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The Contact Manager Tutorial

Oct 18, 2021

STEP ONE: Send a List to the Contact Manager

To send contacts from a list to the Contact Manager, click on your email address from the horizontal black navigational bar in the upper right-hand corner. A drop-down menu will appear. Choose “Mailing Lists.” from the menu.

Once in your mailing list section, decide which mailing list of contacts you want to move over. This list will also still remain in the “Mailing List” section as well.

Once you decide on your list, click the blue “Options” button for that list and choose the option “Send List to the Contact Manager” (see screenshot below).

STEP TWO: Add Tags to Your Mailing List

A window will pop up after you complete STEP ONE, allowing you to add tags to the list you are sending to the Contact Manager.

You can type in one tag or multiple. There are some tags already available in the tag drop-down menu. If you don’t see a tag you want there, you can create a tag by typing it into the provided space.

Once you are done adding tags, click the yellow “Import” button, and your contacts from this list will be imported into the Contact Manager.

STEP THREE: View Contacts in Contact Manager

You can now go to your Contact Manager and view contacts from this list. You will not see your list title from the mailing list section in Contact Manager, only the contacts from the list.

To get to Contact Manager, click on your email in the upper right-hand corner of the website and choose “Contact Manager” from the drop-down menu (see screenshot below).

Once in the Contact Manager, you can filter the contacts listed by using the “Tag Filter” located at the top center of this section to see how many tags there are with a specific tag title.

You can also add a new contact name to your Contact Manager by clicking the yellow button that says “Add Names.” Be sure to complete the new contact’s birthday and home anniversary date if there is one.

The “Add Names” yellow button can also be used to download your entire “contact Manager” list with tags and export it from the website.

STEP FOUR: Send a Postcard to a Specific “Tag” of Contacts

To send a postcard to a specific “tag” of contacts, choose your postcard from our postcard section.

Once you are on the postcard series screen, select the blue button titled “Add List’ (see screenshot below).

A drop-down menu will appear. Select the “Contact Manager List” and hit the “select” blue button (see screenshot below).

STEP FIVE: Add Specific Contact “Tags” to Your Mailing List for Your Postcard Mailing

Now add the “tags” you want to use to create your super-targeted mailing list in the box provided (see screenshot below). As you add the tags you want for this mailing list, they will appear in blue (see screenshot below). The screen will also give you your new quantity of contacts for this “tagged” mailing list.

Once you are done adding your tags, you are ready to continue editing your postcard and send it out to your new targeted list.

Please reach out to our support team at 866.405.3638 with questions or if there is anything we can do to help you in your success.

From Contacts to Connections: The CRM Relationship Marketing Advantage

Jun 24, 2024

It’s been years, but I still remember my landlord — a real estate agent — calling me and asking if I knew anyone who wanted to buy or sell a home. At the time, I didn’t.

More than that, I truly wanted to help him and felt bad I couldn’t. I genuinely liked the man, and, believe me, the next day, I kept my ears open for real estate chatter.

Step one toward getting new referrals is to be a nice person people want to help. Step two? Ask for referrals.

Ask everyone. Your sphere of influence then connects to their sphere, and each person you contact broadens your possible referral base exponentially.

But that just covers the basics. There is so much more that agents can do to get more referrals.

The Bedrock: Relationship Marketing

According to author Mari Smith, relationship marketing emphasizes customer satisfaction and retention intending to build profitable long-term relationships.

It differs from other forms of marketing by focusing more on the client relationship. Its key principle is client retention.

The good news for the real estate agent is that relationship marketing is less expensive in the long run than other forms of marketing.

“Acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing customer,” according to Taylor Landis at OutboundEngine.com.

The Get More Referrals Series is shown to the left. To see more, Click Here.

Who’s in your Database?

If your database is populated with only former clients, you’re missing out on a huge chunk of business.

You should have everyone you know in your CRM – from your hairdresser to your aunt Martha. If they’re breathing, they should be in there.

Here’s why this is important: the relationship marketing approach also focuses on customizing your marketing efforts.

In his book “Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable,” marketing whiz Seth Godin agrees and insists that you should “differentiate your customers … Find the group that’s most likely to influence other customers,” suggests Godin.

It starts with asking the right question: “Who do you know who is looking to buy or sell a home?”

If you’re looking for a CRM that allows you to send out direct mail marketing, look no further. We have a free CRM available for you on ProspectsPlus.com.

