How to Own More Market Share & End the Strong

Aug 1, 2016

Webinar button on keyboard with soft focus

We had a great webinar last week where Todd Robertson shared some terrific strategies, ideas, and tools for owning more market share, hitting every goal you ever set, and finishing the year strong. We wanted to share it on demand for all of you who did not have an opportunity to join us!

Need help? To learn more about how we can help you fuel your business, streamline your systems and take your career to the next level, call our marketing team today at 866.405.3638 or visit our website www.prospectsplus.com.

Back to School Strategies for Real Estate Professionals

Jul 25, 2016

Six Lessons for Success

By Julie Escobar

Back to School Real Estate Marketing

You can almost feel it — that anxiousness, excitement and uncertainty that envelopes us around this time year after year. Tens of millions of children headed back to classes, and even those without little ones can get caught up in the thirst for knowledge, need for more certain schedules and the never-too-old-for allure of new notebooks and supplies. All right, maybe that last one is just me, but you’ll have to admit there is something exciting about creating a clean slate, learning to the best of our abilities and growing as a sales professional as well as a person.

Ready to get started? You’ve had a healthy breakfast, donned your uniform (name badges everyone!) put on your thinking caps and you’re ready to learn – right? Here are the “classes” you must master in this market:

1. Direct response. Is your postcard asking your prospects a question? Are you raising their awareness? Are you giving them a reason and means to contact you? Are you just staying in touch or do you need them to take action? When you use your marketing to ask the questions that are already in the minds of your prospects, you create a connection that makes people want to reach back out to you.

Even holiday postcards can effectively raise awareness and include a message to not only have a great holiday but to call you should they need you or have questions. A Just Listed card too – is not just a just listed card. It’s an invitation to see a new listing, to get a list of other homes like it, answer questions or evaluate another potential seller’s ability to sell their home. Content cards offer valuable information consumers are looking for and offer an invitation for buyers and sellers to learn more or get free reports. The Neighborhood Update/Free Offer Series, a popular one for agents, offers free reports, valuable consultation, and other items of value to the consumer — as well as neighborhood stats that appeal to buyers and sellers on a hyper-local level.

2. Consistency. Again and again and again. That’s how often you need to “show up” in their mailbox, on their radar and in the lives of your prospects and customer base. Our market is too competitive and life is too short for one-shot wonders. Plus – it’s just too expensive to waste time, effort and of course, marketing dollars on a one-hit mailing. They don’t work. Never have, never will. And in today’s world – people want to see that you’ve got what it takes to stick with it and get results before they want to work with you. If you give up easily on your marketing – what message does that send to your customer base? Success comes to those who show up not once but over and over again. With the right message, the right attitude and the right promise of service. Show them you’ve got what it takes.

3. List care. Your mailing list is not just “a list.” It’s not just a spreadsheet of names and addresses. It represents the lifeblood of your business. It hosts the people that, if cared for, if catered to, if serviced right, if stayed in touch with, if impacted – will take care of you for the entirety of your career. In fact, studies show that one in twelve will result in a transaction per year of you consistently and effectively stay in touch. That said- how many do you want on your list and how committed are you to taking care of them like the VIPs that they are?

Find a database you’re comfortable with and don’t stop with names, addresses and phone numbers. Fill in the gaps. Who is their spouse? What are their kids’ names? What do they do? What do they like? When did they purchase/sell with you last? What referrals have they sent? What common interests do you have? It’s not easy at first – but once you’ve formed the good habit of contacting your list at least three times a year (not all at once, of course!) you’ll start to be able to feed the details into your database.

Don’t lose those lists you get when you purchase a just listed postcard either! Every time you send a postcard out with us and choose to do a radial or neighborhood search, that list is yours to keep so that you can continue to build your book of business. Add them to your list and start building a relationship with them as well. For more ideas of who should be in your sphere of influence – download our free BusinessBASE – and check out the 150 Questions to Help You Build Your Business Relationships. It’s a great ‘refresher’ course for remembering all the people you SHOULD be building relationships with!

4. Niche Marketing: Niche players fare better, earn more, usually are better at time management and can more quickly define themselves as an expert in their market area. Why? First, it gives you clarity of purpose, so you’re more efficient in the way you conduct your business, in the manner you build your skill sets and your knowledge base and in how you grow your customer base. You don’t need to be all things to all people. You just need to be the best at reaching out to, teaching and building relationships with that core group or niche. That not only builds your business faster, but it gives you a sense of certainty and confidence that you wouldn’t have if you were trying to work with any and all customer types.

So who do YOU want to work with most? Seniors? First time home buyers? FSBOs? Luxury Markets? Boaters? Golfers? Or maybe outside the box ideas like horse enthusiasts, Harley riders, yacht club members, golfers? Find the fit that’s right for you – then be the BEST for that niche! Now with new mailing list options that include specialty lifestyle interest data, or Nielsen Prizm codes you can easily find more the customers you most want to work with.

That’s not to say you ignore your sphere – just keep enhancing it by building niche markets that help it (and your business) to grow!

