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Make 2021 the Year for Real Estate Domination! Here’s the Plan.

Jan 12, 2021

If you’re still putting the finishing touches on your 2021 business goals, read on, for some great, actionable insight on how to make this year, your year for real estate domination.

If you don’t want to end up someplace else…

You need to know where you’re going, according to the late Yogi Berra. Unless, of course, you want to spend the entirety of this year, flailing about for leads, for prospects, for income.

For your Free *One-Page, Interactive Real Estate Business Plan*, Click Here

Decide on a destination, a goal to shoot for by year’s end. Whether that’s a specific GCI or a certain number of closed deals, this goal should define how you run your business in 2021.

And, how about making a vow that the journey to that destination is one that you’ll enjoy?

“There is no one pathway to success. Set goals you enjoy traveling to not just goals that check out with your Broker, Team Lead, or Coach,” suggests David Serpa at labcoatagents.com.

Learn from the past

Dig out your business plan from 2020 and take some time to ask yourself some questions:

Did you reach your goals?
If not, why? Were they unrealistic, was it due to the pandemic? Get clear on the why.
What is within your power to change so that you will hit your 2021 target?

Then, get clear on how many contacts you’ll need to make to get the leads and prospects required to hit your income goal. The Free One-Page, Interactive Business Plan, and Free online SOI calculator are both perfect tools to help you do this fast.

Dust off your real estate business marketing plan

Marketing your services in a way that will grab consumers’ attention is one of the most challenging aspects for many agents. With so many agents in a market, you may feel it’s almost impossible to stand out from the crowd.

The 2021 Real Estate Marketing Planner is not only Free-To-You but an incredible tool that will help you to plan your marketing for the entire year.

Free, 2021 Real Estate Marketing Planner

When the pandemic broke out, in-person marketing, such as holding events, door knocking, and the like, were put on hold. If these were among your chosen marketing methods, you may need to still “pivot” in 2021.

Direct mail marketing will always remain a highly effective vehicle for agents.

Direct mail marketing is also an affordable way to put something tangible into the hands of your potential clients.

For instance, on ProspectsPLUS.com you can schedule a monthly campaign, that includes 150 jumbo-sized postcards, mailed standard-class for only $121.00.

Consider the potential outcome of these 150 postcards, touching your specified market every month – it’s truly all upside.

Is this the year you’ll hire help?

Determining your goals for the new year and how you’ll reach them financially is the backbone of your business plan.

If your plan is aggressive, and it calls for making a massive move to the next level, you should probably consider hiring help of some kind. If you’re brave enough to take your business to the next level, you shouldn’t even wince at the thought of bringing someone on staff to help you.

Whether virtual or in-person, an assistant or transaction coordinator is a must, so tack on another transaction or two so you can pay him/her.

The time is now to let go of areas you fell short of your business goals in 2020, pivot, where necessary and move forward, armed with the tools and strategies needed to dominate in 2021.

Start your 2021 domination today by scheduling a Geographic Farm, Get More Listings Campaign.

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

Don’t put off until tomorrow what can get done today, because what GETS SCHEDULED, GETS DONE!

TO GET STARTED:

STEP 1: Choose the Geographic Farm Campaign, Get More Listings Series.
STEP 2: Then, choose your “Start Date” (See image illustration below), which postcards to send & for how long. It’s that easy!

LAUNCH A CAMPAIGN NOW, CLICK HERE

New *Master Marketing Magazine*, Click Here

The article, above, is highlighted in our New, Free Master Marketing Magazine.

You don’t want to miss this magazine. It’s overflowing with informative, actionable articles that will assist you in achieving your goals this year. To check it out now, Click Here.

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!

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

1. 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 Marketing, Get More Listings, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence. –Click Here

2. The Free One-Page 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

3. 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.

4. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Real-Estate-Mailing-List-Guide2-3-D-999x1024.jpg

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

5. 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

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”

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is CRUSH-IT-Guide-3-d-298x300.jpg

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

It’s a New Year, Ready for Some New Business?

Jan 5, 2021

What if I told you that sending out 200 marketing postcards for less than $150 (postage included) could potentially net you five new listings?

