Good time of year to make an offer and do the due diligence, buyers can move quickly now or slower in the spring if not in a rush.
#6 – More Alternative Housing Options
Easier for sellers to find alternative housing, not as much pressure finding a rental vs. the really busy spring and summer season.
#7 – Contingencies and Subject to the Sale Of Acceptable
Great time for buyers to make contingent “Subject to the Sale” offers and get them accepted and movement on the price.
#8 – Better Available Moving & Service Providers
Easier time for a buyer to move and find help and services like movers, cleaners, storage.
#9 – Smoother Mistake Free Completions
Better timing for buyers on completions with lawyers, banks land registry. Not that busy and time to attend to you now.
#10 – Buyer Competition Lower
Less competition for the same property from other buyers on the deals that pop up this time of year.
Bonus
#11 – Having More Time
Having time to make a decision and not be pressured in to offers or pressured into removing conditions or speeding up your due diligence time.
Now that you’re equipped with ammo to overcome any objection, educate the consumers and debunk the myths and go out there and list and sell some real estate this winter season!!
A mentor and someone I admire incredibly Jim Rohn, the legendary business philosopher always said to “Finish your week before it begins.” He meant that we take control of our schedule and real estate business and plan for the week ahead before it even happens. If we don’t take control then someone else or something else always does!
So when the year begins to wind down you should not wait until the very end to start planning for next year. This means having a crystal clear understanding of the successes and challenges of your current year, how it impacts your upcoming year, and developing a vision of what you want to accomplish, and how. Many agents aim for nothing every year and most hit it with amazing accuracy!! I believe you should always start working on your next year strategy months in advance of the new year. This awards you enough time to make an impact on your final quarter, and lay the groundwork for making sure your next fiscal year starts off on a solid footing.
For agents who want to achieve greatness, push the envelope, and grow their business through market share, market penetration, paying down debt, increasing sales, profits and cash flow, I urge you to get going now! The way I see things is, if your business isn’t growing, pushing the envelope, thriving, and maximizing profit, then all you’re really doing is suffering a slow death. Believe me, your competition is fighting the fight every day, and they didn’t wake up in the morning and say “Gosh, golly, I hope I stay even in 2020.” They want to eat your lunch, take your business, absorb your market share and steal your customers away.
Some people might ask me if they should start planning by looking at their competition, and I say NO. Why focus on the competition, instead of focusing on yourself? When it comes to my business, I don’t care what others do. I care about what I do. Recognize your competition for what and who they are, and then put your best foot forward by pushing the envelope in your business. You should approach the new year as if you are going to battle, and for that you should develop a strategic plan.
Business Plan – a written document that describes in detail how a business, usually a new one, is going to achieve its goals. A business plan lays out a written plan from a marketing, financial and operational viewpoint.
FACT: LESS THAN 3% OF REAL ESTATE AGENTS HAVE A BUSINESS PLAN
FACT: ESTIMATED 3% OF REAL ESTATE AGENTS IN NORTH AMERICA DO 97% OF THE BUSINESS
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Writing a business plan may seem a daunting task as there are so many moving parts and concepts to address. Take it one step at a time and be sure to schedule regular review (quarterly, semi-annually, or annually) of your plan to be sure you are on track to meet your goals. It is that time of year again when we begin to build our plan for 2020 so let’s look at the key areas of the agent’s solid business plan.
Step 1) “Success and history always leaves us clues.” I began by looking back to identify the clues that have been left for us and the business. I would look at the real estate market first and search for the following clues.
What have the number of sales been doing the last year? 2-5 years? Up? Down?
What have the number of listings been doing the last year? 2-5 years? Up? Down?
What have the average and median prices been doing?
What price ranges are experiencing more activity? Less activity?
What neighborhoods or areas are experiencing more activity? Less Activity?
What property types are selling more? Less?
What buyer types are buying more?
Where are the buyers coming from? Local? Next state or province? Over Seas?
Imagine the targeted and strategic plan you would be able to build for you and your real estate business with this kind of information? Now you are not just winging it. You really know where and what to focus on.