By the way – one really time-appropriate niche to start is working with your local school communities. The rewards are great – not just in your bottom line, but the experience you get and connections you create and the very real difference you can make in the lives of students and educators. Download our Free Report: 10 Ways to Prospects To and Support Your Local PTAs. (You’ll find it close to the bottom of the free reports page.) While you’re there – download a few more great reports to use in your fall marketing!

5. Leveraging Technology Tools: Leveraging technology and available networking to maximize your potential for lead generation, prospecting and keeping your pipeline of customers filled is crucial to your success. That means learning how to use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and the social networking tools that are available today. It can also mean hosting weekly or monthly conference calls, webinars and workshops for those in your niche, community or sphere of influence. These are great ways to inexpensively and effectively establish and reinforce your niche. Technology allows you to be in many places and in front of many people at one time, which helps you build relationships by using these tools to share information on a regular, consistent basis.

Technology also allows you to put systems in place such as automating the marketing of your listings using systems such as MLSmailings.com, www.GettingListingsSold.com which can take some of the daily, weekly and monthly marketing chores off your to-do list, freeing you up to spend more time at what you do best – getting face-to-face with customers and prospects.

6. Work High Priority Activities First. Real estate agents get paid to build relationships and provide exceptional service. There are plenty of ways to be BUSY in this business- but the activities that matter most are the ones that are directly tied to your bottom line. You need to have absolute focus on scheduling the time to prospect, present, close and build relationships before anything else. That means making and KEEPING that appointment with yourself every day.

The last thing we wanted to cover in our time together is how, as sales professionals, we can create good study habits that will also contribute to our success. Got down time? In the car, on the treadmill, during your commute? Make the most of it by ‘plugging in’ to top speakers, trainers and coaches that you can listen to on the go.

Strategies & Scripts to Get More Listings

Jul 18, 2016

Staying Ahead of Your Competition

By Julie Escobar

The weather and the market are both HOT and agents are asking us for strategies and how to’s for dominating in a geographic farm. To answer that – we turned to Todd Robertson for some tips and ideas that are working for Market Dominator Members across the nation.

Q: Hey Todd, a lot of our readers don’t want to wait for the fall market to work on their competitive edge – do you have some ideas for them?

A: Sure – the year is already more than half over and a lot of agents are looking at the calendar and thinking, “No way am I going to hit my goals.” That’s a little intimidating, right? For some, it’s enough to make them already start to shut down. Don’t. Instead, realize it’s time to dig in. To put a source of accountability into your career – your weekly routine and create a game plan. You know, we’re really glad that we can be a source for agents. The Master Marketing Schedule^TM that you’ve created is a powerful tool to help agents stay on track and put some consistency into their marketing. It takes the “what do I do?” out, which is a big stress for a lot of agents. First step I would say, is to start there, and develop a game plan that will allow you to connect CONSISTENTLY, with your Sphere of Influence, a Geographic Farm, and a niche market. If you can work a campaign for each of those marketing segments without fail, month after month, your results will grow exponentially.

Q: I agree! We share a lot of strategies about staying consistent. How often should agents connect with their sphere, farm, and niche?

A: At least monthly. Those ‘touch’ points are so important in terms of staying top of mind and creating brand awareness. Send something every month to all three, and not necessarily the same thing. For your sphere, many agents choose a postcard campaign such as a holiday series (not just at Thanksgiving and Christmas!), recipe cards, content cards, inspirational postcards, or a newsletter each month. For their geo farms they send our Market Dominator, or Listing Inventory, or the Free Offer/Neighborhood Specialist cards – all are popular. For a niche, they are specific to that group – for example: Expireds, FSBOs, First Time Home Buyers, Investors, etc. Top agents are also diligent about sending out Just Listed/Just Sold postcards with every listing and sale they have. Without exception. Why? They spotlight you as the agent that can generate RESULTS – and they showcase the properties you are marketing. That’s a powerful combo. Then they do that thing that agents desperately steer clear of but shouldn’t if they want to fire up their career on all levels – they FOLLOW UP.

Q: There’s the sticking point, right? The old getting on the phone or walking the farm and knocking on doors part that stops agents in their tracks. Any suggestions?

A: Yes, the first step we just talked about – putting a campaign in place that touches your customers and prospects every month. That makes it way less intimidating when you call them. Why? Because you have a reason to touch base with them. It doesn’t have to be a “SALES call”, it is a follow up call – or visit if you are walking a farm. “Hey there, Todd Robertson here, from Success Realty, just wanted to touch base. We’ve got a LOT of changes in the market, and I just wanted to see if you had any questions.” (Yes or no, doesn’t matter really, you’re just touching base, asking questions.) Or you can do a combination of touching base and letting them know that you have a big goal to hit. “Hey there, Todd Robertson, Success Realty, how are you? You may have seen me in the neighborhood and I hope you’re receiving my mailings. I just wanted to touch base, see if you had any questions about our market or what homes are selling for right now? By the way, I am committed to helping as many clients as I can take advantage of this market. Who do you know who might be interested in buying or selling in the next 90 days? Maybe someone from work? Or your kids’ sport team? Or church? If you think of someone, I sure hope you’ll remember my name and pass it along. Thanks so much.”

