real estate best practices: Celebrate your victorires!
- 03/27/24 04:12 PM
Did you just close a tough sale? Did you just list a fantastic home? Did you just close out a record-breaking month?
That's wonderful! Give yourself a few minutes to celebrate that success - and perhaps even give yourself a little reward.
But then... then get back to work.
“Take your victories, whatever they may be, cherish them, use them, but don’t settle for them.”
—Mia Hamm
Wishing you joy and prosperity,
Marte
… (5 comments)
|
real estate best practices: Trolling the Obituaries? THINK Before You Do
- 11/12/23 09:52 AM
This is an old post, but just as important today as it was when Debe wrote it.
So You've Been Told to Build Your Business by Trolling the Obituaries? THINK Before You Do!
Before you take the advice from your real estate broker, trainer or coach, PLEASE READ THIS. You never know who the recipient of your contact REALLY is or, possibly even more importantly, WHO THEY KNOW!
A dear friend in the business shared with me that following the recent death of her father, her mother began receiving letters and calls from agents (coincidentally, all from the same brokerage), letting her … (10 comments)
|
real estate best practices: For real estate grammar, choose medium-well
- 11/04/23 12:57 PM
Your real estate grammar is important, because communication is important. When you add content to your web pages, write a blog post, or send a prospecting letter, you hope that readers will understand your message, react positively – and choose YOU for their agent.
Grammar is defined as the whole system and structure of a language. For our purposes today, I’m referring to the whole thing: not just spelling, punctuation, proper use of singular and plural, choice of pronouns, etc. I’m including tone, and word choice with reference to its degree of casualness or formality.
You’ve noticed that some people speak more formally (and … (14 comments)
|
real estate best practices: A disclosure real estate agents should make...
- 02/04/23 12:06 PM
When showing homes to buyers, do you tell them that you don't have any more information about a specific house than what was provided in the MLS listing?
If you have not yet seen one or more of the houses you're showing, I think you should disclose that fact to the potential buyers.
Here's why...
You've probably been hearing all the talk about artificial intelligence in general and Chat GPT in particular. Some copywriters are worried that it will take over our jobs. Others are pretending it doesn't exist. I decided to learn more.
Over the past few days I've listened to a couple … (19 comments)
|
real estate best practices: How not to receive honest feedback...
- 11/17/22 03:51 PM
...Or, why Hughes will never know why we left.
Living where I do in a mountain valley, my only choices for Internet are dial-up over ancient phone lines or satellite. For the past few years I have struggled along using Hughes Net. I did try to switch to Wild Blue a few times, but they were always “full” and not accepting new accounts.
Hughes Net, on the other hand, keeps mailing advertisement for new clients, no matter how "full" they are.
Thus, when the promise of Starlink came along, I hurried to pay a deposit and get on the waiting list. It took 18 … (17 comments)
|
real estate best practices: Reasons for low response rates
- 08/12/22 04:27 PM
You probably know there are many reasons for low response rates, both from your website and from your mailings. Many of them can be overcome.
Reasons for low response rates include: Poor writing / bad grammar: If your web pages or letters seem garbled or confusing, people won’t read, let alone respond. Making your marketing all about you, rather than about your potential clients. Lack of interesting content on your website. Forgetting to add your location to your website. Sending just one prospecting letter. (To see why more are necessary, click here.) Mailing to the wrong list. Examples of reasons for … (7 comments)
|
real estate best practices: Acronyms and jargon can kill your message
- 05/17/22 04:13 PM
Have you ever read an email subject line or seen a news broadcast that referred to something by its acronym – and it’s one you’ve never heard before?
I sure have. Just this morning a news broadcaster was mentioning the impact of something. But I don’t know what it was because he referred to it by its acronym. I asked my husband if he had any idea what they were talking about. Nope. No clue. He likes to channel surf, so away it went.
Once in a while I become curious enough to try to look it up, but not often. When it … (20 comments)
|
real estate best practices: Are you on a real estate roller coaster?
- 07/13/21 04:49 PM
If you’re busy all day every day, and not taking time to prospect, you just might be on a real estate roller coaster.
This roller coaster is a bit different from amusement park rides. It’s a lot of fun while you’re going up, but the ride back down can be brutal. Instead of automatically going right back up after it goes down, the plunge down can take you to a long level stretch with no income before you start the climb back up.
Roller coaster rides happen a lot in real estate for one simple reason: Busy agents tend to skip prospecting.
Then when … (26 comments)
|
real estate best practices: Your real estate reputation is worth protecting
- 04/27/21 04:32 PM
Your real estate reputation is and will be one of your most valuable possessions. Therefore, it is worth building and protecting.
You actually have two reputations: one with past clients and one with people who are a part of the real estate business. That would include other agents, assistants, lenders, appraisers, inspectors, stagers, photographers, title officers, etc. In short, everyone associated with facilitating the transfer of real estate ownership.
Your real estate reputation with past clients may bring you new business.
If you did a wonderful job – and if you remember to stay in touch with them – your past clients will refer … (21 comments)
|
real estate best practices: Prepping for a successful listing presentation
- 04/23/21 01:17 PM
In today’s low-inventory climate, most real estate agents want listings – the more the better. You get them with good leads, combined with a successful listing presentation.
First come the leads. How do you get them?
In some cases, it’s through prospecting – sending a message that impresses a homeowner, so you are the agent who gets the call. Sometimes your new listing lead comes from a referral – and is almost a sure thing. It might be from the content on your website. Your bio, your community pages, your blog posts, and the way you present your listings have combined to … (3 comments)
|
real estate best practices: Do you know what makes you the best agent?
