Posts Tagged ‘blog’

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So, you want to make more money in real estate sales, huh?  Well…I’m fairly certain you aren’t the only one.  I think we all do.  And here are 5 ways to help:

• Do something NOW! – Too often, agents lull themselves into this false sense of reality that preparing to do something is the same thing as actually doing something.  Endless attempts at coming up with a plan, meetings, conference calls, strategic alliances with others in their market, etc are nothing more than a waste of energy, time, and brain matter unless you actually ACT ON THEM!  You must do something productive that will lead you to a commission…and you MUST DO IT NOW!  And, while you are doing that, have a reward in mind that you can get when you do get your reward from doing something.  Quit wasting your breath by saying that you are “doing what you love” or “following your passion”.  Let’s be honest for a second…does anyone really LOVE selling real estate?  I mean, honestly…Don’t you use the money you make from your job as the fuel for the fire of your true passion?  I know I do! I don’t love my job…In fact, there are days I hope my building gets hit with a thermo-nuclear weapon.  But, I REQUIRE my job to allow me to fulfill what I truly am passionate about…No one ever laid on their deathbed and said, “I just wish I could stay one more day at my desk at that job I loved so much…”
• Don’t convince yourself that this is a ‘numbers’ game!   Sure, lead generation is important and will always be a cornerstone of this business, but it’s not about the numbers.  It’s about the people.  You are in the ‘Helping People’ business.  That should always be the very first and most important aspect of your business.  Track the numbers…I’m not saying you can get away without doing that.  But, help your people first!
• Position yourself to reap future rewards!  I don’t have to tell you that markets across the country are in a massive state of upheaval.  Heck, you’re probably more of an expert on that than I am, to be sure.  Offices closing, people leaving the industry to get “a real job”, prices falling like a rock, foreclosures running rampant…All of this is creating OPPORTUNITY!  Now is the time to take advantage of those things.  Adjust your business model to accept changes in the market and position yourself to take the shot when the chance arrives.
• Avoid procrastination and ‘getting caught up in the little stuff’.  Every night before you go to bed, write down just a couple things that are important and need to get done the following day.  Don’t procrastinate on those things.  Get them done.  Simple rewards like that will free up the mind and reduce your over-all ‘workload’.  Also, do what actually matters first.  For example, if you are writing a blog and a customer walks in the door that says they want to view property, QUIT WRITING and show them a house!  Seems dumb to most of us that I have to say that…but that’s the simplest way that I can think of to make this point.  Just because you have a list of things you WANT to get done doesn’t mean you have to ignore important aspects of this job to do them.  As my mom always says, “Life is what happens while you are trying to plan your life.”  Smart woman.
• Make your business fit your life, not the other way around.  If you want to have a life outside of your career, then develop boundaries that will achieve this goal.  And, stick to them!  If you don’t, you will end up with no life.  And that is a sad existence for anyone.  Also, along the way you will be told all kinds of ‘street-sage wisdom’.  Do yourself a favor…Ignore it!  “Work smarter, not harder” is wonderful advice, in theory.  Great idea.  But, in this business in this economy in this market, you have to bust your hump every single day.  I’m not saying you shouldn’t work smarter.  I am saying you MUST work hard!  Figure out a way to combine the two, and you will succeed.

If you would like information on how Real Estate Client Referrals www.recr.com can help you work smarter, please contact Clint Miller directly at 800-977-7058.  Or, follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/recr.

I have never made any secret of the fact that I work for an internet lead generation company.  And, having been at this company for nearly 5 years, I do believe that, when worked properly, internet leads can and will make you money.  But, as with anything in life, there is no “magic pill” that will allow you to automatically be successful.  This remains true for anything in life, but is especially true when discussing real estate…more specifically, internet-generated leads.

Really, what it boils down to is this: If you suck at follow up…internet leads are not for you.  (By the way, did you know that an internet-generated lead degenerates by 50% every single day that it sits without an initial contact?  How fast do you follow up with your internet leads?  Three days?  That lead is now worth 12.5% of what it was when it first came in!  One day?  50%.  Bottom line, if your answer includes the word ‘day’, it is not fast enough!  In fact, if you can not respond within the first 12 hours, you probably failed.) 

I’ve written previously about agents that are admittedly too lazy to work the clients they already have…and about how working your leads can lead to great things. 

