There is no question that technology has become a driving force in the real estate industry. Not only are you required to build a strong online presence, but the increasing demands on you as a broker have likely caused you to turn to automation tools in order to manage your client data, and your to-do list. Marketing automation in real estate brokerages, has become extremely common as it allows for you to maintain touchpoints with large numbers of clients both hot and cold, without having to always be hands-on in that capacity. Despite this, many brokers are slow to adopt these tools, fearing the complexity or that the human touch will be lost.
Here are a few things to consider if you are wondering how to strike this balance. You Still Control The Message Sometimes it can feel unnerving to automate portions of your business because it feels as though you are giving up some level of control. However, just because you are using a marketing automation tool like a chatbot or social media content scheduler like HootSuite, you still have control over what is said, who it is said to, and when it is said. You can control the imagery used, and select different messages based on the unique concerns of your prospect. The best part is that you only have to set up these emails or posts once, then they can be reused for each new client fitting the bill. That saves agents a lot of time while increasing their touchpoints with current and future clients. Segment and Personalize Investing the time to create carefully tailored emails for contact lists that are segmented by the type of client, allows you to create a more personalized outreach to subscribers. For instance, if you are working to attract FSBO leads, you should create a lead capture that specifically appeals to people considering selling their house themselves and automatically add them to a segmented email list that receives content relevant to FSBOs. Fill your emails with solutions to their deepest pain points, testimonials from similar people you’ve already served, and personality to seem more human. The result will be an increase in open and click-through rates which will ultimately bring more leads and referrals. Automation Is Just Another Tool In Your Toolbox There is no denying that the real estate marketing automation tools out there today are brilliant and getting better every day. They are very effective at drawing people into your funnel, nurturing them through their buying journey and creating leads. Still, even though these tools are meant to save time and energy and increase responsiveness, there is a risk of becoming complacent after using them for a period of time. Rather than treating these tools like a “set it and forget it” button, actively monitor them, measure results, and make adjustments as necessary. It should be one of the many things you utilize to run your business. Staying True To You While automation tools can alleviate much of the strain caused by the demand for constant touch marketing, they are not a replacement for the human touch that you bring to your business and brand. Make sure you mix in a healthy dose of person-to-person contact, including phone calls, door knocking, open houses, educational seminars and community events. Don’t just rely on tech to bring business and recruits to you. Weichert brokers and agents have discovered that when done correctly, these powerful resources can allow you to be in multiple places at once, expand your reach, and impress your audience. We coach our offices not to substitute tech for personal contact, but rather use it to complement your arsenal of tools to run your business. Weichert, for example, provides a CRM, complete with a mobile app, sophisticated tools for open house management and follow up, as well as the contact management and branded outreach automation, which is great for organizing contacts and staying on top of follow up. But Weichert also coaches on hosting call sessions, door knocking and regular open houses to integrate personal touch points as part of an overall marketing plan. For more information about how Weichert agents use marketing automation to realize that next level of success, go to www.weichertfranchise.com. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/marketing-automation-high-tech-doesnt-mean-giving-up-on-high-touch/
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A Broker’s recruiting strategy if done well, should attract some experienced real estate agents, but much of your agent growth is likely to come from agents who are brand new to real estate or who have little experience. Your goal with these new associates is to get them up to speed and make them productive as quickly as you can.