Keep in touch with your prospects and sphere, and creating custom lists on the fly for targeted mailings. To learn more, Click Here.

When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazin

Homes & Life Magazine is a customizable magazine with rich, full-color content and a sharp, professional aesthetic. It includes compelling, direct, response-driven articles written by real estate industry experts and engaging lifestyle content. Send out Homes & Life Magazine in Just Minutes – No Minimums Required. Or we’ll ship it to you. Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here

2. The Free 6-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Planner

The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 6-Month Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do and when. Four key market segments include niche Markets, geographic farming, sphere of influence, and past clients. – Click Here

3. The Free Online Real Estate Business Plan

The Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for the year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closings, and so on are needed to reach your financial goals. – Click Here

4. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

Ready to take a vertical leap in your real estate career? If you’re looking for inspiration…and the tools and methods to dominate a market and go to the top in real estate…you’ll find them in this free book. – Click Here

Send Marketing From Inside Your CRM with the ProspectsPLUS! Manager

Oct 17, 2022

With our FREE Contact Manager, you can tag entire mailing lists or just one contact within a list, building one highly targeted list from many.

Now achieve better results from your marketing and ensure you are hitting the ideal target within your various lists with the right message at the right time!

This new tool is available to use right now on Prospectsplus.com, for free, just for being a ProspectsPLUS! member.

To check out the Contact Manager tutorial, CLICK HERE.

The Following are Five Ways You Can Start Using the New Contact Manager Today!

1.Compile Contacts From Your Just Listed Just Sold Lists

Move all your Just Listed Just Sold mailing lists to the Contact Manager. As you move them, “tag” the lists with the name of the neighborhood they are from.

Now you can send follow-up postcards or schedule a campaign to go out to specific contacts from various “tagged” neighborhoods. The Just Sold Follow-Up campaign or a postcard from this series is a great choice.

2. Create Monthly Customer Birthday Lists

Upload your SOI list or move your current one into the Contact Manager. Add birthdays to each contact’s personal information in the space provided.

Now mid-way through each month, you can select and send a birthday card to all of your contacts with a “Tagged” birthday for the upcoming month. You can even schedule these Birthday postcards to go out for the whole year in one sitting.

3. Create Monthly Home Anniversary Lists

Upload your SOI list or move a current one into the Contact Manager. Add the home anniversary date to the applicable contact’s personal information in the space provided.

Now mid-way through each month, you can select and send home anniversary postcards to go out to all of your “Tagged” contacts with a home anniversary in the upcoming month. You can even schedule these cards to go out each month for the whole year in one sitting.

4. Tag Your Past Clients for Special Mailings

When your current client becomes your past client, be sure to “tag” them with a “past client” tag. Now they are ready for you to be able to quickly pull together a targeted list to send out special Customer Appreciation postcards, thank you’s, and referral reminders.

5. Tag Your Buyers Across Lists For Special Mailings

Any time you create a list of buyers, be sure to tag them with the “buyers” tag. Now you can send a targeted mailing to all of your buyers across several lists.

To get started with the Contact Manager tool now, CLICK HERE.

Or check out our basic Contact Manager Tutorial, CLICK HERE.

A couple More Notes About the New Contact Manager:

This is not a free trial. Our Contact Manager will be free to our ProspectsPLUS! members indefinitely.
If you have a CRM you currently use, by all means, continue. However, if you are purchasing a mailing list from us at any time in the future, it’s worth your time to take a moment and tag that list in the event you may want to take advantage of that tag in the future.
We don’t share or sell your data. Please visit our privacy policy in the footer of the website and if you aren’t comfortable initially take a look at our reviews and maybe just start with lists that you are purchasing from us as we already have that data and are providing it to you.
We certainly hope you choose to stay with us, but you can always download any or all of your lists out of the website at any time you choose to, and we even allow you to download a string of data that shows you the tags you associated with your contacts so that it will make it easier for you to take it to your next list management CRM platform.

Please reach out to our support team at 866.405.3638 with questions or if there is anything we can do to help you in your success.

PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine

Homes & Life Magazine is a customizable magazine with rich, full-color content and a sharp, professional aesthetic. It includes compelling, direct response-driven articles written by real estate industry experts combined with engaging lifestyle content. Send out Homes & Life Magazine in Just Minutes – No Minimums Required. Or we’ll ship it to you.

Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here

2. The Free 12-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 12-Month-Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do and when. Four key market segments include niche Markets, geographic farming, sphere of influence, and past clients. – Click Here

3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system

The most effective thing you can do to build a real estate business is to become more visible, more likable, and remembered more often. The BusinessBASE™ not only checks all of these boxes but is also a business-building machine. In two easy steps, you can begin to build a robust sphere of influence that will provide you a lifetime of repeat business and referrals. – Click Here

4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for this year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closing, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here

5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

6. The Take a Listing Today Podcast

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPukXEEmt5v4mU3iZ_hqYZ-W2g_Z6Ufgu

Watch the ProspectsPLUS!, Take a Listing Today Podcast for actionable content to help you get more listings. – Click Here

5 Ways to Increase Real Estate Listings for a Bustling Summer

May 30, 2024

Yes, there’s still time! Here are six ways to help you stir up more activity in your market before the year-end.

1. Stick to the plan (or create one if you haven’t yet)

A marketing plan does much more than let you know how much money you’ll spend for over a period of time promoting your services. Chief among the additional benefits is that it helps you fill your days with prolific and directed activity.

That forward-thinking stuff you need to create a plan forces you to carefully consider each option, both in terms of its financial impact and effectiveness.

“Big ideas fail without a plan, and your marketing plan is the one thing that will still drive innovation and help you meet sales targets,” according to Mark Ellis, a business writer at Business2Community.com.

If increasing listing activity is your goal, hammer out a marketing plan for the next three months and stick to it.

2. Adhere to a regular prospecting schedule

Whether you door-knock, cold-call, chase after expireds and FSBOs or use another method of prospecting, ensure that it gets done by making it a part of your daily or weekly schedule.

Prioritize the task as well. It’s easy to keep putting it off when there are more interesting tasks to pursue, but it’s not wise. The more leads you steer toward that real estate sales funnel, the more prospects you can convert into new listings.

3. Nurture those relationships

People who sell customer relationship management software are fond of claiming that a CRM is the “lifeblood” of the real estate agent’s business.

Guess what? They’re right. Building and nurturing relationships is the key to increased commission checks, and to do it right, you need a way to keep track of leads, prospects, clients (both current and past), and just about everyone else you know.

While there are probably a million and one ways to set up a CRM, find a way that makes adding information and finding what you need easy. A way that works for you. Then ensure that you keep it safe, and back it up.

HOT TIP: We offer a free CRM, the Contact Manager, on ProspectsPLUS.com. With the Contact Manager, you can tag entire mailing lists or just one contact within a list, building one highly targeted list for your marketing materials.

In addition, you own your list, so you can export and download your CRM list anytime if you decide to move it. Now schedule time on a daily/weekly basis to reach out to the contacts in this database and nurture these relationships.

The Looking For Listing Scheduled Farm Campaign is shown above.

4. Fine-tune your response time to leads

You can’t turn a lead into a prospect that you’ll convert into a listing if you don’t respond to their initial contact promptly.

The short and sweet of it is that you have five minutes to respond to an incoming lead if you hope to reach the person live and get them into your sales funnel, according to InsideSales.com research.

In fact, the agent who responds within this period is nearly 25 percent more likely to snag the lead. Wait a half-hour? You might as well forget about it and let the agent down the street who responds quicker have the lead.

5. Start farming, via direct mail, if you haven’t already

Farming is a low-cost, effective, and easy way to reach out to many people simultaneously and build relationships over time.

The fact remains that direct mail is one of the most powerful marketing methods available. Mix that with a focus on a specific farm, and you have something powerful working for you.

When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazin

2. The Free 6-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Planner

3. The Free Online Real Estate Business Plan

4. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

Magnify Brand Visibility and Stay Connected the Easy Way with Automated Marketing!

Jun 14, 2023

When clients need a real estate agent, it pays to have an easily recognizable name at their fingertips. But coming up with fresh, eye-catching content and sticking to a regular schedule of sending this content out is incredibly time-consuming.

An automated, recurring marketing campaign is the easiest way to maintain brand exposure and stay relevant; while freeing up time for more high-level tasks.

Put Your Time to Better Use

Automating your marketing ensures you adhere to your long-term marketing strategies because you never miss sending out a campaign.

Scheduling postcard campaigns to go out automatically allows you to focus on prospecting, handling listing appointments, and developing other business growth strategies.

