Real Estate Agent Mentor, Coach, Lead Generation, Education and Training

2007-07-28T06:55:00.000-07:00

PRICE THE PROPERTY TO SELL 3 TIMES

A lot of agents will recommend a home owner price the home higher than the market will bear. I've written a great article on why this is not a good idea. You need to remember that you will need to sell the home three times during the process. The first time will be to the Buyer Agent. As you all know a Buyers Agents job is to work for the buyer finding properties that meet their needs, making recommendations on value, pointing out potential pitfalls on condition and resale values. If you over price the home from the beginning you run the risk of Buyer Agents passing on your listing for their clients.

The second sale comes from the actual buyer. And as we know buyers have access to more information on pricing than ever before. Need I say more?

Finally and most importantly, you will need to sell the home to the bank appraiser. We often forget and our listing clients do not think about the fact that the majority of home buyers will require a mortgage to make the deal happen. The appraisers are bound by certain rules of appraising so they do not care what you say the home is worth, what the seller says its worth, and they do not care what the buyer has agreed to pay for the property.

Also, it important to remember that upgrades that the home owner has made will be adjusted for what similar upgrades in the area are going for. For example if your home owner went crazy and added a 50K pool, but the local market only supports 20K for a pool, the appraiser is likely to only add 20K on to the value for the pool.

Having this discussion with your sellers can help with them to understand its important to price the home realistically from the beginning!

Happy listing,

-Ron

2007-03-09T08:25:00.000-08:00

Prospecting VS Marketing for Real Estate Leads
Which one is better?

OK, as you maybe aware from basic lead generation classes there are two main forms of getting leads and business. The first is prospecting and the other is marketing. Both are important and its important to understand the differences between the two.

When your prospecting you are actively out there seeking people who need you. When you are marketing, you are attracting customers, having them find you when they have a need.

Each way is powerful in its on regards but we have found that prospecting is absolutely more critical and important in the first 90 days of a real estate agents career. The reasons being that prospecting is all about making it happen "now" and marketing is making it happen "later".

To begin prospecting you want to make a list of all the people you know or have met in any capacity in your life. You'll want to contact these people on a personal level either through a phone call or personal pop buy and simply engage them in conversation reminding them of your career and asking if they know anyone who needs your help. There also plenty of resources available for you to meet people like; chamber mixers, social events, city events, school events, gym, coffee shop, etc. You will be surprised how many people love to talk about real estate. And the best part about prospecting is that besides the cost of your time, it is FREE.

When it comes to marketing you will need to have a budget setup and make a commitment to consistency. Marketing is not efficient or effective when you only send one mailing out or take out 1 ad in a magazine. Your marketing needs to stand out from the crowd (read The Purple Cow for ideas) and be there over and over and over again. The main goal for marketing is solidify you and your services in top of mind position in the consumer. Using services like Quantummail.com , or MailPrint.com or ExpressCopy.com can help with automating this process. This approach will take longer than prospecting to produce results and be much more expensive so focus on prospecting first and then work in some marketing!

-Ron

2007-02-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

Positioning In The Real Estate Consumers Mind

We've mentioned in prior posts that your success as a real estate agent is dependent on the amount of people, that when they think about real estate, they think about you. That is a fact. To that end we need to come up with ways and implement systems that will put you in top position with consumers so they can only think of you when they think real estate.

Understand marketing professionals have proven for the most part that the consumer has room for only 7 brands in their minds. Go ahead and try it for yourself. Try thinking of as many brands of cereal, gas companies, clothing lines, anything you'd like. I'd bet most of the time its 7 or less brands. Now combine that with the proven fact from NAR that most consumers interview only one real estate agent and a smaller amount actually interview two real estate agents. Combining both of these facts you quickly realize that you need to be front and center in the one and two position in the minds of real estate consumers.

So how do we do this? You need to implement systems that will bring you in contact with the consumer on a regular basis. The best touches are the personal ones, where you call them up and say "hello" asking if you can help them or anyone they know.

