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Friday, February 6, 2026

Lisa Gray

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Lisa is an accomplished marketer with years of expertise in direct response marketing, digital marketing, data analytics and business development working with both B2C and B2B.

Stand out in a Sea of Agents

Multi-channel marketing is a vital strategy for real estate agent lead generation. With a comprehensive approach, you’ll increase the odds of being found in an overcrowded sea of other agents.

Naturally, not all multi-channel marketing programs include the same elements. Agents typically choose a combination of social media, blogging, door knocking, cold calling, email, and direct mail, among others.

Let’s take a look at some of the upcoming direct mail trends you may encounter in 2019.

The nay-sayers are misinformed

If you’re like me and keep up with real estate marketing trends, you’ll notice periodic comments that “direct mail can be hit or miss.”

This often comes from sources selling real estate websites, landing pages, and digital marketing solutions. Naturally, they have a reason to steer people to website and digital options for lead generation.

You might wonder how we’re so certain about our belief in direct mail marketing as the end-all, be-all.

First, we have witnessed the success of direct mail campaigns throughout our 19 years in the real estate marketing industry. In addition, we have statistics to back up our statements.

Direct mail stats say it all

Statistics such as the recent study from the United States Postal Service that finds direct mail marketing boasts a 5.1 percent response rate. Now, compare that to some popular digital marketing methods:

  • Email, 0.6%
  • Paid search, 0.8%
  • Social media, .04%
  • Online display ads, 0.2%

The reality is that direct mail advertising delivers a “700% greater response than all digital response rates combined,” according to the Data and Marketing Association (DMA).

In 2019 consumers will be demanding more personalized marketing. You’ll be glad to know that there’s research out there that drills down into exactly who your best direct mail recipient is: baby boomers and millennials.

More than 80 percent of the former consider direct mail a trusted source, according to AmericanExpress.com. In addition, 90 percent of millennials claim that direct mail advertising is a “reliable resource.”

Any research that helps you target your preferred audience for any given campaign is important. And, since millennials and baby boomers make up the bulk of real estate consumers, keep these statistics in mind when preparing your 2019 marketing plan.

Your 2019 ROI with direct mail

Different marketing strategies offer varying levels of a return on your investment. Cold calling, for instance, “costs at least 60% more per lead than other methods,” according to a Hubspot report.

Direct mail in 2019 is about to get a bit more expensive for agents who send letters. Stamps.com reports that the USPS is set to hike some postage rates on January 27, 2019. Although it will only be a few cents (the hike varies according to how you’re mailing), it’s important to factor this into your 2019 marketing budget.

The good news is that there will be no rate hike for sending real estate postcards, so no hit to your ROI from postcard marketing.

As it stands, direct mail marketing offers the third-highest ROI of all formats, according to the DMA (only email and social media marketing best it.)

Consider pairing direct mail with an email campaign for an even better return. “Direct mail and email are like the peanut butter cup of marketing: two great tastes that taste great—or even better—together,” according to Allan Greer of ABABankMarketing.com.

“When used in combination, direct mail and email can yield response rates of up to 35% compared with standalone campaigns using either channel,” he concludes.

Look for increased targeting opportunities in 2019

If you’ve been farming for some time you know just how the entire direct mail landscape has changed over the years. No longer are you forced to blanket a community or ZIP code, sending mailers to every home.

The data at our fingertips right now enables agents to build marketing campaigns based not only on demographics but on life events (divorce, death, new job) and even behavior.

Consider using some of this data in 2019 to better target your ideal client and improve your ROI.

No, direct mail marketing isn’t the “silver bullet,” of lead generation, but it’s the ideal inclusion in a multi-channel real estate marketing plan.

Start 2019 right, send the Retiring Soon postcard from the Life Events Series to a list of baby boomers in your area.

Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list tool 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 4 free ways we can help you CRUSH IT in 2019!

1. 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 

2. The Free 2019 Real Estate Business Plan.

Treat your business like a business it is vital to long-term success in this industry. Some agents may put together elaborate business plans, yet there’s something powerful about keeping it simple. Check out our one page Online Real Estate Business Plan  – Click Here

3. The 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 when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Listing Inventory, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence – Click Here

4. The Free Online ROI Calculator. 

Consistency and automation are the keys to success. Discover how effective direct mail marketing can dramatically increase your bottom line. Enter your statistics in our Free online ROI Calculator and click the ‘CALCULATE MY ROI’ button to see your results instantly! – Click Here

Also…check out these cool tools 

 Three Click Postcards – Just snap a home photo & create a postcard all from your mobile phone

MLSmailings.com – Automated Just Listed, Just Sold Postcards

Market Dominator System – Become a neighborhood brand

Our business flourishes from recommendations in the same way yours does. We would be very grateful for your recommendation of our products and services – Recommend us here

Want to Refer a friend or colleague? Refer them, Here. THEY get a Free $25 Gift Card and YOU become their hero. BTW, you also get a $25 Gift Card too (now that’s what I’m talking about)!

I know this business owner who has a brick-and-mortar yoga and athletic wear boutique. She also has an amazing e-commerce website on which she spent a whole lot of time and money. While the website still takes a good chunk of her time, it does practically no business.

Because she’s too busy to market her website and too frugal to hire someone to help her.

Unfortunately, she is one of many small business owners who feels she has to wear all of the hats. Sort of like real estate agents, right?

She is, however, sitting on a goldmine in that website. She knows it but feels helpless to do anything about it.

The best way to get rid of the stress of having too much to do and little time to do it, of feeling helpless to keep up with everything, is to outsource.

“There are times when you should think about shifting the workload to others, so you can devote more time and energy to the areas that will best grow your business,” according to Amy Vetter at Inc.com.

She goes on to say that small business owners should consider outsourcing anything that requires “specialized skills,” such as accounting, graphics or website design and copywriting. Tasks that are “routine, procedural or recur in cycles,” such as posting to social media and answering emails.

While there are numerous tasks suited to outsourcing, three stand out as especially valuable to the busy real estate agent. 

Blogging

The best way for an agent to compete with the big Google first-page leaders is by publishing lots of hyper-local content to their blogs. By “lots,” the experts recommend posting at least once a week, but more often is better.

Experts also say that for Google to consider your content valuable enough for first-page placement, it needs to be long—at least 1,000 words, but, according to Sam Hollingsworth at Search Engine Journal, the “average content length for Page 1 results is around 1,900 words.”

Do you have time to pound out 2,000 or even 1,000 words per week to post to your blog? And, if you do, it means you’re neglecting other parts of your business.

Outsource the project to a professional writer (from the U.S.) that has experience in the real estate industry.

Yes, it costs money, but the fees are tax deductible and, if you hire the right person, you’ll see a definite return on your investment.

Social media tasks

It’s not enough to write and post to your blog; you also need to promote the posts. Social media platforms (especially Facebook and LinkedIn) are the best places to do this.

Again, social media marketing is one of those time-consuming tasks that are better handed off to someone else.

If you make the big bucks, hiring a social media manager is a brilliant idea. This person can not only promote the blog posts but come up with a social media campaign that includes ads, contests and other real estate lead generating tactics.

If you lack the funds of a top producer, consider hiring a virtual assistant. You can find them at online freelance platforms such as Upwork.com or by Googling “real estate virtual assistant.”