Step 2) Looking At The Present State of Your Own Real Estate Business
What have my sales been doing? Up? Down?
What have my listings been doing? Up? Down?
What is my average price? Can I raise my average selling price?
What is my Gross Commission Income doing?
What is my average deal worth?
Where are my listings and sales coming from? Sources of business?
What types of buyers do I represent?
Where are the buyers coming from? Local? Out of area?
What are my pending sales?
What do I have for potential buyers and sellers?
What is working? What is not working?
What do I need to start doing again? Stop doing?
What if you took the time to really track and measure and reflect on your business at a deeper level and see your strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of yourself and your own business?
Step 3) Activity Plans – Take the time to lay out your activity plan calendar a year in advance. Focus on the activities you know you are good at and you see a return on your invested time and money. I am guessing for most agents it would be your sphere of influence, referrals and face to face or voice to voice activities. Set up a schedule for a month or two in advance of your activities for generating business. What is the activity? When? How? To Whom? Track and measure each of these scheduled activities to help identify the best of the best.
Step 4) Budgeting – Profit is the goal in business. Knowing what your personal life and your business world cost you monthly is so important. Expense management is just as important as your income and earnings. Have a clear picture of your expenses and measure all of them for their return on investment or if they can be reduced in any way. I understand this my be terrifying for most of us to see what we are spending personally and professionally but it is the foundation of your business plan to know what your personal and professional lives cost and then be able to set a financial target that is enough to cover them both and leave you some profit! So many of us stay away from this and run in a deficit and that is not good practice for any of us.
Step 5) Goals – If your “Why” is big enough the “how” will take care of itself. What is your purpose? Vision? Values? Mission Statement? Taking the time to know what it is you want and why you want it is a game changer for us all. Nothing gives me more joy than impacting and improving people’s lives personally and professionally every day. I have realized that the driving compelling force in my life is serving others and having the means to create memorable experiences with the people I care about most and nothing else has given me more joy than these amazing WHY’s in my own life.
In my own real estate business, taking the time over the last 25 years to create a business plan has been so incredibly beneficial for me and I know it will for you as well. In today’s post I have given you a brief business plan overview. To help you get going with your own plan I put together a Step-by-Step Real Estate Business Plan Workbook you can download for free by clicking the link below.
In addition to generating new real estate buyer and seller leads, listings also offer the opportunity to showcase your brand and expertise with valuable, relevant content. So if you believe More Listings = More Leads and you want more of both, you’re in the right place. Read on for 10 strategies to generate listings from your past clients, sphere of influence, cold leads, and more.
1. Call your past clients and sphere to share some good news. Let’s start with a big one: this tip can help you with every single person in your database (and ones who aren’t even in there yet). Bring value to the table right away with an interesting stat about the housing market. Here’s a great one to start, with a great angle built into it: The value of the North American Housing Market increased by $1.9 trillion in 2018. That’s a 6.2% increase! Want to know how much your house’s value went up as part of it? You know your market better than we do, so if you’ve got a more interesting or relevant stat about your area, lead with that. Regardless, find an appropriate angle to pair with your stat and you’ll start having better conversations that lead to more listings.
2. Send this email. Here’s another stat for you to share with your past clients, sphere, and seller leads, and it’s a doozy. It’s been a huge hit and has generated a ton of interested replies and appointments. For the subject line: Zillow was WAY off! Here’s the message we wrote: Did you know the CEO of Zillow sold his home for 40% less than the “Zestimate”? They actually have a disclaimer on their website where you can see exactly how INACCURATE they are. They just make it hard to find. With that in mind, if you are considering the sale of your home, (or the address of a home you want to buy), reply to this email right now with your home’s address and I would be happy to send you a “Zactimate.”
3. Post A Social Media Poll. This might be the easiest tip to act on – you can open your phone and do it right now. Add to your story: “Are you planning to move this year?” Obviously you’ll get more “No”s than “Yes”es but any Yes or more in-depth answer provides an easy opportunity to follow up via DM.
