This Year’s Client Predictions

Jan 30, 2018

Meet your future clients

ProspectsPLUS! has dusted off the crystal ball and made your predictions for your trending listing clients.

Once you know your audience it’s a lot easier to target your marketing, so read on to get to know these homeowners.

The oh-so-reluctant homeowner

If inventories remain as constrained as they were last year, finding listings is going to be like finding that elusive white rabbit in a snowstorm.

However, a recent survey by Value Insured has found that homeowners understand that they’ve built up considerable equity. And, with interest rates so low, they now know it’s truly a great time to sell.

But, many of these sellers will also be buyers.

They read and watch the news, and have heard the horror stories of bidding wars over too few homes on the market and home prices rising at alarming rates.

In fact, more than 60 percent of the homeowners surveyed said that despite the great timing to sell, they are going to wait until buying becomes easier.

Freddie Mac is optimistic that the wait won’t be so long.

They’re predicting that new construction will ramp up and, combined with higher interest rates, prices should moderate.

**Homeowners that will jump into the market**

Generation X – the 62 million folks who will be between the ages of 42 to 53 this year – comprised the largest listing pool last year.

The Value Insured study we referenced earlier found that more than 60 percent of them will be looking for a larger home.

A National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) survey finds that the average Gen X homeowner currently lives in a home with 1,880 square feet of living space.

And, what will they buy?

Gen X has more children still at home than any other generation. But, look at the age span and you’ll agree that this group of real estate consumers has a diverse array of lifestyles.

Aside from the large group of families with children, the generation includes empty nesters, singles, and couples.

That said, studies show us a number of generalizations that can be made about Gen X housing preferences.

Lifestyle and neighborhood are more important than home amenities, according to the NAHB study.
Nearly three-quarters of Gen X homebuyers want a detached, single-family home with three or four bedrooms and at least 2,300 square feet of living space.
The older among them hope to age in place, so are demanding single-story homes.

Don’t write off baby boomers

The media loves to vilify baby boomers – those who will be between the ages of 54 and 72 – for the low housing inventory.

It isn’t that simple, claims Trulia’s Ralph McLaughlin. “Surprisingly, we find the share of owner-occupied homes owned by boomers is actually positively correlated with inventory.”

He goes on to point out the real reason behind the inventory crunch is homebuilders.

“Homebuilding’s impact – or a lack of it in some places – is by far and away the biggest influence when it comes to inventory woes.” Ralph states. “This outweighs other explanations by a large margin.”

Many industry experts state this is the year boomers finally decide to sell.

And, if you sell real estate in Maine, New Hampshire, Montana or Vermont (the states with the largest populations of boomers), you may want to specifically target this generation.

But, some won’t be buying another home

While Gen X home sellers will most likely be buyers as well, don’t automatically expect two transactions from your boomer clients. “Baby boomers are the fastest-growing group of renters,” according to Amy Zimmer at cnbc.com.

And, this group of would-be tenants state, overwhelmingly, that they will be renting so that they can ditch the maintenance headaches of homeownership.

“For many years I was responsible for a house, a family, corporation, and employees,” says a forum poster at aarp.com.

“I don’t have to worry about painting the house; the roof leaking; mowing the lawn; replacing the water heater.” “I don’t have to worry about a thing now,” he says of his decision to sell his home and rent a condo.

Those boomers who do plan on buying another home after they sell the current home will be looking for the following features, according to an NAHB survey:

- Home office – Remember, many boomers plan on putting off retirement. A home office offers flexibility in transitioning from the brick-and-mortar, 9-to5 routine.
- Tech and media centers, specifically wireless home networks that offer remote control of the home’s features.
- Good lighting and lots of natural light
- Wider doorways and hallways – For boomers who hope to age in place.
- Either one-story homes or homes with the master suite on the first floor. For some reason, our knees seem to be the first place on our bodies in which we begin to feel our age. Stairs are uncomfortable.

Listing agents have a lot to be optimistic about right now.

A healthy job market, rising home values and, hopefully, an ease in the housing shortage.

Target marketing to Gen X and baby boomers may just be your key to a prosperous year.

Send I Have a BUYER from the Listing Inventory Series to at least 100 new prospects in an area where you want more listings.

Create a Lifestyle Targeted mailing list here.

Need assistance taking your marketing to the next level? Call our support team at 866.405.3638 today!

PLUS: Whenever you have a moment…here are 3 things to check out that will help you CRUSH IT!

1. The Free 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

2. The Online Sphere of Influence Calculator

Top real estate professionals state 66% of their business comes from their sphere of influence. So how many people do you need in your SOI? Check out our Sphere of Influence Calculator (from your desktop) to find out the answer – 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

Also…check these out 🙂

3 Click Postcards – Just snap, tap, send all from your mobile phone

MLS Mailings – Automated Just Listed, Just Sold Postcards

Market Dominator System – Become a neighborhood brand

One Way to Generate New Listings

Jun 26, 2017

Start by Answering the Questions Already in the Minds of Consumers

By Julie Escobar

A new month – and a new marketing season are straight ahead — and both buyers and sellers in our markets have been inundated with information regarding the economy and the housing industry on television, in print and on the internet. Some good information – some misinterpreted, and some just flat out wrong.