The beauty of hiring a virtual assistant is that he or she can handle other repetitive tasks, such as CRM maintenance, responding to emails and transaction coordination.

CRM management

To most agents, the CRM is the lifeblood of their real estate business—it’s the tool that helps agents consistently build and maintain relationships.

And, relationships are the name of the game in real estate, right?

It takes a big chunk of time to maintain your database, according to Hubspot Research’s State of Inbound 2018. More than 27 percent of salespeople who took part in the research said they spend more than “an hour a day on data entry work instead of selling.”

One hour or more. That is time that’s better spent having coffee with a past client, calling warm leads or working your sphere.

Then there are the agents who just can’t seem to find a spare minute in their day. How much business do you suppose is lost each year because agents don’t have the time to keep up with CRM maintenance or the will to hire someone to help?

Real estate’s top producers have an exercise that will, spending significantly more on their CRM than other agents.

Determine exactly what you need to have done and how often, when outsourcing the management of one of your most valuable tools. Here’s a list to get you started:

  • Implement segmentation
  • Add new contacts and leads
  • Add notes and updates on contacts
  • Update leads according to their location in the pipeline
  • Schedule follow-ups
  • Manage transactions

Then, go about finding and hiring someone. A virtual assistant, knowledgeable about CRMs, would be the ideal hire.

By outsourcing tasks that don’t require you to be hands-on, you’ll free up more time to spend on those that do, like building and maintaining relationships.

Another time saver is to automate your Just Listed Just Sold postcards in 2019.
Go now and get started with this incredible game-changer.

Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list tool 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 3 free ways we can help you STILL CRUSH IT this year!

1. 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 

2. The Free 2019 Real Estate Business Plan.

Treat your business like a business it is vital to long-term success in this industry. Some agents may put together elaborate business plans, yet there’s something powerful about keeping it simple. Check out our one page Online Real Estate Business Plan  – Click Here

3. The 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 when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Listing Inventory, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence – Click Here

4. The Free Online ROI Calculator. 

Consistency and automation are the keys to success. Discover how effective direct mail marketing can dramatically increase your bottom line. Enter your statistics in our Free online ROI Calculator and click the ‘CALCULATE MY ROI’ button to see your results instantly! – Click Here

Also…check out these cool tools 

 Three Click Postcards – Just snap a home photo & create a postcard all from your mobile phone

MLSmailings.com – Automated Just Listed, Just Sold Postcards

Market Dominator System – Become a neighborhood brand

The Power of a Recommendation. Our business flourishes from recommendations in the same way yours does. We would be very grateful for your recommendation of our products and services – Recommend us here

Want to Refer a friend or colleague? Refer them, Here. THEY get a Free $25 Gift Card and YOU become their hero. BTW, you also get a $25 Gift Card too (now that’s what I’m talking about)!

Are you ready to take a giant leap forward in your real estate business in 2019? Then read on for 7 ways to up your game.

1. Plan a path to your destination

It is not only a business, but it is one in which you are the CEO. Therefore, if you haven’t completed a business plan for 2019 yet, take advantage of our Free One-Page Business Plan to complete one.

If you’re not thrilled about the idea of structuring a business plan, then think of it like planning a cross-country trip. For the best chance of success, you would sit down and plan a path to your destination.

The same is true for your business, if you would like to make $200,000 this year, you need to plan a path to this destination by creating a business plan. And, with the help of our One-Page Business Plan, you can even drill down to how many transactions, appointments, and contacts you will need to get to this destination.

Furthermore, once your business plan is completed, build a budget itemizing how much you’ll spend on your marketing, your car, your dues, desk fees, E&O insurance and all the other things you spend money on in your business.

A budget is the only way to ensure you’ll meet your income goals by the end of the year.

2. Learn from the past

Take time to reflect on what brought you success last year and plan to make that a part of your 2019 marketing.

Perhaps go old school and consider what tactics worked best for you as a new agent and add a few of them back into your rotation this coming year. Was it cold calling, attending more local events or monthly door knocking that made the biggest impact on your bottom line? Whatever it was, resurrect those activities that worked in the past and put them to work in the coming year.

3. Try something new

Try your hand at something you haven’t done before such as automating your Just Listed/Just Sold Postcard mailing. It’s easy to do, affordable and takes the ongoing stress of getting those cards out in a timely manner off of your shoulders.

By freeing up time from manually handling your Just Listed Just Sold Postcard mailing, you allow time for other areas of marketing that need more attention.

How about trying your hand at sending a newsletter? Las Vegas agent Debbie Drummond tells the story of how a newsletter helped her snag a client for a luxury high-rise condo after an agent who lived in the building failed to have success.

The couple ended up calling Debbie after they received her newsletter. “Sending a monthly newsletter has proven to be a money maker for me”.

4. Hire help

The quickest way to scale out your real estate business and take it to the next level is to stop doing things that don’t make you money. Hire an assistant to do them for you.

“If I had to touch every single task in my systems myself, I would never be able to produce high levels of volume,” one of Las Vegas’ top producers told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

“You have to be efficient, and you have to leverage your systems (by hiring help).”

Think you can’t afford an assistant? Try going the virtual route first. If you choose a virtual assistant who specializes in real estate you’ll do away with the time and effort involved in training them.

Two companies to consider are Kim Hughes and Real Support. Both companies specialize in supporting real estate agents.

5. Pay tribute

To truly move your business to the next level it’s time to focus, ongoing attention, on your past clients. To drive this point home, remember the cost to acquire a new client is five times higher than to cultivate repeat business from a past client.

In addition, nearly 41 percent of home sellers find their agent through referrals (according to the NAR).

6. If your website isn’t effective, fix it

Who in your market ranks organically for your preferred keywords? If it isn’t you, maybe you have some website issues. Check out the sites of those who do and follow their example.

What are they doing that you aren’t? Typically, it’s the agents who post content consistently that get the best organic rankings, but go through their site, page-by-page and learn from them.

7. Take time off

Taking time off actually increases our productivity by 80 percent, according to researchers at Alertness Solutions. They are a company founded by former NASA scientists that provide fatigue management consulting services.

In addition, research from Harvard University, however, cautions that unless your vacation is planned in advance and you travel away from your work, you won’t get a good ROI on that time away.

Therefore, unplug – completely – while you’re away and your focus will be stronger when you return to work, according to researchers at Boston College Center for Work and Family.

Rest and recharge your way to the next level in your real estate business.

Start the New Year right by sending at least 100 Community Newsletters to an area where you want more business.

Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list tool 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 3 free ways we can help you STILL CRUSH IT this year!

1. 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 

2. The Free 2019 Real Estate Business Plan.

Treat your business like a business it is vital to long-term success in this industry. Some agents may put together elaborate business plans, yet there’s something powerful about keeping it simple. Check out our one page Online Real Estate Business Plan  – Click Here

3. The 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 when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Listing Inventory, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence – Click Here

4. The Free Online ROI Calculator. 

Consistency and automation are the keys to success. Discover how effective direct mail marketing can dramatically increase your bottom line. Enter your statistics in our Free online ROI Calculator and click the ‘CALCULATE MY ROI’ button to see your results instantly! – Click Here

Also…check out these cool tools 

 Three Click Postcards – Just snap a home photo & create a postcard all from your mobile phone

MLSmailings.com – Automated Just Listed, Just Sold Postcards

Market Dominator System – Become a neighborhood brand

The Power of a Recommendation. Our business flourishes from recommendations in the same way yours does. We would be very grateful for your recommendation of our products and services – Recommend us here

Want to Refer a friend or colleague? Refer them, Here. THEY get a Free $25 Gift Card and YOU become their hero. BTW, you also get a $25 Gift Card too (now that’s what I’m talking about)!

