Market 4 Real!

A Great Closing Gift Idea: Gas Cards!

2008-07-25T13:52:30Z

What's the point of a closing gift? To thank your client for their business and to wish them well in their new real estate adventure, right? Well, I've seen a multitude of closing gift ideas ranging from gift cards to Lowe's or Home Depot to plants (which stick around forever if you have a green thumb) to moving cards to portraits of the house and everything in between.

During these difficult economic times, wouldn't it be great to give a closing gift that has real value? I mean something that will actually make a significant impact on your client in the immediate future? Why not give gas cards? The cost of gas is getting higher and higher - from $4.50/gallon up in many places. Your closing gift could be something significant that tells your client that you understand the effect of gas prices on their family and want to help.

Many agents give a $100 or $200 gift card as a closing gift. With a fill-up catching folks at $45 a tank for smaller cars and $85 or more for larger cars, your gas card could mean serious business for your client!

Here are some options for getting personalized gas cards:

These are all companies that allow you to completely customize and personalize your gas cards. So you can put on your gas cards the same information you put on your business card - your logo, picture, contact information, and more!

What do you think about using gas cards for closing gifts?

~Renae - Market 4 Real!

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Need help with consistently marketing to your leads and your listings? Don't put it off! Contact us today for assistance and get started on the road to turning your leads into clients and your listings into SOLD properties!

Anniversary Suggestions in or near NE Ohio?

2008-07-24T15:13:42Z

Our 13th anniversary is quickly looming on August 16th and we'd like a great idea for what we can do this year. (As a sidenote, we haven't been able to really celebrate our anniversary for the last few years because I've either been pregnant or nursing and unable to go anywhere. Not so this year!!)

So, we're in NE Ohio right outside of Cleveland, Ohio. I'd like to go somewhere or do something that is no more than a 3 hour drive. Cost is important as we have 6 children (who are NOT going with!!) so we'll be on a budget.

I'm eagerly anticipating your suggestions!!

~Renae

Clothing Optional!

2008-07-09T09:21:13Z

Ok, I saw a newscast last week about a development in Florida that is setting up a nude pool area in an effort to attract more buyers. Hmmm... I guess that pretty much covers it all, huh (no pun intended)?

Talk about slick marketing moves! After doing some brief research, it seems that "clothing optional" developments are extremely popular. So, if you aren't skin-shy, you may want to target that market of buyer prospects to get in on the action.

Shedding your inhibitions may just be the ticket! (Pun definitely intended!)

I'd love to hear some of your more outlandish marketing tactics. Lay 'em on me!

~Renae - Market 4 Real!

_____________________________________________________________

Getting Back to Getting Back to the Real Me!

2008-07-09T08:50:54Z

So, yeah, this losing weight thing hasn't exactly gone the way that I expected, which is pretty much what I should have expected, huh? I mean, regardless of your motivation, determination, and desire, life still happens, doesn't it? And that's exactly what happened to me - LIFE happened...

So, that first week, what seems like aeons ago, was just great!! I felt totally motivated and ready to take on the world (or at least my baby fat - and yes, I still blame it on the babies!). And then Week 2 happened. Which turned into Week 4; which turned into Week 8. I just looked up and 2 months had passed me by, seemingly in the blink of an eye. It was eerie!

The house was a wreck, my schedule was all out of wack, my life seemed to be in a shambles. And the culprit? Two adorable little sea urchins! Would you just look at those little faces? Who could possibly look at them and think of all the chaos that they could cause? All the turmoil they could cause in a household? They're so cute and cuddly! But don't let those cute little faces fool ya! Underneath those eatable cheeks and toothless grins lie two little energy-sucking life changers.

The good news is that I realized what had happened and set to right the wrongs. My house is still a wreck and my schedule is still all out of wack but I redetermined (is that a word??) that I can do this. So, last week was Week 1 again. And so far, Week 2 has been pretty ok.

I'm back on track. I think. I hope. I pray that I stay there!

Lose/Gain - Gained 3 pounds

Days Exercised - 5 (step aerobics, floor aerobics, gardening, walking)

~Renae

You have now entered…The Twilight Zone!

2008-06-27T10:31:34Z

Well, that's sort of what it's felt like these last 2 months. I disappeared and thought I wouldn't find my way back out. Well, I didn't exactly disappear. I had a set of twins, which is sort of the same thing. You could say it was more like "fade to black" at the end of the movie scene for my life over the past several weeks. Ask me what happened over the course of the last 2 months and I'll have to admit that I pretty much have no idea. I've felt like I was in another world with inhabitants I couldn't properly communicate with. I was bleary-eyed much of the time from lack of sleep (again). There were these two adorable little people depending on me (ok, and my husband, too) to keep them dry, fed, warm, and secure. I think we've done ok and come out on the other side with two babies still intact (for the most part), sleeping through the night at 3 months old.