Barbara Todaro, a Franklin, MA agent, sent 200 Just Listed postcards to an area that surrounded her new listing and her mailing resulted in just that number – five new listings.

Todaro’s advice, “Never eliminate a method because it’s basic, those are often the best methods. The reality is, everyone reads their mail”.

Yes, real estate postcard marketing has been around for a while, but clearly – IT WORKS.

Did you know?..

Direct mail outperforms email, social media, and all digital forms of marketing by 700 percent, according to research from the Data and Marketing Association (DMA).

In addition, 48% of people retain direct mail for future reference and 40% will try new businesses after they receive direct mail.

A customer of ours recently discussed his return to direct mail marketing, specifically Just Listed/Just Sold postcards, after spending some time away.

“My business was starting to be flat. I was still a top producer but where I used to have more listings than I did buyers, I now had twice as many buyers as I did listings”, Joe Cooper stated.

“I took a hard look at my business model and realized that it had been around two years since I’d used Just Listed/Just Sold postcards. I decided to start back up and see if it made a difference. Well, it has. Almost immediately, my listings have picked up!”

Get Started…

To usher in a new year full of new listings, do what Joe did and begin sending Just Listed and Just Sold postcards with every new listing and sale that you achieve this year. Get started today by clicking, HERE.

To continue reading…

The above article is an excerpt from our New, Free Master Marketing Magazine. The complete article is titled, “Business Flat? How to Blaze a New Trail of Business”.

To read the rest of this informative article, go to the New Master Marketing Magazine and turn to Page 18, CLICK HERE.

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

1. 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 Marketing, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence. –Click Here

2. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Business-Plan-3D-Book-New1-270x300.png

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 Online Real Estate Business Plan. – Click Here

3.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.

4. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide

5. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

6. The Free Online ROI Calculator

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

WEEKLY $100 PROSPECTSPLUS! GIFT CARD WINNER (DECEMBER 18TH)

Dec 18, 2020

Congratulations Tamarah DeWolf on being our $100 ProspectsPLUS! Gift Card Winner!

Tamarah shared this story regarding her experience using marketing pieces from ProspectsPLUS!,

“I cannot say enough about ProspectsPLUS! my campaign hit the market yesterday and BAM, I got a listing call that day!! Money well spent! My newest, easiest and greatest tool in my pocket for my business!! Thank you ProspectsPLUS! I am a customer for life“.

Tamarah recently sent out postcards from the Get More Listings Series (below).

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

Real Estate Circle Prospecting: It’s Geographic Farming on Steroids

Aug 17, 2020

Goals. We all have them, some of us have more than others. Reaching them is the true challenge in any business.

ChicagoAgentMagazine.com recently published the results of a survey of agents asking about their lead generation goals through the end of 2020.

One of the questions asked was how much money they plan to spend on marketing this year. Nearly half of the agent respondents said they will spend between $0 and $150 a month. Sadly, of these agents, 23% will spend between $0 and $75 a month.

Naturally, the cheapest lead generation and marketing methods were the most popular. For instance, 65% of respondents plan on “making better use of social media.”

Then, 62% will be organizing their CRM to become more efficient in their marketing. Third on the list was “spending more time with family and friends.”

Hey, if you spend only $75 a month marketing your business, you’ll have loads of time to spend with family and friends.

Increase that amount just a smidge, however, and you may just need to pencil-in that “time with family and friends.” And, that’s a good thing, at least for your bank account.

Americans, by and large, are staying home a lot more.

Some states are “pulling back on re-openings,” according to Paul Davidson at USAToday.com.

There is a bright spot for real estate agents. Millions of people are spending lots of time at home, and direct mail has become one of the best means of communicating with them.

Choose a neighborhood

Yup, it’s time to start focusing on farming, if you haven’t already. Well, farming with a twist, circle prospecting to be precise.

Circle prospecting is an amazing way to get your name and branding in front of consumers without violating safety protocols.

With this type of prospecting you aren’t obviously fishing for leads, but spreading some news – homes in the neighborhood (or nearby) that have been listed for sale, are under contract, have sold or are being held open.

You’re offering something of value.

