It’s time to grow up and crush the competition

As we all struggle in the market, many of us agents will not be left standing. My association has lost many members already. Granted, there were many who had joined during the bubble, but keep in mind that the market was good before the bubble, and now it’s devastated, So the actual numbers will drop well below pre bubble.

Those who can ride this market out and stay active with marketing, can really take advantage and excel over, even the best known agent in your area. This is the time to stand out. I recommend sending out even more flyers and postcards than in the past. Keep your face in front of those potential clients. Your competition is doing nothing but waiting it out, and that means they are losing exposure.

Look like you are on top of your game.

Offer a new free service that others are charging for or not offering. I suggest video tours. Film your own and edit it in free Movie Maker software. If you are running Windows XP or Vista, it’s there – you have it. Film a small clip at home and bring it into Movie Maker. Get your feet wet with splitting scenes, adding music, adding transitions and some text overlays. You should be doing this anyway. If you are keeping up with REALTOR articles, you would know that video is the future. Those who can not offer this service to their clients will be dust.

After the storm

When our beloved market comes back, there will be new kings and queens – You.

Already, Realtor.org has over 3500 articles about video tours. A good one here: http://www.realtor.org/library/library/fg914

Our funny friend the Cookie Monster doesn’t understand what those words mean. And so you must understand that there are tips to follow when creating a video tour. I will leave these tips for another post, but one tip is NEVER put your contact information in your video tour. When you post a listing on your MLS, agents send their buyers client reports that do not have your contact info. Treat video the same as an MLS listing. Let the buyer agent do the work for you. All you need to reference is the MLS number.

Great sites to post video, and then email agents and buyers in your area.

http://www.housereel.com/

http://activerain.com/

http://www.realtyvid.com

                                    Stick to RE only sites.