Monday, December 30, 2024

ProspectsPLUS!

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Show up. Again and again. With your best self. Your best skills. Your best brand. 

When you do – greatness happens.

Remember the 3-7-27 Rule of Branding. 

  • It takes 3 touches for someone to remember your name.
  • 7 touches for them to put your name with your business.
  • 27 for your name and business to become a brand.

How many VIPs in your Sphere of Influence can you reach out to today to get closer to your goals?

#realestatemarketing #notimelikethepresent #3727law

We’re here if you need us. Call our marketing team at 866.405.3638 today.

Don’t miss out! Remember to jump into our big contest this week! 

CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW YOU CAN WIN $10,000.

It’s Not Too Soon to Create Your Plan

by Julie Escobar

Hard to believe it’s almost September isn’t it? Taking a cue from this week’s Master Marketing Schedule tip which is to send the Hello Autumn postcard from the Holiday series, I thought it was a great time to share some tips for getting a jump on staying connected with your sphere and farm in this fun way, because staying in touch and top of mind never goes out of season.  Before you buy a card, stick a stamp of figure out where your mailing list is — consider these eight great holiday tips!

  1. Be clear about your message.  Even when you’re sending holiday postcards, you can use the reverse side to send a great message to your customer base.  If you are sending to both your sphere and farm, you may want to consider altering the message slightly for each. Make it personal and heartfelt, with a note of thanks for allowing you the opportunity to serve them as customers — or in the case of your farm – the community.
  2. Serve two purposes.  Are you having a holiday open house? Customer event?  Charity drive? Looking for a good time to stop by with a small gift? You can include that information on the cards as well.
  3. Don’t be salesy.  Holiday greetings are not about the sale – they are about the connection.  Keep it warm and personable.
  4. Don’t wait for just Christmas.  Many top agents send a holiday message once a month to their sphere. Back to School, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, etc.  There’s something to celebrate all year round, and it’s a fun way to stay connected and stand out as someone who is “there” more than just in the month of December.
  5. Have some fun with it.  Got a great team? Or just a great personality?  Take some fun pictures and opt for a photo-card rather than a more traditional card and don’t be afraid to get a little creative with your photos.
  6. Don’t leave anyone out! You know all those mailing lists you’ve been collecting throughout the year? For Just Listed postcards, or the stack of business cards that have been sitting on the corner of your desk collecting dust?
  7. Order early.  We suggest sending your holiday cards out at LEAST two weeks in advance of the holiday every month — and sending first class as opposed to standard-class to ensure timely delivery.
  8. Follow up.  Sending cards is a great way to easily stay in touch.  Pick a postcard, edit your message, add a list – and you’re done!  In a matter of minutes, you’ve created a connection.  However to really get the full impact of ANY mailing (holiday and otherwise) — be sure to follow-up – at least with the top 25% of your list.  There is no substitution for this step.  Imagine if you made it a point each year, every year, to speak with every single person in your sphere at least twice a year?  Touch base, see if they have questions, thank them for being great customers, and say hello.  Here’s what happens when you do:  they remember you.  They don’t list with another agent because your name wasn’t on the radar.  They are grateful that you take the time to call.  And one out of 12? Statistically, will do business with you or refer business to you.

Here’s to a great holiday season ahead – and to staying in touch with your sphere and farm!

Need help?  We’re here for you!  Call our team at 866.405.3638 today.  We’ll help get your holidays started and save you money at the same time! Have a great one!  

From the Master Marketing Schedule

by Julie Escobar

Build your collateral collection. Choose four or five of your favorite Content Cards, and have 25 of each shipped to you. There are more than sixty to choose from on a wide variety of consumer-friendly information. These panoramic-size postcards are perfect for helping you stand out as a resource that home sellers and buyers can turn to in your market.

Where can you use them?

  • Open houses
  • Add to your pre-listing packages
  • Collateral for buyer or seller workshop
  • Client pop-bys
  • Geo farming hand outs
  • Ask if local offices or car dealerships will let you leave some behind in waiting rooms

For any ship-to-you postcards (other than EDDM), this month use promo code AUG10SH to save 10% off your order, excluding postage.

While you’re on the site – peruse the free reports that are easily downloadable as pdfs for your site and social media content you might like to share!  Find them all here. 

Collateral tools such as free reports and content cards provide great visuals when presenting and as objection handlers. When working with consumers, often you’ll have both analytical customers as well as those who respond to visuals. The content gives you the analytic information you need, and the tangible piece gives you the visual. Both go a long way towards lending authority to you as a sales professional.

