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/
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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/ As an experienced and well-educated real estate broker, you already know that a CRM can do many things for you like automating your follow-up and increasing your production. However, despite their popularity, many brokers are struggling to realize the full value of using a CRM or haven’t figured out the best way to implement one into their business yet. If you fall into one of those two categories, this article is for you!
Review the Rewards While there are many real estate CRM’s out there, it seems that no two are exactly the same. This can make finding the right one for your business a bit tricky. However, if you take the time to prioritize the rewards and results you hope to reap from your real estate CRM, the selection process becomes simplified. To help you sort through all the bells and whistles, look for a CRM that provides the following benefits: Lead Tracking – When a CRM enables your agents to track their leads, it also enables you to be able to track their performance and offer coaching in areas where they may be hitting roadblocks. Automation – There are few real estate agents and brokers out there saying that they have too much time on their hands. The promise of a properly managed CRM is that it will free up precious time by automating or simplifying many common client management tasks. Regular Reminders – As an experienced broker, you understand that most agents can benefit from regular reminders to follow-up, tackle important tasks, and implement best practices into their routine. When they do, the result is more closings for them and more income for you. Just Listed/Sold – Communications around just listed and just sold are one of the best opportunities you have to reach out to your sphere of influence with interesting content that puts your local brand in front of people. A good CRM makes this easy by giving you a professionally designed template and managing the list of client email addresses for you, so you can send it to those who may be most interested. Know All That It Can Do for You In many cases, brokers that purchase a CRM fail to get all of their money’s worth out of the software because they are unaware of all that it can actually do for them. The Weichert Pro CRM, for example, does a whole lot more than just store all of an agent’s prospects, leads, and past clients. It also provides agents and brokers with integration to the Weichert lead network, templates for automated email marketing, and tools for complete open house management before, during, and after the event. This is a proprietary CRM which is provided to all Weichert affiliates. Choose a System With Flexibility Just as all real estate CRM’s are unique in their own way, agents and brokers are also unique. You and your agents may have different styles of running your businesses that work best for each of you. It’s important that whatever CRM you use that it allows people to work in ways most comfortable and productive for them. For example, you may prefer to time-block all of your CRM data entry and put it in once each day. Others may prefer the convenience of mobile, like the Weichert Pro CRM mobile app, that allows them to update and use their CRM as they go. Managing technology in your brokerage is an octopus with many heads. The way in which you choose to implement processes and procedures around this plays a big role in how efficient and effective your business can be. A CRM is just a tool, what really counts is how you use it. This is an area where Weichert can help. Through training, best practices and tips from peers, we help our affiliates leverage our technology to its fullest potential. To learn about other tools and systems available to Weichert affiliates, click here. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/why-track-leads-through-crm/ 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/ In this, increasingly digital era, more and more real estate leads are acquired online. Managing all of those online leads, in addition to those coming in from more traditional sources has become the Achilles heel of real estate agents. If your agents are not automating their follow-up, your brokerage is at a disadvantage. Enter the real estate CRM. In recent years, real estate CRM’s have become a dime a dozen and while all promise to simplify the path to success, some may not be the best match for your needs. Brokers are busy and it’s hard to find time to hunt for that diamond-in- the-rough CRM to help their agents be more productive. Here are some ins and outs of selecting one that will help your agents make the most of their time and never miss an opportunity.
