This is not an easy question to answer. It
is multi faceted and has many answers.
The first of which I would say is never
quit. Never give up.
Often times people quit working towards a
Goal not knowing how close they are to success with only one or two steps more
they would have succeeded but they lost their steam. So being determined and
never giving up is one of the first attributes towards success.
Now as we have already shared, the theories
here can be applied to almost any business, not just real estate.
The way we go about it can be a little different
for different types of businesses but the theories are all the same. These
theories are meant to get you thinking about the different things you can do
that will help you succeed. Thinking inside and outside the “Box” and spending
the time in doing that will go a long way to making this all work for you.
With real estate (and most other businesses)
it is simply this.
You first need to have as many people as possible knowing what it is that you do! We’ve talked about secret agents and that is only good on TV. This is not good when you are in business. So make sure you have a good data base (Bigger is better here) and make sure they all know what you do for a living.
You first need to have as many people as possible knowing what it is that you do! We’ve talked about secret agents and that is only good on TV. This is not good when you are in business. So make sure you have a good data base (Bigger is better here) and make sure they all know what you do for a living.
Prospecting is a real deal here. You need
to do it weekly if not every day! Arrange to meet with at least three new
people very week, five is better. Do not waste time here. Make sure these
people are potential leads, mutual followers, fans of yours or willing to share
with others what it is that you do. Make sure to do the same for them if they
are in business. Think about Cross-Marketing their business at or with yours?
Ok, so everyone knows… Now what?
To be frank some of your friends and relatives will NOT do business with you!
Why is that? Well some of them won’t want to put business in between a friendship or relationship. Others will not want you to know their inner deeper details such as their finances. There are several reasons.
To be frank some of your friends and relatives will NOT do business with you!
Why is that? Well some of them won’t want to put business in between a friendship or relationship. Others will not want you to know their inner deeper details such as their finances. There are several reasons.
The good news is that some will want to use
you because they simply trust you to do a good job for them. The bottom line
here is do NOT base your business on your family and friends. If you do, you will
eventually go broke and at the very least your business will not grow.
What you do need to do is become famous! I
don’t mean that in a “Hollywood” sort of way! What I mean here is that you need
to meet and get to know as many people as possible. This is where the playing field gets leveled out. I have
seen people move into a new city and community and quickly build a successful
real estate business. How did they do that? The same way you need too!
Ask yourself; how do I meet more people?
How do more people get to meet me? I would start off by looking for Networking
opportunities. It can be as simple as joining a Business Network. If there is
one in your community join it. If it only has 10 people and the same 10 people
at the table every week (or every meeting) get to know them. If it is an open
networking event, even better. Bigger is better!
Learn the proper ways of Networking. Google
it and read about it. There are even books on it. You first need to learn and
practice a 15 to 20 second “elevator speech.” This will be
useful everywhere you go, even on the way to a Doctor appointment. Picture
meeting someone in an elevator. You only have 3 floors to go when the magic
question comes out “What do you do?”
If you cannot answer this quickly and
effectively then you might as well tell them you are retired!
Start with your line of work. Add in why
you are so good in your business. Now I will stop here. Almost all of us hate tooting our own horn. It’s not natural
for us to do this but it is an essential part of any business, so get used to
doing it. Find a way to describe this that you feel comfortable with. After all
you didn’t get into business to be mediocre did you?
Ask yourself what is it that I do that sets
me a-part from others I compete with? It better offer some value and something
the client can’t freely find anywhere else. So think about this for a long
time. Put some muscle into it, but never over-promise!
So rather than just saying I am a REALTOR
(or a – insert title here) you could say something like this:
“I own a business that helps people to buy and sell properties but my specialty is people and when I say that I mean that I always ensure that I save them thousands of dollars, steer them away from bad investments and ensure that their dreams come true for years to come.”
“I own a business that helps people to buy and sell properties but my specialty is people and when I say that I mean that I always ensure that I save them thousands of dollars, steer them away from bad investments and ensure that their dreams come true for years to come.”
You see one of the problems we all face is
that we have competition. Some more than others. For example in the Calgary
real estate market you have more competition than most businesses will ever
face in their lifetime. So how do you effectively deal with that?
One thing you can do, and do it right now
is to make yourself “unique.” In marketing terms this is called a USP or
“Unique Selling Proposition.” Look everywhere at larger successful businesses
that know how to market themselves and you will see it and you will need this
to be successful too or you will just be one of those…
What
makes you different than your competition? You need
to be asking yourself this until the day you retire and you better have a good
answer. Do not be corny! Too many are and while they may be memorable in most cases
they will not be wealthy I can assure you of that.
