RISMEDIA, March 11, 2008-What kind of follow-up system do you have in place to generate referrals from your database?
In January, I sent two referrals to the XYZ Team. By my calculations, that would be at least $15,000 in listing commissions, not counting the selling side and any future business. Because they are purportedly top-producers, they may get as much as 80% of that amount, but even at a 60/40 split, their share comes out to $9,000 in net commissions-in one month.
I did not receive a response for the first referral. This was their response to me for the second referral:
“Hi Joe,
Thank-you for referring the Q’s to us. They speak very highly of you. We will work hard to sell their home. Have a good week.
XYZ Team”
These are good people and good agents, but their lack of meaningful follow-up with me, coupled with some shenanigans in the community by another agent in their office, has turned me off.
Are you thinking that I’m greedy or ungrateful, expecting some kind of reward or recognition for sending business to these people? I’m simply human. In fact, I think I’m more thoughtful about this than most of your referral base. Most of them just quit sending you referrals-they move on and you never know why.
I’m telling you why. I feel as if the XYZ Team is taking me for granted, and I’m not sending them any more referrals.
Worse yet, there are a group of us in town talking about their company, the other agents and even the XYZ Team in a negative way. The ripple effect is enormous! I now know at least two prominent property owners who will no longer send any business that direction. And they will most likely warn their friends to go elsewhere as well.
Who wins here? The next agent in line! And guess what? There is always another agent in line. That agent could be you, if you simply put a Client Appreciation Program in place.
Elements of a Good Client Appreciation Program
The secret formula for a successful Client Appreciation Program in today’s market is very simple. It consists of three steps: give, ask, and then receive. If you can incorporate this simple philosophy into everything you do, from open houses to direct-mailings to following-up on Internet leads, you will master this business.
Giving
The first step is to give something of value. People are now inundated with advertising-you need this, work with me, buy this now. Everyone wants something from your prospects. Receiving a sales pitch is a turn-off. So, stop doing what everyone else is doing wrong. Instead, stop asking and start giving.
For example, say you are holding an open house. People come in. Do you see them as possible paychecks, or do you see them as people seeking something? Are you asking yourself what you can do for them, or are you wondering if you could get them as a client so that you can earn a commission? If your answer is “commission,” I can guarantee you are as transparent as plastic wrap. You’ll catch a few sales with that mindset, but you won’t find any long-term success.
For one solid month, try letting go of the paycheck idea and grasping instead onto an idea of connectivity. People know people. Treat these people well, and they may buy from another agent, but keep them in your loop and you might earn two, three or five times the business in referrals.
For example, several years ago I visited an owner who was trying to sell his home without an agent. I gave him market information on a regular basis, showed his home and spoke with him on the street several times, but when he decided to list his house, a couple of other agents from my office dived on him and he went with another brokerage completely. I showed his home several times and spoke with him whenever I saw him. Someone else finally sold his home. The entire experience drained him and made him even more wary of real estate agents, but whenever he had a referral, he sent it to me. I treated his referrals like gold, and I made a friend, built my business and earned a living. Not from asking. Not from getting agitated or upset, but from giving.
Ask
This is the least important step, but for most agents it is the most overused and abused. Ask lightly. Ask respectfully. Be honest and authentic. But most of all, ask after you have established trust through graceful giving.
If you are not giving on a consistent basis, and suddenly you show up or call asking for business, you are making a withdrawal from an account that probably does not have enough funds to cover your request. You have to make many small deposits over a long period of time to create customer loyalty.
Guess what? We’re back to giving again. If you have not been giving (making deposits) you cannot ask effectively (make a withdrawal).
If you have been giving on a consistent basis, and if you have been giving something of meaning and value, the way you ask is of very little importance. You can botch the asking and still get a referral, still get a listing or a sale, if you’ve built trust and respect through giving.
Receive
Finally, you have to learn to receive gracefully. I have people calling me all the time asking for a good real estate agent. I have a few I refer to consistently because they always provide good service. However, several years ago, one of my favorite teams complained to me about a client I had referred to them. Even though the client had turned out to be difficult, their lack of graceful receiving caused me to stop referring to them for quite a while. Even now, when I send them a lead, I think about that event from the past.
Here is a key point. When you receive a referral, make sure you send recognition immediately. Don’t wait until the home sells. Don’t even wait to see if you actually get the listing. Reward your sources for the lead, not the listing. What you do with the lead is your business. You may blow it, or they may choose another agent for some reason. Regardless, if you want to continue getting leads, you need to water your garden. If you don’t, it will wither and die.
What about the XYZ Team? What could they have done differently to keep me sending leads their way? What would you do for someone who sent you $12,000 in business a month? What are you doing? Are you not getting referral business like that? Why not?
Take a look at your Client Appreciation Program. The reason might be there (especially if you don’t have one!).
The point is to receive gracefully. Everyone you meet can contribute to your long-term success, if you let them. When you finish a transaction, when you receive a lead or a referral, be grateful and act accordingly. Send thank-you notes and thoughtful gifts.
At this point you are actually back to the giving step again. It’s a cycle. Give, ask, receive and then give again. Do this and you stand a good chance of being the next agent in line when someone is handing out referrals. I know who my next agent is.
Joe Cooke is a nationally recognized expert on the nuts-and-bolts of real estate sales and marketing. Visit www.joecooke.com for a free copy of his book, Creating Customized Marketing Plans.
“Priced to sell!” In today’s market, what in the world-or at least in the region-does that mean?
RISMEDIA, March 8, 2008-What price is actually right? If you’re a broker who’s been through multiple ups and downs, what do you tell agents who until now have only seen the upside of real estate?
Price aggressively. Sell accordingly. Stage the property. Offer incentives.
Savvy brokers and agents aren’t wringing their hands in this buyer’s market. They are being pro-active, and, they say, making sales, despite daunting inventories.
“I want to work with sellers who want to sell, not with sellers who want to test the market,” says Dan Forsman, Prudential Georgia’s president and CEO. “I don’t have time for that.”
“It’s a challenging, tough market,” adds Steve Rodgers, President and CEO of Prudential California Realty. “But there is money to be made in any market. It’s an exciting time to be in the business, quite frankly.”
Or as Rei Mesa, president and CEO of Prudential Florida WCI Realty, puts it: “For career Realtors, there’s no such thing as a bad market.”
Accepting the Paradigm Shift
In Florida, one of the country’s most overheated markets, prices plunged 29% in 2007 compared to 2006. But for Mesa, with 1,900 agents in 17 counties, this lemon crop hasn’t soured him on the market-or the marketability-of homes priced to sell.
“We’re asking our sales associates to approach it from the standpoint of looking at active listings and not at closed listings as in the past,” says Mesa. “In this paradigm shift of the market we’re in, you look at what’s on the market and work your way down from there. If you’re still looking at inventory sold a few months ago, that pricing is probably not in line with what consumers are looking at now. To market the property today, you have to find the lowest price point to a comparable property and aggressively price below the lowest asking price.”
Priced to sell isn’t a new concept. In January 2006, Mesa said, “We started having discussions about aggressive pricing because we started to see growth in inventory and some real unrealistic pricing. We were ahead of the game in promoting pricing properties correctly and using financing to provide incentives,” such as paying closing costs and buying down the interest rate to make properties more affordable.