4. Start Each day prospecting for sellers. Use the 5-5-4 routine and it’s easy to duplicate. Every day, you should have: 5 conversations with people you don’t know, new potential prospects 5 conversations with your hottest prospects 4 conversations with your sphere of influence. What do you say on the phone with your sphere? Try “Have you had any thoughts of selling?” and “Do you know anybody that’s had thoughts of selling?” Tim’s sphere is so used to answering that now they start thinking about who might be selling any time Tim pauses in the conversation.
5. Refresh your listing presentation. It’s a valuable lesson in what sales really boils down to: human communication. Have you ever bought or sold a home with a realtor before? How long do you think it will take to sell your house? What do you think the difference will be between the asking price and the initial offer?
6. Sell your services. If you ask the average real estate agent what’s more important between buyers and sellers, they’ll typically say sellers. But when you look at their websites, the first thing highlighted is a home search. Stop sending the wrong signal, start selling your services. Every real estate website should have a page that sells its services to potential home sellers. Selling your home is a daunting process, so give your prospective clients the peace of mind that you have a tried and true plan to list, market, and sell their home.
7. Establish a Seller Success Series. When you’ve used all the tips on this list, you’re going to have a lot of happy sellers. You can turn those into even more listings, by turning the corner on a common business practice and making something truly compelling. He’s leveled up his reviews by turning his wildly positive customer experiences into evergreen content that sells every new person who comes to his website. The stories are interesting, unique and are an authentic representation of his brand. The best part? People help support what they create. Feature your clients in a positive light and turn them into your brand ambassadors! We believe that if you tell more stories, you’ll sell more homes. Create a landing page to display on like www.wadesoldit.com
8. Update your referral network. This is actually a two-step tip: first up, it’s time to update your list of approved and recommended vendors. Finding reputable people that you trust is the hard part, so take this question to your email database and your followers on Facebook. “We’re updating our list of approved vendors. Who do you love and recommend?” Be sure to let them know you’ll be publishing your list publicly.
9. Re-earn their business. One of the biggest mistakes we see people make is mistaking delivering a great experience for earning a customer’s business for life. For some, sure, a job well done means you’ll go back to the same agent the next time you have a real estate need. But some consumers treat transactions like exactly that: You do a service for them, they pay you for that service, end of transaction. That’s why it’s important to stay on your past clients’ minds, but not be intrusive or obnoxious about it. We’ve crafted an email for you to send that can help achieve both. Subject Line: What’s your plan? Here’s the message we wrote: Hi [name], It’s sometimes hard to imagine a day when you’re going to want to sel l your home, but that day eventually comes. 1 year, 3 years, 5 years? It’s hard to say because life has a way about being unpredictable. I wanted to make sure you knew I was here for you when that moment came. My job is to help develop a plan: There are things we can be doing now and in the future to help maximize your profit when you sell. This includes your mortgage payment schedule, what home improvements to make or avoid, and, of course, timing. All of these factors (and many more) have a dramatic impact on what you should do between now and when the time comes to sell.
10. Speak to their pain points. People have a hard time believing you can solve their problems if you haven’t made it clear you understand what those problems are. Many avoid writing, discussing the potential pitfalls, not wanting to appear to be a fearmonger. But there’s a lot of space between “everything is awesome” and being a Negative Nelly – space that real people occupy and need guidance through. So don’t be afraid to acknowledge those pain points in your ads and emails. Speak to issues like not knowing whether it’s the right time to list, whether they’ll be able to afford a new home, the complications of the home selling process, and more. Then point them to the Seller Services page we recommended you build.
I trust you were able to find a nugget or two that will rev up your listing inventory for the fall and help finish the year on a high. Please share in the comments with our readers some of your sure fire listing ideas, we would love to hear from you. To your success.
One of the best activities I did for my business was an open house and it never failed me and should never fail you if done correctly. An open house will always be one of the top ways an agent can generate business because face to face lead generation is where most of us are at our best. This is the best opportunity for the consumer to meet you and get to know you and with enough skill they will even like and trust you.