Do open houses work? What about closing gifts? And, are Real estate designations really worth the time and money? One would think that after decades in the industry agents would know the answers to these questions.

But the answers remain a source of debate. Yes, there are some positive benefits to obtaining certain designations. How you use them, however, is key to whether or not they are worth the time and money.

No, designations aren’t a marketing tool

Many agents use designations in their marketing, assuming they provide credibility. In reality, they don’t.

At least not according to a live consumer panel at a Hear it Direct conference a couple of years ago.

The moderator asked the real estate consumers on the panel if they knew the difference between a REALTOR® and a real estate agent.

None of them did.

The “aha” moment, however, comes next: The moderator then asks the consumer panel what CRS, ABR, e-Pro, and SRES stands for.

Not only did they not know what the letters stand for, but they also said the designations make no difference whatsoever to them when choosing an agent.

If potential clients don’t know or care about that string of abbreviations after your name, how can they be of value or convey credibility?

How to add value to the designation

The designation doesn’t add value to the agent unless the agent adds value to the designation.

Consider academic degrees. When someone hands you her business card that has the letters MBA after her name, you know that she received an advanced degree in business administration.

She didn’t need to add value to those letters because they’re universal and most everyone knows what they mean.

As we learned from the panel at the aforementioned conference, however, real estate designations mean nothing to consumers.

But they might if these consumers understood what they stand for.

If you have a designation that clearly sounds more impressive when the name of it isn’t abbreviated, consider using the full title after your name (at least on your business card).

For instance, “Anita Deal, REALTOR®, Certified Staging Professional” instead of ‘Anita Deal, REALTOR®, CSP®”

Accredited Buyer’s Representative conveys far more value to a potential client than ABR® and, while SRS is confusing, Seniors Real Estate Specialist is impressive.

Truthfully? The time and money spent on being allowed to put letters behind your name that mean nothing to real estate consumers would be much better spent on marketing.

Unless you’re looking for more referrals

If your goal in obtaining a certain designation is for the referral network that goes with it, then it just may be worth your time and money to pursue it.

Southern California agent George Alexiou says (in an online forum) that only two months after receiving his designation he received a referral from a fellow e-Pro-designated agent in Virginia.

That deal brought him a $14,000 commission. Not a bad return on his $359 investment.

Another example is the huge referral network you can become a part of if you obtain a CRS designation. Berkeley, CA agent Ira Serkes, is the proud holder of six real estate designations and the only one worth the time and money is the CRS, he told Inman News.

Like Alexiou, he receives lucrative referrals from his more-than 38,000 fellow CRS designees.

Obtaining a designation with an end goal of being able to network with others that also hold it seems to be a smart move. If you work at it, it could be a designation that keeps on giving.

Getting a designation to further your professional development

If the classes offered to obtain the designation sound fascinating to you and you feel you can benefit from them by becoming more knowledgeable then taking them may be worth the time and money.

Be honest with yourself, though. These are pricey classes and most of what is taught can be learned by shadowing your office’s short sale specialist or luxury agent or in many of the real estate books at Amazon.com.

Plus, you’ll pay annually to remain designated.

If you choose to pay for the education that comes with a designation, make sure you’re not doing it in the hopes that, as the NAR promises, you can “position” yourself as an expert, whether or not you truly are one.

That’s dishonest.

Also, consider carefully the money you’ll sink into taking the classes for a designation and the annual renewals. Then, compare the education to what you can learn at some of the industry’s leading conferences and conventions.

Want to know if a specific designation is worth it? Head on over to citydata.com and read the unbiased opinions of agents who hold them.

If you really want to impress real estate consumers, return phone calls, supply neighborhood information and educate them about the process — all far more valuable than designations.

As Audie Chamberlain, former head of social media at Realtor.com and founder of Lion & Orb Real Estate Public Relations says: “Work hard for your clients and you will earn their respect.”

It really is that simple.

Another way to leave a lasting impression is to connect with your Sphere and Farm by sending a Holiday postcard or Holiday Photocard. Let them know you are thinking about them during this special time of year.

Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list tool 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 4 free ways we can help you STILL CRUSH IT in 2018!

1. 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 

2. The Free 2019 Real Estate Business Plan.

Treat your business like a business it is vital to long-term success in this industry. Some agents may put together elaborate business plans, yet there’s something powerful about keeping it simple. Check out our one page Online Real Estate Business Plan  – Click Here

3. The 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 when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Listing Inventory, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence – Click Here

4. The Free Online ROI Calculator. 

Consistency and automation are the keys to success. Discover how effective direct mail marketing can dramatically increase your bottom line. Enter your statistics in our Free online ROI Calculator and click the ‘CALCULATE MY ROI’ button to see your results instantly! – Click Here

Also…check out these cool tools 

 Three Click Postcards – Just snap a home photo & create a postcard all from your mobile phone

MLSmailings.com – Automated Just Listed, Just Sold Postcards

Market Dominator System – Become a neighborhood brand

Want to Refer a friend or colleague? Refer them, Here. THEY get a Free $25 Gift Card and YOU become their hero. BTW, you also get a $25 Gift Card too (now that’s what I’m talking about)!

Leads – the lifeblood of every real estate practice. Determining where to get them, how to nurture them and how to convert them is a full-time job.

Unfortunately, it’s a job most agents can’t afford to outsource, so they end up trying to squeeze the duties into an already full day of listing and selling real estate.

Everyone, just about, will eventually buy or sell a house so the world is an unlimited source of leads. Choosing where to focus your energy, then, is challenging and most agents start first with what’s free.

And, unless you pay to advertise on social media, it’s a free and lucrative way to generate real estate leads. And, although LinkedIn is overlooked by many in the real estate industry, it’s a goldmine.

Need more referrals?

It’s important to understand that although you can be sociable on LinkedIn, it’s more of a business networking site than a social media site, like Facebook or Twitter.

Like the aforementioned, however, LinkedIn is the ideal place to nurture relationships with agents across the globe, with vendors and with former clients – relationships that can be a valuable source of referral business.

Think of LinkedIn as a great-big networking web and you’ll get an idea of how much value it can add to your business when it comes to obtaining referrals.

LinkedIn can help boost your online presence

A complete LinkedIn profile adds immensely to your ability to be discovered in general searches. Then, there’s the fact that LinkedIn allows you to link your on-site profile to your business website or blog.

“If this is done properly, you can have those links attached to your chosen keyword phrases, thereby further enhancing your search engine optimization (SEO) both within LinkedIn and on the open web,” claims Jeff Korhan, writing on Social Media Examiner.

This, in turn, boosts your overall online presence.

Getting started

Like all things social media, a LinkedIn campaign takes time to become and to remain established. A complete profile is a must and it’s the first step you should take after joining the site.

In fact, “your profile is a powerful marketing tool,” according to digital marketing strategist Stephanie Sammons.