“How the property shows” is also important, says Mesa. “We’re asking our sales associates to ask prospective sellers to make sure their homes are up to date with repairs and curb appeal and in some cases even recommending staging the homes so they stand out from others. If the property is staged and all repairs taken care of, or if there are some mortgage incentives, you don’t have to be as aggressive on pricing.”
Debora Nichols, a Phoenix-area agent with Realty Executives, takes an analytical approach. “We look at what has sold and what may not have sold, especially in this market, and we look at what’s active,” she says. “But if nothing is selling, that tells us the whole area is overpriced; everybody is jumping off that cliff together.”
Price Plus Condition
So what is the right price? “In this market, it’s anybody’s guess. If it’s not sold in 30 days, we do another market analysis and another price reduction,” Nichols says. “We take it down a notch, depending on the price point of the home. We have to stay ahead of the curve. If you’ve got ten listings all in the same area and they’re all priced $300,000 to $400,000, and they all fit into same category-three-bedroom home, 1,800-2,000 square feet, and all have a pool-you can’t be higher priced in the category. You have to be in the lower half of that group.”
But it’s not just price-it’s price and condition.
“In this market, buyers are very picky, cherry-picking, and you can’t blame them,” Nichols says. “They want to buy what they can for what they can afford, because once they get into it, they can’t afford to change linoleum to tile, counter to granite, or buy better carpet. They’re putting it all into a down payment. They don’t have money to dress it up, so it’s got to look good from the start.
“It’s as simple as washing windows,” says Nichols. “You’d be surprised how many sellers don’t. It just doesn’t look good. If that’s the condition of the windows, people think, what’s the condition of the overall property? We’ll make them clean it up before we’ll even put in on the market.”
In her area, where prices are down 13 to 14% less compared to a year ago, “we are selling,” Nichols says. “We’re actually very busy, but it’s because we pay attention to details. It’s a double-barreled approach to selling-price and condition. You can’t have one or the other; you have to have both in this market.”
Nichols and the three other agents working with her also aggressively court sellers whose homes aren’t moving. “We see homes sit on the market for months and months and we’ll go do a market analysis and recommend a price reduction as well as doing some things with their home.” Half switch and half stay with their original agent, she says.
Be Choosy
“I’m telling agents to work with sellers serious about selling in this marketplace,” says Prudential Georgia’s Forsman.
Agents should reject sellers unwilling to deal with market realities, echoes Prudential California’s Rodgers, whose firm has 92 offices in Southern and Central California.
PruCal, with 4,000 agents compared to 5,000 in 2005, is “dramatically beefing up our training efforts” to deal with the changed market, Rodgers says. Strategies include “webinars,” audio programs, and conference calls to prepare agents before they meet with sellers, many of whom have outdated expectations. “This means some very difficult conversations with the seller,” Rodgers says.
The firm advocates pricing properties within a range 5-7% percent above and below the last comparable sale, rather than setting a fixed price. The idea is to cast a “bigger fishing net,” Rodgers says, to “get a dialogue started between the buyer and seller.”
It works. In San Diego last year, 51% of the firm’s sales resulted from range pricing, which PruCal inaugurated 14 years ago, to some industry criticism. It’s still a tough sell, though, with 12 to 14 months of inventory and homes languishing for 87 days on the market.
If a seller insists on a fixed price, Rodgers said, his agents will sign an agreement lasting days or weeks or with automatic price reductions included. In this market, Rodgers says, sellers may have to offer to buy-down the buyer’s interest rate or pay closing costs. “We show sellers that unless they are creative and flexible in this market, they will have a tough time.”
To reach more buyers, PruCal is also seeking what Rodgers calls the “international buyer,” who may be Canadian or Asian or even, by his definition a New Yorker, who “still looks at our [California] prices as a bargain.” These buyers enjoy a “jet-set lifestyle” and are looking for second and third residences, he explains.
In the Pacific Northwest, says J. Lennox Scott, president and CEO of John L. Scott Real Estate, “We did not have the ‘irrational exuberance’ markets, and therefore we’re not seeing the big drops.” But his agents are still urging sellers to “stage their house, stage their yard, and market price.” He adds, “If you have inventory of seven months or greater in the market, you should be pricing ahead of the market, slightly below the last sale.”
Accordingly, the theme of his last sales associates rally was “Buy Right in Today’s Market,” and the last month’s was “Sell Smart in Today’s Market.” For Scott, it’s all old hat, and almost second nature; this is the fifth cycle “I’ve been involved with in my career,” he says.
Armed With Info
Barbara Reynolds, CEO of Real Living Realty 1 in Cleveland, is not overly concerned about pricing. Prices are down a mere 2% in her market. “We’re not a manic market. We’re a steady market,” she says. “We didn’t have the big swings of the coastal markets. We didn’t have the benefit of a high market. But our sellers are more realistic in this marketplace.”
Still, she still sees this as a buyer’s market in which the key to pricing is, first, providing the seller with solid data on inventory and recent sales in the micro-market “because real estate is local.” Secondly, she says, it’s important to look at what’s on the market-the competition and how it is priced-and the condition of other homes for sale. These factors will “determine how you position yourself in the market, a little below the competition.”
She says her message to sellers is: “I don’t want to sell anyone else’s house. I want to sell yours.” It’s a message she also shares with agents who are seeking advice.
Like Reynolds, Bill Raveis, president and CEO of Connecticut-based William Raveis Real Estate, doesn’t worry much about aggressive pricing because in his New England market, encompassing his home state, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, prices have been relatively stable.
Instead, he worries about perceptions. “We got whacked by the national media, not by the housing market,” he says. “There’s reluctance on the buyer’s side because of the national media, so we post all local housing data on our website. You can see by town exactly what’s happening. We have to educate the public. But we’re shoving against a negative tide.”
With 400 towns in his coverage area, the data can differ markedly from place to place. For example, Greenwich is “off the charts,” with the average sales price exceeding $2 million, but 15 miles away in Bridgeport, it’s $300,000, and two minutes from there, homes in Fairfield sell in the $600,000 to $700,000 range.
Buyers “don’t know what to think at this stage,” Raveis says. To convince them to make a deal, Raveis is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising. He is aiming “to offset the negative press” with billboards and other media.
His message: “The stories aren’t the same all over the country. We’re not as vulnerable as other sections. There is the ‘Chicken Little the sky is falling stuff’ but not everywhere. Our pricing levels are pretty good.” But where they are not, the smart agent and broker mantra might well be: show well, price to sell.
RISMEDIA, Feb. 1, 2008-Many Realtors® often forget that they really have two jobs - the first is to do what they get paid for (and do it better than others they are competing against). The other is to manage their career path and do what is required to ensure their upward mobility isn’t dependent on others who may or may not be working in their best interest.
Below luxe real estate guru Robert Jenson, founder and CEO of The Jenson Group of RE/MAX CENTRAL - offers 5 tips to help aspiring real estate professionals better foster their career success:
1) Have a Plan
Create a Strategic Business and Marketing Plan for the whole year, starting now. Successful corporations have such plans, so why shouldn’t you? In this industry, the old adage rings all too true: “fail to plan, plan to fail.” Indeed, plan out your activities and strategies by days, weeks and months. Where will your leads come from? How will your service dazzle customers into referring you all their friends? Come up with a detailed plan, and go over it with your broker affiliate and others in the business.
