Fence Sitters

Tips to GET MORE LISTINGS This Winter

Nov 5, 2020

If you sell real estate in Minnesota, Wisconsin, or some other snow-prone state, you may feel you can’t be as busy in winter as you are in spring. But, if you play your cards right, you’ll find winter can be just as profitable a time of year in real estate.

The first step to building a winter book of business is to let potential sellers know just how much they stand to benefit from selling when the weather outside is frightful.

The proof is in the numbers

More homes sell in spring than in winter, according to the NAR. No surprise there.

Unfortunately, this is where the media usually stops when they write about selling a home in winter. What they neglect to state is although home sales can be down in the winter,

…the likelihood of selling a home in winter is better than at any other time of the year, they sell faster and for more than asking price according to a Redfin study.

Interestingly, this statistic holds true regardless of market.

If you want to make more money this winter, you’ll need to get the word out to sellers. “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” isn’t just a song title.

Let other sellers buy into the myth of winter-is-bad

Dahna Chandler at themortgagereports.com wrongly assumes that “… most people shiver” when considering a winter home sale. “It’s likely the hardest to sell a house in most areas.”

Then, there’s Natalie Campisi at bankrate.com who, when explaining why “… fall/winter is the worst time to sell a house,” says that “December is when homebuying activity comes to a standstill and there’s little inventory available.”

“Little inventory” sounds like the real estate market in general over the past year. Besides, “little inventory” means less competition for sellers, which might be why homes in popular areas, in good condition, sell for more than asking in winter.

Our point is that this is the type of stuff that other agents are reading that scares them away as we approach winter.

It’s time to dust off your blogging skills and make sure sellers in your area know the truth: if you need to sell, this can be a profitable time of year to do so.

Winter buyers are highly motivated to buy

Think about it: Especially in frigid winter areas, to trudge around town looking at homes for sale takes a certain level of motivation.

It turns out that the rate of job transfers is quite high in the early part of the year. This winter, however, the pandemic-caused migration may still be underway. Those are two groups of highly motivated homebuyers.

Then, there are the nearly 3 million homeowners who are still in forbearance, many of them with mortgages not backed by a GSE. Will they sell rather than bite that bitter pill of the catch-up payment?

Let them know that they’ll do well to sell this winter.

Inventory is even lower

Our squeaky tight inventory of homes for sale doesn’t appear to be loosening up. When winter hits and sellers take their homes off the market, the competition will dwindle even more.

Urgency is the overall feeling you want to convey whether your writing a blog, and email, sending direct mail, or speaking to someone in person.

As all of us have learned in 2020, there is a lot that we have absolutely no control over. Urgency will get those fence-sitters off the fence and into the market.

Take your main “urgency” points and add them to a Fence Sitter Series postcard from ProspectsPLUS!, then send it out to your listing of Fence Sitters. If you don’t have a Fence Sitter list, you can create a list in minutes with the demographic search tool.

Direct mail marketing is such an affordable way to put something tangible into the hands of your potential clients. For instance, on ProspectsPLUS.com you can send 150 Jumbo sized postcards, standard class for only $121.00.

Consider the potential return on investment of these 150 postcards – and it’s truly all upside.

Make sure to include the Timing is Everything brochure in your listing presentation folder. In fact, here’s a promo code (FREEBROCH) for you to download the brochure for FREE, for a limited time.

If you send a newsletter, publish an article on the topic of winter selling creating the same urgency.

Then, start writing about ways to make their homes more attractive in winter via staging, sprucing up the landscaping, etc.

Winter doesn’t have to be the doldrums for your real estate business. All it takes is an effort to counteract the naysayers by getting the word out that selling in winter has definite benefits.

Send the Time is Running out postcard from the Fence Sitter Series to your Fence Sitter prospect list.

Use the Demographic Search tool, from a desktop or laptop, to generate your Fence Sitter prospect list in just minutes.

Need help targeting a specific niche of buyers or sellers? Use our prospect list tools to create the ideal list (it’s easy) or call our support team for assistance at 866.405.3638!

Follow the 3-7-27 Law of Branding and send a series of Fence Sitter postcards over a period of time. Use the “Schedule Orders” tool to schedule months of mailings all at once.

And, remember with scheduled orders YOU DON’T PAY until the order goes out!

Just click the “Schedule for Later” button and pick your mailing date – it’s that easy!

Because what GETS SCHEDULED, GETS DONE!

Watch the video below to learn how to schedule a mailing in just minutes!

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

1. Become a Neighborhood Brand

Become branded in a specific neighborhood with a 12X15 marketing piece sent automatically each month to an exclusive carrier route. Watch this video to learn more or Click Here.

2. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide

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The Real Estate Mailing List Guide outlines the top tools for generating targeted prospecting lists including Baby Boomers, Empty Nesters, Investors, Lifestyle Interests, High-Income Renters, Move-Up Markets, and more. The Guide also defines done-for-you marketing campaigns to match these markets. –Click Here

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

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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

4. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan

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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

5. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

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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

6. 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

7. The Free Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

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

Struggling in real estate? Try breaking away from the herd

Sep 28, 2020

Never will you find a cardiac surgeon dispensing advice about gynecological problems. Nor will you likely find blog posts on pet websites counseling readers about DIY home projects.

Yet, many real estate agents have the notion that they can be everything to everyone. Those that typically sell single-family homes think nothing of listing a condo. Those that list mobile homes don’t hesitate to take on a luxury home listing.

While this may be ok for your bottom line, it does a real disservice to real estate consumers. In all other professions they have a choice of specialists.

They can consult a divorce attorney instead of a bankruptcy lawyer. When they need a root canal, they see an endodontist not an orthodontist and they can take their Porsche to a mechanic who specializes in them.

Remaining a real estate generalist is easier. It’s safer. After all, you don’t want to miss out on even one deal by narrowing your business focus, right?

What’s unique about that?

It’s unfortunate so many real estate agents harbor a reluctance to break away from the herd. The truth is, however, if you always follow the leader you will always be behind.

Then, there’s that lump in the gut when you think of closing off your business to some parts of the real estate industry and narrowing your focus to only one or two specialties.

This move away from being “a jack-of-all-trades but the master of none” is necessary if you’re to become the best in the market in your niche.

Seth Godin, blogging master and best-selling author, suggests that real estate agents should consider “micro-specialization.”

Choose a niche and work to dominate it.

Step away from the Herd

“… you’re either the best in the world (where ‘world’ can be a tiny slice of the environment) or you’re invisible,” Godin continues.

He says that to become “visible,” requires “… being Draconian in your choices. No, you can’t also do a little of this or a little of that. Best in your world means burning your other bridges and obsessing,” Godin says.

Scary thought, right?

Let’s look at a scenario:

You’re an agent in Las Vegas, chasing after every lead that comes your way – single family homes, duplexes, condos, whatever, you’ll take it. Your website even proclaims as much – “I can help you will all your real estate needs!”

If you consider yourself the average agent, you make about $45,610 a year, give or take a few dollars, according to Daniel Bortz at Realtor.com.

Suppose you decide to step away from being “average” and that you will specialize in listing and selling high-rise condos. Last year, 607 Las Vegas high rise condo units sold, with an average sales price of $598,728. This represents a commission of about $17,962 per side (based on 6 percent total commission).

As a generalist, how many of these condos would you have listed or sold? Be honest. The average Las Vegas agent was lucky to have listed one or two in an entire year.

The specialist that targets the high-rise condo market with a laser-like focus and dominates the brand as the niche expert in the area increases his or her chances of taking more than a handful of those sides from other agents.

Let’s be conservative and say that you only close one of these condo-deals a month. Even on a 50/50 broker split, you’d be making nearly $9,000 a month in GCI, give or take a few dollars and nearly $108,000 a year – almost three times what the average agent in the Las Vegas Valley brings home.

Remember, our scenario is based on conservative estimates. Your mileage may be a lot better.

The bonus is that the more you enforce your condo-specialist brand, the more condo leads you’ll get and folks that want to buy or sell high-rise condos will seek you out.

Imagine selling 5 of these condos a month.

If you’ve been casting as wide a net as possible in the hope of reeling in the maximum number of leads, consider setting yourself apart from other agents by claiming a niche and dominating it.

Send the Tired of Being a Landlord postcard from the Absentee Owner Series to a targeted list of Absentee Owners in your area.

Need help targeting a specific niche of buyers or sellers? Use our Demographic Search 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 helpful resources we’ve made available to support your success.

1. Become a Neighborhood Brand

Become branded in a specific neighborhood with a 12X15 marketing piece sent automatically each month to an exclusive carrier route. Watch this video to learn more or Click Here.

2. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide

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

4. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan

5. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

6. The Free Online ROI Calculator

7. The Free Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

Be the Aristotle of Real Estate – Get a Mentor

Jan 22, 2020

Ah, the things we learn online.

Homer – you remember him from school, right?

In “The Odyssey,” Odysseus went to war and left his household in the capable hands of a Mentor, his son’s teacher. Apparently, the Mentor was really good at dealing with personal dilemmas.

As a new agent, you have lots of those, right?

While being mentored isn’t just for new agents, they seem to be the ones that most need it. Seasoned agents typically hire a coach, or trainer, to assist with increasing their production, hiring management and staff and learning better business practices.

For the nuts and bolts of how to actually hit the ground running in a real estate career, however, latching onto a mentor is the way to go.

