Financial help for the self-employed real estate agent

Apr 21, 2020

Mortgage and rent relief, utility bill forbearance, and a sped-up unemployment compensation process are just a few of the forms of relief offered to Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The list changes almost daily. Unemployment benefits, for instance, were recently extended to independent contractors under the CARES Act.

If you’re not working in real estate right now, which seems to be the prevalent situation across the country, we are offering up some ideas on how to deal with the lack of income during this period.

Let’s talk about that unemployment compensation

The official name for these benefits for the self-employed is “Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA).” As you can imagine, many states were and are completely unprepared for this new program.

Built to accommodate W2 workers, the revamp to state systems to also include the self-employed is a bit sluggish, with some states not yet ready to accept applications.

The COVID-19 Series of postcards are available in the postcard section.

“States appear to be awaiting guidelines from the Labor Department, and some are updating their administrative processes,” according to Greg Iacurci at CNBC.com.

He goes on to detail the experience of one self-employed Rochester, New York woman who was unable to apply via the website. Apparently, the site demanded a copy of her W2. She phoned the office (it took numerous tries before she got through) and was able to apply by phone and faxed her IRS Schedule C in lieu of the required W2.

How much can you expect to receive in PUA? Iacurci says that the self-employed may “… receive half their state’s average weekly unemployment benefit plus $600 a week.”

A far cry from the average commission check, but it will put food on the table.

Check your state’s unemployment office website for details specific to you. For instance, New York has a handy chart detailing the requirements for PUA in that state.

Get a small business loan

I feel for the higher-earning real estate agents right now. To go from a huge income to nothing has got to be something they never expected.

For these agents, especially those with employees, a small business loan may be the answer.

The Paycheck Protection Program, part of the CARES Act, has $350 billion to offer small businesses.

“The program is designed to get cash into the hands of suffering small businesses quickly, with less red tape and fewer guardrails than the SBA’s existing loan programs,” according to Aaron Gregg at WashingtonPost.com.

The main goal of the program is to help employees remain on the payroll by incentivizing small business owners. The bonus for you is that you may qualify for loan forgiveness.

Get details on the Paycheck Protection Program and learn if you qualify at SBA.gov.

Should you consider raiding your retirement funds?

Because there are very pertinent pros and cons to this question, the answer is a toughie.

Some of the disbursement rules have changed, making it even more tempting to raid your retirement accounts. In the past, there were penalties for early disbursements from these accounts.

Today, account holders are allowed to take, penalty-free, up to $100,000 as a “hardship distribution” from their IRA, 401(k) or 403(b).

You will pay taxes on the disbursement but the CARES Act allows you to spread the payment of these taxes (and the repayment of the disbursement) over three years.

“The biggest consequence of withdrawing money from your retirement plan is that you are losing out on that money compounding,” Mitch Goldberg, financial advisor tells Sharon Epperson at CNBC.com.

If this feels like a good solution for you, run it by your financial planner first. He or she may offer up insights you haven’t considered.

Stay healthy!

Send the Virtual Consultation postcard from the COVID-19 Series to an area where you want more listings.

Need help targeting a specific 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 some Free resources we’ve made available to support your success.

1. The 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 12-Month-Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Get More Listings, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence. –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. 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

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

5. The Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

The “Crush It” Guide includes easy steps to launching an effective direct mail marketing campaign, how to create a targeted mailing list, the perfect way to layout marketing materials for success, seven opportunities available to target in your area right now. –Click Here

Real Estate Industry News You May Have Missed

Apr 14, 2020

We know you’re fielding questions from consumers so we’ve scoured real estate related news stories to bring you the ones that will help you answer those questions.

The supply and demand rollercoaster

Worldwide, housing markets are changing. As of March 26, demand in the UK is down and there has been an increase in the number of sales that have fallen through,” according to Nicu Calcea at Zoopla.co.uk.

However, here in the U.S. conditions are fairing much better. In fact, they reflect our favorite “location, location, location” mantra.

The COVID Series of postcards is available in the postcard section.

For instance, an agent in Albuquerque, NM states that the market is “still rocking.”

Christian Murdock, with Gazette.com says that the Colorado Springs, CO market is not only still strong, but “Home sales increased; prices soared to another record high, and builders enjoyed their best month in more than a year.”

Of course, it’s to be expected that some areas are being temporarily impacted by the stay-at-home orders. Realtor.com stated during the week of March 28, the number of new listings (nationally) decreased over this time last year.

The good news for buyers, however, is that homes coming on the market are less expensive.

“The median asking price for newly-listed homes last week was $309,000—$21,000, lower than two weeks earlier,” according to Katz.

Do check out this Redfin article for some interesting charts and graphs.

Will the iBuyer model survive?

According to Brenda Richardson at Forbes.com, iBuyers, such as Opendoor, Zillow, Redfin, and others, are taking a break from the housing market.

They are, in her estimation, “… in a state of limbo. What the iBuyer landscape will look like when the dust settles is a big question mark.”

One Zillow listing client explained to Richardson that Zillow canceled his home purchase 10 days before closing.

According to Richardson, the cancellation paperwork told him he had 48 hours to “. . . to choose between two options from Zillow: ‘I could take a check for $5,000. That’s $1,000 in earnest money that they were contractually obligated to pay me for breaking the contract and $4,000 extra for the trouble. Or they would pay for a Realtor to relist the house. They were just going to cancel the contract and walk away.’”

He took the money. “We absolutely could have closed on this house without ever having to break any sort of guidelines around social distancing,” he explained to Richardson.

“And so for Zillow to blame what’s going on from a health-care standpoint for their financial decision to break this contract and put that burden back on me and their customers is really insulting.”