2) Work the Plan
You can have a precise road map to a treasure chest, but with no gas in the tank, you’re not going to make it. Do you have an accountability partner - someone that you exchange goals and objectives with on a regular basis to help keep each other on track? This person might be another agent, your spouse, or a friend or family member - someone who will hold your feet to the fire if you fall short. This can be a fun way to help get you that extra bit of motivation.
3) Dress the Part
One’s “presence” plays a big part in one’s success - or lack thereof. In a nutshell, presence is a combination of how we look, how we carry ourselves and our communication skills. Carry yourself with best posture and wear attire that imparts your success - or that which you desire.
4) Role Play
Condition yourself on how to react - or not react - to stressful situations. Have someone role play with you in these dreaded scenarios so that you’re not at a loss for words, and that you choose the right words: “We want to cut your commission!,” “We’re interviewing other agents,” “The other agent said they’d give us some of their commission, ok?” Role playing scripts & dialogues on a regular basis will keep you calm, cool and collected when the heat is on.
5) Hire a Coach
Ready to take your career to the next level? The career coaching business is booming, and with good reason. Objective advice about how you conduct business, and how your business endeavors affect your “whole life balance,” can do wonders. Tactical advice will help you overcome hurdles that lie between you and the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Take your time and speak to other agents who have used various programs before you commit. It’s sure to be a great investment in your future.
If you own a residential property that is declining in value, here are some ways to make the losses less depressing.
Trim property taxes. If a house has lost value, have it reappraised by the municipal assessor. Consider petitioning — or even suing — to get back taxes overpaid in the last few months.
Deduct a home office. Some people avoid the home office deduction because it requires deducting depreciation, but if the property has lost value, this isn’t an issue.
Sale-leaseback with a relative. If you're convinced your property is due for a big price correction and you have equity in the home, then sell now. For example, if you have a $1 million home that has been appraised at $1.8 million, you can sell it and take home $500,000 of the $800,000 gain tax free — due to an exemption on profits from the sale of personal residences. Sell the property to a trusted friend or wealthy relative and then become a tenant and pay the buyer rent at market rates — a much more attractive amount than Treasury bonds are paying now. When the housing market corrects, buy the property back.
Invest in housing futures. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange sells investment instruments that trade based on house price indexes for each of the 10 largest U.S. cities. You can sell futures, buy puts, or sell calls on this market to hedge losses in the value of your home.
Coaching is at an all time high demand lately. With so many flourishing Small Businesses, entrepreneurs know that it takes more than just a good idea and some business loans to make a lasting impression in the business world. Coaches can help you grow your Small Business by being the new perspective you might be looking for. They can help you with your business plan, lead generation, and much more if you find the right one with the right experience.
In finding a GREAT coach to grow your Small Business, here are some questions that I recommend considering before signing anything:
Experience It’s impossible to be an overarching coach. In the same way that with your business, you have to find a niche and some sort of specialty to brand yourself and make your company as attractive as possible to consumers, coaches can’t possibly have the ability to coach people in all sorts of businesses, professions and backgrounds. How can a coach who has experience in spirituality and healthy living properly coach you with your business plan and business growth? He/she can’t. If you want a coach to grow your Small Business, find a coach who has experience being an entrepreneur, or who specializes in coaching Small Businesses.
Certification Coaches seem to be all over the place, and most of them don’t have any certification. Surprised? A lot of times, since there are nearly no colleges that offer degrees in coaching, people will just take on the title “Life Coach” because they want to give people advice. Find a coach who has been certified by a coaching federation or school because certifications do exist for coaches. They need to know the tools to make you reach your goals, and if they have no training, education, or materials to grow your business, you’ll find yourself at point A again after spending hundreds or thousands of dollars
Comfort Just because a coach worked for a friend or business associate doesn’t mean the same coach will work for you. If a coach that you’re interested in isn’t offering a free sample session, be wary of what they might be trying to get you contracted for. Your relationship with your coach is just as important as your relationship with an assistant. It has to be comfortable and open for either of you to get anything out if it. Make sure that you sample your coach before signing on with him/her.
Present Is your coach lost in yesterday? As a Small Business owner, you have to be educated and up-to-date with technology, current trends, and everything changing in the business world today. If your coach isn’t current, then you might find your Small Business going down the drain. In order to grow your business, marketing, advertising and branding are of the utmost importance. These are all contingent upon what’s attractive to consumers today and are always changing. Make sure your coach is keeping up with the Joneses so you don’t get lost in old business.
Multiplicity Using multiple methods of coaching is also important for your Small Business coach. Your coach can’t just coach you on your business goals, just as he/she can’t just coach you on your budget. You have to have a well-rounded coach who touches on every aspect of your business and everything that might affect it.
If you’re looking for a coach today or for the future, www.NextLevelServices.net can help you find the right coach for you.
Real Estate, Business and Life Coach Cheri Alguire has partnered with hundreds of Real Estate Professionals and Small Business Owners to help them become more successful in business and in life. Coach Cheri specializes in Group Coaching for Small Business Owners, Working Mothers, Real Estate Agents and Managers. Learn more at www.NextLevelServices.net and www.GrowtoGreatness.com
A lot of times we forget about all of the different sales niches that are right under our fingertips. We get bogged down by the market slowing down and we think that our methods of sales to new prospective clients isn’t working. Get yourself out of this cycle by opening your eyes to all of the possibilities that are available to you and are right in front of you.
Past clients: How well have your relationships been maintained with past clients? Do you even remember the names of clients from 1 year ago? How about from 5 years ago? It is a necessity to maintain good relationships with past clients because you never know when they are going to give you a referral or even move homes and use you again. Make sure that you stay a consistent part of their lives with various forms of contact: Birthday cards, Home anniversary cards, eNewsletters, etc. Do whatever it takes to make yourself a household names in houses that are ‘yours.’
Business Networks: It never seems like we have the time to wake up extra early and go to those networking meetings, or take out time for lunch for a business luncheon. You honestly never know when you’re going to get a new lead, and business networks are some of the few places that you will most likely get a new lead every time you visit. Why prevent yourself from getting sales when they are right there? Meet people, meet leads, get referrals and give referrals. Business networks are always thriving forms of connectivity.
Open houses: Today, open houses aren’t just in person. That’s why you have to put extra effort into staying in contact with prospective clients that see your open houses in person and on line. Didn’t know you could have open houses online? You can create a video walk through of homes for sale and place it easily online. This makes it easier for you and for buyers to see what they want over and over again. However, that means that you have to make extra special effort to contact them via email and cards, and make sure that your follow-up system is seamless.
For Sale By Owners: We’ve heard of them, we’ve read about them, but now they’re more prevalent and necessary than ever. Are you doing everything you can to contact FSBO’s in your area? There are quick and easy ways to find FSBO’s and get them before everyone else jumps on the leads. At FSBORealEstateLeads.com you can find out how to get a hold of this “insider” information. Not only finding them early, but constantly contacting them without being overbearing is key. This means knowing their home more than they do, knowing facts, values, and when you’re going to sell it for them. Nail down the details before anyone else has gotten a chance to.
Rolodex: Ok, we don’t have rolodexes anymore…I’ve come to terms with that and I’m sure you have as well! Whatever contact management system you use, are you staying in contact with your contacts? This includes former acquaintances, social contacts, and many more leads that are sitting in your phone, on your computer, in Top Producer, etc. Get a hole of them and make sure you are “managing” your contacts continuously.