The Not So Obvious Value Of Real Estate CRM’s At this stage in your career, you realize that a CRM is invaluable when it comes to agents keeping track of leads, clients and referrals. You also expect that a CRM will help them manage their to-do list, calendar, and progress of their transactions. Obviously, this is all important because it helps prevent them from dropping the ball and losing business. What you may not realize is that the capabilities of a truly valuable real estate CRM will reach far beyond those basics. Here are some not so obvious benefits of an ideal CRM:
What To Look For In Your Real Estate CRM One of the biggest problems with real estate CRM’s is that there are so many of them out there with varying features and benefits. It can make choosing one a bit overwhelming! But investing time in selecting a CRM can pay off for your business in the end. To end up with a successful solution, it’s important that you study what they have to offer and how easy it will be to implement and use. Opt for a free trial if one is available and see if it can work in harmony with your business. But before you even start your search, develop a clear cut list of what you want to get out of the software. Here’s what capabilities we suggest you prioritize in your search:
Final Thoughts on Real Estate CRM’s Offering your agents a way to organize and manage their leads will help them be more productive and your brokerage be more successful. No time to vet them? A CRM is often one of the many benefits your brokerage receives by affiliating with a larger brand. When Weichert looked at the world of real estate CRM’s many years ago for its agents, for example, no one off-the-shelf CRM addressed all the follow-up processes and systems that Weichert felt its agents needed to be most productive. So it developed its own proprietary CRM, WeichertPro. Not only does it contain all of the capabilities mentioned above but goes a few steps further:
WeichertPro CRM is just one of the many tools offered to our affiliates that support their growth and success. If you’re interested in plugging your business into the suite of tools and resources that Weichert offers, contact our team at https://www.weichertfranchise.com or 877-746-2067. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/real-estate-crm-options-making-your-head-spin-heres-how-to-choose/ Gen Y, more commonly referred to as Millennials, have now become the most populated generation in the USA, surpassing Baby Boomers. That means that they are one of the largest demographics of home buyers and sellers and are in the crosshairs of real estate agents and brokerages eager to build a profitable business. However, the buyers and sellers of Gen Y are unique in their interests, priorities, and especially their behaviors when it comes to buying and selling real estate. Selling to this tech-addicted generation will require you to be savvier than the competition and to do things a little differently than you did when you were starting out as an agent. Here are three useful tips that can help the modern broker prepare their agents to sell homes to Gen Y.
1. Ad Content That Doesn’t Sell! Millennials grew up in an age of digital marketing with its ever present ad mechanisms, making them somewhat impervious to more blatant forms of advertising. In fact, the more that you try to directly sell members of this generation, the less effective you will be. That’s not to say advertising is ineffective here, but the style and nature of the content has to be more helpful, relevant, or entertaining and less overtly service focused. Millennials respond to creative that is more visual and will be attracted to video content using mediums such as Facebook newsfeed ads. And don’t forget Instagram. Offer free and convenient tools to help, like an online mortgage calculator, or a downloadable neighborhood or local school analysis. The more free tools, tips and services you can offer in your ads, the more likely this generation is to trust your agents, and your brokerage. 2. Supply Your Agents On-Going Training Now, more than ever, the technology and platforms that are used to reach buyers and sellers are complex. Furthermore, they are forever evolving and shifting in popularity. If you want to enable your agents to close deals with the Millennial set, you’re going to need to provide them with ongoing training on topics like social media, mobile marketing and digital marketing, in general. This is an area where big name real estate brands sometimes have an advantage. Weichert for instance, has both proprietary technology and processes that make marketing to Millennials (and everyone) less complex and more efficient. Add to that the training provided by Weichert training teams and its ongoing University approach, and you leverage a powerful educational infrastructure that keeps you and your team on the cutting edge. 3. Enable Prompt Follow-Up Growing up in the most technologically advanced era in human history has had many effects on Gen Y. One of the largest is their increasing desire for instant gratification. This means that when a Millennial expresses interest in buying or selling a property, or has a question about a property or a town or neighborhood, they expect to hear from an agent right away. In fact, agents that fail to follow-up with a lead within 30 minutes or less, will usually fail to convert that lead. They simply won’t wait to hear from you. What is your system for getting immediately back to leads, however and whenever they come in? Do you pass the 30 minute rule, even in the off hours? Brands like Weichert have systems in place that help the agent both get leads and automate the follow-up. Once a lead comes in, Weichert has a call center that handles pre-screening and forwarding, putting incoming leads into the hands of a live agent within minutes. Accepted leads are then fed directly into the brand’s proprietary CRM. As a broker you need to consider tightening up your lead response times and follow up to be sure you’re making the most out of your opportunities. How To Plan The Future With Gen Y As an experienced real estate broker hoping to attract business from the country’s largest demographic population, you understand that your agents require advanced technology and training. You also know that trying to supply all of that tech and training on your own can be a challenge. If you feel that you could benefit from a system of tools and access to the most advanced training programs for selling to Millennials and any consumer category, think about teaming up with Weichert. For more information about our proven strategies and resources go to weichertfranchise.com or call 877-746-2067. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/real-estate-crm/3-tips-for-selling-homes-to-gen-y/ As a dedicated broker with a desire to grow your team and increase their production, you can’t afford to ignore the importance of follow up. Whether a lead is purchased or organic, it will require prompt, consistent, and personalized follow up if it will ever transition from a contact to a client. In fact, statistics show that for every 100 leads that an agent acquires, only 1-5 of them convert to business. If you and your team of agents are ever going to reach your goals, every lead will need to be treated like a VIP.