This month we shared a great listing strategy one of our Dominator members uses — and that’s to take the extra 20 Market Dominators that he gets each month and bring them with him when he is walking his farm or going on listing appointments. He lets people know that he is the only one in that market that is willing to consistently show up in a big way (12×15!) each month and that when they list with him – he will dedicate an entire 1/3rd panel of his Dominator to market that listing until it sells. That’s helped him close for the signature again and again. You may want to give that a try as well!

Here’s a quick video I did for our members on the topic:

Q: Awesome — lastly, what about those agents who need the extra push or accountability?

A: For a lot of agents coaching is a good investment, but it can be out of the budget for many. Instead, perhaps consider starting or joining a Mastermind group in your area. Think and Grow Rich has an entire chapter on this topic that is still incredibly relevant and powerful today. Participating in a group like this costs you zero – but your return will be extraordinary. You’re involved with like-minded people, all with the goal of lifting each other up, cheering each other on, and holding each other accountable. That’s the missing link for many agents. If there’s not one in your area that you want to join – start one. Your career, customers, and bank balance will all be the better for it!

We’re hosting a new webinar next week, Wednesday, Jul 27, 2016 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT How to Own More Market Share & End the Year WIth 5 Extra Closings — we hope you’ll join us!

Click here to register.

Thanks Todd. Great stuff. If you’d like to learn more about the kind of tools that we have to help keep YOU on track and ready for the fall market and beyond, head over to our Master Marketing Schedule^TM or main site today. If you’re interested in dominating a geographic farm and would like to speak with Todd about that directly, click here to learn more. Our team is here to help you with all your marketing needs, call us today at 866-405-3638!

Four Tips and Tools For Building Your Listing Inventory

Jun 27, 2016

Positioning Yourself to Be the Go-To Agent

By Julie Escobar

It’s certainly a whole new ball game out there isn’t it? The buyers are out in force and agents are now fast and furiously competing to both find and market new listing inventory. If EVER there’s been a time where listings are the name of the game? It’s right now. We recently did a poll to see what people were most interested in this month in terms of their marketing — the number one choice? HOW TO GET MORE LISTINGS. Enter this week’s topic!

Let’s look at four tips and tools you can use to position yourself as the go-to agent for listings in your market.

Systematically work For Sale By Owners and Expired listings. Make this on the top of your to-do list each week. Send them something. Get voice-to-voice. Go see them. Since they’re already motivated sellers-make sure they know how motivated you are to help them achieve the results you want!
Include a PDF. Another strategy came from one of our top agent customers who, before every listing appointment, creates a pdf version of a Just Listed postcard with a picture of the potential seller’s house and all listing details and includes it in every listing presentation as an example of the marketing that she will get started immediately upon getting their signature! (Very clever!) Click here to see a selection of Just Listed Postcards you can download.
Host an Open House to generate listing leads. In areas where homes are just starting to turn over, you’ll more than likely shake out the 3-4 (or more) other homeowners in the neighborhood who have been thinking about selling. Be sure to do your homework – canvas the neighborhood well in advance of your open house. Advertise it well. Send open house cards, use door hangers or flyers to your existing sphere of influence or farm areas as well. Some agents create an open house field day – where they’ll advertise 3-6 open houses all on the same day, one right after the other. While it makes for a long day, it does showcase you as an agent who has a lot going on and knows how to get things done. I always recommend having powerful collateral pieces at your open houses as well. Like 6 Pitfalls to Overpricing Your Home, Saving for a Down Payment and the Cash Buyer Checklist. When you have more creative collateral than just the home listing flyer you present yourself at a higher level of service and resource.
Saturate Your Target Neighborhood. Working an area or areas where you know turnover is starting to happen? Blanket those areas with a powerful inventory-needed campaign that speaks to the mindset of potential sellers and spotlights you as the agent to call when they are thinking of selling now or in the near future. Our Listing Inventory Series is great for getting attention. Or, if you really want to turn up the heat, learn more about our Market Dominator System which takes saturation mailing and direct response marketing to a whole new level! Then be sure to follow up on that saturation mailing and make the most of your marketing efforts.

Good luck getting those listings, and remember if you need help – call our marketing team at 866.405.3638! Be sure to check out our Specials Page this month as well if you haven’t already and see what’s new and get your budget-saving promo codes!

Using High Tech Data to Master Geo-Farming

May 23, 2016

Houses — Row of new residential houses in suburban neighborhood

It Happened on My Street

A Guest Blog by Brian Fox, Benutech, Inc.

It happened on my street… and I would not be surprised if you have seen it occur on yours. A for sale sign goes in the ground… and presto – soon after, more for sale signs start popping up. It’s an interesting phenomenon, but it seems to hold true in markets from coast to coast. For those reasons, you hear top real estate coaches in the industry advise their students to, “Find areas where homes are selling and market into those areas!” It works. It’s a big informational edge that increases agents marketing success rates.

So let’s take a moment and look at this turnover rate idea a bit closer. Here’s what happened on my street: no properties had been listed on my street for more than a year. Then a property went on the MLS market in June of 2015. By October, two more homes on my street went on to MLS priced similarly. All of them closed by January 2016, so in back to back months (March and April of 2016) two more homeowners on my street decided to list their properties for sale. Coincidence?

