For more than a decade I have been a member of Broker Agent News, which was morphed into BrokerAgentSocial.com, an online community, some years ago.  It was a great site and I always looked forward to seeing the articles that they shared because of the wealth of information that the articles would reveal from great agents in the industry, sharing what was working for them in their business.

Just recently, I received a message that I first thought was spam, but to my dismay it is true.  This site has decided to become “Cracker Jack Agent “, and has moved its service onto a new domain.

What is YOUR impression of the term “Cracker Jack Agent”?  Does it stir up feelings of professionalism and pride, or does it (like it does for me) give you the feeling of slime and disgust?

What kind of message does this new site name give to the consumers about an industry that they already assume are just in it for the money?  What does it say about top agents?

What are your impressions and feelings?

What modes of advertising have you used in your business?  Are there any that you thought were bad choices because you didn’t receive any leads from them?

Was it the mode of advertising, or was it the AD itself?

Anita Clark, in Warner Robins Georgia, had a featured post today about a mode of advertising that she feels she was sucked in to getting.  You can see her blog post here.

In her post she talks about buying in to advertising on the slip covers that go over the room key-cards for a hotel, and how this didn’t generate any leads for her, so her assumption is that she was suckered into a mode of advertising that just doesn’t work.

Looking for alternate ways to advertise (gorilla marketing), is actually the best way that you can stand out above the competition, and be seen first.  But too many real estate professionals don’t put any thought into the type of ad they place on these items.  They think that putting their face and contact information, and some sloppy slogan like “Your Hometown Realtor”, or “I’m the Best”, is going to get people to jump up and take action.

Every day people are bombarded withadvertising.  With social media, and the internet, the quest for marketers to get our attention is overwhelming.  Everywhere we look we are being “sold to”.

Nobody likes to be sold to.

So how do you stand out, without being “salesy”?  How does your message get attention, and generate leads?

Here are question to take into consideration when creating your next marketing piece:

1.   Is this advertising to a targeted audience (preferably the target audience you want to attract)? If the answer is “no”, then don’t run the ad.

a.“Blanket” advertising is a waste of money.

b.You have to be targeting the prospects that you want as clients. 

2. What are the concerns of your target market?

3. What main concern can you draw attention to?

4. What can you offer to your prospects that will address their main concern, and get their attention?

a. Do you have something you can give them in return for their email address (ie. a special report).

5.Have you addressed the main concern in your ad, and have you provided a “call-to-action” (reason for them to go to your website, to give their email address, to get something of value)?

You see, advertising is only as good at the ad that is on it.  Doing the same old thing that everyone else in your market is doing is NOT going to get you the results you need. 

You need to find alternative advertising (special promotional items, direct mailing, farming) that will get the attention of your audience, and set you apart from your competition.  But once you have that mode, you need to create advertising that speaks to and ATTRACTS the type of prospects that you want to work with, and give them a compelling reason to contact you.

And once you create the ad, TEST IT.  See what works and what doesn't.  Professional marketers don't give up on their first try with an ad.  They test it, tweak it, and test it again.

Today I received an email from Marketing Guru, David Frey.  If you don't follow him, I would highly suggest checking out his site - Marketing Best Practices.  

He had some great tips for showing appreciation to your clients, and think it's great to be reminded of this during this time of year.  You should also infuse some of these ideas into your business planning for 2012!

Here I will expound on his tips with ways that they can be used in Real Estate:

7 Ideas for Showing Appreciation
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1. Send out personal, heartfelt, thank you cards to everyone that buys from you. - I think that a great card during a holiday that most people don't expect cards is the best thing to do, because EVERYONE mails at Christmas time, but not many send New Year's cards.

2. Do special events just for past customers. - I have seen many ideas in line with this.  You could rent out a theatre for a matinee, and invite your current and past clients and their families for a private showing.  You could hold a special BBQ during the summer and invite your past and present clients (I did this, and had games for the kids, karaoke, and jumpers).  I think your imagination is the only limit with this idea.

3. Give something special to repeat customers who have purchased multiple items from you. - I give a special commission rate to contractors who list more than one property at a time, or to clients who have purchased multiple properties through me.

I also give special gifts to clients at the closing table, to let them know how much I appreciate their business.  

4. Send special gifts to the 20% of your customers that produced 80% of your profits. - A gift card for a great restaurant, or a homemade gift during the holidays, are always special touches for those special clients.

