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Sunday, May 19, 2024

Networking

    Some real estate agents enter the business with a huge sphere of influence to tap for their first deals. A lot of these agents are members of civic organizations, churches, or philanthropic groups. Even parents active in the local PTA come to the business with a list of potential clients. 

    Sound a bit mercenary? 

    On the contrary, using your community, social and familial contacts to help you cultivate potential clients makes sense. 

    “Involvement” is the operative word

    One would assume that the busier the real estate agent – the more successful his practice – the less likely he is to volunteer within the community. That assumption is wrong.

    Successful agents that understand the power of delegation and hire a staff, even if it’s one assistant, typically have a little time to devote to a community cause or to a personal passion.

    When asked how they give back, those who claim they don’t have time to get into the community say they donate money. 

    While giving to non-profits, charities, churches, and other organizations is commendable, it is not really “community involvement.” 

    So, don’t let us stop you from writing those checks. We just hope you’ll consider giving some of your time as well.

    The Comfort Food Series is shown above. To see more designs, Click HERE.

    Mingling online doesn’t count either

    The internet has changed many things about the way agents run their businesses, including how they stay in touch with past clients and their spheres. Much of it revolves around the use of social media. 

    But is social networking comparable to meeting face-to-face within the community?

    Don’t get me wrong, being social via tech is valuable to your business. So, mingle online all you want, but it should be in addition to in-person involvement.

    Meet and greet

    This is where the meat of your community involvement campaign is – those organizations where you can contribute your time and talent and meet lots of folks from the community you serve.

    Activities are more relaxed than the typical real estate transaction, so people get to know you as a person, not as a real estate agent. 

    Let’s face it – there isn’t much that distinguishes one agent from another, but on a personal level, it’s easy to set yourself apart.

    Network with a passion

    It’s important to pick a cause for which you feel some affinity – preferably a passion. This way, you can focus your efforts on the cause, not the leads. The leads will come – just give it some time.

    Of course, if you have a passion – say for helping veterans or tutoring children – half the battle is won right there. If you have lots of interests, do some online research to help pare down the choices. Here are several places to start:

    • AmericaCorps (ideal for Baby Boomers or those specializing in that niche) 

    There are numerous civic clubs to consider as well, such as 

    Finally, ask your local church or school what kind of help they may need, and if you’re athletic, become a volunteer soccer, baseball, football, or tennis coach.

    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 

    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

      I heard my first holiday song of the season during the first week of October this year. About two weeks later, the big box stores started clearing out their garden centers to make way for the thousands of pallets of holiday décor.

      Even the biggest procrastinators can’t miss retailers’ attempts to start the winter holidays early.

      If you aren’t in the spirit yet, it’s time to take a cue from the retail industry. Especially if your CRM is crammed full of contacts, the time to start was yesterday.

      Add an extra blog post every week during the holiday season

      In many cities and towns, the weeks between Thanksgiving and the new year are full of local activities. These are activities that folks love to attend, so let them know about what’s happening in your town or city. 

      What is the best way to do that? By blogging and promoting those posts on social media and emails to your sphere.

      “Create a holiday gift guide featuring local vendors,” suggests Ada Ciuca with Keller Williams. She adds this brilliant tip: “If you can secure discount coupons as well, even better!” 

      Here are some additional holiday blog post topics you can punch out in under an hour:

      • Neighborhoods with amazing holiday light displays
      • A list of “Adopt a Family for the Holidays” charities in your area
      • Best hot chocolate spots in your town
      • Best places to ski, sled, ice skate
      • Local restaurants serving holiday dinners and brunches
      • Winter weekend nearby getaways
      • A list of holiday concerts and performances (the Symphony, the Nutcracker, etc.)
      • New Year’s Eve events
      • New Year’s Eve events for families
      • A rundown of top economists’ housing market predictions for 2024, niched down to your market
      • A list of New Year’s resolutions for homeowners, such as “work on increasing your emergency fund,” “routinely change HVAC filters (mention local retailers that sell them),” etc.

      Remember to keep these posts focused on the hyper-local, include business addresses or website URLs whenever possible, and link back to any earlier, pertinent posts on your blog. Internal linking is great for SEO.

      Finally, don’t skimp when it comes to photos

      Shannon Johnson at hubspot.com discussed an experiment they performed that found “… the click-through rate of posts containing photos is 128% higher than the CTR of posts containing videos or links.” 

      She concludes that they “… also know photos on Facebook generate 53% more ‘likes’ than the average post.”

      Speaking of Facebook, push those posts out to your followers. Hyper-local topics (which is what we’re dealing with here) are eminently sharable. The more your followers share your posts, the better the chances of increasing your website traffic.

      We have more holiday real estate marketing ideas to share with you, so check back soon!