Oh — and as a reminder… As long as you’re ordering shipped-to-you material, you might want to get your hands on some Football Schedules with magnetic backs. They are a hot-ticket item this time of year, and right now they are helping us help the kids and families of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital!

From now until September 15th, we will donate 10% of EVERY football series postcard order to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital!  Help us help the kids — and stay top of mind all season long! Click the banner below to get started!st jude fb

 

Good luck this month and happy listing! We’re here if you need us. Call our marketing team at 866.405.3638 if we can assist you in any way! 

Working the Renter Niche

Most top agents focus their business marketing in three important areas:  their sphere of influence, their geographic farm, and a niche market.

One niche that gets a lot of attention is the renter market. With rents on the rise across the nation, interest rates still historically low, and housing prices not yet scaling too quickly –it’s the perfect opportunity for renters to kiss their landlord goodbye – as it says in one of our most popular postcards for agents working this market.

Consistency is Key

As with any marketing campaign, consistency is key. Our First Time Buyer/Renter series has eight postcards, which is perfect for a 6-8 month campaign. Here’s what you do:

  • Choose some higher end rental properties or apartment complexes in your area and capture a mailing list.
  • On the reverse side of the postcard, make an offer for an item of value such as one of our free reports.
  • After each mailing has hit, be sure to follow up either by phone call or get out in the community and start meeting the people. Is there a Starbucks or coffee shop near the rental community? Let people know you’ll be there to answer questions one morning at a specific time. You can even use the back of the postcards as an invitation!
  • Repeat this process once a month for the next six months.

Another great idea from the Master Marketing Schedule is to send the Kiss Your Landlord Goodbye postcard to 100 renters in your market.

Related: Attracting First Time Home Buyers

 Need help? Were here for you. Contact our support team at 866.405.3638 today. 

 

Have you entered the 10K Realtor Contest yet? If not, why not?  We are loving the creativity of our current entrants and we encourage you to jump in with your own photo and strategy. There’s no purchase necessary and who couldn’t use a shot at $10,000? 

How do you do it?

  • Grab your copy of the Master Marketing Magazine and pull out the Master Marketing Schedule poster. If your calendar is missing or you didn’t get your magazine, you can request an additional copy at blog.prospectsplus.com/magazine.  We’ve noticed some folks are posting the downloadable schedule from our blog schedule page, but the official rules call for you to use the actual poster.
  • Hang your poster on the wall or in your cubicle.
  • Take a photo or video of you with your Master Marketing Schedule poster, and be sure to get in the shot! 
  • Check out John’s post as a great example
  • Go to www.facebook.com/ProspectsPLUS, and tell us your favorite strategy from the schedule in your Facebook post, you’ll find we have strategies for each week, and a monthly tip as well in the calendar. Choose the ones that most resonate with you and share how you’d use it in your marketing.
  • Have some fun with it! Our judges will base their decisions on creativity and originality – so don’t hold back!

For full contest rules and conditions, go to blog.prospectsplus.com/contest-official-rules.

Why use the Master Marketing Schedule? Our customers tell us it takes the stress out of deciding what to do each month to stay in front of their sphere of influence, geographic farm and niche markets. They also tell us it helps them stay on track, so that their marketing doesn’t slip through the cracks during these busy buying and selling seasons. It’s what we designed it to do! Help agents grow their businesses with more ease and less stress.

If you need help with your marketing, please call our support team at 866.405.3638. That’s what they do best! 

And Have Some Fun With Your Marketing

by Julie Escobar

Consistency is a powerful element in successful marketing. That’s why so many of our clients wisely choose to pick a postcard series to stick with for three to six months at a time. It’s also why you’ll see this strategy play out in our Master Marketing Schedule. We pick a series and make the postcards from it a monthly tip for reaching out to the consumers in your marketplace to build your book of business.

This week’s schedule strategy is to send the Waiting Could Cost You postcard from the Market Quote Series to at least 100 new prospects in an area where you want more listings. I love this series. It’s simple and effective and gives potential buyers and sellers insights into what is happening right now in the real estate market.

If you’ve thought about using it, here are some suggestions for the copy on the backside of the card. 

  1. Invite people to a real estate question and answer event. Have some fun with it.
  2. Offer something of value such as a Comparative Market Analysis, Home Price Analysis, or a Free Report.
  3. Share some hyper-local information such as listing and sale metrics, or even local event information such as school schedules, neighborhood event calendars, etc.
  4. Share your personal insights on what people need to know about real estate on a local level.
  5. Drive people to a blog post or social media page to learn more information.

