In the world of real estate lead generation, there is no magic bullet. Brokers know that having a healthy lead funnel is all about leveraging many different channels, online and offline mediums, and both traditional and cutting-edge, digital methods. To do this effectively it helps to have a system that allows you to oversee lead generation activity both at the brokerage and the agent level and to help your agents assemble a variety prospecting activities at all stages, so they are not simply waiting for the phone to ring. Here are some tactics to consider from the experts at Weichert franchising.
Inbound Vs. Outbound While both inbound and outbound marketing can be extremely effective, it is important to understand the difference between the two and how they are best implemented. It’s also important to have a good mix to reach consumers at various points of their journey. Inbound marketing tactics like online advertising, search engine optimization, social promotion and social advertising, real estate websites and content marketing and newsletters are all designed to get in front of prospects and help them find their way to you when they are ready to make a move. By contrast, outbound marketing tactics are those you use to actively go out and find prospects. Examples are direct mailers, door knocking and door hangers, phone calls, email campaigns and open houses. It’s important to encourage your agents to employ a mixture of both and arm them with a mix tools and resources to reach leads in all parts of the sales funnel. This will help them keep their pipeline full. Weichert for instance, gives its brokerages access to a technology package that includes an advanced real estate CRM and a suite of professionally designed and branded marketing templates for all kinds of outreach – direct mail, door knocking, social media and more. Offering an online marketing center to your agents to be able to customize these materials will save them the time of trying to create them on their own. That’s time they can be spending on lead contact and closing deals. Weichert also offers coaching and tips for social media, creating content, provides a full open house system and has a variety of vendor partnerships to support any of their inbound marketing needs. In order to maximize your marketing ROI, be sure that you educate your team and coach them on their activity using inbound and outbound marketing tactics. Encourage them to implement the best of both with regularity and efficiency. How To Create Diversity In Your Funnels At this point, you probably already have a few marketing campaigns working for you. One of the easiest ways to ensure diversity within your funnels is to identify whether you are currently focused on inbound or outbound methods. If you are too heavily weighted in one area, consider adding more of the opposite style to your approach. For example, if you are primarily generating leads by sending direct-mail postcards and cold-calling, you may want to consider starting a real estate blog or podcast where you share valuable advice with the community about the community and promote it heavily on your social channels. If you are only advertising online, start looking into other ways that you can build relationships with leads offline like charity work or sponsorship. Both agents and brokers need to be visibly present in the life of the community and not shy away from talking on social media about it. The Value Of Proven Methods If you are like most brokers, helping your agents strike the perfect balance between inbound and outbound marketing to create diversity within an overall marketing strategy can be a challenge. When you partner with a franchisor, like Weichert, you plug into proven systems already in place to support a variety of marketing tactics and can offer your agents polished professional tools ready to go to save both of you the time it would take to create on your own. The value of a proven system like Weichert is that it can help you implement activities in your brokerage that work, avoid time-wasting experiments and make the regular execution of sales activities much more effective and efficient to lead to a greater level of results. For more information about how Weichert helps you develop your multi-channel inbound marketing funnels, read more about our Weichert Lead Network or go to https://weichertfranchising.com Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/effectively-working-the-lead-funnel-in-real-estate/
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Running a successful real estate brokerage doesn’t happen by accident. To achieve the best results, brokers must lead the way for their team by creating consistency in their routine and performing essential tasks that affect the growth and stability of their business. Weichert has been coaching brokers for years and supporting some of the most successful ones in the industry. Here are some insights into what our top brokers do every day to propel their results.
