Hello - is anybody there?

I was talking to a Realtor that works for Keller Williams a while back.  She was super excited to be with them because of how innovative they are.  One of the things she pointed out was that they offer coaching.  Their coaching is a little different with respect to how they get paid - the coach gets 10% of every closing.  Personally I think that’s pretty cool seeing how the coach’s pay is directly connected to the results of the person being coached.

So I asked her what the coach did for her.  I’ll make it short and sweet for you – even with all the technical innovations that are out there, the coach hammered her on “making her calls”.  It’s so interesting to me to make note of how sales has really never changed over the ages.  I read sales books almost every day, and I can tell you, it’s all about relationships and personal contact – that’s it.  The other thing that’s interesting to me is that in my 7 years in the mortgage sales industry and sales carreers prior to that, I’ve found that “personal contact” through “making calls” is the number one thing that salespeople don’t want to do – weird.

So all the sales greats say that we should make our calls and most of the salespeople in the world don’t do it.  Why?  This doesn’t make any sense.  Are all the sales teachers and coaches in the world wrong and all of the salespeople right?  Nope.  Based on my personal experience all of the coaches and teachers are 100% correct.  I remember back in 2005 I decided to employ the services of a coach.  

My coach had one thing in mind for me – make my calls (go figure).  The difference between me and most others is that I did it.  I wanted to see if there would actually be an increase in my business, so no matter how uncomfortable I felt about it, I picked up that phone and dialed.  I was making at least five calls a day for several months and tracking it.  The first thing I discovered is that literally everyone that I spoke to was very happy to hear from me – everyone.  No one was mad or irritated, they were genuinely glad to speak with me – weird.

The next thing I discovered was heartbreaking to me.  Within my first 50 calls or so, I realized that I had LOST about six deals within about a four month period from the people in my database.  These are my past clients, family and friends here.  Keep in mind, that although I wasn’t a “phone caller” I was very consistent with monthly mailers to stay in touch, and yet I still lost deals to my competitors.  Another startling discovery was the consistent responses from the people that “left me for someone else”.  I asked every one of them “why didn’t you give me a call? Have you been receiving my mailers?”  Their response was always something like “yeah, wow, I’m sorry.  I should have called you but “I was TALKING to this guy” and one thing led to another”.  Hmmm..  “Talking” to this guy?  Newsflash people – if you think for a second that your past clients, family and friends are 100% loyal to you even if you don’t make your calls – you’re simply being foolish.

The results were staggering.  During one of the most difficult times to generate business in our industry, I was originating and closing about six deals consistently every single month.  Now I know these numbers may not seem like much to some, but at that time in that market I was one of the top producers in my office and I was managing it.  I was watching good loan officer’s drop like flies around me as the market caved in around us and I was closing deals.  I did my best to coach them by encouraging them to make their calls.  I would show them my results as well, but mostly to no avail.  Only a few took heed to what I was doing, and guess what?  They are still in the business to this day.  All of the others fell away to leave the industry completely, why?  Because they didn’t have the guts to pick up the phone and simply “talk” to their past clients, family and friends and ask them for a referral – how sad is that?

Make your calls and have an awesome day.

 

Craig Bland

Brand Mortgage

$8,000 Tax Credit Extension and Expansion Coming!

According to various news reports, the Congress has reached a tentative agreement to extend and perhaps expand the $8,000 tax credit.

The details reported:

 

1.  The $8,000 tax credit extension would cover first-time home buyers who sign a contract for a home by the end of April and close by the end of June.

2.  Create a $6,500 tax credit for those who buy a home, but have owned a home for at least five consecutive years out of the past eight years.

3.  The income limit would be raised to $125,000 a year for individuals and $225,000 for married couples.

All is contigent on the approval House and signed by the President.

For more information:

Senate Likely to Extend Tax Credit

Capitol Briefing -Senate Passes Bill to Extend Tax Credit

If you have been waiting or thought you had missed the boat -- it looks like you have a second chance.

Call me and let's get the ball rolling for your new home in Hubert, Swansboro, Jacksonville in Onslow County NC.

 

 Cynthia Tilghman, Realtor, Onslow County Home Specialist   910 459 9189     Email Me

Kingsbridge Realty, Inc., Making Houses Homes

We take pride in assisting Military Families locate a home in Onslow County when relocating to Camp Lejeune North Carolina

 Area expert for homes in Hubert North Carolina

Search the Jacksonville NC MLS

 

Tax Credit Extended Until April 30th & Second Tax Credit of $6500 for Second Home Purchases

For all you rich kids who are currently in escrow on new construction and don't have a finite close date or for those of you who are still looking for the perfect pad, this extension is the news that you have been looking for. There had been rumors for a while that they would indeed extend the credit, but nothing had been passed until a couple of days ago. What's even more exciting is that there is now a $6500 credit for repeat homebuyers who have owned their home for at lease five years. Here are the details as reported by the Associated Press for MSN:

"WASHINGTON - Senators agreed Wednesday to extend a popular tax creditfor first-time homebuyers and to offer a reduced credit to some repeat buyers.

The tax credit provides up to $8,000 to first-time homebuyers but is set to expire at the end of November.

Senators agreed to extend the existing tax credit for first-time homebuyers while offering a reduced credit of up to $6,500 to repeat buyers who have owned their current homes for at least five years, said Regan Lachapelle, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. The tax credits would be available to homebuyers who sign sales agreements by the end of April. They would have until the end of June to close on their new homes, said a congressional aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the deal. "

Check out this site for more info on the federal housing tax credit. Now get out there and buy!

