A fresh start

I am an optimistic person with a type A personality. If I am not being productive I go nuts. I wanted to make that clear. So during the time I have had my license, 3 years, I have seen the market go from good to not so good and it has been tough making business as a newer agent. Here's the thing though perseverance is what separates those of us that always look on the sunny side of things. The way I see it is that sure work is stressful and I am tired of seeing people I know and love lose there homes or jobs but we have to keep marching on and appreciating what we have it's not the end of the world, more like a hiccup.

Sooo, what am I doing to beat this recession? I am building myself up and when the market turns, which I think will be soon, I will be ready to go. I just want to encourage other agents to do the same, in fact I dare you too! I am completely refreshing our company's marketing. While I have the advantage of working in my family's office the things I am doing are no different for a brokerage than they are for individual agents. Therefore, this stuff is universal to all of us.

1. Look Fresh: Go get a new agent photo taken by a professional photographer. Why should we have to see the same photo of an agent that has been run in the same ads for the last 20+ years. I understand keeping an ad in the same place is good for branding but you need to look like what your photo represents. It's unfair to clients to surprise them with an agent that is 20 years older than they looked in the ad. It's no different than internet dating.
2. Clean Up Your Room: Mom always told me to clean up my room and pick up my toys. I am glad she did because in todays market and our line of business we have a lot of toys and more people looking at our office than our room back in the day. When I say clean up I mean work on going wireless at your office and reducing paperwork. These aren't crucial to business but in our day and age people expect agents to be tech savvy. I bought a wireless all in one for our office and it really cleaned up the clutter and I love the fact that we can scan contracts and e-mail them to clients. You may even go as far as to go paperless entirely. I haven't yet but only because my clients have resisted it so far.
3. Evolve: If Darwin was correct only the strong survive. From what I am seeing my generation is bringing a lot of new technology into the business world. Social media is here and it is here to stay. Get a facebook account, get linkedin and try branching out, there are some neat people out there and even clients. Also, the fact that prospects are farming us now via internet is crazy and a gold mine. I am putting new features into my website to enable them to find a happy spot when they land on my website where they feel comfortable searching for property from home. IDX is a great tool to offer people. I know The Real Estate Book uses a widget that you simply paste into your site and get an IDX application.
4. Try Something New: Traditional methods of marketing are becoming obsolete and we all know it. While I think that print media is still important to use for ads I also say that soft-copy media needs to be used. Obviously a large majority of the readers of this already are aware of the net but may not have implemented internet marketing. Get on the band wagon and start some internet ads. Also, mix it up start advertising something besides a free home consultation. EVERYONE does that already, even our plumber does a free consultation. Instead spice it up offer a free consultation that includes a free report prepared by a professional homestager for a listing. I do and clients love it.
5. This is my last one for now but Get Involved: I know a lot of REALTORs and affiliates that are super busy in clubs and organizations, myself included, but at the same time I see even more agents that are not involved in them. I feel that it is my responsibility to the community to help it grow as a good citizen but I also know that by helping my community grow I am building up a place that people want to live in and move to. It's as simple as picking up trash along a bike trail or as intimate as getting involved with the local chamber of commerce and helping to promote all area businesses.

So in closing I have left you with 5 simple things that I am doing. Trust me, my list is much more in depth but I wanted to leave you with a few achieveable things. The rest will come to you once you start looking at your marketing in new way. BTW in case you are wondering I should have a new website live in a week that will be a monumental change from the current dud. Check it out at www.tartagliarealty.com.