CLOSE
Friday, October 2, 2026

Lisa Gray

661 POSTS 0 COMMENTS
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.

Work smarter instead of harder

Working hard to get a listing is the first step toward a commission check. In some markets, you may work just as hard to get the listing sold. (By the way, if you’re in need of more listings, send out postcards from our Get More Listings Series they’re great at driving new listings).

In reference to getting your current listings sold, did you know you have 8 seconds to make a great first impression on a potential buyer who has just stepped foot into your listing? This is according to Barbara Corcoran.

Counseling your clients on how to prepare the home for the market is a given. But we all know that many homes need more than a good cleaning and thorough decluttering.

This is when the home stager is worth his or her weight in gold. Taking a home from ho-hum to drop-dead appealing is the magic that sells homes for the most money the market will bear.

Notify Them The Time is NOW (Available in “Get More Listings” postcard section)

Read on to learn how to find this magician and the important questions to ask before recommending a stager to your listing clients. 

Where to find stagers

Seems like a no-brainer, right? Just enter “home stagers in [your city] into your favorite search engine’s search box.

But there’s more to it than that. Just as you hope your real estate clients will interview more than one agent, you should have at least three stagers (more is better) to compare. And, the best place to look for them is right there in your office – your colleagues.

Find out which agents in your office use stagers in their real estate business and then make note of who they use. The beauty of this type of referral is that your colleagues did the heavy lifting when vetting the stagers.

All that’s left for you to do is a bit of sleuthing and then interview them to determine if they’re a good fit for your business.

Stalk that stager

Visit each stager’s website to find their portfolios. Remember, if they’ve posted something on their site for all the world to see, they are most likely presenting what they consider their best work.

Try to determine if each stager has a preferred niche. For instance, some specialize in staging vacant homes or condos. Others may have a preferred part of town.

Then, check each candidate’s ranking at Yelp.com and their information at the Better Business Bureau.

Get Them Calling YOU (Available in “Get More Listings” postcard section)
Interview time

When you’ve come up with a list of promising prospects, give each one a call to set up an interview. Here are some ideas of what to ask during the interview:

  1. Ask about rates, especially whether or not the stager requires a consultation fee.
  2. Ask for the address of one or two of their currently staged properties so that you can visit before the interview.
  3. Get a list of the names of other agents they’ve worked with.
  4. Does the stager have a niche? If you, as an agent, practice in a niche, this question is quite important. Luxury agents, for instance, should look for luxury home stagers.
  5. Ask the stagers which areas of town they primarily work in. This is important information since knowledge of the neighborhood’s target audience is critical.
  6. Does the stager use the homeowner’s existing furniture or does he or she have a warehouse with everything needed?
  7. How long does the average staging job take?
  8. What is required of the homeowner pre-staging?
  9. What is the average DOM for the stager’s clients? Is this over or under the average for the market? And, the average list-to-sales price ratio of the company’s staged homes?
  10. Ask if the stager is insured and if you decide to hire him or her, get a copy of the insurance certificate.

Regardless of the incredible customer service you provide your clients, regardless of your impeccable reputation, it takes only one lazy, shoddy, or dishonest vendor to ruin it. Not only is it important to take your time when interviewing vendors, but to consistently follow up on their work.

Call your clients to find out how the job is going. Follow up after completion to get an idea of how it was working with your vendor. Never remain loyal to a vendor after receiving negative feedback.

It’s your reputation on the line.

Let Them Know You’re the Area Expert Agent (Available in “Get More Listings” postcard section)
Send at least 100 Activity in Your Neighborhood postcards from our Get More Listings Series to an area where you want more listings.
Then get your stager lined up and ready for the flow of new listings coming your way.

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 have an INVINCIBLE 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 One-Page 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 game-changing 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 & achieve 20% market share

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)!

Our business flourishes from recommendations (similar to yours). We truly appreciate when you leave a review – Review us here 

 

The Ins & Outs of the Divorce Niche

Leaving her husband was the most gut-wrenching decision Louise would make in her adult life.

Or, so she thought.