5. Send a broadcast voicemail to all your best customers to say thank you. - You can also use text messaging for this same purpose.

6. Create a special customer appreciation video to send to your customers. - You can use your webcam on your computer, or record a video and add in an intro and title credits by using Windows Live Movie Maker (for PC) that is a free download.

7. Use JiveVideoSystems.com and create personal appreciation videos that you can send to your best customers on an individual basis. - Of course, getting a personalized message that addresses each client is a great way to really connect!

So put some thought into ways you can show appreciation, and add these to your Business Plan for 2012.  And if you haven't started your Business Plan for the new year, then you are welcome to go through my "Strategic Purpose - Journey to Success 2012" as my gift to you this Holiday season!  Just go to http://leadgenerationforrealestate.com/plan/ and log in for free!

Happy Prospecting!

Before getting wrapped up in business, and starting the new year with a bang, it's important to look back at the past year (the good AND the bad) because it really sets the baseline of what you can achieve this next year - especially if you take the lessons to heart.

First of all, acknowledge and appreciate what happened during 2011.  

Take time to sit down and write out the following questions:

• What did I accomplish?
• What were my achievements?
• What are the things that I feel GOOD about?

What would your business be like if you were able to attract and only work with "ideal clients"?  You know, those clients that you really gel with.  The ones you enjoy helping, and they enjoy you!  The type of clients that you look forward to speaking to when they call, and you almost hate to see the deal completed, because they were so much fun to work with!

Sound like a pipe dream?

What if I told you that you CAN attract your ideal clients to your business?  

Think about the marketing that you do.  Are you focusing on one particular type of client, or are you spreading your marketing out to the masses - doing everything that every other agent is doing - hoping to catch anyone that comes along?

In my last post, "Jack of All Trades", I talked about trying to be everything to everyone.  Well, your marketing is probably doing the same thing.

Most real estate advertising is not set up to attract specific prospects.  It's the same old, tired listing information.  Travel across this Country, and pick up a real estate magazine in ANY town, and you will see a lot of the same thing.  Page after page of listing ads, with photos of agents, and lists of their "hype" (like We're the Best, or Our Service is #1, etc).

Isn't it any wonder that the average consumer thinks we're all just the same?

Now, what if you could create targeted marketing pieces that resonate with the specific type of client that you are wanting to attract?  What if your marketing could speak to that particular client - could address their concerns, fears, aspirations?  How do you think that could change the response you get on your ads?  Do you think that would make a difference?

I challenge you to really think out a new process the next time you are preparing your marketing.  

• Is it going to be the same that everyone else is doing?  
• Is your piece going to stand out, or are you going to blend in with the crowd?
• Are you focusing your wording to attract prospects to you, and your services, in a way that puts attention on THEIR concerns (and doesn't focus on you)?

I believe that if you take this approach, even on just one piece in your marketing, you will see an amazing difference in the response you receive!

You've heard the saying "A Jack of all trades, but a Master of none".

Is this what you are in your real estate market?

It never ceases to amaze me how many real estate agents think that being everything to everyone, everywhere, will get them the most money.  They believe that casting a larger net will bring them in more buyers and sellers, when in actuality, the larger you cast your net, the bigger the holes are.

I had this same philosophy when I first started as a real estate agent.  I had myself spread between two states, since I only lived 8 miles from the state line.  I would run here, there, and everywhere, dealing with whatever prospects I could get.  I cannot tell you the amount of hours (not to mention gasoline) I wasted.

It wasn't until I decided to narrow down my business and focus on one niche, and one area, that my business started to explode.  I became a "specialist", and I made more money.

So where are YOU with YOUR business?  Does this scenario sound familiar?

Are you spreading your marketing (and yourself) all over the place?  Do you "handle" more than one area?  Are you running all across a metropolitan area, and into additional markets, grasping at straws just to grab what business you can get?  

We're in the final quarter of 2011, and if your sales aren't where you want them to be, then you need to take time to sit down and really evaluate your business.  What are your strengths?  What area of real estate do you love?  Where are you getting the majority of your sales?  

It's time to take a cold, hard, look at your business.  2012 is right around the corner, and you need to get your business focused to start the new year out right!

What area of real estate gets you fired up?  What clients do you love to work with?  Is there a particular niche that you enjoy, that you can really help clients with?