So right now, write this down and make sure
to re-visit it often – What makes me
different? What can I offer others that results in their problems being solved?
When I look in newspapers and magazines and
see all the real estate ads out there from hundreds and thousands of realtors,
by the end of it all I can say I rarely see one stick out in the crowd.
Basically unless they have a picture of the house I want to buy they have wasted
all of their money by being in that magazine. Its like a herd of cattle, they
are all the same color to me, they follow each other around and they all make
the same noise – Mooo!
Do you think Wal-Mart became the largest
retailer in the world by making the same noise as Target or Costco or (insert
all the others here). No! They built a “Unique” reason for people to do
business with them! What was that?
Well they constantly advertise price drops.
They specialize in what the largest sector of the market needs from engine oil
to groceries and clothing. It goes on and on. Who is their market is it the
upscale 6 or 7 digit income earners? No, it’s the lower income and middle
class.
They have zero’d in on a market and they
farmed it just like the rest of us should be doing. In fact in one area that
they have zero’d in on is RVers. I say this because as I write this I am
sitting in my motorhome. Almost every Wal-Mart in North America let’s RVers
camp over night in their parking lots! Why? Because they know that before they
go to bed at night they will buy groceries and if they don’t they will be going
into the store in the morning before they hit the road. RVer’s need supplies on
a regular basis because their fridges are small and so are their rigs.
RVing is a huge industry, especially in the
USA. Every RV out there has at least two people in it. Just one more way to
make Wal-Marts unique! They are even listed in camping books and on-line Apps
so that an RVer can come off the freeway and get some sleep when they are on
the road. That is just one example of marketing in a unique way and there are
thousands of others.
The other thing that this does for Wal-Mart
is that it builds loyalty. I have spoken to hundred’s of RVers. Some are
weekenders, others are Snow Birds and others live full time in their RVs. They
all have one thing in common and that is their loyalty to Wal-Mart! They share
this with other RVers and they talk about it on their websites and Blogs.
Wouldn’t you like to have a few thousand (insert million) talking favorably
about you and your business?
So what makes you and your business unique?
Think about it for 30 minutes and write
down all the reasons. Take the best ones and start incorporating them into your
elevator speech. Once you have good ones you can use them in other areas of
your marketing too. This is something that is a basic requirement for any
business to be successful and with all the competition in real estate it is
more than a requirement for your business.
Once you have done this add these things
into the culture of your business and make sure that it happens. There is
nothing worse than false advertising and nothing will kill a business faster.
Be careful of “corny clichés!”
My business coach had a great one when he
first got into business and I’ll share it with you here. He hired a
photographer to take a picture of him. He
was standing in the middle of a crop field on someone’s farm. He added this
to his marketing it was in all of his ads.
What did the caption read? “Joe
Smith, Outstanding in His Field.”
That may have been a good one if he was
advertising his farm or his fertilizer business but as a Realtor – not good. It
was corny enough that some people would remember it. But it had no “call to
action” and it had no “USP” to compel me or anyone else to use his services.
Those ads cost him a lot of money and he may as well have just flushed a few
thousand dollars down his toilet.
I made the same mistakes before I had any
training. I shudder to think what else I could have done with that money. Think
about it. Are you rich enough to do this?
Why would any of us advertise our
businesses in this way if we knew ahead of time it does not work? Trust me, “It
does not work!” If you continue to do this, please just write me some cheques
for the same amount of money for my vacation fund and save yourself the hassle
of spending time with your advertising Reps! You will get the same results!
Here’s another truth you need to hear.
Did you know that statistically a good 99% of people who see your ad with a home’s photo do not buy the first home that they see?
Did you know that statistically a good 99% of people who see your ad with a home’s photo do not buy the first home that they see?
It is a proven fact. But when it happens to
you and it will if you last long enough, be thankful, as they are very rare. So
what can you do about this?
First lets understand why we place ads in
the paper and online with a picture of a home. We are trained to do this. Our
Sellers expect (or demand) that you do this.
That’s why we do it. After all, all of the
other Realtors out there do it so it must be right. It must be how they make
their money - right?
I am not telling you to stop doing this. I
am not saying that at all. In fact continue to do this. Do it in more than the
newspaper. Do it on Kijiji or Craigslist whatever works in your area.
