REALBuzz Online

by Carla Cross

Are ‘dual career’ agents hurting you and your business? In Stefan Swanepoel’s publication, Trends Report 2010, he calls the real estate licensee with another job the ‘dual career’ agent. That’s what we used to call the ‘part-timer’. Although ‘dual career’ sounds much more important than ‘part-time’, the result is the same:

Less time to devote to the consumer. The conflict that an agent feels when he has another job is causing the consumer to rate our service lower than ever before.

Dual Careerists Are a Growing Trend

More and more real estate agents are getting second jobs to make ends meet. In fact, the 2009 National Association of REALTORS® Member Profile says that 26% of REALTORS® stated that real estate was not their only occupation. (I’m sure that many more licensees that aren’t REALTORS® have other major sources of income). In addition, less than half of all REALTORS® surveyed reported that real estate was their primary source of household income.

Is the Dual Careerist Doing the Industry More Harm than Good?

Having been an agent, manager, and owner a long time, I know how difficult it is at times for an agent to ‘hang in there,’ put their heads down, and keep working through tough times. It’s a great temptation, and a relief for many to take that other job just to ‘tide them over.’ From the broker’s perspective, too, keeping the agent at least licensed with the brokerage to get that one transaction seems to be better than losing that one transaction. Several problems accrue, when the agent gets another job:

• The agent’s mind, energy, and dollars drift away from the needs of the consumer because the agent must focus on another job
• The agent can’t keep up on the technical, legal, and business developments
• The consumer demands just can’t be met when the agent is unavailable for large blocks of time
• The broker must carry a much bigger responsibility for the agent’s transactions

What We Need to Do About This Trend?

Managers: Set standards so you are living out that vision you took all that time to write in that business planning course! Do you have agents with you who are not dedicated? Do you have agents who don’t practice in the way your company wants? If so, you are ‘shattering your image’ and greatly hurting your chances to recruit. Fix it while you can.

Agents: Go to your manager and ask why the ‘dead wood’ (a horrible term, but, the consumers have told us to get rid of them, and we’re not listening.) is still there. What benefit do they provide you? What benefit do they provide the company?

Short-Sided: It May Destroy

Our Industry Unfortunately, our industry has spent too much time on the immediate, and not enough time on the long-term. One of the easiest ways to see this is to look at the low producers and part-timers we’ve kept as licensees. Why? Because we think they may sell a home or two before they get discouraged.

There is Leadership Showing the Way

There is a growing trend to upgrade the industry. Take a look at what industry leaders are doing right now. They are putting standards in place, training and coaching to get people to their standards, and are counseling out those who just aren’t meant—or committed—to a career in real estate.

Support on Putting Standards in Place

For the last year, I’ve done lots of work in helping companies put standards in place. Although it’s challenging, it’s absolutely critical if we are to protect our business models as we like them!

Note: See Four Steps to a Stunning Standards-Based Organization, a webinar I did for the National Association of REALTORS® Learning Library.

What Do You Think? Do you believe managers should keep anyone who wants to be kept? Let me hear your opinion–and, if you have a solution, let’s share it with our industry!

Carla Cross is a member of the Broker Agent Speakers Bureau which is a full service Speakers Bureau serving the real estate and financial industry. To learn more about Carla, view her bio or visit www.BrokerAgentSpeakers.com.

by Terri Murphy

If you think it has been a tough year and find yourself thinking from a scarcity point of view, you might find yourself believing that there is little you can do to get more business…Think again!

Before you go with “scarcity thinking”, expert Harvey MacKay gives us 66 creative and meaningful ways to connect with even the most elusive prospects.

MacKay is the bestselling author of “Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive.” He says, “Anyone can get the order if he’s willing to stretch the truth far enough. Whether you tell the truth or not, you don’t come out a winner just by getting the first big order. The mark of the pro is to get the RE-Order!” That said, ask yourself these questions:

• What am I willing to do to connect with a prospective client? (Or do I quit after a few attempts?)
• Am I just trying to get another sale, or are there ways I can make an investment in a long term relationship?
• What can I offer that will differentiate my service offering and add more value for prospects who will do business with me?

A great lesson from MacKay’s book is found in Lesson #3 – He says, “Knowing something about your customer is just as important as knowing everything about you or your product”.