      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

        “… interacting with others to exchange information and develop professional contacts” is the ideal real estate lead-generation technique. Especially if you happen to have a gregarious, outgoing personality, then networking could be the gold mine of your business. 

        Even agents who are more introverted can benefit from networking– not only by exposing their brands to more potential clients but by building social skills as well.

        Networking opportunities are everywhere

        Any event that brings people together provides a golden networking opportunity. Let’s take a look at some of the more common events you may want to attend:

        • Charity events
        • School events
        • Civic club events (Rotary, Lion’s Club, etc.)
        • Alumni events
        • Community events
        • Local sporting events (both professional and school-aged athletes. Pop Warner, Little League, youth soccer leagues)
        • A client appreciation event that you organize

        In reality, any event or any time a group of people is gathered can be considered a networking event.

        Sprinkle in some online networking

        Online networking presents the perfect solution for the tends-to-be-somewhat-shy agent. It’s also a must-add to any agent’s in-person networking calendar.

        Three of the best social media platforms for those in the real estate industry are:

        • Facebook groups
        • LinkedIn
        • NextDoor

        Facebook has tons of groups that you can join, including real estate groups, neighborhood groups, and groups that align with just about any interest or hobby. 

        Using these groups for networking, however, doesn’t mean you should spam people with your listings. Be Sociable, respond to and like their posts, and engage consistently. There are subtle ways of letting your followers know that you’re a real estate agent, but avoid being salesy.

        The Inspiration Series is shown above. To see more, click Here.

        Volunteer

        To be considered the area real estate expert takes massive exposure to your brand and getting to know as many people as possible.

        One of the best and most rewarding ways of getting this exposure is through volunteering at:

        • Civic clubs
        • Schools
        • Church
        • Non-profits
        • Community youth athletic teams
        • Humane societies/Animal shelters
        • Food Banks

        Find a cause that you’re passionate about. Stuck for ideas? Check out these websites:

        The fortune truly is in the follow-up

        It’s vital to get as much information as possible from the folks you come into contact with while networking.

        • Aside from volunteering, what do they enjoy doing in their spare time?
        • What do they do for a living?
        • Where are they originally from?

        You may want to spread these information-gathering questions over time so that you don’t come off as creepy.

        Get all of this information into your CRM as soon as possible so that you don’t forget it. Now you have what you need to follow up with people.

        If you plant seeds in your garden and leave them alone, the chances are excellent that they won’t germinate. Water, fertilizing, weeding, and ridding the garden of pests are some of the ways we nurture seeds to sprout and thrive.

        The same can be said of our relationships with others. Maintaining the new relationships you build through networking is critical if you hope to do business with them in the future.

        Just as your seeds may rot if you overwater and over-nurture them, so it goes with those you meet through networking. Don’t be spammy. Be someone they look forward to seeing at the next event.

        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 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 

        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

        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

          Remember the days when real estate agents considered themselves sales professionals? 

          Today, most consider themselves to be ace relationship builders and wince when anyone regards them as someone in the same category as a person who sells cars.

          However, a strong, well-maintained network can sustain your business for decades to come.

          But, wait, “network” isn’t only a noun

          When you “… interact with others to exchange information and develop professional or social contacts,” and relationships, you are networking. Generally speaking, there are three types of networks that real estate agents participate in:

          • Professional
          • Peer
          • Client (or prospects and leads)

          All three provide different results, but today we are addressing the potential client variety of networking.

          While it’s the wise agent who schedules time to nurture their current networks, those a step ahead are also adding to it, by networking.

          Networks should be diverse

          Unless you’re building a professional network, choose events and opportunities outside of the real estate industry. This might include chamber mixers and school board or PTA meetings where you’ll be exposed to those who are active in bettering your community. 

          Diversity in your networking, however, is critical, so branch out to other opportunities as well.

          Consider creating a community service network by joining the local chapter of the Lions Club, Rotary or Jaycees.

          “If you consistently push your boundaries and work to broaden your sphere of connections, over time, you will run into opportunities that others would only be able to describe as luck,” suggests Maria Arauz with the Keller Center for Research at Baylor University.

          The Content Card Series is shown above. See Content Card postcards, HERE. See Content Card scheduled campaign information, HERE.

          Break the ice … Gently

          Naturally, you’ll want your new network of possible clients to understand what you do for a living, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to let them know.

          “If you go to networking events with the intention of just trying to sell to people, they won’t want to meet with you later because they know you’re going to pitch to them,” cautions author and keynote speaker Ivan Misner at entrepreneur.com.

          These are the overtly salesy folks who approach others at events, business card in hand. 

          “Be interested, not interesting” Misner continues. “It’s not all about you.”

          If you want to make a true connection, make the conversation all about them. No pitches, no asking for business.

          Sure, it takes time to network. Step one is making the time. Step two is showing up.

          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

          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 

          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

          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

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