What I am saying is be realistic. Know that this is not how you are going to make a lot of money. It may sell the home, it may not? What it does do for you is show that you are actually a Realtor with a home for sale – end.
What I am saying is be realistic. Know that this is not how you are going to make a lot of money. It may sell the home, it may not? What it does do for you is show that you are actually a Realtor with a home for sale – end.
If it sells then great. It is not how you
build a business.
We must all recognize that people “need a reason” to do business with “you”
versus any of the “other Realtors” out there, or, even worse yet “doing nothing at all!”
Did you get that? Read it over again and
maybe a third time!
A reason to do business with you! It is
that simple!
Buying a home is an emotional experience.
Just like buying a car is an emotional experience.
Most people buy with emotion and later justify it with logic.
Just like buying a car is an emotional experience.
Most people buy with emotion and later justify it with logic.
Have you ever heard a friend talk about
their new car?
“Yeah I didn’t really need a Corvette but you know I thought having a convertible in the summer would be nice and besides having this thing just made me fell a bit younger or added some fun to our Sundays and I needed a new car sooner or later anyhow.”
They might add in some other logic like “when I go to sell it, it will be worth more than that VW I was going to buy, the re-sale values are better.” Another one would be “They’ve really improved the gas mileage on those corvettes and it really wasn’t much worse than the Impala so I decided to get it instead.”
“Yeah I didn’t really need a Corvette but you know I thought having a convertible in the summer would be nice and besides having this thing just made me fell a bit younger or added some fun to our Sundays and I needed a new car sooner or later anyhow.”
They might add in some other logic like “when I go to sell it, it will be worth more than that VW I was going to buy, the re-sale values are better.” Another one would be “They’ve really improved the gas mileage on those corvettes and it really wasn’t much worse than the Impala so I decided to get it instead.”
·
Did he or she buy that
convertible to drive it to work and back? No!
·
Did it really make sense to buy
an $80K convertible to drive it back and forth to work? No!
·
Did it make them feel good to
drive a performance car that they had dreamed about since they were 16 years
old? Yes!
It is all about the emotion!
They back up the emotional buying decision later on by trying to add some logic to it so that they feel better about it. This is called “justification.”
They back up the emotional buying decision later on by trying to add some logic to it so that they feel better about it. This is called “justification.”
“After all… I needed a new car sooner or later and I may as well
have some fun.”
So if we know that for most people their
buying decisions are driven by emotion we must learn to deal with that. If that
is the trigger then how do we activate it?
Having said all this you are going to run
into one other type. They are often engineers or accountants. They will try and
keep their emotion out of every buying decision. They will go straight to
justification and let me tell you this; know that for them it is all about the
numbers.
Does it make sense? Does it add up? Now
they may not be in the profession of an accountant or an engineer. They may be
in some other type of business. But watch for this. Learn about your potential
client early on and do not be afraid to ask them what they do for a living in
your conversation it will help you to switch modes.
If they think like an accountant or
engineer get your numbers ready!
Make sure you have lots of data and statistics for them. Show them that you too are in the numbers game and understand this type of logic.
Make sure you have lots of data and statistics for them. Show them that you too are in the numbers game and understand this type of logic.
After all you are. You too need to know the
values, the stats and the numbers. Have this ready for your presentation
whether they are buyers or sellers.
Having gone off track here a little lets
get back to the ads and why people should do business with you.
If you are new to the business you are
going to need to be relying on your brokerage. I used to call this my or “our
team of Realtors.” Find out what kind of stats your brokerage has. How many
homes did they sell last year, how many transactions did they complete. Does
your team offer other services, what are they? Who are the people on your team?
Use the power of this and it will amaze you.
You want this power to amaze the client
too. One way is to find out how many cumulative years these Realtors have been
in the business. Add it all up so that in your presentation you can honestly
say that together we have 116 years of Real Estate experience. How long has
your brokerage been in business? What about your Broker or your Manager. I even
use to put their pictures in my presentation. Add in how many homes your Team
bought & sold last year. Be Bold!
My presentations were on Power Point. You
may want to consider this. Consider the different types of personalities you
will be facing for clients and try to answer their questions before they even
ask them. Know your stuff. When you
know your stuff a natural by-product is confidence and they will see this in
you and it is very important.
Do not be cocky but know your stuff. It’s
like an animal smelling fresh meat. They will see it in you and smell it from a
hundred yards away. That’s a good thing!
On a piece of paper write down all your
experience, training and attributes from over the years. You might be amazed at
how some of this can be related to running a real estate business. Include
those items in your presentation because they do want to know why they should
do business with you.