Maybe… But that’s five homes for sale on my street in the past year, when there were none listed the previous 12 months. Not only that, but within my subdivision, there is not another street that has had more than two homes listed or sold within the same time period of time. Heck, I have even entertained the thought of selling my home at the prices homes are selling at on my street! The sign posts have even got me thinking.

So in my opinion, along with the opinions of those high profile real estate coaches, it’s true… when folks see sign posts in the ground it gets them thinking… “If I could get that much for my home, I would sell”. Or, “If that home can sell for that price, and it’s smaller than mine, then mine could sell for much more…” So the bottom line: Home sales in a community seem to get the selling ball rolling! For a real estate agent, that’s a very good thing.

The only problem with turnover rate though is tracking it. There has not been an easy way to locate high rates of turnover in communities. Even if your title company or an assistant that you employ was willing to help you crunch the numbers to find the higher turnover rate areas… it’s time consuming.

That’s the reason we added the Tract Utility tool to Benutech, Inc.’s ReboGateway product.This tool instantly groups homes together by FIVE different property groupings, and displays the groups from highest turnover or sales rate to lowest rate in seconds. That’s SECONDS, not days! Not only is Tract Utility providing quick, targeted results, but it’s also grouping homes in groups small enough for agents to easily identify and utilize. Tract Utility breaks geographic areas down from Census Tracts to all the way to the housing tracts that homes are built into. What’s the most popular grouping? It’s been the “Postal Carrier Route” grouping, which is the same group of homes that the US Postal Service uses when delivering ‘Every Door Direct Mailings’ (EDDM). EDDM is the least expensive way to deliver mail, which cuts the price of mailing down to 1/3 the price of a postage stamp per door.

So as a real estate agent, where should you start? Right here: Successful farming is created by repetitive actions in the farm area. You can’t plant a seed (Mailer #1) and expect to reap large results in farming. It’s not enough care, not enough action to create a successful farm. Successful farms are created with regular, repetitive contact at properties in your farm. In crop farming the repetitive actions would be water and nutrients. In real estate, its repetitive actions of mailers, door knocks, phone calls and the delivery of valuable useful information to homeowners that creates large crops of buyers and sellers. That’s why we love working with and partnering up with our friends from ProspectsPLUS.com. We provide the data and they provide the branding tools such as the impressive Market Dominator. It’s the perfect way to brand yourself in a farm area, and make yourself a known entity and celebrity to the homeowners, by showing you care about them and the community.

But now let’s talk about technology and farming. Farms can be created in any geographic area… but farming in all geographic areas are NOT the same. Not even close. You could choose to farm in the dry, rocky soil of the desert… and if you use tons of water, shade, and constant care, you may be able to create a successful farm. But if you are smart, and chose an area of soft, fertile soil, a mild climate, in an area with lots of available water… wouldn’t you have a much better chance of creating a highly successful farm? Of course! The place you choose to begin your farming is a very important decision. The correctly chosen area will result in more successful farms that are much easier to create. So select the area that is right for you and your farming.

So don’t just choose an area to farm that is closest to where you live or work – it may be dry, rocky soil in the desert… (and so 1990’s style of real estate farming). Instead, you’ll want to crunch the numbers to find the community that has a perfect combination of…

Lack of solid presence of any one agent
high turnover rate
Solid sales prices
High homeowner saturation (as opposed to a large renter population)

This way, when you are ready to start investing in your geo farm, you know that you’ve got a market segment that has the highest potential for success. You can do this on your own with the help of your title company and spreadsheets or acquire access to www.rebogateway.com and use the Tract Utility to find fertile farming areas in your neighborhood. Use that valuable information to identify the top postal carrier routes, or top housing tracts with the highest turnover rates nearest you. Then begin your farming in these hand-picked farm areas using direct response tools such as the Market Dominator, Listing Inventory Series, or Neighborhood Update postcards from ProspectsPLUS.com, and a smart strategy of follow up via canvassing, door hangers, and phone calls, and you’ll be on track to build a successful farm that will continue to reward you with listings and referrals for years to come.

Join us for this week’s webinar “How to Pick the Perfect Geo Farm”, Thursday at 1pm Eastern. Register here.

Interested in finding out of if the Tract Utility tools and ReboGateway is right for you? Call the ReboGateway support team today at 866-887-0206 or email them today to set up a one on one demonstration at sales@benutech.com.

Interested in learning more about the ProspectsPLUS.com tools such as the Market Dominator to earn a 20% market share in the geo farm of your choice? Contact our team today at 866-405-3638 or visit us online at www.prospectsplus.com.

One Powerful Way to Get More Referrals

Apr 4, 2016

Starts with a Little Appreciation

By Julie Escobar

People say a little appreciation goes a long way and they wouldn’t be wrong. We know from massive research where business really comes from, and it’s not from where most business people think. Statistics show that 66% of all the business generated by 95% of successful professionals today comes from only four sources:

Family
Friends
Close Acquaintances
Referrals generated by the first three groups

Statistics also show us that when you stay in consistent touch, top of mind, and deliver excellent service and show your appreciation, you can expect either a referral or a transaction from one in every twelve people in your sphere. So the questions to ask yourself is do you even know who is in your sphere, and how are you expertly staying in touch with them and delivering that top of mind service and appreciation?