Maybe he’ll choose a real, live, professional and experienced real estate agent next time?

MOST IMPORTANT: Free telemedicine for REALTORS®

Your association is certainly looking out for you during this crisis. According to the Members TeleHealth site, the NAR has funded two free months of TeleHealth services for members.

You don’t have much time, however, you need to sign up by April 15 and you can do so at RealtorsInsuranceMarketplace.com.

Stay in touch with your Sphere and Farm by sending a postcard from the COVID-19 Series.

Or purchase a single postcard download and share it on social media.

Need help targeting a specific 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!

Check out the All-New ProspectsPLUS! 10X – With a personalized dashboard, auto-populated marketing, the world’s best editor, and mailings lists you can buy in minutes! – Click Here

PLUS: When you have time…here are some Free resources we’ve made available to support your success.

1. The 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

2. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan

4. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

5. The Free Online ROI Calculator

3. The Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

ProspectsPLUS! 10X is Officially Here

Apr 7, 2020

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Works on any browser.
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Call our support team if you need any assistance at 866-405-3638.

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Which Social Media Platforms to Focus on and Which to Avoid for the Best ROI

Apr 2, 2020

A few months ago, we began to sift through the various social media platforms and whittle down which were most worthy of a real estate agent’s time. At that time we compared Instagram and Facebook.

We promised to continue this quest in a “part two” article down the road.

And, right now, with stay-at-home orders in place, and many agents focusing on social media, we decided there was no better time than the present to complete this topic.

The following statistics define what additional social media platforms to focus on and what to avoid to ensure the best ROI.

Always start with the demographics

In their attempts to pitch their services to real estate agents, social media marketing companies are notorious for using vague statistics.

For instance, one company gives agents “10 Reasons Why Every Realtor Needs An Awesome Instagram Account.” Reason number one is that Instagram

“… boasts over one billion active monthly users and over 500 million daily users.”

While that’s impressive, unless you sell real estate internationally, this number is completely useless to you. Why pay to advertise to someone who lives on the other side of the globe?

What you need to know is how many Americans use a platform. In Instagram’s case, it’s 116 million, which is only 11 percent of the total active monthly users.

Then, you should find out the primary age groups that use the platform. Instagram’s largest user group (64 percent of all users) is between the ages of 18 and 34 (Gen Z and younger millennials).

Remember, NAR’s studies show that the largest group of homebuyers are those between the ages of 25 and 43 (millennials) and baby boomers (age 56 to 74) make up the largest group of sellers.

Realtor marketing postcards for neighborhood updates — The Neighborhood Update postcard is available in the Neighborhood Update Series under Postcards

The average age of each, however, is 47 and 57, respectively.

Thinking of Pinterest?

Pinterest is wildly popular with American women, or “deciders” as the folks at Pinterest call them. Here are the details you need to know to determine if it’s a platform you want to spend time on:

83 percent of American women between the ages of 24 and 54 use Pinterest (Pinterest.com)
43 percent of these users say they’ll buy a house sometime between now and 2025. (Pinterest.com)
When looking for information on buying a home, 21 percent of Millennials use Pinterest (Better Homes & Gardens survey of homebuyers)

You may want to do a cost-benefit analysis before you jump on the Pinterest bandwagon. It’s quite time-consuming so unless you have a dedicated marketing person or social media manager on the team, it could end up eating much of your valuable time.

When your pins and boards are optimized, however, Pinterest can be a powerful way to steer traffic to your website.

How is Twitter for real estate agents?

Because it’s in the media so often, Twitter seems a lot more popular than it is – at least with adults.

Nearly 80 percent of all Twitter users live outside the U.S. (Omnicore Agency)
More than 65 percent of Twitter users are males
Nearly 40 percent of users are between the ages of 18 and 29

Real estate agents should look long and hard at the first and third Twitter facts in the above list. The U.S. audience is small and it’s composed largely of people outside the home buying and selling age range.

The Looking For Expert Advice postcard is from the Get More Listings Series under the postcard section

If you love Twitter, there’s certainly nothing wrong with using it for personal stuff, however.

TikTok

Just what every real estate agent needs: yet another social media/video app to consider as a marketing tool.

Since the majority of real estate agents aren’t in Gen Z and aren’t even Millennials, an explanation is probably in order here.

TikTok is “The app where Gen Z vies for 15 seconds of fame,” according to Slate.com’s Heather Schwedel. She goes on to describe it “as a social network for amateur music videos.”

This newcomer to the “Oh-my-God-you-need-to-be-using-this” video-sharing platform has become an obsession with teens. In fact, half of TikTok’s users (globally) are under the age of 34, with the vast majority of them between 16 and 24.

When was the last time you had a 16, 17,18 or even 20-year-old real estate client?

Then, 80 percent of the app’s most frequent users reside in China, but India accounts for nearly half of all new users.

Are you licensed to sell real estate in China or India?

What you’ll hear from marketers trying to get your business:

Users spend about 52 minutes each day on the app
The app is the most downloaded from the Apple App Store
“One of the great reasons why it’s so great for real estate is because, simply, not many people in real estate are using it”
“You see a lot of people like Gary Vee . . . talking about how TikTok is something you need to be going all-in on.”

We had to laugh at that last one, since Gary Vee sells, among other things, sneakers. TikTok supplies the ideal targeted audience for that product.

You, on the other hand, hopefully, sell HOMES. TikTok, at least right now, is an utter waste of time for real estate agents.

What’s not a waste of time? Facebook, whom we highlighted in our last article on social media marketing and LinkedIn.

The Neighborhood Update Free Offer postcard is available in the Neighborhood Update Free Offer Series under Postcards.

For buying ads, we would seriously consider NextDoor.

