real estate self promotion: Make Friends - and Expand Your Real Estate Sphere of Influence
- 05/11/14 08:50 AM
We can all use more friends - especially friends who will think of us and either come to us themselves or recommend our services when one of their friends expresses a need.
Those friends - or friendly acquaintances - are our sphere of influence, and we need to do two things with them:
Stay in touch with the ones we have so we don't lose them Grow their numbers Staying in touch with past clients and your sphere of influence one of the most important things you can do to grow your real estate career. I harp on the subject all … (24 comments)
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real estate self promotion: Real estate self-promotion – When you invite prospects to connect
- 05/07/14 05:34 AM
Real estate self-promotion:
If you want your prospects to connect with you - make it easy.
When you write to a specific prospect, or even send a newsletter to many prospects, you might invite them to visit you here on Active Rain or to connect with you on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
You're hoping to make a good connection, get better acquainted, and let those folks grow to like and trust you through the things you post.
That's a fine idea. So – make it easy for them!
I can't tell you how many times I've read "Connect … (16 comments)
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real estate self promotion: Real estate self-promotion – Adjust your attitude!
- 05/06/14 09:48 AM
Real estate self-promotion – Do you need to adjust your attitude?
If you aren't getting all the business you need to make a comfortable living, you may need an attitude adjustment.
You may need to switch from "I need" to "I want."
If you've ever listened to Joe Vitale's success tapes, you know that one of the affirmations he says is "I have all I need, I just want more." It's a good attitude to adopt, because it changes your behavior and the face you present to your would-be clients.
Most of us can "feel" when another person is … (35 comments)
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real estate self promotion: An Anemic Marketing Budget Becomes Healthy With Consistent Marketing!!
- 04/12/14 01:18 PM
Barbara and I both keep harping on this subject: If you want to be successful, you have to market both yourself and your listings.
And while direct mail isn't the "latest and greatest" marketing gimmick, it IS the tried and true method that gets prospects' attention and causes them to pick up the phone.
One of the greatest challenges for a newly licensed agent is designing a marketing program that will and can be satisfied by an “anemic budget.” We were all there at one time. We all started from step one and learned how to progress upward. … (8 comments)
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real estate self promotion: New Real Estate Agents Need to Market Themselves – But how and where?
- 04/12/14 05:09 AM
New Agents Need to Market Themselves – But how and where?
In my work as a real estate copywriter I talk to a good number of agents who are just starting out. Some of them are eager to get their websites up and running and know that they need individualized content and an agent bio that makes them stand out from the crowd.
They also know that they need to reach out and pull those prospects in, or they won't be noticed. Just being on line is no help if no one visits your website.
Some of them have … (43 comments)
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real estate self promotion: Are You Leaving Money on the Table?
- 03/21/14 04:49 AM
This is a subject I harp about with regularity - and it's the reason why I offer more than 40 different sets of real estate prospecting letters for drip marketing.
The more people see your face and read your name, and the more you provide them with useful and/or interesting information, the more likely they are to call you when they need an agent. If you limit yourself to just one follow-up you'll quickly be forgotten.
But... some people aren't to be convinced. I have one client who believes that if he contacts his list more than once a year he'll … (5 comments)
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real estate self promotion: Wondering Why...
- 03/19/14 05:20 AM
As a real estate copywriter I have clients and newsletter subscribers from across the U.S. and in several other countries.
This January I got curious about where the majority of those agents live and work, so I made two copies of a U.S. map and colored an outline around all the states where the agents I worked for in 2013 live. Then I started with another color to track my 2014 clients.
On the other map I began making marks on the states each time I got notice of a new newsletter subscriber.
And I found something curious.The majority of my … (41 comments)
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real estate self promotion: Does Your Real Estate Website Answer These Questions?
- 03/16/14 09:33 AM
Does your real estate website answer the questions that buyers and sellers are asking in their minds?
They wonder things like...
Who are you?
Some websites don't offer the agent's name - or their photo. Where are you?
When prospects land on your page, do they know they're in the right place? Or do they have to try to do a home search to find out if you serve the neighborhoods that interest them?
Are you a listing agent or are you a buyers' agent – or both?
If your services are limited to buyers or sellers, does your website … (74 comments)
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real estate self promotion: Do You Love Your Listing Presentation?
- 03/16/14 03:00 AM
This post and the comments that follow are a goldmine of information for agents as they fine-tune their listing presentations.
And now, with a shortage of inventory in so many cities, the listing presentation is more important than ever.
Here in Seattle we have shifted from Buyers’ Market to Sellers’ Market, and the buyers are Crazy! People are contacting home owners and asking to buy their homes. Pictures of families and reasons why this home will make the buyers lives better litter the sheet. Homes are flying off the shelf due to the recovering economy and the fear that interest … (7 comments)
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real estate self promotion: What are the steps to get from newly licensed to first closing?
- 03/14/14 04:06 AM
"What are the steps a new agent needs to take to get from having a brand new license to attending that first closing?"
This is a question I found in my in-box earlier this week. The writer wanted to know if I had a book that outlined those steps, or if I knew anyone who did.
I don't - on both counts.
But it sure got me thinking about the question.
My first thought was that it depends upon whether the agent is list or sell on that first closing. But no, back up a minute.
The first step for any … (41 comments)
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real estate self promotion: It's so easy to be "off-putting"
- 03/09/14 09:42 AM
Today's email had a message from someone wanting me to go answer a questionnaire.
