How we do the things we do, to market homes

Seldom a week goes by when I’m not asked how I do the things I do to market homes. I always struggle to answer concisely. I’ve learned that it’s just as important to know where the agent asking the question is coming from as it is to answering the question itself.  In fact, it is vital to the conversation and pertinent as well.

I once heard a John Tenza, a RE trainer, say “Anything you can say, I can ASK better“.

So I’ve learned to turn the table and to ask probing questions of the questioner in order to discover the essence of their question. I want to know why they are asking the question before answering it.

It is in the ‘why’ that the need is discoverable and to answer anything you need to know the ‘need’.

To that end, I’m going to make some assumptions here about my audience. I’m going to assume that for some of you a nugget is all that’s needed and for others clear direction.

In either case, Enjoy!

 

 7  Things I do to Market homes

Step # 1

Get 7-10 qualified appointments per week It doesn’t really matter how you get the appointments. I’ve discovered that every system works when I do. A qualified appointment is an appointment with someone who wants to buy or sell a home in the next 90 days. All other appointments are important because you have to ‘circulate to percolate’ but they don’t fall into the ‘qualified’ category yet. 

Step # 2

Speak the truth When ask about the market or value of a home, speak the truth. In order to do so you have to be aware of what the truth is. I stay ’on-top of the market’ and understand the mood of the market. Begin by understanding values, types of homes, neighborhoods, what constitutes a good home from a great home,  and understanding the needs and wants of your clients and if you do so you’ll be equipped to speak the truth and it will be well received.

Step # 3

Apply yourself  fully to the task at hand Planning requires full concentration. Begin with the end in mind and work backwards. So if your goal is 7-10 qualified appointments per week, you first need to decide  what you need to do to get appointments. Ask yourself, How am I going to get 7-10 qualified appointments per week?  Depending on what systems you ALREADY have in place will determine much of the how. Assuming you have no systems at all, don’t begin building systems. Too many agents get caught up in system building to the detriment of achieving the primary goal, getting appointments. Instead, be creative. i.e., do a great OH, call your Sphere of Influence, Creat a video using a webcam and post it on Youtube and then send everyone you know a link to it, etc..Don’t spend money, spend time and creative energy and you’ll get results.

Here are some things I did:

When I first got started, I sent a simple note to the members of my Church. It said something like, ‘I just became a REALTOR(R), pray for me’.  It was sincere and it worked.

Then I did open houses sometimes as many as 3 a day. Listen, FOCUS on the objective, getting appointments and remember that all systems work, when you do.  I’ve learned that ‘Face Time’ is really important, so my suggestion is  to get out from behind the desk and ‘circulate to percolate’. 

Put yourself in a ‘target rich’ environment.

In the beginning Church, kids school events, open houses and floor time is where most my appointments originated from.

Today, for me, Church, online-leads, listing syndication, reciprocity networking ( i.e. if I pay anyone to do anything, I ask for a reciprocal relationship) drip email, open houses and social networking are my primary means of getting appointments. In all these arenas, I apply myself fully to the task at hand.

Step # 4

Be efficient Call me frugal but I’ve found that being efficient saves time and money.  Early in my career, as I began to gather a little steam, a technique I used was to set up MLS searches, both Active and Sold searches, for just about eveyone I knew–buyers and sellers and even closed buyers and sellers, friends and family, etc..This is a simple and FREE technique that will enable you to stay in front of your folks…I thought, ‘why should I pay for a drip email campaign when I have immediate access to the information that these folks want at my finger tips? ’

Another technique had to do with open houses. Open houses are essentially ‘launch platforms’ for your business. 

Again, begin with the end in mind and think efficiency and productive time.

First- Choose a location that is ’RIPE’ for an open house. DON’T allow the big shooter in your office to place you out in the sticks, unless you need quiet time. Second-Group open houses so that there are a variety of  them being held at the same time and contact the other agents in the area and encourage them to hold their home open as well. Third- Send out invites to 100 neighbors. Fourth-Be sure to put a rider and fliers on the sign and in the yard 1 week in advance of the open house. Fifth- Post the Open House ad on all available Websites and in the Newspaper. Sixth-email your base to let them know about the open house and HAVE your clients do the same. Seventh-Be sure you place MANY directional signs. Eighth- Brew Flavored Coffee  and have cookies made (Have your clients do this for you and be sure to turn on all lights). Ninth- Goal is to capture contract information so that you can keep the buyers informed of other homes that are available. Tenth-Call and email all who came and thank your client by leaving a card…

The above example of ‘how to do Open House’ is meant to show you the process I go through and is simply one example of strategies I use and the purpose of sharing it with you is so that you can understand the mental process I go through when creating systems.