The first step in the process is to choose the area in which you’ll prospect. If you currently have a listing, or someone in your brokerage does (let’s hope so!), choose that neighborhood and, perhaps, those adjacent to it. Then, create a targeted mailing list.

There’s more than one way to circle prospect

Some agents are actually comfortable and successful with door-knocking around listings.

More agents, however, are more comfortable with direct mail. And, with social distancing mandates in place, this method of circle prospecting is the most responsible.

The bonus is that, right now, direct mail is the method most likely to meet with success, and for a number of reasons:

1. Many agents have cut their marketing budgets, while some have stopped spending on marketing. With the pool of competition all but drained in this regard, your chances of success increase exponentially.

2. Those agents who are still marketing are gravitating to free marketing, such as promoting themselves to their friends, family and followers on social media. Others are going heavy on email marketing. Again, this lessens the mail arriving at consumers’ homes, heightening the chance that your mailed pieces will get the eyes on them.

3. “Checking the mail” is something most of us can do without exposing ourselves to the virus. It also gives us something to do while we’re stuck at home. For instance, how many catalogs have you leafed through that you would’ve otherwise thrown away?

4. Then, there are the facts about the effectiveness of direct mail:

92% of consumers say they prefer direct mail over digital when making shopping decisions
70% of them prefer USPS-delivered mail, according to William Boynton at Postalytics.com, citing a report from the National Association of Advertisers (ANA).
Nearly 15% of millennials surveyed feel that print messages are more trustworthy than those that are digitally delivered, according to a report from the USPS.

What’s next?

Now that you have your list and your strategy (prospecting around listings, solds or open houses), it’s time to round up the resources you’ll need to kick off and maintain your circle prospecting campaigns.

Naturally, we recommend checking out the brilliant array of targeted postcards offered here. From Get More Listings postcards to the Mega-sized, Market Dominator (with 100% impression rate) you’ll find what you need to get your campaign going and keep it going.

Send the More Inventory postcard from the Get More Listings Series to an area where you want more listings.

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

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 2020-Planner-3D-999x1024.jpg

4. 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

5. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

6. The Free Online ROI Calculator

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

Level Up: How to Go From Farmer to Market Maker

Jul 8, 2020

I recently spent some time talking to Todd Robertson, Director of the Market Dominator, about how agents are relying on their farms even more to keep business going during the pandemic. Todd shared some new and exciting things he’s doing to help agents level up and go from farmer to market maker.

Farming a geographic area is a time-tested, proven method for achieving new listings and referrals. Yet Todd says for many agents insecurities over what to send, how often to send it, and how to budget stops them from taking advantage of this real estate game-changer.

Those who understand the power of farming forge ahead putting systems in place, cultivating and developing lucrative relationships over time.

This results in branded awareness that keeps their name at the forefront when someone is ready to buy or sell or knows someone who is and it’s that agent who receives the call.

“These agents understand the key to successful farming is consistent marketing that allows them to stand out from the pack,” says Todd.

“I believe this is why the Market Dominator is such a popular marketing tool for agents. It’s a content-rich marketing piece, automatically sent every month, that’s literally larger-than-life”.

“And, I’m not kidding when I say larger-than-life,” Todd exclaimed, “At 12×15 in size, the Market Dominator is the largest legal size allowed by USPS. It’s a mailbox show stopper that can’t be ignored”.

That combined with content designed by industry professionals, the use of budget-friendly EDDM, and carrier route exclusivity is what Todd says makes the Dominator an agent favorite.

The leap from Farmer to Market Maker

Although the Market Dominator has been incredibly well received by agents, Todd said the current climate got him thinking it was time to do more.

With certain parts of the country just opening up again, it left many agents with only six months of 2020 to hit their annual goals. Todd said this knowledge caused him to go back to the drawing board to come up with a way to help agents level up during this remaining time.

And he found an answer. He decided to help agents go from successful farmer to market makers.

Instead of them following the traditional agent path of matching buyers and sellers, listing by listing, Todd’s helping them find a way to truly control their market and explode their growth.

He says they’ve added a new valuable resource to the Market Dominator by providing agents with a Renter Prospect List from within or around their carrier route (at no cost to the agent).