The Timing is Everything postcard is located under the Fence Sitters Series in the postcard section

And before you get all uppity and indignant that we are assuming you know nothing about how to be a real estate agent, consider that Beethoven was humble enough to accept mentoring from Hayden. Plato turned to Socrates for help and then, in turn, mentored Aristotle. Then, there was Freud and Jung.

What is a Real Estate Mentor?

Taking over the king’s household was an enormous responsibility for the Mentor.

It meant that he “had to be a father figure, a teacher, a role model, an approachable counselor, a trusted adviser, a challenger, an encourager,” according to J. Carruthers in “The Return of the Mentor: Strategies for Workplace Learning.”

Which is exactly what a real estate mentor should be — well, sans the father figure part.

A mentor is someone in your office who takes you under his or her wing – free of charge – and shows you the ropes.

Mentors have various ways of teaching, but the best will let you shadow them for a couple of weeks. Going on some listing presentations with a top listing agent is an amazing opportunity to learn how it’s done, successfully.

Why have a Mentor?

It’s safe to say that Renton, Wash. broker Sheila McGraw knows a thing or two about how to achieve success in real estate. In 1995, her first year in the business, she earned more than $150,000 in commissions and was named Rookie of the Year.

McGraw claims that the best way to learn “is to model oneself after someone that has achieved the level of success one aspires to.”

Tony Robbins takes it much further and insists that you need a mentor to obtain “mastery.”

Mastery is a noble goal if you hope to last in the real estate industry. “One of the things new agents need to learn early on is that no two transactions are the same. By shadowing a mentor, they’ll not only learn this first-hand, but they’ll be able to see how a master deals with the various situations,” says Realty Billings broker/owner Amber Uhren.

While shadowing your mentor on listing presentations and showings is an excellent way to learn that end of the business, a mentor can also assist with the back-end.

The Tiem is Running Out postcard is located under the Fence Sitters Series in the postcard section

Do you know how to run a small business? How to allocate your time? From choosing the right technology tools to learning how to prospect effectively, a mentor in your corner is invaluable.

Pick a Winner

Be careful who you choose as a mentor. Resist the temptation to choose someone purely on the basis of his or her production level.

“I firmly believe that what you eat, what you think, who you hang out with, who you emulate all makes you who you are. Emulate a jerk and you’ll probably turn into one!” says Jolenta Averill, broker/owner at Lake and City Homes in Madison, Wisc.

When considering who to approach for mentorship, look beyond production. If you’ve chosen a niche, a good choice would be someone who specializes in that corner of the market. But also look closely at personal qualities, such as integrity and reliability.

Finally, look for an agent who is open and willing to allow you into her business world, sharing her professional accomplishments and failures.

Building a business takes time so consider this mentorship period part of the initial process. Don’t rush it and don’t expect to learn everything overnight. You’re building a foundation on which will sit a thriving real estate practice.

A couple of years ago I spoke with California agent Dorothee Crawford and she explained to me how even after three decades in real estate, she remained motivated by the words of her mentor, Cam Merage, founder and CEO of First Team Real Estate.

“I am Persian and Jewish, with an accent and I am not a native to the United States – If I can do this, you can do this.”

Get those fence-sitters off the fence by sending the It Doesn’t Take a Crystal Ball postcard from the Fence Sitters Series to an area where you want more listings.

The It Doesn’t Take a Crystal Ball postcard is located under the Fence Sitters Series in the postcard section.

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!

3. Get the ALL-NEW 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

April $250 Gift Card Winner!

May 6, 2019

We have two winners!

A first place $250 Gift Card winner & a second place $100 Gift Card winner!

1.Congratulations Mila Mendoza on winning our 1st Prize $250 ProspectsPLUS! Gift Card!

Mila shared the following feedback with ProspectsPLUS!

“I’m using ProspectsPLUS! Real Estate Marketing Planner. I like every step of it!!!”

Mila’s latest marketing pieces she’s sent out include – the Fence Sitter Series, First Time Home Buyer Series, and Agent Introduction Series.

Fence Sitter Series, First Time Buyer Series and Agent Introduction Series postcards

2. Congratulations Ana Steinman on winning the 2nd Prize $100 ProspectsPLUS! Gift Card

Ana shared the following feedback with ProspectsPLUS!,

“I have been using ProspectPLUS! for a few months and I am very happy with their service.

As a Real Estate Professional I find this company very professional and reliable.

I am sending postcards very often and so far it has given me good results“.

Ana’s latest marketing pieces she’s sent out include – The Just Sold Series, Get More Listings Series, and Neighborhood Update Series.

Just Sold Series, Get More Listings Series, Neighborhood Update Series postcards

Take the lead from Mila and Ana and send at least 100 marketing pieces to an area where you want more buyers or sellers!

You might also like:

How to Harness the 5 Key Traits of ‘Rock Star’ Agents

Agent Facebook Success: Rules of Engagement

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!

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