MacKay was so passionate about wanting to know all he could about his customers; he is famous for developing his MacKay “66” question profile for each of his salespeople to fill out on their customers. He is adamant that when we know more about our customer, we enjoy a huge advantage when they know we care about them, their needs and ultimately then we have earned the right to work with them.

All too often, we fail the first step many high-paid coaches, consultants and top performers know and teach: Do a deep and thorough needs analysis of what THEY want, and not what you HAVE. But first you have to get the appointment and be willing to accept the challenge of winning their business.

Asking questions and then clarifying the answers is one of the most powerful ways to establish confidence and begin building a bridge of trust between you and your prospect. They want to know that you know not only what they want, but most importantly, why they want it. It is only when you act as their sales leader that you can help them determine what the appropriate solutions to their needs will actually be.

Many times we approach our buyers and sellers with a barrage of self-serving information about our experience, tout top testimonials and are convinced that WE are the answer to their needs, when in fact, that may not be the case at all! Regardless of your outstanding sales volume, negotiating acumen and years of experience, if they need a salesperson who can speak Vietnamese, you may not be their best choice!

The battle cry for successful sales that will never go out of style – RELATIONSHIP selling is the key to more sales. Ask well thought out questions, be a skilled, active listener, and craft solutions with your prospects for best results. You may not subscribe to doing a MacKay “66”, but knowing all the facts, motivations, limitations and best solutions for your customer will pave the way to create raving fans and endless referrals.

Terri Murphy is a member of the Broker Agent Speakers Bureau which is a full service Speakers Bureau serving the real estate and financial industry. To learn more about Terri, view her bio or visit www.BrokerAgentSpeakers.com.

by: Rich Levin

At my health club, I was chatting with a top national fundraising consultant. I asked him, “What’s the secret to success at getting people to make donations?”

He answered, “Two things, you want to be sure that the person asking for the donation has a relationship with the giver. If you are asking for a big donation, the request needs to be made by someone who has a strong, respected relationship with the giver.”

He continued, “The second thing, particularly for large donations, is that you want to know enough about the giver’s financial situation, history of giving, and history with the organization you are representing, you want to know enough to know how much a reasonable request is. If you have a good relationship, the giver has a good connection to the organization, and you make a reasonable request, you will always get it.”

Driving home from the club this morning, after that conversation, of course I thought about how that related to success in real estate sales. There is a direct connection.

First, the stronger the relationship you have with the buyer or seller before you even contact them, the better your chances of a successful transaction. That is why you want to:

• Work with people in your spheres of influence, and past clients
  
• Work with referrals from people who know, like, and trust you
  
• Create a marketing brand as a knowledgeable, successful and respected professional in the area.
  
• Second, do your homework. Find out all you can about the prospect ahead of time.
  
• Check property tax records
  
• Check MLS records
  
• Check Google and other search engines and Web sources
  
• Call and ask questions about what, where, why, when and who (how, too)
  

Finally, specifically ask about their current and previous experiences buying or selling real estate so you know the attitude that they bring to the transaction with you. My friend, the fundraising expert, related a number of stories where this background work wasn’t done, and the effort failed; and where it was done, and the effort resulted in major donations. These are the contexts of the best salespeople on earth. Make them yours.

Rich Levin is a member of the Broker Agent Speakers Bureau which is a full service Speakers Bureau serving the real estate and financial industry. To learn more about Rich, view his bio or visit www.BrokerAgentSpeakers.com.

by: Bernice Ross

Have you ever heard the phrase: “Ask, and you shall receive?” As common as this phrase is, it would be easy to conclude that many people have mastered this skill. In actuality, most people have mastered “giving” while very few have mastered “asking”. To develop the life you’ve always dreamed of, asking for what you need is essential.

The two key components in asking for what you need are giving yourself permission to ask and practice. While not everyone will accommodate your request, mastering these two steps can open a whole different world for you.

For most people, practicing is the easy part. The hardest part is actually giving yourself permission to ask. Consider your own life for a moment — how do you determine when to give yourself permission to ask for what you need? Is it after a fight? Must you struggle with something first before you give in? Do you need someone else to say it’s ok first before you give yourself permission? What belief or “truth” do you currently hold that blocks you from asking for what you need?