If not, you’re leaving a lot of business on the table. One powerful way to tap into spring of referrals starts with two little words: thank you.

A long time ago I learned from Floyd Wickman that, “People don’t care what you know until they know that you care.” Show them you care.

Here are four easy strategies to help you do that:

Each month pull a list of every customer in your database who has an anniversary of either the sale or purchase of a home and send them a Customer Appreciation postcard with a personalized message on the back.
Each month choose 25-50 people from your sphere database and send them either a Thank You or a Thinking of You postcard from the Customer Appreciation series with a personalized message on the back.
Each month send a sphere-friendly postcard to the rest of your database to keep your name top of mind. Top customer picks would be the Listing Inventory Series, Content Cards, Holiday Cards, and Recipe Cards.
Pull an idea (or a few) from the fun connection suggestions on our Master Marketing Schedule each month. For example, this month, April 22nd, is National Jelly Bean Day. Get little packages of jelly beans to give to clients, the admin staff at your office, co-workers and friends. There’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Day in May for a chance to deliver some tasty treats to ten top clients. Or National Chocolate Day in July, where we suggest you grab ten of those little sampler boxes of chocolate and deliver to ten top clients with a note thanking them for being such a treat! Or Aviation Day in August where we suggest you order cardboard or paper airplanes from www.orientaltrading.com and pass them out to your farm area this day with a note attached saying, “Buying and selling real estate today takes an experienced pilot. I can help ensure you have a terrific landing! Call me today!” The schedule is filled with fun ideas that help you stand out from your competition. Try them!

Rising to the top of your game in your market means doing things differently than your competition. Where others show up once or twice – show up every month. Where others wait for the phone to ring – pick up the phone or see everyone in your sphere at least twice a year. Break the list into manageable numbers and call just to say hi, see if they have any questions, let them know you appreciate them and that you’re there when they need you. Where others sit on the sidelines, get in the mix every day. Be out and about in your community. Talk to your customers. Walk your farm areas. (The goal is to get the folks in your farm so connected with you that they become part of your sphere!)

Lastly, never, ever forget to say thank you, in big ways and small. To your customers, clients, colleagues, brokers, assistants, friends and family. It is a gesture that will never go out of style, and will garner you good will again and again. In a business built on relationships with people – good will goes a long way. On that note – a big THANK YOU to all of you who graciously allow us to be your marketing resource of choice!

Need help? Call our marketing team today at 866.405.3638 to put the best systems in place to build your business easily, and cost-effectively.

There’s Never Been a Better Time to Get Back to the Basics

Mar 28, 2016

Insights from the Front Line with Ramona Williams

By Julie Escobar

When it comes to knowing EXACTLY what real estate professionals, and specifically our ProspectsPLUS!
customers want and need to grow their businesses in today’s market, I knew that there was one person who would be perfect to interview. My closest friend and always one of the smartest people in the room, our Director of Business Development, Ramona Williams. With both an MBA and more thirty years of experience working with real estate agents and brokers, she’s the go-to resource for insights and ideas.

Here’s what we learned:

Q: You are on the phones with customers every day, where do you think agents are needing the most help in terms of marketing their businesses and their listings?

A: Consistency – hands down. That’s honestly where most agent’s marketing breaks down. One and done marketing doesn’t work, never has and never will. Secondly, what hurts agents is having no strategy at all. That’s not a new problem of course. That’s historically where agents fail to grow their businesses, and why so many don’t make it. Unfortunately, the majority of agents try lots of little things, including whatever the “shiny new idea” is in the office at the moment and never commit to anything consistently. The result is they end up all over the place in terms of the message they are sending out into their market, and they’ll actually spend considerably more money trying every new thing that comes along than they would if they just put a solid, strategic plan of tested direct marketing that works in place and stuck to it. Consistently sending branded, direct response marketing every 21-45 days to a sphere and farm is still the best means of driving results in our industry.

Q: We’re seeing a huge rise in agents using EDDM^® as a means to strategically market for less – what is your take on that and what advice do you have for others eager to do the same?

A: I think Every Door Direct Mail^® is a terrific way for agents to cover a large geographic area because of the lower postage costs. It makes it really affordable for agents to get back to those basics like working a geographic farm. What I really like about seeing agents return to geo-farming is that it helps them focus their marketing efforts. For a long while we saw agents just chasing the next deal. They’d follow internet leads wherever they took them – sometimes driving hours to take a listing. EDDM helps them to find a geographic market area that makes sense for them and literally get in every door. When used consistently, it creates a much more predictive business and income model than constantly chasing new business. Here’s what else I can tell you – the great agents get that. They know that it’s not only OK to be in control of their marketing and business, it’s a must if you want to create a consistently growing business with commissions and referrals you can count on. I think so much of the time you see agents who look at the business of real estate as risky to start with or unpredictable because it’s commission based. So their mindset is that their business is supposed to be all over the place, or unpredictable as well. Savvy agents know that real estate is a business and can be a very lucrative one if they treat is like it is and work a plan.