And, they’re also going to pay for the first campaign out to this renter prospect list using postcards from the Rent By Numbers Series.

“Offering this additional tool is the ultimate progression for an agent who wants to truly begin to control their market,” says Todd.

Now they’re starting to cultivate relationships with some of the very people who will be interested in buying homes in their carrier route.

“Imagine how your listing appointment will go when you show an area map of potential buyers you’ve been communicating with to the homeowners,” says Todd.

“How powerful is that?” Todd continued, “Regardless of who else is competing for this listing, they can’t win. You’ve shown up with potential buyers in hand”.

Telling a homeowner you’ve already been looking for their home’s buyer for months is a strong statement. Especially considering there’s a high probability that their home’s buyer is on this list.

While other agents are discussing what they’ll do to find a buyer once the listing agreement is signed, todd says you stand alone because you’ve already done the work.

To learn more about the Market Dominator, watch this excerpt from a recent Q&A Todd did below.

For additional questions, you can reach Todd at 866-405-3638 or Todd.Robertson@prospectsplus.com or go to Market Dominator for more information. To download Todd’s book, “Become a Listing Legend”, scroll down it’s available under Free Resources, below.

If you’re interested in generating your own Renter Prospect List to market to in your Farm click here from a desktop computer to get started or watch the video below to learn how.

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

1. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide

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

3. 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

4. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

5. The Free Online ROI Calculator

6. The Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

Meet your 2020 real estate listing clients

Nov 20, 2019

What a year, right? With 2019 pretty much in the rearview mirror, the experts are whipping out their crystal balls to prognosticate what we can expect from the 2020 real estate market.

The only problem is that the future seems foggy to most of them

On a national level, “The housing market is in the midst of a normalization period, one that is characterized by slowing price growth, moderate sales and new supply that is slow to market,” Ralph McLaughlin, deputy chief economist at CoreLogic, according to Suzanne Da Vita at RisMedia.com.

“Hey, that doesn’t describe my market!” we hear ya’all yelling.

And, for good reason. The “location” 3x thing isn’t just a mantra but a rule when it comes to discussing the real estate market. It’s the hyper local that matters to the ones asking the questions.

Then there’s the fact that home prices have slowed their upward trajectory, “but could potentially resurge, as demand picks up,” claims Da Vita. Notice the hedging of the bets there.

Another guy says we’re approaching the “end of the cycle,” but he doesn’t foresee a collapse or even a strong correction.

See what we mean by “fog” in the crystal ball? It’s more of a looking glass in many ways.

The Too Much House postcard is available in the postcard section under the Life Events Series.

So, regardless of whether the economy contracts (no surprise there; we’re overdue), the yield curve inverts or the real estate market corrects, who will you be working within 2020?

That depends

Your 2020 listing clients will, hopefully, come as a result of your 2018 and 2019 marketing efforts.

Who was your target? Aside from buyers and sellers in general, if you leaned more toward one than the other with your 2019 marketing efforts, concentrate on that group now until spring.

The same goes for the agent pursuing referrals from past clients and their sphere, those with a specific niche and agents who farm.

Looking for listings?

If it’s potential sellers you’ve been pushing down the sales funnel (with consistency, we hope), 2020 may be the year a lot of them pop out of the bottom (one can only hope, right?)

NAR studies find that the average age of a home seller is about 45 (a 25 percent share of the seller pool).

“Sellers age 64 to 72 made up the second-largest share of sellers at 22 percent with a median age of 68,” according to the 2019 Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends report.

Baby boomers are aging out of homeownership in increasing numbers, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the share of older sellers increase in 2020.

Whether the move is to senior living communities, managed care or a desire to downsize or be nearer to the grandkids, many of your potential sellers in 2020 will likely be in the 65 and older age group.

The Watch Out For Instant Offers postcard is available in the postcard section under the iBuer Series.

Since the majority of real estate agents are in (or very close to) baby boomer age, you’ll have no problem appealing to them. If you’re younger, read up on generating baby boomer real estate leads and how to work with them.

Don’t let iBuyers woo your seller leads

After a lifetime of living in the same home, the thought of the work required to prepare the home for the market may be daunting, so many would-be sellers are getting letters from iBuyer companies on a weekly basis.