Every system I employ uses the same type of overlapping strategy and as such is super productive.

I‘m always trying to get the biggest bang for the buck in terms of money and productivity.

If you are going to do something, do it well, it’ll save you time and make you money.

Step # 5

Listen carefully and discern needs I cannot over emphasise  the need to listen. It is more difficult than what you think. The difference between listening and hearing is substantial.  When you UNDERSTAND your clients, you can tend to their needs well. Talk with them, don’t rushbecause in the end if you don’t connect on a deep level your repeat/referral business will NOT grow–people do business repeatedly with those they connect with.

Ultimately to have a sustainable practice you need a strong base that consist of totally satisfied clients who know how to refer business to you and who are willing to do so.  The only way you can sustain such connections is to conect on adeep level first and then maintain that relationship.

Step # 6

Be know as an exceptional person I don’t really strive to be #1. It is more important for me to be known as a trustworthy person who sells Real Estate and participates in the community and in Church. A person who is dependable and available. A person who is easy to contact and who doesn’t shy away from challenges. A person of integrity, period. 

Step # 7

Win the hearts and minds of clients When I meet with a prospect, I’m all in. To me no matter how the prospect came to sit in my office or me in their kitchen, the goal is the same, to win their hearts and minds.

The process begins even prior to our first meeting. All my marketing is structured to produce opportunities like this. Before we meet most of the clients have read my profile online, checked out the marketing that has been applied to the my listings, read ’satisfied client’ endorsements and in many cases has been referred to me.

But when I first got started and I didn’t have ‘reputation‘ to lean on so I leaned on the reputation of my company, my own enthusiasm and market knowledge.

Assuming you are at a listing appointment, prior to the appointment take whatever time is necessary to get to know everything about the neighborhood, i.e. what has sold, what is for sale and what is pending. Also, know who the players are and what separates you from them..For example, I use the following language: Unlike other REALTORS(R) I….

Separate yourself from the pack and know what your differentiators are.

How are you different from them? You might say, unlike other agents who simply stick a sign in your yard, hang a lock box on your door, take a few pictures with their portable camera put them in the MLS and on their personal and Company websites,  I leave no stone unturned when marketing a home.

1. I syndicate your home’s listing to hundreds of websites across the Internet so that anyone, anywhere on the planet, who has an interest in a home like yours can tour it.

2. I make certain that your home’s listing is fully contextualized. That is that is contains multiple high-resolution pictures taken by professional photographers, a virtual tour, and narrated walk-through video and that the details and descriptions are complete and accurate. There is nothing more frustrating to a buyer than incomplete and inaccurate home information. Thegoal is to do everything possible to get your home on the buyer’s SHORT LIST and by getting them to save it to their FAVORITES we accomplish that goal.

3. I quantify the online data because it isn’t enough to know that the home is on the Internet, I want my clients to know how many online visitors it takes to result in a showing and how many showings are needed to result in a sale.  So I provide the analytics to the seller weekly with commentary and the sellers know upfront that if we don’t achieve certain thresholds then the price will need to be adjusted.

4. I automate the feedback. The number one complaint, bar-none, from sellers is that they don’t get feedback from their agents…We nipped this in the bud several years ago and automated the feedback. Automate your feedback…Your clients will love you for it.

Okay, that’s enough to get you started. Hopefully it’ll stir your imagination and you’ll gain a little confidence going into the Spring.

Real Estate Rock Stars need the right tools

 Rock Stars need the right tools so I thought it might be helpful if I shared some resources I use when making decisions on what to buy.

The 2009 Realtor® Tech Survey’s top three tools that respondents plan on purchasing or replacing in the next year are: Smart Phone (42%), Laptop (34%), Digital Camera (26%).

These three tools have almost become necessity in our business today. Here’s a list of some of the top online review sites for all 3 products to assist everyone in making intelligent and well informed purchases.

Laptops and Notebooks

More Laptop and Notebook Reviews

 

Digital and Video Cameras

 More even Ipods

*A special note for our online lead generation clients. Lead gen clients are be best served by getting a Blackberry as opposed to any other smart phone including an Iphone…Call me for further explanation on why this is so vital to conversion.