To determine what may be blocking you from asking what you need, sit quietly for a moment and picture someone you know who easily asks for what they need. Do you see this person as “pushy”, “forceful”, “obnoxious” or do you see them as a role model? By discovering your own attitudes towards those who are good at asking for what they need, you may be able to identify the beliefs that hold you back. For example, if you view people who ask for what they need as being selfish, you may avoid fulfilling your own needs because you don’t want to be perceived as selfish. To make the shift, consider fulfilling your needs as taking very good care of yourself instead of being selfish. Another common way people avoid fulfilling their own needs is to expect that other person “intuitively knows” what it is they need. Given that most of us aren’t mind readers, the smart move is to simply tell others what you need. This simple strategy helps to avoid anger and disappointment from unexpressed expectations.

To practice asking for what you need, a simple approach is to view it an expansion of a skill you already have. For example, when you go to a restaurant or to a movie, you have no trouble telling others what it is you want to eat or see. To build this skill, practice expanding it to other situations. A simple place to start is by asking someone at the grocery store to help you find an item or asking someone to help you with a problem you’ve encountered. Asking for what you need is neither a skill you can delegate nor overlook as you live your life. The time you spend practicing will return far greater dividends than any initial discomfort you experience.

Coaching Tips:

Ready to begin asking for what you need? One way to break through any limiting beliefs is by the simple step of taking action. The goal here is to practice asking for what you need in small areas of your life. As you gain experience, learning to ask for things in the major parts of your life becomes easier.

1. Choose one small area of your life that you feel confident and comfortable in. Choosing a small area where you do not have high expectations or “attachments” will make this process much easier.
2. Give yourself blanket permission to ask for what you need. This means that you can ask for anything you might need — period.
3. Consider your chosen area and come up with one thing you need. Again, by making it a small need, you increase the likelihood of success with this exercise.
4. Ignore any internal dialogue about whether you “should or should not” be able to get this need met. The larger and more significant the item that you need, the more likely you’ll run right into this voice. For now, just thank the voice (thought, feeling, etc.) for the feedback and move on.
5. Identify one person who can meet or exceed your specific need. If this is a friend who is willing to support you, then tell your friend what you are doing and ask for their support as you gain practice in the skill of asking.
6. Ask. Taking the action step is essential here.
7. Review what you experienced, felt, and learned about yourself and others during this process. Was it easy or hard? Fun or challenging? Emotionally draining or up-lifting?
8. Practice again and again and again. You may find yourself surprised at how easy it becomes asking for what you need.

One final word here — asking for something and receiving what you’ve asked for are not the same thing. Be willing to not get what you want while at the same time being focused on the skill of asking. Over time, you will gain clarity about what is really important to you as well as what really doesn’t matter. Just keep practicing.

Bernice Ross is a member of the Broker Agent Speakers Bureau which is a full service Speakers Bureau serving the real estate and financial industry. To learn more about Bernice, view her bio or visit www.BrokerAgentSpeakers.com.

by Amy Chorew

I get asked all the time, what are the top 3 apps I recommend for a salesperson to use on their Smartphone? That is not easy, as there are amazing apps out there that can make you workload easier, save you money and are fun to use.

One tool that has saved me and my coaching clients a lot of time, is an application that allows us to “read” transcripts of our voicemails in emails or text messages on our Smartphones.

Here are some programs you can investigate:

• Google Voice
• PhoneTag
• YouMail
• VoiceCloud
• Jott

Google Voice is free, others offer free “versions” but do cost a monthly fee. I personally use YouMail, but let me tell you about the products I use.

One Phone Number that Follows You

Multiple voicemail accounts can add hours onto your day as you retrieve and listen to messages. Consider one phone number that follows you, so you don’t have to check numerous voicemail accounts. Many of these products [apps] provide that.

Visual Voicemail

Convert your voicemail to a text or email. These transcribed voicemails are sent to your email account, and are archived up on the web. Most attach an audio file that you can download, if you need it.

Imagine being on a home inspection and your phone rings. After the caller leaves a message, you receive a text or email with a transcribed version of the call. You can respond with a text, email or just call. A real time saver.

YouMail also allows you to set up personalized greetings for each caller. Imagine getting someone’s voicemail and hearing

“Hi Amy how are you? I am not available right now, but leave your message.”

My clients love it!

Jott also allows you to send voice to text messages to: groups, Twitter, Outlook and lots of other products. Check it out!