It's someone I haven't purchased from, but who knows - someday I might. I read their messages now and then when the subject line is interesting.
Normally I wouldn't feel one way or another about a request to answer a questionnaire, but today it annoyed me.
Why? Because of one dumb word. Well, maybe because of the whole phrase.
It said, in part: "We're getting ready to get on the phone with the top 10 self-improvement celebs of all time on YOUR behalf, and..." (underline … (11 comments)
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real estate self promotion: Real estate self-promotion: Pushing your testimonials...
- 02/27/14 05:43 AM
How many website visitors browse your testimonials page?
All of them? A few? Not enough?
Everyone knows that third party endorsements are more valuable than anything you could say about yourself, so the more prospects who read your testimonials, the better.
A good idea for "pushing" your testimonials in front of potential clients landed in my in-box this morning, so I have to share:
Instead of waiting for prospects to find your testimonials, send a few with every e-mail. This entails creating e-mail stationery so you can have a side bar - and that's where you put the testimonials. Then of … (20 comments)
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real estate self promotion: Using Direct Response Advertising Methods In Real Estate Marketing
- 02/19/14 04:51 AM
Can you use direct response advertising methods to improve your real estate marketing materials? Sure you can - and you should.
Successful direct response marketers use writing formulas to lead readers through their copy and get them to pick up the phone, click the link, or otherwise say "Yes" to the offer.
In the past we've talked about AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action) and the 4 P's – (picture, promise, proof, and push).
But how do they decide what is going to attract the attention and create interest - or what picture and promise to use?
By digging … (33 comments)
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real estate self promotion: Real Estate Self-Promotion. Has it changed in 6 years?
- 01/18/14 06:38 AM
Today, in honor of my 6th anniversary on Active Rain, I went back to read my very first blog post. It was entitled: Why Do Realtors Use Wimpy Copy? and it got a whopping 4 comments. (Later on it was featured as an oldie on Russel's blog, so now has a few more.)
In that post I wrote about how agents generally placed ads and built websites that said nothing more than "I'm here. I'm wonderful. Hire me." They made no promises, gave no specifics, and offered no proof. Here in our small town, almost every one of them still says … (38 comments)
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real estate self promotion: When You Hire a Real Estate Copywriter...Use email, then TALK
- 01/07/14 03:06 AM
Email is a wonderful convenience.
It prevents you from getting into conversations that wander off the subject and eat up too much of your time. It lets you ask or answer in your own time frame - even if that happens to be 2 a.m. It gives you a written record of what was said. But... using it exclusively gets in the way of true communication.
Last week I was struggling to write a bio for one client, while another bio seemed to almost write itself.
What was the difference?
No conversation at all with one client and a good conversation … (2 comments)
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real estate self promotion: Get Extra Mileage From Your Just Listed Cards
- 11/21/13 12:19 PM
Real Estate Marketing: Get Extra Mileage From Your Just Listed Cards
Back when I was an agent I always sent Just Listed cards, and while I don't think it necessarily sold any of those homes, it did keep me "top of mind" with people around our community. And since I was the only one doing it, it also showed that I worked a little harder than my competitors.
The cards did lead to a couple of funny encounters – although I didn't think they were so funny at the time.
One lady called to tell me her house was NOT for … (4 comments)
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real estate self promotion: Are You Afraid to Choose a Niche?
- 11/09/13 05:27 AM
Are you afraid to settle on a niche? Do you worry that you won't have enough business if you focus your marketing efforts in just one direction?
By now you've heard plenty of arguments in favor of creating a niche for your real estate business. The strongest argument being that you can become the "go-to" expert in that niche. After a while when people think of your niche, they'll think of you. Your referrals will multiply and your business will expand.
BUT… when you first begin to create that niche you might not have enough business to sustain your income. So … (26 comments)
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real estate self promotion: Will your past clients use you again?
- 11/07/13 03:03 PM
Will your clients use you again? According to NAR 83% of buyers said they’d use their Agent again. How many actually did? Only 9%!
So why the big discrepancy?
I can think of a few reasons, mostly stemming from the fact that some time will usually pass between the purchase of a home and the purchase of the next home. That's assuming you're selling to homeowners rather than investors, of course.
Here's my short list:
The agent is no longer in the business. They've retired or gone on to do something else. The agent is a buyers' agent only and … (10 comments)
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real estate self promotion: What Sets You Apart From Other Agents? Do You Know?
- 09/21/13 06:50 AM
You probably know that I write a lot of real estate agent bios. It's one of my favorite projects, and sometimes one of the most challenging.
It's challenging for two reasons: One is that it's like working a puzzle, putting all the unrelated pieces into order and making them work together to paint a word picture of an absolutely top agent. The other is that I sometimes have to "pull teeth" to find out what makes that agent stand out.
They can tell me about past employment that gave them experience that counts. They can tell me why they chose real … (15 comments)
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real estate self promotion: Real Estate Self-Promotion – Why You Struggle
- 05/23/13 05:44 AM
Real Estate Self-Promotion – Why writing about yourself is a struggle.
You write beautiful blog posts, you write captivating descriptions of your listings for sale, and then… you try to write your bio or a home page that promotes you, and you get stuck.
Almost every agent who contacts me to write for them says the same thing. They have no trouble at all writing about their listings, their community, and their real estate adventures, but when it's time to write about themselves, their writing skills go out the window.
Why does this happen?
Because the folks … (4 comments)
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We can all use more friends - especially friends who will think of us and either come to us themselves or recommend our services when one of their friends expresses a need.
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