Meanwhile, targeted campaigns are working in the background to drive customer engagement and
ensure clients have your name in mind when it is time to list a home or find a new property.

The Content Card Series Campaign is shown above. To see more, Click Here.

Scheduled postcard campaigns give you the competitive edge

Regardless of speculated market shifts, homebuyers and homeowners will continue looking to trade up or relocate and will reach out to agents to take the plunge.

With an ongoing scheduled postcard campaign, you ensure your name is front and center with your target market when they are ready to strike.

In addition, various campaigns are available with customized messaging to fit certain niche markets. For instance, many fence-sitting homeowners are unsure if this is the right time to sell. The Fence Sitter postcard campaign is designed with the ideal message that speaks to their looming concerns and calms their fears.

The smart money is on automation

According to Lenskold Group, 78% of marketers reported that marketing automation increased revenue.

And 75% of brands saw a return on investment within 12 months due to using automated marketing campaigns (Focus Research study).

Launching an automated marketing campaign is the best way to make every moment count in your business, raise your brand profile, and stay relevant.

To get started launching a scheduled campaign or learn more, Click Here.

To check out our FREE Contact Manager, Click HERE.

PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine

Homes & Life Magazine is a customizable magazine with rich, full-color content and a sharp, professional aesthetic. It includes compelling, direct response-driven articles written by real estate industry experts and engaging lifestyle content. Send out Homes & Life Magazine in Just Minutes – No Minimums Required. Or we’ll ship it to you. Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here

2. The Free 6-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

3. The Free Interactive 6-Month Real Estate Business Review

The Free Interactive 6-Month Real Estate Business Review allows you to enter your business goals for the remainder of the year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closing, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here

4. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

Right Now, Your Real Estate CRM is Worth its Weight in Gold. Here’s Why!

Feb 28, 2023

Back in the dinosaur days of real estate, a simple Rolodex, populated with the contact information of people in an agent’s sphere, ruled the day in most real estate businesses.

As technology advanced from those tiny 2.25-inch x 4-inch Rolodex cards, agents demanded more bells and whistles, which resulted in today’s sophisticated Customer Relationship Management platforms.

With the market in flux, it’s a good time for the less-than-busy agent to get to know their CRM and reacquaint themselves with the gold mine it is.

How about starting a drip campaign to drum up some business?

One of the best ways to grow your business and stay top of mind with your network is by reaching out to each person consistently over time.

Many agents swear by their drip campaigns, sending either automated emails or direct mail out to selected contacts in their CRM. However, how frequently you contact these people sits on a fine line between reaching out and spamming.

Some experts claim that dripping on these folks once a week is going to eventually get your marketing materials tossed in the trash or blocked from delivery to your contacts entirely – especially if they don’t plan on moving for a year or so.

A monthly email is more appropriate – even longer is fine. Just making consistent contact without annoying people is what’s most important.

You have one chance to lure these recipients into reading your drip campaign, which occurs with your first attempt.

The Content Card Series is shown above. To see more designs, Click HERE.

Depending on your database’s size, you may have to create several focused campaigns. Some of the categories to think about include quick (the operative word here) information for:

Homebuyers
Sellers
Condo buyers
FHA or VA buyers

To stay top-of-mind with past clients, think about sending information on their interests:

Gardening
Interior decorating and design trends
Green living
Food
Birthday, anniversary, new baby, and other greetings

The Content Card Series offers many of the topics listed above. Whatever you choose to send, make it count. Wow, them – make the recipients look forward to the next one.

Face-to-Face

Sometimes a face-to-face encounter is called for. Many successful agents plan client-appreciation events periodically throughout the year or one splashy annual event.

One California agent uses her CRM to classify her clients according to how big their sphere of influence is. Those with a huge network of contacts she calls her “A” group and those are the ones she tends to go a bit above and beyond to maintain the relationships.

Her preferred method is to never miss their birthday by issuing a lunch invitation for birthday week. Pricey? Perhaps, but memorable and tax-deductible as well.

Follow up with industry colleagues

Stick all those people you do business with on a regular basis into your CRM too. Begin building relationships with them by attending networking events or even holding your own for title company representatives, escrow people, lenders, contractors, plumbers, home inspectors, and electricians.

Client retention is business promotion at its subtlest, and your CRM is the most valuable tool you have right now.

While letting people know you value them, you plant a seed that will hopefully blossom into a big, fat pipeline full of referrals.

