Provided By YouTube
Showing posts with label agent marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label agent marketing. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Short Sale Mindsets - Short Sale Training
Provided By KW
Jay Papasan, VP of Publishing and co-author of a number real estate best-sellers, shares short sales.
Jay Papasan, VP of Publishing and co-author of a number real estate best-sellers, shares short sales.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Attracting Business to You Every Time You Leave the House
Provided By Realty Times
Written By Jennifer Allan
Most real estate prospecting strategies focus on the pursuit of business, or going out there and actively looking for targets to prospect. Fair enough.
But you can also generate a significant amount of business for yourself using attraction-based strategies that don't require you to pursue anyone. Imagine, a business where good prospects come to you looking for help. Doesn't that sound like fun?
If you love being a real estate agent and you know your market, you can attract business left and right, as long as you're out there in the world with your antenna up and a smile on your face. You don't need to shove your business card at everyone you meet, or dazzle them with a fantastic elevator speech. If your enthusiasm and expertise shine through in your casual conversations, the people you know and the people you meet will want to do business with you, if they have business to do.
The trick to an attraction-based real estate business is to always be doing a couple of things.
First, always be mastering your market. The more intelligently you can speak about the local real estate market, the more magnetic you'll be when you're talking to people. For example, when you're invited to a party, try to check out the market in the area of the party ahead of time. That way when you're mingling at the party and real estate comes up, you can talk about "that house down the block that's been on the market for 9 months," and you'll know why it hasn't sold. You'll also know about the one around the corner that just came on the market last week. Even if you don't use the knowledge you obtained during your pre-party previewing, karma seems to work with you and will put you in a position to use it soon.
Seriously, a real estate agent who knows his market exudes a confidence that will draw people to him.
Second, you should always be looking for opportunities to put your smiling face and your market expertise in front of other people. Now when I say this, I don't mean that you should make a nuisance out of yourself in public on a regular basis. Do that and you might find yourself avoided. Instead, open up room in your calendar for casual socializing. Accept invitations you might normally decline. Make a concerted effort to go to lunch with friends two or three times a week. Pick up the phone to ask a friend a question instead of shooting off an email. Go into the bank instead of through the drive-thru lane.
Every single person you meet every single day has the potential to bring you a paycheck. And you have no idea who that person will be. It could be your mailman, your hairdresser, or your dog-sitter. It could be the lady you sat next to at the nail salon. Every time you venture out into the world with your antenna up and a smile on your face, you could meet your next biggest client.
But, that probably won't happen if when you venture out into the world you don't come across to people as someone who loves and is good at their job. And that's not the impression you leave when you're always in sales-pitch mode. So, leave the sales pitch at home, focus on being a great real estate agent who loves her job and knows her market and stays in touch with the people she knows without ever pestering them for business and referrals. I think you'll find that you'll attract far more business than you have in the past, and have a heck of a lot more fun doing it.
Written By Jennifer Allan
Most real estate prospecting strategies focus on the pursuit of business, or going out there and actively looking for targets to prospect. Fair enough.
But you can also generate a significant amount of business for yourself using attraction-based strategies that don't require you to pursue anyone. Imagine, a business where good prospects come to you looking for help. Doesn't that sound like fun?
If you love being a real estate agent and you know your market, you can attract business left and right, as long as you're out there in the world with your antenna up and a smile on your face. You don't need to shove your business card at everyone you meet, or dazzle them with a fantastic elevator speech. If your enthusiasm and expertise shine through in your casual conversations, the people you know and the people you meet will want to do business with you, if they have business to do.
The trick to an attraction-based real estate business is to always be doing a couple of things.
First, always be mastering your market. The more intelligently you can speak about the local real estate market, the more magnetic you'll be when you're talking to people. For example, when you're invited to a party, try to check out the market in the area of the party ahead of time. That way when you're mingling at the party and real estate comes up, you can talk about "that house down the block that's been on the market for 9 months," and you'll know why it hasn't sold. You'll also know about the one around the corner that just came on the market last week. Even if you don't use the knowledge you obtained during your pre-party previewing, karma seems to work with you and will put you in a position to use it soon.