- 03/15/21 11:32 AM
What makes you the best agent your prospects could choose? How is your service better than the service they’d receive from one of your competitors? You do need to know the answer.
Otherwise, you won’t be able to convey it to your prospects.
I’ve learned that many agents do not know, and in fact many believe that they do the same job everyone else does. With that in mind, this week we’ll go exploring.
The first clue that you’re the best agent…In case you hadn’t considered it, begin with the fact that you’re eager to learn more. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be reading … (20 comments)
|
real estate best practices: It's not too late for a 2021 real estate resolution
- 01/31/21 12:45 PM
Yes, we're already 1/12 of the way through 2021, but it's never too late to create a good habit.
Commit to “Working when you work.”
“Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week.”
Charles Richards
I don’t know about getting a full year’s value out of a week, but I do know that most of us can get more value out of a day or a week than we … (8 comments)
|
real estate best practices: Read and think carefully before using a letter you find on line
- 01/01/21 02:36 PM
You’ve heard it said that “anyone can write,” and that’s fairly accurate. “Anyone” can also post what they write on line and pretend to be an expert on the given topic.
Unfortunately, that’s how some unsuspecting agents end up using prospecting letters that are apt to do them more harm than good.
A prime example is a letter one of my copywriting clients found on Pinterest and forwarded to me.
The first word in the letter was “I.” The second, third, and forth sentences also began with “I.”
The letter broke the first rule...
Since the first rule in writing a prospecting letter is that … (10 comments)
|
real estate best practices: Do you suffer from sunk cost fallacy?
- 08/10/19 01:00 PM
Chances are, you either suffer from sunk cost fallacy right now, or you have at some time.
What the heck is it?
Sunk cost fallacy is a debilitating condition that causes you to throw good money after bad.
You know you have it when you…
Keep advertising a listing owned by people who:
• Refuse to clean the house
• Refuse to list anywhere near fair market value
• Refuse to negotiate AT ALL when you bring an offer
• Refuse to leave and let the house be shown without interference
• Refuse to allow showings except at specified times
Keep driving all over the county … (28 comments)
|
real estate best practices: These sloppy agents deserve to fail…
- 06/07/19 10:43 AM
A couple of weeks ago I visited Realtor.com to see if I could find any agents who said they specialized in real estate in our small town. I did not.
I'm not sure if I wrote about it before or not, but most said they “specialized” and were “experts” in all of North Idaho, plus a town or two in Washington or Montana. That’s only about 4,500 square miles, more than a dozen diverse communities, homes and lots on a few lakes and rivers, homes on acreages of various sizes, and plenty of remote property. So – sure they're experts on everything … (73 comments)
|
real estate best practices: How long does it take?
- 11/30/18 12:51 PM
How long does it take to hit reply and type “Got it?”
I’m feeling slightly annoyed by what feels to me like rudeness – and I’m wondering why it is so common.
Here’s the story: Sometimes people purchase my letter sets and have trouble opening the zip file. Sometimes they open the file on their phones too many times, then can’t open it again when they get to their computers. Sometimes they open it too many times on their computers without saving the contents.
For whatever reason, they write and ask me if I can resend the link. Instead of doing that – which … (32 comments)
|
real estate best practices: Is that caller a real estate buyer – or a spy?
- 10/29/18 07:46 PM
When you answer an inquiry about one of your listings, how do you know who the caller really is?
You don’t.
That caller could be a potential seller, wanting to see how you handle inquiries.
He or she could be another agent, wanting to see if they can learn anything you might tell a potential buyer, but won’t tell them.
AND – it could be a spy for your seller.
A few years ago some folks I knew had their property listed with a couple who were billed as the “Top Agents” in their small town. It was an unusual property, so they didn’t expect … (19 comments)
|
real estate best practices: Smile! You and your buyers are on Candid Camera
- 06/21/18 11:50 AM
You may be too young to remember that old show, but it was entertaining. The producers staged all sorts of strange situations and then filmed how people reacted. I often wondered if some people said no when asked for permission to air the film.
Today, stores and cities have cameras all over the place as a deterrent to crime. Cars have dash-cams that can come in handy to prove that an accident really wasn’t the driver’s fault. Cops also have dash cams and body cams. Then there are the cameras in the sky, along with the cameras in cell phones that seem … (68 comments)
|
real estate best practices: Avoiding agent liability in a real estate transaction
- 03/30/18 11:06 AM
From my Thursday newsletter - thanks to a suggestion from a reader...
When you’re dealing with other people’s money – especially when it’s a great deal of money – the threat of liability is always there.
Sometimes all parties have good intentions and something goes wrong, but once in a while there’s a deliberate attempt to trap you, the other agents involved, and a client.
Since I fell into one of those traps once, I know how it can happen. Here’s my story:
I had a buyer interested in an older commercial building in downtown. Viewing it together, we could see that the … (30 comments)
|
real estate best practices: Got a poor review? Not to panic!
- 02/01/18 10:46 AM
Has a poor review got you in a tizzy?
It turns out, that poor review may not be a bad thing!
Bob Bly's monthly newsletter this morning brought the following news from G2 Crowd, 2018 Benchmark Report: Impact of Reviews on B2B Buyers.
Obviously, you're not selling B2B (Business to business) but I expect the concept and the consumer reactions would be much the same for you as a business person marketing to consumers.
Here's what he had to share: (And yes, I know you'd never post any review that wasn't genuine, but the concept still applies.)
***Marketers: think twice before posting bogus glowing reviews***
… (9 comments)
|
|
|
|
Did you just close a tough sale? Did you just list a fantastic home? Did you just close out a record-breaking month?
;)
;)
;)