Now most people do not like this level of contact. They feel its too salesy or sleazy or their afraid of rejection. Either way it comes down to pain. Its too painful for some people to call their database of contacts. You need to turn that feeling around and come at it from the point of view that your calling to help people, not just asking for their help. You also should realize that the pain from not calling to generate business and brand positioning will be greater in the long run than the immediate pain of the phone call. Just watch the TV Show "The Office" for inspiration on making it on your own. I watch that show (yes its a comedy and very funny) and just get sick to my stomach when I think about having to go back to a cubicle working for someone else with all those quirky co-workers and office politics...That's motivation enough for me to reach out and make those calls! Find your own greater pain and use it motivate you to call!

Ok so besides calling what can we do. Well we've mentioned the 8 touches in 8 weeks program in prior posts. This is where you send something of value combined with the phone calling for eight weeks in a row. Doing this well get you into a high position in the consumers mind. Once your there you need to maintain that position with further calling and touches to them.

In future posts we will talk about which items of value to send that generate calls and good will. In the meantime, please post your feelings on calling your database or how you like to come in contact with potential business to share with others.

2007-01-05T07:38:00.000-08:00

Build YOUR brand, not the Brokers brand

When you first get started in this business, unless you interview with the right brokerage houses, you start to believe you need the image and brand of the broker to be successful. Although a positive image and presence can help you get started and feel more confident, what you will soon find out is people hire real estate agents or realtors based on you, your merits and your value proposition and/or a referral to you. Once you realize this you can appreciate the benefits of building your own name and brand and not working under a broker.

So how do you develop your own brand and identity? Well first you need to get into an environment that fosters this type of ideology. I've chosen Keller Williams Realty because of this very reason. Take a look at my website: www.PrimePropertyTeam.com Notice anything different? First off my name, team name and logo is more pronounced than Keller Williams. I am building my name, team and set of values and service instead of my brokers. This does not happen at the traditional types or smaller independent firms.

It helps if you have the mind set of a business person and a desire to build an image should you choose to go this route. I am also not knocking the traditional firms and their models, because they are right for a lot of people who do not want to build their own brand an image. I am merely pointing out that your success in this business is not dependent on your brokers image! Your success in this business is based on the amount of people, that when they think about real estate, they think about you!

OK lets say you want to develop a brand and image campaign what are the steps you should be practicing? Here they are:

1) CREATE AN IMAGE
2) CONSISTENT USE OF THAT IMAGE IN ALL MATERIALS
3) FOCUS ON A MARKET TO EXPOSE THAT IMAGE
4) BUILD, MAINTAIN AND MARKET YOUR IMAGE TO YOUR DATABASE
5) ESTABLISH A MARKETING BUDGET OF 10-15% OF GCI (Gross Commission Income) DESIRED
6) LEARN ABOUT AND IMPLEMENT BASIC ADVERTISING PRACTICES

Thats it! Sounds simple, but of course each step will take time and effort. But in the end you will have your own brand and image and be 100 times more confident in generating business on your own, instead of relying on someone else for business.

Contact me for further discussions or to talk about how Keller Williams has helped me.

-Ron

2006-10-20T16:51:00.000-07:00

Work only with motivated people!

Well friends, today I learned this lesson again for the 10th time. This rule is a big one friends. This rule can save you from wasting alot of time, money, effort, negative mental energy and potential for greatness. What is this rule you ask? The rule is: "We need to be working only with the most motivated clients we can find!" that's right, only the most motivated. Now this may sound a little mean-spirited to some of you, but think about it for a moment... Today I just got a call from one of my listings. They decided that after 7 months of listing with me (and refusing to lower their price as well) to take their home off the market and live out their lives there by using a reverse mortgage!! Now, truthfully I am happy for them since its the right decision for them, but as a business person running a real estate business I had NO business wasting my time, money and effort in the hopes and chance that the home would sell at their price in this softening market. I did a great job for these people. I provided great advice, marketing and consult. I was able to generate multiple offers at very respectable levels, I was able to find them a great home to move to as well..But ultimately their motivation to make this sale happen was not there. Something was holding them back. That something was MOTIVATION.

So, how do you know if your working with someone who is completely motivated to sell their home or buy a home? We need to get comfortable asking questions that get right to their motivations and continually check in with them throughout the process to make sure their motivation is still there.