Seriously, a real estate agent who knows his market exudes a confidence that will draw people to him.
Second, you should always be looking for opportunities to put your smiling face and your market expertise in front of other people. Now when I say this, I don't mean that you should make a nuisance out of yourself in public on a regular basis. Do that and you might find yourself avoided. Instead, open up room in your calendar for casual socializing. Accept invitations you might normally decline. Make a concerted effort to go to lunch with friends two or three times a week. Pick up the phone to ask a friend a question instead of shooting off an email. Go into the bank instead of through the drive-thru lane.
Every single person you meet every single day has the potential to bring you a paycheck. And you have no idea who that person will be. It could be your mailman, your hairdresser, or your dog-sitter. It could be the lady you sat next to at the nail salon. Every time you venture out into the world with your antenna up and a smile on your face, you could meet your next biggest client.
But, that probably won't happen if when you venture out into the world you don't come across to people as someone who loves and is good at their job. And that's not the impression you leave when you're always in sales-pitch mode. So, leave the sales pitch at home, focus on being a great real estate agent who loves her job and knows her market and stays in touch with the people she knows without ever pestering them for business and referrals. I think you'll find that you'll attract far more business than you have in the past, and have a heck of a lot more fun doing it.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Focus on Leverage – the Buyer Side
Published by Gary Keller, Co-founder and Chairman
In The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, we declared you could be just three exceptional hires away from having the organization of a Millionaire Real Estate Agent. That’s still absolutely true. However, our ongoing research for both MREA and SHIFT has given us new insight into how these key positions evolve. Some of you got a sneak peak at Mega Camp 2009. For the rest, here’s a quick look at hiring and compensating a Showing Assistant.
Leverage is ultimately about focus. You hire talent to keep you focused on your most dollar-productive activities and they focus on everything else. After entrusting your admin and marketing chores to another person, you look for help on the buyer sales side of the business. Successfully showing homes can be extremely time intensive and help here should keep you focused on leads and listings. So who do you hire?
In the past, research pointed us to a licensed buyer specialist paid on a 50/50 commission split. Today, some successful agents are first hiring an unlicensed Showing Assistant to keep their costs of sale low and their productivity high.
A Showing Assistant can literally jump into the driver’s seat with your buyers while keeping you in the driver’s seat when it comes to converting buyer leads, getting signed agreements, identifying wants and needs and eventually writing and negotiating contracts. A good one should be able to successfully show homes to around three to four buyers a month while earning bonuses based on 25 percent of each deal. Based on a $5,000 average commission, a good Showing Assistant could earn $60,000 a year. This is a terrific opportunity for someone. Better yet, you get to stay focused and 75 percent of the buy-side income stays on your side of the ledger.
You are still looking for someone who has the ability to grow into your Lead Buyer Specialist. So when you have someone with the ambition and proven ability to succeed with a high volume of buyers over time, your Showing Assistant earns the right to be promoted to a licensed Buyer Specialist. Your Buyer Specialist would then handle buyers from the appointment to closing and now earn 50 percent of the commissions. Again, a good one should be able to handle three to four buyer sales a month without burning out.
Burnout is a key word. Once you have identified a great Buyer Specialist, you don’t want to lose them! When they burn out and walk out, guess who gets their job? You do. And you’ve already got a job.
When your business is generating enough leads on a consistent basis to push a great Buyer Specialist past their ability to successful manage them all, the Showing Assistant concept reenters the picture. Now your Buyer Specialist has the opportunity to hire a Showing Assistant of their own. The Showing Assistant is still paid on a 25 percent bonus; however, that money comes out of the Lead Buyer Specialist’s half of each commission. Effectively, you continue to earn 50 percent of each buyer transaction, while the Buyer Specialist earns 25 percent and the Showing Assistant earns the final 25 percent as a bonus. Any buyer transactions your Buyer Specialist closes without the help of a Showing Assistant would still be on a 50/50 split.