Ask
yourself - Why
should they trust me with their investment?
Most realtors will not be able to properly
deal with this one so make sure you do it is an easy way to win. “What
experience do you have in advertising (or marketing)?
Now this is very important, as I personally
believe this is very much your main job. Why or better yet… “How”
are you going to get my home sold?
Most agents are going to say things like we
will advertise it in our local paper, add it to our website, put it in a flyer,
add it to the company website, put it on MLS, put a sign in the front yard and
add it to Kijiji (or Craigslist). Very few will have anything else.
What the Realtor is saying to the Client
is: We
are going to do what all the other Realtors do and then we are going to pray
that it sells!
When you think about it, its sort of funny!
Nothing that they are doing will be any thing different than what the other 5200 other Realtors are going to do! So why would you pick me?
Nothing that they are doing will be any thing different than what the other 5200 other Realtors are going to do! So why would you pick me?
As a seller I want to know you are going to
get the job done for me when I need it done and at the right price! So far it
sounds to me like this is just another realtor wanting my money to go on a
fishing trip!
As a true professional who will stand out
in the crowd of that pool of 5200 realtors you need to do something different,
something meaningful and you also need to wow your client in your presentation
or they are likely going to call someone else.
How do you wow them?
You must understand that these people have
the “pick of the litter” and that we are just another one in that litter! You
have the pick of just one and there is power in numbers. In other words until
you wow the client enough they have the power!
You cannot misrepresent yourself, you must
be honest and you must carry out everything that you say you will do. In our
company that is a basic rule. So be prepared and do not over-promise in your
desperation to win.
I always went about it this way,
under-promise and over-deliver.
Having said that the under-promise part must be strong enough to win the business but in my delivery I did more than just that. I went beyond the service I promised and it almost always paid me back in either future business from them personally or referrals to others that they knew. So we must impress them some way, some how all through out the sales cycle until after the job is done and perhaps even a little bit farther.
Having said that the under-promise part must be strong enough to win the business but in my delivery I did more than just that. I went beyond the service I promised and it almost always paid me back in either future business from them personally or referrals to others that they knew. So we must impress them some way, some how all through out the sales cycle until after the job is done and perhaps even a little bit farther.
So keep asking yourself what it is that you
do different, that is of value and makes you stand out in the crowd of hungry
agents looking for this client’s business? Yes, I keep repeating this and
always will.
If I owned a million dollar home, I would
expect you would go the extra mile. If I understood business I would expect you
to do certain things. If I were smart I would want to know what kind of
exposure my listing was going to get? If I were an analytical person I would
want some stats and numbers on all of this to back it up.
You need to know numbers for things like
what percentage of homes actually sell in this market? What is the average
selling time in this area (number of days)? What is the average selling price,
what is the average list to sales price ratio (%) in other words how much are
homes selling for versus their list price and how long will this stressful time
take you so I can move on?
Show
them you know the business and market inside and out!
Here’s a piece of information for you and
perhaps you have never heard this? Homes Sell Homes! That simply means…
Realtors do not sell homes. The home sells itself! But how does that work?
First off if the Realtor doesn’t sell the
home then why do people need a Realtor? The answer is that Realtors market the
home. If a Buyer views it, wants to buy it and makes an offer then the Realtor’s
role changes from marketer to one of negotiator, representative and advisor
(for the sellers).
You might be thinking so if homes sell the
homes then how do we do that? It’s easy you must simply get the potential buyers into the
inside of the home! You see homes are like people; its what’s inside that counts!
Remember
this and share it all with your sellers when you meet them.
So what we are saying is that Realtors do
not sell homes and advertisements do not sell homes. If that is true (and it
is) then what this is saying is that the ad is simply the bait on the hook to encourage potential (hopefully qualified)
buyers to come “inside” the home. That’s where the sales process really starts,
inside the home.
Lets break this down a bit. First of all I
have never sold a home to anyone who did not want to buy one in the first
place. What that means is that the buyers have already made a decision that
they are interested in buying of they can find a home that suits their needs,
wants and desires. How does that happen?
Buyers in today’s world are more likely to
start their search on-line. In fact some stats indicate that over 92% of buyers
start there first. They use this search for two things. It’s a place to find a
realtor to represent them and it’s the place where they find the homes they
think they might want to view.
So you might be asking then why do we even
advertise in a newspaper? True newspaper ads are not what they used to be but
the real question here should be what should we be doing with our newspaper
ads? We will get back to this.