Look to these niches if you’re searching for creative lead generation methods. I’m sure you’ll find a couple of sales waiting to happen!
Real Estate, Business and Life Coach Cheri Alguire has partnered with hundreds of Real Estate Professionals and Small Business Owners to help them become more successful in business and in life. Coach Cheri specializes in Group Coaching for Small Business Owners, Working Mothers, Real Estate Agents and Managers. Learn more at www.RealEstateMoms.com and www.ProRealEstateCoach.com
Up for a game? If you can deduce why FSBOs want to go it alone, you’ll be more likely to win their business.
BY ROBERT FREEDMAN
Watch TV game shows, and it’s hard not to wonder what goes on in the minds of contestants: Why isn’t he giving the obvious answer? Why doesn’t she take the money and run?
When the game is trying to capture FSBO business, it actually pays to spend time trying to get into the prospect’s head. FSBOs aren’t all cut from the same cloth. They have different motivations for wanting to sell without an agent. How you respond to their beliefs about the value of real estate agents and the cost of representation can have a direct impact on your bottom line.
“I make understanding why they’re going without representation a big part of how I approach them,” says John Maloof, sales associate with Century 21 Grande in Harwood Heights, Ill.
Look for clues about whether money, control, or another factor drives an owner’s desire to remain unrepresented. For example, owners who price high may just be testing the market. They may not want to sign a listing agreement because they’re not really motivated to sell. On the other hand, if the owners are pricing low to sell quickly, money is likely the concern because they don’t want to further deplete an already low price.
Money is probably less of a factor for sellers who’ve sold homes on their own before; they likely enjoy retaining control and may believe that representation isn’t necessary. And sellers who complain about the bad job the last salesperson did are probably worried less about spending money than they are about getting their money’s worth.
Once you know the why, you can tailor your marketing and listing presentation accordingly.
It’s the Money
A majority of unrepresented sellers (51 percent in 2006) chooses the FSBO route to avoid paying a commission, according to NAR data. Practitioners put the number even higher—some say 80 percent or more. “It’s always about the money, no matter what they say,” says Howard Gottlieb, associate broker of Keller Williams Real Estate in Langhorne, Pa.
To identify whether money is the sellers’ primary motivating factor, ask if they’d be willing to pay a commission if a practitioner brought them a buyer, suggests Maloof.
“If you ask them this, it eventually leads to what their motivation is,” he says. Many FSBOs will respond to Maloof’s question with something like, “The reason I’m going FSBO is because I don’t want to pay a commission.” Or they might say, “I don’t mind paying the commission; it’s the bad representation the last time I used a salesperson that bothers me.”
To show sellers that they’re being penny-wise but dollar-foolish by focusing on the commission, Maloof says he relies on 2005 NAR data showing that homes sold by practitioners fetch 16 percent more than those sold by FSBOs. The 2006 data shows an even greater difference for those who start out with an agent (see “FSBOs earn less on home sale,” page 32).
“FSBOs often end up showing a home to such a small universe of buyers that they don’t realize how much more they could get if they exposed the property to all the interested buyers out there,” he says.
Showing FSBOs the higher price they could realize with representation is especially important for sellers who are upside down on their mortgage and fear that having a salesperson involved in the transaction will mean coming to the closing table with their checkbook.
“These sellers don’t think it’s worth it for them to add in the cost of a commission until you show them how much more money they can get,” says Bruce Hackel, GRI, an associate with RE/MAX South Suburban in Flossmoor, Ill.
In many cases, friends or neighbors who had a successful experience going it alone persuade sellers to go without representation. “Their neighbors say, ‘We got $10,000 more as a FSBO than the house down the street,’ so they think they should do it, too,” says Chad Dion, a sales associate with RE/MAX Preferred in South Burlington, Vt. “What the neighbors don’t realize is [their] house might have actually sold for $25,000 more with the proper representation. Many sellers just don’t put a lot of value on the market knowledge we bring to the transaction.”
Qualified practitioners know the subtle pricing adjustments based on condition, neighborhood, comparables, and other market factors that can alter a home’s appeal to buyers, says Dion.
To attract money-sensitive sellers, Dean Nikodemski, GRI, broker-owner of Carolinas Real Estate in Charlotte, N.C., offers a graduated commission rate. The rate is based on the listing price, but the scale is lower than what he typically charges a non-FSBO customer.
“Once they see how much it would cost them to pay any cooperating broker who brings them a buyer, it becomes clear they’re not paying that much more to get professional representation on the listing side,” he says.
It’s About Trust and Control
Although money matters to every seller, keeping control of the transaction is another major reason sellers go the FSBO route. According to NAR data for 2006, about one in 10 FSBOs either wants to avoid contact with salespeople or feels dissatisfaction with a practitioner who couldn’t sell a home.
“After a bad experience, they want to know what’s going on,” says Dion.
Converting these disgruntled sellers means identifying the cause of their dissatisfaction, then showing how you can give them the help they need.
Maloof recently converted an unrepresented seller whose previous listing agent had failed to sell the home. He started by demonstrating where the first agent went wrong. Using a copy of the old MLS listing, Maloof walked the sellers through the previous salesperson’s mistakes, thereby demonstrating that he could manage the listing competently.
“The listing was described as a 2-bedroom when in fact it was a 3-bedroom; it included only one photo; and the cooperating commission was very low. I had the listing right there in my hand as we talked and I asked the owners if they knew any of this, and they said no,” said Maloof.
The mistake on the number of bedrooms was particularly damaging because buyers looking for a 3-bedroom home wouldn’t even see the couple’s house in an online search.
Disgruntled owners such as this are often easier to work with than sellers who are solely motivated by a desire to stay hands-on no matter what.
“Those who want to stay hands-on are very high-maintenance clients,” says Dion. “You’ll have a very tough couple of months if you end up listing their property. I won’t even work with them at this point, but it took me 10 years to learn that.”
Nikodemski lets control-oriented FSBOs know they can ask questions of him or other professionals with whom he maintains a relationship (including an attorney and a lender) for free. Of course, if sellers decide to use any of their services, the professionals charge a fee.
After their initial distrust, buyers gradually see Nikodemski as an ally rather than just another practitioner trying to get them to sign a listing agreement. Even if a particular owner remains unrepresented, the positive feelings this consultative approach creates may lead to referrals.
It’s About Already Having a Buyer
Perhaps the hardest type of FSBO to convert is the one who already has a buyer—or thinks so. In 2006, 22 percent of FSBOs successfully sold to a friend, neighbor, or family member. Another 12 percent had been contacted by an unsolicited buyer.Hard doesn’t mean impossible. Many FSBOs who think they’re all set to go learn the hard way that an expression of interest does not a transaction make.
“Nine times out of 10, their ‘friend’ doesn’t purchase the home,” says Jason L. Penrose, CRS®, GRI, an associate broker with Melcher Agency Real Estate in Phoenix. “Then these sellers are left trying to market their properties alone.”
“Sellers have an unrealistic expectation about how people behave,” agrees Hackel. “People say they’ll look at the house but don’t show up. Or they make promises and never call back.”
For this group of FSBOs, focus your presentation on the money they’re leaving on the table by not exposing the property to market forces. “If you’re selling to your neighbor, usually you’re selling too cheap,” says Maloof.