But nothing has driven this point home more for me than the story of Barbara Ripple.  Barbara works for Real Estate Brokers in and around Winston-Salem, NC, and is quite possibly the most tenacious agent I have ever met.  Her tenacity and her exemplary follow-up skills have set her up for an agreement that is every agent’s dream. 

Here is her story in her own words:

When I first received a call from Real Estate Client Referrals, my thoughts were, “Why not take a gamble?”  So, I did.

Several referrals were sent my way and, when I would call them, my thoughts were, “This is a joke”.  One client couldn’t afford to buy clothing, much less a house.  One had a recent foreclosure.  But, as they came across my desk, I would keep calling and asking questions to make sure that they were indeed a valid buyer that could get qualified for a home loan.  Those that were obviously bogus I would return for replacement – something that Real Estate Client Referrals was more than willing to do.

I called on one referral for a young lady wanting to buy a home.  When I called, her father answered the phone and chewed me out. “My daughter is NOT buying a house! She is going to college to be an attorney!  Don’t you EVER call back!”

Once the screaming subsided, “Yes sir!” I replied and I politely asked him to have her call me back when she had time to explain as to why she would say she was looking to buy a home on a website when it wasn’t the truth.  I figured it was worth a shot just in case.  He agreed to pass along my number.

About a week went by before Alisha called me back to apologize for her father’s attitude and explained the ‘misunderstanding’.  It turns out her boss was the one looking for the home.  She just put in her information as a contact.  I asked if she would mind if I contact him directly.  She had no problem with this and gave me his phone number and I proceeded to start contact with him.

It took me roughly a week or more to get hold of Alisha’s boss.  But, once I was able to establish contact, Alisha’s boss explained that he was indeed looking for a list of property for a “relative” of his and wasn’t sure he would need an agent…just a list of available property.  He runs a local general contracting and construction company and wasn’t certain if he would be doing this sooner versus later…the usual ‘blow off’.  I agreed I would provide him with one with the agreement that, should he require the services of an agent, he contact me first. 

The next day, I was reading the local newspaper and there was an article about Alisha’s boss being involved in a rehabilitation project with the city and he had a $3million grant to rehab homes that would be sold to HUD qualified buyers directly by the city. 

I immediately contacted him again and said I saw the article, congratulated him on his success, and again offered my services to help him find a house.  During this call, I thought it was important for me to let him know that I had a suspicion that he wasn’t looking to buy for a relative, but was interested in property for his rehab project.  He complimented me for my tenacity and we set up an appointment with him at his office an hour away from mine.  I said I’d be interested in working with him to find these homes for his rehab project and he agreed we would be talking about that at the appointment.

The next day, I met with him at his office to discuss this opportunity.  At that meeting was the Mayor of the city he was doing this project in – And I walked out of this meeting with an exclusive buyer agency agreement with him and the city for 25 developed properties and 10 vacant lots!!!  I will be getting a commission on the purchase of these properties from the city!!!  And, when the properties are rehabbed, I will be the exclusive agent for listing and selling these properties!! 

I want to thank you all for listening when I would call complaining about one thing or another.  I appreciate your professionalism in dealing with me.  And, now I want to thank you for another reason!!  This situation has literally changed my life!  I never would have discovered this amazing opportunity were it not for that “bogus” referral from Real Estate Client Referrals!!  Thank you so much!!

To Barbara, I would like to say, “Congratulations!”  Thanks to your ability to delve a little deeper into this matter, you are being rewarded!  (Referrals are not often what is written down on the piece of paper handed to you or the email delivered to your inbox.  Sometimes, the real meat of the issue has to be discovered with just a little perseverance and some good old fashioned hard work.)  It is your willingness to go the extra mile with this initial contact that has set yourself up for such a successful endeavor.   Nice work!  You earned it!

To those that are reading this post, I would like to say: How many of you would have given up after that first phone call?  How easy would it have been to hang up the phone angry over the situation, blaming the lead source for delivering such a bogus lead – perhaps even blogging about “how bad lead generation companies really are” – and admit defeat because you received a ‘NO’ from a potential lead??  How simple it would be to just delete that email, throw away the contact info, and completely walk away from the situation without further investigation?

And, if you had done just that…how big of a mistake would that have been??? 