Be sure to check out the CRM that we offer to our customers FOR FREE. It allows you to grab contacts from various customer lists, target them with specific marketing meant just for them, and keep historical notes and personal data (i.e., birthdays, family members, home anniversary dates, etc.).

To check out our FREE Contact Manager, Click HERE.

PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine

Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here

2. The Free 12-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system

The most effective thing you can do to build a real estate business is to become more visible, more likable, and remembered more often. The BusinessBASE™ not only checks these boxes but is also a business-building machine. In two easy steps, you can begin to build a robust sphere of influence that will provide you a lifetime of repeat business and referrals. – Click Here

4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

An Early Christmas Present For You!

Dec 22, 2022

THE 2023 REAL ESTATE MARKETING PLANNER IS HERE!

We Just Checked One Important Item Off Your 2023 TO-DO List!

✅Creating a Strategic Real Estate Marketing Plan for 2023 – DONE

With the 2023 Real Estate Marketing Planner, you get:

A Weekly breakdown of targeted real estate marketing actions to complete.
A monthly calendar color-coded to match weekly action items.
Weekly targeted campaign postcard suggestions with clickable links for easy ordering.
Monthly holiday mail-by-dates for sending postcards standard class to save money.
A monthly list of fun activities to reference when contacting your Sphere of Influence.
Monthly holiday observances.
Suggested Contact Manager tags for targeted mailing.

To download your FREE 2023 Real Estate Marketing Planner click HERE!

PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine

Homes & Life Magazine is a customizable magazine with rich, full-color content and a sharp, professional aesthetic. It includes compelling, direct response-driven articles written by real estate industry experts and engaging lifestyle content. Send out Homes & Life Magazine in Just Minutes – No Minimums Required. Or we’ll ship it to you.

Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here

2. The BusinessBase, SOI building system

The most effective thing you can do to build a real estate business is to become more visible, more likable, and remembered more often. The BusinessBASE™ not only checks these boxes but is also a business-building machine. In two easy steps, you can build a robust sphere of influence that will provide you a lifetime of repeat business and referrals. – Click Here

3. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for this year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closings, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here

4. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

5. The Take a Listing Today Podcast

Watch the ProspectsPLUS!, Take a Listing Today Podcast for actionable content to help you get more listings. – Click Here

Brand New to Real Estate? Here’s How to Hit the Ground Running!

Nov 9, 2022

The one thing few new real estate agents are prepared for is to hit the ground running the minute they hand over their license to a broker.

Sure, you’ll find lots of information on how to get a license, but zilch about how to productively use that time when you aren’t taking classes or studying for the exam any longer.

That’s time wasted, and commission checks pushed further into the future.

Let’s take a look at some of the best ways to prepare yourself to enter the world of real estate, ready to take it on.

Research and shop for a CRM

Customer relation management (CRM) will be an ongoing and critical aspect of your business. To make it easier and more efficient, you’ll need CRM software.

Some of the larger brokerages offer in-house CRM software, but most don’t.

We offer a free Contact Manager on prospectsplus.com that helps turn your mailing lists into micro-targeted marketing machines. To learn more about how to use this relationship-building customer tool, Click Here.

Surfing the internet to find reviews of real estate CRMs, I found a couple of sites that might help you get a better picture of CRM options available (for a fee):

Once you have chosen your CRM and learned how to use it, start loading it with the names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and any other information you know about everyone you know.

Yup, everyone that is old enough to buy or sell a home.

Getting this task out of the way up front will streamline your entry into the real estate business, and you’ll be forever grateful that you did it.

The Photo Introduction Series is shown above. To learn more, Click Here.

Your first direct mail campaign

Take all those addresses in your CRM and send each one an announcement of your pending licensure.

A text-only, simple postcard isn’t going to cut it now that you’re on the threshold of owning your own business. Send out a Photo Introduction postcard and properly introduce yourself to these VIPs who are going to prove invaluable to the growth of your real estate business over the coming years.

Set up a Facebook business page

Yes, there are other social media platforms, and some that you may prefer over Facebook. But Facebook is hands down, the best of them for marketing your real estate business.

So, start with Facebook and work on the others later.

This is a task you can actually begin on your personal page. Post the image included in your direct mail campaign for starters. Then, when you get your Facebook business page set up, invite your personal page friends to join you there.

Start engaging with others by visiting their pages and responding to their posts.

Join Facebook groups. They don’t have to be real estate-related. As long as you’re active and engaging, the groups will help build your follower list.

