business strategies

Inspiring Books for Real Estate Agents to Read on Vacation This Summer

Jul 15, 2023

Taking a vacation is a perfect time for real estate agents to unwind and gain fresh perspectives, and books are a low-key way to accomplish this.

By learning from the experiences and strategies of top agents, you can develop a more effective business approach, ultimately leading to higher profits and greater client satisfaction.

Additionally, books can help you stay motivated and inspired in your career. Real estate can be demanding, and maintaining a positive mindset is crucial for long-term success.

Incorporating the habits and routines of successful individuals into your daily life can improve your overall well-being and effectiveness as an agent.

Here are some inspiring books to read this summer that will relax and motivate you.

1. “The Real Estate Agent’s Handbook” by Bridget McCrea (2021)

Bridget McCrea’s handbook is a practical guide with tips, strategies, and tools for real estate agents. It covers everything from marketing and negotiation to managing client relationships and closing deals, making it a valuable resource for agents at any career stage.

2. “Real Estate Success in 5 Minutes a Day: Secrets of a Top Agent Revealed” by Karen Briscoe (2021)

Karen Briscoe’s book provides daily tips and insights that can help real estate agents achieve success. Each tip is designed to be read in just five minutes, making it ideal for busy agents looking to improve their skills and productivity incrementally.

3. “Shift: How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times” by Gary Keller, Dave Jenks, and Jay Papasan (2022)

This book offers strategies and insights from top real estate agents on thriving during challenging market conditions. It provides practical advice on adapting to market shifts, leveraging technology, and maintaining a positive mindset to succeed even in tough times.

These inspiring books blend practical advice, motivational stories, and essential skills, making them ideal for real estate agents to read and reflect on during their summer vacation.

Bonus Reads:

“The Book of YES” by Kevin Ward

“The Book of YES” is an excellent resource for improving sales skills. Kevin Ward shares proven scripts and strategies for overcoming objections and closing deals. This book is particularly useful for agents who want to refine communication techniques and boost their confidence in client interactions.

“Never Split the Difference” by Chris Voss

Negotiation is a key skill in real estate and former FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss provides powerful techniques in Never Split the Difference. This book offers practical advice on negotiating effectively, making it invaluable for agents looking to enhance their negotiation skills.

PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine

Homes & Life Magazine is a customizable magazine with rich, full-color content and a sharp, professional aesthetic. It includes compelling, direct, response-driven articles written by real estate industry experts and engaging lifestyle content. Send out Homes & Life Magazine in Just Minutes – No Minimums Required. Or we’ll ship it to you. Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here

2. The Free 6-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 6-Month Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do and when. Four key market segments include niche Markets, geographic farming, sphere of influence, and past clients. – Click Here

3. The Free Interactive 6-Month Real Estate Business Review

The Free Interactive 6-Month Real Estate Business Review allows you to enter your business goals for the remainder of the year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closings, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here

4. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Become-A-Listing-Legend-3D-Book-White-274x300.jpg

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

Starting a Real Estate Team? Here are a Few Things to Consider

Mar 20, 2023

Imagine a trip to a doctor’s office. You approach the front counter, and there she is, ready to check you in for your appointment. Then, she is, again, prepared to accompany you from the waiting room to the exam room. She performs your exam and is at the desk out front to take your check for your insurance co-pay and schedule your next appointment.

Aside from seeing patients at various times during the day, this doctor will clean exam rooms after each patient leaves, call-in prescriptions to pharmacies, order and interpret diagnostic tests, work on bookkeeping, schedule appointments for other patients, follow up on telephone messages, meet with pharmaceutical company representatives and clean the office.

If this were your doctor, we’d bet you would think she’s either crazy or arrogant. After all, she’s most likely not a trained bookkeeper, administrative assistant, or skilled in sanitation practices in physicians’ offices.

The Market Update Postcard is shown above. See more **HERE**

When any professional works in a practice with many moving parts, it’s simply foolish to presume to wear all the hats.

Many agents across the country figured this out long ago. “We aren’t professional photographers or stagers. Nor are we phone specialists or transaction coordinators. And, we don’t want to be any of those,” says a friend and agent in Los Angeles, California.

This is why this agent built a team, offering professional specialists to each client. In her estimation, this team’s approach to real estate has made her so successful.

When you reach a specific volume, taking your business to the next level requires assistance. Most agents start with admin help.

However, the next level is to build a real estate team.