If your working with a seller, during the listing presentation you want to be asking questions like this; "If I brought you an offer tomorrow what would you do?", "What are your plans when we sell your home?", "Do you have a home to go to, or do we need to find something first?", "Do you have your mortgage payoff, tax receipts, utility statements and home improvement records ready?", "Did you fill out the questionnaires I sent you with my pre-listing package?", "Have you spoken to any other Realtors about selling?", "On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being ready to move, how would you rate yourself?", "Why are you moving?", "Do you fully own the property?(wills/probate issues)", "What type of improvements and maintenance have you been doing to get ready for the sale?"

If your working with a buyer, during the buyer consultation the questions sound like this; "If I showed you the right home tomorrow what would you do?", "Have you been pre-approved for a mortgage", "Do you have down payment money, and closing cost monies ready", "Do you need to sell a home to buy a home?", , "Have you spoken to any other agents", "When would you like to be in your new home?", "Why are you buying a home?", "On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being ready to moving, how would you rate yourself?", "How long have you been looking?", "Have you seen anything you liked? What prevented you from buying it?"

All of the above questions are going to be helpful in realizing if you have a motivated client or someone who is just trying to test the market.

The trick to testing motivation is asking the questions that need to be asked and then re-asking them during the process to check. You then need to really hear the answers and make a decision whether or not you want to continue working with these people. It is OK to let someone go today instead of letting them down tomorrow. It is OK to say "Sorry, I can't work with you at this time Mr and Mrs Buyer, but when your ready to make it happen I'll be ready to work with you."

Now early on in an agents career we all want that first listing real bad, and its real easy to take a listing at the sellers price. But I am advising you DONT TAKE THE LISTING IF IT IS OVERPRICED. The only way I would take an overpriced listing is if I have it written in my contract that there WILL be price reductions at particular points in the process, and if I am helping the client buy a home. If the seller does not want to agree to this, than they are simply not as motivated as they need to be to sell their home. You need to pass on the listing and move on to the next.

For you newer agents out there passing on a listing gets to be easier when you have lots of leads and referrals coming in, which is why you need to create that database as I discussed in a prior post and use it systematically everyday as I will explain in a later post.

-Ron

2006-10-11T16:11:00.000-07:00

Now you have a Contact Database, what do you do with it?

First I want you to contact EVERYONE on the list that you know by phone and tell them about your new career in real estate and that you need their help getting started. If they know of anyone looking to buy or sell real estate you'd like to know about it it. Now of course your also calling to connect with them on a personal level so make sure to make the call personal by using the FORD method (Family, Occupation, Recreation, Dreams) The call goes something like this; "Good morning Steve, its Ron Smith! I hope I am catching you at a good time! How's everything going with your (family, occupation, dreams, goals, plans, etc..)? That's great, well I don't want to take to much of your time, but I do want to mention that I've started a new career in Real Estate and I need your help! (Most people, will want to know how they can help because we all want to be part of something great). I'd like to know if you know of anyone who is looking to buy or sell real estate that could use my help?" If they say no, than just close with something like this "that's ok, but would you please contact me if someone comes to mind?" If they say yes, start asking them about the person and get some basic information. Then ask if they wouldnt mind if you contacted this person with their referral. If they decline, simply ask them to contact the person and pass your information on. End the call by mentioning that you'll be keeping in touch every few months and you look forward to speaking with them again. Remember we are trying to build and grow a relationship here.

So now, you've contacted everyone you know to get the word out. Follow up, buy mailing them your business card and something else of value.

The next step is to setup EVERYONE (mets or have not mets) to receive 8 touches from you over the next 8 weeks. A touch should cost 75 cents or less and should be a combination of things like; cards, letters, reports, emails, phone call, magnet, calendar, etc.

If you're a real trooper try calling everyone again half way through the 8 week process to make sure they are getting your materials. Otherwise, you MUST call at the end of the eight weeks to make sure they got the materials, see if they or anyone they know needs YOUR help and that you'll be keeping in touch with them.