Make sure you are writing your copy in a conversational and engaging way and don’t be afraid to let your personality show through! Be sure to spell-check before you finalize your postcard, then place your order. (It’s sometimes helpful to write out what you want in a Word document first and paste it into the system for less frustration and spell-checking.) Many of our top agent clients choose the first week of every month to spend 30-60 minutes to make sure their marketing is done and checked off the list for the month for each category of customers they want to reach or they break it down by week, based on the Master Marketing Schedule.  Be sure you are connecting with:

Need help putting your marketing in motion? Contact our team today at 866.405.3638! They are terrific at helping agents grow their businesses. 

The Difference Between Calm & Commission Chasing

By Julie Escobar

One of the biggest challenges for people getting into the business of real estate is the fear of NOT knowing when they will get paid.  Commission only? Are you kidding me?  While that’s a genuine concern when you’re brand new and haven’t learned the ropes yet, what’s interesting is how many people are STILL unclear about when and where their next commission will come from though they’ve been in the business for years.  The common denominator for that dilemma lies in whether they take a proactive or reactive approach to their business.

First and foremost?  You are an independent contractor, and as such you are running a business entity, so treating it as such is more than common sense – it’s a must.  Proactive agents know where their leads are coming from because they are putting systems in place to ensure that they are marketing themselves in the areas that matter most such as:

  • Their sphere of influence: Those folks that already know them, like them, trust them and would do business with them. They know that if they stay in touch monthly, contact regularly, and make these VIPs a priority, they can expect a referral, listing or sale from one in twelve each year. (Marketing methods of choice: Newsletter, Holiday Postcards, Recipe Cards, Content Cards, Annual Customer Appreciation events, and a phone call or visit at LEAST twice per year.)
  • Their geo farm: The market area they most want to dominate. Smart agents choose a neighborhood that already has some turnover, does NOT have another agent with the substantial presence or market share, and has a price point that makes sense for them to invest in marketing. (Marketing methods of choice:  Market Dominator, Just Listed/Just Sold postcards, Open Houses, Neighborhood luxury cardsUpdate/Free Offer Series and farm canvassing at least three times per year.)
  • A niche: That tribe of people or customers you most like to work with.  Maybe it’s first time home buyers, or seniors, or medical professionals, or boaters. Whatever group you feel connected with – make yourself known as the go-to agent.  (Marketing Methods of choice, Newsletters, Lifestyle Interest Postcards and attending or sponsoring events specifically targeted to that niche.)
  • Lead generation: Continuously casting new nets for new business as well as constant prospecting the three segments above. (Marketing Methods of choice: Reaching out to local businesses for networking and referrals, partnering with local PTAs and sporting teams, using Every Door Direct Mail to market to blanket a new carrier route, Listing Inventory postcards.)

These agents aren’t shy about sharing their success rates either.  They use social media wisely, are active and visible in the communities they service and they broadcast their results via Just Listed/Just Sold postcards and online announcements.  Examples: Sold in TWO days!  Was on the market with another agent for six months. Now sold in just one week!

Reactive agents? Pretty much none of the above. They spend the bulk of their time working with buyers and usually only actively seek a new listing once the one or two they have in inventory sell.  I love what Darryl Davis shared in his last article with us.  “It’s no longer listings are the name of the game – it’s listing INVENTORY is the name of the game.”  He compares it to owning a shoe store and having no shoes left to sell.

Bottom line: When you are reactionary, as in, “I have no income coming in – let me go take a listing now,” your life is stressful. You worry about providing for yourself and your family.  You aren’t sure if you need to go “get a real job”.

When you are proactive, you make marketing and prospecting part of your daily routine.  You KNOW your numbers.  “I need to speak with X number of people each day to get X amount of appointments, to do X number of listings, X amount of sales, and X number of closings.”  You use time blocking to prioritize your time and activity. You use systems to automate your marketing or simplify the processes.

If you’re a brand new agent or are an agent that needs less stress, more business and are ready to get to the next level in your career – kick that reactive stuff to the curb and jump in with a proactive plan to build your business.

Need help working with your sphere, farm or niche? We’ve got everything you need to succeed at www.prospectsplus.com or call our team at 866.405.3638.