Amy Chorew is a member of the Broker Agent Speakers Bureau which is a full service Speakers Bureau serving the real estate and financial industry. To learn more about Amy, view her bio or visit www.BrokerAgentSpeakers.com.

by Randy Eagar

1. Use TwitPic To Share Photos Of Your New Listings.
   1. TwitPic is a website that allows users to easily post pictures to the Twitter microblogging and social media service. You can easily locate it at TwitPic.com. If you’re a member of Twitter, then you’re already a member of TwitPic. You can post photos from your smartphone or the site itself.
   2. TwitPic is often used by agents to upload and distribute pictures in near real-time of new properties for sale and as an event is taking place. TwitPic could be used independently of Twitter, in a way similar to Flickr. However, several characteristics make this site a companion for Twitter.
   3. Again, TwitPic usernames and passwords are the same as the ones in Twitter. Comments to photographs are sent as a reply tweet. TwitPic URLs are already short, making it unnecessary to use URL shortening.
2. Remember, The Quality Of Your Followers Is Better Than The Quantity
   1. While having a large quantity of followers can be valuable, don’t make the mistake of overlooking the quality of those who follow you. The addition of just a few good quality people can cause large numbers of others to follow you.
   2. It’s not necessary to always be the content originator. Pointing to good content works too (and Twitter is the perfect platform for this). As I mentioned earlier, “retweeting” someone else’s post can be an excellent way of getting good quality material posted to your site.
   3. On the Internet, as in life, people get major good will and brownie points for being helpful. So, even if you’re from time to time just the bird dog or pointer, people will remember you for helping them find useful information they need.
3. Group Your Posts and Others Using the Hashtag
   1. Even if you’re new to Twitter and read a few posts, you’ve probably recognized the hash symbol (”#”) attached to many posts. That’s what Twitter users call a “hashtag,” and at any given time at least one of them can usually be found among the trending topics on Twitter. But what exactly is a hashtag? Hashtags are basically a simple way to catalog and connect tweets about a specific topic. They make it easier for users to find additional tweets on a particular subject, while filtering out the incidental tweets that may just coincidentally contain the same keyword. Hashtags are also often used by various boards, associations, large real estate offices and event organizers as a method of keeping all tweets about the event in a single stream, and they’ve even been used to coordinate updates during emergencies. In fact, hashtags were first popularized during the 2007 San Diego wildfire, when the tag #sandiegofires was used to identify tweets about the natural disaster.
   2. Because hashtags tend to spread so quickly and because Twitter users often search hashtags for content from people they aren’t following, using hashtags can be a great way to extend your reach on Twitter and connect with your current audience in a more meaningful way. There are a wide variety of already established hashtags - and new ones being created daily - that you can join. You need to be careful, however, that your use of hashtags is consistent with both your brand and the tag itself. Proper etiquette dictates that you should only use hashtags if your tweet is actually relevant to the tag’s associated topic. So which tags should you participate in? That depends wholly on your business and your purpose for using Twitter. For example, it’s probably a bad idea to participate in the #FSBOsRus hashtag (which does not exist currently) if you own a real estate office and use your Twitter account to assist in listing properties. But if you do a large volume in short sales, you’ll more than likely want to join in the #shortsale or #SHORTSALES hashtags (of which both exist), in which people tweet about their interest in or questions about short sales.
   3. Use sites like Twubs (that would be Twubs.com), a hashtag directory, to locate and identify hashtags that make sense for your business. Also, pay attention to tags being used by your followers and search for them on Twitter to see what sort of tweets are associated with those tags. If it makes sense for your business to jump on board, compose tweets that are on topic and compatible with that hashtag.
   4. While you certainly shouldn’t use hashtags to describe all of your tweets, they can be very helpful for your real estate company as a way to track social media campaigns that help establish a sense of community and build your company’s brand among your core customers. The first step in creating a hashtag is deciding on the tag word itself. Pick something memorable, easy to spell, and perhaps more importantly, as short as possible. Remember that Twitter gives just 140 characters per tweet, so no one wants half of it to be taken up by an unwieldy hashtag. Once you’ve figured out the tag itself, the next step is simple: start using it and promoting it. Make sure your tweets using the hashtag are worthwhile and add something of value to the conversation. Promote your tag or the social media campaign that uses the tag via other social media channels, such as your blog or email newsletter. Tweet out calls to action explaining your new tag at regular intervals (but don’t overdo it!). For example, let’s say you’d like more information on short sales. Your explanatory tweet might be something like, “What’s the best thing you’ve learned selling short sales? Tweet and share your thoughts using #shortsales!”
      
