2020 is finally upon us and just like most successful real estate brokers, you are probably bursting with motivation to make this year your best yet. It probably also means that your mind is constantly filled with thoughts about recruiting and how you can accomplish significant goals for expansion over the next 12 months. You may even be feeling slightly discouraged if you came up short on your recruitment goals for this year. Don’t worry because the team at Weichert has the know-how to help you recruit the agents you need to support your business this coming year and rise to a new level of real estate stardom in your market.
Immerse Yourself In The Community You can’t expect to attract many new agents without your brokerage being a prolific member of the community. The more opportunities that you seize to host events, get involved in charitable works, partner with other businesses, and network with like-minded people, the more brand awareness you will achieve. Your goal here is to make your brokerage synonymous with the area you serve, so that when agents think of your market, they automatically think of you as the most active brokerage in the area, and thus the one most likely to facilitate their success. Become The Go-To Educational Resource Agents crave education and support from their broker, so by regularly hosting classes, webinars, and publishing content that will help them grow, you can improve your current team’s production and create buzz on the streets that will attract motivated agents. When it comes to hosting educational or recruiting events, think practically. Rather than hosting your events during the day when most people are otherwise busy, hold them in the evenings to increase attendance. You should also invest in proactively marketing these events on websites like Eventbrite, in your social media and in your conversations with agents. While in many ways agents act like standalone businesses, the more you demonstrate your leadership, expertise, and willingness to give back through education, the more agents will be eager to park their desk inside your brokerage. Have Materials That Keep You Top of Mind Agents that are considering you brokerage are eager to understand what makes you different and how your model can benefit them. Face to face meetings are always best, but make sure you are armed with takeaway materials for those you come in contact with that they can digest later and also serve a reminder of your meeting. Whether its flyers, simple brochure or a recruiting card distributed at a career fair or a more detailed piece for a targeted recruit. Help them remember you when they leave the meeting. Gather testimonials from your existing agents to promote on social media. Promote activities that your agents participate in as a team, such as charitable drives and social events to show off your awesome culture. Create video testimonials of your current agents discussing the benefits of joining your brokerage and share them on your website, YouTube, and social media accounts for prospects to see. Implement Proven Systems & Processes To Meet Your Recruiting Goals So whether you’re targeting 5, 10 or 25 agents, you can hit your number with the right infrastructure in place. Just ask our Weichert brokers! The challenge is to create the recruiting systems, activities and tools needed to meet your business goals. It can also be daunting when you don’t have the tools and technology behind you to offer agents a reason to join your brokerage. Affiliating with a brand like Weichert can provide you with support in both areas. With our proven recruiting system, coupled with a full suite of recruiting materials and our package of marketing tools, training, technology support and lead sources, you’ll have everything you need to grow your agent base and your overall business. Learn more about how the Weichert system can set you on your way to recruiting for the next level of success. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/hit-your-agent-recruiting-goal-next-year-with-these-3-tips/
0 Comments
“Commit to CANI! – Constant And Never-ending Improvement.” – Tony Robbins
If you ask any expert, there are a range of elements that must be present for a business to succeed, whether you are a real estate broker, CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or just starting out on a new venture. Some of these are easy to think of:
What Is Positive Energy? It may sound like something right out of an alternative lifestyle book, but it simply means having the right attitude. When you see nothing as an obstacle, but rather challenges to be overcome, you become that positive force that drives your brokerage forward. Think of leadership as a responsibility to inspire, not just give commands. This mental shift will affect everyone in your brokerage including:
Most successful business owners use this “can do” approach towards their professional goals, allowing them to achieve maximum effectiveness and results in the delivery of their products and services. Even if you’re more of an Eeyore than a Tigger, you can learn just a few behaviors that will make a big difference at the office and in all your interactions. How Does Positive Energy Influence the Workplace? An attitude shift is not about being unrealistic or seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses. It’s about creating a culture where achievements, success, innovation, and improvement CAN happen and are celebrated. The interesting thing is that studies have shown that simply by achieving this mindset, business owners receive the following benefits:
As a successful broker, you’ve already learned how to keep your team happy. But why not kick it up a notch? You don’t have to start dancing down the aisles, but many times it’s small things like choosing to coach, instead of criticize. Celebrate the positive, can-do attitude of others on your team. At Weichert Franchise, developing positive team dynamics is a cornerstone of our philosophy and an attribute of our most successful brokers. For more information on how Weichert Franchising can be a positive force in your business, visit https://www.weichertfranchise.com/. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/attitude-power-positive-energy-2/ As a real estate broker, you are no longer directly responsible for leading buyers and sellers through the complexities of real estate transactions. Instead, you are now charged with the responsibility of successfully leading your team of real estate agents to reach their potential. While there are many traits and skills that make up what most would consider a successful leader, there are a few that serve as the cornerstones for every broker. As you strive to become the best leader you can be for your team and your business, focus on the development of these must-have traits.