Think of your LinkedIn profile as your professional curb appeal. Use care with your descriptions and upload a professional photo of you, not your dog and not your child.

Sure, it takes time, but when you understand that complete profiles are viewed seven times more often than incomplete ones, you’ll see that it’s worth the time and effort. You can find a walk-through of how to create the perfect LinkedIn profile at Easy Agent Pro.

After you’ve completed the profile, move on to create your company page. From this page, you can link to content on your blog or other social media sites.

Become a joiner

LinkedIn groups are the goldmines of the site – or lead mines if you will. Choosing local groups, or groups populated with folks with similar interests can lead to a whole new sphere of influence to mine for referrals and, possibly, expose you directly to new clients.

Nicole Williams, LinkedIn’s career expert tells Libby Kane at Forbes.com about joining a group for new moms. “When I needed an accountant, it turned out there was one in my group who I ended up hiring because of the connection we made over being new moms,” she says.

Don’t hesitate to join a group that has nothing to do with real estate but everything to do with one of your passions. It’s about making connections and networking with others. Mahjong players, history buffs and even new moms buy and sell homes, after all.

And they also know people who are considering buying or selling a home.

A little research within LinkedIn will turn up an abundance of information on how to get the most out of the platform and its many features. Take the time to get to know LinkedIn – it may just turn out to be one of your favorite lead generation tools.

Another way to generate interest and potential leads is to send at least 100 Free Home Market Analysis postcards from the Call to Action Series to an area where you want more listings.

Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list tool 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 4 free ways we can help you STILL CRUSH IT in 2018!

1. 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 

2. The Free 2019 Real Estate Business Plan.

Treat your business like a business it is vital to long-term success in this industry. Some agents may put together elaborate business plans, yet there’s something powerful about keeping it simple. Check out our one page Online Real Estate Business Plan  – Click Here

3. The 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 when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Listing Inventory, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence – Click Here

4. The Free Online ROI Calculator. 

Consistency and automation are the keys to success. Discover how effective direct mail marketing can dramatically increase your bottom line. Enter your statistics in our Free online ROI Calculator and click the ‘CALCULATE MY ROI’ button to see your results instantly! – Click Here

Also…check out these cool tools 

 Three Click Postcards – Just snap a home photo & create a postcard all from your mobile phone

MLSmailings.com – Automated Just Listed, Just Sold Postcards

Market Dominator System – Become a neighborhood brand

Want to Refer a friend or colleague? Refer them, Here. THEY get a Free $25 Gift Card and YOU become their hero. BTW, you also get a $25 Gift Card too (now that’s what I’m talking about)!

Small business owners are a unique breed. You work harder than other folks – longer hours, fewer days off and vacations? Yeah, right.

NAR’s 2018 Member Profile claims that “Most REALTORS®” put in a 40-hour week.” We don’t believe that.

We agree, in fact, with a recent Gallup poll finds that nearly 40 percent of small business owners work more than 60 hours a week. That seems to be more illustrative of the work ethic exhibited by the agents we know.

Furthermore, weekends are prime time for many real estate agents so taking them off like a normal 9-to-5 worker is pretty much out of the question.

That doesn’t mean, however, that you shouldn’t find at least one other day of the week to get away from work. A day for yourself.

Are you “too busy” to take care of your health?

We recently read a survey of small business owners who claimed that, although they promised to take Thanksgiving off, 70 percent did not.

No reason was given, but we can pretty much guess why: “I’m too busy.”

If that sounds like you, enjoy the busyness while it lasts, but allow it to control you at your peril. Science has shown us that working too much leads to health issues:

  • Working non-stop raises your chances of suffering a stroke by more than 30 percent compared to the risk for 40-hours a week folks.
  • Work more than 55 hours a week? Your chance of developing atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeat) is 40 percent higher than those who work a sane schedule.
  • An Australian study found that if you work between 49 and 59 hours a week you are 48 percent more likely to experience a decline in your mental health than those who enjoy a standard work week. Work more than 60 hours a week and that chance increases to 53 percent.

Keep in mind that these studies don’t just cover the time spent at the office. Add in the texts you answer during dinner, the emails you respond to from your home office before tucking the kids in and the phone calls you return when the house quiets down for the evening.

Being “too busy” with work should never come before taking care of your health. If for no other reason than that, take a day off every week. 

But there are other reasons

The belief that working “twice the amount of hours results in twice the output is short-sighted and toxic,” according to Jason Lengstorf, architect and lead developer at Gatsby.

Why?

Over the decades since Henry Ford ushered in the 40-hour work week, researchers have attempted to determine exactly how many hours a week we can work and remain productive.

What they’ve learned recently is that a 50-hour work week results in a reduction in productivity (Stanford University). After 55 hours of work, it “falls off a cliff,” according to Bob Sullivan at cnbc.com.

“So much so that someone who puts in 70 hours produces nothing more with those extra 15 hours,” he concluded from the study.

Sadly, the promise that technology would simplify our lives has yet to be kept. Sullivan notes that “technology seems to be irresistibly driving the trend” of working long hours.

This is especially true with real estate agents who insist on being on-call almost 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, even on Thanksgiving, apparently.

Elon Musk may have it all wrong

Ryan Cooper at theweek.com calls it “The Musk Meltdown.” It looks like old-fashioned burnout to us.

The man puts in an insane number of hours each week – 120 according to his count. He works in 5-minute segments and is headed toward burnout, according to David Finkel, who co-authored the book “Scale: Seven Proven Principles to Grow Your Business and Get Your Life Back.”

The results – the Twitter tirades, the tears, the admission that he requires a prescription drug to get to sleep, should serve as a lesson for the workaholic real estate agent.

Avoid a similar fate by taking a day off. Every week. Religiously.

And you can do this by relieving yourself of as many of the day-to-day business-running tasks as possible. Either through technology (automating whatever systems you can) or delegation (hiring help if necessary), you can create a boundary between your work and personal life.

 Techniques to consider

We aren’t suggesting you hang your current clients out to dry on your day off. Physicians have an on-call schedule and you should too. They ensure their patients are covered when they’re not on-call.

One of the best suggestions we’ve heard is to team up with another agent. You cover for her on her day off and she does the same for you on your day off.

If you’re a member of a real estate team, this one should be simple. If not, find another agent in your office with a similar work ethic.

Then, when it’s your turn and you finally have that 24 hours of leisure time, use it wisely. Reading through agents’ thoughts on the day-off issue at activerain.com, we came across a post from an agent who writes about an annual event in his area that is so special, “it is one of the few days I do take off.”

In the very next sentence, he says that “even some present and prior clients/friends joined us.”

Don’t kid yourself. If clients, whether current or former, are involved in your activities, you are working. It is not a day off.

Turn your phone off and shut down your computer to resist doing work on those days. It’s far too easy to allow one phone call, one text or one email to turn into just another day at work.

And, if you find you just can’t seem to stick to a weekly day off, start smaller. Try a day off during alternating weeks or one every 10 days. Do whatever it takes. And don’t you dare work on your day off. The real estate world will still be here when you get back.

Want an easy way to stay in touch with your past and potential customers that won’t take time or thought? Send out a monthly postcard from our Holiday Series to your chosen mailing list (yes, there are holidays to celebrate every month of the year).