I'm sure that consumers new to real estate probably feel the same way I did. Bleary-eyed from looking at all those property sheets on Realtor.com. Exhausted from driving all over town looking at the outsides of properties before making an appointment to see the inside. Unfamiliar with all of the real estate lingo so they aren't sure if they are communicating with others about it quite right. Perhaps having a family depending on them to make the right decisions about their new home.

Ya gotta luv Realtors© for this very reason! Hopefully, you're being like our pediatrician - the bridge between going over the edge and sanity. You're the one who is keeping the consumer from being completely clueless to the point where they have to admit that they have no idea what's going on.

During this difficult adjustment period, I was so blessed to have my partner, Tina, to take up my slack. I don't know where we'd be if it weren't for her these past few weeks, which reiterates my point about having someone who's "got your back."

Ahhhhh...it's good to be back!

~Renae

Guess What's Coming Back to Town at Active Rain!

2008-05-09T11:04:50Z

Guess what's coming back to Active Rain??

The Unique Marketing Idea Contest!

Did you miss your shot at submitting a unique marketing idea in the last contest? If so, this is your opportunity to get in on the fun, the action, the out-of-the-box thinking, and the POINTS!!

Check Out All Past Contest Entries And Winners Here!

One prize winner said:

"I just wanted to thank you again for the contest! I have met with Dr. Jay twice now and it has been a great experience for me. I am really excited with the information that he is giving me specifically for my business." ~ Lindsey Hasford, 2nd Place Winner

So get your creative juices flowing, break out those great, unique marketing ideas, and I'll see you on the next contest post!

P.S. - Want to donate a prize for the contest? E-mail Me!

~Renae - Market 4 Real!

Need help with consistently marketing to your leads and your listings? Don't put it off! Contact us today for assistance and get started on the road to turning your leads into clients and your listings into SOLD properties!

The Hidden Thing About Blogging

2008-05-07T11:23:10Z

Let's face it...we all started blogging for business reasons. Maybe it was to build name recognition, to get the word out about our business, or to pick up new clients. And these are all perfectly good reasons to blog! In the last few months though, I've started noticing something else when reading other people's blogs as well as comments on my own blog posts. The blog posts are becoming subtly inspirational. The comments are becoming encouraging. Not intentionally, over-the-top, cram-it-down-your-throat inspirational. The funny thing about these posts is that most of the writers were not trying to be inspirational. It happened accidentally. It was something that happened on the outskirts of the post. The kind that sneaks up on you when you least expect it. But it happened anyway. How did a business endeavor get to this point? I'll tell you what I think. (After all, that's what we do when we blog, isn't it? Tell other people what we think and hope someone out there reads it? )

As we become more comfortable with blogging, we start to talk about our families, our neighborhoods, even the inner workings of our businesses. When we do this, a little bit of "the real you" comes out. Your true colors start to show. And people get to know you. And you get to know them. So then, as you're writing your posts, you start thinking about how your experiences can help someone else. When you comment on someone else's post, you start thinking of them as real people and become encouraging when they need it.

Blogging on Active Rain is not just a business marketing activity for many of us any more, though it may well have started off that way. It has become a community of friends, a circle of family around the world. That's the boon of Active Rain. The business... Well, I think that's just the icing on the cake at this point!

~Renae - Market 4 Real!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Need help with consistently marketing to your leads? Don't put it off! Contact us today for assistance and get started on the road to turning your leads into clients!

Making Top Producer Work For You - Part 3

2008-05-01T14:25:07Z

In this series, I've been talking about utilizing more of the features in Top Producer to make it work better for you. In the introduction to the series, I talked about the frustrations agents have using Top Producer in Making Top Producer Work For You. In part one of the series, I began talking about How to Use Top Producer for Lead Management, which discussed capturing lead information from your website and assigning multiple categories to your contacts. In part two of the series, I discussed a few more ways to use Top Producer to manage your leads.

In this post, we'll get more into using Top Producer for tracking marketing expenses and marketing listings to the outside world as well as keeping the sellers in the loop. This post will focus on:

set up websites for sellers to see all marketing activities conducted on their behalf

Top Producer gives you the ability to set up websites for your sellers to be able to see the marketing tasks you've completed for them. You can, therefore, also keep a running list of completed marketing tasks that can be put on a marketing service report to send to the seller or that they can access from their website, which I will cover in the next installment.

Setting up Websites for Sellers

Click "Listings," "Current Listings."
Select the listing for which you want a seller website by either double clicking on the property address or clicking "View or edit listing."
Click the tab for "Seller(s)."
At the bottom of the screen, click "View Contact."
Toward the middle of the screen, where the tabs are, select the tab for "Customer Web Page."
Click "Create a customer web page."

If you have not already set up the preferences for your seller websites, the system will walk you through the process (it is all step-by-step).
All of the text on the customer web pages are customizable. Just change the text in the appropriate boxes. If you want to change the boxes at a later time, you can go back in and make those changes.