Q: What product do you see the most demand for in today’s market?

A: I’d say in most areas of the country inventory is still historically low, so agents are looking for any vehicle that can help them get listings. So we’re seeing a lot of EDDM, Just Listed postcards and Just Sold postcards (which are great for pulling double duty – marketing the listing and the agent), our Market Dominator, Listing Inventory cards, FSBO and Expired tools, and our Neighborhood Update/Free Offer cards. The last take a little more work to input the listing data, but it’s what consumers want to see, and they make direct response offers, so they work. Again, it’s getting back to taking control of your marketing.

We are also seeing an uptick in agents struggling with pricing listings correctly and that’s where your eBook 21 Ways to Get Your Listing Priced Right the First Time (Despite the Seller’s Objections) is a terrific tool that’s really affordable and filled with the kind of objection handlers agents need today.

Q: You and I go way back in this business – we won’t say how far! How do you think the market has changed and what do you think agents can do to best get in front of those changes and be competitive?

A: You know, surprisingly, it really hasn’t changed all that much. Our business is and always be cyclical. What is different, of course, are the amount of technology options agents have and how many different organizations are selling to them. Many of which are amazing and game-changing solutions for agents, no doubt. It does, however, make it really easy for agents to take their eye off the ball and look for that “magic pill” that will skyrocket them to success. While that’s understandably tempting, the keys to being the top in your field is the stay focused, build inventory, price listing right, have a strategic plan, and find areas you really enjoy working and stay the course.

Q: Excellent advice! You work with top producers and high volume teams quite a bit as our Director of Business Development. What are some factors from a marketing perspective do you think they deploy that allow them to continuously rise to the top?

A: Much like we just talked about, top teams and top agents don’t roll the dice with their results. They build their businesses exponentially by putting systems in place so things don’t fall through the cracks and understand and implement the power of consistent marketing. In other words, they don’t wait and they don’t shy away from marketing at high levels. They prioritize immediate lead generation, but they also have systems that allow them to build their brand and their businesses long term. They are also typically service-minded professionals. They take excellent care of their customer base, and communicate effectively and often with their sphere and farm. That’s smart business.

Q: Awesome. Any last words of wisdom for the readers?

A: Well I guess I would say that this is truly a great industry where people can make an excellent, lucrative living that is relatively affordable to get into with a strong return on investment. I would tell them to be strategic, consistent and be mindful of who you model yourself after. You and I have both seen, countless times, agents who have been in this business 3, 4, 5 – even 10 years or more in this industry and have never put a sphere of influence database together. While some may do all right at that, it makes you really wonder where COULD their business be if they had put that basic but so important piece in place? That’s a lot of missed opportunity and money left on the table. I’d challenge agents to not do the same. Get back to the basics. Have a plan. Use strategic, consistent marketing (both in terms of timing and branding) to build your inventory, price them right, follow up, and take care of your book of business and your farm.

As always, you’re a tremendous source of advice for today’s professionals. What’s great for our customers to know is that you’ve done such an amazing job of both training and managing our support and marketing teams that they have incredible skills and insights as well and are wonderfully adept at helping agents and brokers figure out the best plans for them, and helping them strategically implement those plans every day. Kudos to you for that! Thanks for sharing!

If you’d like to connect with a member of Ramona’s team, you can call them at 866-405-3638 or email us at pmc@prospectsplus.com. They are eager to help make your job – and your life a whole lot easier!

Lifestyle Interest Data Webinar on Demand

Mar 7, 2016

How to Use Lifestyle Interest Data to Attract New Real Estate Customers

As we kick into high gear for the spring season, we wanted to revision our training webinar-on-demand featuring Lifestyle Interest Data. We were thrilled to share some how-to’s, answer some terrific questions, and even spotlight how simple it is to build a list of prospects that you can use again and again to work with the customers you most want to attract. Using specialty data to target consumers such as boaters, golfers, tennis enthusiasts, do-it-yourself home improvement fans and more – and then expertly matching your marketing messages to those data segments is a great way to find the real estate hand raisers in your market. For those of you who missed it or just want a quick review – we’ve got it on demand for you to watch below!

Want to learn more about putting this marketing strategy in place? Contact our marketing experts at 866.405.3638 today!

Listing INVENTORY is the Name of the Game

Feb 29, 2016

Insights and Strategies from Real Estate Coach Darryl Davis

By Julie Escobar

Since the dawn of real estate, it seems we’ve been hearing phrases such as, “Listings are the name of the game” or “List to last.” While those sayings are as true today as they’ve always been, we caught up with our old friend and real estate coach Darryl Davis to learn why “just listings” aren’t enough to propel your way to the top and stay there anymore. Today’s agents need to focus on building listing INVENTORY if they want to stay in the game and compete at the highest levels. Here’s an excerpt from our interview:

Q: Darryl, you’re teaching your students and coaching members that they need to step up their game in terms of building (and keeping) listing inventory. Can you share a little more about that with our readers?