What to do with the family’s home as they separated soon rivaled the decision to leave.

Images of the kids being ripped from their friends in the neighborhood, sleeping in strange bedrooms and trying to settle into a new school made her question whether divorce was the right answer.

Then, there was the house.

The one she and her husband shopped for, fought for, fixed up to meet their needs, loved, maintained and in which they built memories.

Man, giving that up is a hard concept to deal with.

With the help of her attorney and a dedicated, empathic real estate agent, Louise overcame the turmoil and was able to move on with her life.

Yes, divorce rates seem to be on the decline in the U.S. yet 40 to 50 percent of American marriages still end in divorce.

Furthermore, divorcing couples sell homes and, often, purchase another. Although it sounds a bit mercenary, the divorce niche in real estate can be quite lucrative. 

Someone needs to help couples going through this challenge.

At the risk of sounding like we’re objectifying living, breathing human beings (humans who are in emotional pain), you won’t find a more motivated home seller than someone going through a divorce.

Whether it’s because of a court order or simple logistics, most (but not all) divorcing couples choose to include the home when liquidating their assets.

You don’t necessarily need to have personal marital break-up experience to effectively pursue divorce leads, but agents who do are one-step ahead of you.

 What you need to know to work with divorcing couples

Working with divorced or divorcing couples isn’t easy. It isn’t for those who lack empathy, tact, diplomacy or patience.

It’s for the counselors among the agent ranks, the educators, those who truly want to help and aren’t in it for the quick commission.

Agent Scott Weeda, for instance, tells NPR’s Sara Lerner about just one of the strategies he’s found effective when working with divorcing couples:

“I never try to force them to communicate together, which means a lot of separate and duplicate communication, so that neither ever has the impression that I’m trying to force the agenda of one on the other,” he says.

This may mean coordinating separate meetings for everything from signing the listing agreement to acknowledging contingency releases, presenting offers and closing.

But that is one strategy in a process full of them.

How to generate divorce listing leads

You have several options when it comes to finding divorce leads. One of the easiest is, of course, to buy a list. Companies such as ReboGateway (started and run by former agents and brokers) offer lists that they obtain from mining court records.

We offer postcards that speak specifically to divorcing couples selling their home in our Life Event Postcard Series. These postcards integrate with ReboGateway. To learn more about how to export a divorced homeowners mailing list from Rebogateway into your ProspectsPLUS! account click here (from a desktop computer).

Or, consider mailing to quit claim deed filers. A real estate investor who specializes in divorce listings claims, in a thread at bigger pockets.com, that about 20 percent of responses to his quitclaim deed ads come from divorcing couples.

“Most of the time I am contacted from the person who decided to keep the house and now they understand they can no longer afford it,” he explains.

He also advertises in a local grade school’s parent newsletter. The ad directs the reader to a landing page he designed specifically for couples going through a divorce.

If you think that sending a divorce focused postcard is too direct send a postcard from our Get More Listings Series instead. This series is targeted at driving more listings. As long as you get your name in front of these couples you’re one step ahead of everyone else.

Get referrals

If you decide to make divorce real estate your sole niche, consider a program that teaches you how to work with the family law community to earn their referrals.

Laurel Starks, divorce agent and author of “The House Matters in Divorce” offers classes in how to get divorce leads and how to work with divorcing couples.

She is the founder of the Divorce Real Estate Institute and teaches agents about the “two paths to successfully serving divorcing clients.”

Since the 2019 real estate market remains up in the air right now, choosing the divorce niche may just mean the success of your business this year.

Send our Divorce: Curve Ball postcard from our Life Event Series to your list of divorced homeowners.
Remember to export your Rebogateway list of divorced homeowner into your ProspectsPLUS! account, click here to learn more (From a desktop computer).

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 have an INVINCIBLE 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 One-Page 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 game-changing 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 & achieve 20% market share

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)!

Our business flourishes from recommendations just like yours and we truly appreciate your review of our products and services – Review us here 

Presentations that close

You can blink your eye three times in the time it takes a person to judge your trustworthiness and competence just by looking at your face, according to research conducted by Princeton University.