Lead Response Times: A Study

Ok, so I stumbled across this MIT study on Lead Response Management and found a literal treasure trove of information that continues to back up what we know instinctively about responding to leads: response time is a factor! Huge factor, even.

On the Lead Response Management site is a whitepaper about the Jim Click Automotive Team.  The automotive industry, like the real estate industry, has been hammered by the economy.  Yet this automotive team increased their gross profit by 102.8% in eleven months!

They did this with an integrated system generating web leads.  Sounds like a truly neat system that would be fun to implement in real estate.  However, without dropping a bunch of money on a fancy integrated system, their results and findings, still point the way to increasing your own success with online generated leads.

THE INTERNET HAS CHANGED THE WAY CARS & HOMES ARE SOLD

The Internet has also conditioned people to demand an immediate response to information inquiries, and if not, they lose interest quickly.

This same study found that 92% of automotive consumers felt that the speed in which a dealer responded to their inquiry affected their perception of the dealer and whether they ended up purchasing a vehicle from them. 74.3% said it even affected their perception of the manufacturer who supplies cars to the dealership.

So, we know that response time is a factor…and a big one at that.  Now, due to the immediacy web users have come to expect, your brand and service/product are now being judged by your response time.  Unresponsive/slow to respond means the customers perception is dropping.  Respond quickly and you have least allowed yourself the ability to continue the conversation.

PROFESSIONALISM, COURTESY AND FORTHRIGHT ANSWERS

People are less inclined to subject themselves to the high pressure sales tactics of dealerships as they were in the past. They want real, courteous answers to questions. Or they just go elsewhere.

Information about real estate cars can be found everywhere on the internet.  Jim Click Automotive Team learned and profited from their ability to meet the needs of their customers shortly after responding to a web lead.  Dealerships struggle with the some of the same negative perceptions as real estate agents; namely, high pressure sales tactics.

They found that by contacting the web customers immediately, answering their questions and inviting them to the dealership, they were able to generate more sales.  Here are the three critical opportunities they discovered:

Critical Opportunity #1: A number of Salespeople may be talking to customers and qualifying them prior to capturing vital contact info and getting them to come in to the dealership.

Critical Opportunity #2: Not answering inbound calls and responding to Web leads immediately (as in 5 minutes.)

Critical Opportunity #3: Not proactively reaching out to leads, prospects, and past customers effectively, efficiently, and with a high volume of contacts.

Great points for anyone generating leads, let alone online leads, would do well to heed.

Online Classified Services

Just like a newspaper, the internet has had “classified” websites for a long time.  Some of the original bulletin board services (BBS’s), when the ‘net was fresh and new, were glorified, online swap meets.  Someone had some hardware, furniture or something that they needed to sell and they offered it via their BBS.

Craigslist is the 800 lb Gorilla

If you’ve not heard of Craigslist, check out the site and learn how you can expose your listings to a much larger audience than just your local MLS.  We’ve used Craigslist to market our rentals and first time home buyer priced homes.  Every time we put one of those listings out on Craigslist, the phone and email inbox light up with inquiries.

Craigslist isn’t the Only Gorilla in the Mist

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Lead Response Times – It’s Not Just Us!

Ok, so at theRockStarAgent.com we are flat out rabid about responding to your leads quickly!  In fact, on our team in Ann Arbor, all the agents are using Blackberry smartphones and have a habit of responding to leads within 15 seconds of the lead coming in.  Often times, we catch folks still searching our site when we get them on the phone.

http://media.therockstaragent.com.s3.amazonaws.com/lead-response-intro.flv

But you’ve heard and read all of that before.  And quite possibly, you think we’re a little around the bend.  Honestly, can’t blame you.  However!  I’ve got research, statistics all based off research done by M.I.T.

From: THE INSIDESALES.COM/MIT LEAD RESPONSE MANAGEMENT STUDY OVERVIEW

We used the data from the InsideSales.com system (critical to this purpose because it generates and stores quantitative call data linked directly with qualitative lead process and flow information).

We examined 3 years of data across six companies that generate and response to web leads, from over fifteen thousand leads and over one hundred thousand call attempts.

Web Users Want Information NOW!

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Leads for Free Audio

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Social Media, Blogs & Twitter: Oh My!

19 Reasons You Should Blog And Not Just Tweet

Great post on why you should not simply focus on one network in your SocNet strategy at the detriment of other networks.