You also want to alert them to the risks of selling to someone with whom they have a relationship.
“I advise them that having me as part of the process helps limit the chances of the transaction going sour and putting them at risk of a lawsuit and a damaged relationship if their buyer is dissatisfied later,” says Penrose.
Even if the transaction seems likely to close, you can offer your expertise in handling the hundreds of details needed to get to closing. NAR’s 2006 survey found that handling paperwork was one of the two biggest concerns for unrepresented sellers.
“It can be scary for sellers working alone when their buyer is seeking 100 percent financing and wants closing costs funded from the transaction,” says Hackel. “We see that all the time, but they don’t.”
For these already-connected sellers, Penrose offers a pricing structure that’s lower than the one he typically negotiates. He also offers to work without a long-term listing agreement. “They can fire me at any time if they’re not happy,” he says. This easy exit strategy provides a comfort level for uncertain owners, he says.
Whatever their motivation for going it alone, unrepresented sellers who choose to make the switch and work with a real estate professional can win in the end with a quicker, easier transaction and a likely increase in what they realize from the sale. Your task is to find the most persuasive approach to help them to recognize your value.
Sidebars 4 Ways to Find FSBOs
Before you can convert them, you have to find them.
1. Look for a sign — or two. About 40 percent of FSBO sellers rely on a sign as their principal marketing tool. Drive different routes through your market area to look for FSBO signs.
2. Subscribe to a service. Services such as FSBO Hotsheet (www.fsbohotsheet.com), which combs through newspaper and magazine FSBO ads, generate daily lists of leads.
3. Generate your own lead lists. Read open house and For Sale listings in newspaper classifieds.
4. Check out FSBO Web sites. Owners.com and similar sites can help you pinpoint prospective new clients. Legal hint: Check FSBOs against the federal do-not-call list before you make a cold call. You can download five area codes for free at https://telemarketing.donotcall.gov.
FSBOs' Main Concerns
Handling paperwork and preparing the home for sale are two of the biggest concerns for FSBOs, whether they know their buyer upfront or not. Among those who don’t know their buyer, generating interest is a top concern.
Didn’t know their buyer
Knew their buyer
Handling paperwork
17%
16%
Selling in time desired
17%
13%
Preparing home
16%
21%
Attracting buyers
15%
NA
Finding time to manage details
8%
10%
Setting price
7%
17%
Helping buyer find financing
2%
8%
Data from the NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 2006 edition, NAR Research
Why Go FSBO?
Saving on the commission remains the No. 1 reason sellers elect to go it alone, but that reason is declining, while knowing the buyer upfront is a growing reason.
2004
2005
2006
Commission savings
61%
53%
51%
Sell to friend, relative, neighbor
17%
22%
22%
Buyers contacted seller
9%
9%
12%
Avoid dealing with agent
6%
8%
8%
Seller has real estate license
2%
2%
2%
Agent unable to sell home
2%
3%
3%
Couldn’t find agent
1%
NA
1%
Other
2%
3%
2%
Data from the NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 2004, 2005, and 2006 editions, NAR Research
Will They Go FSBO Again?
Recent FSBOs who knew their buyer were more likely than those who didn’t to say they’ll turn to an agent the next time they sell.
Didn’t know their buyer
Knew their buyer
Yes, will go FSBO again
46%
13%
Not sure
44%
51%
No, will use agent next time
10%
35%
Data from the NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 2006 edition, NAR Research
FSBOs Earn Less on Home Sale
Unrepresented sellers have a median household income that’s only about 11 percent lower than that of sellers who use an agent from the get-go, but FSBOs’ homes sell for 25 percent less.
Household income (median)
Selling price (median)
Agent-assisted
$87,100
$250,000
First FSBO, then agent-assisted
$70,700
$192,000
FSBO/don’t know buyers
$77,800
$187,200
Data from the NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 2006 edition, NAR Research
Happy Convert: From FSBO to Client
In the then-hot Phoenix real estate market, home sellers Ron and Sherry Creer saw little need for professional representation when they decided to sell their home. They expected a steady stream of buyers from the several other houses for sale in their neighborhood, so why pay a commission? “Rather than pay an agent, we thought we’d use the money we’d save to fix up our new house,” says Sherry.
The Creers had just bought a 100-year-old house in Grand Junction, Colo., and were giving it a top-to-bottom redo. But after weeks went by with little traffic, they were grateful when Jason L. Penrose stopped by to chat and offered help with no strings attached.
Penrose, CRS®, GRI, an associate broker with Melcher Agency Real Estate in Phoenix, went with the classic approach to converting FSBOs: He cultivated the Creers’ trust by providing useful information and then was ready to help when they realized they couldn’t do it alone.
“I never felt he was pushing us. He was very honest and open, and he gave us information we could use,” says Sherry. “After we talked to him a few times, we decided to list with him.”
In the end, the Creers consider the commission they paid Penrose money well spent. Not only did he find a buyer, but “he got us out of a big jam,” says Sherry. “There was a last-minute snag with the financing, and the whole deal was about to collapse. But Jason was able to clear it up really quickly so we could sell the house.”
Unconverted FSBO: The Market Was Too Good
Before Benjamin Kende put his home on the market during the sizzling hot seller’s market in suburban Chicago, he listened to a listing presentation from a friend who was a real estate practitioner. But, among other factors, the lure of saving the commission money was too strong, and he opted to sell his house on his own.
“If the market wasn’t as good or if I wasn’t as proud of my home as I was, I might have gone with an agent,” Kende says. The fact that the couple was in no hurry to sell also made going FSBO more inviting.
To generate buyers, Kende and his wife sent a letter to their wide network of friends and neighbors, advertised in the newspapers, and hosted an open house. Within a week, the Kendes had four offers. The eventual buyer was a neighbor who had been to many get-togethers at their house over the years.
“We had a lot of parties,” says Kende. “People knew what our house looked like.”
Despite his success at going it alone, Kende says he has no illusions about the unique nature of the seller’s market at the time. That’s why he might rely on a professional next time. Should he seek representation in the future, one marketing tactic he’ll want his agent to try is a letter-writing campaign similar to the one he and his wife used. “It’s the one thing we did that we don’t find many agents doing, and it helped generate buyers,” he says.
Tired of being a jack of all trades? Team leaders offer advice for getting started. Size up three models — the single assistant, the partnership, and the super team.
BY TRACEY C. VELT
Stephanie Vitacco was exhausted. “Three years into the business, I was working from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. and still not getting everything done,” says Vitacco, a 19-year veteran with Coldwell Banker–West Valley Regional in Los Angeles. “I was doing about 100 transactions a year at that point, and I realized that I would either have to turn down business or get help.I decided to get help.”
Can You Afford It?
Like many high-octane sales associates, Vitacco turned to the team approach, hiring assistants and other licensees to enable her to grow her business without sacrificing customer service or a personal life. Vitacco’s first hire was another salesperson in her office who was winding down her career. “She sat at open houses, prepared ads, and processed listings into the MLS. She helped wherever I needed it,” recalls Vitacco. By 2006 Vitacco’s team had grown to six — including a listing coordinator, buyer’s agent, and office manager — and had closed 150 transactions.
Sounds great, right? More sales and more free time! But forming a team can seem like an overwhelming task. And many sales associates aren’t sure they can afford it.