Recruit Real Estate Agents Recruiting is the lifeblood of a successful brokerage. It’s the only way to truly grow your business and it’s something you need to do every day to keep your pipeline full. The reality is that everyone will eventually leave you. The best way to withstand the ups and downs of your agent team is to constantly recruit and not wait until you have to. When many of our owners first came to us, they didn’t know how to recruit, were afraid to recruit or didn’t know what to do with an agent once they did recruit to get them up and running. Armed with our recruiting system and our training, our top franchisees have quickly turned into recruiting Rockstar’s. Train Agents on Tools & Systems Having established sales tools and systems in place is critical. Not having established, repeatable systems in place leads to wasted time and energy that ends up being spent on trial and error and reinventing wheels instead of taking a more direct path to productivity. When you can get everyone rowing in the same direction, you will gain tremendous distance. A franchisor like Weichert has had lots of experience in refining a recipe for success. We have also found a definite correlation between success and those who utilize the tools and systems vs. those who do not. However, you can never stand still and need to continually innovate to stay in touch with changes in the industry and the evolving needs of your team and their clients. Promote Their Brand Building a powerful brand that people gravitate toward is not a part-time job. For the independent competing against well recognized real estate brands, this is a particularly important challenge. Successful brokers recognize that they must be cheerleaders of their brand both in the trenches and from a bird’s eye position in the business. The most successful make it a point to incorporate brand-building activities into their daily routine. This means empowering their agents to leverage branded marketing materials for their listings in every print and digital format and making it easy to customize branded templates to their needs. Every community outreach must be branded to your brokerage, no matter how small or personalized, from your email signatures, to the sign on the building. Generate Company Leads Generating company leads are critical to protecting your company dollar, not to mention it helps with agent retention, overall growth and so much more. The best brokers are continually looking for sources and methods of generating brokerage leads. Agents will leverage their own networks for leads of course, but your ability to supplement these opportunities can make your brokerage the place to be in your market. That’s great for business, but also remember that nothing helps your recruiting more than when agents hear that they can work with a company that provides them real leads that they don’t have to fight for. Weichert, for example, offers many sources of lead referrals: Weichert.com Lead Network: Weichert generates leads nationally through their powerful weichert.com website, with up to 3 million web visits a month and thousands of calls. Inquiries through Weichert.com are pre-screened by carefully trained personnel and routed to qualified agents within minutes. You’ll never miss a lead opportunity in your market with Weichert.
For more information about Weichert, go to https://weichertfranchise.com Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/what-top-brokers-do-every-day/ What To Look For if You are Considering AffiliationOnce you’ve made the decision in your mind that you are ready to move from being an independent brokerage to a member of a franchise, the next question is: “Which one?” With dozens of national real estate franchises to choose from, you need to look closely at which is the best fit for you and your agents and which will bring you the best processes and systems for growth.
In other words, in looking at each franchise you’ll need to ask, “What’s in it for me?” How Does the Franchise Support Its Franchisees? Some real estate franchises offer little more than their brand name and access to marketing materials, and you are left to do everything else on your own. When you consider an affiliation, you should make sure that your franchisor is not only offering a recognized brand name to leverage, but is providing an active and comprehensive plan for your business growth that has proven to be effective. Will you be treated as a valued member of their franchise family? Will your new franchisor be there when you need assistance? Do they offer a proven methodology for recruiting and selling? Will joining give you a support network to alleviate that feeling of being all alone and give you a place to turn to for advice and guidance when you need it? Will your growth now be an ongoing collaborative effort between you and your franchisor that empowers you to make positive, productive decisions for your business? When evaluating real estate franchise systems, ongoing training and support has to be a key component of a solid franchise business proposition. The industry doesn’t stand still, so neither can you or your agents. It is important to keep skills sharp to continue to compete. For instance, at Weichert, affiliates are taught a system for success. The tenants of this system are reinforced in the training and tools we provide brokers and their agents through multiple channels that are active and always a step ahead. It includes personal, expert consultation from our service team when you need it, online training for both brokers and agents, leadership seminars, regional trainings, webinars, Weichert University our 24/7 online training portal, and expert coaching for every aspect of your business. This practical, comprehensive and “hands-on” partnership brings continual insight and support to brokers and their agents, especially in the toughest times. Technology and Tools Will the franchises you are considering provide you the right technology and tools to help support your business and help your agents be productive? Technology is changing so fast that it can be difficult for an independent broker or their agents to keep up. You should be able to look to your affiliate to furnish the latest, intuitive technology and tools and to provide a constant source of training and coaching around their use. For example, just a few of the tools Weichert provides its affiliates include a CRM (Client Relationship Management system), paperless transaction management system, web-stores with customized marketing templates and a digital tool to help create a killer listing presentation. Our “Doors” listing presentation is unique in the industry and is constantly cited by our affiliates as key to their stellar close rates. Tools and training should be available to you and your entire team in a way that