You can either use the automatically-generated username and password or create your own. (We always made it as simple as possible by using the first and last name of the wife, if they were a couple, or the seller if it was just one person.) To create your own, simply type in what you want to use for the username and password in the appropriate boxes.
You can then e-mail the login information to the seller by clicking "Email username/password to this contact." It will send a system-generated e-mail to the seller. Alternately, you may send your own e-mail to the seller and just include the login information.
At the bottom of the screen, click "Close" then click "Close" again.

If you have questions about this feature, feel free to ask away. I'll do my best to answer them for you!

Stay tuned for the next installment in this series, which will cover using the marketing service reports to keep your sellers in the loop!

~Renae - Market 4 Real!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Need help with consistently marketing to your leads and your listings? Don't put it off! Contact us today for assistance and get started on the road to turning your leads into clients and your listings into SOLD properties!

Unique Marketing Ideas - May

2008-05-01T12:25:19Z

Have you wanted to add a little spruce to your marketing diet? Well, here are a few ideas that I hope will get your noodle cooking in the right direction! If you'd like assistance in designing even more ideas or implementing any of these, just give me a holler!

There aren't very many holidays in May that I thought would be a good tie-in for real estate so I've just settled on this one this month.

May 4 - Renewal Day - Renewal Day is a day of new beginnings. It is a day to go back to old decisions and resolutions and recommit to them.

This is a great opportunity to put a spin on new beginnings. How about sending a card to your buyer and seller prospects, encouraging them to take advantage of Renewal Day and renew their commitment to make that real estate purchase or sell their property? Buyer prospects can also be sent a Home Buyer's Guide. Seller prospects can be sent a Selling Your Home Guide. Of course, both of these booklets should be printed on nice paper and bound nicely (not stapled) so that the recipients will be happy to keep them around for a while. They should also have your contact information prominently displayed on them.

The point is to get your name out there, get in front of your leads and your contacts. Make a name for yourself by doing things that other realtors aren't. Stand out from the crowd!

~Renae - Market 4 Real!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

And The Winner Is!!!

2008-03-30T19:32:40Z

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who has participated in this exciting contest! Whether you submitted an entry or simply commented on the submissions to help refine them, you've all made this a wonderful contest!

The object was to come up with a unique marketing idea - something out of the box. Our winners did just that! So, without further ado, the winners are...

1st Place

Virtual Open House - Misty Lackie

2nd Place

Project American Dream - Lindsey Hasford

3rd Place

Movie Madness - Sue Prins

Congratulations to each of you!! You should be hearing from the prize contributors this week!

I would also like to give mention to these idea submissions that deserved Honorable Mention:

If you haven't already done so, I hope that you will visit the group and check out ALL of the submissions. Unfortunately, we could only give 3 top prizes but you are all winners in my book. For taking the time out of your busy schedules to think up unique marketing ideas makes you all top notch!

Hopefully, we can do this again soon! Thanks for participating!

~Renae - Market 4 Real!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Seminar Idea - What About This?

2008-03-26T13:22:14Z

I read about a great idea that Lanre Bailey came up with - setting up a seminar for first-time home sellers. I thought that was a fantastic idea and one that I hadn't heard occuring before. Well, that got me to thinking about another area where agents could promote themselves using seminars and provide valuable service to their sphere, past clients, and the general public: Refinance.

From personal experience, you can't walk into one of these lightly. You need to have all of your ducks in a row and be ready for the game. There is so much to know that most first time refinance clients get snowballed under the mountain of three-letter acronyms and fast talking.

What we didn't know that we wished we had:

You have to pay closing costs (often over $1,000)
Some places charge points (which we still don't know what they are)
The interest rate that you come in for may not be the one you get (that's an advertisement)
You have to pay for an appraisal of your home (again - you paid once when you bought it and it is non-refundable)
There is often an application fee (that you'll need to pay up front)
Adjustable rate mortgages are bad (really, really bad)

What do you think would be the interest in seminars on refinancing? Your thoughts?

~Renae - Market 4 Real!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Need help with consistently marketing your leads and listings? Don't put it off! Contact us today for assistance and get started on the road to turning your leads into clients and your listings into SOLD properties!

Getting Comps Online

2008-03-24T16:38:12Z

A very good friend of mine is planning to refinance her mortgage loan. Before the appraiser comes, she'd like to know if there is any way to find out the list or sell prices of comparable properties to her home.

Can this be done online or is it something that she must contact an agent to have done? The agents we work with all provide this service to their potential clients so I've never seen it done online.

Any advice or suggestions you can give would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

~Renae - Market 4 Real!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Best of Both Worlds

2008-03-21T17:00:03Z

Have you ever noticed just how convincing children can be? When they want something, they can convince a whole world of strangers that they deserve to have it. I know. I've got 4 children with twins on the way in about 1 week. The 3 oldest are really good at "pleeeeeeeeaaase." After 13 years at this though, I must say that I'm somewhat immune to that word for the most part - and the puppy dog eyes, tears, tantrums, and all the rest.