Send the Neighborhood Update Free Offer postcard from the Neighborhood Update Free Offer Series to your Farm or an area where you want more listings.

Keep them informed about what’s going on right now in their marketplace.

Need help targeting a specific 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 some Free resources we’ve made available to support your success.

1. The 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

2. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan

4. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

5. The Free Online ROI Calculator

3. The Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

The Perfect Stay-at-Home Project: Ramp Up Your Website’s Neighborhood Page

Mar 30, 2020

Generate more future leads with your neighborhood page

Did you know that the most powerful lead-generating pages on a real estate agent’s website can and should be the neighborhood or community pages?

Sadly, for too many agents, they aren’t. Although these pages provide important information to visitors, too many aren’t doing the heavy lifting of luring new visitors to the site. Why?

Inaccurate understanding of how to set these pages up for lead generation success.

For instance, one agent website provider offers up a blog post about features to include to create an “Unbelievable Real Estate Neighborhood Page.”

Home prices
Community description
Neighborhood photos and videos
Area statistics
School rankings
Local attractions

They then show examples of these features “in action.” Of the two agent websites shown, neither showed up within the first FIVE pages of Google results for their neighborhood pages.

I don’t know about you, but an “unbelievable” neighborhood page should generate leads.

So, how do you get yours to do that?

Optimize those neighborhood pages

Although the pages we viewed on the aforementioned websites are full of valuable information about the various communities, they will never rank unless and until they are SEO optimized.

Even then there is no guarantee you’ll show up on page one of Google, especially if you work in a major market, such as San Francisco, Chicago or New York.

Optimizing your pages may, on the other hand, yield huge results for smaller-market agents.

The Sanitizing Your Home Free Report is available under the Free Report section

Start with the title

Your first impulse when creating a title for a neighborhood page is naturally going to be something along the lines of “Homes for Sale in [Name of Neighborhood].”

But, check this out: There’s an agent in New England who titles all of his neighborhood pages “Realtors Guide to [Name of Neighborhood].”

We don’t know what led him to make this decision but it might be that he felt the names of the neighborhoods were too competitive to rank well on their own.

His decision is brilliant, however. We ran a search for “Realtor [Name of Neighborhood] and he ranks on page one of Google for three out of four communities. For the fourth, he ranks in the number one spot on page two of Google results.

While the volume of searches for this term are most likely quite low, we imagine this agent gets the lion’s share of leads when it is used.

Tip: If you choose to go the traditional route, avoid using the term “real estate.” It’s not a term that consumers frequently use. In fact, Google ads research shows us that “homes for sale in” receives nearly 9.5 times more impressions than “real estate for sale in.”

Additionally, the former results in nearly 5 times more clicks than the latter.

Sprinkle longtail keyword phrases throughout

Longtail keywords typically include at least 4 words, but often more than that. Some to consider include hyper-local phrases such as:

Homes for sale in las vegas with a view
View homes for sale in las vegas
Oceanfront homes for sale in Waikiki
Homes for sale in Hopkins near the blake school

Work these into your neighborhood descriptions as naturally as possible. For instance:

“The best neighborhoods that offer ocean-front homes for sale in Waikiki include . . .”

Tip: If a neighborhood is known locally by a name that’s different than what appears on the map or the official name, don’t be afraid to use it in your long-tail keyword phrases.

Don’t stuff

While you want to avoid keyword stuffing, there are areas of a neighborhood page that will give your keywords the most bang for the buck.

These include:

The title of the page
The first sentence on the page
The URL link
Several subheadings
Image alt text

The Sanitizing Your Home content card is available in the Content Card Series under postcards.

If you don’t have neighborhood pages on your website, it’s time to fix that.

Send the Sanitizing Your Home content postcard from the Content Card Series to your Sphere and/or Farm to keep them informed of how to stay safe during the coronavirus.

Need help targeting a specific 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 some free resources we’ve made available to support your success.

1. The 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

2. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan

4. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

5. The Free Online ROI Calculator

3. The Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

The Time is Now to Supercharge Your Database

Mar 25, 2020

The Perfect Stay-at-Home Marketing Activity

Imagine what the future would look like if you could stop cold calling, door knocking or chasing after FSBOs indefinitely – or at least cut way down on those activities?

Ditching the more distasteful aspects of your real estate lead generation routine may be possible, if you vow, right now, to get serious about your CRM database.

Warm calls are so much more pleasant and knocking on doors where people are happy to see you beats the alternative.

Make building better relationships with people you already know, the center of your current stay-at-home activities.

How’s your sphere of influence?

Agents who have been in the business for more than a minute tell horror stories about friends and even family members who “forgot” that they were in real estate and listed their homes with another agent.

In fact, NAR statistics says,

“The typical real estate agent earned 13 percent of their business from repeat clients and 17 percent from referrals from past clients and customers.”

Look at those numbers – they’re pathetic, aren’t they? Especially when NAR surveys say that nearly 90 percent of real estate consumers say they would use their agent again in the future.

Past clients know you and, hopefully, they like and trust you. Shouldn’t agents be getting more than 17 percent of their business from referrals from them?

We get it. Agents have a ton of irons in the fire during the typical work week and keeping in contact with their SOI typically ends up as a low priority.

What would happen, though, if you moved it up on the list? Made those warm contacts (instead of contacting strangers) a priority? You’ll end up top-of-mind with your sphere when someone mentions buying or selling a home.

Customize a postcard from the DIY Series with a personal message offering ways to help stay busy.

Step 1 to get your real estate business on the referral track

Organize your database. Yeah, it doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun, but it’s necessary to keep you on track. And there is no better time to do this than right now, while you’re at home.

If you already have an organizational method, you’re one step ahead. If not, let’s create a simple one.

