|
|
|
|
|
These articles below are meant to help the REALTOR®, Licensed Real Estate Sales Agent, Broker and others when buying, selling, listing,
showing, or simply managing your real estate career, buyers and sellers. You can find helpful tips on just about anything here. Including technology,
the internet, niche marketing suggestions, current techniques, products, information, what others find useful or simply thoughts on real estate industry
related topics.
Quick Link's To A Specific Article
Starting Out In Your Real Estate Career
Find out who you are and how you sell yourself. When you start out in selling real estate it can be overwhelming to suddenly realize you must
rely entirely on yourself to generate leads and close deals. Welcome to world of commission only. A great place to start is to find out what
type of salesperson you are. There are many books out there that claim to do just that, but, you may find it more valuable (and less costly) to
simply ask those who know you. Ask this person how you may possibly improve the customer/agent relationship or communication role.
Remember, constructive criticism is least welcomed from those who need it most. Perhaps even role play a sales pitch with someone. Ask
them to make it difficult for you, that's when your true selling ability will shine.
Gather information. Many times, one will be surprised at just how many potential customers one can accumulate by listing those who they
know or know of. Take some time to create a database of sort that you can compile potential customers in. If when contacting them, also
ask if they know of someone who may be looking to buy or sell real estate and get that persons contact information. You would also now
have a solid customer base to refer and add to as your career progresses.
Select a specialty area. This can be pretty easy, but again takes some effort on your part. A specialty area in real estate may be something
like commercial real estate, condos, new homes, or even industrial. It may also be a geographical area or town. This advertising process
stems from the idea of starting small, which, has worked time and time again. Let it be know to anyone and everyone you are the one
contact when working in this area.
Be persistent but acknowledge such. Everyone knows sales agents can be overwhelming to try and make a sale. When being
persistent (ie. calling, emailing, etc) let them know that you know you may be bothering them. This often makes the person realize
that you have a good understanding of them and the situation. It also may provide a more personable tone that may develop into a
trusting relationship.
Learn the difference between types of leads. A good measure to this would be the time in which the customer plans to purchase.
Often you see other real estate professionals do just this using a time table. For example, 1-3 months is HOT, 3-6 months would
be WARM, 6 months on would be COLD.
Know your listings. You will receive a call in the middle of your dinner asking about MLS number XXXXXX. Be ready to supply
this information and answer all possible questions about the property.
Get your name out there. Find whatever possible means within your budget to get noticed. But remember, it's not you your selling
it's the real estate.
Agent Websites - What Works and What Doesn't?
As we expected, real estate has jumped on technology. To go straight to it, what works and what doesn't? We have see everything from
ones own blog to discussion board, to cell messaging, and more. When trying to succeed online, the first thing you must do is determine
what you want to do. Is it a specific real estate market your after, or only home buyers, or is it a general market approach. Once you
determine your objective, you can begin to develop a strategy.
Many companies will promise leads, claim to get you the highest search rankings, etc. Using statistics that leave you in a can't lose astonishment.
Please, don't waste your hard earned money. We know of to many potential home buyers that signed up with several of the top online
companies to help them with their home search (finding an agent, etc). They ended receiving almost 100 e-mails a day each with about
50 agents climbing all over each other. They quickly learned what it meant to Opt-Out in an attempt to reclaim their inbox.
What buyers care about is the real estate. What sellers care about is getting an offer. Then, the most important factor is getting the listing out.
Did you know that the average online home buyer will wait no more than 6 seconds for that listing to appear. If it doesn't they close and
move on, possibly to another site entirely. To help avoid this, stay away from flash. It serves no SEO (Search Engine Optimization) purpose, is
slow to load even medium sized applications, and some visitors don't even have it downloaded to view it. Avoid ads and keep things simple.