It's important to focus on your CLIENTS.  These are the people that you will be working with, so they have to be ones that you WANT to help.  If you focus your business on SERVING your clients (focusing on their needs, fears, desires), you will be amazed at how easy the sales will come.

Make it a priority to get your business really "focused" this coming year!

Here is a clip from a training seminar that I did at Keller Williams in Slidell Louisiana, that discusses why to use video in your real estate business.

If you want to know more about how Video can transform your business, my good friends Lewis Howes & James Wedmore have put together a very special video revealing exactly how to get massive results with Youtube.  Check out their VIDEO TRAINING ACADEMY

Marketing Your New Real Estate Business

Getting started as a new real estate agent can be very exciting, yet at the same time very scary. The amount of information obtained during pre-licensing can be overwhelming, but the most frustrating thing is to realize that most of the information you are taught, and tested on, in a pre-licensing course, is not going to be utilized when you get into the market as an agent.

One of the many things missing from pre-licensing courses is how tomarket your new real estate business. You see, now that you are real estate agent, you are a new business owner. Many agents do not realize, or understand, this concept. They believe that all they have to do is get their license, join a real estate firm, and the business will be handed to them.

The fact of the matter is that real estate agents are independent contractors, and NOT employees. This means that as a real estate agent, you are responsible for running your own business, marketing your own business, and obtaining your own leads.

What's A New Agent To Do?

I remember starting out as a new real estate agent. Of course, in 1998, marketing was done a bit differently. I was all too eager to sit for "desk duty", thinking that surely I would start getting a lot of clients to work with by answering the calls coming in.

I spent a lot of time answering calls that came in for other agents, making showing appointments, and not getting much in the way of real leads for MY business. Oh, there were the occasional looky-loos and tire kickers, but it seemed like the random calls that would come in were not the serious leads that I needed.

In the office that I started in, there were two agents on duty at all times, so the calls would be alternated between two of us. IF you were the lucky agent to be "up" at the time a lead called, then you'd get to work with them. This type of model just wasn't working for me.

Before becoming a real estate agent, I had worked as a web designer. I thought about what I had done for other businesses before starting my new adventure, and I decided to create a website for my new business. I became the first agent in my market to have a full website. As you can imagine, this started driving in business for me. Back then, just having an online presence gave you a great edge over other agents.

As my business grew, and I started to target new construction as a niche, my website provided a wealth of new leads. About 3 years into my career, I started refusing "desk duty" because I had a steady stream of clients coming from my online endeavors. I didn't need to waste a few hours of my valuable time taking calls and making appointments for other agents in my office, with the hopes of grabbing a lead or two.

But online marketing has changed drastically over the past 5 years. It's no longer good enough just to have a website. You now have to have a system in place that will attract leads, draw them in to YOUR site, and then convert them into clients.

Help Getting Started

Don't be fooled by companies that want to sell you flashy real estate websites that have a lot of bells and whistles. The problem with these sites is that they are designed by graphic/web designers, and NOT marketers. Having a flashy website is NOT what is going to bring prospects in to your marketing funnel! Your site must be optimized for search engine placement, and has to be directly targeted to your niche. There are many factors that make for a quality, lead generating, real estate site.

Over the course of my career, I have developed a system that I have used to create my sites and get them ranked in the search engines. Your site should be niche targeted, and have a direct response system in place to capture leads, develop a relationship and foster trust with them, and convert them to clients you can close.

Many real estate agents and brokers are stuck in the old way of doing things. They haven't adapted to today's technology, and a lot of them are going to be lost and out of business in years to come. Old-school techniques like cold-calling, door-knocking, newspaper ads, etc, just don't drive the traffic that they use to, and are a huge waste of valuable time and money today.

You need to have an online marketing strategy to be in front of prospects from the time they start their search for a home, which 90% of the time is online.

12 Steps to Launching Your Real Estate Business

Easy Steps

Marketing your new real estate business is not as difficult as you might think. The trick is to narrow down your focus to one specific niche, center your advertising on that niche, create a lead-generating site online to drive traffic for that niche, and provide something of value for your audience, in order to set yourself apart from your competition.

Even a brand new real estate agent can compete with top producers, with the right marketing strategy.

If you're interested in finding out what you need to do to get started, watch the first part of my free video, to see the "12 Steps to Launching Your Real Estate Business".

I read a great post this morning on Active Rain entitled "Why Does SHE Get All The Business?", by Cindy Marchant.  In her article she talked about the never ending question agents have about HOW someone else in their marke (or in their office) is getting all the business and leads. The first common misconception is that this agent must be doing something underhanded to get business.