You can do a lot to hit the ground running before your license arrives at your broker’s office. Get going. I wish you much success!

PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine

Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here

2. The Free 12-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system

4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

6. The Take a Listing Today Podcast

Watch the ProspectsPLUS!, Take a Listing Today Podcast for actionable content to help you get more listings. – Click Here

Guess What Product Homebuyers Treasure Most from Real Estate Agents?

Aug 24, 2022

A Real Estate Referral List!

Nearly half of homebuyers surveyed (49%) by the NAR said that the third most important benefit that a real estate agent can provide is “. . .a better list of service providers,” such as a home inspector and other services. (NAR 2022 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends)

While homebuyers consider this a benefit, the industry understands it as “value-added.”

Who would’ve thought that something as simple as a list of vendors could be a treasured service?

No, it’s not a new service, but it’s become an in-demand one and a way for agents to set themselves apart while offering value to your services.

It beats a closing gift

A real estate vendor referral service is the gift that keeps on giving. If set up properly, it brings your brand before their eyes multiple times into the future. It can also benefit you by giving you “touch” opportunities down the line.

Content Card Series is shown above. To see more, click Here.

How to put together a real estate vendor referral service list

Whether you call them vendors or affiliates, the people on your list should be many and varied. Oh, and highly vetted, which we’ll discuss later.

Let’s take a look at some of the vendors you might want to include on your list:

Accountant
Appliance repair/installation
Carpet cleaner
Countertop Company
Electrician
Flooring installer
Garage door installer/repair tech
General contractor
Handyman
Handyman/woman
Home inspector
Home warranty company
House cleaner
Insurance agent
Interior designer
Landscaper
Lenders/mortgage broker
Moving accessories
Moving company
Painter
Pest inspector
Pet pooper scooper
Plumber/HVAC technician
Pool Service
Popcorn ceiling removal
Professional home organizer
Property Manager
Real estate attorney
Roofer
Septic Company
Stager
Tile contractor
Title company
Trash hauling
Well inspector
Window washer

Luxury agents might want to include:

Architect
Audio/visual services
Engineer
Home security systems technician
Home watch/Housesitting services
Landscape architect
Trust attorney

Vendor list research

If you’re just starting a real estate vendor referral service, you’ll need to do some research in your quest to figure out who to include. Start at yelp.com, read reviews, and jot down the names of those you want to interview.

Join your neighborhood at NextDoor.com. One of the main topics of conversation on the platform is “Who do you recommend for [insert the service].”

In fact, if you enter any service into the search bar at the top of the page, you’ll find every conversation having to do with it.

Finally, ask for recommendations for your real estate vendor referral service from colleagues, family members, and friends.

Once you’ve compiled a list of names, move on to the Better Business Bureau to check for complaints.

Then, ensure that the vendors you’ll interview are licensed and bonded by consulting the appropriate state licensing board’s website.

This step is very important. “… the Realtor is not responsible for the work of a properly licensed contractor, or pest inspector for that matter. When a Realtor calls a licensed professional, they are doing so only in their capacity as a representative of their client,” according to Tim Jones at DailyRepublic.com.

Still, consider putting a disclaimer, in writing, on your website.

Now, you’re ready to interview each candidate. Don’t forget to ask for references. Get the references’ phone numbers and contact each one.

There’s more to the compilation of this list than meets the eye. Avoiding RESPA violations is tricky, and we’ll cover that in Part II, so be sure to check back soon.

PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine

Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here

2. The Free 12-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system

4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

6. The Take a Listing Today Podcast

Watch the ProspectsPLUS!, Take a Listing Today Podcast for actionable content to help you get more listings. – Click Here

How to Choose a Real Estate Website That Won’t Break the Bank

Aug 28, 2019

Once the ink dries on your business and marketing plans (including a budget), it’s time to take the next step on your journey to wild success as a real estate agent and choose a website.

All real estate agents need a website (with IDX), in our opinion.

If that sounds like a blanket statement, it is. But that doesn’t mean it’s not accurate.

Real estate agent websites offer far more than the ability for consumers to search for homes for sale. If done right, a real estate website offers content to help homebuyers and sellers learn about the process, tips on how to be prepared to buy and sell and lots of local information.

For the agent, again, if done right, a website offers lead generation and a spot on the world wide web for potential clients to get to know you.