Steer them from these disrupters by letting them know that:

They’ll lose a pretty significant chunk of their equity. “In all, the typical cost to a seller [using an iBuyer] appears to be in the range of 13% to 15% depending on the iBuyer vendor,” according to research by Collateral Analytics.
Show them proof:

You may also want to debunk the iBuyer claim that selling with them is quicker. Last year, it took 64 days, from listing to close (national median) to sell a home with a broker (probably quicker in 2019).

Most iBuyers promise that the longest their process will take is 70 days

It’s also time to remind potential sellers that inventory is still squeaky tight and demand high and they should strike now, while interest rates are still attractive to homebuyers.

Let them know that some housing industry experts believe that the market will shift away from seller-favorable to a more beneficial buyers’ market sometime later in 2020.

“We anticipate 2020 to continue to shift away from a seller’s market, especially if GDP slows and inventory ticks up,” McLaughlin says.

Urgency – that’s the ticket

Now is the best time to go through your CRM and pick out your seller leads in the older demographic. Drip on them from now until spring, with valuable and urgent information on selling.

Don’t discount the Gen X upsizer

Remember that the average age of a home seller is 45, putting that group in gen X (age between 44 and 55 in 2020).

This group of around 62 million made up the largest group of sellers last year and 60 percent of them were looking to upsize, according to a Value Insured study.

Many of these folks are still raising families, believe it or not. The Pew Research Center finds that “In 2014, 80% of women ages 40 to 44 with a Ph.D. or professional degree had given birth.”

Meaning those highly educated moms have 6-year olds. But having little ones in the home isn’t the only reason this cohort is looking to sell and buy a home.

Members of Gen X make up the largest pool of larger and multi-generational homebuyers. More than half of them did so to accommodate adult kids who are moving back in with Mom and Dad, according to NAR.

The Best Time postcard is available in the postcard section under the Get More Listing Series.

No, we haven’t neglected our ProspectsPLUS! buyer agents. We’ll have a rundown of what you can expect in 2020 soon.

Send at least 100 The Best Time is Now postcard from the Get More Listing Series to an area where you want more listings.

You might also like:

Get the Attention of Expireds & Win Their Listing – 2 Killer Tools

How to Turn One Listing Into Five

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. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

2. “Get More Listings” Free Online Webinar

“Get MORE Listings & Begin to Dominate Your Market!” Free online webinar. Learn the 3-7-27 strategy for explosive growth, why 95% of agents have less than 20% market share, and how to become the agent everyone competes against. – Click Here

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

4. 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

5. The Free Online ROI Calculator

October $250 ProspectsPLUS! Gift Card Winners!

Nov 4, 2019

We have two winners!

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

1. Congratulations Krista Nelson on winning the 1st Prize $250 ProspectsPLUS! Gift Card

Krista shared the following feedback with ProspectsPLUS!,

“I have loved using extra postcards in my pre-listing packets as samples. They have been great conversation pieces and look so professional my listing prospects love them.”

Krista’s latest marketing pieces she’s sent out include – Holiday, Just Sold, and Just Closed postcards.

Just Sold, Just Closed and Holiday Postcard

2.Congratulations Ronald Stewart on winning our 2nd Prize $100 ProspectsPLUS! Gift Card!

Ronald shared the following feedback with ProspectsPLUS!

“As an independent broker, I can produce quality brochures, flyers, and postcards that look better than the big franchise companies I compete with. Thanks, ProspectsPLUS!”

Ronald’s latest marketing pieces include – Just Sold postcards, Free Reports, and Get More Listings postcards.

Free Reports, Just Sold, and Get More Listings Postcards

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

You might also like:

Tips to Stay Focused Over the Holidays

Looking For Real Estate Leads, Target Landlords

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!

Tips to stay focused over the holidays

Oct 28, 2019

It’s a rare home buyer or seller who isn’t highly motivated if they’re willing to buy or sell in winter. Even in parts of the country with balmy weather, there are still the winter holidays to consider.

Who wants people in and out of their homes when trying to get ready for family visits? Who has time to house hunt when there’s so much shopping, cooking and schmoozing to do?