What consumers need more than ever is a RELIABLE, TRUSTWORTHY resource to help them best understand how market changes affect them most. What’s my home worth today? What if I wait a year to sell? What are interest rates going to do? Should they sell? Should they buy? Should they move up to the next size home or is that a risk?

The questions are many – and the answers are yours for the giving – IF you can capture (and keep) the top-of-mind attention of the folks in your area.

One direct response series that is getting great response for agents is our Free Offer Series. Sending three over the course of 2-3 months can certainly help you create the top-of-mind awareness and show potential sellers that you are the agent to ask when they have questions.

Consider kicking off this campaign starting with the Market Analysis postcard. This allows you to spotlight your ability to deliver the information sellers are looking for in a professional way and tap into today’s consumers’ natural desire to search out ‘free’ offers and trusted resources.

Step one: Login to your free ProspectsPLUS.com account. (Or easily create an account and profile in a matter of minutes. Once your profile is ready – the system will automatically populate your information into all of the 680+ marketing tools on the site.)

Step two: Select the Market Analysis Postcard. You can leave as is or customize to suit your marketing style. Click here to watch a video on how to select a postcard series.

Step three: Add your mailing list or use our mapping tools to create a mailing list. If you need help with mailing lists – call our support team at 866.405.3638 or click here to see all of our comprehensive mailing list solutions.

Step four: Place your order then track it. It’s that easy! Click here to watch a video on tracking your postcard order.

Making your job easier is our goal. That’s why we’ve re-engineered the Master Marketing Schedule to offer strategic and creative solutions for building your business faster, easier, more affordable and with way less headaches. In fact, if you’re following the Schedule – this week is a great time to get out in those geo farms and start making real connections. Our Free Offer Door hangers are a great compliment to the Free Offer postcards and the perfect leave behind when you’re door knocking in the market area you most want to dominate.

Putting systems for staying in touch in place don’t have to be tough – or time consuming. Most of our top customers schedule 15-30 minutes at the beginning or end of every month to focus on what marketing tools they want to go out. When they choose a campaign, it’s easy — they simply pick the next one in the series, order and get back to their high priority tasks. Some even delegate a member of their team to make it their priority that something is always being sent to their sphere and farm so top of mind awareness is always there.

Kudos to the agents that are working their systems and are willing to share their experiences with others. We so appreciate you all. For example, Cozett shared with us on ResellerRatings, “I like how ProspectsPLUS! puts marketing at my fingertips and then handles the time consuming work of mailing and distributing materials if I need them too.” Or Jeremy who wrote on our Google+ page, “ProspectPLUS! is a real lifesaver for me. I have been looking around on how to keep in contact with my sellers. I needed more than just a phone call. The postcards are a highlight to my business now. This has also allowed me to start farming a few neighborhoods that I drive through with a more personal touch.” Or Bradley who wrote on our Facebook Page, “ProspectsPLUS makes it so easy for me to market to not only my sphere but also to my farming areas. In less than 5 minutes I can have all of my postcards ordered and off my plate so I can work on what I do best…selling homes!”

We’d love to hear from you too! In fact, give us a shout out with a review now on our Google+ Page and you’ll be entered to win one of our monthly prizes! Wait until you see what’s in store for July!

Have questions or need help developing the marketing plan that’s right for you? Call us today at 866.405.3638 or email us at pmc@prospectsplus.com. We’re here to assist!

The Real Cost of NOT Staying in Touch…

Dec 27, 2016

(It’s More Than Just Money!)

By Julie Escobar

We frequently share the BENEFITS of building and maintaining a salable book of business or sphere-of-influence such as knowing where your next commission is going to come from, developing long-term friendships and relationships, solid referrals you can count on, etc. What we don’t usually talk about is the flip side of that coin. What is it COSTING you when you DON’T stay in touch and follow up with your sphere or farm?

What if ONE prospective seller or buyer fails to call you when they are ready to sell or buy because they ‘forgot’ you were in real estate since you didn’t stay top of mind? Because you didn’t follow up when you said you would? Because you stayed in stealth mode, waiting for the phone to ring? Because you didn’t create a database to manage your lists, so they simply slipped through the lack of system?

We know that on average, top agents get more 66% of their business (or more) from their sphere. (People who know you, like you, trust you, and you’re top of mind with.) We also know that 1 in 12 will deliver a transaction or referral per year on average. So let’s run SIMPLE numbers using our SOI calculator…

If I wanted to make $200,000 per year in real estate and my average commission was $6,000 that would mean I would need AT LEAST 33 transactions in a year (plus whatever your fall-through rate is) to reach that goal. If 66% of that is coming from my sphere – that means I can count on 22 of those transactions coming from the people I am staying in touch with. If 1 in 12 are sending me that business, then I’ll need at least 264 in my sphere to hit the numbers.

