Wow... Anna Banana’s challenge this month “ActiveRain August Challenge – Best – Business Practices,” really made me pause and go back to my early experiences as a Realtor®. It’s been an opportunity to revisit my business starting from the beginning.
In 1990 I found myself a single mom and needed to find an occupation and quickly! I knew I was not going to go back to teaching or retail. Armed with a college degree I found I didn’t need many credits to obtain a real estate license so signed up for classes and took my real estate exam as soon as I finished. In 1991 I joined a boutique local firm and jumped in with both feet! In 1995 I joined Coldwell Banker United the best move I ever made!
In my first year I took any open house offered by agents in the office. It enabled me an opportunity to introduce myself to promising buyers. I set goals and always managed to obtain 1, 2 or 3 buyers at each open house. Communication became paramount with each new client and I began to understand some were ready to buy right now and others I needed to incubate.
In 1995 I signed up for the Floyd Wickman course and became a “sweat hog”. Floyd was a mentor I’ll never forget! It was like a light bulb went off! I had so many take aways from his classes but probably one that stuck out the most was “You have to list to last!”
I learned open houses work for finding new sellers as well as buyers. I made a decision to market to my community because it was a geographical area large enough to gain market share and become the trusted Realtor. I only needed to buck heads with the Re/Max agent who also lived there and owned the community! LOL!
It took years but as a friendly competitor we learned there was enough business for both of us and I finally gained the upper hand shortly before she retired.
I can say “I’m the most frequently hired Realtor®” but it doesn’t mean I’m not being bombarded by other agents who want what I have and try to make their mark! I’m a household word in the community and it took time to make that happen. I still do my own open houses in my market area because prospective sellers come in to meet me and see what I’m doing as there is always a buzz about my service and success.
A business practice I learned was blogging for business. I joined Active Rain in 2008 when things were slow and learned way more than I bargained. I’m still learning from the best of the best every day! Barbara Todaro teaches me every day the importance of “market like you mean it.” Michael Jacobs writes the best market reports, Debe Maxwell, CRS offers so many creative ways to present listings and then there's Margaret Rome, Baltimore Maryland always doing business the Rome way!
I understand the importance of going back to update past posts as I’ve been remaking videos of areas due to our new construction and all the new businesses opening. I’m also adding some drone video ... so much to learn...so much to discover..but it’s fun and making a difference in my marketing. It's a on-going business practice that needs constant refinement! Yes my business is like a Timex it still takes a licking but keeps on ticking!
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