completely supports your growth objectives and go-to market strategy. Weichert also invests in lead generation. It drives traffic to its national website which generates leads that are screened and passed to a live agent within minutes. It’s a great supplement to an agent’s day-to-day sales activities. At the end of the day, the more you can provide your agents, the more valued your brokerage will be in their eyes. Recruiting Support Recruiting agents may be the single most important part of getting to the next level of success with your brokerage. Too many brokers reach a plateau with their agent count and can’t seem to move past it. Real Estate Franchises like Weichert not only provide you the advantage of a recognized brand name, but they provide you with a system of best practices and support tools to help you get and keep the people you need to be successful. Once you get your recruits, Weichert also offers its Fast Track training to help you get them up and running fast. Talk to Other Franchisees When evaluating Franchise opportunities, by all means call other affiliated brokers in your area or even across the nation to discuss their experience with the company. Any Franchisor worth their salt will be more than happy to supply you with names and phone numbers of other owners to call. Get them to speak candidly about their experience both good and bad. Your goal is not to find the perfect franchise, but to find one that is perfect for you. Carefully consider the culture of the franchises you are considering. A good fit shouldn’t require you to change everything you do and how you do it. After all you’ve already built a successful business. Instead a good franchisor should roll up their sleeves and get in the trench with you. They can show you better ways to do things and better tools to use, but you will bring a lifetime of knowledge about your market and your people. The best model for franchising is active collaboration. Start your Conversations with Weichert.Deciding to affiliate is a big deal, we get it. But if you do it right with a company like Weichert, your only regret should be that you didn’t make the move sooner. Call us today at 877-567-3350 or visit http://www.weichertfranchise.com Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/not-all-real-estate-franchise-systems-are-built-the-same/ 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/ When the kids move out and mom and dad retire, the expense of that big house and all that property maintenance can start to feel like an expense they don’t really need. This is the mindset driving downsizing for many Baby Boomers. As an experienced broker with deep knowledge of your local market, you and your team are uniquely qualified to help them with this transition. And make no mistake, this is a transition, not just a buying or selling of a home for most Boomers. It represents a change of life, finishing one chapter and opening a chapter on the next part of their story. Your ability to facilitate an empathetic and informed approach to this market can be a highly rewarding and mutually beneficial endeavor.
Put Yourself in Their Shoes Whether you are a Boomer yourself, or a young broker/agent working with older clients, the first step to winning over the Boomer business is to put yourself in their shoes. Even more so than working with Millennials, Boomers have a story, a well-developed one, and your ability to relate to it in a real way is what they need to see before they will trust you with their business. Treat their home with great respect be it big or small. It is the place where their memories were carved. Let them tell you their story and if you win their business, remember it as you show them homes. Find common points of reference, but emphasize the excitement of the new. For Boomers, turning the page may be tinged with sadness, but your ability to be empathetic while emphasizing the positives of change, will make their transition much easier and leave you feeling good long after the deal is closed. Do this right and they will also become a great source of referrals for other Boomers in the same situation. Play Matchmaker with Your Boomer Leads Being the responsible broker that you are, you know it is important to take careful control of your inbound leads and care for them accordingly. As such you may want to consider that a lead opportunity with a Boomer, may merit some special considerations. For instance, Boomers who are downsizing often feel more comfortable working with agents who have similar interests. Pay careful consideration to match all of your Boomer leads with the type of agent that is best suited for their needs, best matches their life experience, or has a particularly positive personality. You Have to Be Where the Boomers Are One of the best ways to scale your business as a real estate broker is to network strategically and build meaningful relationships with referral partners. If you are striving to attract Baby Boomers, you would be wise to seek out valuable connections with other professionals that frequently work with this group. Home care providers, assisted living facility managers, estate planners, estate attorney’s and those working in finance are all excellent connections that could help to build your referral business. LinkedIn is great for forming these relationships, just as joining local networking groups like BNI or the chamber of commerce. Since you already have your thumb on the pulse of buyers and sellers, you know very well that they all want relationships with people they trust. When it comes to attracting downsizing Baby Boomers, credibility, trust and empathy will go a long way. Winning with Boomers Requires the Right Philosophy When Jim Weichert said, “People buy people before they buy your product or service,” he was describing all real estate business relationships, but this is even more true for today’s Baby Boomer generation. It’s this philosophy that drives all our processes and systems and is fundamental to success. Authenticity breeds success, that’s the Weichert way. If you are looking for solutions to get your brokerage on the path to growth, contact us to see how we can help. Go to https://www.weichert.com/ or call 877-567-3350. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/how-to-appeal-to-downsizing-boomers/ Brand is a powerful thing. Yet, many real estate brokerages underestimate its power in attracting consumers. A successful brand can be leveraged to establish trust, credibility, and ultimately, success. Many successful owners have worked hard to build a name for their company, which has helped lead them to where they are today. However, for many brokers, building a brand that people instantly trust and want to engage with, can be challenging. Where do you start? How do you compete? How do you make yourself memorable?