Structuring your team

Before you jump into the hiring process, consider how you’ll structure your team. This helps you learn who you need to hire and which skills to be on the lookout for. Check out Chris Linsell’s brilliant but simple Real Estate Organizational Chart at theclose.com.

To give you an idea of how to staff your team, take a look at our California friends:

3 listing coordinators
3 staging strategists
An architectural photographer
Marketing Coordinator
6 phone specialists to attract and reach out to potential buyers
17 buyers’ agents

Photo Introduction postcard. See more, **HERE.**

Naturally, you won’t need this many team members when you start but consider adding as your business increases.

Each cog in the aforementioned well-oiled wheel works in tandem with the others. For instance, the phone team recently received a call from a homebuyer interested in one of the team’s listings.

“The call came in at 10:30 on a Saturday morning,” according to our friend. “Our phone specialist returned the call two minutes later, at 10:32, and alerted one of the showing agents on the team. This agent met with the buyers to show them the home at 1 p.m. An hour later, they wrote an offer. This team approach had our listing sold in four hours.”

Impressive, right?

Check back soon for more ideas on forming a real estate team.

PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine

Homes & Life Magazine is a customizable magazine with rich, full-color content and a sharp, professional aesthetic. It includes compelling, direct response-driven articles written by real estate industry experts combined with engaging lifestyle content. Send out Homes & Life Magazine in Just Minutes – No Minimums Required. Or we’ll ship it to you.

Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here

2. The Free 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 and when. Four key market segments include niche Markets, geographic farming, sphere of influence, and past clients. – Click Here

3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system

The most effective thing you can do to build a real estate business is to become more visible, more likable, and remembered more often. The BusinessBASE™ not only checks these boxes but is also a business-building machine. In two easy steps, you can begin to build a robust sphere of influence that will provide you a lifetime of repeat business and referrals. – Click Here

4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for this year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closing, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here

5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

Notes for New Agents: Winter Brings out Bargain Hunters in the Real Estate Market

Jan 16, 2023

Maybe it’s because Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday all happen so close together that shoppers believe that winter, in its entirety, is bargain-shopping time. Even for real estate.

The media doesn’t help when every year we read stories of how much more money a homebuyer saves when buying in winter than at any other time of the year.

If you have clients willing to transact at this time of year, bravo! If you have folks who are fence-sitting, trying to time the market, or otherwise hesitant to jump in, educate them on just how brilliant selling in winter can be.

As a new agent, however, you may find yourself in negotiations with bargain-hunting buyers. If this is a new situation for you, read on to figure out how to deal with it.

Let’s make a deal!

So, how should you react when you, as a representative of the seller, receive a ridiculously low offer on their home?

The appropriate response depends on several things, chief among them is the type of market we’re in at the time.

Right now, we’re in a weird transitional market. This means depending on the state of the market in your region, your client may or may not still be in the driver’s seat.

First, get a handle on what’s happening in your market. Read local news stories, and listen to other agents’ conversations at the sales meetings and in the office.

The Shifting Market Series is shown above. To see more designs, Click Here.

Here are some of your client’s options:

Entertain the lowball offer by remaining firm on the price. In other words, counter the buyer’s offer by stating that you want full price. This one is more appropriate in a hot sellers’ market.

If your clients really need to sell the home sooner rather than later and offers are few, counter the offer by lowering the price by a small amount and let the negotiations begin.

Ignore the offer. If offers are few and far between, this may not be a suitable option. Still, this option should be included when counseling your client.

If the buyer is requesting concessions, consider granting them or some watered-down form of them (again, according to market conditions). In case you haven’t heard, “Buyers received concessions—such as money for repairs and mortgage-rate buydowns—in a record 42% of home sales in the fourth quarter,” according to Lily Katz and Taylor Marr at Redfin.com.

Accept the offer.

Other ways to counter an offer to purchase include countering the contract terms.

But, before you present any of the aforementioned responses, and depending on how long the home has been on the market, you may want to run a new check of recently sold homes to ensure that the market value hasn’t changed since the home was listed.

PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine

Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here

2. The Free 12-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system

4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

Use the Industry Slowdown to Work on Your Real Estate Long Game

Dec 19, 2022

“Overnight success” isn’t a label typically slapped on the heavy hitters in the real estate industry. In fact, some say that, in any endeavor, overnight longing for success is a common obstacle to becoming successful.