After decades of coaching and training brokers and their agents, Weichert understands the most common challenges new agents have. As a broker, you can provide the coaching and training these agents need in order to avoid the common pitfalls associated with learning our industry and make their entry into the real estate world more rewarding and productive. Here are three of the most common mistakes that new real estate agents make and how you can coach them through. 1) Giving Up Too Quickly In the movie “Cool Hand Luke”, Paul Newman’s character famously utters the line: “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” He wasn’t talking about new real estate agents, but he could have been. New Agents often take the words “not now” or “in the future”, as indications that there is no sales potential there and they let the contact simply die. But experienced agents and brokers know that lead nurturing in real estate can take weeks, months, or even years to come to fruition. And if you’re not front of mind when a customer is finally ready to move, they will move without you. Successful agents have built a solid lead funnel and steady book of business by leveraging years of consistent follow-up and outreach with their contacts and their local community. It may seem obvious in 2019 to mention that social media can be one of the best ways to follow up and stay front of mind. Despite the current generation’s comfort level with web 2.0 and technology, new real estate agents still generally need coaching on what tactics on these portals will help them build their personal brand without seeming overly spammy. Follow up on social media also has its own set of rules, often depending on the platform you are using. But one rule applies to all of them: no outreach should be ignored or neglected. These little interactions, done in a timely manner, are the bricks they will use to build a real estate career. As author Jim Rohn wisely observed, “The fortune is in the follow-up”. 2) Forgetting to Make It Personal New agents have such a comfort level with all things digital it can sometimes be hard to get them to fully understand and embrace the power of the personal. The power of the personal is at the core of the Weichert philosophy, from our network of owners that know and help each other to our recipe for a successful real estate agent. New agents need to make sure they build and nurture their personal brand in both online and offline activities through both personal and digital interactions. As a broker your job is to give them the tools that they need to develop their brand while being consistent with the message and brand of your brokerage. While digital tools are great to efficiently stay in touch through social media, email and texts, encourage them to get out there and be nose to nose with potential clients. Door knocking, phone calls, open houses, participation in community events and seminars. These are all ways for new agents to have their face seen, make eye contact, shake hands, have real conversations and be memorable. Keeping it personal should be at the core of you and your agents’ communication philosophy. 3) Not Using A CRM System There is no reason why new agents can’t get right into the habit of using the brokerage CRM tool to its fullest potential. An effective real estate CRM can be a big help with staying front of mind, helping new agents organize their contacts and keep in touch with buyers and sellers and other real estate professionals in their ever-growing sphere of influence. Conversely, it’s important that you offer this technology to your agents to help them be as productive and efficient as possible. The Weichert CRM system, for example, provides a central location for storing current and prospective client information and advanced tools for planning and follow-up on open houses ensuring you make the most of those contacts. Other elements include marketing automation that allow agents to send branded emails to select contact lists with minimal time and effort. The mobile app extends this convenience even further, allowing for updates and notifications to happen wherever they are. As a new agent builds their database in the CRM, all sorts of marketing tools and templates will be at their disposal. The work they do now to build these lists, will pay dividends for years to come. Effective Agent Coaching Is Key The best way to make sure your new agents are productive as quickly as possible is to have a proven training system in place that coaches them past these and many other initial pitfalls. Perhaps the single strongest benefit of being a Weichert Franchise are the proven systems we provide to brokers. These have been developed and refined over decades, so you don’t have to develop them yourself. All you have to do is plug in. Becoming a Weichert Affiliate gives you access to effective coaching programs, marketing tools, and a CRM system that supports lead generation. As a Weichert Franchise you have a complete, turnkey system that provides your brokerage with the tools and training that leads to growth. For more information about how affiliating with Weichert can help build your brokerage, call us today at 877-567-3350 or contact our team online. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/help-new-agents-avoid-these-three-critical-sales-mistakes/ In the last 30 years, brokers have seen their primary means of selling and advertising go from newspapers and referrals to online or digital sources. According to NAR, almost 95% of homebuyers used a website to search for homes last year with 72% of those using a mobile or tablet app. What is equally interesting is the prevalence of mobile usage across demographics. Of Course 99% of millennials used mobile devices or apps to assist in their home search and 58% of them found the home they bought on a mobile device. Even consumers between 35 and 65 used their mobile devices for real estate research at a rate over 89% and roughly 40% of them found their home on a mobile device. Another interesting dynamic is that overall, 14% of all buyers found their real estate agent using a mobile device. Real estate agents have been on the front lines of the mobile revolution as well with over 90 percent of REALTORS® using digital or mobile devices on a daily basis. Despite this, REALTORS cite “keeping up with technology” as one of the biggest challenges for brokerages in the next two years. So how can brokers assess their use of mobile technology and insure they are keeping up with the industry? Common Mobile Strategies Going mobile in 2019 means more than just texting and getting email on your smartphone. The following guidelines are critical if you are to be effective, and want to appeal to the shifting demographics of both homebuyers and new agents you may be trying to attract. Here are a few things to consider:
Getting Up to Speed With Mobile It’s certainly a challenge for independent brokers, even if they are tech savvy, to keep up with and train agents on the best uses of mobile technology. That’s why brands like Weichert have put so much time and energy into figuring out and implementing mobile-focused digital strategies. Weichert.com recently completed a site redesign focused on providing an optimized mobile experience. It attracts over 3 million visitors a month and is key to the company’s digital strategy to attract leads to its Customer Care Center. Those leads are delivered to our brokers and agents in real time, on both their desktop and mobile devices and directly into our Weichert PRO CRM. The CRM features a mobile app which allows easy access to all features including client management, marketing tools, email and more. Weichert offers a mobile app to help agents stay on track with monthly production goals by allowing them to easily set and track their activities. In addition, Weichert places local Facebook advertising optimized for mobile users to help build brand awareness in its markets. Keeping up with technologycan be hard, but there are other solutions. By affiliating with a company like Weichert, you can take advantage of their vast resources for keeping up, so you can focus on managing your business. If you’d like to hear more about available Weichert resources and how they could benefit your business, contact Weichert today to learn more at weichertfranchise.comor 877-567-3350. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/its-a-mobile-world-how-do-you-stack-up/ As you recruit agents into your brokerage, it’s important to acknowledge there are differences in the way various generational groups communicate, respond, work and interact. Understanding these differences can be your secret weapon in motivating and communicating effectively with your team. Millennials currently make up the largest portion of the workforce and account for 50% of workers in the next 2 years. Here’s how you can make sure your brokerage is a good fit.
Values That Match Their Own As an experienced broker, you already have a good handle on the basic qualities that an agent looks for in evaluating a brokerage: leads, commission splits, support, education, etc. However, if you want to both attract and retain Millennial real estate agents, you’re going to need to appeal to more than just those cornerstones. The desire for self-fulfillment is strong in this generation and drives them to seek out companies that strongly support their growth and learning at this stage of their career and down the line. Millennials are especially driven towards companies that promote a positive, well-rounded and healthy culture. If they do not form a strong connection with your company culture and trust in its genuinely altruistic nature, they will not hesitate to leave for greener pastures. This is a key difference from the Baby Boomer generation who has more of a “pay your dues” mindset and would usually stay with a job for years to gain experience. By contrast, a Millennial will leave quickly if the fit isn’t there. Technology That Supports Their Goals Although it is not their top priority, tech is still an important factor for Millennials that have grown up with it. Tech-savvy tools like a CRM, modern website, and lead generation systems are mandatory to them. Like your company culture, this is an area where you will need to both talk the talk and walk the walk. If you are not yet familiar with all things mobile and social, now is the time to bone up. Remember, these tech-savvy newbies are looking for you to take them by the hand as their leader and show them the way. If you can’t show them at least some acumen and understanding with social, mobile and technology as well as real estate, you will struggle to convince them that they are in the right place. Someone to Turn to For Guidance Taking less experienced agents by the hand and making sure that they know they can turn to you for help or guidance is crucial; a rule that applies to new agents of any age or generation. Millennials seek out leadership that frequently engages in positive reinforcement. One way to do this is to find regular ways to recognize your agents for their various accomplishments. If you hold regular team meetings, this would be a good time to hand out various awards for goals reached or at least acknowledge those agents that are making progress towards goals set like listings taken or open houses held. This will also contribute to the positive company culture you are trying to foster. Team Meetings Team meetings help to build camaraderie and give a brokerage that familial feeling that Millennials crave from their place of work. The more that you can make them feel as though they are a part of a family working towards a shared goal, the more invested they will become in the overall success of the brokerage. Again, injecting your team meetings with positive reinforcement and recognition for a job well-done will resonate with Millennials. They are also a great time to offer continuing education on day-to-day issues that real estate agents face and technological advances that could help the team with their goals. Do You Have The Right Stuff? As Jim Weichert emphasized when he started Weichert, Realtors® over 50 years ago, it’s all about the personal. As a successful real estate broker, connecting with people on a human level is in your wheelhouse, so don’t be afraid to tap into those fundamental skills when working with Millennials. Making your brokerage more attractive to Millennials is just a small evolution, not revolution. If you have a holistic company culture, tech-savvy tools, an abundance of leads, and good systems for ongoing education, then Millennials, and everyone else will want to join you. Weichert supports its affiliates with things such as sales meeting templates, an awards and recognition program, ongoing training, technology support and more, providing a perfect plug and play system to help brokerages create an optimal fit for Millennials. With Weichert at your back, you can do even more. Give us a call today at 877-957-9692 or visit us at weichertfranchise.com for more information. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/how-to-make-millennial-real-estate-agents-feel-at-home-in-your-brokerage/ As a real estate broker, you are no stranger to collaboration at many different levels. Building collaborative networks that are vibrant and mutually beneficial can be a catalyst for positive change and growth, when you have the right people on the other end. We live in rapidly evolving times and your ability to be successful can depend on getting the right guidance and advice, at exactly the right time.