Here’s another not so well known fact that
has statistical proof. Almost all homes that the buyer views first, (even
though they thought they might like it) are not the home they buy. Lets go over
that again. When a Buyer calls and says, “I want to go see this home!” Know
that the chances of them buying the first home that they see are very, very
low. Why do you need to know this?
It sounds like a bad thing right? Well it’s actually an opportunity for you. Show them you know what you are doing, get to know them and get to know more about what they are looking for and the list goes on. Build that relationship and solidify the relationship so that you can help them reach their dream, which is find that home!
It sounds like a bad thing right? Well it’s actually an opportunity for you. Show them you know what you are doing, get to know them and get to know more about what they are looking for and the list goes on. Build that relationship and solidify the relationship so that you can help them reach their dream, which is find that home!
So what does this mean for our advertising?
If they don’t normally buy that first home that they call you on then what?
Again this sounds like a bad thing it is not. In fact most bad things are
actually opportunities in disguise and here’s your opportunity!
“Make the ad different than all the other ads out
there!”
Now you are probably confused and wondering
what I’m talking about and why?
If we know that the majority of buyers who
see this new home on the market first won’t buy it then it means that other
buyers who have seen other homes first are likely to be one of the people to
make the offer and purchase of this home. Get it?
It means that Mr. & Mrs. Smith who
called you last night after seeing the ad for that home want to buy, and after
seeing it they want to look at other homes. It means that someone else’s client
is going to be the buyer of that home. Some other realtor is going to have a
client who has already seen a few homes and decides your new listing is the one
they want to buy. Great!
Wait a minute! That’s good, but it’s not
great!
You see one of the ways to make more money in this business is to double end your listings. It’s almost rare in some markets but it is not impossible in any market unless forbidden by law or policy. Just double end a few homes a year and see what it does to your income.
You see one of the ways to make more money in this business is to double end your listings. It’s almost rare in some markets but it is not impossible in any market unless forbidden by law or policy. Just double end a few homes a year and see what it does to your income.
So ask yourself why did the buyer have a
different realtor than me? Some buyers call the Listing Realtor to see a home
and that may as well be you, right?
When you get these calls, ask and ensure
that they are not working with another realtor. I have seen this happen way too
often. The realtor is excited they take them and show them the home. Then the
bottom falls out and depression sets in when the potential buyer says to them
afterwards, “well let me think about it
and Ill talk it over with my realtor!” Don’t let this happen to you!
Some people actually think this was your
job to do, as they are not educated on how the system works or their realtor
was too busy (some are lazy too) to take them.
Ok, here we go, back to the advertisement
again.
If the advertisement is the so-called bait
on the hook, how do we sweeten it up a bit to catch more of what we are after?
In this situation you already have the
seller. You have their home listed for sale and your job is to coordinate
showings, keep the seller happy with information and reports of what’s
happening on a regular basis and even give them advice of what to do with their
home to make it show and therefore sell better. The point here is you have the
seller so what you need is a buyer!
If you have the seller and you need a buyer
then what makes sense? It seems to me that you have to appeal to the wants and
needs of as many buyers as possible.
Here’s where the rubber hits the road!
TIP:
Just a quick one here. If you are selling condos or even some homes that have less than 2 bedrooms do not advertise that it has one bedroom. In fact if you have a detached home or duplex listed with less than 3 bedrooms I probably wouldn’t advertise that either. Reason: All of your marketing should be geared to make your phone ring. If you eliminate a big portion of the buying consumer with your ads they are not going to phone you. Once they phone you and find out there are not enough bedrooms you will have a chance in the conversation to share with them that you have access to every home on the market. All of your ads should be geared to make your phone ring from as many people as possible!
Just a quick one here. If you are selling condos or even some homes that have less than 2 bedrooms do not advertise that it has one bedroom. In fact if you have a detached home or duplex listed with less than 3 bedrooms I probably wouldn’t advertise that either. Reason: All of your marketing should be geared to make your phone ring. If you eliminate a big portion of the buying consumer with your ads they are not going to phone you. Once they phone you and find out there are not enough bedrooms you will have a chance in the conversation to share with them that you have access to every home on the market. All of your ads should be geared to make your phone ring from as many people as possible!
WIFM
Here’s another acronym you need to know and
always remember. WIFM is not a radio station!
“What’s
In It For Me.”
If you can answer that every time in most everything you do and answer it… well you will have more business. When you think of marketing, advertising and your presentations remember this (WIFM) and tie it in with what we previously talked about your USP (Unique selling Proposition).