Start by grouping your contacts. There are many ways to group them, so choose labels that make sense to you. Some suggestions include:

Hot leads (people you don’t know yet)
Cold leads (again, people you don’t know)
Sphere (or “family,” “friends” “ladies I play tennis with” “past clients”)
Vendors

Feel free to create subgroups, if it will help you to stay organized. Some of these may include:

Immediate family members
Extended family
Closest friends
Acquaintances
Neighbors
People you met through your kids

Share fun, family ideas with your Sphere with the Recipe Series. Don’t forget to add a custom note.

Thanks to the folks at TopProTraining.com for some of those ideas. Check out their list for more.

Kim Hughes at KimHughes.com suggests that the next step in setting up your database to help you succeed should be to go through all of the leads, checking the information you have on them and adding anything that comes to mind.

At a minimum, Hughes says you should have the contact’s full name and the name of immediate family members. Naturally, you won’t have family member info for some contacts, such as leads.

Then, take some time to pick up the phone and start calling people. Start with folks you know, like past clients, relatives, and friends.

Let them know they’re in your thoughts and you’re checking in to see if you can help them with anything.

While on the phone, tell them you’re updating your database and want to ensure you have their correct contact information:

Verify that the addresses, both snail and email, are current.
Best phone number to contact them.
Birthdate is an important one (folks LOVE getting birthday greetings). The birthdate might be a tough one to ask, but tell them you like to reach out to people on their birthdays. You don’t need a year, so that may make the question “Hey, when is your birthday?” a bit easier to ask.

Get ideas for these conversations at TheRealEstateTrainer.com.

Listen carefully to their end of the conversation for any tidbits you can add to their spot in your database.

Then schedule a follow-up call, or a reminder to send a card, depending on what they’ve told you.

This is a project that, although it needs to get done sooner, rather than later, is one that can be done in chunks. Hughes brilliantly recommends starting the organization process with your past clients.

But do schedule those time chunks and vow to stick by the schedule. Before you know it, you’ll have an organized, clean database, making your real estate lead generation a much more enjoyable and rewarding process.

Use the Just Listed Series to create a custom postcard for your “Open House Virtual Tour”

Do you have current listings to promote? Create “Virtual” Open House postcards for your current listings using the Just Listed Series and promote them through social media, on your website, and through mailings.

Need help targeting a specific 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 some Free resources we’ve made available to support your success.

1. The 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

2. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan

4. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

5. The Free Online ROI Calculator

3. The Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

You might like the following episode from our Take a Listing Today Podcast.

Switching Strategies: The 3 Best Practices For Effective Video Tours

Mar 23, 2020

If anyone is an expert at switching strategies, it’s real estate agents and right now with sellers that need to sell and buyers that need to buy, the best way to facilitate this is with video tours.

Therefore, the following are the three best practices to follow to ensure your video tours are an effective marketing tool.

Tight budget? Did you know you can purchase only one Just Listed Just Sold postcard download from our site to send in emails and promote on social media instead of a mailing?

Best Practice 1 — Ensure your video does double duty

Sure, the purpose of the video is to market your listing, but videos can do double duty, according to Forrester Research. Videos are 50 times more likely to show up on the first page of Google search results than text pages, if they’re optimized, according to research.

Why not leverage the power of YouTube to benefit your business while also promoting your client’s listing?

Mashable’s Nate Elliot suggests doing the following:

Use your keywords in the video’s title, tags and description when you upload it to YouTube.
After uploading the video to YouTube, embed it on your website. According to Elliot, Google considers “how many times a video is viewed, and any views embedded videos receive on your own site get added to the ‘views’ tally on YouTube.”
Create a video sitemap.

Best Practice 2 – Keep your video short

Saying that we humans have short attention spans might just be the understatement of the century.

In fact, 56 percent of all videos published in the last year are less than 2 minutes long. Fewer than half of video viewers (46 percent) stick with a video all the way to the end, according to research published by Vidyard.com.

Smart marketers know this, which is why that same report shows that 75 percent of videos produced by businesses in the last year are less than two minutes in length.

Brevity reigns when it comes to getting someone to press the start button on your videos. You need to engage them immediately. Therefore, avoid putting yourself in the frame at the beginning of the video. Head straight to the most compelling aspects of the home.

And, if you don’t get their attention in the first 10 seconds, kiss them goodbye.

In fact, research shows that you’ll lose 30 percent of viewers within the first 30 seconds of your video and, when it reaches the one-minute mark, another 45 percent will leave.

So, plan on putting the most important stuff upfront and keep the entire video as short as possible.

Best Practice 3 – Promote your video

Like any content you create, promotion is the key to success. After you upload your listing video to YouTube and embed it on your website, also add it to the home’s dedicated page, if you have created one.

Then, start pumping out promotion for this video on social media (especially Facebook and LinkedIn) and through email.

Property Flyers are available as a download or shipped to you.

By following the above guidelines to video tour best practices you will continue to market your property effectively and keep your clients happy.

Download a Property Flyer and promote your property in your emails and on social media.

Need help targeting a specific 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 some Free resources we’ve made available to support your success.

1. The 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

2. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan

4. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

5. The Free Online ROI Calculator

3. The Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

Real Estate Lead Follow-up: Nail The First Call

Mar 18, 2020

Overcome your call reluctance

It’s irrational. After all, “call reluctance” is a malady reserved for cold callers, isn’t it? Then why does the warm-call-lead-follow-up produce the same symptoms?

The dread at the thought of picking up the phone and trying to win the trust and business of a complete stranger isn’t all that irrational when you think about it.

You’ve cleared the first hurdle by generating a response to your marketing. Now, it’s completely up to how you handle this call that will result in you winning the business.