Collaboration takes many forms in the real estate industry.
As a broker however, you also need collaboration at a higher level. You already know how to sell houses, but your challenges are more strategic, and business related. What’s the most effective strategy to get more leads for my agents? What technology will help me best run my brokerage? What CRM tools should I provide my agents for lead nurturing? What recruiting practices are most effective? How do I differentiate my brand? Collaboration and networking with other real estate professionals can provide good advice, experience, and opportunities in these areas. Collaboration For Brokerage Growth Challenges Broker growth issues and recruiting challenges benefit from the opinions and experience of other brokers, real estate coaches, and subject matter experts. For the independent broker finding people with such diverse experience who are willing to share, coach and consult is either rare, expensive, or both. Still, you owe it to yourself to establish a network of professionals who have proven success in one or more areas so that you have a support system for your growth roadmap. Consider some of the following activities to build your network: Networking Groups – Get involved with organizations like the Chamber of Commerce, LeTip, the local Real Estate Board, or participate in state Realtor events. These are valuable opportunities to network and meet like-minded professionals. Consider getting involved with them at a leadership level if possible. Complimentary business partnerships – Partner with related businesses or non-competing agencies. They will likely share similar challenges and can also serve as a resource for ideas or help you avoid mine fields they may have already encountered. Through your alliance you can refer leads or collaborate on events, such as a home-buyer seminar. Social Media Networking – Facebook and LinkedIn are actually excellent places to connect with non-competing brokers, and mentors. There are established real estate groups on these channels that you can join and whose discussion you can monitor and participate in. This is one of the most efficient and least time consuming ways to build out your network. Another Solution to Collaboration At Weichert Franchising, we’ve found that the desire for collaboration is one of the biggest reasons many brokers seek out a brand affiliation. It turns out that an affiliation with Weichert provides networking, coaching and training opportunities most brokers never dreamed of. In addition to the instant help with lead generation and recruiting, having a team of like-minded peers and industry experts who are always available and invested in your success is a powerful thing. At Weichert our affiliates get collaborative support in a number of ways:
Having positive, expert collaboration with the right people around the right processes and systems can be a huge sigh of relief for today’s independent brokers. Call the Weichert Team today and see how we can help you do more. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/the-power-of-collaboration/ 11/27/2018 Franchise Success Spotlight: Weichert® Affiliate Brenda Elliott Weichert, Realtors® – The Space PlaceRead NowHuntsville, Alabama may be the one city in the country where the expression “it’s not rocket science” doesn’t apply. In Huntsville, it kind of is all about rocket science. It’s home to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, and the Army Aviation’s Space and Missile Command. Weichert Affiliate Brenda Elliott, owner of Weichert, Realtors® – The Space Place, is well acquainted with the ever-present missile, spacecraft and rocket themes that run deep throughout the city. Indeed, the word “Space” in her brokerage name isn’t just referring to square footage. Though now an Alabama native, she lived in Georgia most of her life and still calls it home, graduating from the University of Georgia with a BFA in interior design. Her husband Paul graduated Georgia Tech with a degree in Industrial Management and their three daughters went to Auburn University. Now a Huntsville resident for over 20 years, Brenda is intimately familiar with her local real estate market and her passion for real estate is clear. Life as an Independent Broker Brenda’s career in real estate actually started in Northern Virginia, in the early 90’s while Paul was stationed at the Pentagon. Brenda decided she wanted to know the real estate side of interior design and went to work for none other than Weichert, Realtors® in Burke, Virginia. The experience of working inside a Weichert Brokerage stayed with Brenda, even though she eventually started as an independent broker when her family moved back to Alabama. “My family and I were blessed with moving to Huntsville, Alabama in 1999, where I helped start the Executive Group Realtors, an independent real estate company, with three other partners,” notes Brenda. “As we got going, I actually modeled some of our processes after what I had seen at Weichert.” Brenda became the broker of record for the agency in 2002 and by 2005 helped build the agency to 56 agents working out of one office. Despite her success, with her increasing business responsibilities came the occasional desire for a partner who could provide guidance and help with the recruiting, branding, and lead generation challenges common to independent brokers. Still when Weichert approached Brenda’s team in 2005, she