You MUST Have an Effective Real Estate Website to Make it in This Market!!!

-It’s not a new concept by any means, but yet it’s still not being utilized by the majority of real estate agents. I’m referring to the most important aspect of your marketing plan for 2011…you’re online hub.

You know, the place where you share your expertise, showcase your listings, and deliver relevant content. The place that helps:

(1) your sphere stay up to date with your market,

(2) potential clients get the information they need to take the next step, and

(3) makes current clients extremely happy they chose to work with you because clearly, you know how to facilitate interest in their home and community!

And finally, the place that makes having an online marketing strategy make sense. Yes that place is your Website, but in 2011 that place should be your WordPress blog site.

It’s not why WordPress….it’s when.

Well, actually it IS still a question of “why WordPress” for many of you. Yes, there are more than a few blog platforms out there but none that are supported in quite the same way. There is good reason afterall that nearly 10% of ALL Websites have been created on the WordPress platform!

WordPress is extremely flexible.  A WordPress site can match your goals and deliver the type of content that matters most to your targets.

WordPress puts you back in the driver’s seat. With proper training a WordPress site gives the user the power to easily update and manage their site.

And WordPress helps the right people find you…because frequent content, rockin’ SEO, and utilizing other social channels like Facebook, Twitter or YouTube is a recipe for online success!

Content Marketing IS your Field of Dreams!

You’ve got expertise…so instead of sharing “barrowed” content (article, video, photo, etc) that sends your targets to other Wesbites…send them to a highly relevant resource, you!

This way the next time you’re looking to share an article on Facebook giving locals 5 great reasons to live in the Oaks Neighborhood or advice on how to face the insurmountable task of spring cleaning…write it yourself, post it yourself…and they will come! And when they do, be sure to provide them with an opt-in way to get more of your expertise via an email newsletter.

Yes, creating your own content is time consuming, but it has the greatest payoff…Google will show you that…and you’re new clients will thank you for it!

ROCK a Distribution Strategy!

Now for the best part about having an online hub! When you write a post and share it on your WordPress blog site, it’s really just the beginning of an online marketing strategy that has some serious legs! Your post will be indexed by Google making it easy for your targets to find you via search. It also becomes very easy (for you & others) to share that post to Facebook, to Twitter, to Linkedin, etc. You can take that same post and make it a script for a video. You can again use that same post for more traditional marketing like print newsletters for your geographic farms, or even email newsletters for your sphere.

Now there is an art to how you distribute content because we don’t want to spam people with the same exact message across numerous platforms. But once you select the channels that make sense for your goals and your sphere, you can create a distribution flow that will work time and again.

MyTechOpinion

As the first month of 2011 comes to a close, I think it’s time to evolve some of the strategies we used last year. It’s great to see many of you actively participating in a number of social channels….but I challenge you to step it up. Using Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube alone are not enough. You need to have an online hub with regular content and features you can share like digital breadcrumbs leading the right people back to the source! Otherwise you’re online marketing efforts will be the death of you, well not literally, but you know what I mean!

Contact Joshua @ Prime Real Estate for assistance in setting up your wordpress site! 219-322-9009 or view us on the web at www.WeSellNWI.com

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2011
01/31
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Make 2011 a Great Year in Real Estate!

It’s a New Year and everyone hopes their business will be better than it was in 2010, answer these questions to find out how!

1. What will you do differently in 2011?
The old cliché, “If you keep doing the same thing, you’ll keep getting the same results,” is true. Unfortunately, if you fail to keep up with the rapid changes in technology, you may experience a decline even if you work harder in 2011. To avoid having this happen to you, implement at least one new Web tool or real estate marketing strategy every quarter. 

2. Write down your goals
Writing down your goals dramatically improves the probability that you will reach them. For those who lack written goals, only 5 percent achieve the goals they set. Take a moment now to write down how many properties you would like to sell per month and the income you would like to earn.

3. How much time do you spend on lead generation each week?
A Realtor’s job description boils down to six words: generate leads, convert leads, close transactions. When Realtors become too busy, they often let their lead generation slide. The cost is that their pipeline of closed deals dries up. To keep your business strong, make your lead generation activities the first thing you do each day.