However when it comes to clients, I find that I can be such a sucker. I don't say that in a bad way, especially since the term "sucker" is usually meant with a negative connotation. What I mean is that I have little to no resolve when it comes to our clients. I'm extremely flexible and often find myself being taken advantage of. My partner, Tina, is so much better at sticking to our contract and what our Billing Department outlines for us. After all, "that's what we have contracts for," she says (and often). She has an iron will. Not me. I'm a softy.

I wonder if that's the reason the two of us are partners. We compliment each other on so many things. This is just one of them. I wouldn't trade it for the world! I guess that's what we offer our clients... Someone who can be a drill sergeant when needed and someone who can cave when needed. You get the best of both worlds!

~Renae - Market 4 Real!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Last Chance: Unique Marketing Contest Ends Today!

2008-03-21T12:01:05Z

Today is your last chance to enter the Most Unique Marketing Idea Contest! There are some awesome prizes being given out - including points!

Also, if you haven't already done so, check out the group Unique Marketing Contest to see some of the almost 30 ideas that have already been posted. This is your perfect opportunity to pick up some ideas to jumpstart your own marketing campaign for this Spring and Summer.

Take a look at some of the prizes being offered:

1st Place

Coaching session with business coach Brett Noel (30 days unlimited telephone and e-mail coaching plus a copy of the e-book "A Warriors Strategy to Dominate in Real Estate")
Branded logo - Courtesy of Sam101.com
4 hours of Virtual Assistance - Courtesy of Marketing 4 Realtors
1-year subscription to the Buyer's Home Rating System - Courtesy of Rate A Home
Introductory package of 16 client referrals - Courtesy of Real Estate Client Referrals
2,000 points

2nd Place

3 1-Hour Coaching sessions with business coach Jay Izso, The Internet Doctor
3 hours of Virtual Assistance - Courtesy of Marketing 4 Realtors
1-month subscription to the Buyer's Home Rating System
A signed copy of "Selling with Soul" by Jennifer Allan
A copy of "Mastering the Listing Presentation" cd by Brett Noel
1,500 points

3rd Place

2 hours of Virtual Assistance - Courtesy of Marketing 4 Realtors
1-month subscription to the Buyer's Home Rating System
A signed copy of "Winning Strategies for Those Who Never Quit by Brett Noel
A copy of "A Winnner's Philosophy" cd by Brett Noel
1,000 points

All participants

200 points - just for submitting an entry!

So head on over and check out the submissions and enter yourself while you're over there!

~Renae

Most Unique Marketing Idea Contest - One Week Left!

2008-03-16T16:44:24Z

There's just one week left to get your submission in for the Most Unique Marketing Idea Contest!! And boy, let me tell ya - there are some fantastic ideas already posted.

If you've been looking for a unique way to market to FSBOs, conduct Open Houses, or ways to promote yourself, head on over to the AR group Unique Marketing Contest to see all the current entries. Even if you don't submit an idea yourself, you may want to visit the group to get some ideas you can use yourself! You won't regret it!

Take a look at some of the prizes being offered:

1st Place

Coaching session with business coach Brett Noel (30 days unlimited telephone and e-mail coaching plus a copy of the e-book "A Warriors Strategy to Dominate in Real Estate")
Branded logo - Courtesy of Sam101.com
4 hours of Virtual Assistance - Courtesy of Marketing 4 Realtors
1-year subscription to the Buyer's Home Rating System - Courtesy of Rate A Home
Introductory package of 16 client referrals - Courtesy of Real Estate Client Referrals
2,000 points

2nd Place

3 1-Hour Coaching sessions with business coach Jay Izso, The Internet Doctor
3 hours of Virtual Assistance - Courtesy of Marketing 4 Realtors
1-month subscription to the Buyer's Home Rating System
A signed copy of "Selling with Soul" by Jennifer Allan
A copy of "Mastering the Listing Presentation" cd by Brett Noel
1,500 points

3rd Place

2 hours of Virtual Assistance - Courtesy of Marketing 4 Realtors
1-month subscription to the Buyer's Home Rating System
A signed copy of "Winning Strategies for Those Who Never Quit by Brett Noel
A copy of "A Winnner's Philosophy" cd by Brett Noel
1,000 points

All participants

200 points - just for submitting an entry!

So head on over and check out the submissions and enter yourself while you're over there!

~Renae

Using Top Producer for Lead Management Part 2

2008-03-13T13:38:17Z

In this series, I've been talking about utilizing Top Producer. In the first part of the series, I talked about the frustrations agents have using Top Producer in Making Top Producer Work For You. In part two of the series, I bean talking about How to Use Top Producer for Lead Management, which discussed capturing lead information from your website and assigning multiple categories to your contacts.