 

And Make a Difference for You Bothraf gift card

By Julie Escobar

Referrals as real estate professionals are a lifeblood of your business, we know.  They can make all the difference in expanding your sphere, increasing your productivity, and of course, turn into valuable commissions throughout the year.  In that, we are very much alike.  Your business is not just about real estate (buying and selling of homes) – it’s about PEOPLE.  Our business not just about real estate marketing tools – it’s about PEOPLE as well.  So it seems, we’ve got some common ground.  That’s why we recently implemented a new Refer-a-Friend system so that our valued customers can benefit from those referrals, as well as share the kind of tools that you know will make your friends’ lives a little easier in the process.

Let’s take a look of eight reasons to refer a friend today!

  1. You get $25! Each time you refer a friend to our ProspectsPLUS.com site and they register and make a purchase of any kind, we’ll send you a $25 gift card code use towards your own real estate marketing.
  2. Your friend gets $25! We know trying new things isn’t always easy so we will give your referral friend a $25 gift card code so they can try the site without trying their budget!
  3. No limits! You can refer as many friends as you like, and they can do the same!
  4. 100% satisfaction guarantee. Here’s our promise:  We’re so committed to continuously raising the bar and delivering the very best products and service possible for our customers. With that – should you (or your friend) have a problem with any order, please simply let us know within 30 days of placing that order. We will then work with you to the best of our ability to ensure that the problem is solved quickly and efficiently. If necessary, we will refund your order up to 100% or resend your order without any hassles or headaches for you.
  5. The right marketing tools for the right people at the right time. When you refer a friend to ProspectsPLUS.com – you can rest assured that you are sharing a site that is focused on delivering the tools that are specifically designed and written for real estate professionals, by real estate professionals.  The bulk of our creative team, like you, have been out there in the trenches listing and selling.  So we get you and your business in a way that many companies can’t.  And our customers tell us that is the differentiator they appreciate.
  6. New tools, strategies, and training opportunities each and every month. Our industry is constantly changing, and the marketing needs of our customers and the way they need to speak to their customers is in a constant state of change as well.  That’s why you’ll find new done-for-you tools available on our site each month.  From postcards, to flyers, to brochures and blog posts – all are designed to help you continuously move your business forward without having to ever reinvent any wheel.  We know that creating is hard – so we make it our business to do all the homework for you.  We keep tabs on what is trending in the market so you always have what you need to connect with your customers.  Check out our Specials page each month to see what’s new.
  7. Savings doesn’t end with your gift card. Our specials page always has the latest promo codes posted so that you can save additional marketing dollars on any order, and you can use these in conjunction with your gift cards.  Click here to see what this month’s codes are now.
  8. Customer service is at your fingertips. You never have to go it alone when choosing or ordering the marketing materials that are right for you. Simply call our team at 866.405.3638 or use our chat option to connect with our support team.

We hope you’ll take advantage of our new Refer-a-Friend program, earning gift card dollars for both you and your friends and enjoying marketing materials that are designed to help you grow your business with fewer headaches and greater success.  Click here to get started!  

Need help? Call us today at 866.405.3638.

Real Estate Agent Contest 2017

New Magazine Filled With Tools for YOU

by Julie Escobar

We’re thrilled this week to introduce you to the 6th edition of the Master Marketing Magazine which started hitting mailboxes all across the nation last week.  The reviews and comments are coming in fast and the word on the street is that it is already being recommended as a tool agents can count on as they put their marketing in place to hit the second half of this year strong.

Our sixth installment of this magazine has 87 pages that are filled to the brim with strategic content, creative ideas, and market-savvy tools you can use starting right now with a focus on matching your marketing with your market segment using incredible new data sources and options!

Here are a few of the featured articles: 

  • Embracing the Element of Surprise
  • Three Steps to Drive More Inventory
  • Five Action Steps to Grow Your Business
  • Pricing Makes Perfect
  • The One Thing You Can Do to Earn Three Times the National Average
  • Three Ways to Put Some Fun in Your Marketing
  • Three Ways to Get Out In Front of YourCompetition
  • PLUS… Powerful Interviews With Top Real Estate Pros
  • PLUS…a 6-MONTH Pull-Out Master Marketing Schedule
  • PLUS… a Chance to Win $10,000

And so much more…

Ready to look inside the pages of our digital version today? Check it out at blog.prospectsplus.com/magazine.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the new magazine!  

Find us on Facebook and share your experience, your favorites, and your ideas for the NEXT publication!  

Being a resource YOU can turn to – is our passion.  Enjoy!