4. Identify the characteristics of your ideal client
Take out a sheet of paper and make two columns. In the first column, list as many characteristics as possible about your ideal client. In the second column, place a check mark next to the characteristics that you share. To attract more business, start working on raising your personal standards so they match the characteristics on your ideal client list. The closer you become to your ideal, the more likely you are to attract that ideal client in your business.

5. Is your market stagnant, declining or improving?
According to RealtyTrac, November default notices were the lowest since July 2007. Judicial foreclosures decreased by 31 percent from the previous month and foreclosure auctions dropped 16 percent. The rate of completed foreclosures dropped by 28 percent from October 2010. Even so, 2010 had more than 980,000 REOs, breaking the record set in 2009.

Given these numbers, it’s important to determine what is happening in the specific price ranges and locations you serve. If short sales and REOs are no longer a substantial part of your market, consider shifting your business to the first-time-buyer market or to representing traditional sellers who still have sufficient equity to sell without a short sale.

6. Does your website make the grade?
In other words, are you regularly generating leads that result in closed transactions? If not, it’s time to upgrade to a narrowly focused, lifestyle-based niche. Being everything to everyone is no longer a viable strategy. Instead, revamp your website so that visitors can access everything they need to know about purchasing or selling in today’s market. Also, be sure you provide as much information as possible about the lifestyle in your market area.

7. How often do you contact your past clients?
Failure to keep in touch with past clients can cost you about 20 percent of your client base each year. To make sure that your past clients list or buy through you, keep in regular contact. If the person is older, face-to-face contact is best. For younger clients, touch bases by using text messaging, or through Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. Regular contact maximizes the probability you’ll be the agent they choose to represent them.

8. Build your business on your strengths?
Write down the address of each property that you closed in the last 12 months. Beside each address, record where the lead for that sale originated. Next, determine how many different lead sources (i.e., open house, Web leads, referrals, etc.) have yielded results for you.

For example, if you had eight lead sources, concentrate on the top four (the top 50 percent). Ignore the rest. It’s much easier to be successful when you focus on expanding what’s working.

9. Constantly monitor your market
If you have been working in a price range or a location where the activity drops, shift your lead generation activities to those areas experiencing the greatest amount of sales activity. Using this approach decreases the amount of effort required to close your transactions.

If I can do anything to help yoou grow your business please feel free to contact me at Prime Real Estate –

Joshua Lybolt – 219-322-9009 – joshua@lybolt.com 

www.WeSellNWI.com – www.WeSellChicagoland.com

2011
01/21
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Very Futuristic Shopping for Real Estate

rosieBrokerage of the future? This is like Jetson’s style futuristic… Imagine your client comes to your office in 2021 because the apocalypse hasn’t happened yet and we all have jet packs because the Jetson’s promised them to us. Your client is a young couple looking for their first home and you all sit together and look at a large screen on your office wall. You show them pictures of the top three homes that match what they’ve asked for, and they eliminate one and want to see the other two.

On the first house, you zoom in to the front door to open it, then walk your way through the home in life size from your desk. You open the kitchen drawer to see the appliance manuals because they’ve asked the Energy Star rating of the refrigerator. They wonder how the natural light appears in the home, so you change the settings to rain, morning sun and sunset so they can see all angles. They ask about the nearby rail station and you turn on the sound to show them the slight hum and they decide that they can deal with that.

They’re in love and don’t even want to see the second home, but they argue over whether or not their sofa will fit in the living room or if they should put it in the gameroom upstairs and buy a new one. You ask them for their QR code they saved on their phone that uploads 3-d images of all of their furniture to the large screen so they can see what the sofa looks like in the room and spin it with their fingers to check out the configuration.

These are all buyer signs, so you click the docs button on the bottom and draw up the offer papers that are autopopulated based on the home info in the system and what you’ve audibly agreed upon for a sales price. It also pops up simultaneously on their mobile devices, and they thumbprint scan into their phone and enter their password stating that they agree to the offer.

Does this mean NO MORE REALTORS?