The Value Of A Lead To really set the stage for how important follow up is, it helps to remember that a lead is so much more than just a lead; it is a lifetime opportunity. It is an opportunity to close multiple deals with that buyer or seller, and everyone that they refer to you. As a broker, you already understand that point because you have paid your dues and served your time as a real estate agent trying to build a business. You also know that it is far more expensive to find a fresh lead than it is to acquire deals from an existing client. For all these reasons and more, facilitating follow up by offering training, tactics and tools for your team, should be high on every broker’s priority list. The First Follow Up Should Be the Fastest In today’s fast paced world, it is more important than ever that a lead receives contact within 30 minutes of “raising their hand” by phone or online. It is not uncommon for qualified leads to fall through the cracks because they don’t receive the immediate and necessary attention they deserve from overwhelmed agents. In fact, a Harvard Business Review study concluded that nearly 71% of all qualified leads are never followed-up with because it can be so challenging to execute without the proper tools and systems in place. Yet, the fact remains that the faster they get a response, the more likely those leads are to become a client. For example, Weichert, understanding these lead dynamics invests in a highly sophisticated national lead processing center which screens all calls and web queries, then transfers qualified leads to local Weichert agents across the country within minutes. With so many agents competing for leads, it is this kind of turnaround and responsiveness that really maximizes the engagement rate within a brokerage. Keep Clients Close The commitment to consistent follow up should not waiver after the sale–or even if a sale is not made. To extract as much value as possible from each client engagement, there should be continued communication on birthdays and anniversaries, as well as, newsletters, market updates, and other valuable content. This is one place that a Client Relationship Management tool (CRM) can really be valuable. By using a CRM to keep track of these relationships and creating a schedule to maintain that consistent, regular contact, your agents will get in front of more and more deals without having to work harder than necessary. As an example, the WeichertPRO CRM empowers agents to achieve success by nurturing their leads with automated, yet personalized emails, easy advertising of new listings, Open Houses and more. All of this having the effect of reducing the number of potential sales that slip through the cracks. Regular promotion, planning, and timely follow up are all part of the WeichertPRO CRM’s wheelhouse, making it an invaluable tool for both agents and brokers alike. Strike a Balance Between Automation and Conversation. The founder of Weichert, Realtors®, Jim Weichert, will tell you that selling real estate is nothing if not personal. He is famous for saying that “people buy people before they buy your product or service” and it’s that people-first philosophy that pervades everything Weichert teaches their affiliates. So by all means, use the latest technology and real estate CRM systems to stay front of mind with your clients and to follow up with regularity. But making these automations as personalized as possible, and supplementing them with actual personal contact, is the key to effective follow up, and building your business for the long haul. A national call center and proprietary CRM are just two parts of a full suite of systems and programs available to Weichert affiliates. If you are looking for a blueprint for success that you can plug your business into, contact Weichert Real Estate Affiliates, Inc. at 877-746-2067 or go to weichertfranchise.com for more information. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/never-miss-an-opportunity-again-to-lack-of-follow-up/ Hungry for a sale, an agent blankets the neighborhood with Open House signs and then waits eagerly for a bite. Their efforts may drive traffic to their Open House and perhaps even bring the gold prize—a qualified buyer. But the question remains: Did this Open House, while effective, reach its full potential?