In this post, I'll discuss a few more ways to use Top Producer to manage your leads. We'll focus on these two features:

setting up drip e-mail campaigns and assign leads to those campaigns
setting up drip e-mails to send automatically

You can set up e-mail campaigns to send to your contacts based on the categories you choose. These e-mail can be set to send at intervals you decide upon - which is called dripping on your contacts. You can also set these e-mails to either automatically send on the date you choose or to be manually sent by you (or your VA) on the day you choose.

Setting Up Drip Campaigns & Sending E-mails Automatically

Click "Setup" then "Plans Setup." On this screen, you can choose from templates already set up in TP (which I only recommend if you don't want to customize your campaigns) or enter your own campaigns.
For this explanation, let's say you are setting up a new Buyer Prospect Action Plan. While under the "Action Plans" tab (the default tab when you get to this screen), underneath "Closing Report Plans," select "Create New." You will be prompted to give your campaign a name.

I suggest that you put a "*" and a number in front of your campaign name because this will make it show up at the the top of the list so that you can easily find it. For example, you could name your campaign "*1 - Buyer Prospect Action Plan."

On the left menu, select "Create New Activity." On this screen, select the type of activity you would like to set up - a telephone call, email, send a letter or postcard, or a To-Do. (A To-Do would be any activity that does NOT include one of the previously-mentioned activities. This could be a visit or sending something to the contact through another program - like Sharper Agent or the RE/MAX Design Center, etc.)
Select "E-mail." Enter the following information:

Description - what type of e-mail it is
Assign To - should be Current User unless you have multiple seats set up, for example an assistant's seat. In that case, choose to whom you want the task assigned.
Select email template - This is where you will select which e-mail message you want to send to your contacts. If you have already written the e-mail, simply select it. If not, do the following:

Click "Add" at the top of the screen. You will be prompted to name these e-mails. Do so (*1 - Buyer Prospect E-mails) and click "OK" at the bottom of the box.
On the left menu, select "Create New."
Once you've written your e-mail message, including the subject line, click "OK" at the bottom of the box.
You will be prompted to name this e-mail. Do so and click "OK."
You will be returned to the "Select Email Template" box. Highlight the e-mail that you want to send to this group of contacts and click "OK" at the bottom of the box.
You will be returned to the setup screen.

Attachments - You only need to select this option if you have an attachment that you want each recipient to get along with the e-mail (such as a Market Snapshot or a Listing Flyer).
Activty Dates - This is where you set the intervals of when you want your e-mails to go out.

If you leave the "Perform Event" day amount at 0, the e-mail will go out immediately upon setting a contact up on this campaign.
You can use the Perform Event day amount in conjunction with other activities. For example, you can tell the system to send this e-mail out 3 days from plan start date OR you can tell it to send the e-mail out 3 days after a preceeding activity is completed. If you select this option, you can then choose which activity you would like the e-mail to be sent after.

Apply drop-off to Today's Business - I do not recommend that you do this if you do not set the e-mail to send automatically.
Move event to - Depending upon the type of contact you are sending the e-mail to, you may or may not want to change the date that the message goes out on, based on whether it matters if it is sent on a weekend. Make these changes here.

At the bottom of the screen, select either "Finish" if you are done or "Enter Next" if you want to set up another activity for this campaign.
Repeat these steps for each e-mail message you want to set up for this campaign. Follow the box prompts for any other activity.

If you have questions about either of these features, feel free to ask away. I'll do my best to answer them for you!

Stay tuned for the next installment in this series, which will cover sending completed tasks to the marketing service report, which can be sent to the seller, and setting up websites for sellers to see all marketing activities conducted on their behalf.

~Renae - Market 4 Real!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Need help with consistently marketing to your leads? Don't put it off! Contact us today for assistance and get started on the road to turning your leads into clients!

Need a Unique Marketing Idea Contest Judge

2008-03-11T17:01:28Z

Hey there -

If you haven't already heard about it, there's a contest going on in search of the Most Unique Marketing Idea. Well, the entries are starting to come in and I find that one thing I didn't plan in advance for was judging the submissions. So, now I've found that I'm in need of a judge.

The Lovely Wife has already agreed to judge this contest with me so now we need one more person to join us so we won't have any tie decisions. You want in? Let me know! I just need one person.

Thanks in advance!

~Renae - Market 4 Real!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Need help with consistently marketing to your leads? Don't put it off! Contact us today for assistance and get started on the road to turning your leads into clients!

Don't Miss This Contest!

2008-03-11T16:19:55Z

There's a contest going on that you may want to participate in as well as tell your clients about. The search for the Most Unque Marketing Idea is on! There are some terrific prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners - including tons of POINTS!

So put your thinking caps on and go after those prizes! All participants recieve 200 points just for playing. If you don't need the prizes, you could donate them to one of your clients!