4. Quick Support for Your Company and Others
   1. With the speed Twitter is growing, more and more businesses are creating their user accounts. They’re even hiring a person who’s on their Twitter account tweeting back at their customers. So sometimes you might not even get a response through your email.
   2. A response through Twitter is a way to connect with top bloggers and marketers as well. These guys have insane amount of emails to go through daily, so your email will be ignored, but tweets since they’re only 140 characters, they will respond because it doesn’t take them very long. You can get quick support if you join Twitter.
   3. It’s one more way to make key players in your organization accessible. This is particularly handy for the customer service area of your company.
5. Good Learning Tool
   1. You can never have too much knowledge. Especially if you’re a real estate agent or a search engine optimization specialist like me. Half of the people that I am following are real estate agents. About a quarter are high end real estate agents, and another quarter are political pundits.
   2. I see so many great articles and resources that help me improve sales and SEO skills daily.
   3. No matter what your niche is, there’s always someone there for your niche, and there are always resources for you. And if there’s not, then man you’re lucky because you can capitalize the zone, and take full benefit from the newcomers.

Randy Eagar is a member of the Broker Agent Speakers Bureau which is a full service Speakers Bureau serving the real estate and financial industry. To learn more about Randy, view his bio or visit www.BrokerAgentSpeakers.com.

by Jennifer Cummings

My self-appointed mentor, Albert Einstein, once said,

“The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.”

I am a big fan of both the man and the message, and here’s why…

Simply put, our own unwillingness to accept ourselves as creative beings bogs us down. I happen to believe we are ALL creative in one way or another. However, I also know that most of the time we don’t feel that way, especially when we’re working on marketing campaigns and other promotional endeavors in our work.

For example…

How many times have you sat in front of your computer screen and willed a brilliant ad to materialize? If this sounds familiar to you, then I have a question:

How big is your marketing antenna?

What I mean by this is that creativity is simply being open to inspiration, and, if you have your antenna up – that is to say that if you are paying attention to other good marketing out there – you WILL learn the secrets of the master marketers.

And I’m going to share one of those secrets with you right now! Do you have your antenna up? Well, get ready folks, this is a good one…

It is better to edit than to create!

Now, you may be saying, “Just what does that mean?” Well, let me explain…

Creativity is driven by curiosity. Pay attention! Ask questions! Get inspired! Success leaves clues, my friend! Have that antenna up and you will find inspiration in the most unlikely places.

If you need to create a postcard, for example, you may find something really juicy you can use on the back of your grocery receipt, or in the way a dish is described on a menu. Or your teenager might actually say something incredible that you can use! Perhaps you can even justify reading that tabloid because the ads in the back have amazing copy that really gets your own writing juices flowing.

The National Enquirer is one of the most expensive magazines to advertise in, so those ads in the back HAVE TO work!

By taking an existing marketing piece and editing it as your own, all the work is done for you! You just have to breathe it all in and then make it your own – what a relief, huh?!

Einstein was absolutely right.

Creativity is being mindful enough to be stimulated by your environment. You then simply edit and mold that environment to fit your needs. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time we have to create a new ad or marketing piece – we simply have to let our surroundings illuminate our own wheels turning inside our heads.

That Einstein was onto something. Maybe he was so in-tune with his environment that the theory of relativity was something he creatively lifted from his own surroundings!

If we sharpen our own antennas, we could ALL be little Einsteins… Changing the world one postcard at a time!

For the past two decades, Jennifer Cummings has been one of the most sought-after marketing experts in the nation. Her “out-of-the-box” approach to marketing has won her the respect of advertising agencies and the adulation of entrepreneurs and business owners from all over the world in over a dozen unique markets.

Using the same strategies she now teaches, Jennifer transformed her life from being a juvenile delinquent at 15 to a millionaire by age 30. With her practical, no-frills approach to marketing and revenue generation, YOU can now join the thousands of other agents and brokers who have been excited and empowered to get back into the driver’s seats of their businesses!