This month send out the Most Wonderful Time of the Year postcard from our Holiday Series to your chosen mailing list.
Let the people that are important to you and your business know you are thinking about them.

Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list tool 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 4 free ways we can help you STILL CRUSH IT in 2018!

1. 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 

2. The Free 2019 Real Estate Business Plan.

Treat your business like a business it is vital to long-term success in this industry. Some agents may put together elaborate business plans, yet there’s something powerful about keeping it simple. Check out our one page Online Real Estate Business Plan  – Click Here

3. The 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 when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Listing Inventory, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence – Click Here

4. The Free Online ROI Calculator. 

Consistency and automation are the keys to success. Discover how effective direct mail marketing can dramatically increase your bottom line. Enter your statistics in our Free online ROI Calculator and click the ‘CALCULATE MY ROI’ button to see your results instantly! – Click Here

Also…check out these cool tools 

 Three Click Postcards – Just snap a home photo & create a postcard all from your mobile phone

MLSmailings.com – Automated Just Listed, Just Sold Postcards

Market Dominator System – Become a neighborhood brand

Want to Refer a friend or colleague? Refer them, Here. THEY get a Free $25 Gift Card and YOU become their hero. BTW, you also get a $25 Gift Card too (now that’s what I’m talking about)!

Who started the thing where new agents should go after buyers? Sure, right now there are lots of buyers in the market, but it isn’t always like this.

And, there is a truism in real estate: If you list, you last.

So, let’s get you some listings before you stereotype yourself as a strictly buyers’ agent.

Do it right

While shooting a bunch of arrows into the air may result in you eventually hitting something, a planned, disciplined approach to lead generation works far better.

This means choosing which methods you will use, planning your marketing approach carefully and scheduling a time to perform the necessary follow-up.

Most important of all is that, should you seek advice from your colleagues, ignore the unsuccessful among them and definitely pay close attention to anything offered by the most successful agents.

Target neighborhoods

You’ll often hear this approach to real estate lead generation referred to as “geographic farming,” and for good reason.

To be successful requires certain farming techniques, such as choosing a fertile plot of land, planting marketing “seeds,” and having patience while these seeds germinate.

Then, you need to nurture them along.

To find that fertile plot of land, research. While there’s no consensus among the experts, many suggest that you start with an area of about 500 homes. Ultimately, it comes down to your budget – how much money you have for marketing – that will determine the size of your initial farm.

To narrow down the choice of area, agents use different techniques. Some choose an area based on its current sales activity.

“Look for movement,” suggests Martin Bouma with The Bouma Group in Ann Arbor, MI in an interview with Gary Keller.

Others choose by home price point. For instance, if you know how much you want to make in gross commission income, it’s easier to hit your target if you’re consistently listing homes in a particular price range.

Bouma suggests that you research each area of interest to determine how many commission dollars were earned last year (by all agents) and then determine if any particular agent dominated in listings. If the dollars are high and competition is low, go for it.

Ok, so you’ve chosen your ideal geographic farm – now what?

It’s time to start communicating with these people. Again, how you’ll do this depends on how much money you have to spend on marketing.

If you aren’t crunched for money, consider using “things that people will hang on to,” Bouma suggests. He mails 4-page market reports in a color-magazine-like format.

Successful lead-generating marketing ideas include postcards, flyers and door hangers with the following information:

  • Introduce yourself as the area expert
  • Announce just listed or sold homes in the farm area
  • Advertise an open house that you’ll be holding (hopefully, someone in your office has a listing in the area and they’ll allow you to hold it open)
  • The advantages of buying over renting (for the tenants in the area)
  • An invitation to contact you to learn what’s happening with home values in the area (ideal for absentee owners)
  • Offer a CMA

How often?

“If I was brand-new I think I’d do it every month,” suggests Bouma.

More important than how often, however, is that you reach out consistently. Gary Keller calls consistency “the magic pill” and Bouma agrees: “I just keep reaching out in a bunch of ways, consistently.”

 “The medium is the message”

In the 1960s, Canadian professor Marshall McLuhan studied the media as a way of understanding society. He coined the phrase “the medium is the message” to describe how the medium is as, if not more important than the message, because of its enormous influence on how the message is perceived.

What medium (or mediums) will you choose for your message?

While digital messaging can be inexpensive, it’s also hit and miss in its effectiveness. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Consistent blogging and social media use coupled with direct mail, however, is the bullseye you should aim for.

Postcards, capture the recipient’s attention instantly making them less likely to be thrown away than something sent in an envelope.

If you’re a door-knocker, consider printing up your message on door hangers. You can blanket an entire neighborhood (up to 400 homes) for less than $200.

“Having the right attitude is probably more important than any other factor,” when trying to become a top listing agent, according to Phoenix mega-agent Russell Shaw.

“A complete willingness to do whatever is necessary and to have the viewpoint that you are going to persist until you have arrived.”

Get started now, send out at least 100 Free Home Market Analysis postcards from the Free Offer Series to an area where you want more listings.

Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list tool 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 4 free ways we can help you STILL CRUSH IT in 2018!

1. 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 

2. The Free 2019 Real Estate Business Plan.

Treat your business like a business it is vital to long-term success in this industry. Some agents may put together elaborate business plans, yet there’s something powerful about keeping it simple. Check out our one page Online Real Estate Business Plan  – Click Here

3. The 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 when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Listing Inventory, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence – Click Here

4. The Free Online ROI Calculator. 

Consistency and automation are the keys to success. Discover how effective direct mail marketing can dramatically increase your bottom line. Enter your statistics in our Free online ROI Calculator and click the ‘CALCULATE MY ROI’ button to see your results instantly! – Click Here

Also…check out these cool tools 

 Three Click Postcards – Just snap a home photo & create a postcard all from your mobile phone

MLSmailings.com – Automated Just Listed, Just Sold Postcards

Market Dominator System – Become a neighborhood brand

Want to Refer a friend or colleague? Refer them, Here. THEY get a Free $25 Gift Card and YOU become their hero. BTW, you also get a $25 Gift Card too (now that’s what I’m talking about)!

At the risk of sounding cliched, content is even more of a king now than when Sumner Redstone coined the “Content is King” mantra.

Gone are those days when a 100-word post, unartfully packed with keywords and links, ranks anywhere near Google’s first-page search results.

It’s not merely content that is king, it’s quality content. Writing for the reader and not the search engine, with relevant, valuable and shareable content is today’s challenge.

If you struggle with content creation, read on.

Determine a content strategy

Your content strategy is best determined by first figuring out your goal in writing it. Sure, we all hope to generate leads with content, but go deeper than that. Are you looking to close more deals, build a referral base or maybe set yourself apart as a niche expert?

Once you’ve nailed your ultimate goal, you’ll need to figure out your target audience or audiences. Creating personas helps you narrow down your audience and helps you provide more relevant and, thus, valuable content.

Need help? Hubspot.com has available, Make My Persona, as a fun tool to help you build your target audience’s persona.

All of your content must be appropriate and of value to this audience. Kelton Ried at Coppyblogger.com calls this an “audience-first mentality.” He goes on to suggest that “Without a deeper understanding of the needs, hopes, desires, and dreams of your audience, you’re doomed to turn them away.”

You have your goal in mind and you know who to target, so let’s get started creating a content strategy action plan.