“Putting together a team doesn’t have to stop you in your tracks,” says Bernice Ross, CEO of RealEstateCoach.com in Austin, Texas. “A good rule of thumb is to hire one person for every 50 transactions you do.”
A slightly more sophisticated approach to determining whether you can afford an assistant is to calculate your average net on each transaction, estimate the cost of salary (plus Social Security and other withholding if the team member will work as an employee), then determine how many more transactions you’d have to complete to pay for an assistant.
Kankakee, Ill.–based real estate trainer and coach Walter Sanford suggests yet a third method: Take out last year’s tax return and review the profit you reported on your Schedule C. Divide that figure by the number of hours you worked last year. Let’s say you made $100,000 and worked 2,000 hours. That means your hourly rate is $50. Ask yourself if all your activities are worth $50 per hour or whether you’d be better off hiring someone for $15 per hour to prepare listing packages and do mailings.
“An assistant will free you up to spend many more of your working hours on activities that are worth $50, such as lead generation and negotiating contracts,” says Sanford.
Costs will vary widely depending on your market and the exact responsibilities of your team members. In general, most administrative and marketing assistants and transaction coordinators are paid as hourly employees, making between $13 to $17 per hour, according to Sanford. In May 2005, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated the median hourly wage for administrative support positions at $13.10. Team members who hold real estate licenses and act as listing or buyer’s agents can also be compensated on a commission basis through the brokerage.
Still not sure you can make payroll? “When you first start building a team, you can offer a lower hourly salary and a percentage of commission or a bonus for each closed transaction,” says Leslie Ann Sherman, president of the Sherman Group at Realty Executives of Nevada in Las Vegas. “A friend of mine started off very small with only a $2,000 per month base salary and a $500 per transaction closing bonus.”
Sherman runs a 12-person team that includes buyer’s and seller’s agents, an office manager, and two transaction coordinators. Together the group closed 284 transactions worth $90 million in 2006.
“When I decided to hire an assistant six years ago, I knew it would be a scary leap to be responsible for another person financially,” says Teri Herrera, CRB, CRS®, with John L. Scott Real Estate in Bellevue, Wash. “I hired a virtual assistant part time and paid an hourly salary plus a closing bonus,” she says.
“Virtual assistants who do tasks such as marketing mailings or Web maintenance can also be paid on a per-project basis, say $200 a month for Web maintenance,” says Ross.
Vitacco and Sherman also offer paid vacation, holiday time, paid sick days, and other benefits for longer-term employees. “There are companies out there, like MyBizOffice, that will create an employment package for you that includes health insurance, profit sharing, and more,” says Ross. “They administer it, so if you want to create a benefits package, this is one way to do it.”
How to Build a Quality Team
Although there’s no one magic structure for the perfect team, most begin with some form of administrative support. “You want someone to handle the lower pay-off jobs such as Web marketing and transaction coordination. That leaves you more time to perform money-making tasks,” Ross says.
Exactly whom you add to your team first will depend on where you most need support. Before she hired her first assistant, Herrera sat down and built a plan. “I asked myself, ‘What jobs can I give this person? What am I comfortable delegating?’ Once I had a job description and specific duties,” she says, “I felt confident hiring someone.”
It’s important to keep your team tightly focused, says Fafie Moore, president and broker-owner of Realty Executives of Nevada. Moore works with more than 600 sales associates in her six offices, about 20 percent of whom work with teams. “In my experience, the best teams are made up of a listing coordinator, a transaction coordinator, a general administrative person, an office manager or team leader, and maybe two listing agents and two buyer’s agents,” she says.
Once you’ve solved the who question, your search for qualified team members begins. Most of the sales associates we interviewed found their team members by networking with others in the business or in their own office. “I rarely advertise for employees,” says Sherman. “I usually put the word out in my office and other sales associates refer people to me.”
“I found my golden treasure — my office manager — through Monster.com,” a job listing Web site, says Herrera. For a virtual assistant, check out REVAnetwork.com and IVAA.org.
No matter how you locate prospective team members, it’s important to have a clearly defined interview process. Begin by writing a list of questions you want to ask each applicant—experience, strengths and weaknesses, and education. Next, conduct a pre-interview with each prospect over the phone to get an idea of phone demeanor and general qualifications. “I try to get applicants to open up so that I can gain some insight into their personality and skills,” says Vitacco. She also has each applicant react to a situation, such as, “If someone called wanting the address of a property, what information would you give?”
To help ensure that new hires will fit into your existing team dynamic, involve other team members in the process. Sherman conducts at least three interviews—one on her own, one with her office manager, and the last with the entire team. “When you have a team, you want everyone to have a vote,” she says.
When hiring buyer’s agents, it’s important to remember why they joined you in the first place. “Most team leaders come from the perspective that [buyer’s agents] will generate business,” says Moore. “But that’s inconsistent with the reason most people want to join a team. These people are willing to give up income to join a team because they don’t want to generate business. They expect you to do it.” Likewise a listing agent may not want to be bothered with the paperwork needed to sell a listing and prefer to hand off the administrative work to other team members.
Ross suggests that you administer a personality profile, such as the DISC profile, to prospective team members. “You don’t always want to hire someone just like yourself. For example, if you need an organized office manager, you want to look for someone whose personality profile is strong in those areas,” she says. (To compare DISC profile vendors’ services and prices, search “DISC profiles” online.) “I also suggest they use the Real Estate Simulator (www.realestatesimulator.com).” Ross pays about $70 an assessment. A wrong hire could cost you much more.
Making Your Group a Team
Whether you have two team members or 20, hiring is just the beginning of a team leader’s responsibilities. It takes good communications and strong systems to help a group of individuals meld into a successful team. Sherman meets with every team member weekly and her door is always open. “I help them make difficult calls and work out any situations they might have,” she says. Her team’s most common issue today is sellers who won’t reduce their price. “So I’ll call a seller personally and offer statistics and market data to help them make a decision. Many times, a call from me can make the difference.”
To track work flow and spot problems before they grow, Sherman relies on Track My File (www.trackmyfile.com). She also checks communication logs “to verify that team members are touching base with clients at least twice a week, that paperwork is done in a timely way, and that feedback is being logged from showings,” she says.
“We have a handbook and rules that I review with all new hires. Everything is systematized,” says Vitacco. Her handbook and employment contract addresses details such as work hours, job descriptions, and vacation time.
“There’s a lot of liability when hiring a team. You have to outline expectations—who pays for what, what happens if that person is terminated,” says Herrera. “Part of my hiring process is to give the person a copy of my employment contract, which they’re required to sign if they join my team.” The contract outlines who owns the listings and what happens if a team member is terminated.
“We require that team leaders have agreements in writing with team members and with the brokerage to identify who owns the client and to what degree,” says Moore. “For example, I give you the Bob Smith lead, and you will pay me a referral fee. Then Bob gives you a referral; who gets that fee?” Moore suggests you work with your brokerage and a local attorney who specializes in employment contracts to draft a copy.
The broker is generally responsible for the actions of both licensed and unlicensed team members who are working on real estate transactions. For that reason, brokers should require teams to observe and abide by the same risk management and liability control measures established for the brokerage as a whole. Savvy brokers such as Moore recognize the risks and keep close tabs on team leaders. “Our larger teams are a priority call for us. We also work with sales associates to build a plan, establish job descriptions, build systems for checks and balances, and help them write a business plan for their teams,” she says.