The future doesn’t eliminate Realtors, it forces agents to redefine their value proposition. Knowledge is worth money and agents will always play a role in negotiations because there is always a human element when selling a personal asset such as a home- as Benn says, it will NEVER be a point-and-click proposition. But the future is exciting and I’m hoping the Jetson’s weren’t too far off with their promises.

Don’t believe me? Watch this:

This video is of technology that currently exists but is of course too expensive to manufacture in mass (but that was once the case with light bulbs as well if that tells you anything). Can’t you see the implications in the real estate field? Prime Real Estate of Schererville, Indiana does and is looking forward to adding this to their portfolio of services to offer their clients.  The above story is just my sci-fi real estate fantasy, but when you watch this video, you’ll see how I can jump to conclusions:

By Lani Rosales

2011
01/18
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3 Tools You Can Use to Close More Deals on the Web

Realtors are passionate people, especially about their relationship with customers. One of the ways that they connect with these customers today is through the use of social media, and the methods for doing so are, themselves, becoming much more varied and sophisticated.

Realtors are also dealing with much more savvy customers. Today, customers want to buy a house or refer a real estate agent to a friend on Twitter(Twitter), Facebook(Facebook) and other platforms, and agents know they need to be there to provide an open door to customers and provide an authentic, unique experience along the way.  But Rule #1 is: DO NOT SELL on these Platforms!!!! I cannot emphasize this enough.

If you’re reading this, you’re likely already familiar with social media 101. So, what are some of the ways you can increase home sales with the latest tools? And, how can you reinvent the home buying experience in clever, innovative ways? Here are three recommendations and accompanying tools that will not only increase sales, but will enhance the overall customer experience and set you apart from the competition.

1. Use 360-Degree Panoramic Images

 

app image 

It’s easy to upload static, one-room images of homes without giving your customer any real knowledge of what the home actually looks like. Instead share true-to-life panoramic images of your properties.

360 Panorama, an iPhone(iPhone) app from Occipital, allows you to do just that –- share rich, full images of properties that are stitched together in real-time without any photo-editing work on your part. You can easily share these images over social networks like Twitter and Facebook to give your customers a deeper glimpse into their next potential home.

The broader trend: Be a salesperson, but sell something real — don’t just sell an idea. Easy-to-do panoramic images not only highlight the actual nature of the home, but give your customers a realistic expectation.

2. Be Transparent and Data-Driven With Charts and Graphs

 

chart image 

Many people look online for an agent who knows the most about a given area or city. For realtors, it has become more about adding credibility while still making it easy for customers to get to and understand the information they need to make an informed, home buying decision.

There are plenty of chart making tools out there, but the one that I’ve found to be most useful is FusionCharts.

Combine this with data pulled from Zillow and Trulia APIs (or if you prefer, their widgets) and you have a deep, intelligent way to inform your customers on everything they need to know before making a purchase. Anything from the latest mortgage rates in their state to historical home prices by zip code or neighborhood.

The broader trend: Differentiate from the crowd by being known as the realtor who provides deep insights into what is, at times, a data-deluged market. By providing credibility-building information and sharing it via social networks, you’re providing a transparent view of your unique understanding and also educating your customers on everything they need to know.

3. Improve Listings With an Integrated Marketing Presence

 

powersite image 

You’re busy, and so is the marketplace. There are plenty of agents in your neighborhood today and all of them want to sell your customers a house. The problem is that none of “your” prospective customers can find out what they need to know without you. So, how can you make finding a house as easy as possible?

Create a comprehensive and easy-to-use property listings site with AgencyLogic’s PowerSites tool. PowerSites is a single property website generator that has robust property listing layouts. The trick that makes this tool stand out from the rest though is its integrated social marketing approach.

First, you create the PowerSites listing, which comes loaded with high quality photo options and a selection of professional, real estate-specific layouts. Then, your PowerSites listing is automatically added to your Facebook profile or page, depending on your preference. There are also options for video, blog and podcast integration for those of you who want to beef up the listing even more.

Conclusion

Hopefully, knowing about these customized and task-specific real estate tools will take your customer interactions to the next level on social networks and elsewhere online.

It’s about making the home buying experience that much easier by delivering realistic images, deep data visuals and an integrated marketing presence to customers through robust tools, while still supporting your customer in one of the most emotional and important purchases they will ever make: Buying their next home.