Creating content to help you meet your goal

If you’ve taken our advice and you are clear on your target audience’s persona, you’ll find that writing becomes a whole lot easier.

If you specialize in a niche, writing content is even easier. An agent who specializes in military relocation, for instance, has an endless number of topics to write about. The same holds true for condo, ranch, waterfront, and luxury real estate specialists.

Generalists, on the other hand, just need to keep the focus on what type of information is valuable to their target audience. Buyers naturally want to know about mortgage rate changes, how to get a mortgage, the mortgage process broken down into layperson’s terms, information on the area’s neighborhoods and, of course, they want to see listings.

TIP: Ask the pros in other industries to write guest posts. This might include your home inspector, favorite title company representative, and lender. Hang on to these for those days when you’re too busy or too writer-blocked to come up with a post.

Make your content work hard

Content should act as a magnet to draw people to your website and it can’t do that if you don’t promote it. The best place to do that is on social media.

Remember, posting a piece of content to your website isn’t the end of that piece. Push it out on social media.

Since most social media platforms are visually oriented, repurpose your content into quick, easy to read infographics. The most commonly shared post on Facebook, by the way, is an image.

Whatever you post, ensure that it grabs the eye – use Canva.com or a graphics program to create compelling photos.

Create a content schedule

 Ask any SEO specialist how often to post content and you’ll get a ton of different responses.

We think it’s important to come up with a posting schedule that meshes with your business schedule. Sure, you can promise yourself that you’ll write and post content three times a week, but if you don’t have an assistant or you get busy, the posts won’t get written, posted or promoted.

The best time of day to post and promote your content is another hotly contested issue. Many of the big SEO pros we follow to claim that mid-day or lunchtime is ideal.

The name of the game when considering a content schedule is to bite off just enough that you can chew and stick to it. Consistently.

Start by writing some content centered around the Free Report, “How to CHOP $24,000 & 4 Years OFF Your Mortgage”. Order 100 of this Free Report today to have on hand for requests.  

Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list tool 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 3 free ways we can help you STILL CRUSH IT in 2018!

1. 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 

2. The 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 when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Listing Inventory, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence – Click Here

2. The Free Online ROI Calculator. 

Consistency and automation are the keys to success. Discover how effective direct mail marketing can dramatically increase your bottom line. Enter your statistics in our Free online ROI Calculator and click the ‘CALCULATE MY ROI’ button to see your results instantly! – Click Here

Also…check out these cool tools 

 Three Click Postcards – Just snap a home photo & create a postcard all from your mobile phone

MLSmailings.com – Automated Just Listed, Just Sold Postcards

Market Dominator System – Become a neighborhood brand

Want to Refer a friend or colleague? Refer them, Here. THEY get a Free $25 Gift Card and YOU become their hero. BTW, you also get a $25 Gift Card too (now that’s what I’m talking about)!

Keeping past customers coming back should be easy…

After all, you don’t need to “sell” them on your service and phone calls to them are warm and friendly. In addition, if you did your job right, they know, like and trust you.

So, why do so many agents fail miserably at retaining past customers? And how are you going to ensure, as you head into the new year, that you keep your past clients present?

Beyond this being a smart question, it is also an important financial decision.

The following are some statistics that explain why you should strive to remain top-of-mind with former customers and some tips to help you do so.

The puzzling facts

Nearly 90 percent of real estate consumers surveyed by NAR say that they would use their agent again and that they would recommend their agent to others.

Yet the same statistics show that, sadly, only 12 percent of consumers actually used an agent that they had worked with in the past. Dive deep into these numbers and you can easily see that real estate consumers want to use the agent they’ve worked with in the past,

Yet curiously, few do.

And, it’s a safe bet that they don’t because they forgot about the agent and went with one referred by a friend, family member or colleague.

A financial reality

“Depending on which study you read, acquiring a new customer is anywhere from five to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one,” claims Amy Gallo at Harvard Business Review.

In fact, there’s a formula you can use to determine just how much chasing after new business costs you each year.

Divide your total marketing and sales costs (what you spend on gas driving buyers around, listing expenses, etc.) by the number of new customers you acquired during the year.

Scary, isn’t it? Those are some expensive customers.

Former customers, on the other hand, are gold mines. “Increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%,” according to Frederick F. Reichheld and Phil Schefter of Harvard Business School.

How’s your past customer list looking? If it appears dry and parched, it’s time to try nurturing it.

Customer retention strategies

Remaining top-of-mind with former customers doesn’t have to be an expensive endeavor, although the larger and splashier the “touch,” the more memorable you’ll be.

Less expensive ways to keep in touch are the no-brainer methods that tend to fall through the cracks of the busy agent’s schedule.

  • Drip email campaigns
  • Monthly direct mail, of interest to your customers, such as newsletters and market updates
  • Birthday and anniversary postcards
  • “Or offer home maintenance reminders (e.g., changing out smoke detector batteries once a year),” suggests Melissa Dittmann Tracey at realtormag.org.

Face-to-face

Some experts recommend a quarterly face-to-face visit with former customers. Take them to coffee, happy hour or lunch. Or to get the most bang for your customer-retention buck, throw some sort of annual customer appreciation event.

It can be as lavish as the black-tie event Buyer’s Edge agent Steve Israel holds (complete with orchestra and catered food), or as simple as a casual backyard summer barbecue.

You might even consider an event that not only brings your past customers back into your sphere but benefits your favorite non-profit as well.

Kathy Broock Ballard invites customers, past and present, to “The Annual Erin Go Bra(gh) Party” on St. Patrick’s Day. She asks that they bring an item of clothing for the local women’s shelter and in return, lunch and an open bar are theirs to enjoy.

An agent in San Francisco holds a crab feed every year during Dungeness season. He holds it in partnership with a lender and title company to keep expenses to a minimum.

Don’t forget to ask

Whether it’s one-on-one or as part of an event, don’t forget to ask former customers if they know anyone who may be thinking of buying or selling real estate. Focusing your “ask” may bring better results, according to the late Jay Conrad Levinson, father of Guerilla Marketing.

Narrow “the universe of those you ask,” he suggests in the book “Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days.” For instance, instead of asking your weekend golf partner to thumb through his mental database of everyone she knows, ask her who else she plays golf with who may be thinking of buying or selling real estate.

The smaller you make the “universe,” the more likely your customer will be able to come up with a name.

Keeping in touch with the customers you already know and who know you is one of the easier parts of your business. By not periodically reaching out to them, you’re leaving easy money on the table for your competition to grab.

Start sending out a Community Newsletter to your clients each month to remind them of who to turn to for expert guidance when needed.

Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list tool 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 3 free ways we can help you STILL CRUSH IT in 2018!

1. 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 

2. The 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 when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Listing Inventory, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence – Click Here

2. The Free Online ROI Calculator. 

Consistency and automation are the keys to success. Discover how effective direct mail marketing can dramatically increase your bottom line. Enter your statistics in our Free online ROI Calculator and click the ‘CALCULATE MY ROI’ button to see your results instantly! – Click Here

Also…check out these cool tools 

 Three Click Postcards – Just snap a home photo & create a postcard all from your mobile phone

MLSmailings.com – Automated Just Listed, Just Sold Postcards

Market Dominator System – Become a neighborhood brand

Want to Refer a friend or colleague? Refer them, Here. THEY get a Free $25 Gift Card and YOU become their hero. BTW, you also get a $25 Gift Card too (now that’s what I’m talking about)!