Jennifer Cummings is a member of the Broker Agent Speakers Bureau which is a full service Speakers Bureau serving the real estate and financial industry. To learn more about Jennifer, view her bio or visit www.BrokerAgentSpeakers.com.

by Carla Cross

How well do you qualify - as an agent - for a buyer? We all talk about qualifying buyers and sellers. I hope you’ve made a goal of better qualifying methods for 2010. But, in addition, buyers actively qualify agents to figure out who to work with. (Or, if they just take any agent who comes along, they are disappointed because ‘the customer doesn’t know what he’s getting, until he doesn’t [get it]’.)

Why meeting buyer qualifying criteria is important: buyers today have many choices of how to find homes. You need to create competitive reasons to help buyers choose you. It will save you time and money. And, if you’re a newer agent, creating solid reasons to help buyers choose you will increase your self-confidence 200%.

Five Critical Questions Buyers Should Ask Agent ‘Candidates’

Here are five critical questions I believe buyers should ask agents to assure they have a ‘match’ between what they are looking for and what the agent provides. In addition, I’ve added what I believe buyers should look for in the answers (that means that we agents must be able to qualify on these terms). As you read these as an agent, ask yourself, “How would I answer these?” “What do I need to refine to provide better answers and stand out as that ‘value-added’ agent?”

1. “Is selling residential real estate your full-time career?” My advice to buyers: Listen to be sure the agent specializes in residential real estate. You want someone selling homes for a living, not apartment houses. Listen to see if this is the agent’s full-time career. Ask additional questions if the agent’s answers need clarification.
   
2. “How many homes did you sell last year?” My advice to buyers: You want someone successful; that means, at minimum, the agent sold homes to buyers at least six times in that year.
   
3. “How long have you specialized in residential real estate in this area?” My advice to buyers: Be sure the agent has been working in the area where you want to purchase for at least six months, so you know the agent has expertise and interest in that area.
   
4. “Describe the work you do in our price range and area.” My advice to buyers: Listen to be sure the agent zeros in on the area and price range you need. If the agent says, “I work anywhere with anybody”, that agent may not be for you. He may be trying to cover too much ground to know very much about specific areas.
   
5. “Tell us how you will work with us.” My advice to buyers: Listen as the agent describes the buying process, as he views it. Does it reflect what you’re looking for?

Agents: Think These Criteria are Too Tough?

Did some of those questions and my advice to buyers make you defensive and argumentative? That’s because we agents tend to look at things ‘inside out’ (from our perspective). Instead, pretend you are a discriminating buyer. You’re going to spend $60,000 on a car. What kind of customer service do you expect? Now, think in terms of the real estate buyer. What kind of service, preparation, knowledge, and skill should a real estate buyer expect?

Newer Agents: Panicked Because You Think You Can’t Qualify?

Okay. Relax. You don’t need to qualify on all terms. But, you need to have answers and explanations ready so you can provide buyers reasons to work with you. Advice: Educate yourself so that you are as well-prepared to help a buyer as an agent who has sold 100+ homes in his/her career.

Carla Cross is a member of the Broker Agent Speakers Bureau which is a full service Speakers Bureau serving the real estate and financial industry. To learn more about Carla Cross, view her bio or visit www.BrokerAgentSpeakers.com.

Next week: "Einstein and Me"

by Terri Murphy

Whether you are in a fast or a slow market, doing the right things help buyers buy and seller sell. It sure does help when you are use the latest and greatest tools to engage, connect and convert those prospects into sales….especially if you are focusing on the larger segment of the buying demographic…GenX and Gen Y buyers.

To engage this demographic, incorporating some of the latest tools help your listings to stand out and be noticed in a plethora of available properties, and snag the attention of serious buyers.

Pictures and Virtual Tours:

A recent white paper authored by the WAV Group out of Dallas revealed that having a virtual tour available to buyers on listings has proven to boost views over 40% and yet less than 11% of all properties listed use this great tool…proving that pictures are nice, but tours promote engagement.

In order to engage this emerging segment of the market, using tools and features that encourage interaction and participation with a particular property is key. Some tour services offer design features that allow the viewer to change the color of the walls, flooring and cabinetry, direct connect contact options to the agent and cad systems that allow for furniture placement on a floor plan. (Obeo.com)

Interactive options create engagement which encourages interest and powerful differentiation in a crowded marketplace.