The way you'll be keeping in touch is by setting up touch campaigns for the MET group and the HAVE NOT MET group. The MET group you want to touch many times during the year, at least 24 times and some say more like 33 times. The HAVE NOT METS, you'll touch about 12 to 15 times a year. Remember these touches are a combination of emails, calls, letters, cards, magnets, calendar, holiday wishes, etc.

The whole point of putting people on a touch campaign is to get into first position in their minds when they think about real estate. Remember your success or failure in this business is dependent upon the amount of people that when they think about real estate, they think about you!

Good Luck!

2006-10-10T04:30:00.000-07:00

Build your Contact Database and feed it daily!

This is the first and probably the most important step in developing your real estate career. There are many different types of real estate database programs such as; Top Producer, Sharper Agent and Agent Office just to name a few. But you dont need to go out and purchase one of these specific Real Estate programs. You can get started with something we all likely have on our computers right now, and that is MS Outlook. What you want to do is make a list of EVERYONE you know and put them in the database with full contact information (email, address, phone, spouse and family name, anything specific about them, the last time you saw each other and why, etc). You also want to try and categorize each person into one of two groups; mets and have not mets. If you can, add more categories like profession, or if they could be a buyer or seller, or if they would be a someone who is likely to recommend you to friends. Call these categories whatever you like, but you should know what they mean and know under what circumstance a person would fall into a category. The reason for the categories is simple. You want to be able to run reports and do specific marketing to certain groups at certain times. For example you may market to the "have not met" group at certain times of the year with different marketing than you would to the "have mets".

So now you've built a database with all the names of everyone you know (friends, relatives, former co-workers, people from your civic groups, chamber of commerce members, former schoolmates, etc.) now what do you do with it?! Naturally we are going to use it in a systematized way.

I will cover what to do with your database in the next blog!

2006-09-23T08:45:00.000-07:00

Why Did You Become a Real Estate Agent?

The first question I like to ask any Realtor or Agent is Why? Why did you get into the Real Estate field. The immediate answer is always "I love homes and I love people". That's a great and sincere answer, but unfortunately as most of you have found out, that is not what this business is all about. Truth of the matter is, you need to be comfortable with "contacting" with people. This is a contact sport. We need to kiss ALOT of frogs to find a prince. What I am getting at is, this business is 80% lead generation by prospecting and marketing and 20% actual working in the business. It comes as a shock to most agents who think the phone is "just going to ring" with the next client. That is not the case, and if it is for you than you are completely relying on your brokers image and business to fuel your business..not a good place to be since your relying on someone else for business and income.

The second most popular response I get is "I wanted to be my own boss and set my own hours" This one is a sheep in wolves clothing. What it really means is "I got sick of going to the office everyday, and I only want to work when I want to on my terms" Now the problem here is that people are not treating their real estate career as a business or job, which you MUST do if you are to be successful at it. You MUST set a schedule everyday with quantifiable goals and tasks to lead you towards those goals...sort of sounds like a job again doesn't it?!? The good news is that it is up to you to set the schedule and goals! So even though it is work, it is YOUR work.

What are some of your reasons for getting in the business besides what I've mentioned above, please post some..

In future posts, I will highlight the steps we need to take to begin generating business and reap the ultimate reward (no not money) of changing peoples lives for the better..that is a rush money cannot buy!

-Ron

2006-09-13T11:44:00.000-07:00

Fellow Agents and Realtors!

It is my pleasure to start this blog off with the purpose to motivate, educate and graduate you towards greater fulfillment in your real estate careers. That's right, I said careers! Because regardless of if you believe it or not, people do business with you because its YOU ! Not because of your affiliation with Coldwell Banker, ReMax, Century 21, ERA, etc... Its because of you. Each agent is an independent contractor as we all know each with our own goals, value propositions, levels of detail and motivation (or lack of motivation).

I intend to provide on this blog resources for the betterment of our industry as a whole by using my personal experiences (names changed to protect the innocent and confidentiality :-)) and the real estate skills, training and knowledge I've been receiving at my Keller Williams Realty office.

Please keep an open mind when you read and post here, as it doesn't really matter if its a Keller Williams idea, a Coldwell Banker idea, or whatever as long as its a good idea!!

So let the discussions begin!