The truth is, “Behind every overnight success story is someone who worked really, really hard,” according to Gary Vaynerchuk, investor, adviser, and co-founder of VaynerMedia.

Vaynerchuk is a proponent of business-building as a “long game” and suggests that a long-term thinking mentality will help us achieve genuine success and happiness.

Let’s take a look at some of the long-term strategies that agents can and should be using to be successful during the market slowdown

Reach out, over and over and over and . . .

It’s the real estate agent with a killer follow-up strategy that is a long-term thinker. Instead of constantly trying to drum up new business, he or she understands that the fortune is in the follow-up.

More important is the consistent follow-up. Not just for the first few months but for the rest of your career in real estate.

Despite this being a basic tenet of sales in any industry, too many agents feel that they lack sufficient time, and they allow the nurturing of potential clients to fall to the bottom of the to-do list.

Those who do pay attention to it gain a competitive edge.

All it takes is to find out that a former client listed his home with another agent (because the former client “forgot” that you are in real estate) to understand the power of reaching out consistently to every person in your CRM.

The Get More Listings Scheduled Campaign is shown above. To learn more, Click HERE.

Leave no lead behind

“Internet leads suck.” You’ve heard that one before, right? That opinion stems from that same drive to obtain the instant deal.

Do yourself a favor and ask the champion cold caller in your office how many of her calls result in instant deals.

The truth is she cold calls for leads. When she gets one, the long game begins.

Those online leads may be the best you’ll ever lay your hands on. These are people who are actively looking at properties online.

And, because looking online for a home is the first step most take (according to NAR studies), they probably don’t have an agent.

Vaynerchuk advises that “… your number-one job is to tell your story to the consumer wherever they are, and preferably at the moment they are deciding to make a purchase.”

You know those friends (I think we all have at least one) who pay monthly for a gym membership, never show up there and then complain that they’re out of shape?

They’re like the agents who have leads, don’t work them, and then complain that the leads are weak.

Use the downtime while the real estate market is in flux to determine how you’ll follow up with leads and how often you’ll reach out, and then set consistent reminders to do so.

Take the steps necessary to win the long game. “Your steps may number in the hundreds,” says actress and stand-up comedian Gayla Johnson at Backstage.com.

“They may number in the thousands. But rest assured, each and every one of those steps will better prepare you for that glorious and triumphant …” overnight success.

PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine

Homes & Life Magazine is a customizable magazine with rich, full-color content and a sharp, professional aesthetic. It includes compelling, direct response-driven articles written by real estate industry experts and engaging lifestyle content. Send out Homes & Life Magazine in Just Minutes – No Minimums Required. Or we’ll ship it to you.

Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here

2. The Free 6-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system

The most effective thing you can do to build a real estate business is to become more visible, more likable, and remembered more often. The BusinessBASE™ not only checks these boxes but is also a business-building machine. In two easy steps, you can build a robust sphere of influence that will provide you a lifetime of repeat business and referrals. – Click Here

4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for this year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closings, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here

5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

6. The Take a Listing Today Podcast

Watch the ProspectsPLUS!, Take a Listing Today Podcast for actionable content to help you get more listings. – Click Here

Want to Grow Your Real Estate Business? Gain Some Positive Word of Mouth

Oct 24, 2022

If you’re like a lot of Americans, you avoid listening, reading, or watching the news as much as you once did.

Hey, we don’t blame you. News stories seem to be more focused on shocking behavior than ever before.

Yes, Americans are misbehaving more than ever, and this makes for stress and tension among everyone.

This includes the real estate world as well.

It’s evidenced by agents who don’t pay attention when clients are speaking to them, who drop the ball when it comes to returning calls, and that small minority who lack morals and ethics.

We know that you aren’t in that group, but for those who think small gaps in stellar customer service don’t matter, let’s look at how playing nice with others can change your reputation and allow you to gain some positive word of mouth.

1. Be considerate of the other agent’s client

Yes, your fiduciary duties are to your buyer or seller. But you also have a duty to extend consideration to the other agent’s client.

Take the multiple offer situation, for instance. Although there isn’t as much of that happening now, it was common over the past few years. Tons of buyers’ agents were gnashing their teeth over the lack of basic courtesy extended to their clients when their offer wasn’t accepted.

The Get More Listings II Series is shown above. To see more, Click HERE.

It takes 20 seconds to dash off a text or email to the buyer’s agent, letting her know that her client’s offer wasn’t accepted. “It’s a decided lack of professionalism,” one agent said about listing agents who fail to extend this basic courtesy.