Even in this digital age when buyers rely so heavily on the Internet, the open house remains a cornerstone of real-estate sales and prospect marketing. At Weichert, Open Houses are deep rooted in our “people first” philosophy. Statistics published by NAR in 2017 show that 73% of homebuyers visit at least one Open House prior to purchasing.* Weichert open houses, specifically, attracted nearly one million potential buyers last year.** If you have the means to assemble a pool of buyers and sellers in one place where you can directly interact with them and sell them your value vs. your competitors, why wouldn’t you want to make the most of that opportunity? But as every broker knows, a great open house event requires excellent conversational skills and a positive attitude. But more importantly, for it to be successful, it requires careful preparation, execution and follow-up. The question is whether the full potential of this type of event is being realized by your agents and for you the broker. After all, this isn’t just finding a buyer for the property being held open, but this could help you connect with your next client(s). If you haven’t recently examined how you and your agents are promoting, conducting and following up on data from open houses, you might want to consider it. As a start, take a few tips from the team at Weichert Real Estate Affiliates, Inc. who coach and train brokers across the country every day on best practices for open house management. Let’s focus on how promotion plays a large role in Open House success: Promoting Your Open House In the performing arts it is often said that “less is more”, but when promoting your open houses, actually more is more! More signs, more brightly colored balloons, more promotion starting at least a week ahead, and in more places. Traditional methods like postcard mailings and supermarket community board tear off’s should all be already part of your arsenal. Knocking on neighbor’s doors and door hangers are also part of this. The real estate coaches at Weichert teach a philosophy of keeping it personal, so there’s nothing like a phone call or personal note to get a response from the hotter prospects in an agent’s sphere of influence. But what about the digital world? Promotional strategies that do not fully include digital are leaving behind an increasingly large segment of buyers, especially millennials. Here’s a quick checklist of activities you should consider for promoting your open houses online:
Use the Open House Management Features of your CRM Most brokerages employ a real estate CRM of some type, but many just use it to send out invites or enter contact data for only the hottest prospects. If your agents are guilty of this, or your CRM lacks robust features around open house management, you may be leaving money on the table. Weichert, for example, has a proprietary CRM which provides an open house management environment that is simple to use before and after the Open House for both promotion and follow up. Weichert also has an Open House sign in tool that feeds the CRM for follow up by agents. Contacts can be tagged for immediate or subsequent follow up and all contacts are instantly available to the agent for future marketing initiatives. Reminders and easily customizable email templates and graphics round out the capabilities that diligent associates will use to improve the reach of this open house, and all future open houses. Good Open House Promotion Pays Off Open Houses require a lot of planning, but if you do it right, the upside is tremendous. We can tell you from experience, a comprehensive, energetic and positive attitude toward open houses and having a structured system of executing them makes all the difference. The opportunity is there, you just need to know how to harness it. For more information on how Weichert gives brokerages a winning edge in all aspects of real estate, call our team at 877-567-3350 or visit our website at www.weichertfranchise.com *2017 National Association of REALTORS® Profile of Buyers and Sellers. **Based on a private study by Weichert, Realtors. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/the-open-house-in-2018-promotion/ Running a real estate brokerage has its share of expenses. Payables—large or small—are a necessary part of doing business. Expenses like rent, office supplies, insurance, furniture etc. are easy to understand and manage. What is less obvious are the investments in marketing, advertising and technology that many brokers spend thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars on each month. The temptation to periodically cut these expenses requires a much more considered analysis that can’t be based completely or even in some cases, primarily on pricing. Conversely, you shouldn’t drop precious budget dollars on every new shiny thing that comes on the market.
Necessity Of Large Expenses You must build and advertise a reputable brand to draw clients to your listings, competing with more well-known franchised brokerage names. Brand building for the independent brokerage can quickly eat away at your budget, especially when figuring all your advertising expenses. According to data published in 2012-2014 by the Association of Real Estate License Law Officials, U.S. real estate agents and brokers spent approximately $8.9 billion on residential advertising in 2015. That’s a substantial amount of money, yet an important expenditure if you are to compete for listings and credibility in your local market. Let’s not forget our need for technology, and its ever-increasing role in real estate. Other than general IT set up and maintenance, customer relationship management (CRM) is a large, yet crucial, cost of doing business that can help streamline much of the real estate process in a busy brokerage. CostOwl reports that in 2018 inhouse CRM costs range from $100 to $1,000 per user plus maintenance, support, updates and potential customization, while web-based CRM systems run $50 to $100 per user every month with lesser fees for smaller brokerages. Expense Analysis Revisited As you know, with some business items, using a less expensive version works just as well and saves money. But this isn’t necessarily true for larger purchases. Of course, you want to spend money that provides the most value and significant benefit to