Customer Service: What Does It Really Mean? It is not news to anyone that customer service is a top priority to consumers, but in real estate, it’s all about customer service. So what exactly defines quality customer service for real estate agents and brokers? While many brokers agree on some key elements of this, it’s surprising how many different answers you get. According to NAR, buyers and sellers have named honesty, technology, and regular communication as their top priorities in terms of customer service. No matter how you define it, it’s what the customer values that’s important. Take a look at your company. How would you rate your brokerage and your agents in these areas? If they’ve not been a priority, make them priority in your operations. By focusing on these areas, you’ll be on the path to delivering the best service possible in your market. But consistency is also critical. Good brands deliver consistent experiences. It’s why customers keep going back. Define and post your unique definition of customer service for everyone to see and make sure your entire team trains on it and keeps it top of mind. When everyone defines service in the same way, using the same tools, that’s the beginning of building a real brand experience that means something to people. Effect on Lead Generation It’s a simple fact. The strength of your brand has a direct impact on your ability to generate inbound leads, which can directly affect the success of your company. As a broker, you want to ultimately build a brand that magnetically attracts buyers and sellers which you can hand-off to your agents. That makes you valuable in the eyes of your agents. The struggle for many independent brokers is that they simply can’t invest the kind of money in branding and lead generation that large, national real estate companies do. At Weichert, the lead generation challenge is one of the biggest reasons that independent brokers turn to us for help. The Weichert national lead generation strategy creates a constant stream of quality leads, by leveraging both digital marketing and technology. Not only does Weichert cultivate leads inside your market through our lead network, but it provides lead opportunities from our rental company, relocation company, and referrals from our network of over 500 offices across the country. Brand Touch Points A silent brand is no brand at all. You can’t build a brand that generates leads and recruits new agents without implementing a system of regularly reaching out and touching your community with events, ads, content, volunteering…and yes, even Open Houses. In fact, the more that you get your brand in front of consumers in your service area, the more brand recognition and credibility you will achieve. It is human nature to feel comfortable with things you are exposed to repeatedly, but make sure it looks consistent. These touch points create a connection and understanding with your brand that makes doing business easier down the line. The brokerages that are able to touch their community the most will be the one buyers and sellers think of when it’s time. As a broker your job is to use all your knowledge and skills and all the media and personal channels at your disposal to get your brand out in the world, and keep it there. Independent Broker Independence VS. Big Brand Many independent brokers feel like affiliation means giving up their identity, their independence, and everything they’ve built and learned over time. But what if that wasn’t true? What if you could maintain your independent operating style and culture, while plugging into the benefits of national branding, lead generation, recruiting systems, agent education systems, technology, coaching and more? What if someone could really show you how to do this in a proven way that has taken others like you to the next level of success? If that sounds like the kind of brand you’d like to be part of, give us a call today to find out more: 877-567-3350, or visit us at weichertfranchising.com. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/the-power-of-brand/ As an experienced and savvy real estate broker, you already understand that building a powerful web presence for yourself is essential for forming new connections, generating leads, and attracting valuable agents to your brokerage. However, as the web becomes continuously louder, it becomes more challenging to earn organic traffic lead to your brokerage’s website and convert that traffic into leads. As you probably already know, content marketing is touted as one of the most powerful ways of earning and converting that targeted traffic your brokerage requires to continue to grow. To help you better understand the content marketing universe, here are three types of content that have proven results for generating the kind of interest and interaction that makes all your sales efforts, more effective.
