marketing budget

Want More Listings? Become a Real Estate Asset Builder!

Aug 10, 2022

Dean Jackson, the ultimate real estate marketer, states, “In real estate, pairing a capital investment mindset with some capital is a winning combination,” Dean Jackson is the founder of GoGoAgent and Listing Agent Lifestyle. The following is his breakdown of how to get more listings by becoming a real estate asset builder.

Most real estate agents don’t come into the real estate business with a capital investment mindset because they’re so focused on earning commissions and controlling expenses.

I think a capital investment mindset and some capital is the ideal way to become a prolific asset builder. And the best way to build strong long-term assets is with a geographic farm.

A four-year case study

I did a four-year case study with real estate agent Tony Kelsey. He started out in a farm area of 2,000 homes and, over four years, generated an almost 11 times ROI by consistently marketing there.

Over four years, Tony spent $50,000 marketing to the people in this neighborhood every month, and with that investment, he generated $550,000 in commissions.

He mailed postcards monthly for five months before he made his first transaction of $15,000 in commission. At that point, he had spent $5,000 on marketing.

From that moment on, he was profitable, and his ongoing investment continued to realize transactions. He was building the asset of identifying future sellers and cultivating relationships with those sellers over time.

The path to dominating

Now, let’s look at a 1000-home farm in a neighborhood that has a turnover rate of 8%. That means 80 homes will sell this year in that neighborhood whether you do anything or not.

What if you decide you want to dominate this neighborhood? What will that look like for you in four years?

Well, it costs approximately $750 a month to mail to those 1000 homes ($9,000 over 12 months). And let’s say the average home price in this neighborhood is $600,000; you’ll get around $18,000 on the listing side of each sale.

This means after the first transaction in this neighborhood, you will be profitable, just like Tony.

If, in addition to going after new listings, you cultivate a list of potential buyers in the same farm area and begin communicating with them, you’re taking asset building to a new level. Specifically, since NAR states home buyers purchase homes within 15 miles of their last home.

This strategy is especially powerful if you are farming in a competitive market.

In this case, the most valuable thing that you can bring to a listing presentation is a list of potential buyers that you’ve been communicating with over time. You’re actually demonstrating to the seller that you already may have their potential buyer in hand.

So if you’re looking at a farm of 1000 homes or maybe 800 or 500 homes to get started (whatever you’re comfortable with), all you need is the seed money to get to the first transaction.

And once you hit that first transaction, the only thing that more money allows you to do is to speed up the process of identifying who more future sellers are.

Becoming visible to future sellers

Getting in front of your market consistently through direct mail is a proven marketing strategy, and clearly, one that worked well for Tony.

It gives you the advantage of identifying those future sellers and building a relationship with them before they even know they want to sell.

Over time they will begin to view you as a helpful advocate who’s continuously serving their community without expectation.

The more you get them to think about you, the more the odds increase that they’ll think about you when it matters most, when they’re ready to sell.

That’s when the fun of being an asset builder begins.

When you have time…below are some ProspectsPLUS! 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 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

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

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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 Take a Listing Today Podcast

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

Grow Your Real Estate Business and Overcome Your Fear of Spending

Jan 25, 2022

There seems to be this fundamental fallacy among many real estate agents that the more money they spend on their businesses, the less there will be for their personal use.

That simply isn’t the case, according to Heidi Sloss, author of “Fortune is in the Follow-Up: Five POWER Strategies to Grow Your Business.”

“Too many business owners under-spend on marketing, thinking that not spending is the same as saving,” claims Sloss. While it’s an annoying adage, it really does “take money to make money.”

Want proof?

An older study by ActiveRain determined how much real estate agents made and how much they spent.

Top producing agents earning more than $100,000 per year spent five to 10 times more money on marketing than lower-earning agents.

Let’s face it, there are a number of money pits in the average real estate practice, from keeping up with the latest technology to what you drive or what you wear.

The truly important stuff, however – most of what’s in your business plan – is where to focus if you’re looking for ways to gain more clients and grow your business.

So, while it’s important to invest money in continuing education, professional development, and ensuring you have the office systems in place to make your job easier, none of it means a thing without clients.

Overcome your Fear

Remember the scene in the motion picture “Ghost,” where Whoopi Goldberg’s character is forced to endorse a $4 million check “to a bunch of nuns?”

She struggles, claiming to “… just want to touch it one more time.” Finally, at the point of almost hyperventilating, with tears streaming down her face, Whoopie’s character, Oda Mae, hands the check to one of the nuns but then refuses to let go of it. A tug-of-war of sorts ensues until she finally releases it and dissolves into sobs.

Is that not exactly what you do in your mind when it comes time to part with your hard-earned money? Especially in a commission-based business, parting with money is frightening. Who knows when you’ll close another deal?

It’s only natural then that you might question whether any particular investment is really the right thing to do. Marketing dollars are particularly hard to spend.