told them she was too busy to consider an affiliation. “But their follow up impressed me,” remembers Brenda. “After months of small conversations in fits and starts I agreed to go to New Jersey to hear the full pitch.” Deciding to Partner with Weichert For Brenda the decision to partner was not easy. Brenda and her team had concerns about affiliation with a national brand in general, as well as affiliation with Weichert specifically. What would that mean for her existing business and how would her agents react? Brenda and her team had heard all the positives about proven processes, coaching and support and lead generation, but frankly, not enough straight talk about the downside of becoming an affiliate. Brenda decided to make some calls. But rather than call the list of brokers the Weichert team in NJ gave her, Brenda called other Weichert brokers that she selected arbitrarily, from across the country. In fact, inside Weichert Corporate Offices, it is well known that Brenda set a record by calling 29 other Weichert brokers to try and find someone who would say something substantively negative about their Weichert affiliation. On the 29th call Brenda reached a Weichert Broker in Florida who finally gave Brenda what she needed to hear. He said, “The downside of becoming a Weichert Broker was realizing that I had wasted so much time and money by not doing this years ago.” Brenda was done. She began her affiliation with Weichert in 2006. Everyone’s Path to Success is Different Those who know Brenda, know she is all about her agents. According to Brenda “I didn’t sleep for about two weeks before the Weichert announcement.” Yet Brenda did not lose a single agent once she impacted. “I very quickly showed them the tools, training, and systems that were now at their disposal,” says Brenda. “Having this level of support for my team was great for me as well.” Consistent with the Weichert philosophy, Brenda was able to pick and choose the benefits that she wanted to roll out in her brokerage. The Weichert processes allowed her to craft a strategy that worked best for her brokerage and that respected her independent style. That meant that agents could continue using the existing methods that worked for them and implement Weichert tools and systems where they needed them. And everyone was able to benefit from the increased recognition that a brand like Weichert brought to the entire brokerage. During the market crash of 2008, Brenda watched other local brokers go out of business on a regular basis. Brenda credits her Weichert affiliation 100% for her agency survival. “Due to the advantages of being a recognized brand and having good systems and lead generation, we weathered the storm.” In 2011, Brenda finally bought out her business partners and made the decision to go all in on the Weichert Model. “We had been implementing parts of the Weichert Model, but when I became the sole owner, I felt the time was right to really be ALL IN on the Weichert Systems,” says Brenda. “We hired many new agents who fully embraced the model from day one, and that has made all the difference.” Weichert, Realtors® – The Space Place in 2018 Today Brenda’s team is firmly rooted in the methodology presented by Weichert, while still running things in a way that is appropriate for her local market. Weichert, Realtors® – The Space Places does a little commercial, a little relocation, some property management, but its primary focus is on residential sales. From one office and 38 agents in 2011, Brenda has grown her team to 3 offices and over 125 agents covering a good portion of northern Alabama. Brenda credits things like the Weichert DOORS™ listing presentation and their recruiting system, which includes “career nights”. Brenda sells at least 2-3 houses a month using their open house process and embraces the WeichertPro CRM for marketing campaigns, and more. “I especially love that while I get amazing support inside the Weichert model, I’m still free to build the systems that work in my area. This is an active and creative partnership with real experts at the other end.” The Weichert Model At Weichert Real Estate Affiliates, Inc., we exist to help you make the most of what you’ve already built and learned. Brenda is right about partnership we strive for with our affiliates. It’s the kind of partner support you won’t get from any other national real estate brand. When you affiliate, you become part of a supportive family where you’ll never have to wonder what to do next. For more information, contact the Weichert Affiliates team today at 877-567-3350 or visit weichertfranchise.com. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/franchise-success-spotlight-weichert-affiliate-brenda-elliott-weichert-realtors-the-space-place/ 10/30/2018 Tech Is Great for Getting Them, But It’s Still Your Sales Skills That Close ThemRead NowWe live in a world of distractions. The media, news, entertainment, technology tools and social media are constantly bombarding us from all directions. It’s easy to get sucked in to all the cool, shiny new ways to attract leads. While tech is great for attracting leads, don’t become so distracted that you forget to practice the skills and habits that close them. In this highly connected world, it’s more important than ever to hone your relationships and your personal selling techniques. Lots of people can use the same lead technology, but there is only one you. Use that to set yourself apart.