What You Oughta Know About Blog Commenting

Much has been said about blog commenting here on ActiveRain, but what about blog commenting out in the real world? I'm talking about commenting on blogs that are not on the ActiveRain platform. Do you comment on other blogs within your niche? Do you try to grab the attention of the big boys? Why would you want to? How can commenting on other blogs help you? 

 

Commenting on high profile blogs outside of A|R can have a huge impact on your publicity, your search engine results, and your overall popularity within the blogging world. Okay, so you won't get any A|R "points" for commenting outside of A|R, but there is a much larger benefit to be had.

 

Benefits Of Blog Commenting

 

• Grab The Attention Of The Blogs Readers
• Grab The Attention Of The Blogger
• Increase Your Brand Awareness
• Create More Back Links

Yes, blog commenting can do all those things, and much much more, however, there is a catch. You actually have to be a real life genuine human being when your commenting. None of this sissy, "great post thanks for sharing", stuff. You have to add value to the readers of the blog, and you have to add value to the blogger themselves.  "Add Value" is the key. 

GRAB THE ATTENTION OF THE BLOGS READERS

 

 

There are people out there that have never heard of you,  never heard of ActiveRain, and surely don't know that you are a fantastic blogger. You have to show them that what you have to offer is something they might be interested in. Besides, they are already commenting on blogs and reading information in your niche, all you have to do is prove that you're worth their time. 

 

How can I grab their attention? 

 

It works much the same outside of ActiveRain as it does here. When commenting on most blogs, you get to add a link to your website or blog, which people will click on if you add value to a conversation. Here's an example:

 

Go to Google and search for your niche, and add blogs to the search like this:

 

 

As you can see by just doing a general real estate blog search, I have over 100 million choices to choose from. Now, click on a few blogs, and check out how they do their blog commenting. Make sure that when you comment you are able to leave a link back to your blog/website. It should look something like this:

 

The box that says website is where you want to enter your web address to your blog/website. That's all there is to it. Find blogs, leave comments, add value to the conversation, leave a link back to your blog/website, and use your analytics (click that link to learn how to install analytics on your blog) to watch the new traffic come in. 

 

GRAB THE ATTENTION OF THE BLOGGER

 

When people comment on your blog, how does it make you feel? I can bet it makes you fell warm and fuzzy right?  I'm talking about those people that leave a comment that makes you click on the link to their profile, add them as an associate, and go find their blog to leave them a comment. Those comments are the comments that get blog writers attention, and in a big way. 

 

I found a blog called New Homes Blog. I started commenting on the blog, and I really enjoy reading what the writer had to say. So, I left some pretty meaty comments, and he emailed me. He asked me to be a guest blogger for his Utah section. A guest blogger! That means that he lets me write blogs on his blog, and leave a link back to my websites for Google juice.  I got his attention by commenting with some great comments to add value to his blog. 

 

The more you put in the more you will get. Start building a relationship with the blogger, and soon enough they just might start talking about you in their own blogs.

 

INCREASE YOUR BRAND AWARENESS

 

The more and more you start to show up on blogs in your niche, the more and more your brand is going to get recognized. By commenting on blogs all over th web,you're going to increase your online visibility.

The more you show up, the more people will be curious as to who you are, which will make people more likely to click on your link to learn more about you. Human curiosity!

Think about it. Who are the most popular people you know of on ActiveRain?

I bet you it's the top commenter's such as, TLW, Lenn Harley, Jason Crouch, Todd Clark, Broker Bryant, Loreena Yeo, C-Tann Star, Bill Gassett, Jeff Dowler, Missy Caulk, Rich Jacobson, Patricia Kennedy just to name a few, or the people who comment on your blog everyday.

These people comment a lot and for good reason, they are creating brand awareness. The more you see them, the more you want to know who they are, and that gives you a click through to your blog/website.

How many comments have you made today? 

 

CREATE MORE BACK LINKS

 

(If you don't know what a do-follow and no-follow link are, before reading this section, I would recommend you read this blog on no-follow and do-follow links first.) 

Just like ActiveRain, when you comment on some blogs, you get a do-follow link to your website.

Every time you make a comment on ActiveRain while logged in, you get a do-follow link pointing back to your profile.

In order to find blogs that are do-follow around the web, you will have to do some research.

So far, I have a list of 25 do-follow blogs that I am currently commenting on. I don't do it just for the link, I also add as much to the conversation as I can.

If I don't have anything to say that is going to add value, I don't say anything at all. I found these blogs by searching Google and researching real estate forums. Unfortunately, I am not going to give you my list of do-follow blogs, I want you to find your own, because it will be more beneficial to you if you do. 

What I am going to do is, give you a head start in the right direction. Finding do-follow blogs is actually pretty easy once you have the Firefox plugin as mentioned in the link above.

Start out by searching Google for do-follow blogs:

 

• Google Search: Do Follow Blogs
•  Do-follow blog search engine.
•  The Art Of Commenting On Do Follow Blogs

 

 

I use these tools and they helped me get a start in the right direction. If you're serious about ranking high for your keywords, commenting on do follow blogs can help you attain your goals. Remember, just because a blog is no follow, doesn't mean you can't get value out of it. Leaving your link is going to get people to click on it, which will bring traffic your way, and increase your brand awareness. 

 

What's It All Mean?

 

Commenting on blogs is one of the most fundamental aspects of social media. You are interacting, creating relationships, and adding value to the on-going conversations around the web. Building your awareness through blog commenting takes time and effort to be successful. But I can attest that if you do it with genuine care you soon will start to see an increase in your blogs activity. Good Luck! 

If you have any stories about how you comment, leave me a comment about it. Or better yet, write a blog about it, and leave a link in the comments so you can add value to my conversation! 

P.S. A good place to start commenting is my new Cache Valley Real Estate blog!

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