How to Prioritize, Delegate & Focus on What Matters

The most common misconception about real estate agents is that what you do is a piece of cake. You set your own work schedule, have plenty of free time and still rake in gobs of money.

In fact, this misconception is what leads many right to the doorstep of the real estate industry.

Sadly, the truth is that there is no “flexible schedule,” especially for the new real estate agent. It’s even rare for many established agents. And, according to a Market Leader study, established agents make up a group known as “the least happy” in the industry.

Sure, as time goes on the schedule may ease – typically to a 10- to 12-hour workday, 7 days a week.

But, it’s the agent who needs to learn flexibility, not the schedule.

Once you get this, and understand how to prioritize, delegate and, most importantly, let go of the small stuff, life in real estate land will be so much better.

As we move into the holidays, clients trail off and your schedule will lighten up. Many agents take advantage of the lull to plan next year’s business. It’s also a good time to plan on — and commit to — balancing the two competing halves of your life.

“Delegation” isn’t a dirty word

According to a NAR statistic, 14 percent of agents use an assistant. The reason for this low number is that many agents tend to tie the timing of the hiring to a certain, albeit elusive, income target. “I’ll hire an assistant when I’m making $75,000 a year,” or something similar.

Or, perhaps by transaction count: “Once you hit 40-50 transactions per year, your production will be capped at that level unless you hire an assistant or someone else to help you manage your business,” claims Bernice Ross at Inman.com.

She does have a point, though – your production will be capped.

The truth is, there’s no chicken or egg thing going on here — most agents’ incomes increase when they hire an assistant.

This makes sense when you understand that your assistant relieves you of the mundane tasks that currently take you away from money-making endeavors. Answering the phones, checking email and making copies of transaction paperwork don’t make you money and they suck time.

The same holds true for writing your own blog posts (hire a writer), telephone prospecting and follow-up calls (hire a licensed assistant), posting to social media (hire a social media manager) and marketing (hire a marketing assistant).

It’s overstated but true that it takes money to make money. Free yourself from the mundane and you’ll free up time that will help you be more productive and maybe even take a day off.

Consider taking on a partner

Ok, so you’re not ready to fork over the bucks it takes to hire help. Have you thought about partnering with another agent? If not, consider this:

“You can take vacations – real vacations – ones where you do not work. In addition, you can take days off and if you’re sick you don’t have to answer the phone. In short, you will experience a higher quality of life,” says  Kelle Sparta, real estate trainer, and coach.

There’s a lot to consider when you’re thinking about taking on a partner or forming a team.

Pick up a copy of “The Millionaire Real Estate Agent,” by Gary Keller for some tips. You’ll also find information on structuring teams and partnerships at Realtor.org.

Tools and systems

Your tools and systems should be working for you, not the other way around

Sure, choosing the right tools and systems for your business is a chore in itself, but technology can help set you free, therefore it’s time well spent.

Automating the more important aspects of your business, such as ongoing branding with your target market, will play a big role in helping you find that balance between your work life and your private life.

Two of our most popular and effective ways to help you automate continuous contact with your target market are,

    1. The Market Dominator –  A 12 x 15 poster size, 2-sided, direct marketing piece that is delivered to your exclusive carrier route on a monthly basis, establishing you as the go-to professional in that neighborhood.
    2. Automated Just Listed/Just Sold Postcards – This done-for-you service integrates with your local MLS then generates postcards for your listings when they are active and sold.

As we move into the slower pace of the season, take the time to create targeted mailing lists and set up an automated campaign to get those marketing materials flowing to the right people.

Schedule “me” time

“You have to make a little time for the things that ignite your joy,” Laura Stack, author and productivity expert in Denver tells WebMD.

And, what better way to “make a little time” than by scheduling it?

Keep a log of your daily activities over the next week or two, paying close attention to those days on which nothing much is going on. Come on – we know you have one of those. By moving the activities of that day to another, or even spreading them out among six days, you can conceivably, actually, blessedly take a day off every week.

Make a commitment to remain unplugged on that day. That means taking no business calls (oh, yes, it will be painful) and no internet. In fact, get out of the house and leave the phone at home.

Guess what? The real estate world will continue to turn without your help for 24 hours.

If a full 24 hours to yourself is unthinkable right now, consider grabbing a smaller block of “me” time. Start with a half hour – get out and walk, workout, watch TV, do the laundry – anything but real estate.

Then, over the course of the next few weeks, expand that block of time by 15 minutes or half an hour.

One Detroit agent we spoke with weaned herself off the 12-hour day by leaving work 30 minutes earlier for a week. The next week she left an hour early and gradually built it up to where she eventually took an entire day off each week.

“Instead of just letting life happen, people who achieve work-life balance make deliberate choices about what they want from life and how they want to spend their time,” claims Harvey Deutschendorf at fastcompany.com.

Commit to achieving a successful balance between your work life and your personal life and put yourself in the happy agent percentage.

Start automating your Just Listed/Just Sold postcards with MLS Mailings today and begin the process of freeing up your time for what matters most.

Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list tool 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 3 free ways we can help you STILL CRUSH IT in 2018!

1. Become a Listing Legend.

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

2. The 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 when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Listing Inventory, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence – Click Here

3. The Free Online ROI Calculator. 

Consistency and automation are the keys to success. Discover how effective direct mail marketing can dramatically increase your bottom line. Enter your statistics in our Free online ROI Calculator and click the ‘CALCULATE MY ROI’ button to see your results instantly! – Click Here

Also…check out these cool tools 

 Three Click Postcards – Just snap a home photo & create a postcard all from your mobile phone

MLSmailings.com – Automated Just Listed, Just Sold Postcards

Market Dominator System – Become a neighborhood brand

Want to Refer a friend or colleague? Refer them, Here. THEY get a Free $25 Gift Card and YOU become their hero. BTW, you also get a $25 Gift Card too (now that’s what I’m talking about)!

Create a Real Estate Business Preparedness Plan

Everybody and their uncles have been blamed for the last shifting economy, despite the experts having a pretty good handle on its true causes. That whole subprime mortgage mess kicked it off but it wasn’t the only factor.

What the average American seems to be oblivious to is that recessions, like expansions, are a defining feature of a market economy. In fact, they’re two of the four phases of the “business cycle.”

We’re now in our 113th month of economic expansion, closing in on the record 120 months that occurred after recovery from the “dot-com explosion.”

The “R” word is on many economists’ tongues, and it isn’t a question of if we’ll sink into another recession, but when.

 But it probably won’t blow up the housing market

None of the economists interviewed by The Wall Street Journal said that the housing market will be the cause of the next recession.

This is good news for agents because, with the exception of the last economic downturn, home prices actually increased during the previous five recessions (stretching back 45 years), according to the Federal Reserve.

Be sure to point out this fact to your potential sellers who may be feeling a bit antsy about the future. Remind them that an economic recession doesn’t automatically mean a real estate recession.

Economic downturns do affect consumers in other ways, from dwindling investment portfolios to losing jobs. Spending, especially on big ticket items like real estate, drops.

Is your business ready should this come to pass?

Are you?

 What are the indicators?