Use Technology To Stay Connected Make sure you have a good CRM. This is the best way to keep your contacts organized and keep track of your communications with them so you don’t lose touch. If you stay out of touch too long, it opens the door for a client to become connected with someone else and call on them when they need something. A good CRM is the perfect example of a tech application that blends automation and good sales techniques. Use the automation and calendaring features to:
Successful business owners understand that it takes some effort to learn these tools, but they use them regularly and teach and encourage their agents to do the same. The use of these tools actually helps you automate your business and have more freedom to spend one-on-one time forging new connections. Use technology to replace functions of your business that give you and your team more time and opportunity to make great connections within the community. Use Technology That Showcases Your Personality It’s no secret. People want to do business with people they feel a connection with and can trust. That is especially true when it comes to one of their biggest assets – buying or selling their home. The best way to stand out is to utilize technology that allows your personality to shine. Use video to share real estate tips or your knowledge about the neighborhoods you work in. Post them on Facebook or use a video email service, such as BombBomb to communicate. This will help humanize you and make you more memorable than a static post or email. Don’t Forget Your Hustle Lead generation sources are focused on one thing…selling leads. And they are happy to sell the same lead to you and the 10 other agents in town if you are willing to buy them. Customers typically work with the first agent they speak with. So make sure that agent is you. This means picking up the phone when it rings and not waiting to respond to that email. Don’t be so busy that you don’t have time to be responsive. Yes, you may have to speak with a few frogs, but you never know when that awesome lead is going to come to you and you need to be ready. Be Smart About Lead Gen Options Make sure the lead gen options you choose are truly productive for your business. How qualified are the leads you are receiving? Do you have to pay for them up front? What is your close rate on the leads you do receive? If it’s not good or you don’t know, you may be spinning your wheels and wasting valuable time and money. This can distract you and make you unavailable when the quality leads do come to you. Make sure you are spending your time and money on the right things. Always Keep It Personal No matter what technology and lead sources you use, don’t lose sight of the personal touch. Don’t let the technology do all the work. Find ways to use it to reach your customers in personal ways or use those applications that allow your personality to shine through. You are your product and people can’t buy if they don’t know you. As Jim Weichert always says, “People buy people, before buying a product or service.” Conviction & Consistency Are King At Weichert, we believe that tech is critical, but must be complemented by proven and successful sales activities. From a technology and lead generation perspective, Weichert associates and affiliates are automatically provided with its proprietary CRM and can qualify to receive leads from its lead center. Weichert invests heavily to attract online leads that are then screened by its call center. This helps connect the most qualified prospects to its agents. Those leads feed automatically into the Weichert CRM. Additionally, Weichert provides a blueprint of best prospecting and sales practices, together with qualified suppliers to help its offices and agents stay connected with prospects. When you approach tech with the right frame of mind, stay true to your mission statement and core values and deliver value to your community, you will never have to worry about how fast tech changes or its impact on the industry. Don’t be concerned with change, as much as you are maintaining consistency and staying connected with your clients. For more information on how Weichert systems can set you up for technology and beyond, go to https://www.weichertfranchise.com or call 877-567-33350. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/tech-is-great-for-getting-them-but-its-still-your-sales-skills-that-close-them/ There is nothing more stressful to a real estate agent as the sound of silence while waiting for the phone to ring with calls from clients, referral partners, and prospects. If your phone is not ringing as often as you’d like, try augmenting your traditional avenues with something new. Thanks to technology, there are more creative ways to connect with your sphere and drum up business than ever before. Here are a few cutting-edge ways you can generate new leads to complement tried and true door-knocking and direct mail.