While it may be the slowest of real estate seasons, the players on the winter field are highly motivated to buy, sell and move.

The Call To Action postcard is available in the postcard section under the Call To Action Series.

That’s the good news.

Between working with these clients, keeping up with lead generation, preparing your 2020 business plan and squeezing in time with family and friends, winter can be distracting for the real estate agent.

It’s far too easy to let the merrymaking consume us over the holidays. Unfortunately, as a self-employed, small businessperson who typically wears most of the hats in the business, letting your real estate business’ fundamentals slide can be disastrous to your 2020 bottom line.

Make a plan for the winter market that will ensure that your business doesn’t dry up when spring rolls around.

Priority uno

Even when business is good, lead gen should be your priority. In winter, however, you may need to change your tactics a bit.

People are busy, people are traveling, so cold calling and door knocking efforts may be fruitless.

A NAR survey a while back found that 75 percent of seller leads and 65 percent of buyer leads come from referrals and contacts. Go through your CRM and concentrate on nurturing your sphere in November and, especially, December.

Think newsletters, holiday cards or postcards, and small gifts for past clients that you want to keep in touch with.

The Determining Value postcard is in the postcard section under the Content Card Series.

Giving yourself a break from the pressure to generate new leads allows you to focus on drumming up business from referrals. Hopefully, just in time for the spring market.

Follow-up

Any new leads you’re able to generate during the holiday season need a quick response and consistent follow-up.

And by “quick,” I mean within five minutes, if at all possible.

Forbes published study results that found that salespeople who responded within five minutes were more likely to actually reach the lead (and the lead is more likely to convert) than those who waited longer.

If you wait a half-hour to respond you may as well kiss the lead goodbye, according to the study.

Schedule time for the personal stuff

Agents with assistants can delegate some of the more mundane winter tasks (research to help you with your 2020 business plan, year-end clean up your CRM, etc.)
If you haven’t hired an assistant, consider doing so now.

Even if it’s just seasonal help via a virtual assistant, delegate some of your end-of-year tasks so that you can free up time to spend with friends and family.

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

Winter slows down for many agents but that’s no reason to lose your focus. Your business depends on building and maintaining relationships and the winter holidays present plenty of opportunities to do just that.

Send out the Neighborhood Update postcard to an area where you want more listings.

Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list too l 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. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

2. “Get More Listings” Free Online Webinar

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

4. 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

5. The Free Online ROI Calculator

Looking for real estate listing leads? Target landlords

Oct 16, 2019

Reading housing market news is an exercise in frustration.

For every so-and-so “sees stronger housing market this fall” and stories of the various “hot” real estate markets across the country, there’s a “Housing Market will Probably Slow” and “Housing Market may be at Risk in Recession” article.

The fact is, the housing market is sitting pretty right now, according to agents we’ve spoken with. Who knows better than those wearing the boots on the ground?

Remember, many of those who bought homes during the lowest point during the recession were investors – something the folks at CoreLogic refer to as the “investor buying fury of 2012 – 2014.”

Yes, many of these buyers were institutional investors, but the so-called “mom and pop” investors, bought a lot of homes as well.

Core Logic claims that small investor activity in the real estate market increased their share of the investor buying pool from “48% of all investor-purchased homes in 2013 to more than 60% in 2018.”

There’s your target audience: absentee owners who bought the property from 2012 to 2014.

While homeowners may be loath to list during fall and winter, landlords are not. Especially after receiving your brilliant and laser-targeted marketing pieces, convincing them to sell.

They have tons-o-equity

Want to hear something surprising?

People “who purchased a home following the Great Recession have seen their home equity climb by 261%,” according to Alcynna Lloyd at HousingWire.com.

She calculates that the average homebuyer in 2012 “is now sitting on $141,000 in equity.”

Let that sink in. That’s a whole lot of equity, especially for a tenant-weary landlord who just wants out from under his or her investment.

The market is perfect for sellers

It’s only natural to assume that when prices skyrocket, owners sell. This market over the past year or so proves what happens when we make assumptions.

Homeowners aren’t selling.