In many cases, agents and brokers would likely receive better Search Engine rankings by placing themselves online. The reason is many sites
today are from the same few companies using the same template. The color's, links, your name and contact info may be different but the
code is basically the same. Give your listing the attention it deserves. Use the listing to sell itself, not so much the tools. As with a site that
requires the visitor (your potential buyer) to sign up and receive and view the listing, we estimate that more than half of your visitors leave
your site at that point not to return again.
Online home buyers love information. However, the task here is to get them to contact you without requiring it. Our take on this is, give buyers
and sellers the information. The more free information you provide on your site (w/out signing up) the more they come and return. They will
remember you and when ready will contact you. If not, your visitors may likely go elsewhere.
Getting A Buyer's or Seller's Information Online
Often, we hear of many agents asking how to to get your visitor's information online. This can be tricky, but with the right tone and structure
it will eliminate a few variables that often contribute to the exiting visitor. Your visitor is cautious. He/She has an online guard to protect
themselves and their interests. What makes you provide your information to a website? We bet there are several factors that you may not even
consider that runs through your mind in your decision to provide information.
Several factors that contribute to the decision of providing information are;
- Security, state clearly, close to the form in which the visitor will fill out what you do with their information. Explain what will happen once they provide
information to you. Be friendly, if you acknowledge that you are aware of their fears, this could help break down that guard.
- Create something they must have, not just something they might like. Take for example two scenerios, "Learn More About This Property". Then,
"Send ALL Information on This Property". Which of the two seem more informative and clearly stated?
- Always try and provide more than what a visitor expects (but don't go overboard).
- Be personable. Nothing pushes people away more than one who is not. Add a freindly note to the footer of your emails. Add a freindly note after
they comple the contact form.
Cost Effective Real Estate Marketing
You can have the most up to date services and features, the most educated and talented staff, and even years of related skills, but if you can't market
this effectively, you don't have anything. One of the most frequent questions asked, "How do I market effectively?" The answer is not the same for
everyone or every realty. One first must learn how to market before they can market their services.
People tend to confuse "marketing" and "advertising". Marketing is the process of informing your potential customers about your products or services,
and finding ways to establish a keep a client base. Your market is the specific group of people that consume your product or utilize your
service.
Advertising refers to the various media used to convey your message, such as a printed ad, radio, a website, television. A good example of agent
advertising is what is called a Realty Sticker™. These are a great, cost effective way for agents to get noticed in their farming territory. To
learn more, visit www.RealtySticker.com.
A better understanding of what works for you and your realty is often gained from the research. The longer you research your market, your
product, and the competition, the more comfortable you should become in developing your own strategy. Successful marketing and promotion
will start to happen as you develop your communication and personal skills. Which, is what will play a vert important role in your success
level.
The First Steps in a Marketing Plan:
- Find out who your market really is
Who, what, and where. For example; age, population, demographics, family size, income, renters, etc. A common guide is, the more narrow
the market segment you can withdraw, the higher your marketing efforts will pay off.
- Develop a marketing plan
A marketing plan is a map of your marketing ideas. Many costly mistakes can be avoided by not skipping this important step. Your marketing
plan should encompass three major components: The status of your current and future market, product/service knowledge, and competition.
Once you establish these, your off to a good start in your real estate career. Just be sure to include a plan for a shifting real estate market. This
will help you stay on top of stiff competition if things get a little rough.
Text here
Text here
Text here
Text here
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Automatic notification of your desired real estate listing. Be the first with MLSalert™. Receive immediate notification to your email, cell phone, PDA, or other device. Sign up is easy, fast and safe with our No Spam Promise. Cancel anytime.
Sign up with MLSalert™
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MLSdetails™ is a FREE directory that allows REALTORS®, real estate agents and brokers to place their listings online and reach more home buyers. You also receive your own web page to showcase your listings, provide contact information and more. You have complete control over your listings information.
Some of the technology used is automatic flyer creation, Google® Maps, contact forms, listing notification an signup, advanced searching such as zip code & town, data feeds, driving directions, photos, links to your website, and much more. Placing your listings will also help improve your search engine rankings!
Enjoy, it's free. Place your listings now.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