If you would like a no obligation assessment of your real estate social media campaign, please call me @ 219-322-9009 at Prime Real Estate in Schererville.  I will provide you with tips and a few more tools to reach more customers and close more deals using Social Media. 

Joshua Lybolt, Prime Real Estate www.WeSellNWI.com or Joshua@lybolt.com

2011
01/17
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Northwest Indiana Realtor Tips
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20 predictions for technology in Real Estate in 2011

Here we are 2 weeks into the new year.  I like to always be forward looking so here again is a list of predictions for 2011.  This list is by no means complete and I had to stop myself at only 20 predictions so you would read the entire list instead of getting A.D.D. and seeing a shiny distraction… seriously, I could make it a lot longer.

Tell us in comments which predictions you agree or disagree with.

1.Mortgage rates will remain low. Analysts expect the Federal Reserve board to keep the federal funds rate below 0.25% for the entire year with 30 year fixed rate loans to remain under 5%.

2. Housing will remain affordable. Affordability rates will remain high in most American cities given the downturn in values which is not expected to rise dramatically in 2011.

3. 2011 might be rock bottom. With house values and sales stats in decline, we haven’t quite hit bottom, but we’re pretty close and we’ve been bouncing at the bottom for a while, so 2011 could be the year of rock bottom.

4. Foreclosures will continue to rise. Whether you believe in shadow inventories or not, with the robo-signing scandal freezing most foreclosure activities, 2011 will see an increase in foreclosure listings when the freeze ends.

5. Home sales will continue to suffer. With a high volume of foreclosure activity, existing home sales will have to be reasonable and competitive in order to meet their asking prices.

6. Social networks will be a staple in all listing agents’ tool belts. With most buyers beginning their search for a home online, agents will be expected to list homes on as many websites as possible, especially those claiming to be tech savvy.

7. Real estate blogging will become more competitive as more agents come online. Most blogs coming online in 2011 are late to the party and rather than forge new ground will likely regurgitate others in an effort to keep up.

8. QR codes will be all the rage. Despite the rise in curiosity and use of QR codes, this technology will be short lived as technologies like Google Goggles will obsolete QR codes.

9. Web browser use will shift. Despite most MLS systems only running on Internet Explorer (IE), most agents will follow the trend away from IE toward more stable and fast Google Chrome and Firefox.

10. Mobile devices will be upgraded in 2011. Agents will continue to free themselves from the horrendous Palm Treo of the past in favor of iPhones and Android apps with flip phones becoming a thing of the past.

11. Mobile web use will continue to increase. Real estate professionals will join the bandwagon of video creation and web-ready blog sites in an effort to meet consumer demand.

12. Social awareness will rise. With the web enlightening consumers, people are becoming more aware of philanthropic causes and are mobilizing via social networks like Twitter. Green real estate will become a more common factor in buying.

13. The number of Realtors will dip. NAR membership has dropped considerably over the last two years and we anticipate this decline will continue given a down market.

14. The brokerage model will continue to shift. With agents looking for the next best thing. ( I suggest trying out Prime Real Estate in Schererville, IN)

15. Short sales experts will increase in number. With the aforementioned rise in foreclosure activities, as a survival mechanism, more agents will become certified and focus on short sales as they take over their local markets.

16. Key real estate search sites will merge. Real estate megasites will acquire or merge with others and make their offering more complete in 2011, much like Twitter acquires companies like Twitpic.

17. Pocket listings will be more in demand. Because some consumers are wary to list for a variety of reasons in a normal market but even more reasons in a down market, we predict that pocket listings will rise.

18. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be a headline stealer. With Barney Frank calling for abolishing the two and having named a new director in November, the FHFA will undergo a major makeover in 2011.

19. “Realtor ratings” will be a phrase you’ll be sick of in 2011. We’ll cover it here so you’re aware of it, but in 2011, we promise you’ll be tired of hearing about ratings as the remaining big dogs add ratings systems to their search sites.

20. Web ad spends and investments in real estate sites will increase. Many investors have been on the fence, as have companies willing to spend, but 2010 has primed many for finally spending what they’ve been withholding.