In some cases, a broker’s liability may not extend to activities of nonlicensed team members who aren’t employed by the brokerage.
No matter what, you won’t build a team without a few missteps. “It’s like dating,” says Vitacco. “There have been times when I hired four or five people for a position before I found the one that clicked.” But once you find the right partner, a team can take you to a new level and build a whole that’s stronger than the sum of its parts.
Team Profiles: Single Assistant, Partners, Mega-Team
Single Assistant
When Anne Rubin hired her first unlicensed assistant in 1994, she was ahead of the curve. “I didn’t know anyone who had an assistant, I just learned about it at a seminar and thought it was a great idea,” says Rubin, CRS®, GRI, associate broker with Century 21 Advantage Gold in Elkins Park, Pa.
“I didn’t have any time left in the day to increase my income,” she recalls. “My assistant freed me up by handling routine activities like preparing mailings, designing brochures, taking photos, and processing paperwork.” In one year Rubin’s business was up by about 10 percent.
Today, Rubin works with Desiree Long, a licensed, full-time personal assistant who helps her manage the day-to-day administrative activities as well as work with buyers, write and deliver agreements, and network with other sales associates. She made the shift to a licensed assistant because she realized she “really needed someone who could do anything I did. I was also able to let my assistant work with buyers while I focused on sellers.”
Rubin, who had $5 million in sales last year, pays Long a salary plus a bonus on transactions where she’s had a significant amount of participation. “I’ll pay a bonus if she’s done a lot of showings for a property, for example,” says Rubin. To record everything that happens with each transaction, Rubin uses Online Agent software. Long is networked into the program and keeps it updated. “We also meet once a week to talk schedules, and we talk every day so we don’t duplicate efforts,” she says.
“The biggest challenge in hiring an assistant is finding someone who clicks with you. This person is your right-hand person, and you must feel connected,” Rubin says. Rubin takes care, when she’s hiring, to use “a lot of situational questions, such as if this happens, how will you handle it? I also outline my expectations and ask interviewees what they expect from the job.”
Rubin says that working with one assistant is “working for me, so I see no need to change the way things are. From a personal standpoint, I’m stable and comfortable. I’m not taking floor calls. At some point, if I need more staff, I might look at that. Right now, I’m content with the way my business is going.”
Partners
Michele Peppe, CRS®, and Chip Harris worked together at Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate in Naples, Fla. Both wanted to grow their business. And both recognized they had strengths and weaknesses in the business. So 10 years ago they thought, why not team up?
Peppe, who’d been in the business for 15 years when she teamed with Harris, recognized that his negotiating and people skills complemented her more analytical approach.
“Together, we balance each other out, and we were able to combine our databases and share marketing expenses,” she says. Peppe also thinks that offering a client two agents gives them an edge. “It gives clients more confidence in us,” she says.
One of the pair’s first steps was to form a corporation to limit their liability. Another was to hire a full-time licensed assistant to handle administrative duties. Says Harris, “She oversees all of our contracts and paperwork and is paid a salary plus a bonus. And any business she generates earns her a commission.”
“If you’re managing more than 15 to 20 listings and closing $10 million to $15 million a year, just managing the listings is a full-time job. We don’t want to get bogged down with administrative duties,” says Peppe.
Today the team consists of Peppe and Harris, both of whom list and sell properties, three additional sales agents (including a daughter of each partner), and two administrative assistants. They’ve seen their business triple in the last decade.
“We have people approach us all the time to become team members,” says Harris. “Our marketing director was working for the broker before she left to have a baby,” says Peppe. “We hired her with a part-time flexible schedule when she was ready to go back to work.” Such flexibility is another factor that can make a team attractive for some practitioners.
Managing the team can be a challenge, says Peppe. “But we’ve been quite fortunate. We run it as a business. We have team meetings, teach our team members business planning and time management, and give awards for higher levels of production. In fact, our broker told us he wishes that we trained all of his new agents in time management and business planning.”
Mega-Team
Many brokerages don’t have the sales force Debbie Dogrul does. The sales associate with Long & Foster in Northern Virginia currently has 10 buyer’s agents, five listing agents, and eight administrative employees including listing and transaction managers, marketing directors, a receptionist, and a director of operations.
That’s similar to a small brokerage by any standards, which begs the question, “Why not become a broker?” “I’ve been so busy building this business that it isn’t even something I’ve considered,” says Dogrul. “I grew [the business] by 25 percent each year through 2005, and I don’t feel restricted in what I’m doing.” Add to that a broker with whom she has “a great relationship,” and you can understand why Dogrul likes things the way they are.
Dogrul generated all the leads for the 456 transactions her team closed in 2006. She hands leads off to her team members for follow-up. “We’re all networked together,” she says.
Running such a large operation requires planning and management. “You have to be organized and constantly track team progress,” says Dogrul. “You also have to be flexible enough to modify those systems to keep pace with transaction volume.” She meets with each team member weekly to review work. She keeps track of her transactions on an Excel spreadsheet.
Planning begins every July when Dogrul projects how many sales she expects in the next year and how that projection will affect her staffing needs. She reviews her sales progress monthly and adds to her administrative staff wherever she sees a need.
Dogrul never set out to build a large team. “When a need arose, I filled it,” she says. But what she lacks in long-range planning, she makes up for in training. “What makes our team work is my training program. We train new agents by having them work with each person in the office. It’s a very extensive, hands-on experience,” she says. She also tries to hire employees who are positive, motivated, and coachable and who enjoy working on a team.
Dogrul prides herself on making everyone happy. “I want them to love coming in to work and take pride in a common accomplishment. I treat them the way I would want to be treated.”
Her low turnover rate can attest to the fact that whatever she’s doing is working. “Only 7 percent of our team members leave of their own accord,” she says.
Whether you’re selling homes, services, or any other products, learning how to approach various behavioral styles and work with them is an invaluable tool that will undoubtedly increase your sales. The ‘Approach to Selling’ supplemental report describes how people will perform the individual and varied steps associated with the sales process.
The Approach to Selling supplemental report will clearly present the detailed steps that each member of the sales staff, as identified by their individual DiSC Assessment, will most likely take in order to achieve the same goal. This will enable executives, managers, small business owners and supervisors to visualize the various methods utilized by those of differing preferred methods of behavior to accomplish each individual task required to complete the sales process.
Small business owners can benefit substantially from the ‘Approach to Selling’ supplemental report. Each DiSC Assessment respondent will fall into one of the four primary dimensions of preferred behavior: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness or Conscientiousness. The variations in the behavioral styles of these individuals may enable them all to achieve the same results, but they may have to go about doing so in different manners.
Some individuals will find certain aspects of the sales process much easier than others, while other individuals may find those same aspects difficult dependent upon their inherent behavioral patterns. Those in supervisory positions will gain invaluable insight into the working minds of those they manage through the ‘Approach to Selling’ supplemental report and ultimately be better positioned to manage their staff effectively throughout the entire sales process.