The reasons are plenty: they’re afraid they won’t find a replacement home, they think their value will continue rising, they’re scared a recession is looming and they have no idea how much equity they have in their homes.

Investors, however, are in an entirely different situation and the bottom line for them is money.

“Investors who don’t have the longest investment horizon, who only want to do this for another five or 10 years may not want to wait and see when the next cycle comes,” Doug Imber, president of Essex Realty Group in Chicago tells Debbie Carlson at USNews.com.

Costs of owning are going up

When home values increase, property taxes do too. That’s a hunk of money that can easily turn a cap rate from good to bad.

ATTOM Data Solutions claims that in 2017, property taxes rose by an average of 6 percent in 2017 and an additional 4 percent last year.

With home prices continuing to skyrocket, it’s a safe bet that the new appraised values will bring an additional hike in taxes.

Just Listed postcards are available in the Postcard section under Just Listed Series.

Then, there’s that recession on the horizon

Landlords who needed to sell their properties during the last recession and had to sit on them instead may be nervous about a coming recession.

Never mind that home values have gone up in all but the last recession (which was largely caused by the bursting of the housing bubble). When it comes to our pocketbooks, common sense leaves the building.

Although most economists don’t expect the coming recession to impact the housing market, nothing is guaranteed.

A recession could very well impact their profit margins. If the competition is lowering rents, it puts pressure on all landlords to follow suit.

And, if mortgage rates remain low and rent high, it makes more sense for their tenants to buy a home instead of rent.

Rents won’t rise forever

Our research into how much rents have risen yielded numbers that were all over the map. ApartmentList.com claims that the national average, year-over-year rent growth is only 1.4 percent.

“Our national rent index fell by 0.1 percent month-over-month,” the report claims. “This is the second straight monthly decline in the index following robust rent growth through the summer, indicating that this year’s peak rental season has come to an end.”

Other points to highlight include:

Rents are outpacing income and that’s not sustainable
Building costs will soon outpace rental rates
The market is set to change, and supply could catch up with or outpace demand

The bottom line in all of your marketing pieces is one question: “Does this particular real estate investment still make sense?”

How to lure landlord leads

The first step in drilling down into the landlord niche is to choose a farm area. This might be a condo community or two or it could be a subdivision or even a ZIP Code.

Then, come up with a strategy:

Ensure your online presence shines.
Determine which marketing vehicles you’ll use to reach out to landlords. Think old-school on this one – postcards are ideal (and, no, not just because we sell them!).
Ask your title company rep for a list of absentee owners in your chosen farm area and take a look at our mailing list options.

Your first mailing can be anything from a current neighborhood update report to a just-listed or sold postcard.

The most important aspect of this lead gen method is to come up with a follow-up plan and then keep to it, consistently, at least once every two months.

The Tired of Being a Landlord postcard is available in the Postcard section under the Rental For Sale Series.

Happy prospecting!

Send the Tired of Being a Landlord postcard to a targeted mailing list of landlords.

Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list too l 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. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

2. “Get More Listings” Free Online Webinar

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

4. 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

5. The Free Online ROI Calculator

May $250 Gift Card Contest Winners!

Jun 5, 2019

We have two winners!

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

1.Congratulations Stacey Severn on winning our 1st Prize $250 ProspectsPLUS! Gift Card!

Stacey shared the following feedback with ProspectsPLUS!

“I like the flexibility in the templates, the ability to target accurately, and the fact that I don’t have to print labels or buy stamps, or take the time to put my mailings together.”

“It’s all done for me!”

Stacey’s latest marketing pieces she’s sent out include – Just Sold, Fence Sitters, and Just Closed postcards.

Just Sold, Fence Sitter, and Just Closed postcards (all available in the postcard section)

2. Congratulations Edna Wilson on winning the 2nd Prize $100 ProspectsPLUS! Gift Card

Edna shared the following feedback with ProspectsPLUS!,

“This has been a game changer for me and my business!!!” I highly recommend them for all your postcard and printing needs“.

Edna’s latest marketing pieces she’s sent out include – Get More Listings, Agent Introduction, and Up Load Your Own postcards.

Get More Listings, Agent Introduction, and Open House postcards (all available in the postcard section).

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

You might also like to read:

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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