Is any of this surprising to you?

Tell us in comments what you think about these predictions!

2011
01/14
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Short Sales are Easier with Google


Undoubtedly you have short sale listings and you have asked and answered the same questions over and over again. Questions like…
Is it available? Do you have any offers? Has a negotiator been assigned? Has it been approved?

So I came up with a simple solution for how I manage my short sale listings as to have an automated approach to answering these common, time consuming questions. First I have a remote processor named Suzy who handles my short sale processing. She is awesome at it and that is all she does. As agents we cringe and get excited at the same time. Cringe at the thought of doing the processing all day everyday and get excited that someone else does instead and even likes it!

OK getting to the point, Suzy and I use a Google Spread Sheet as a white board. So then I came up with the idea of giving the buyer’s agents access to the spread sheet to answer their questions.

Well I didn’t want to just send agents to a spread sheet, so I embedded the spread sheet into a Google Sites page.

Well you know that was not a pretty URL oh with the default #@46&%32^$471 ending and all so I bought an easier to remember/promote domain at Go Daddy for .89 cents called http://PrimeShortSales.info. By the way the .89 is the only cost to this entire operation.

Depending on your MLS rules, we have what is called agent remarks and it is not publicly accessible. So I put in the agent remarks, go to http://www.PrimeShortSales.info and get all your questions answered. Then of course if it is vacant I say so. Because I get an electronic record of the showing from the keybox, I can arrange showings, answer all the questions and get their feedback (that will be another article) without having to talk to anyone. The buyer’s agents seem to prefer that, they get their questions answered instantly.

Another really cool part is, now that it is all set up, I don’t have to do anything. When Suzy makes a change on the spread sheet it updates the site. Su-weeet.

All this is done free with a Google Apps standard account or a basic Gmail account. If you do not have a either I recommend you get -a Google account today and start exploring. There are plenty of how to videos on YouTube. Because the spread sheet and the sites are both part of the same account with Google everything is fairly simple, there is even a help link in the top right corner if you get stuck. Short sales may be a necessary evil in the industry right now but by streamlining the process using a tech approach it makes life a little better for all involved.

How do you handle your processing? Any tips you can share with the readers of this group?

Feel free to contact me anytime to discuss how I may be able to help you navigate through the everchanging technology scene for real estate.

– Joshua
Prime Real Estate
219-322-9009
www.WeSellNWI.com

2011
01/12
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Top 11 List of Ways to Get Your Short Sale Approved in 2011

Top 11 List of Ways to Get Your Short Sale Approved in 2011.

11. Collect all documents for the short sale package at the listing appointment.

10. Run the Statement of Information when the short sale listing is taken.

9. Order (and read) the preliminary title report when the listing is taken.

8. Order repair bids and pest control bids prior to submitting your short sale to the bank.

7. Assure that the settlement statement that you submit to the bank has the correct figures for your closing date.

6. Submit a complete short sale package to the bank (including a fully executed offer).

5. Do not use or accept electronic signatures.

4. Maintain regular weekly communication with all parties during the negotiation process.

3. Make sure the short sale sellers have decided where they are going to live then the deal closes.

2. Follow up regularly with the lender(s).

And, the number one way to get more short sales approved in 2011…
It doesn’t matter what happens. It doesn’t matter who bullies you or yells at you. It doesn’t matter that you have already faxed the same document to the bank 67 times. Whatever happens, maintain a positive attitude and you will succeed!

Wishing you nothing but the best in 2011!

2011
01/06
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Top 5 Real Estate Technology Predictions for 2011

Every year, we take few moments to step back and look at technology trends that are brewing – to take stock of where we are and think about where we’re going. It’s a brainstorming exercise that helps us better advise our clients and helps guide our thinking internally at 1000watt.

We thought it would be good to share the results of this exercise with the readers of this blog too.

Of course these are all highly speculative, but we like to think they all grounded in reality. So here they are, in order of decreasing likelihood:

1. Tablets turn the corner

When the iPad launched this year, we anticipated that it would turn the industry on its heels. 8 million units later, Apple can say it has an bonafide hit on its hands. Next year, we’re going to see the tablet form factor expand significantly. Google is set to release its tablet version of Android – Honeycomb – in Q2 of 2011. Microsoft too is rumored to be tilting after this windmill again too. Tablets have long been touted as the future of the real estate transaction and perhaps 2011 will finally be the year it happens.