If you can answer that every time in most everything you do and answer it… well you will have more business. When you think of marketing, advertising and your presentations remember this (WIFM) and tie it in with what we previously talked about your USP (Unique selling Proposition).
Lets face it, if there is nothing in it for
me then why should I do business with you?
I probably won’t do business with you
without this answered. In fact you may have all this put together but if you do
not communicate it well you may as well not even meet with them or advertise at
all. It’s a waste of everyone’s time and your money!
First off, we know that no one wants to
meet with a sales person until they absolutely have too. I have been in sales
for years and I hate sales people just about as bad as anyone. Why is that?
Because we have all had bad experiences
with them. Even if it was five years ago when a shoe salesman pressured the
heck out of me, it remains fresh in my mind all these years later. I do not
want their help until I see a shoe I like well enough to try it on. It’s the
same with car sales people and it’s the same in real estate!
This becomes important when you think about
it. There are a whole bunch of people out there that are potential customers
and/or buyers or sellers that haven’t put their hands up yet - to say I need a
Realtor! Once you understand this then it become your job to get them to notice
you, notice that you are different and to show that you have something that
answers their question “What’s In It For
Me?”
If you like us in our market area… have
competitors numbering over 5,000 then you better be doing a very good job of
singling yourself out of the clutter of this competition. Here’s a more
positive way to think about this; How many potential clients are out there that
have not raised their hands yet and how does one get them to call me before
they call anyone else (or worse do nothing). Notice that?
There are two subjects here.
First one; Call me before anyone else and Second; or do nothing!
First one; Call me before anyone else and Second; or do nothing!
You see in any given family every three to
seven years someone is thinking about buying or selling a home. Some of them
act fairly quickly due to desire, need or circumstances. Others act slower due
to analytics, less desire or circumstances. They may not be ready to act for 6
or even 12 months for various reasons. That does not mean you don’t want to
meet them.
In fact the opposite is true, you do want
to meet them even before they think they are ready to meet you. It’s called filling
the sales pipeline. Thinking
this way will help you to build future
business and help you to avoid the ups and downs of commissioned sales income. (Those
awful months where you make no money but were relying on it or needed it to buy
groceries!).
Some people think about moving before they
act (for a long, long time). They either put off the hassle or they just do not
get around to it for some reason. If you show them how easy it can be, if you
help them to find a home they can not resist or perhaps help them to get
financially qualified (because they have too much debt right now) you have
answered one or more of their questions (problem solving their issues) in
regards to what’s in it for me?
You see your services should include more
than just a Realtor. Who do you know and better yet, whom should you know that
you could trust to help your clients?
Do you know a handful of trustworthy
hardworking Mortgage Brokers and or Bank Lenders? Do you know people in the
Financial Investment fields? How about someone who works to help people
eliminate debt and create a positive cash flowing budget? The list goes on to
include good Home Inspectors, Renovation Experts and so on. Think about it. Who
do your Buyers and Sellers need to know?
Who can help them (other than you) reach
their goals? They must be hardworking trustworthy business people so that you
do not face embarrassment, which will ultimately cost you business, never mind
what it will do to you mentally. Surround
yourself with good people in these areas and get to know them. More on this
later.
Where
am I going with this?
Back to the fact you need to stand out from the crowd of your competitors. Real Estate is one of the best examples of this. Most other businesses do not face this type of huge competition. If you are reading this (owning another business) know that you can use all of this as an awesome learning experience to implement into your business as well. It will pay you dividends down the road, I promise!
Back to the fact you need to stand out from the crowd of your competitors. Real Estate is one of the best examples of this. Most other businesses do not face this type of huge competition. If you are reading this (owning another business) know that you can use all of this as an awesome learning experience to implement into your business as well. It will pay you dividends down the road, I promise!
So if we have all these extra services and
things to answer the what’s in it for me issue what do we do about it? First
off we need to communicate it early. That means it needs to somehow flow into
your marketing and your advertising, your elevator speech, your presentations
and your conversations. Make sure people know that you are more than just
another Realtor! That is a sign of true professionalism.
If I
were to write an advertisement I would sit down and think about a few things
that I need to answer in that ad.
1.
What am I selling? A product
(home), a Service or… Both or more?
2.
Is it just a home - or do I
have other attributes to use to attract clients?
3.
The Headline – This is the eye
catcher and most likely the most important part of your ad. What should it say?