A: Sure! First, I like to share the WHY – WHY it’s important to build and maintain listing inventory. I’m a big analogy guy, so I sometimes ask agents to think about their friends, family members or neighbors and what they make. You know, a lot of times you don’t know exactly how much other people make, but you have an idea, and sometimes you think to yourself, “I know I make more than that, but they have more than I do or don’t seem to struggle as much as I do.”

Two words explain that: cash flow. See, those other folks are usually salaried people with consistent income, so they can budget and plan their lives around that. In real estate, we don’t have that. Most agents run their business in surge-and-drought mode – right? But it doesn’t have to be that way. If I asked every agent reading this if he/she had a consistent $5,000 (or whatever your number is) every month, would it make your life less stressful? The answer is 100% yes.

Q: That helps put it in perspective, doesn’t it? So there’s the WHY. Can you tell them HOW building inventory solves their surge-and-drought problem?

A: Yes. I like to tell agents to focus on listing inventory rather than listings like this: Imagine you’re selling shoes instead of houses. If you want to sell shoes for a living, you’ve got two choices: One is to get a store, some racks and some shoes, and promote your store… right? The second is to find a buyer who wants to buy shoes, put him/her in your car and drive around to every shoe store in town until he/she finds the perfect ones. Get the picture?

Here’s the thing: Every time you put a buyer in your car to show a listing that’s not your own, you’re basically taking that buyer to another agent’s “shoe store.” You’re essentially becoming an “employee” of sorts for that other agent. Bottom line? No inventory = no business.

Q: Great analogy. Can you expand on that?

A: Think of it like this: You’ve got six listings or, for this purpose, we’ll go back to shoes. So you’ve got six pairs of shoes, and you put four under contract this month. YEA, right? That’s terrific! Well yeah, it is – BUT look at your inventory. You went from six to two. When you close on them, you’ll have a surge of cash, of course, but if you don’t replenish your inventory, then you’ll head into a drought. To create continuous cash flow, you have to at least MAINTAIN or, better still, INCREASE your inventory.

Let’s say you’re brand-new, and you want to build inventory by one per month. You start out month one with one listing. Month two you get another. Month three you get another, but you close on one. So that means month three, you have to get TWO to make up for the one under contract and keep your inventory up. If the average commission is $5,000 per listing sold, and you start with zero and focus on building your inventory by one per month, you should be able to earn $100,000 within 12 months.

Q: It helps to put it in dollars and cents, doesn’t it? It’s more than just the money though – it’s about managing time as well, right?

A: Exactly. When you think like a businessperson instead of solely like a salesperson, you can balance your time. I’ll give you an example: I’ve got a student who earns a quarter million per year and takes two full months off every year to spend with family… two full months! Now if he owned a shoe store instead of a real estate business, would he close down those two months? Of course not. He’d hire a manager to handle things. In real estate, if you don’t have a “store,” or inventory, that can sell while you’re away, you can’t take time off. No inventory = no income, no time off. Lots of inventory = consistent income, ability to take time off.

Q: Love that… treating your business like a business. What a concept, right? Darryl, you’ve always been amazing at teaching agents how to succeed by marketing to FSBOs and expireds, but recently you’ve been sharing why it’s important to stay top of mind with a book of business and geo farm as well. Can you tell me more about that?

A: Because the worst of the housing market crash is mostly behind us, we’re going to see more and more people come into the market in the next few years. Because of that, it’s important for agents to have a consistent marketing campaign. People need to know your name, your face and what you do for a living. I still say working with FSBOs and expireds is a great way to generate listings fast – simply because they’ve already identified themselves as the hand-raisers. That said, think of your business like a wheel – the more spokes you have, the more efficient the wheel works. You eventually hit a point of diminishing return, or too many spokes, but it’s important to find the balance. One or two spokes isn’t enough to generate business momentum.

I’ll give you another example: I have a student named Marty who makes a six-figure income. He lives in South Carolina, but his business is on Long Island. He goes to Long Island once a month to take listings and meet clients. He can do that because one of his “spokes” is a mailing campaign that he sends out consistently to his sphere and farm promoting himself, his business and his listings – all while living in another state! THAT’S the power of staying positioned consistently with the right marketing tools.

Q: Wow! That’s incredible. One of the things our readers tell us is tough for them is following up. They’re either afraid of it (picking up the phone) or don’t make it a priority. Can you share some secrets to success in that area?

A: I would say focus on the activity rather than the results. Why do people fail? Because they don’t see immediate results. So they do what? They QUIT. When you switch your thinking to focus on the ACTIVITY, not the results, it helps you get past the fear.

Think of it like baseball averages. Ballplayers know the more times they get up to bat and take a swing, the more likely they are to get a hit. After a while of playing, they know their numbers… their average. The same is true in prospecting – you’ll get to know your numbers. So maybe out of 10 calls, you get five connects and two appointments. I tell my students that their goal should NOT be to get the appointment; it should be about building relationships. Why? Because it takes the pressure off. Focusing on getting an appointment is a win/lose scenario. If you don’t get it, your reaction is, “I lost. I’m bad.” When you focus on building a relationship, every call is a win. The truth is, you’re not going to get an appointment unless there’s trust. By building relationships, you build trust – and the appointments will happen by themselves.