“Think of the anxious buyer,” she added.

Send this text or email or make a phone call before you update the property’s status in the MLS. It’s not fair or courteous to other agents to have to learn the bad news from anything or anyone other than the listing agent.

Then, the buyer’s agent makes an appointment to show a home and ghosts the seller.

Many homeowners run around like crazy, tidying up their homes in anticipation of a showing. When you don’t show up or don’t call to reschedule or cancel the appointment, you become one of ‘those’ agents, the bad apples who make the rest look bad.

2. Use your words

One issue we heard about from several agents is that there is almost a complete lack of feedback on showings.

Remember, the average agent is a woman in her fifties; she’s been in the biz for way more than a minute. She recalls the days when soliciting feedback from showing agents was so commonplace that listing agents wouldn’t think of not doing it and then passing it on to their clients.

After all, isn’t communicating with the seller part of the listing agent’s job? Letting your client know how buyers feel about their home is critical.

If buyers’ agents don’t offer feedback, which is courteous, it’s the listing agent’s job to solicit it.

“Politeness … can be used to signal respect and consideration for others,” according to Matteo Bonotti & Steven T. Zech. (Understanding Civility).

Politeness and communication. It’s what you need to win the exacta in the race to set yourself apart from other agents in town and truly have a chance at growing your business through word of mouth.

PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine

Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here

2. The Free 12-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system

The most effective thing you can do to build a real estate business is to become more visible, more likable, and remembered more often. The BusinessBASE™ not only checks all of these boxes but is also a business-building machine. In two easy steps, you can begin to build a robust sphere of influence that will provide you a lifetime of repeat business and referrals. – Click Here

4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

6. The Take a Listing Today Podcast

Watch the ProspectsPLUS!, Take a Listing Today Podcast for actionable content to help you get more listings. – Click Here

Hey Listing Agents: How Will You Handle the Real Estate Market Transition?

Sep 21, 2022

Have you ever had something bad happen to you only to find out later on that the event was actually a blessing in disguise?

Jackie, for instance, was fired from her job. Sure, she panicked during the first few days of unemployment, but a month or so later, she was doing something else for a living. Something she dreamt about but never had the courage to pursue.

Had she not been fired from her previous job, she may have never gone after her dream.

The transitional real estate market is a lot like that. What appears to be a time of challenge or, at the least, discomfort may turn out to be an amazing time for real estate agents.

Coming back down to earth may mean “crashing” for some clients

Home price gains are shrinking, and sellers are starting to come back down to earth. However, coming back down to earth doesn’t happen overnight, as you seasoned listing agents know.

After years of media reports of rapidly escalating home prices, multiple offer situations, and uber-quick sales, those sellers who choose to wait until the tail end of the sellers’ market to jump in are hard to convert.

They’re not going to get that their home is no longer the belle of the local real estate market, that their hoped-for price is now a fantasy, and that it may take longer than 24 hours to get it under contract.

And, those sellers who put big bucks into the house to ready it for the market are going to be more than a bit upset

Especially when buyers start nit-picking them over price, terms, and more.

The Call To Action Series is shown above. To see more, click HERE.

Then, there are the buyers

If you’ve been a listing agent for more than a minute, you can recall the last buyers’ market. Newbies, on the other hand, are in for a rude awakening.

No longer can you chuckle over seemingly stupid requests in an offer because you have three others that are cleaner-than-clean. You will actually be expected to negotiate on your client’s behalf.

“Good grief, how do I do that?” you may ask yourself as a new listing agent.

Very carefully.

While price is the typical hot button in a contract, “the devil is in the details”.

Details are important

“Details” when it comes to a real estate purchase agreement are the terms. If this turns into a full-blown buyers’ market, contract terms are where listing agents can work their magic during negotiations.

And, if you have examples of how you’ve done this in the past, use them for all they are worth. From your clients’ testimonials to full-blown case studies, let potential listing clients know how you’ve met with success in the buyers’ market.

Now is the time for all good listing agents to figure out how they are going to deal with the oncoming buyers’ market. Don’t put off your planning. Face it and go for it.

We’ll be with you all the way, so keep checking back.

PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine

Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here

2. The Free 12-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system

4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

6. The Take a Listing Today Podcast

Watch the ProspectsPLUS!, Take a Listing Today Podcast for actionable content to help you get more listings. – Click Here

3 Quick-Read Books Every Real Estate Agent Should add to Their Summer List

May 26, 2022

Summer and books – why reading has its own season is a mystery. Perhaps it’s because we supposedly have more leisure time in the summer. You know, lounging by the pool, sunning ourselves on golden sands next to the sea, or lazing away the day in a hammock at home.

We know that although real estate agents love to keep up with the latest book trends, and crave ways to improve their work-life balance and lead generation, they don’t have a lot of time to devote to reading longer works.

So, we’ve narrowed down our choices to books that won’t take you months to finish reading but offer tons of value in as few pages as possible.

“The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick),” Seth Godin

“Winners never quit,” right? In “The Dip,” Godin makes the claim that it’s a “spectacularly bad piece of advice.”

“Never quit wetting your bed?” he asks. Never quit “… that job you had at Burger King in high school?”

His advice is to “… never quit something with long-term potential just because you can’t deal with the stress of the moment.”

Content Card postcards, shown above, are on sale 10% off right now. Use promo code: SPHERESALE (offer expires 5.28.22). Click Here.

For many agents, the stress of the moment may be that there’s no commission check on the horizon, or converting leads seems impossible.

Don’t quit until you consider Godin’s “3 questions to answer before quitting.”

“The Dip” isn’t one of Godin’s more recent offerings, but we think it’s one of his best. At only 96 pages, it’s a quick summer read.

Find it at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

“Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity,” David Allen

Another oldie but goodie, New York Times best-selling author David Allen shows the reader how to become better organized and, thus, more productive.

A few of the reviews claim that Allen seems to be stuck in the past with some of his tips—advocating the use of actual file folders rather than using the cloud or your hard drive. Overall, however, he garners 4.5 out of 5 stars at Amazon.com with glowing reviews.

Learn how to get things done in 352 pages. Heck, you can read this over at your Starbucks tomorrow morning.

Find Allen’s book at BarnesandNoble.com and Amazon.com.

“Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time,” Brian Tracy

For me, it was picking up the phone to make that first cold call of the day. For you, it may be something else, but agents seem to all have one thing they need to do that they just don’t like doing.

Brian Tracy has the cure with 21 strategies to get around procrastination. “Read the book, eat your frog by 10:00 a.m., and then feel free to find a restaurant that serves cocktails at lunch,” sums up Laura Vanderkam at FastCompany.com.

Tracy teaches us how to avoid common distractions, especially prevalent when so many agents are working from home.

All that, in 144 pages.

By the way, get the 3^rd edition (published in April 2017) because it contains two chapters that the previous editions don’t offer.

Buy Tracy’s book at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine

Homes & Life Magazine is a customizable magazine, with rich, full-color content, and a sharp, professional esthetic. It includes compelling, direct response-driven articles written by real estate industry experts, combined with engaging lifestyle content. Send out Homes & Life Magazine in Just Minutes – No Minimums Required. Or we’ll ship it to you.

Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and, it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here

2. The Free 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 Markets, geographic farming, sphere of influence, and past clients. – Click Here

3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system

The most effective thing you can do to build a real estate business is to become more visible, more likable, and remembered more often. The BusinessBASE™ not only checks all of these boxes, but it is a business building machine. In two easy steps, you can begin to build a robust sphere of influence that will provide you a lifetime of repeat business and referrals. – Click Here

4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

6. The Take a Listing Today Podcast

Watch the ProspectsPLUS!, Take a Listing Today Podcast for actionable content to help you get more listings. – Click Here

It’s Listing Season, Vow to Leave These Dated Real Estate Practices Behind

May 16, 2022

Every industry has ineffective practices that should’ve been dumped long ago and real estate is no exception.

Going into the summer listing season, let’s vow to leave these four dated real estate practices behind.

1. Not making scripts your own

Yes, I know I may get flack for this one but I’ll be brave and use it anyway.

Do you have any idea of how many agents hound FSBO’s and expireds, using the exact same script?

I’ve been the victim of these calls so I can tell you that, more often than not, those unsolicited callers were using the same script.

Some delivered it better than others, but the words were always the same.

I get that there are certain turning points in some scripts that work to get the homeowner rolling in the direction you want them to go.

But even the best scripts don’t work if they are identical to every other agent in town or if they can’t be delivered in a natural way.

Sale: Get the first 100 prospects on a baby boomer list for free (offer expires 5/17/22). Use promo code: BOOM100. Start here.