So what was my goal for an open house? My number one goal was to capture a contacts Name, Email and Cell number and win the right to meet with them for an appointment outside of my open house and share solutions to their challenges in today’s market place. Some of you may say Wade the goal is selling the listing you’re hosting an open house at, and I say “yes I get it” and I also say “The blind squirrel does find a nut once in a while” but focus on contact capture and setting the appointment.
Choose the date a week or two out to properly plan for the event.
Consider working the open house with another agent to be able to control the crowds.
Preview and tour the home and comparable homes, so you really know your market.
Decide about food, beverage and entertainment for the event.
Strategize where the public looks for open houses online and offline to generate more traffic. Check out www.preopenhouse.com
The day and time will not matter if you have prepared and marketed the event properly.
Post a sign rider on the property for sale sign for the week or two prior to the event.
**POWER TIP** Market and advertise only the start time of your opens. Open @ or Open from …… This will make people call you and leave you their name and number ( lead capture) to ensure you don’t leave before they have arrived and you will call them when leaving. You also now can leave if nobody comes within an hour and not be held hostage to an open house that has nobody attending. Make sense?
Join forces with other agents and other listings in the area to drive your activity and traffic count up for the open house.
Announce your open house event using Facebook Live, Email your database, Social media posts.
Door knock and invite all the neighbors in the area of the open house and have them come to the open 15 minutes prior to the public start time. When the public arrives the open house will already have the neighbors there and creates a buzz and hype for the public arrival thinking this is a hot listing with traffic arriving early.
Drop a post card or door hanger invitation for the surrounding neighborhood when someone is not home to be invited in person.
Door knock the Expired listings and for sale by owners around your open house listing and offer to show their properties and give them a taste of how hard you work to market homes.
So there you have some of the pre open house strategies and I trust some of these will help you plan better or consider making adjustments to what you are already doing. Don’t hesitate to share in the comments below some of your own strategies, we would love to hear from you!!
Retargeting is the holy grail of digital marketing. It’s the solution to shopping cart abandonment. It’s the end of wasted Adwords revenue. It’s awesome. Except when it isn’t.
Before I launch into what comes next, I want to make it clear I am a fan of retargeting/remarketing. I use it. I recommend it. I think it rocks. Whether you’re trying to sell a pair of shoes or marketing a SaaS, retargeting has major advantages. It works on social media, general web browsing, and even across devices. Remarketing is a smart technique with a ton of advantages. But is there a dark side to retargeting? The short answer is yes. Let me explain.
Retargeting Can Be Expensive. Many marketers leap into retargeting because they assume it would somehow reduce their overall advertising costs. For a long time, PPC experts have been strategizing the means and methods for reducing adspend. The high cost of Adwords and the meteoric bidding levels for ultra-competitive terms have sabotaged some marketing budgets. Based on the promises of many retargeting services, it seemed the obvious solution. In reality, however, the way to reduce spending is to make a decision and stick to it. While retargeting may have a higher ad ROI, it doesn’t necessarily follow you’re going to spend less on it.
Retargeting Can Annoy or Anger Customers. When it comes right down to it, what does your customer think of retargeting? This is a significant issue, because ultimately, retargeting is about them (not you). Take a look at the data. InSkin Media’s consumer survey found the two main responses to a retargeted ad were annoyance and anger. Based on the data, the more frequently an ad is displayed, the more aggravating it can be. By the tenth time someone sees an ad, they get the message. More impressions aren’t going to compel them. You’ve driven them off a cliff. It’s too late. What do these emotions mean for sales? Again, let’s look at the data. The news isn’t great.
55% of customers put off buying
53% get irritated
Only 10% buy
If you are retargeting, it’s probably not a good idea to increase the number of impressions. The higher your frequency, the greater the likelihood of ticking someone off.
The chance at gaining 10% is nice. But what about the remainder of your potential customers? Are you gaining a few at the expense of alienating a majority? Rather than risk it, it’s best to err on the side of fewer impressions and happier potential customers.