To learn more about DiSC Assessments and how they can take your business to the next level, go to www.DiSCforSmallBusiness.com
Real Estate, Business and Life Coach Cheri Alguire has partnered with hundreds of Real Estate Professionals and Small Business Owners to help them become more successful in business and in life. Coach Cheri specializes in Group Coaching for Small Business Owners, Working Mothers, Real Estate Agents and Managers. Learn more at www.NextLevelServices.net and www.DiSCforSmallBusiness.com
Planning your business strategies and balancing your wheel of life are always good methods of creating strong business goals and going after them. However, good planning and goal setting aren’t always enough. You also have to take action towards the goals you’ve set your mind to. One of the most effective methods of action for achieving business and life goals that I have noticed from coaching is continuing education. You don’t have to take a class: you just have to cultivate your mind.
Educating yourself in a number of different ways proves to have a high impact on your business in the immediate and long-term future. You can educate yourself through books, retreats, coaching, networking, etc. Any method that grows your mind will undoubtedly grow your business as well.
Networking isn’t the most obvious method of education, but meeting new people and understanding how different personalities work can be the best education you can get for learning people skills, sales strategies, and gaining referrals. If you are a small business owner or real estate agent and if you live in the United States, there is certainly a networking group near you. BNI, LeTip, Chambers of Commerce are all wonderful methods of meeting new people, learning their networking and sales tools, and gaining referrals to grow your business. A lot of times, watching how other people sell, network, and gain business, and then “borrowing” their tricks can prove very useful while complimenting them on their good networking skills as well. Business by Referral: A Sure-Fire Way to Generate New Business is a great book on learning how to network and use it to grow your business.
Retreats, coaching and seminars are wonderful tools for continuing your education through practice. It’s one thing to know you have to do something, and another thing to actually take action. Sometimes we all need that extra push towards taking action, and being around inspirational leaders and peers who are taking action towards their goals can be an incredible valuable method of finding support and getting that extra boost of energyyou’ve needed to get a leg upin your business.
Books, audiobooks, movies, and other types of media that will educate you are invaluable to growing your business. Whether you’re reading about current trends in the market, success stories of entrepreneurs or new tips on technology, anything you can get your hands on will add an extra level to your business to take it to the next level. Books can be both inspirational and educational in a number of ways, driving you to boost your business and apply new principles you’ve used.
No matter what form or education you use, be sure to actually take action and apply what you've learned. Don't read the book and forget about it, use it in conjunction with your business plan and apply it!
Real Estate, Business and Life Coach Cheri Alguire has partnered with hundreds of Real Estate Professionals and Small Business Owners to help them become more successful in business and in life. Coach Cheri specializes in Group Coaching for Small Business Owners, Working Mothers, Real Estate Agents and Managers. Learn more at www.NextLevelServices.net and www.DiSCforSmallBusiness.com
Business is very competitive and there is always another small business or Real Estate Agent trying to capture your prospective buyers. In such a highly competitive market, it is necessary to have a strong marketing strategy to boost your business.
An important medium of marketing these days is the Internet, which can take your business to new heights. Take advantage of the power of the Internet to promote your business effectively. If you fail to do so, you may lose out on a significant amount of business.
To begin with, you need to have your own website that can help you build a strong web presence. If you are linked to a corporate website, make sure that you have your own website name that links your homepage to the corporate website.
A plain display of properties is not enough. Providing rich content will attract more online customers to your website.
Regularly update your website. Top agents always provide interesting tips to online communities to buy and sell real estate effectively in this highly dynamic market. This information must be consistently updated so that people are tempted to visit your website more often.
There are thousands of real estate websites on the Internet and it is your job to ensure that your website is indexed in high profile search engines such as Google, to get noticed. In order to enhance web traffic, your website should be optimized for index searches. You can seek professional help to optimize your site for search engines and make sure you are doing your part seeking backlinks and adding new content regularly.
Offer your web visitors a free email newsletter. This will help you build a good rapport with your visitors, who may need your services in the future. You may also subscribe to referral schemes offered by services in exchange of your membership. If your prospective clients write to you, you could send them a personalized email instantly through an automatic response system.
Maintain a cordial relationship with your clients and update them about the real estate services you offer through “snail mail” too. Cards always add the extra touch of effort, but can be sent with very little effort with www.CardsforRealEstate.com.
Real Estate, Business and Life Coach Cheri Alguire has partnered with hundreds of Real Estate Professionals and Small Business Owners to help them become more successful in business and in life. Coach Cheri specializes in Group Coaching for Small Business Owners, Working Mothers, Real Estate Agents and Managers. Learn more at www.NextLevelServices.net and www.DiSCforSmallBusiness.com
As a Real Estate Professional, working on expired listings is a necessity. Such listings are becoming more common and available due to the changing real estate economy and an inability on the part of other agents to stay ahead of trends.
Remember, consistency makes a difference in prospecting and this is true of expired listings as well. The agent who follows up most often wins. The best way to build a level of consistency into your program is to schedule it by calendar and make it a habit. Do the follow-up calling at the same time, on the same day, every week and soon, you will notice the consistency becoming automatic, turning into a habit.
Deliver a package to the expired listing on the day it expires and then follow up with a call. Your package should have a letter of introduction, a personal brochure, a flyer with information on your marketing plan that includes your internet marketing strategy, your business card, possibly a flyer on the property and an example of other marketing pieces you use.
Keep calling consistently to get an appointment and make the seller the focus. Don’t give up after one or two calls. If you get an answering machine, leave a short message, saying that you have noticed that their home is no longer listed, but there are no records of a sale and that you wish to talk to them about marketing their home, to their best advantage.
If you do not have a phone number, send quick postcards or Send Out Cards every other day. Just a few lines to get you noticed is enough to show them you care. Make your package as attractive and noticeable as possible. Be sure to include a photograph of the home if you can to make you stand out in a crowd.
There are two major steps in making yourself successful in expired listings. You must be consistent with the follow-up and you must stand out in the crowd of professionals who are after the same deals. Be different, be visible and be regular.
Real Estate, Business and Life Coach Cheri Alguire has partnered with hundreds of Real Estate Professionals and Small Business Owners to help them become more successful in business and in life. Coach Cheri specializes in Group Coaching for Small Business Owners, Working Mothers, Real Estate Agents and Managers. Learn more at www.NextLevelServices.net
The real estate and other industries are highly competitive and you need to plan your moves correctly to ensure that your business is profitable. To sustain the tough competition, you need to promote your business well. Have you ever wondered why a business reporter quoted your rival in several success stories in a local newspaper, but never once thought of calling you up, in spite of you having a great business? The answer is pretty simple: Your attempts to attract media attention have failed miserably. You need to adopt a proactive approach to get free publicity for your business.
The most important rule for getting media attention is to become an important source of information to the reporters, who may require background information or story ideas to write about the booming real estate industry.
Establish a good rapport with the reporters in your locality, to ensure that they are there to glorify all your small and big accomplishments. Invite them for a cup of coffee or dinner and inform them about your areas of expertise. The next time they need to write about something pertaining to your field of expertise, they will surely get in touch with you.
Make it a point to fax or mail a copy of your industry reports and any articles you may have written recently. You may also inform them about the some of the major issues faced by buyers and sellers in recent times and how you can help to address these issues. Press reporters need to realize what an invaluable source of information you are.
Another interesting way of publicizing your business is to write for local and national publications. If you don’t have great writing skills, hire a freelance writer who can do the job for you. Writing articles is a great way of letting the world know about your knowledge and expertise.
By publishing yourself on your blog or other blogs in you will create media attention automatically by