Every referral – every lead – deserves to be worked.  Work your leads!  Great things happen when you do! 

This one a little different for me…

As you all know by now, Im a Twitter-a-holic.  And, by being such, I have developed relationships with some of the best agents around the country.  I currently interact online with nearly 700 real estate professionals in all walks of the industry.

One of the people I interact with regularly is a wonderful young woman in Fredericksburg, VA, by the name of Sarah Stelmok.  Sarah is a wonderful person, a consummate professional, a continuing education trainer, and a dang good blogger.  (She is also currently taking referrals from www.recr.com in several areas…which means I like her A LOT!!)  Aside from that, I highly recommend you check her out at www.sarahiouslyspeaking.com.  In short, this lady is on point. Period.

So, imagine my surprise when Sarah contacted me last night and asked me to read a blog post that she was working on…I almost fell out of my chair!  With what can only be considered as a squeal (much like the one that would be uttered by a 6yr old girlscout when surprised) I agreed…and what I read was not only good…but great.  So, with her permission, I am posting the entire blog here!

You’re Not Doing It Wrong, I’m Just Doing It Different

I’ve stopped counting the number of times I’ve been told that social media is a waste of my time, or the number of times someone has referred to it as a “young person’s tool“, or the number of times someone has rolled their eyes when I’ve mentioned that I Tweet.      

I entered the real estate business in 2004.  I was trained at a very well-respected company by well-respected agents.  I was told to learn from their experiences.  My first month on the job consisted of reading real estate books, waiting on my license to come in.  I read about keeping in contact with my clients via newsletters and postcards.  I read about the power of numbers.  I read about print advertising and attracting buyers and sellers through print media.  I read until I figured out that even blind squirrels stumble across a nut or two.  I had a desk in the “bull-pen” and the advantage of watching some of the company’s top producers in action.  I never observed people coming in to the office to work with the elite agents because they had received an insightful newsletter.  I never heard their clients mention the fantastic recipe they had received from their agent either.  What I did see was the need for the client to be guided by this agent.  Their clients needed to have access to their knowledge and their professional sphere.  They worked with these top producers because they believed they did a good job.  I also noticed that the top producing REALTORS had taken time to cultivate their audience.  They didn’t start out in the business as the elite.  They worked their way up systematically and developed a following.  As a young agent, age-wise and experience level, this was a very important phenomenon to behold.

But, ever diligent, I remembered my early training and the advice that so many had bestowed on me and plugged away at the newsletters, postcards, and stagnant website.  I followed the lead my company was offering and questioned very little.  However, nothing ever felt right.  I applied for and received the production awards.  I touted my production from the roof tops.  I looked the part, dressed in my REALTOR-wear – slacks, button-up shirt, and heels, but I didn’t believe in the part.  I didn’t feel comfortable in the skin I was told to live and work in.  I was truly acting my way through real estate. 

I was bored and it was only my third year in the business.  My numbers were good, but there was no joy in my career.  So, I began exploring the blogging world.  And everything finally made sense.  I realized I didn’t want to talk at my clients; I want to talk WITH my clients.  I want my clients to take advantage of my knowledge.  I want them to have the ability to respond to what I tell them and question what I tell them.  I wanted my clients to be able to interact with me.  I want to engage those in my community and in my profession.  I want to build a following, not because of an end product, but because of the possibility of continued growth.  I want to BLOG. 

Social media has been a natural progression for me.  I am always amazed at how many people I touch every day and how many people touch me.  I am also always amazed at the feedback I get via comments or personal emails about my blog posts.  Social media has allowed me to grow in ways I didn’t think possible.  It’s not about the number of hits a blog site gets, or the number of readers.  Social media isn’t a numbers game.  Having the most “friends” or “followers” doesn’t mean much if what you are promoting lacks substance.  Social media is about the relationships that develop and the trust that follows.  Social media is about the big picture.         

I’m not saying that blogging is for everyone.  And, I’m not saying that if you’re not blogging you’re doing it wrong.  What I am saying is that blogging feels right for me.  Blogging feels right for my clients and it feels right for my business.  You’re not doing it wrong; I’m just doing it different.

If you would like information on www.recr.com and how we can help you make more money, contact Clint Miller at 800-977-7058.  Or, follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/recr.