Does it communicate value (I don’t mean cheapening yourself by saving them
money off your fees); does it communicate answers to their problems? Does it
stand out in the clutter of other ads and does it do the job both mentally
& psychologically?
4.
The Body of the ad – Is it
clear, easy to read and….
5.
Do not ever waste your time
posting an ad anywhere without at least one related photo or graphic. What
should I use?
6.
Benefits Sell – Features tell.
This part is important. Granite counters do not sell a home. Being on a park, near transit or close to a school will help sell a home. Living in the country vs. hardwood floors. Determine what the best benefits are of the product you are selling. The rest can be communicated later.
This part is important. Granite counters do not sell a home. Being on a park, near transit or close to a school will help sell a home. Living in the country vs. hardwood floors. Determine what the best benefits are of the product you are selling. The rest can be communicated later.
7.
A Call to Action – Too many ads
do not have this. You need to have at least one if not two “Calls to Action.”
Sometimes people won’t act with out being reminded of it – Call Me Now! – Free
Easy to Get Information Without Talking to a Realtor! (More on this topic
another time).
8.
Similar to WIFM – Why should I
contact you? Answer this question in all ads.
9.
A USP – What makes you
different? Another reason to call you?
10. Black & White or Color – Some times Black & White can work
well.
11. What else makes your ad stand out? Graphics, Stars, Mountains what
can you think of adding in to make the ad POP!
These are just some of things that you can
think about and utilize to make your ads better. There are other considerations
as well but this article is not meant to make you an advertising expert.
This article is meant to draw your
attention to the idea that there is much that you can learn and do to make
yourself better than your competition and help your business to earn more money
with happier clients along the way.
Other considerations can include placement
of an ad. Do you know where in a newspaper to place your ad to gain more
exposure? What part of a page, which page, what colors work best and so on?
What time of day should you place on-line
ads and which days work best to get you the most exposure? Should you pay for
online ads using paid for services like pay
to click or other similar services?
How does Face Book, Twitter, LinkedIn and
Google Plus fit into your marketing strategy or does it at all? How to use
these technologies best and when to post on them?
The best part about this is that in today’s
world we have a lot more opportunities to market and advertise both our
products (homes) and our services. Some of it is even free. In years gone by
advertising cost a fortune and everyone was advertising in the same places. In
saying this I want you to be enthused and energetic about how you can implement
these opportunities.
Remember to always test and measure every
piece of your marketing & advertising. This will ensure you are not wasting
your time and more importantly your money.
Like my others this article is not meant to
be an all-inclusive means to “Get More Clients” or make you an expert. It is
meant to get you thinking about what you can do to;
·
Separate yourself from the
clutter of the competition,
·
Get your phone to ring more
often,
·
Help build your pipeline to be
sustainable for the future,
·
Build your data-base and increase
your sphere of influence,
·
Get you thinking about how you
can answer the questions clients all have,
·
Learn some basics on being
better than 80% of your competitors, (top 20%),
·
Instill in your mind that you
need to learn more!
I am a strong believer in that if you own a
business and you are not moving forward then you are moving backward. This is
very true in today’s world of information and business. So having said that it
sounds daunting but let this encourage you!
There are many things one can easily do to
move forward and increase the efficiency of your business allowing you to have
more free time and make more money as well.
For my Team Members (staff) we can and do
hold courses in-house on many of the topics I will cover. Simply ask me and we
can meet to discuss topics more in-depth or if there is enough interest develop
a new course.
You can buy some excellent books on
business and marketing and I as a reader myself encourage this. It is an easy
affordable way to learn what strategies have worked for others. Most businesses
are very similar and you have heard that from me before. You can learn from
others in other businesses and apply it in your business. Just remember (I’ll
always repeat this) measure and track everything you do to see if it is
working, to see if its making you money or worse yet to see if its losing you
money (in labor, time or cash).
Another thing you can do is take courses.
Often times you will see courses offered for adult learning in the evenings.
Universities, colleges and others who are experts in their field will be
available to teach these subjects and marketing is one you need to know. After
all it is your main task in your business!
Don’t forget to add your completed
education into your Resume. Put it in your presentation, perhaps your ads and
certainly your LinkedIn profile!
I once knew a man who was in manufacturing.
This meant that his business was B to B (business to business) meaning his
clients were other businesses versus the general buying public. This man
inherited his business. It was already established. There were plenty of
clients. He readily admitted to me he knew nothing about sales or marketing and
he didn’t want to either (he was a very busy man). He had sales people in-house
that would call clients and I hope other businesses to generate more sales.