Now your Buyer Specialist might successfully help four buyers on their own and another four with the help of a Showing Assistant. That’s now eight closed buy-side transactions each month. And with an average commission of $5,000, your Buyer Specialist has the ability to gross as much as $180,000 a year while just personally showing three or four buyers a month!
Showing Assistants may come and go—each auditioning for a shot at being your Lead Buyer Specialist. But once you find one, hiring and managing Showing Assistants moves from your plate to theirs. You have found your leader for working with buyers. Any additional help needed to keep your buyer transactions on track becomes their issue and opportunity.
Showing Assistants can save you money on the frontend, reduce turnover on the backend, all the while providing the best possible service to your buyers.
Click here for a video highlighting The Organizational Model and MREA.
In The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, we declared you could be just three exceptional hires away from having the organization of a Millionaire Real Estate Agent. That’s still absolutely true. However, our ongoing research for both MREA and SHIFT has given us new insight into how these key positions evolve. Some of you got a sneak peak at Mega Camp 2009. For the rest, here’s a quick look at hiring and compensating a Showing Assistant.
Leverage is ultimately about focus. You hire talent to keep you focused on your most dollar-productive activities and they focus on everything else. After entrusting your admin and marketing chores to another person, you look for help on the buyer sales side of the business. Successfully showing homes can be extremely time intensive and help here should keep you focused on leads and listings. So who do you hire?
In the past, research pointed us to a licensed buyer specialist paid on a 50/50 commission split. Today, some successful agents are first hiring an unlicensed Showing Assistant to keep their costs of sale low and their productivity high.
A Showing Assistant can literally jump into the driver’s seat with your buyers while keeping you in the driver’s seat when it comes to converting buyer leads, getting signed agreements, identifying wants and needs and eventually writing and negotiating contracts. A good one should be able to successfully show homes to around three to four buyers a month while earning bonuses based on 25 percent of each deal. Based on a $5,000 average commission, a good Showing Assistant could earn $60,000 a year. This is a terrific opportunity for someone. Better yet, you get to stay focused and 75 percent of the buy-side income stays on your side of the ledger.
You are still looking for someone who has the ability to grow into your Lead Buyer Specialist. So when you have someone with the ambition and proven ability to succeed with a high volume of buyers over time, your Showing Assistant earns the right to be promoted to a licensed Buyer Specialist. Your Buyer Specialist would then handle buyers from the appointment to closing and now earn 50 percent of the commissions. Again, a good one should be able to handle three to four buyer sales a month without burning out.
Burnout is a key word. Once you have identified a great Buyer Specialist, you don’t want to lose them! When they burn out and walk out, guess who gets their job? You do. And you’ve already got a job.
When your business is generating enough leads on a consistent basis to push a great Buyer Specialist past their ability to successful manage them all, the Showing Assistant concept reenters the picture. Now your Buyer Specialist has the opportunity to hire a Showing Assistant of their own. The Showing Assistant is still paid on a 25 percent bonus; however, that money comes out of the Lead Buyer Specialist’s half of each commission. Effectively, you continue to earn 50 percent of each buyer transaction, while the Buyer Specialist earns 25 percent and the Showing Assistant earns the final 25 percent as a bonus. Any buyer transactions your Buyer Specialist closes without the help of a Showing Assistant would still be on a 50/50 split.
Now your Buyer Specialist might successfully help four buyers on their own and another four with the help of a Showing Assistant. That’s now eight closed buy-side transactions each month. And with an average commission of $5,000, your Buyer Specialist has the ability to gross as much as $180,000 a year while just personally showing three or four buyers a month!
Showing Assistants may come and go—each auditioning for a shot at being your Lead Buyer Specialist. But once you find one, hiring and managing Showing Assistants moves from your plate to theirs. You have found your leader for working with buyers. Any additional help needed to keep your buyer transactions on track becomes their issue and opportunity.