2. Not customizing and localizing template websites

Templates are just another version of scripts. How do consumers feel about your template emails, texts, and direct mail letters? “They are just basically form letters,” one homeowner told the Austin Business Journal.

And what about the agents who spend time and lots of money on building a website that will hopefully generate leads and then not change the canned content that came with it?

All that time and money spent creating it is wasted. The agents who don’t take the time to customize their sites are missing out on valuable opportunities, chief among these are organic traffic and trust-building.

If you haven’t done so yet, make this summer the time you pay attention to your site, localizing it wherever possible, adding gorgeous local images, and using those testimonials for all they are worth.

3. Take listings without the budget it takes to market them properly

If you can’t afford to (or don’t want to) pay for a professional real estate photographer, virtual tours, and other marketing tactics, you are doing the seller a disservice by taking the listing.

Perhaps you can work with buyers until you’ve built up enough of a budget to work with sellers.

4. Not being social on social media

In case you haven’t heard, posting your listings and open houses, ad nauseum, is annoying. Not only that, it just doesn’t get results.

It’s not called “Marketing Media,” but “SOCIAL media.” Get social. Join pertinent groups and engage with people.

A new year will be upon us before we know it. Vow to leave the dated aspects of your business behind now and get a head start on taking your real estate business to the next level.

PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine

Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and, it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here

2. The Free 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system

The most effective thing you can do to build a real estate business is to become more visible, more likable, and remembered more often. The BusinessBASE™ not only checks all of these boxes, but it is a business building machine. In two easy steps, you can begin to build a robust sphere of influence that will provide you a lifetime of repeat business and referrals. – Click Here

4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

6. The Take a Listing Today Podcast

Watch the ProspectsPLUS!, Take a Listing Today Podcast for actionable content to help you get more listings. – Click Here

What a New Agent Can Do to WOW Potential Clients & Generate Listings

Mar 1, 2022

The old saying about how people do business with people they know, like, and trust gets thrown around a lot in the real estate industry. What you don’t hear very often is how to get total strangers to know, like, and trust you; especially enough to become your client.

There are many ways to do that, of course. But of the three, I think it’s safe to say that the trust issue is not only the most important to real estate consumers but more challenging for agents to build.

Being new to the real estate business doesn’t help. Not when your competition is boasting 30 years in the business and endless successful sales.

Photo Introduction postcards are shown above. See more, click HERE

Building trust isn’t easy, but it is doable. Let’s take a look at what a new agent can do to wow potential clients.

**You do have your own real estate website?**

Your own business website provides a place for consumers to get to know you and your business. Not taking the free ride on your broker’s website, also lends an air of professionalism.

Did you know, 56% of consumers surveyed by weebly.com stated that they lack trust in businesses that don’t have websites.

Your website, if done right, is full of ways to help people get to know you. The content, also if done right, can help them to like you and trust you.

Keep away from sales spiels with your blog content and do vary between real estate, homeowner, and hyper-local topics.

Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through and show the human side of what can be fairly complex subjects.

The About Me page is the place to laser focus on helping visitors get to know you and your business philosophy.

Have you any positions in your background that transfer well to the real estate industry? Any from the following is worth a mention:

Marketing
Advertising
Negotiating
Teaching
Videography/photography

Get to work on social media

Your time is valuable, especially now at the beginning of your real estate business. It’s time to whittle down the social media choices to one.

The Real Estate Times Series is shown above. See more, click HERE

Facebook is a good place to start. Get your business page set up and start cross-posting your blog posts and other pertinent and interesting information to Facebook.

Whatever you do, don’t fill your feed with marketing and salesy stuff. Here are some ideas about what to post:

Local housing market statisics & news
Restaurant reviews
Best places in [your town] to buy [whatever]
Interesting real estate poll or survey results
Local news
Funny memes
Contests

This is just a handful of topic ideas.

The key to gaining engagement with your followers, at least in the beginning, is hyper-local content. Avoid political or religious topics. And don’t forget to engage with others on your feed, and theirs.

Overall, just be your super-stunning, personable self.

PLUS: When you have time…below are some free tools to help support your success.

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

2. The BusinessBase, SOI building system

The most effective thing you can do to build a real estate business is to become more visible, more likable, and remembered more often. The BusinessBASE™ not only checks all of these boxes, but it is a business building machine. In two easy steps, you can begin to build a robust sphere of influence that will provide you a lifetime of repeat business and referrals. – Click Here

3. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

4. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

5. The Take a Listing Today Podcast

Watch the ProspectsPLUS!, Take a Listing Today Podcast for actionable content to help you get more listings. – Click Here

Please reach out to our support team at 866.405.3638 with questions or if there is anything we can do to help you in your success.