2. The HTML5 Show

2011 will be the year that HTML5 really breaks out. New web-based applications, many based on their tablet (iOS) counterparts, will proliferate. Google’s Chrome Web store already shows us what’s possible today. Bottom line: web developers will be liberated to create truly new user experiences. Franchise/brokerage websites will need to pick up their game.

3. Sites get social

Social networks help connect us and lubricate the flow of information between contacts, friends and family. As we become more and more conditioned to share, we will expect this behavior from every web site. In 2011, I expect to see more real estate websites make better use of our existing profiles, particularly using Facebook Connect, and better integrate our social graphs into the real estate experience. Redfin launched this yesterday. I expect many more to follow.

4. Mind my fat fingers

Multi-touch will increasingly become the de facto way many consumers interact with the web. As we move away from the mouse and pointer as our primary means of digital interaction, we’ll need to rethink applications and web sites accordingly. Simplified interfaces and navigational structures will be required, and we’ll start seeing even more gesture-based interactions (check out Andy Rubin’s demo of the new version of Google Maps) as content and data become liberated from their rigid display.

5. Mobile video takes off

Verizon will light up its 4G (LTE) networks in early 2011. Handset manufacturers won’t be far behind, with devices that can make better use of these bandwidth increases (if the networks can keep up). Faster mobile broadband speeds next year will mean live mobile video can really take flight. I’m not bullish on the face-to-face aspect of video conferencing, but the “you can see what I’m seeing” aspect is very exciting. Especially for real estate.

I hope this short list helps you think through your technology planning for the year to come. There were many more trends that didn’t make the cut but I hope to detail in subsequent posts.

What do you think will be big in 2011?

2010
12/30
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Curing commitment-phobic buyers

Q: I find that many would-be buyers would rather continue to rent for the rest of their lives instead of giving up the big-screen TV and BlackBerrys for the family. Ladies don’t want to give up having their nails and hair done often. What do you say to that? –Pam, real estate agent

A: I have been in this business long enough to know what is causing you to be exasperated with the type of homebuyer you describe. I’ve worked with many of these buyers over the years. This is the type of buyer who presents as a real estate agent’s dream client: They know exactly what they want, exactly what they can spend, and exactly what homes will and won’t work for them. But they may house-hunt for a year or even longer, on today’s market, making offers occasionally and getting outbid.

In the end, they get very frustrated when they can’t find what they want in the price range they can “afford.”

Nevertheless, they show up with a fresh blowout and a fresh “mani/pedi” every time you see them, even though they seem to insist on paying pennies for a very nice home in a very nice neighborhood.

These are often buyers who have gotten proactive, as I so often recommend, and decided what they can afford — not based on what the mortgage broker or bank has told them, but based on their own analysis of their budget and determination of the max amount they can spend on their mortgage is.

These are often savvier, wannabe buyers who are attempting to be conservative in their financial planning, avoid overextending themselves, and really avoid being “house poor” — that state in which you have a house, but can barely afford any other necessities or niceties because so much of what you make goes into your house.

I applaud these buyers on their efforts to be intentional and conservative in their financial planning, but to your point, these folks are often unrealistic in terms of the size, location or type of home they can buy with their scaled-back concept of what they can afford, mortgage-wise.

And often, their idea of not being “house poor” is actually, as you point out, a pretext for wanting to have their cake, and their mani/pedis, and BlackBerrys, etc., and eat it, too — preferably in a 3-bedroom, 2-bath house in a great part of town. And absolutely at a bargain price. And we all know how that works.

Buyers need to balance a number of factors when deciding what they can afford to spend monthly or overall, on their homes, mortgage payment and non-mortgage housing obligations like insurance, HOA dues and the like. It’s important that they work through their own personal household spending plan and get a good sense for their current expenditures and what room there is left for the expenses of homeownership, but it may also be necessary to make tradeoffs and sacrifices in order to actually bring their vision of owning a home to fruition.