Showing Assistants can save you money on the frontend, reduce turnover on the backend, all the while providing the best possible service to your buyers.
Click here for a video highlighting The Organizational Model and MREA.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Marketing without Money
There's an old saying, "If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door." That's just not true anymore. There are plenty of wonderful mousetraps out there that no one will ever buy because nobody knows they exist.
And you don't have to mount some expensive marketing campaign to get the word out. The truth is there are plenty of ways to market that mousetrap even if the only thing in your pocket is lint.
1. Free Publicity
The world's appetite for news is insatiable. With 24-hour TV news networks, online newspaper coverage and all-news radio stations, media outlets have created a beast that needs constant feeding.
Don't wait to be discovered. Ask yourself a couple of simple questions: "What is my story and who is going to tell it?" You already built the mousetrap, but forget about catching mice for a minute. It's time to catch the attention of the right reporter.
Study your local news. Who's writing about home sales with the paper? Is there a business reporter with one of the local TV stations who would care about the latest sales trend? Pick up the phone and call them. Tell them why their readers or viewers need to know what you are seeing on the frontline. And if the reporter passes on the story, it's no big deal. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and call another one.
2. Public Speaking
Every service club and Chamber of Commerce on the planet needs speakers. In fact, most Lions, Rotary and Kiwanis clubs need 52 speakers a year. It's an audition for dozens of new customers and yet many clubs struggle to find a speaker each week.
Even Even if you don't think you're a gifted speaker, most people will do just fine if they're talking about something they're passionate about. Come up with a 15-minute talk about "Giving Great Customer Service" or "How to Make a Home Sell Faster" and tell your story. Talk about what you do to make sure the "Sold" sign goes up in a matter of weeks rather than months or what you do to thrill your customers so much that they end up becoming your biggest word-of-mouth marketers.
3. Email Newsletters
If you aren't collecting email addresses and keeping in touch with your customers, you're leaving money on the table. No longer do you have to lick stamps to send out a newsletter. These online newsletters known as "ezines" cost nothing to send. But be careful not to become just another piece of spam.
Send your customers a weekly or monthly email with a valuable tip that will make their life easier. Don't create a long boring newsletter. People won't read it. A brief business tip or life lesson is all you need. It's just a nice way of keeping in touch so that if someone happens to need a new mousetrap or knows of someone else who does; your mousetraps are top of mind. And if your information is valuable, your old customers will help you find new ones by forwarding your email. Many people have created email lists of tens of thousands of names reaching more readers than many newspapers.
Those are just three simple ways you can jumpstart your marketing efforts without spending a dime. Just try one idea. What do you have to lose other than perhaps your anonymity? And if you're marketing that mousetrap effectively, you'll find a long line of customers beating a path to your door ready to take the bait.
By: Jeff Crilley
And you don't have to mount some expensive marketing campaign to get the word out. The truth is there are plenty of ways to market that mousetrap even if the only thing in your pocket is lint.
1. Free Publicity
The world's appetite for news is insatiable. With 24-hour TV news networks, online newspaper coverage and all-news radio stations, media outlets have created a beast that needs constant feeding.
Don't wait to be discovered. Ask yourself a couple of simple questions: "What is my story and who is going to tell it?" You already built the mousetrap, but forget about catching mice for a minute. It's time to catch the attention of the right reporter.
Study your local news. Who's writing about home sales with the paper? Is there a business reporter with one of the local TV stations who would care about the latest sales trend? Pick up the phone and call them. Tell them why their readers or viewers need to know what you are seeing on the frontline. And if the reporter passes on the story, it's no big deal. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and call another one.
2. Public Speaking
Every service club and Chamber of Commerce on the planet needs speakers. In fact, most Lions, Rotary and Kiwanis clubs need 52 speakers a year. It's an audition for dozens of new customers and yet many clubs struggle to find a speaker each week.