The reverse of that is this…22 commissions LOST. That’s $132,000. But it’s even more than that-right? Because let’s face it, if good news travels fast, bad news travels faster-doesn’t it? So, for every broken promise, lack of follow up, or poor customer experience you provide, that can mean a loss of not just a customer, but every referral they might send your way. Add social media in the mix, “don’t use Agent X because they don’t follow through” – and you’ve got a slippery slope that’s tough to recover from.

Commission loss per seller or buyer? _____________ (Average commission)
Loss of referral? ______________ (Average commission x let’s just say 2 referrals)
Loss of re-list and future sale? _____________ (Average commission x average homeowner moves – lists, sells, and buys new – every 9 years)
Loss of marketing dollars spent on those sellers and buyers not recaptured? ________________

Lastly, loss of reputation as a turn-to, stand-up, get-the-job-done agent. That’s really too much to calculate, isn’t it? And that’s not YOU anyway! You’re the stand-up agent-right? Besides, staying top-of-mind is an easy, and affordable investment. Remember that SEND-CALL-SEE + NETWORK approach I’ve shared in the past.

Start with how many you need in your sphere by heading over to our Sphere of Influence Calculator.

SEND – let’s take our example from above – if I needed to stay in touch with my sphere of 264 customers every 30 days to stay visible, (and help earn that $132,000) – and I wanted to send a standard sized postcard first class, that would be 62¢ per card or $163.68 per month. Or you could choose jumbo cards, or newsletters, our Dominator, or even handwritten cards – or better still a combination of all of the above. See what your budget allows and start somewhere, but be consistent every 30-45 days.

CALL – you should call your customers every three months. If you break down that 264 number over 12 weeks — that means you just have to call 22 per week to reach everyone. Easy peasy!

SEE – you should see your customers at least two times a year. Many agents host open houses, holiday events, or even neighborhood block parties (with sponsors for each) which gives them a chance to see many customers at once. Take that top 20% of your list – the ones who consistently send you business – and be sure to spend some one on one time with them. Take them to lunch. Drop by a gift. Deliver tickets to the movies for their family. Our Master Marketing Schedule has some terrific ways to creatively connect each month.

NETWORK – In today’s hyper-connected world, networking has to be part of the equation. From social media to joining local groups, to developing a mastermind of like-minded people to share with — networking is a key source of knowledge AND referral business.

Don’t lose any more dollars, branding, or reputation to lack of connectivity. You are your business. The connection you have with each and every one in your sphere will determine whether they stay a client (and a referral source) or whether you take a loss.

Need help? Contact our team at 866.405.3638 today.

Showing Up When Competition Slows Down

Nov 21, 2016

3 Great Strategies for Creating PRESENCE This Season

By Julie Escobar

It’s that time of year. The holidays are here and with them much of your competition is settling in – for shorter days, slimmer work calendars and that ‘wait ‘till the first of the year’ slump. Not you. You’ve got your eye on a new year filled with promise and kicked off with momentum-right?

Here are three things you can do to create vital PRESENCE now that will carry you through the holidays and long into the New Year with powerful, forward, full-steam-ahead strength.

Commit to Consistency

You know what you see a lot of? Agents who ONLY send a postcard or greeting card once a year. Start now and make it a point to ‘touch’ your sphere and farm at LEAST once every 21-30 days for the duration. Consumers today are savvy – they’re not swayed, influenced or impressed by the ‘one-and-done’ marketing efforts. From their perspective? If you’re that lax in how you market YOURSELF – how will you be at marketing THEIR property? Show the consumers in your market place that you’ve got the chops – and the commitment to be front and center not just once, but again and again and again.

Community Counts

Want to be known as the neighborhood resource or the market specialist? Get out of the office, out from behind your desk and out in FRONT of the people in the community you serve. Make it a point to calendar at least ONE community event in your market per quarter – or even per month. It’s an edge that will set you apart, win favor and create a presence that you’re the top agent to talk to. Team up with your local schools, libraries, chamber of commerce, or even a network of like-minded business professionals to help create awareness, increase attendance and bring a wide spectrum of information to those who want it most.

Think AHEAD

The smartest agents in the business are never satisfied with doing things the ‘same old way’. They’re keeping their ear to the ground, eyes open, and thinking ahead. What can you do to make a splash? How can you best keep the ‘buzz’ going? I love Tony Robbins who has served up the motto ‘Constant And Never Ending Improvement’ for years. In a 24/7, 365 world, you can’t let your skills, your top-of-mind awareness, or your passion to coast or slip to the back burner.

Need help? Call us at 866.405.3638. We’ve got answers you can count on. From direct response postcard marketing that keeps you top-of-mind, to Holiday messages that make a difference, to real world resources that you can adopt and make part of that empowered new marketing and business plan for 2017 that we know you are ALREADY working on! Have a great week!

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