Social Influencers Social media influencers aren’t just for selling makeup and music, they’re also great for selling real estate and promoting your content. Reach out to local influencers in your area via Instagram and ask if they would be willing to collaborate with you to help you gain exposure with your local market. Many of them will be willing to do this for little to no cost but the impact can be tremendous. Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing Skills Statistics are proving that more and more people are turning to voice and AI for their information needs. In fact, it is predicted that by 2019, at least 50% of all online searches will be done using voice assistants like Siri, and Alexa. To capitalize on this trend, develop your own Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing skill so you can deliver daily doses of real estate tips, local happenings, stories, and market updates to your sphere. This will allow you to stay in touch every day in a valuable way and positively position yourself as the local real estate expert. Webinars People love to learn through webinars! They allow you to get the information you crave without having to leave the comfort of your home. They also allow business owners like you to build an audience of trusting followers. Webinars on topics like first-time homebuyers, how to prepare your home for listing, and financing options offer you a valuable way to get people into your sales funnel in a concentrated way. To make the most out of your webinars, build an automated funnel that will cycle your students through the webinar and send follow-up emails that nurtured them until they are ready to buy or list with you. Use Video Video is a great way to get your face in front of consumers and cover a large area. It provides a more intimate form of contact than an email or standard social media post. If you do it often enough, people will feel as if they know you, even if you have never met. Take quick selfie videos of yourself with real estate tips or community insights to establish your credibility not only as an agent, but as a neighborhood expert. Consider a video email service like BombBomb to record and send regular video communications to your sphere of influence, instead of regular emails. These services integrate video right into your email and often have CRM capabilities so you can see who is engaging so you can target them for further follow-up. Find Your Train Station: New Spins On Proven Strategies Jim Weichert jump-started his business at the local train station by consistently handing out cards, shaking hands, and getting in front of the community in a way people hadn’t tried. He knew that if he wanted to earn clients, he would have to reach them in a creative and interactive way. He understood that with connections comes clients. His consistency with connections paid off. Now you don’t have to stand at a train station (although you could) to initiate consistent contact with your farm. Think of the internet as your train station and use its many platforms to creatively engage with your connections on a consistent basis and that phone will start to ring. For more information about tools and systems that can help you maintain consistent contact and transform your connections into clients, go to https://www.weichertfranchise.com or call 877-746-2067. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/phone-not-ringing-learn-to-generate-real-estate-leads-in-unexpected-ways/ There is no denying that the way that brokers, agents, and clients form their relationships has undergone major changes in recent years. Now, more than ever, as buyers and sellers turn to the internet for their real estate needs, lead farming is being done on social media, blogs, through digital advertising, and on platforms like YouTube. However, while you may understand the importance of driving your agents to create valuable content for brand awareness, your agents may be wondering how to take the next steps to transform their connections into actual clients. Here are a few ways you can encourage your agents to take the next steps and leverage those casual connections into business connections and beyond.
Actively Engage Your Casual Connections In your quest to draw prospects on the outer edge of your sphere deeper into the fold, you’ll need to turn your focus to increasing their engagement with your content and your engagement with them. In other words, don’t just post engagement-worthy content like questions and polls, but actually look at who is responding to your content and take the time to reach out to them to say thank you, ask what they liked or didn’t like, or simply continue the conversation on a deeper level. Furthermore, if you have people that have stopped engaging with your content or never have (perhaps someone in your FB group) reach out to say hello and draw them back in. Touching base with dormant followers or subscribers could offer valuable insights into your content, message, and approach that you can apply to other relationships. This will also show people that you genuinely care about them, fostering a deeper sense of trust which leads to repeat sales and referrals. Host Events To Bring Them Out From Behind The Screen One of the most common complaints is that it is difficult to motivate online connections to meet with agents in person. Charity events offer a dynamic solution. Hosting a charity event to benefit a worthy cause is a fantastic way to get your followers to come out and interact with you in person over a common interest. Even better if you can set it up to bring them to the office. Organize a charity drive to collect toys, coats, food or toiletries and make your office the drop off point. Not only will you be able to create a story around your involvement in the cause, but you’ll have the chance to build a deeper connection with your prospects through your mutual beliefs and values. Once you’ve made a connection with those people in person, you will notice your engagement