If nothing else, head over to where they are posting their entries to get some great new out of the box marketing ideas for yourself and/or your clients. Entries are being submitted to the group Unique Marketing Ideas.

Hope to see you there!

~Renae - Market 4 Real!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Need help with consistently marketing to your leads? Don't put it off! Contact us today for assistance and get started on the road to turning your leads into clients!

Don't Wait For Agents to Refer You - Take The Bull By The Horn!

2008-03-11T11:01:21Z

Our clients are typically real estate agents but I thought I would venture outside of my comfort zone and talk to the stagers out there (now that I know you exist and what you do!!). One of the questions we get from many client prospects is this:

"Can you put together an expired listing campaign for me?"

Well, of course we can! But that got me to thinking about stagers and how they can use a similar tactic to grow their client base.

Typically, agents who go after expired listings look through the MLS to find listings that are about to expire and will send out some type of correspondence or place a call to the seller in an effort to show how they are a better agent and can get that listing sold.

Why can't you, as stagers, use the same idea

- only modify it a bit for your purposes.

Let me clarify...

Using a website such as Redfin.com or Zillow.com, search for properties that have been listed on the market for 30 days or more. You want to use a website that shows days on market (DOM ). Identify the listings which you feel (from the interior photos) could really benefit from staging. Contact the seller and either send them a great-looking postcard (with before and after photos on it) or give them a call to explain how you can help get their property the recognition it deserves. Be sure to explain that your services can very well help the seller get top dollar on the sale price for their property.

(Be careful not to talk specifically about setting the price on the property as that is definitely outside your area and should lay firmly in the hands of the listing agent.)

Have you tried this as a marketing technique? If so, how has it worked for you? Any suggestions on making this work better for stagers who would like to give it a try?

~Renae - Market 4 Real!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Interested in how a Virtual Assistant can grow your business? Contact us today to get all your questions answered and get started on the road to turning your leads into clients!

Contest: Most Unique Marketing Idea!

2008-03-10T14:28:34Z

Have We Got A Contest For YOU!

I've been talking alot lately about marketing by giving you suggestions for unique marketing ideas for February and March. Many others in the Rain have also been talking about marketing in general - getting yourself all geared up for Spring sales by planning your marketing now. So, what better time than now to hold a contest that will help you get those creative juices flowing?

Get your thinking caps on, ladies and gentlemen, because we've got a contest that will not only get you in the right fame of mind for thinking outside the box about marketing your business, but it will give you an opportunity to win some terrific prizes and (hold your breath for this one!) POINTS!!

The Contest

Give us the most creative marketing idea that can be implemented by an agent, broker, or other real estate professional. Your idea must be fleshed out with how you will actually implement the marketing campaign (not just an idea but the specifics).

The Prizes

1st Place

Coaching session with business coach Brett Noel (30 days unlimited telephone and e-mail coaching plus a copy of the e-book "A Warriors Strategy to Dominate in Real Estate")
Branded logo - Courtesy of Sam101.com
4 hours of Virtual Assistance - Courtesy of Marketing 4 Realtors
1-year subscription to the Buyer's Home Rating System - Courtesy of Rate A Home
Introductory package of 16 client referrals - Courtesy of Real Estate Client Referrals
2,000 points

2nd Place

3 1-Hour Coaching sessions with business coach Jay Izso, The Internet Doctor
3 hours of Virtual Assistance - Courtesy of Marketing 4 Realtors
1-month subscription to the Buyer's Home Rating System
A signed copy of "Selling with Soul" by Jennifer Allan
A copy of "Mastering the Listing Presentation" cd by Brett Noel
1,500 points

3rd Place

2 hours of Virtual Assistance - Courtesy of Marketing 4 Realtors
1-month subscription to the Buyer's Home Rating System
A signed copy of "Winning Strategies for Those Who Never Quit by Brett Noel
A copy of "A Winnner's Philosophy" cd by Brett Noel
1,000 points

All participants

200 points - just for submitting an entry!

The Deadline

Entries must be submitted by Friday, March 21, 2008. To submit an entry, write your submission as a blog and post it to the group Unique Marketing Contest.

Prizes Donated By:

Renae Bolton, Marketing 4 Realtors, LLP - Virtual Assistant company providing marketing services through lead management and listing coordination.
Brett Noel, California's Success Coach - A real estate, business, and life coach who will teach you how to create winning listing presentations.
Sam101.com - Providing branded logos and much more to help you stand out in the crowd and go for your niche market!
Duane Marlink, Rate-A-Home - Helping your buyers do the due diligence in making sure they are choosing the perfect home for their needs.
Clint Miller, Real Estate Client Referrals - Providing real leads that are guaranteed to turn into real clients!
Jay Izso, The Internet Doctor - If your website is not bringing in the leads or your leads are not converting to clients, you may need website doctor - The Internet Doctor.
Jennifer Allan, Sell with Soul - A published author and real estate consultant who's goal is to make smart real estate agents become good ones.