Even Even if you don't think you're a gifted speaker, most people will do just fine if they're talking about something they're passionate about. Come up with a 15-minute talk about "Giving Great Customer Service" or "How to Make a Home Sell Faster" and tell your story. Talk about what you do to make sure the "Sold" sign goes up in a matter of weeks rather than months or what you do to thrill your customers so much that they end up becoming your biggest word-of-mouth marketers.
3. Email Newsletters
If you aren't collecting email addresses and keeping in touch with your customers, you're leaving money on the table. No longer do you have to lick stamps to send out a newsletter. These online newsletters known as "ezines" cost nothing to send. But be careful not to become just another piece of spam.
Send your customers a weekly or monthly email with a valuable tip that will make their life easier. Don't create a long boring newsletter. People won't read it. A brief business tip or life lesson is all you need. It's just a nice way of keeping in touch so that if someone happens to need a new mousetrap or knows of someone else who does; your mousetraps are top of mind. And if your information is valuable, your old customers will help you find new ones by forwarding your email. Many people have created email lists of tens of thousands of names reaching more readers than many newspapers.
Those are just three simple ways you can jumpstart your marketing efforts without spending a dime. Just try one idea. What do you have to lose other than perhaps your anonymity? And if you're marketing that mousetrap effectively, you'll find a long line of customers beating a path to your door ready to take the bait.
By: Jeff Crilley
Friday, February 13, 2009
Train Your Sphere Of Influence To Be Your Personal Sales Force
Everyone is attracted to success. Have you ever noticed that powerful people attract other powerful people? People love to be around others that share a passion for excellence, they also love to see others succeed. Your sphere of influence should be viewed as an extension of your own business, your own personal sales force.Your salespeople actually have a very easy job, all they have to do is keep their ear to the ground, and if they hear of anyone considering buying or selling real estate, they send you a referral. Believe it or not, your sphere of influence is ready, willing and able to send you referrals. So, why aren't they right now?
As any great sales manager (which is what you have become) will tell you, great salespeople are not born, they are created! How? Through training! You have to train, or condition, your sphere of influence to send you referrals. They don't know how to do it, or why they should do it, unless you explain it to them.
This training program is a long term project. It's not just one letter, one postcard, or one phone call, it's ongoing. You should be continually training your sphere to send you referrals over the long haul.
Now believe me when I say this -- There is a right way to do this and a very wrong way. I think you can easily imagine the wrong way, which is calling your sphere of influence every other week and asking them -- "Who do you know that is ready to buy or sell today?" How would you feel about that call after about three phone calls? Not good, right?
Instead, when creating a marketing strategy you must always ask the WIFM question -- What's In It For Me? Because that is exactly what your clients will do when you ask them for anything. The bottom line is that members of your sphere of influence are just like any other client, they want something before they give you something.
For some it may just be a thank you, or the presence of your company, for others it may be to be kept up to date on the progress of the referral, for others it may keeping an eye out for who you may be able to refer to their business. I call this their key. Every person has a different key.
What if you took the time to identify each of your clients unique set of keys. Imagine the size of your key ring! But consider the doors that these figurative keys might unlock. The opportunities are endless!
One way to do this, lead with a clients needs. By asking the client a simple question, for instance -- "Listen, I would love to earn your referrals, is there anything I can do help you with any of your projects?" You may find clients will have a need you can help to fill.
Give and you shall receive. The law of reciprocity is a powerful one that can reap huge rewards. So put that personal sales force to work today and starting asking for more referrals!
Realtytimes.com by Jim Remley
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Stumped about the ever-shifting market?
Get proactive about providing perspective
If it seems that your clients and prospects are getting more and more confused - if not frightened - with a new round of negative economic analyses and headlines every day, the key is to step up as your local market economist and remind them that we have been this way before.
Donna Harmatuk, agent and operating principal with the New Bern, N.C., market center did just that recently, with a letter that she forwarded to her entire farm. Her message may be welcomed by your clients as well.
Hello Neighbors!
Wow, when they called today’s real estate market a "shifting market," they were right on target. It keeps shifting, and shifting, and shifting ... Every time we turn on the news there’s a new development that affects our economy and therefore the ability of buyers to "buy" and the sellers to "sell."