Most of the clients were simply repeat clients from years gone by. It seemed
like a gold mine.
My question was; what if something changed
in this business? What if this happened and he as the CEO knew nothing about
sales or marketing which really was the backbone of his enterprise (and most
any other business). Its like if I don’t know about it, how can it hurt me if I
am oblivious!
I often thought and still do; what if another business came out with
another technology or better widget maybe for even less money? What if the
competition came out with another add-on service or something that made them
more valuable in the market place?
If you are managing a business (or the CEO)
you better know what to do and how to steer the ship. You better understand
what it is that your sales staff does and think about how to make it even
better or more efficient. You better be able to recognize issues before you
start losing money or sales. What if your oldest and best sales person (I hope
this never happens) got killed on the weekend in a car crash?
In other words if you don’t understand this
stuff, how each department works, how to leverage the systems to make them even
better what will you do when change happens and trust me in today’s world it is
only a matter of time until change happens even with the best of the best!
You need to be ahead of the curve!
I fear that if and when this happens it
will either cost their business a ton of money (because of the time it will
take to first recognize it) then change or adapt to it. If they don’t fail and
go bankrupt, then how many long time clients will they lose in the process?
In situations like this (when they occur)
it takes a lot of money and time to win clients back, if you ever get them back
at all. You do not want this to happen to you. It is hard enough to build a
business (time and lots of money) never mind re-build one that was once
successful but didn’t keep up due to a lack of foresight or leadership and
proper management. Management needs to be involved in all of the processes;
management needs to understand all of the processes.
You
are the CEO of your business.
No matter how big or small it is, you are the CEO. In saying this you need to understand the core of your business and part of that for most of you (especially Realtors) is marketing and advertising.
No matter how big or small it is, you are the CEO. In saying this you need to understand the core of your business and part of that for most of you (especially Realtors) is marketing and advertising.
Take
advantage of learning.
This is an investment in YOU. Not just financially but it is an investment in the utilization of your time too. Proper investments pay back with a Return (ROI).
This is an investment in YOU. Not just financially but it is an investment in the utilization of your time too. Proper investments pay back with a Return (ROI).
Learning the proper things like this topic
will pay you back in spades. So take advantage of it and build it into your
schedule or you will get too busy working in your business to work on
the business.
After you learn it, you must take the time
to implement
it. This is the Action stage and it is required. It takes time but
again it is an investment in you and your business.
I am assuming here (dangerous to do, I
know) that someone else is relying on you. For some of you it is your spouse
and family. For others it may be your Mortgage Company or lender. For all of
you, you need to be able to rely on yourself!
In order to do this in our busy world we
need to be “intentional.”
You will get sick of me repeating much of the things I repeat. You need to hear much of what I repeat over and over again until it becomes real in your mind and in your world. I wouldn’t be wasting my time here (I don’t get paid for this) if I did not believe that these things work and that they are requirements for you to survive in business.
You will get sick of me repeating much of the things I repeat. You need to hear much of what I repeat over and over again until it becomes real in your mind and in your world. I wouldn’t be wasting my time here (I don’t get paid for this) if I did not believe that these things work and that they are requirements for you to survive in business.
Actually I care. Even for those reading
this that I have never met, I care. Why is that?
Because I have seen it all too many times
and it is very painful when people and their businesses fail. It pains me to
think that if they only knew this or they only did that… It wouldn’t have
happened?
So before you fail and your business dies,
do yourself a favor every year (or quarter) and do an autopsy on it. Tear it
apart and see where you are wasting time and money and find out what you need
to learn to make it work better. I promise you that in most cases the hardest
part is doing the autopsy. The actual part of changing and implementing new
things is often easy and becomes a habit and automatic later on. So do this and
systemize it as best you can.
Learn
to include Learning in your schedule. Take courses and read books. Talk to the
others that have gone before you and blazed the trails of success.
Enough said for one article. I have gone on
long enough. There is a lot here, a lot to perhaps think about and learn, a lot
to implement for some of you.
The good news is that if you have read this
far along you have taken a step forward and you will have moved your business
forward to becoming more productive and efficient. Gaining more Clients is not
a simple topic. This is the tip of the iceberg. So lets start doing what we
have learned and make the time to make it happen.
That all means more time for yourself and
your family and more income.
Now, read this over one more time, take a
pad of paper and a pen and make notes of what you are going to do and then do
it.
This is all about you being able to MAKE it a GREAT Day!
This is all about you being able to MAKE it a GREAT Day!