We get it – you’re probably not flush with money at this point, and every penny counts until you get that first commission check.

So, we set out on a mission to find real estate website providers who won’t put you in the poor house yet offer attractive, feature-rich websites to help you launch your new business.

The “Sell Faster” Free Report is available under the Free Report tab on ProspectsPLUS.com.

Boomtown

Boomtown is basically a lead generator that sells websites with a CRM, mobile app and more.

And, since two of the tools you’ll need from day one includes a CRM and a website, you can’t go wrong with Boomtown’s offerings.

It’s also one of the quickest and easiest real estate websites to customize, which is ideal for the new agent.

Best of all, we know from personal experience that Boomtown’s customer service is second-to-none.

Agents who leave positive reviews for Boomtown sites say that the sites are easy to use. Complaints include that customization of the sites has limitations.

Pricing is not published on the company’s website. Vanessa Doctor at FitSmallBusiness.com was able to locate prices on a third-party website (as of March 2019). Prices vary according to which of the four plans you choose. We can’t vouch for the accuracy of these prices, however.

Main plan: $1500 setup fee and then $1500 a month.
Launch: $750 setup fee and $1000 a month. Doctor also found that subscribers to this package are required to spend $250 or more per month on pay-per-click advertising.
CORE: $1700 setup fee and $1300 monthly.
Team/brokerage package: The same price as the Main plan.

Placester

Placester offers a reasonably-priced IDX website, perfect for the beginning agent. At $99 a month, you can’t beat the price. Plus, it’s only $99 to set it up.

If you’ve joined the NAR, you’ll get an even better price. Right now, Placester is offering $59 monthly plan. You’ll find details at Placester.com.

The sites offer basic lead capture (which you can upgrade), IDX listing integration capability, tools to help with email marketing and more.

Positive reviews we found online mention:

“Easy to set up and use”
“Great looking professional templates”
“The standard templates are very clean and optimized for mobile”

While the low price is a big plus, some reviewers have found drawbacks and limitations with a Placester website:

“Difficult to contact customer service.” Complaints about poor customer service popped up frequently in agent reviews of the company that we read.
The basic site is “lacking highly in customization.” The same reviewer said that color themes are limited and “you are only able to choose from a limited selection of pages.”
“a canned theme website”
The “Can Cost Thousands” Free Report is available under the Free Report tab on ProspectsPLUS.com.

Easy Agent Pro

If you are seeking a robust lead generation website right out of the gate, check out Easy Agent Pro’s offerings. Called “Leadsites,” they offer a number of apps to help you with marketing and lead capture.

We like the “Brag Wall,” a brilliant way to share reviews from clients to Zillow, Yelp, Facebook and more.

From squeeze pages to Instafarm and done-for-you-blogging, Easy Agent Pro is one you should definitely check out.

We reached out to the company’s marketing manager, Lukas Termini, for pricing information. “The lowest price is $149, the “Basic package,” he said in an email.

“It’s usually recommended for brokers because it doesn’t have IDX. But $179 is the standard option most folks go with,” he added.

Considering what’s included in that $179, we think EAP wins, hands down.

Positive reviews we found online include:

“Features a bold, modern, fun design. Fun add-ons and tools available. Great squeeze pages for lead generation.”
“They make very impressive websites for a reasonable cost.”
“Easy Agent Pro EDUCATES you AND demonstrates with their own marketing program that they truly understand how Google Ranking works.”
“I have gotten more closings from having this website then I did in the previous 12 years using other website providers.”

And, on the flipside:

“Takes some setup and management”
“The only problem is you don’t own the website.”

We searched and looked for more than an hour for negative reviews of Easy Agent Pro sites and the company and those two were all that we were able to round up.

The second complaint, by the way, was from a real estate agent podcast in which the reviewer began his comparison of Easy Agent Pro and Placester by saying that “Easy Agent Pro is top on my list.”

Even if you finally settle on a DIY WordPress site, you’ll be one step ahead of the other newbies in your market.

Here’s wishing you much success as a real estate agent.

The “Get More Money” Free Report is available under the Free Report tab on ProspectsPLUS.com.

Download the Free Report, “9 Ways to Get More Money” and use it in all of your marketing (direct mail, emails), and on your website as an opt in.

Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list too l to create the ideal list (it’s easy) or call our support team for assistance at 866.405.3638!

PLUS: When you have time…here are Free killer tools to help your success this year!

1. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

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