Sure, we all know what a recession looks and feels like, but what are the economic indicators that prove we’re in one?

While some economists figure we’re in a recession after two consecutive quarters of down-trending real GDP, the National Bureau of Economic Research begs to differ.

“Rather, a recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales.”

Right now, it’s tough to pinpoint any signs of a contraction in the economy. Optimistic retail trade groups see holiday sales rising nearly 5 percent this year.

We’re merrily rolling along with the highest employment rate since the 1960s, a projected Q3 jump in economic growth of 4.1 percent and rising personal incomes.

Lurking in the shadows of all this good economic news, however, are some niggling signs of a coming downturn.

 Get familiar with your numbers

This may seem like “well, duh” advice to most small business owners. Real estate agents, however, are a different breed. Many seem content to wing it, without a plan, without a budget.

If you want to last, especially during a changing market, a plan is a must and it starts with setting up a budget. To do this, you’ll need to get a handle on your production numbers, how much you spend on various aspects of your business and how much you expect to earn.

Dani Vanderboegh Inman.com offers an excellent basic budget primer at Inman.com.

Getting your spending under control – at least enough to where you can consistently set aside money for a “rainy day,” it is imperative to be able to weather an economic downturn and remain in business.

 Fine tune your marketing strategy

What else can you do to market yourself? If you’re not using direct mail, now is the time to put that system into place. If you’ve been putting off setting up a newsletter as part of a drip campaign, get to work on it.

In addition, create at least five different real estate lead generation sources. The more darts you have in your quiver, the better the chances you’ll hit something when it comes time to throw them.

Take some time to clean up your CRM and ensure that it’s working the way you need it to.

An economic downturn doesn’t have to mean the end of your real estate practice. Get busy on your business disaster preparedness plan by socking away money, setting up a budget and fine-tuning your marketing and you’ll be ready to weather anything the economy throws at you.

Start building your influx of new prospects by sending at least 100 monthly Community Newsletters to an area where you want more listings.

Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list tool 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 2 free ways we can help you STILL CRUSH IT in 2018!

1.  The 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 when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Listing Inventory, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence – Click Here

2. The Free Online ROI Calculator. 

Consistency and automation are the keys to success. Discover how effective direct mail marketing can dramatically increase your bottom line. Enter your statistics in our Free online ROI Calculator and click the ‘CALCULATE MY ROI’ button to see your results instantly! – Click Here

Also…check out these cool tools 

 Three Click Postcards – Just snap a home photo & create a postcard all from your mobile phone

MLSmailings.com – Automated Just Listed, Just Sold Postcards

Market Dominator System – Become a neighborhood brand

Want to Refer a friend or colleague? Refer them, Here. THEY get a Free $25 Gift Card and YOU become their hero. BTW, you also get a $25 Gift Card too (now that’s what I’m talking about)!

Whether or not to give gifts to real estate clients at or after closing is an often-debated topic.

Those in the “yes” camp struggle with coming up with a gift that is personal, but not too personal, and whether or not the gift should include the agent’s branding.

It’s a tall order, but, thankfully, we’ve checked with our agent network and, as usual, have some brilliant real estate closing gift ideas to share.

Stop hating on gift cards

No, a gift card isn’t highly original and whether or not to choose one as a gift depends on your relationship with each particular client. But, it is sure to be a welcome and much-appreciated closing gift for clients on a strict budget (maybe your FHA buyers?).

You can’t go wrong with a gift card from Lowe’s or Home Depot or any of the large home décor stores. If your client is an avid gardener, check if your local nursery offers gift cards. And, if you’re still stuck for ideas, how about a gift of delivery service with an Instacart or Uber gift card? The latter can also be used for Uber’s ride-sharing service. 

Artwork

Snap a photo of your clients and their kids and/or pets standing in front of their new home. Then, send it to an artist who can turn it into something family-room-wall-worthy.

Or, have the portrait made into “Just Moved” cards for the clients to send to friends and family. Pre-stamping the envelopes, by the way, is a thoughtful step that they won’t expect.

The internet is the best place to find talented, reasonably-priced artists who specialize in creating portraits from photographs. And, you can often find one who will do so in your preferred medium, from pencil to watercolor to oil.

Here are several websites I found while doing some online sleuthing:

  • Paint your Life
  • Portrait Painting
  • Instapainting
  • Portraits on Demand
  • A number of artists on Etsy offer portraits from photos 
The gift that keeps on giving, keeping you top-of-mind

How can a former client forget you when, each month, something amazing is delivered to their door?

No, they aren’t cheap (although some are surprisingly affordable), but subscription boxes are appreciated.

  • Meal boxes (there are a number of choices, such as Blue Apron, Plated, Hello Fresh)
  • Fresh flowers
  • Bagels
  • Bark Box or Rescue Box (for the dog “Mom” or “Dad”)
  • FilterEasy (yes! No more schlepping to Home Depot to pick up HVAC filters)
  • Gardening
  • Beauty items (for female clients, Birchbox is among the most popular)

Find other popular subscription services at impactbnd.com.

Consider keeping it local by gifting several hours of services that you know your client will use. These include:

  • Dog walking
  • House cleaning
  • Landscaping
  • Pool cleaning and servicing
  • Handyman
  • Organizing
  • Errand running 
Techster clients will love these

I joined my neighborhood’s forum on NextDoor.com and the most popular conversations among neighboring homeowners involve home security. Most of the homeowners either own or are interested in purchasing the Ring video doorbell. They’re offered at a variety of price points, with the least expensive starting at about $100.

Google Home Mini for less than $50 (a smart speaker with Google Assistant built in) is so popular that the folks at Google say they’ve sold “more than one device every second since they started shipping in October” of last year.

Instead of the keys to their new home, imagine handing your homebuying clients a smart lock instead. Yes, they’re pricey, but the popular 3rd generation of the August Smart Lock sells for only $129 and the Kwikset Kevo Blue Tooth Deadbolt is priced at slightly less than $150.

While the topic of whether or not to gift your clients at closing seems to be a matter of personal preference, most agree that if you will be giving a closing gift, keep your branding off of it.

Then, put some thought behind it. If it’s a gift card your clients truly need, then, by all means, gift them with one. If not, we hope our list helps guide you to the perfect real estate closing gift.

With client appreciation on your mind, right now is the perfect time to all of your incredible clients with a Customer Appreciation postcard.
Send the All My Thanks postcard to all of your past clients and let them know just how much they mean to you.

Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list tool 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 2 free ways we can help you STILL CRUSH IT in 2018!

1.  The 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 when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Listing Inventory, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence – Click Here

2. The Free Online ROI Calculator. 

Consistency and automation are the keys to success. Discover how effective direct mail marketing can dramatically increase your bottom line. Enter your statistics in our Free online ROI Calculator and click the ‘CALCULATE MY ROI’ button to see your results instantly! – Click Here

Also…check out these cool tools 

 Three Click Postcards – Just snap a home photo & create a postcard all from your mobile phone

MLSmailings.com – Automated Just Listed, Just Sold Postcards

Market Dominator System – Become a neighborhood brand

Want to Refer a friend or colleague? Refer them, Here. THEY get a Free $25 Gift Card and YOU become their hero. BTW, you also get a $25 Gift Card too (now that’s what I’m talking about)!

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