Written Content Written content, such as blog posts, newsletters, market updates, and just listed/sold are the most traditional types of content produced on the internet by real estate professionals. Just because it is common however, doesn’t make it any less effective. The key to being successful with written content is to optimize it to get it on Google’s radar and other search engines, and to make sure that it is written with your target audience’s goals and challenges in mind. By anticipating buyer and seller pain points, your topics will resonate with more people. The more you tailor your content to have both technical and human appeal, the more it will generate both credibility for your local brand, and of course, leads. Video Content Video marketing has been viewed as one of the most powerful forms of content marketing for the last decade thanks to the success of platforms like YouTube and Facebook. Many people find video content easier to consume than written content. This along with the ease of producing good quality videos on an iPhone today, has led to a boom in video content consumption. Real estate brokers and agents have been using video for years of course, to show house tours and related content online, but this is not the only subject matter you should use. If you already have a blog, simply convert those topics into videos which you can use to grow your presence on YouTube, social media platforms, and your website. Audio Content Audio content is now surpassing video content in both results and popularity because people now consider audio even easier to consume than video. In fact, Salesforce reports that in 2017 the average consumer was listening to more than 5 hours of podcasts each week! Therefore, it goes without saying that progressive brokers are making a move towards audio platforms like iTunes and SoundCloud to reach their audience. For those of you that have been creating videos for the last several years, this is great news because many free and inexpensive software programs will allow you to extract the audio portion of your videos and use those files for podcasts. Another consideration is that companies like Google are transitioning to “voice search” and search results will begin to include more audio-only results especially on mobile devices. As a broker, being ahead of this curve is sure to give you a leg up on the competition. Plus, if you don’t like being on video, this now gives you options! How Content Marketing Has Proven Itself Valuable As a real estate broker, you already know the value of earning the trust of the public. In fact, trust is the biggest obstacle for most businesses in any industry. Content marketing allows you to break down those barriers and earn people’s trust passively. An Easy Agent Pro study conducted recently found that 90% of consumers find custom content useful and 78% believe that companies behind content are interested in building good relationships with their customers. From the beginning, Jim Weichert sought to create and build upon his connections with the members of his community, which continues to this day. That means knowing where your clients spend their time and making sure you are where they are. It also means interacting with them the way they want to receive information, no matter how that changes over time. These are the types of core beliefs that have grown a single real estate office into one of the largest providers of real estate related services in the country. To learn more about the Weichert formula for brokerage growth, please contact us or visit our site at https://www.weichertfranchise.com/weichert-real-estate-franchise/ or call 877-567-3350. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/real-estate-lead-generation/content-marketing-strategies-for-real-estate-brokerages/ As 2018 draws to an end, you and the rest of the real estate broker universe are actively thinking about how to make 2019 your best year yet. A big part of that plan is sure to be how you will attract more sales associates to your brokerage. If you’ve hit a plateau or feel like you need new tactics, it may be time to take a fresh approach to your recruiting strategy in the new year. Here are a few thoughts on recruiting strategies for 2019.
Get Serious About Instagram & Facebook Yes, you have heard for some time that Instagram and Facebook are important platforms for real estate professionals, but are you using them actively for something other than home sales? It turns out that these portals have a role to play in recruiting agents, as well as buyers and sellers, but unless you are consistent about staying active and engaged on each of them, you won’t see results. By having the right connections, and being active on these portals, agents will see your brand as dynamic and active and you will increase the number of touchpoints you have with other professionals. When using these portals for recruiting, here’s a few things to keep in mind.
The key here is to be helpful. Both your content and your comments should give people real and valuable information. What you give freely, you will receive in return tenfold. Get Yourself in Front of the Right People While there is no dispute that technology has earned its place in real estate recruiting, face-to-face connections will never lose their value. The more you can get yourself, your name, and your brand in front of interested recruits, the faster you will grow. One way in which Weichert affiliate brokerages have achieved recruiting success is hosting a weekly career night at their offices. With careful promotion and consistent scheduling, this activity helps each of our brokers shake hands with interested candidates and take that first step to bringing them onboard or into the industry. Get A Buzz Going One thing experienced agents will evaluate is what value your brokerage brings to their business. That can take many forms, one of which is lead gen. At Weichert for instance, we invest in a national lead network from generation to qualification to distribution, which is an extremely powerful recruiting tool. We cultivate leads from Weichert.com with over 3 million visitors a month, which supplements an agents’ own activity. Another is tools and resources. Weichert, for example offers one of the best Listing Presentation tools in the industry. Still another is your company culture. Creating an environment of support and open communication empowers agents to do their best. Agents talk to each other and if they love where they work, they talk about it. That kind of talk can ignite a fire of interest around your brokerage that will attract agents like moths to a flame. It’s these kinds of dynamics that makes working for a Weichert brokerage so popular. Recruiting Isn’t Easy, but Weichert Makes it Easier Have you done a check-up of your recruiting strategy lately? If there’s one story our brokers tell us over and over, it’s how much easier recruiting was once they affiliated with Weichert. Sustained agent recruiting is one of the keys to achieving your brokerage dream, and no one does more to give you the right recruiting tools and strategies than Weichert. If your brokerage could benefit from better recruiting systems, contact us to see how we can help. For more information about the Weichert system, go to https://www.weichertfranchise.com or call 877-567-3350. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/recruiting-strategies-for-2019/ 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/ |
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