Retargeting Can Create Concerns Over Privacy. One of the most common complaints about retargeting is that it’s “creepy.” This is why ClickZ had to try to explain away the creepy sentiment surrounding retargeting. Retargeting may not be creepy in actuality, but that won’t keep customers from thinking it’s creepy. Saying it ain’t so won’t change the fact they think it’s so. In a New York Times article on retargeting, reporters quoted Julie Matlin who was innocently looking for shoes. Her quick glance at a pair of kicks on Zappos.com turned into a recurring marketing experience: “For days or weeks, every site I went to seemed to be showing me ads for those shoes,” said Ms. Matlin, a mother of two from Montreal. “It is a pretty clever marketing tool. But it’s a little creepy, especially if you don’t know what’s going on.” The creepy sensation has been enough to increase the interest in Do Not Track laws rolled out by the government.
Retargeting Can Ignore the Buy Cycle. It’s ironic. One of the most fundamental of all marketing principles can be so easily overlooked in the frenzied rush towards retargeting. I’m talking about the marketing buy cycle — the concept that customers go through a cyclical process that prepares them to buy. It’s similar to the sales funnel, in that the process begins with more customers, and ends up with the converting few. Retargeting is intended to capture more of those consumers as they proceed through the funnel. If you’re not careful, however, you can actually damage conversion rates by ignoring the buy cycle. The customer may simply not be ready to buy. They’re no longer leaning towards your alternative. They’ve chosen a competitor. Maybe they already bought the product from a competitor. If you keep your retargeting window open for a long time, you increase the likelihood you are retargeting a customer who is no longer in the right spot of the buy cycle.
Retargeting can cause you to abdicate control. One of the major benefits of retargeting is it allows a more hands-off approach to marketing. One B2B blog describes the advantages of a managed retargeting platform: Managed platforms are ideal for retargeting newcomers who are unlikely to roll up their sleeves and dig into the minutia of managing a retargeting campaign. Managed platform providers will help you run your retargeting campaigns based on the target metrics and settings you specify. These platforms offer account managers and automated optimization tools that help build and tweak campaigns to maximize performance. Yet this perceived advantage can quickly become a disadvantage. Being hands-off of any marketing effort is risky, to say the least. At worst, it can turn into a sales-killing, prospect-aggravating, brand-ruining fiasco. I have a very simple recommendation if you’re considering letting your retargeting machine roll along on its own: Don’t do it. It’s not just about losing control. It’s more about losing all awareness. If there’s one thing marketers need, it’s a keen understanding of their data and the effectiveness of their marketing initiatives. What’s successful and what’s not. Who’s converting on what? Which method has the higher ROI? Which version is adequately reaching our target audience? Setting up your retargeting, and letting it purr along without your oversight is a risk too great
Retargeting can create negative organic search engine optimization. My own website designer discovered after a year of retargeting ads our website was becoming irrelevant to Google with so many click ins and click outs from people who didn’t want to go to our website. We began to lose huge search engine positioning with Google and our website slid back several pages, so consider driving the retargeting to another landing page and not your main website in risk of becoming irrelevant to Google.
So…Am I saying you should stop retargeting? Absolutely not. Retargeting is the modern wave of marketing, and we ought not neglect anything simply because of some attendant risks. We don’t give up on something just because it has risks. There is risk in doing business. There is risk in life. The pathway to success is paved with bricks of risk. What we must do is be aware of the risks in retargeting. It’s not the holy grail some marketers claim it is. It’s powerful. It’s effective. But it does have a dark side. Know this dark side, and you’ll be able to use retargeting with maximum effectiveness.
Have you seen any pitfalls with retargeting? Share your comments below with our readers.
How you ever thought how your real estate business is really just math? That’s right your business is numbers and formulas and equations if you really take the time to break it all down. There are only 4 simple activities that an agent can do each year to improve their business and make more money than previous years. Do you know what those activities are?
Knowing what the biggest objection you face over the next few months allows you the edge to be prepared when it strikes. We all know the 