SHIFT, the most recent book by Gary Keller, co-founder and Chairman of Keller Williams Realty Inc., begins with the following paragraph: "The Real Estate Market has shifted drastically and dramatically. Sales volume and the number of transactions have dropped significantly. Inventory has reached an all-time high. Buyers have never been more reluctant. Fear is rampant, anxiety is high, and people are getting out of the business left and right. Sounds familiar? Sure it does. The year was 1979!"
Does it make us feel better to know that this has happened before? What did we learn from it in 1979? Fast forward to 1987 and it happened again. Changing tax laws this time had a disastrous affect again. Well guess what? History repeats itself. Now we are faced with this again, in 2008 but this time there are real differences.
In 1979 mortgage interest rates topped 18 percent. Last week buyers were still getting approved at under 6 percent through local lenders. That is a huge difference! Today’s sellers, with the help of their real estate agents, are becoming realistic with today’s pricing, bringing our market back on track.
The real estate business is "cyclical." An experienced real estate agent and a mortgage broker will understand this and be prepared to give counsel that is in tune with the current market. Remember though, the news you heard last week is "old news," so stay in touch with your local, trusted real estate agent for updates on this ever changing market.
We are participating in seminars, conference calls, webinars, and many other training events to stay on top of the game to better assist you.
Real estate remains your single most valuable asset if handled correctly.
Your real estate consultant,
[Your Name]
Be one of the proactive agents that goes after the business. Don't wait for it to come to you. We have a lot of training on how to have a thriving business in a shifting market. We would love to have you attend any of our classes this month. Click on the calendar button on the side menu or give me a call today at 972-772-7000.
Amber
If it seems that your clients and prospects are getting more and more confused - if not frightened - with a new round of negative economic analyses and headlines every day, the key is to step up as your local market economist and remind them that we have been this way before.
Donna Harmatuk, agent and operating principal with the New Bern, N.C., market center did just that recently, with a letter that she forwarded to her entire farm. Her message may be welcomed by your clients as well.
Hello Neighbors!
Wow, when they called today’s real estate market a "shifting market," they were right on target. It keeps shifting, and shifting, and shifting ... Every time we turn on the news there’s a new development that affects our economy and therefore the ability of buyers to "buy" and the sellers to "sell."
SHIFT, the most recent book by Gary Keller, co-founder and Chairman of Keller Williams Realty Inc., begins with the following paragraph: "The Real Estate Market has shifted drastically and dramatically. Sales volume and the number of transactions have dropped significantly. Inventory has reached an all-time high. Buyers have never been more reluctant. Fear is rampant, anxiety is high, and people are getting out of the business left and right. Sounds familiar? Sure it does. The year was 1979!"
Does it make us feel better to know that this has happened before? What did we learn from it in 1979? Fast forward to 1987 and it happened again. Changing tax laws this time had a disastrous affect again. Well guess what? History repeats itself. Now we are faced with this again, in 2008 but this time there are real differences.
In 1979 mortgage interest rates topped 18 percent. Last week buyers were still getting approved at under 6 percent through local lenders. That is a huge difference! Today’s sellers, with the help of their real estate agents, are becoming realistic with today’s pricing, bringing our market back on track.
The real estate business is "cyclical." An experienced real estate agent and a mortgage broker will understand this and be prepared to give counsel that is in tune with the current market. Remember though, the news you heard last week is "old news," so stay in touch with your local, trusted real estate agent for updates on this ever changing market.
We are participating in seminars, conference calls, webinars, and many other training events to stay on top of the game to better assist you.
Real estate remains your single most valuable asset if handled correctly.
Your real estate consultant,
[Your Name]
Be one of the proactive agents that goes after the business. Don't wait for it to come to you. We have a lot of training on how to have a thriving business in a shifting market. We would love to have you attend any of our classes this month. Click on the calendar button on the side menu or give me a call today at 972-772-7000.
Amber
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)