That’s intimidating for many of us.

Intimidation gets us stuck. So, back away from the phone and take a deep breath. Then, learn the tried-and-true techniques successful agents use when following up on real estate leads.

Generate Leads With a Free Report Offer (Available in Free Reports)

Change your perspective

Remember, this first follow-up call isn’t a cold one. You’re returning a call (or email, etc.). This person reached out to you and expects a response. You’ve actually been given permission to contact her.

She may not be ready to pull the trigger on a real estate transaction right now, and you should be prepared for that, but she was motivated enough to take the first step and that’s a cause to celebrate, not back away.

Besides, who has too many leads in their pipeline? There’s always room for one more.

It’s all in the timing

While our industry is known for its “location, location, location” mantra, what outsiders don’t know is that “time is of the essence” is more than just a contract term to real estate agents.

When faced with an initial contact from a real estate lead, time can either be your enemy or your best friend.

It is critical that you place that follow-up call within minutes of receiving the lead.

If you don’t, another agent most certainly will.

Whether it’s call reluctance or that you’re insanely busy, we get it. But studies show that the chances of reaching the lead are the highest if you return the call within five minutes.

Years ago, two guys from InsideSales.com teamed up with James B. Oldroyd, from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to conduct a survey of more than 600 businesses.

Their aim was to study “lead response rates, timing and effort, and their influence on the outcome of a lead,” they told Steve Olenski at Forbes.com.

Compel Your Target Market With Free Reports (Available in Free Reports)

What they found should be etched into the minds of every real estate agent:

Call back within five minutes and you’re most likely to connect with the lead.

If you wait a half-hour, you are 100 times less likely to reach the lead.

Wait five hours and your odds of ever connecting with that lead drop by 3,000 times.

An immediate call-back is not only most likely to result in a conversation with your lead, but it’s impressive as well.

“We call it the ‘wow effect’ as in wow, that was fast! You are impressive,” InsideSales.com’s CEO Dave Elkington tells Olenski.

And, how could they not be impressed, especially if they’ve placed calls to other agents? The odds are pretty low that they got a return call this quickly from anyone else.

But this isn’t all we can take away from the survey; conversion rates – “the rate at which the lead contact is willing to set an appointment and enter the sales cycle,” according to Olenski — increases with a quicker return call.

Free Report Offers Get Your Phone Ringing (Available in Free Reports)

Obviously, getting an appointment is the goal with real estate lead gen follow-up, so ignore time being of the essence at your peril.

**What not to say after “hello”**

Before making the call-back, take a minute to familiarize yourself with everything you learned from his or her message. If it was a call about a specific property, get the MLS listing in front of you. Then look it over to determine the neighborhood, size, and anything of interest that may not be included in the public-facing listing information.

Focus solely on the lead and his or her reasons for reaching out to you, no matter how tempted you are to toot your own horn. Naturally, if you’re asked, you’ll want to answer questions about yourself, but unsolicited remarks about your sales stats, designations, etc. make you appear overly “salesy.”

Don’t push for an appointment until you understand where in the pipeline this lead falls. At this point, you’re a counselor, not a real estate salesperson.

Identify yourself and the name of your brokerage, and quickly add that you’re returning his or her call.

At this point, the lead may launch into the reason for the original call. Listen carefully to what’s being said and answer all questions.

When the call is for information about a particular listing, describe it and then, again, listen.

If you feel that the lead is open to remaining on the phone with you, begin a gentle probe, asking if he has spoken with a lender, if he has a home to sell before buying another and, naturally, if he’s interested in touring the home he called about.

Before disengaging the caller, let him know that you have no intention of hounding him like some of the other agents he’s spoken with but that you’re available if he has additional questions.

Ask for permission to email alerts about new listings similar to the one he called about.

Free Report for Real Estate Marketing to sellers — Add Free Report Offers to all of Your Marketing (Available in Free Reports)

The wrap-up

If you offer free reports or an e-book, offer it toward the end of the call. “I just created a market report for the Pleasant Skies neighborhood that will give you an idea of what the different models are selling for, can I email you a copy?”

Great free reports to offer that are popular with consumers include, “Chop Years Off Your Mortgage“, “5 Reasons Your House Didn’t Sell” “Sure-Fire Tips For a Quick Sale“, “6 Dangers of Overpricing“, all of which are available here.

Be sure to include your free report offer with your emails direct mail, social media and website to drive those inbound phone calls.

No freebies? Hey, a list of new listings matching his criteria is a freebie, so offer that. “I’ll tell you what, Joe, give me your email address and I’ll be happy to email you alerts of new listings that match what you’re looking for.”

End the call with something along the lines of: “Terrific. Now, if you see any other listings you’re interested in touring, don’t hesitate to give me a call, or text me. I’m happy to set appointments for you and show you around the neighborhood,”

The key to success with a lead who leaves you a message is lightning-quick response time. Then, remember not to come on too strong. Counsel the lead, don’t sell to her.

Now that you have a plan of attack, order Free Reports and add a Free Report Offer to ALL of your marketing (emails, direct mail, website, and social media).

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 Free killer tools to help your success this year!

1. The 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan – NEW 2020!

2. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan – NEW 2020!

4. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

5. The Free Online ROI Calculator

3. Get the ALL-NEW Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

Real estate agent marketing: The Personal Brochure

Mar 16, 2020

Employees have it easy when it comes to marketing themselves to prospective employers. A resume and cover letter are typically all that’s expected.

Employees, however, aren’t the owners of small businesses with brands tied to the business owner.

Real estate agents looking for “employers” (i.e. clients) go about it more like models, who send out portfolios and composites.