Email and Texting:

With email being “so yesterday” – texting is latest rage in real time communication. Goomzee.com provides an interface for buyers to get immediate information and connection with the listing agent. Agents that aren’t familiar with text messaging, or do not have text messaging available to them run the risk of not providing the latest tools systems and resources to help their seller get to sold, and may be missing the right tool to connect with today’s e-savvy buyers.

E-Flyers and Brochure Boxes:

Brochure boxes are a great way to provide property information, but all too often, the box is empty and the prospect is all but. The agent can’t follow up on a prospect that is invisible and the buyer may simply move on to another property. Smart agents know that accountability is key, and can’t report on traffic without a measurement of some kind. When the flyers are all gone, so are the sources of that traffic, the feedback from those prospects and the possible follow up. Without tracking prospects, the agent can’t report to the seller with solid data to help re-define and re-design future market navigation.

Using tools that measure and report on buyer activity supports the consumer demand for accountability. By using automated call response systems that indicate the sources of inquiries the times, dates and the service options the prospect used helps the agent report solid statistical information to the seller. By reporting how many actual prospects have called, or viewed their virtual tour, requested e-flyers, provides solid data on the sources of that activity to help define the effectiveness of the marketing and to respond in real time to the marketplace. It wasn’t that many years ago that if you didn’t have a mobile phone, you were in the dark ages. Technology and e-tools continue to evolve and are developed to meet the continuing evolution of consumer’s demands for what they want and when they want it. If you want to win the listing, minimize the costs of time, energy and resources, be pro-active about incorporating tools and systems that help you sell more properties, minimize marketing time and provide a strong differentiation in your marketplace.

Terri Murphy is a member of the Broker Agent Speakers Bureau which is a full service Speakers Bureau serving the real estate and financial industry. To learn more about Terri Murphy, view her bio or visit www.BrokerAgentSpeakers.com. 

Next week: "Turning the Tables: How Well Do You Qualify for a Buyer?"

by Rich Levin

An Agent asked me how many calls it takes to be successful.

 I said it depends on who is making the calls and who they are calling.

He said, “You know Real Estate calls.”   He said that he learned that if he made calls three hours a day it would make him successful and he wanted my opinion.  How many calls does it take to be successful?

I said, “It’s the wrong question.” 

Tony Robbins taught me a lot of things.  One of the more important ones is that, “The quality of your life is in direct proportion to the quality of the questions you ask yourself.” 

The same is true of your business.  The quality of your business is in direct proportion to the quality of the questions you ask about it. 

And, how many calls does it take to be successful is a poor quality question.

First, what is successful?  Let’s pick an income level of $100,000 for the year, just to create a specific goal that defines success.  And without elaborating on the math let’s say that will require twenty sales.

So, the question becomes, “How many calls do I have to make to sell twenty houses this year?”  That’s a better question.  Except that I asked it of a lot of Agents across the country and the answers were always discouraging.  It was always a lot of calls and a lot of time.  And it completely lacked insight and intelligence.  So, I realized it was still a poor quality question. 

Here is the high quality question.  “How few calls does it take to make twenty sales?”  I began asking that and the answers were amazing.  In fact instead of answers, that question most often led to a bunch of other great questions.

Can you make some or all of those sales without making any calls by having people call you? 

What are the calls that bring the best results?  Could you make twenty sales with twenty calls?  Ooh, if you could then forty calls would make forty sales.  Can it be done? 

This question makes you think.  It leads you to greater insight and intelligence about your business, your skills, the market, the opportunities and more.

This question motivates you to begin to keep track of how many calls you make to get the sale, to notice who you call, what approach you use, and how well it all works. 

This question leads you to continuously work to learn how to make sales with the fewest calls. 

We do a webinar every day at 8:45 am eastern.  Yes, every day.  It motivates.  It teaches.  And it asks you to challenge yourself to achieve your goals in the most efficient and enjoyable way. 

This great question arose out of that work.  It is one of many that come up throughout the year on these free webinars.  Our goal with this work is to make your business better as you make your life better.  And it’s working for hundreds and a growing number of Agents.  Please join us.  It’s free.  Register at www.1stFifteen.com.

Rich Levin is a member of the Broker Agent Speakers Bureau which is a full service Speakers Bureau serving the real estate and financial industry. To learn more about Rich Levin, view his bio or visit www.BrokerAgentSpeakers.com.