And, in the interest of avoiding house poverty and making a mortgage commitment that will be sustainable over time, these buyers might need to save more for their downpayment, pay off their credit cards, improve their credit score to qualify for a lower interest rate, or eliminate other, less important line items from their monthly budget.

That means they may need to decide that owning a home is more important than having their nails done every week, and that they can live with doing their nails themselves — in my neck of the woods, that priority choice would add about $160 back into their budget that they could now spend on housing — not a small amount.

These buyers might have to scale back on fancy phones, or ditch the DSL service at home if they decide to keep a smart phone and the data plan that goes with it. They should eighty-six the dinners out in favor of a home in which they can cook and entertain their pals.

The tradeoffs buyers make should be driven by what is most important to them. As I once heard a comedian say, “If you have a Land Rover and a landlord, your priorities might be out of whack.” Let that mentally marinate.

If these buyers really feel a need to own a home and keep all the rest of their accoutrements, and they’re unable, after lots of looking and negotiating, to find the place that works for them, get real. That may be an indicator that the home they’re looking for doesn’t exist at the price they’ve decided they’re willing to spend for a home.

And that’s an indicator that they need to revisit their monthly spending plan and decide whether all those line items are truly still worth it.

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson,
Inman News™

2010
12/29
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8 Ways Real Estate Agents Can Generate More Referrals

In real estate, referrals are the name of the game. Ask most agents and they will tell you that 95% of their business comes from past clients or referrals. So how can you get referrals for free?

Start by considering the motivation of those who generate referrals. Referrals will most likely be satisfied clients or other agents you know and respect.

Important: These people don’t really care so much about promoting your business. Instead, the best kind of referrer wants to solve a problem for a friend or mutual customer.

Concentrate on creating your real estate business that unique and reliably delivers results that people need and want.

Here are 8 ways to elicit (not solicit) referrals:

1. Offer a service that is unique. Think about your specialty – what type of report or article could you write that would help you stand out? What type of signature piece could you develop that is unique you? Take the time to write it – and then put it on your website, hand it out at open houses, email it to your clients. Show them that what you do is ‘one step ahead’ of everyone else.

2. Be reliable, even if you can’t be unique. Make it your mission to be the most reliable person you know. You call people back and answer emails quickly, you go above and beyond by passing on leads to others (what goes around comes around), you are always on time (better yet early), and most importantly you do what you say you are going to do!

3. Truly understand and convey your specialty to potential referrers – such as current clients, colleagues and others in complementary businesses, and even competitors with whom you are friendly. They will be aware of the very specific problems that you aim to solve.

4. Build relationships with industry colleagues. This is a no-brainer but make sure it is part of your marketing plan to attend one face-to face networking event each month. Mixing that in with a strong social media plan is a great way to network and build referrals. Once you get a new contact – treat that person like gold! Send a personal note or email, do something to help them before you ask for help. Make your contact with them 95% building rapport and 5% or less ‘pitch.’

5. Be easy to find and contact. Do the obvious: have business cards handy for customers, run a search-engine-friendly website, engage in social media. Put your email and phone number all over your website – not just a ‘contact me’ form! List contact information prominently on every social network, on your email signature and your website, making it simple and fast for customers to get in touch with your business.

6. Be an approachable expert. Stay on top of industry trends but spend just as much effort talking with potential clients, learning about their needs, and gaining new insights from others. Make it a point to attend a few training events a year. Look to your local and state associations for this! Also make it a point to come to at least one Inman event a year (shameless plug!!) – who comes to the Inman Connect events? The people who want to stay one step ahead of their competition – FOREM readers, you should be there – next one in 2 weeks! Your knowledge will grow exponentially and you’ll continue to refine and expand your business in a way that matches demand, even in changing conditions.

7. Find ways of doing business with those outside of your original client target. Expanding your horizons may mean adding service options that you provide for a client or going outside your regular community for a listing.

8. Thank everyone who attempts to make referrals (not just the ones who produce them) and let them know how much a referral base really means to the success of your business. Showing gratitude will encourage referrers to keep spreading the word. Send a personal note – not an email!

Do you have tips on generating referrals? Leave us a comment below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

2010
12/28
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
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