We’re here to support you.

Your ProspectsPLUS! Team

Winter Blog Topics Every Agent Should Consider

Jan 13, 2022

If you find yourself craving a piping hot peppermint mocha, going home and lighting a cozy fire, and wishing you could wear your hoody to a listing presentation, it must be winter.

Winter this year started on December 21 and lasts until March 20, 2022. Before the winter season ends, there is a lot happening, although local pandemic regulations may restrict some winter events.

These festivals and other celebrations make welcome blog post topics. Today we take a look at some of what your readers are craving.

1. Winter blog posts for homebuyers

“3 must-have tips for buying a [name of town] home this winter”

Need more ideas?

What’s going on in the local market? Is inventory still low? Are prices softening or rising? What are interest rates like? Warn readers that interest rates are expected to rise in 2022, so choosing to buy now is a wise decision. Check out this example Neil Kearney of Boulder Real Estate.
Handy with Canva? Head on over there and create an infographic addressing the age-old question of whether to buy now or wait.

2. Fishing for sellers?

“3 must-have tips for selling a [name of town] home this winter”

Most potential sellers want to know what’s happening with home prices. A market update, such as the one for buyers, mentioned previously, will most likely be quite welcome.

Few agents do reader-friendly and hyper-local market updates like Kirkland, Washington’s Jim Badgley. Check it out at badgleyhomes.com.

Don’t forget to add local keywords throughout all blog posts.

3. Winter events in the community

Winter events and festivals abound in the US. There’s Wintersköl in Aspen, CO, the amazing Winter Carnival in St. Paul, MN, the Winter Festival in Portland, OR, and more.

Even non-snowy regions have winter events, like the Borrego Springs Film Festival in San Diego, CA, and Gasparilla Music Festival in Tampa Florida.

Details about these events are ideal for a hyper-local blog post. Plus, they’re immensely sharable.

Use various smaller holidays as topics. For instance, January 27th is Chocolate Cake Day. Write a listicle naming all the places in town one can get a great piece of cake.

Other holidays that are easy to hyper-localize include:

National Frozen Yogurt Day (February 6, 2022)
National Pizza Day (February 9, 2022)
Valentine’s Day (February 14, 2022)
National Puppy Day (March 23, 2022. Great opportunity to write about the various pet shelters and rescues in your area).
St. Patrick ‘s Day (March 17, 2022. Who has the best corned beef and cabbage?)

Then, there is the old standby “Best places” in your town to (or nearby):

Take out-of-town guests
Sled, ski, etc.
Celebrate Valentine’s Day
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day
Ice skate
Indoor and Mall walking tracks in your town

There is far from a shortage of hyper-local winter real estate blog topics. Write ‘em up and don’t forget to link to them on social media.

Discover Move-Up Market Prospects in Your Area and GET THE FIRST 100 FREE!

5 Reasons To Go After the Move-Up Market Right Now!

Two sales in one (they’re selling their current home and buying another larger home.
They’ve purchased real estate before and understand the process, making for an easier transaction.
They know what they want, so less guesswork on your part.
They typically have a nice amount of equity in their home, meaning more money to spend on a new home.
They’re excited to enter the marketplace and take advantage of the low mortgage rates and buy bigger.

To get the first 100 on a Move-Up Market Prospect List Free use PROMO CODE: MOVE100

CLICK HERE to create your list (From a desktop/laptop computer) with the Demographic Search tool.

This sale expires on January 15th.

Watch this video: to learn how to create a Move-Up Market prospect list with the Demographic Search tool and launch a campaign.

Once You Have Your Move-Up Market List, Launch a Campaign

*FARM, Move-Up Market* Campaign shown above, **learn more**

Schedule a Move-Up Market Postcard Campaign in Just Minutes!

Scheduled postcard campaigns not only save you time, they’re sent standard class postage saving you money.

And, remember, YOU DON’T PAY until each month’s mailing goes out (cancel or change up until the night before mailing).

CLICK HERE (from a desktop or laptop computer) to get started on your campaign.

To send a one-time postcard mailing to the Move-Up Market postcard series, CLICK HERE

PLUS: When you have time…below are some helpful tools to support your success.

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

2. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

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