Questions? Lay 'em on me!

***The question was asked how many entries can be submitted per person. I am working on getting the answer to this question with the judges and will post it here as soon as I get it! Only one submission per person so make it a good one!

~Renae

Using Top Producer For Lead Management

2008-03-04T10:07:55Z

In a previous post, I talked about the frustrations many agents have with utilizing Top Producer. Well, this is the second in a series about Making Top Producer Work For You.

In this post, we'll discuss ways to use Top Producer to manage your leads. We'll focus on these two features:

capture lead information from your website and send it directly into your contact database
assign multiple categories for each contact in your database

Capture Lead Information From Your Website

You can have information that leads input on your website put directly into your database in Top Producer in a few simple steps.

In Top Producer (TP), click on Setup, Lead Inquiry Form. Once you follow the prompts to set up the form the way you want it to appear, just copy the code and place it on the appropriate page on your website. (If you don't have website skills, just have your website maintenance person do this step for you. If you need a VA to handle this task, I'd be happy to recommend a few who can help you!)
Once the form is on your site, any time a lead puts information into one of your forms (you can have as many as you want/need on your website), it goes directly into TP.

Assign Multiple Categories for Contacts

For marketing purposes, you may sometimes want to categorize your contacts into more than one category. For example, I may be in your database as a Virtual Assistant however, you may also want to categorize me as a buyer prospect if I've indicated that I want to buy in your area and I may also be categorized as relocation since I don't live in your state.

In TP, click on Contacts, Address Book, then locate my name and double-click to open my record in the database. On the top right, click on Contact Types. This will open a drop-down menu that is customizable. You can simply click Modify List at the bottom of the box and add your own categories if they aren't already included in the list. This is great for categorizing contacts based on farm areas!
Click on the categories you want to assign to the lead then click OK at the bottom of the box. The record screen will update and show the new categories you have assigned to that contact.
Click Close at the bottom of the screen to save your changes.

If you have questions about either of these features, feel free to ask away. I'll do my best to answer them for you!

Stay tuned for the next installment in this series, which will cover setting up drip e-mail campaigns and sending out drip e-mails automatically.

~Renae - Market 4 Real!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Need help with consistently marketing to your leads? Don't put it off! Contact us today for assistance and get started on the road to turning your leads into clients!

Setting an Example

2008-03-03T17:19:37Z

So many Virtual Assistants have joined our industry that it has literally exploded! This is a great thing for our industry! Not only are there tons of programs available to teach aspiring Virtual Assistants how to work with real estate professionals, but many of these classes can be taken online. This is making it even easier for VAs to get up-to-speed on working with REPs.

Here's the problem... Too many VAs have joined the ranks that don't take this profession seriously. And, when I say "seriously," I mean that there are people who are running the gamut from someone with a computer and some extra time to VAs who don't respond to their clients.

Now, having been a VA for a few years now (over 10, actually), I've learned quite a bit about working in this capacity.

You won't be a good fit with every client. Sometimes, a client will leave and you'll have absolutely no idea why. Sometimes, a client will make you realize that life is just to short and that you should call it quits before you say or do something you shouldn't. Sometimes, a client will actually let you know why you aren't working out for them.
You can't be everything to everyone. When I started out, I tried to do everything imaginable for my clients. The problem with that is you just can't be extremely proficient at "eveything." You can't be an expert at everything.
Pick something and stick to it. Don't switch from niche to niche. It will only cause you to have that much more difficulty developing a client base.

In spite of all these things, I'm constantly amazed when potential clients contact me and say things like "I called or e-mailed 14 VAs and only 3 of them got back to me - including you." It amazes me how many VAs go out of business and never notify the organizations that have their contact information listed. So, potential clients waste too much time clicking on your listing, only to find out that your e-mail doesn't work and your number is disconnected.

These things make ALL of us look bad. If you aren't taking on new clients because your client load is full, that's fine. Just send a quick e-mail and let the potential client know that. If you are closing your doors, send a quick e-mail to the places where your information is listed and let them know so they can keep their databases up-to-date for potential clients.

Simple things that make all the difference!

~Renae - Market 4 Real!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Need help with consistently marketing to your leads? Don't put it off! Contact us today for assistance and get started on the road to turning your leads into clients!

Unique Marketing Ideas - April

2008-03-03T14:19:19Z

Have you wanted to add a little spruce to your marketing diet? Well, here are a few ideas that I hope will get your noodles cooking in the right direction! If you'd like to have assistance in designing even more ideas or implementing these, just give me a holler!

Here are a few unique holidays that are coming up in April:

April:

2 - International Children's Book Day - International Children's Book Day encourages reading, and promotes the love of books for children.

16 - Stress Awareness Day - This is your opportunity to recognize that there is plenty of stress in your life and an opportunity to learn, and to do something about.