The Selling a Home brochure is available in the Brochure section under Personal brochures.

For an agent, a listing presentation is akin to the model’s portfolio and a personal brochure is her composite.

But it’s not a vanity marketing piece

It’s easy to keep the content of expired listing and FSBO brochure on the right track. Too many personal brochures, on the other hand, end up looking and reading like vanity marketing pieces.

In fact, all personal branding walks that fine line. Therefore, lose the sales pitch, avoid trite, over-used statements and, overall, be authentic.

What to include in your real estate brochure?

Your business philosophy
Your bio
Any impressive sales statistics
Awards received
Showcase how you give back to the community
Testimonials

The World of Opportunities brochure is available in the Brochure section under Personal Brochures.

The latter is critical. Choose only the best testimonials and sprinkle them throughout.

Don’t forget the other stuff

It’s easy to get carried away with the text aspect of your personal real estate brochure. However, it’s important to pay attention to other aspects as well. These include:

Color selection is important and should match the branding colors you use in your logo, website, etc.
Layout
Typography
Font
Photographs

All of these should be carefully considered so that the end result is appealing, eye-catching and different from other agents in your market. Most of all it should convey expertise, authority, and professionalism.

How to use your personal brochure

“Our personal brochure is included and placed at the end of every pre-listing presentation package.,” says Barbara Todaro, the head of marketing for the Todaro Team in Franklin, MA. Other agents add to the list of ways to use your personal real estate brochure:

Include it in a mailing to owners of expired listings
Include it in a mailing to FSBOs
Stick it in your buyer’s packet

“If you do not have a personal brochure, it’s time to get one,” Todaro said.

“Buyers and sellers don’t want to be sold by you they want to be sold on you.” according to Mark Hughes, author of “Branded Agent: The 7 Strategies of Top Personal Real Estate Brands.”

The Neighborhood Specialist brochure is available in the Brochure section under Personal Brochures

Your professional real estate brochure will do just that.

Order or download the Neighborhood Specialist Personal Brochure and add it to your listing presentation, provide it at your Open Houses, and use it as a leave-behind or hand out.

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 Free killer tools to help your success this year!

1. The 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan – NEW 2020!

2. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan – NEW 2020!

4. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

5. The Free Online ROI Calculator

3. Get the ALL-NEW Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

Go From Home Showing to Sold in Lightning Speed

Mar 11, 2020

You’ve conducted a buyers’ consultation and you have a pretty good handle on what your potential buyers want in a home. Now, it’s time to find them the home that gets a BIG YES. Here are some tips to help you go from showing to SOLD in lightning speed.

The checklist

Just as no two listing clients are identical, not all buyers are alike. Some of them will take your consultation to heart, while others will remain unfocused. Although the following technique works for both, it’s the latter who will get the most out of it.

Create some checklists and worksheets for your clients to use as they tour each home. HUD offers a home comparison checklist that you can download. Brand it and hand it out to your buyers.

The Multi-Photo postcard is available in the Multi-Photo Series under the postcard section

Do the same with a wish list worksheet – which is just as useful for you as it is for your clients. It helps you narrow down the list of homes to show and it helps keeps your clients focused on what is truly important to them.

Go overboard on sharing information

If there’s a home on the viewing list that you know fits most or all of your clients’ requirements, help make the sale by loading them up with valuable information.

Is it their first time in a neighborhood? Be sure to grab some information about it and nearby amenities. If you know where they work, get an estimated commute time by putting the home’s address into Google maps and asking for directions to the work address. The time it takes to drive from one location to the other is included in Google’s directions.

If the buyers have children, locate nearby schools on a map of the area. Even if they don’t have kids, learn about the quality of those schools.

If you get lucky, and the home is located close to a quality school, remind childless buyers of how homes near good schools are good investments because they tend to hold their value better than homes near poor-performing schools.

The best way to get this information is by going online, to schooldigger.com, and entering the name of the school or district in the search box.

Finally, compiling a CMA for any home you think the buyers will be interested in is a must. They’ll want to know if it’s priced right and had those stats at your fingertips is a valuable customer service tactic.

luxury marketing brochures — Luxury Marketing Brochures are available under the Brochure section.

Don’t encourage enormously high expectations

I love this tip from John D. Mayfield, broker/owner of Mayfield Real Estate in Farmington, MO. He calls it “underselling,” and cautions agents not to “hype” up a home before the showing.

Why?

“Buyers may feel the home doesn’t meet their hyped-up expectations,” he suggests and goes on to caution that “The opposite is true, too—many practitioners have stories of showing homes they thought were downright ugly, only to learn” that it was just what the buyers were looking for.

Sure, you should mention the home’s features that match their wish list, but, as Mayfield says, “Let the home sell itself.”

Set the stage

If you won’t be loading the buyers in your car, try to get to the home a few minutes before they do. This way you can run through the home and open drapes, turn on all the lights and ensure pets are safely tucked away.

Know when to back off

Veteran buyers’ agents know the signs of both interest and disinterest in a home. The buyer who zips through the home, barely looking at it, most likely decided at the curb that he didn’t like it.

Then, there’s the buyer who focuses on one or two rooms, repeatedly returning to them – a definite sign of interest.

When working with the latter, you need to know when to physically back off. Especially if it’s a couple, give them some privacy to discuss what is most evidently on their minds. “Is there enough room here for the sofa?” “How do you think yellow would work in here?”

The nit-picker, on the other hand, needs your presence. Although many agents think the buyers who notice every little thing wrong in a home show disinterest, an experienced pro at the helm can guide them into understanding what easy fixes many of these “problems” can be.

Give them a vision

Most buyer agents know that a couple that starts talking about furniture placement is interested in the home. They’re envisioning what the rooms will look like with their furniture and accessories.