What if the campaign doesn’t work? What if I lose this money? These are perfectly valid questions as you tenaciously hold on to your dollar.

One of the best ways to overcome the fear of spending is by paying close attention to the annual budget every year when you revisit your business plan. Once the money is budgeted, consider it spent. Then, make careful, informed decisions about where to spend the money when it comes time to do so.

To help you make better buying decisions, visit review sites. Here you can read opinions – both good and bad – about the products real estate agents use in a typical day. Here’s our Google reviews page. Knowing what works for other agents arms you with the information you need to make sound spending decisions.

The bottom line is that if you really want to grow your real estate business, you’re going to have to spend some money investing in it – whether it’s on marketing, staff, or technology. So, overcome the fear and lose the death grip on the pocketbook.

6 Reasons to Go After Baby Boomers Right Now

They own 26 million homes in the U.S.
They control 70% of all wealth in this country.
They hold more than 50% of all owner-occupied homes.
41% state they will definitely purchase another home.
They are almost completely ignored by the real estate industry.
And, we’re giving you the first 100 prospects on a Baby Boomer list for free right now!

That’s Right, Discover Baby Boomers in Your Area and GET THE FIRST 100 FREE!

To get the first 100 on a Baby Boomers Prospect List FREE USE PROMO CODE: BOOM100.

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

This offer expires on January 29th, at midnight.

Do You Need Help Creating Your Baby Boomer List? Watch This How to Video Below.

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

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

2. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

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

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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

2. The 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

3. 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

4. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

5. The Free Online ROI Calculator

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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

6. The 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

What Financial Lessons Did You Learn During Lockdown?

Jun 19, 2020

If you think that nobody foresaw the economic and emotional turmoil that the pandemic of 2020 has wrought, think again.

A Netflix series, filmed in 2019, not only predicted a pandemic but narrowed it down to a coronavirus. To say a series titled, “Pandemic: How to Fight an Outbreak” was prophetic would be an understatement.

Unfortunately, we’re not virologists, pulmonologists, chief science officers nor do we work in the Special Pathogens Program, so we had no clue what was coming.

Now that we’re knee-deep in it, with a few weeks or months of not generating income, we’ve learned some hard, financial lessons.

To avoid them in the future, we’ve rounded up some of the best advice we could find.

*Quote Series*, *Travel the World* postcard

Do you have a business continuity plan?

Because agents are small business men and women it amazes me how many lack a business plan, or don’t consult the one they have.

The business plan is the roadmap for your business and should contain a continuity plan (or, “Plan B,”) for slow periods. Pay close attention to the marketing section of the plan during this planning.

Marketing should be one of the last tasks to cut, yet many agents slash it completely when times are tough.

If you need help compiling a business plan, check out our Free One-Page Business Plan.

Then, ensure that it contains a continuity plan – a document that details how your business “… will continue operating during an unplanned disruption …,” according to the pros at IBM.com.

Ensure your plan accounts for a short-term economic slowdown as well as a major downturn.

How’s that emergency fund?

Good for you if you have one. Many Americans don’t. “By saving anywhere from three to six months of expenses (expert recommendations vary), an emergency fund cushions a sudden reduction or stoppage in income and gives breathing space,” according to Utpal Dholakia Ph.D., at PsychologyToday.com.

Start small, if you must, but direct a certain percentage of each commission check to a dedicated emergency fund savings plan. You do it for your quarterly tax payments, right? Do the same for you and your family.

Keep filling the pipeline

Now that you have a business plan you should be able to easily identify your marketing budget in a “Plan B” scenario.

The least you should do under these circumstances is keep in touch with your Sphere, but it’s important to keep filling the pipeline with new leads as well.

Yes, money is tight right now, but it’s possible to do some pretty stellar marketing at very low cost. Check out our Real Estate Marketing on a Tight Budget blog post for ideas.

Keep your marketing messages (to both your sphere and pipeline) more helpful than salesy and as uplifting as possible. Yes, show your expertise, but in a low-pressure way.

Need some ideas for topics?

Local real estate market trends. Check out the COVID Looking For Listings Series.
Rekindling family time (stuff families can do at home to stave off boredom). Check out the COVID At-Home Series, Family Activities postcard.
Anything having to do with gardening (the nation’s new favorite pastime). Check out the COVID At-Home Series, Gardening Fun postcard.
Binge-worthy movies
Recommend some of your favorite books
Send uplifting quotes. Check out the Quote Series of postcards.
Address the changes in mortgage lending standards
Recommend some DIY projects to stay busy. Check out the COVID At Home Series, Organize Your Kitchen postcard.

Lockdowns are easing at various rates across the country and agents are getting back to work.

Don’t forget the financial lessons we’ve all learned during the crisis. Be prepared for anything.

Send the Not How Much postcard from the Quotes Series to your Sphere.

Let them know they’re in you’re thoughts.

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!