rates with them increase because they will have a better sense of who you are, how you operate, and what you have in common. Make sure that you have systems and tools, like a CRM in place to help your office and agents manage relationships efficiently as they develop from a loose connection into a client and don’t become lost in the crowd. More Than A Handshake There is nothing more powerful or valuable in real estate than a personal connection. Although technology may be shifting into the forefront as the way that we first connect with someone, our desire for human connections and personal relationships remains the same. Comments, likes, and shares should be viewed as opportunities for cultivating connections and nurturing those relationships, rather than as a way of replacing them. The key here is that you must be able to properly manage and maintain those relationships once they are formed through regular follow-up, valuable content, and personal touches. If you don’t have the systems and training in place to cultivate and nurture your casual connections, they will never transform into clients. At Weichert, those resources are a major part of each franchisee’s success as a broker. From our social content, direct mail and client follow-up programs to our proprietary CRM, Weichert supplies its affiliates and agents with the tools to move connections through the conversion cycle. If you would like to learn more about how to implement systems and training for your agents to help them convert their connections into long-term clients, go to https://www.weichertfranchise.com or call 877-746-2067. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/from-casual-connection-to-client-helping-your-agents-get-there/ Technology continues to transform the way we do everything from how we communicate to how we buy and sell real estate and everything in between. At its most extreme, technology is even being offered as a replacement for a real estate agent. One has to sometimes wonder whether tech is really working for or against the industry. Digital technology is cool and shiny and the next new thing is always so tempting to try. But it should not distract or replace the personal activities needed to succeed in this business. It will never replace a handshake or the trust built through conversation and making eye contact. A real estate transaction is typically a complex, expensive, and highly personal transaction. Your challenge as a broker is to strike that critical balance between using technology to find your clients and the personal touch to win over and keep them. This approach is the right one, for both buyers and sellers, and for you.
Leveraging Tech Is GoodThere is no denying that many of the tools and resources available to real estate agents and brokers have helped make doing business easier. There’s also nothing wrong with utilizing tools like a real estate CRM or lead generation software to help drum up business and manage it more efficiently. However, certain pieces of technology that we often rely upon today, like email and text messaging are routinely keeping agents, brokers, and clients at more of a distance than they once were. For example, if you have a quick question for your client that only requires a simple answer, you’re probably more likely to shoot them a speedy text or email. While this might seem easier, it cuts out the chance to casually chat about their day and build that friendly rapport that instills trust and garners future business. But Building Real Relationships Is BetterAlthough people can move to technology, technology fails to move people in the way human-to-human contact does. Unlike some businesses where you can get away with keeping clients at an arm’s length, real estate is a contact business and requires you to develop your relationships beyond a superficial business exchange. Consumers are driven by emotions and loyalty; two things that can’t be found in an app or a website. Don’t be tempted to wait for the business to be delivered to your doorstep from that slick new lead gen program you just invested in. Seize every opportunity to nurture your relationships with personal contact. Easy Ways To Foster A More Personal Relationship With Clients The more that you invest into nurturing your relationships with your clients, the more loyal they will be to you in the years to come with their transactions and with referrals. Here are easy ways to help you take your relationships to the next level:
In a world where technology drives functionality, it can be all too easy to rely entirely upon it. However, one must remember that the business of buying and selling real estate was built on the value of real relationships and real people. Although technology can certainly drive us forward and help reduce busy work or trivial tasks, there is nothing that can replace the value of shaking someone’s hand, looking them in the eye, or laughing over a meal together. It is important to find a healthy balance between leveraging technology and taking every opportunity for valuable personal contact. A Brokerage Built By Real People For Real Relationships Since Jim Weichert began his real estate career in 1969, he inherently understood the value of a handshake. He knew that people wanted to buy from people and made it a priority. As he built the Weichert brokerage one handshake at a time, he made sure to empower his team with the tools and technology they needed to work smarter. Yet, he always made sure they understood the power of that personal touch; a core value of the Weichert brand. If you believe in the value of building lasting relationships, Weichert may be a great fit for your business. To learn more about how you can plug in and be a part of a franchise that will provide you with systems that balance technology with personal touch points, go to https://www.weichertfranchise.com. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/how-to-keep-it-personal-in-a-high-tech-world/ |
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