23 - Take a Chance Day - Today is the day to take a chance on virtually any object or goal.

For each holiday, you can come up with a twist to make it related to real estate in some way. Here are some suggestions for you:

International Children's Book Day - Plan to spend an hour or two at a local elementary school, reading to the children. At the end of your visit, give each child a book. Inside the book, put your brochure and 2 business cards. Or you can give each child a bag to take home that includes a new book, and any other information you would like to give their parents. This is a great way to develop a new area to promote yourself at - a specific school (or schools) in your area! For examples of places where you can get larger quantities of books at a discount, try these websites:

Stress Awareness Day - Stress affects us all! This is a great day to show your buyer and seller prospects that now is the time to get rid of the stress they are feeling as a result of living in a house that is too small or too big! Visit Orental Trading to see some great knick-knacks you can get in bulk for cheap. Send out a card to each of your Top 50 or Top 100 with one of these knick-knacks included. Your card could explain how you can help them relieve their stress! All they have to do is give you a call (or send an e-mail). Or, you could set up a seminar on this day to talk about how you can help them. Here are two ideas for things you can send your hot prospects:

Take a Chance Day - So many of your prospects are just waiting for the right moment to jump in the water and buy or sell. Well, Take A Chance Day may be just the ticket they were waiting for! This is a great day to hold a seminar on home buying or selling. To get a different spin on your seminar, hold it at a restaurant (like Denny's or Bob Evans) with a small buffet available for attendees.

The point is to get your name out there, get in front of your leads and your contacts. Make a name for yourself by doing things that other realtors aren't. Stand out from the crowd!

~Renae - Market 4 Real!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Need help with consistently marketing to your leads? Don't put it off! Contact us today for assistance and get started on the road to turning your leads into clients!

Making Top Producer Work For You

2008-03-03T12:58:09Z

I've read lots of blog posts about agents who are frustrated with Top Producer. I've heard:

It's not user-friendly
It's too difficult to navigate
I don't know what it is capable of
It's too hard to figure out
It takes too much time to learn

Well, let me tell you that there are some really great features in Top Producer! Did you know that, with Top Producer, you can:

capture lead information from your website and send it directly into your contact database
assign multiple categories for each contact in your database
set up drip e-mail campaigns and assign leads to those campaigns
set up drip e-mails to send automatically
set up action plans that consist of activites you want to conduct for leads
receive reminders of tasks to perform each day
track the cost of marketing on each of your listings
set up action plans for activities you want to conduct for each listing and/or seller
set up websites for sellers to see all marketing activities conducted on their behalf
create property flyers
assign deadlines for tasks to be completed either by date or number of days after a listing is created
send completed tasks to the marketing service report, which can be sent to the seller
send mass e-mails to agents about new listings and price reductions
have immediate access to current monetary inventory levels (active, sold, expired)
create presentations - listing, agent, buyer, and more

And those are just some of the things you can do with the main application. With add-ons, you can:

use MS Outlook to send and receive e-mail, while mail still remains saved by contact in Top Producer
use your Palm Pilot, Blackberry or Treo to connect to your Top Producer account while on-the-go
create CMAs right from Top Producer
send out market snapshots to show how fast homes are selling in a specific neighborhood, selling to listing prices, number of unsold listings in the neighborhood, and more

Want to know how all these things can help you manage and grow your business? Well, stay tuned for an in-depth series on using Top Producer!

~Renae - Market 4 Real!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Need help with consistently marketing to your leads? Don't put it off! Contact us today for assistance and get started on the road to turning your leads into clients!

Stay Calm...When What You Really Want To Do Is Scream!

2008-02-29T19:10:59Z

It happens to the best of us. You know - you get into a discussion with someone but you disagree with their points. You politely but firmly state your own views only to have the other person say something totally off the wall. This happens in blogging as well as in real life.

At that point, you really want to scream! The frustration has built up and you just can't hold it in any longer. Be honest - you've been there! We aren't all Saints!

So, instead of pulling all your hair out, what do you do? First of all, stay calm! That is most important. Then, if you follow these few steps, you should have no problem dealing with the frustration.

Stand in front of a mirror and say to your reflection 3 times: "Peek-a-Boo! Peek-a-Boo! Peek-a-Boo".
Give your reflection your biggest growl and do it like you mean it!
Hop on one foot while sticking out your tongue.
Say to your reflection: "I will not be a part of this. I will not be a part of this."
Finally, sing the "Happy Birthday" song. (It's someone's birthday every day!)

These few steps should hep you to quickly and painlessly difuse your frustration. It works wherever you are. If you are in an office at the time that frustration sets in, just get others to participate with you. I'm sure they have some frustration that they need to release as well!

From your friendly neighborhood frustration-release specialist!

~Renae - Market 4 Real!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Need help with consistently marketing to your leads? Don't put it off! Contact us today for assistance and get started on the road to turning your leads into clients!