Since you were smart enough to get them to provide a thorough wish list, guide their vision by pointing out the features they will find most desirable. Get them to realize that just because a room is used as a bedroom, it doesn’t have to be.

Do they long for a home office? Point out which bedroom would make the ideal office and why.

Order or download Property Flyers, available in our Flyer section, then provide them at your next Open House.

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 Free killer tools to help your success this year!

1. The 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan – NEW 2020!

2. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan – NEW 2020!

4. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

5. The Free Online ROI Calculator

3. Get the ALL-NEW Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

Is your website generating real estate leads?

Feb 26, 2020

With all the changes Facebook has been forced to institute in its ad program, many agents we speak with are dumping their ads on the platform and seeking alternative forms of lead generation.

Some are reconsidering the “old” ways to generate leads, primarily direct mail.

We agree that direct mail is even more effective today than ever, but all marketing plans should be multi-pronged.

One free way to generate leads that is often overlooked is the agent website. Sure, you can hire someone to tweak your SEO, but there are other ways to help generate organic traffic.

Start with your content. As you go through the content on your site, keep this advice from Dan Ritzke, founder of Third Act Marketing, top-of-mind:

No one wants to learn about your brand

No one wants to learn about your product

No one wants to learn about you

Everyone wants to solve problems that are bothering them

Everyone wants to make their life easier

Everyone wants to make their job easier.

The “everyone” you should concentrate on is real estate consumers. Luckily, NAR offers some tips they gleaned in a survey of these potential clients (2019 Homebuyer and Seller Generational Trends).

The top three website features that consumers find “very helpful” have to do with listings:

Photos
Detailed information about listings
Floor plans

That these consumers chose listing information as the most useful shows exactly why they visited real estate websites. Although neighborhood information is important, that’s not why they visited.

Your bio is also important, but most don’t find it “useful” to them.

The most useless information on agent websites, according to survey respondents, includes:

Videos
Information about open houses
Real estate news

While all ages rank videos as unimportant, 27 percent of baby boomers like them (the highest percentage of all groups).

What stood out the most for us is that floor plans are important to real estate website visitors yet we see few listings that include this feature.

Among the tasks you can accomplish to make your listings more valuable to buyers is to start including floor plans, lots of photos and get more detailed in your descriptions. Get more tips here.

While we can’t personally vouch for the following floor plan providers, several agents we’ve spoken with recommend them:

Then, ditch the videos on your website. Another NAR report proves that homebuyers don’t watch videos and don’t find them useful. They do, however, like virtual tours. Get on the 3-D virtual tour train in 2020 to offer value to website visitors.

The value the real estate agent brings to the process

That NAR survey also asked participants about the “Most Important Factors when Choosing an Agent.”

Let’s start with what they consider least important:

What matters least to real estate consumers?

Which broker you work for
Your level of community involvement
Designations (last on the list)

Note: There have been studies over the past couple of years that claim an agent’s community involvement is very important to the younger real estate consumer.

Your broker’s brand, whether it’s a Keller Williams or RE/Max or a local boutique brokerage, is often shown to be of little importance to consumers.

And, designations? Not only do consumers not know what the letters stand for, but when told, they aren’t impressed.

Create a personal brochure describing important attributes and experience and use it as a leave-behind

Don’t feel as if you need to take up space on your website, especially above the fold, with these items. Save that area for the things potential clients feel are valuable.

The top 3 qualities consumers look for in a real estate agent:

That the agent is honest and trustworthy
Experience
Reputation

Experience matters most to baby boomers and least to members of Gen X.

Think about Ritzke’s advice when tweaking your website’s information about you. Overtly salesy stuff will get you nowhere.

For instance, while they value experience, it will take a lot more than “Three decades as the top-selling agent” to convince them.

Ask yourself how your experience will help them solve common problems in a real estate transaction:

Experienced agents are better negotiators
Experienced agents know what can go wrong and can help buyers/sellers be proactive to avoid these pitfalls

When it comes to proving your honesty and reputation, nothing will do that better than your testimonials.

Tell them until the cows come home that you’re experienced and honest or the king or queen of trustworthiness and they may or — more likely — may not believe you.

When tweaking your website ensure that your best testimonial resides above the fold and that others – especially those in which your clients extoll your honesty and boost your reputation — are sprinkled liberally throughout your site.

Need more tips on how and why to use testimonials? You’ll find them right here.

Send the Multi-Photo Just Listed Postcards out to the area surrounding your listing. Turn one listing into many.

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 Free killer tools to help your success this year!

1. The 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan – NEW 2020!

2. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan – NEW 2020!

4. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

5. The Free Online ROI Calculator

3. Get the ALL-NEW Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

3 tips to stay motivated until spring

Feb 19, 2020

It may not seem like it, but winter is almost over. The “famine” part of the equation will be history and we can wallow in the “feast” that spring brings.

Until then, dealing with the snail’s pace of the market at this time of year can dishearten even the most optimistic among us.

Direct Response Reports are available under the Free Report section on ProspectsPLUS.com

But it doesn’t have to. Check out these three tips to help you stay motivated through the final month of winter.

1. Take action, even if it’s puny

“Your income right now is a result of your standards, it is not the industry, it is not the economy,” claims motivational coach Tony Robbins. Easy for him to say when he doesn’t work in real estate, right?

If you’re familiar with Robbins you’ll know that he’s big on taking action – especially if it’s “massive.” Even a small step toward your goals, however, helps raise those standards he speaks about.

“Even if you take the wrong action, if you keep changing your approach you can succeed in anything,” according to Robbins.