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn…they all have good aspects in trying to connect and re-connect with friends, family, past clients and soon-to-be clients.  The one thing they all have in common, other than being able to absorb a LOT of your time, should be your…

Blog.

Your Blog is Where Your Heart Is

Yep, I’m saying that you should treat your blog like you would your home.  In thinking of your blog as your home, let’s stretch the analogy a little further.

You invite a bunch of “followers” to your home for a get together.  They drive to your home, come in through the front door, admire your taste in [fill in whatever hobbies float your boat], grab a drink and head out to the deck where the grill is working its magic.

Once you’ve gathered a few folks in this manner, you simply have a good time.  Make sure everyone’s comfortable, the conversation is good and the food and drink are plentiful.

5.  Secret everyone knows:  most of Twitter is just linking to blogs and content on the open web.  Being the end product people are actually interested in and focus their attention on is where your ideas will be studied carefully, not in the cacophony of Twitter.

Easy, right?

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Social Media in Real Estate

What is Social Media?

Social Media according to Wikipedia, “are primarily Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings.” The different social media outlets aim to integrate both media (print, audio, video) and interaction between the content creators and the consumers of the media.

Social Media? Like MSNBC?

No doubt you’ve heard about Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. All three of these social networks (SocNets) have their place within the online community as places to “gather.”

You’ve also likely tried to get involved in one SocNet or another and found yourself asking, “Why do I care what these people are doing right now? Heck, why do they care about what I’M doing?”

Both are valid questions, however the point of social media is to have a conversation with prospective clients across the internet. Remember, the National Association of Realtors states that nearly 90% of real estate consumers utilize the internet to find information about their next foray into real estate.

So, if 90% of consumers are utilizing the internet, that means that as an agent, you need to be found in as many places as possible across the ‘net….just like your listings!

[but that's an entirely separate subject and article]

Why SocNets? Think Chamber of Commerce…

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Online Lead Generation

A big part of the Agent Bailout Blueprint is customer acquisition. It’s part of the 3 “C”’s…

And online lead generation is a great way to acquire customers to build your real estate business.

It has revolutionized the way we do business.

But not all online lead generation is what it’s made out to be.

We have spent tens of thousands of dollars on national lead companies and can tell you first hand that some work and some fail miserably.

When I first started working online leads, I had been a Realtor for 14 years and I had a good business but not an awesome one; I had plateaued. With the tough housing market the past couple of years, I needed to find a way to make up for lost business.

After all, my goal in life was to make sure that my kids would graduate from college without debt. So one day, I took a leap of faith and replied to an email sent to me by a national lead gen provider. Long story short, I made a BUNCH of extra money in a short period of time – $258,000.00 to be exact and I was on top of the world.

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7 Keys to Business in 2009 (and the Missing 57%)

The National Association of Realtors immediate past president, Dick Gaylord, gives 7 Keys to Boosting Your Business in 2009. (But he doesn’t talk about the missing 57% – we do.)

1. Get Out There!
2. Pause for a Reality Check
3. Get a Fresh Perspective
4. Place a Bid
5. Foolproof Financing
6. Brush Up on New Laws
7. Get Referrals

At 12 minutes in, he talks about 43% of buyers choosing their agent via a referral. Even though 43% is a lot and having a system that delivers steady referrals is important, 57% IS EVEN BIGGER! And a huge portion of that 57% is going to be comprised of buyers that are ‘referral-less’ and shopping for homes online.

In this current housing debacle, many agents that relied mainly on referrals, are dying on the vine. Our ALG real estate lead system can help you tap into that 57% automatically and consistently – delivering leads straight to your email inbox EVERYDAY.

Here’s some proof  and what a recent client had to say:

“I signed up to be a Rockstar on Tuesday 7 April, since then I have written the following contracts:

April 12th 385K
April 20th 285K
April 20th 140K
April 21st 257K

I have a client coming in on April 23rd to finalize a 550K contract and I have scheduled appointments with 9 clients between May 5th and May 23rd which will translate into approximately 2 million in total sales.

I am currently receiving 200 leads a month but will sign up for at least 400 within the next 2 months after I properly train a couple buyer agents to handle the referrals I will hand out.  …my investment is has turned into clients worth 105K in AGC in less than 2 weeks.  Needless to say, I’m ecstatic.”

Brian Nadrowski
Century 21 United
San Antonio Texas

You can read about our ALG lead system here.

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