Going back to the last question, one of the things I like best about consistently sending out mailings is that it helps agents “warm” those calls – which makes follow-up easier, because you have something right off the bat to talk about.

Q: I love the title of your new book, How to Design a Life Worth Smiling About. I just downloaded it and can’t wait to read it! Can you tell us about it?

A: Absolutely. It’s got a lot of fun content in it, and people seem to love it. You know, I ask agents all the time, “When a homeowner lists their house with you, what do you think they want as an end result?” I get a variety of answers, of course. “To sell the home.” No. “To get the most money.” No.

Tune in, and take it all a step further. When you’ve been in the business a while, you’ll often hear homeowners say something like, “If these walls could talk.” They’re not selling a house – they’re selling their HOME. Shelter is the second most important thing to people. They’re leaving the comfort of shelter and going into an unknown. When you’re the agent who can tune into that and realize that every client you help is heading into a new chapter in their lives – and you are a part of that – don’t minimize the powerful impact. Great agents help change people’s lives for the better. When you get THAT… you’re no longer selling.

Q: Darryl, any last words of wisdom?

A: The money we make is actually the thermometer as to how many lives we’ve helped. Focus on the lives you can help, and the money will come.

Awesome insights, Darryl. Thank you so much for sharing with us. I look forward to reading your new book and, as someone who’s known you more years than we care to count, I know all of your students, coaching members and audience members are fortunate to learn from you. Your ability to help people both laugh and learn is extraordinary.

About Darryl Davis

Darryl became a real estate agent at the age of 19 and quickly climbed the ladder to become a top producer, averaging six transactions a month. He became a licensed broker and manager of a new office that became the #1 listing and selling branch within its first 6 months of operation. He’s been named one of the highest-rated speakers at the National Association of REALTORS® convention for the past several years and is the ONLY real estate speaker who is a best-selling author with McGraw-Hill Publishing for his book, How to Become a Power Agent in Real Estate. He is the founder of The POWER Program®, a yearlong real estate coaching program that has proven results of agents doubling their income over their previous year. He’s also the creator of the nationally acclaimed three-day program S.U.R.E. Results, where agents generate an average of $33,504.82 over their previous year. And as creator of the nationally recognized term “Next Level^®,” Darryl strives to bring his students and attendees to their “Next Level^®” of success by training them on how to have more fun and less stress in their business and personal lives. To learn more about Darryl and his training tools and services, visit www.DarrylSpeaks.com, or contact him at 1-800-395-3905.

To learn more about staying in consistent touch with your sphere and farm (as Darryl teaches), visit www.prospectsplus.com, or call our support team at 866.405.3638 today.

Action Supersedes Everything

Feb 15, 2016

What You Do Defines Your Course of Success

by Todd Robertson

There’s a saying that sticks in my head from my days training for Floyd Wickman. He used to say, “there’s
nothing special about special people – it’s what they DO that makes them special.” How true. So many people go through the motions of working in and on their business – but stop short of taking the massive, pro-active action that it takes to get extraordinary results. I just recently had a conversation with one of our Market Dominator customers who believes in taking action in big ways, and in turn, is getting big results.

First, a disclaimer. Of course we recognize that there are different markets out there, and different results for different agents depending on those markets as well as agent experience and skill level. What we also recognize after more than 25 years in this industry is that two factors really stand out when agents are firing on all levels: skills and motivation. This week, I challenge your to rate yourself in both categories and see if there is room in either to raise the bar so that you can raise your results.

Our Dominator Member, Patrick, dug in and took massive action. He not only signed on for the two year campaign, but he’s sending 5,000 of the 12 x 15 Market Dominator pieces per month. Most folks take one or two carrier routes, which average anywhere from 500-1000 homes. Patrick is sending to 5,000 each and every month. He recently shared that after just the first couple mailings he’s taken three listing calls and recently took one listing that he listed and sold before the sign went up, getting both sides of the transaction. That’s extraordinary, but it also showcases how he’s working and raising the bar in those two areas — skill and motivation. To generate listings and sales the way he does he has to not only market effectively, but be able to execute on that marketing. He has to be on the top of his game in three additional areas: presentation, qualifying people, and pricing property right the first time. And given his results, I’d say he’s crushing all three.

Analyze yourself, your skills and motivation from 1-10. What’s your energy level? Your enthusiasm? Your willingness to prospect? (Most agents least favorite thing to do.) Your listing presentation? Your ability to price it RIGHT not just tell the seller what they want to hear? How are your negotiation skills? What’s your follow up look like? Ask yourself if you are at a 1-4 on any of those levels — how do you get to a 10?

Here’s why: action supersedes everything. If you’re willing to take your game from a 1 or a 3 to a 10 in every area of your business – do you think it might bee worth 5, 10 or even 20 additional listings per year? I can tell you from experience — it absolutely can. We’re only in month two of the year. Are YOU ready to take ACTION?

Need help? Contact our marketing team at 866.405.3638. They’re ready to help with all your marketing needs. Interested in learning more about the Market Dominator? Contact Todd Robertson today via call or text at 702-683-1967

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