Yet, the real estate industry is confounded that most real estate consumers go with the first agent they meet and that so many homeowners spend only one day choosing a listing agent.

As with all things real estate, time is of the essence during the listing appointment, so let’s take a look at how you can ensure the homeowner’s first impression is a winning one.

It starts with fact gathering

Whether it’s a cold call or a response to a Free Offer postcard, how you handle that first contact with a potential seller will pave the way to a successful listing presentation. In fact, this is the time to gather as much information as possible about the home and the owner.

The National Association of Realtors offers a list of questions to have ready for your next listing appointment:

  • Why are you selling your home?
  • How soon do you need to sell?
  • Do you have a ballpark price in mind?
  • Tell me about your home – how long you’ve lived there, what you like best about it and whether you’ve performed any renovations or major repairs.
  • In your opinion, what makes your home different from others in the neighborhood?

When you set the appointment, let the homeowner know that all decision-makers should be present.

Before compiling the CMA, take a tour of every home currently for sale in the seller’s neighborhood and a drive-by of sold comps.

As most listing agents know, potential home sellers are keenly aware of current listings in the area and will many times bring them up during a listing appointment. Rather than being embarrassed that the homeowner knows the local market better than you do, be the agent who is completely up-to-date on the local market.

Now you have the information necessary to put together the CMA. For the rookies out there, here is a list of quick tips to help you out with that:

  • Generics won’t make you stand out. Every home and every seller is different. Customize your presentation to a specific home and neighborhood.
  • Even if you use a digital presentation, ensure that everything in your hard copy is professionally printed. Your competition won’t bother using the color printer, which is why you must. From your branding to the graphics and photos, color grabs attention and gives the impression that marketing is your forte.
Powerful first impressions

Remember how quickly we form first impressions? One of the best ways to ruin your chances is by being late for the listing appointment. No excuse on earth will work just show up on time. Before you leave your car, turn off your phone, take a deep breath and relax. Remind yourself to smile and make eye contact as the homeowner opens the door.

Steer the participants to a place where it will be easier to maintain eye contact with everyone who is present. A round dining table is ideal. Then, break the ice with a statement such as, “Driving over here, I was thinking about how excited I am about this meeting,” this lets them know that you’re confident and have exciting things to share.

Another suggested ice-breaker is to ask a question. Engaging the homeowners immediately will help you make a quick connection. While every listing agent is different in how they conduct a listing presentation, most that we’ve spoken with share the following:

Homeowners want to know that you’re truly listening to them. Making eye contact conveys that and taking notes as they speak shows you are serious about remembering what they’re saying.

Assume the close

While some agents we’ve spoken with wait until the end of the presentation to assume the close, others do so throughout the presentation.

Here’s a brilliant example we read about at ActiveRain. Draw up two lists of services – one the basics, and one with the extra services you offer your listing clients.

Then, when explaining your services during the presentation, start with the basics – the stuff that is standard in your area. Then, whip out the second list and, as you tick them off, stop occasionally to ask if this is a service they want you to provide.

For instance, “Will you want aerial photography as well as the 3-D home tour?” Or “Do you want me to hold open houses?”

Although we don’t expect these tips to be everything required to beat the listing presentation willies, they offer ideas on how to prepare. And, knowing you’re prepared is calming. And, when you’re calm, you’re confident and unbeatable!

Send out at least 100 Free Market Statistics postcards from the Call to Action Series to an area where you would like more listings and get that killer presentation ready.

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 have an INVINCIBLE 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 One-Page 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 game-changing 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 & achieve 20% market share

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)!

Our business flourishes from recommendations just like yours and we truly appreciate your review of our products and services – Review us here 

Every step forward this year is a step toward achieving something bigger and better for you and your business!
Please reach out to our support team (866.405.3638) if there is any way we can help with your success.
Wishing you a year filled with Bigger & Better,
Your ProspectsPLUS! Team

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)!

Prev1...474849...56Next Page 48 of 56
© 2026 ProspectsPLUS! | Real Estate Marketing Blog