your brokerage. It’s always a good idea to consider your bottom line when factoring in a new or recurring expense, but there is a difference between purchasing a store name brand to save money on office supplies versus buying a bargain basement real estate CRM technology because it has a lower up-front cost. In the case of a CRM for example, between increased labor in transferring data, lost production time and price of a new system, it’s more cost effective to choose the right CRM system for your brokerage from the start. One that provides high value, and is right for your operation, rather than choose a system based primarily on price. When you are part of a franchise, such as Weichert, you typically have the added benefit of a CRM that they’ve already vetted or customized. The Weichert CRM, for example not only provides top tier real estate features such as contact management, marketing automation, open house management, and mobile app access, but its internal workflow has been designed to echo the best practices brokers and agents are taught on their roadmap to success. Your ability to integrate a CRM into your operations is just as important as the CRM feature set and this is not an area to pinch pennies. Look At The Whole Picture Why be penny wise and pound foolish, as the saying goes? Look at the whole picture of expenses in a way that incorporates a wider view of their utility. Once you’ve made these decisions, give these expenditures a chance to prove themselves. Advertising mediums can be tagged to understand how much additional sales you are getting from expenditures on each. Technology can be judged to large degree on the utility it provides to you and the feedback of your team on its usefulness and ease of use. Budgeting more for items that can have big payoffs in the long run, such as specifically targeted brand advertising or an efficient CRM system can increase the brokerage’s long-term income and reduce their operating costs in a way that more than offsets the cost of the advertising or system. Gain Access To Systems That Work At least some of the headaches’ associated with expense management and analysis can be helped by having some deep, expert experience in your corner. Having the resources of a franchise system behind you can save you tremendous time vetting options and more time being productive. Not only do you instantly gain a brand name that matters, input from your coaching team and fellow franchisees about many of the most agonizing expenditures you face is always just a phone call away. Could your brokerage benefit from this? Learn more at weichertfranchise.com or call 877-533-9007. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/stop-seeing-red-smarter-view-brokerage-expenses/ Successful brokers are always searching for the right tools to automate systems, save time and increase productivity and income, which doesn’t occur until each system is firmly entrenched in your overall brokerage procedures. The tool may be a new recruiting and retention software for accountability, a CRM system that better fits your growing brokerage or high-quality, easy-use digital marketing materials.
Consider Your Goals Before considering any new tool, keep in mind your updated brokerage business plan and the goals you intend to achieve this year. Ask yourself what tools will put you ahead of the competition? How can your agents’ productivity be transformed? What will improve the buying and selling experience for clients? Any systemized tool needs to work exactly as planned to either help you, as broker, improve productivity or your agents reach higher performance figures in less time, all while ensuring improved client satisfaction. New Tools Take Time Getting a new tool up and running is an incredibly time-consuming task. Time for a busy broker is already a precious commodity, but it can feel as if it’s at a premium when attempting to incorporate a new tool seamlessly into your current system, which may take weeks or months. Think back to the difficulties of setting up your own brokerage and what it took get software and systems set up. You’ve no doubt learned from your previous experiences and know the effort it takes to incorporate any new tool. The steps from research to use may flow like this:
Don’t Have The Time? Stop The Guesswork While there are brokers out there who can do this successfully on their own, it can be a real challenge for the average small independent brokerage owner. If you want to compete and stay ahead from a technology standpoint, an affiliation with a larger real estate brand can really help and offer a solution. They have teams of resources working through this every day. So while you are focused on running your brokerage, they are researching, vetting and testing out the next best thing to make running a real estate business easier and more productive. Weichert, which offers its affiliates proprietary digital tools, is a great example of how affiliation helps take away the guesswork in many areas. Its years of research into systems that work mean that all the tireless research and functional testing of new tools is unnecessary on your end. Plus, Weichert provides the training needed to make the best use of their technology inside a proven system for success. Weichert’s numerous tools position you at the forefront of your area and assist with:
Build Momentum Before Tool Launch Whether you choose to go it alone with a new tool or system or affiliate with a company like Weichert that offers time-tested ones, know that you need to build momentum in your brokerage around agent tools prior to the roll out. Create a bang around the launch to keep agents interested in what it can do for them, as most will be skeptical that its use will improve their work. Pick a super user (that may be you) to train all users to fully unlock all the features of the new tool so all have the chance to achieve success. Above all, keeping your arsenal updated and fresh is important in maintaining your value as a brokerage to retain your agents. Why work harder than you should? Contact Weichert at 1-877-533-9007to learn how their cutting-edge tools can help you exceed your business goals in less time. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/right-tools-agency/ |
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