Too many times I've heard the rumbling at the water cooler, from agents who seem to think that the way someone else in the industry gets 'all the business' can only come from sneaky efforts.  These are the agents that you find at their desks all day, waiting for the business to fall into their laps, like Manna from the sky.  When it doesn't happen, they assume the universe just isn't lining up just right for them, or that someone else is the 'golden child'.

If you were to look further into the successful agent's business, you would be more likely to find that they are working systems they have put into place, networking out in the public, volunteering their extra time for causes, and giving service when they can.  These are the people that are building RELATIONSHIPS with their market, and not just hounding everyone for their business.

I was surprised to see an article this past week  that Inman had published, Real Estate Prospecting Fundamentals, which seems to be touting the old school prospecting method of brow-beating every person you come across, to see if you can gain their business or the business of someone they know.  NOBODY likes to be "sold" to these days, so if this is your approach - you better take a step back and re-evaluate your business strategies.

Cindy Marchant's article discusses how it's important to network, and that networking is NOT one-sided. It's about building RELATIONSHIPS, and about ADDING VALUE.

The best way to build a great lead-generating business is by having systems in place to stay connected with prospects, after they first put their hand up and let you know they are in the market to buy or sell.

Take a look at your lead generation strategies.  Do you have a system set up, both online and offline, that builds relationships with prospects?  Does your website or blog give something of VALUE to those who land on it?  Do you have a way connect with those people, once they have been to your site, and give them even more value - which builds credibility and rapport with your prospects, and starts to build you up as an authority in their minds?  Or are you just another real estate agent . . . just a commodity??

Are you out in the community, connecting with the public?  Are you offering your time and services in clubs or organizations, outside of real estate?  Are you providing VALUE, before asking for business?? People respect those who take time to answer questions, and give their time to serve.  

What about your website?  Does it build you as an "Authority" in your marketplace?

I've created a free video that addresses what it is to build "Authority" in the minds of your prospects, and set yourself apart from the pack.  If you're interested in viewing the video, check out this link: TRUSTED AUTHORITY.

Like many new agents, when I first started out in Real Estate I thought I could "take on the world" because I didn't want to miss out on any opportunities to find business and make a sale.  What I didn't realize back then is that casting your net wide makes for large holes in the net, and less business actually ends up in your net.  

I have seen agents that set out to cover areas as large as an hour drive in all directions.  How effective do you think you can be in your business when you are trying to handle things that are 2 hours apart from each other?

It's important to really narrow down what "niche" you want to work in, or have the passion for.  Maybe you're an agent that loves to work with first-time home buyers.  Or maybe you're a special kind of agent that loves handling with foreclosures - dealing with kicking people out of their homes, getting properties cleaned out, handling repairs and maintainence, etc.  You can specialize in a certain aspect of Real Estate, or narrow it down to a specific geographical area (or neighborhood).

Whatever it is that you have a passion for in this business is really where you need to stack all of your chips. You may have heard this comparison before, but it really is true - Specialists make more money than Generalists. Would you rather be a "jack of all trades, but a master of none" or would you like to be the "specialist" that everyone turns to in your niche?  Think in terms of doctors - a General Practitioner doesn't make as much money as an Edocrynologist, Podiatrist, Heart Specialist, or Brain Surgeon.  

After I got going in Real Estate, and realized this truth, I started focusing on my passion - New Construction. It was when I started really focusing on contractors, land, and developments, that my business really started to take off.  I took training on new construction, talked to builders, asked questions and got myself very familiar with the whole process and what to look for.  

When you market your business online, it's extremely important to narrow down your niche.  The more specific your sites are about the business you handle, the better chance you have of showing up in the search engines, and the more targeted your prospects will be.  The amount of traffic that you get will be lower, but the prospects that DO come to your site are going to be looking for what you have to offer, which means that you have a better chance of converting those prospects into clients.  There will also be less competition online because most agents don't know how to make their sites niche-specific.

Sit down and take a long look at your business, and think about what you enjoy, what you have the most experience with.  Then start to focus all that you do on that particular niche.  I think you will begin to see great changes in your business!

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If you are interested in finding out more about how to capture quality leads, be sure to check out my free video "7 Secrets to Dominating Your Real Estate Market" at http://leadgenerationforrealestate.com