Actions to consider taking during the remaining downtime include:

Clean up and organize your CRM
Prepare a mailing list of past clients
Research a farm area for listings
Organize a summer event for past clients

One action – just one step toward a goal – taken every day can move you from inertia to progress.

Turn the eyes upside down

While people you hang out with can stifle your professional progress, “the what that you surround yourself with …can either propel you forward…or hold you back,” according to Amy Blaschka at Forbes.com.

In other words, get out of the office, the car and your head by changing your environment. Samuel R. Sommers, associate professor of psychology at Tufts University claims that this one change can lead to “a burst of fresh thinking and increased drive.”

Take the laptop to a coffee shop or, if it’s not too frosty outdoors, head to the local park. Invite a prospect for coffee or lunch. Take a walk in nature.

“Turn the eyes upside down, by looking at the landscape through your legs,” suggested the late Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Watch, listen, read

The world is filled with motivational coaches, speakers, and gurus. Take advantage of their knowledge by scheduling time each day to watch, listen to or read their works.

If it’s a video you prefer, check out “5 Lessons to Live By” from the late Dr. Wayne Dyer and “Take Action In Your Life” with the brilliant Les Brown.

Books more your speed? Grab Gary Keller’s “Shift: How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times” or Ian Schechter’s “Breathe, Focus, Attack: A Triple – Threat System for Creating the Life You Want.”

In our ears, we prefer The Zig Ziglar Show and the über-energetic Gary Vee’s Audio Experience.

Be brave, strong and smart

Winnie the Pooh fans will recall Christopher Robin’s admonition that “You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

We tend to forget this fact when we aren’t actively participating in whatever it is that reminds us of our greatness.

Fight the malaise by taking action, even if it’s one small step.

Download the 5 Reasons Why Your Home May Not Sell Report and offer it in all of your marketing including your emails, direct mail, on your website, and as a hand out at your Open Houses and listing presentations.

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 Free killer tools to help your success this year!

1. The 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan – NEW 2020!

2. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan – NEW 2020!

4. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

5. The Free Online ROI Calculator

3. Get the ALL-NEW Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

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Page 35 of 41

Let’s talk about that unemployment compensation

Get a small business loan

Should you consider raiding your retirement funds?

Send the Virtual Consultation postcard from the COVID-19 Series to an area where you want more listings.

Will the iBuyer model survive?

MOST IMPORTANT: Free telemedicine for REALTORS®

Stay in touch with your Sphere and Farm by sending a postcard from the COVID-19 Series.

Or purchase a single postcard download and share it on social media.

Check out the All-New ProspectsPLUS! 10X – With a personalized dashboard, auto-populated marketing, the world’s best editor, and mailings lists you can buy in minutes! – Click Here

A Personal Dashboard

The World’s Best Editor

Mailing Lists You Can Build & Buy Fast

Auto-Populated Marketing

It’s Time to Experience the All-New ProspectsPLUS! 10X! GO NOW!

Thinking of Pinterest?

How is Twitter for real estate agents?

TikTok

Send the Neighborhood Update Free Offer postcard from the Neighborhood Update Free Offer Series to your Farm or an area where you want more listings.

Keep them informed about what’s going on right now in their marketplace.

Generate more future leads with your neighborhood page

Optimize those neighborhood pages

Start with the title

Sprinkle longtail keyword phrases throughout

Don’t stuff

Send the Sanitizing Your Home content postcard from the Content Card Series to your Sphere and/or Farm to keep them informed of how to stay safe during the coronavirus.

The Perfect Stay-at-Home Marketing Activity

How’s your sphere of influence?

“The typical real estate agent earned 13 percent of their business from repeat clients and 17 percent from referrals from past clients and customers.”

Step 1 to get your real estate business on the referral track

Feel free to create subgroups, if it will help you to stay organized. Some of these may include:

Let them know they’re in your thoughts and you’re checking in to see if you can help them with anything.

Do you have current listings to promote? Create “Virtual” Open House postcards for your current listings using the Just Listed Series and promote them through social media, on your website, and through mailings.

Best Practice 1 — Ensure your video does double duty

Best Practice 2 – Keep your video short

Best Practice 3 – Promote your video

Download a Property Flyer and promote your property in your emails and on social media.

Overcome your call reluctance

Change your perspective

It’s all in the timing

What they found should be etched into the minds of every real estate agent:

What not to say after “hello”

The wrap-up

Now that you have a plan of attack, order Free Reports and add a Free Report Offer to ALL of your marketing (emails, direct mail, website, and social media).

But it’s not a vanity marketing piece

Don’t forget the other stuff

How to use your personal brochure

Order or download the Neighborhood Specialist Personal Brochure and add it to your listing presentation, provide it at your Open Houses, and use it as a leave-behind or hand out.

The checklist

Go overboard on sharing information

Don’t encourage enormously high expectations

Set the stage

Know when to back off

Give them a vision

Order or download Property Flyers, available in our Flyer section, then provide them at your next Open House.

Start with your content. As you go through the content on your site, keep this advice from Dan Ritzke, founder of Third Act Marketing, top-of-mind:

The top three website features that consumers find “very helpful” have to do with listings:

While we can’t personally vouch for the following floor plan providers, several agents we’ve spoken with recommend them:

The value the real estate agent brings to the process

Ask yourself how your experience will help them solve common problems in a real estate transaction:

Send the Multi-Photo Just Listed Postcards out to the area surrounding your listing. Turn one listing into many.

1. Take action, even if it’s puny

Turn the eyes upside down

Watch, listen, read

Be brave, strong and smart

Download the 5 Reasons Why Your Home May Not Sell Report and offer it in all of your marketing including your emails, direct mail, on your website, and as a hand out at your Open Houses and listing presentations.

**What not to say after “hello”**