Authenticity The greatest leadership wisdom taught in lofty places like Harvard has to do with being authentic. Authentic leaders are said to value input and feedback, are positive, truthful, and open. They build trust and generate enthusiastic support that improves both individual and team performance. Consider that a career in real estate can feel like a roller coaster, full of ups and downs. For some real estate agents, the downs can lead to doubts in their abilities and fears about their future. As their broker-leader, you can help shoulder those burdens by being an authentic leader who has both empathy for their situation, but whose enthusiasm and positivity helps them stay focused and motivated. Being an authentic leader, also helps creates the authentic culture in your brokerage that will minimize turnover and help improve production. Recognition There is nothing more demoralizing than having those you look up to ignore your strengths and accomplishments. As a leader, it is your job to give recognition to those agents that perform well and showcase exceptional talents. If you hold team meetings, you may want to consider regularly giving out awards or tokens of recognition to worthy individuals. Certainly top performers should be recognized, but there are many things you can recognize people for. In the spirit of being authentic, just make sure they are recognized for real achievements. If you look hard enough, everyone has something meaningful they have achieved that you can hold up for your team. Humility Everyone makes mistakes. The difference between an average joe and a successful leader is that a leader is humble and willing to admit their mistakes. This is another attribute of the authentic leader, the willingness to admit mistakes. In fact, as a real estate broker, you have a special opportunity to use your hard earned knowledge to save your agents from wasting their own time, money, and resources in the same ways you may have as an agent. By exercising humility and openly leveraging your mistakes into lessons, your entire team can work smarter and will have deeper respect for you as a leader. Empowerment One of the first things you had to learn to do as a broker was to stop selling homes yourself. Now the next part is actually empowering your agents to do the selling and make them as good at it as you were. Don’t be a broker who swoops in and personally fixes everything, whenever a deal hits a rough spot. Instead give your team the training they want, the advice and support they need, and the encouragement to be successful. Agents who feel empowered and supported, and who are not micromanaged, will take more initiative and over time will develop into more productive and motivated sales associates. Accountability If you strive to lead an all-star team, you must lead by example by being accountable for what you say and do. This really means getting back to some basics like saying what you will do, and doing what you say you will. Since the buck stops with you, some things will naturally float up to your level, and when agents see that you will jump in and handle the big challenges, their confidence in your leadership will grow. Accountability is actually one of the important skills Weichert teaches its brokers through the Weichert Management Academy. The academy, open to Weichert owners, brokers and managers across the country, teaches attendees all the important elements of building a successful team and managing a successful business. In this training the behaviors that constitute accountable leadership at every level are discussed. Being accountable means employees will feel your organization is solid, and that they are both well supported, and empowered to move their business forward. There’s Always Room To Be A Better Leader As a real estate agent, you successfully developed your abilities as a salesperson. As a broker, your focus shifted to being an effective leader. If you think you could benefit from leadership coaching and training programs, as well as a collection of production boosting tools and systems for your agents go to weichertfranchise.com or call 877-746-2067. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/undeniable-traits-of-a-successful-leader-2/ As a knowledgeable broker, you’ve hopefully been writing your own business plan every year. You have seen the benefits of planning out your growth goals and “knowing your numbers”. However, are your agents taking the time to do the same? As a coach and the leader of your team, you can stimulate growth and inspire your agents by sitting down with them to write their own business plans. Even the most experienced agents can benefit from this exercise and once they see its power, they will be convinced of how necessary it really is in their business. Here are some helpful strategies to take when appealing to your agents to write a business plan.
Why Do Agents Need A Business Plan? At the end of the day, real estate agents are independent small business owners. As you know, any business without a sense of direction and goals will struggle to grow. In fact, in a Harvard Business Review report, it states that those “who write formal plans are 16% more likely to achieve business viability than the otherwise identical non-planning entrepreneurs.” If you want to build a formidable team of agents that come to you for guidance, but are otherwise self-sufficient and successful, steer them toward developing a plan that outlines a path to reach those goals. Easy Ways To Empower Agents To Write Their Business Plan Once you have convinced an agent of the overwhelming value of a business plan, you may still need to give them an extra nudge to actually sit down and write it. Often, this challenge can be overcome with these five steps:
Brokers that have joined the Weichert Franchise have seen first-hand how empowering their agents with training, processes, and resources like business plans can be instrumental in their own growth. Having clear-cut goals, partnered with a proven system designed to achieve them is what allows Weichert brokers and their agents to do more. For additional information on how to further develop your real estate business, visit www.weichertfranchise.com. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/yes-your-agents-need-a-business-plan-too/ Many real estate agents and brokers feel their business hits a lull during the holiday season, when people are more focused on priorities other than buying or selling a house. In addition to using this slower period to plan for the year ahead, you can use it as an opportunity to reconnect with your network and show them how much they mean to you. Here are some ways that you can build upon your relationships during the holidays to increase your brand value and plant seeds for the year ahead.
Host A Holiday Client Appreciation Party ‘Tis the season for parties! One of the best ways that you can get some face-to-face time with your team, clients, and referral partners is to host an annual client appreciation party during the holidays. While the main point of this event is for you to strengthen the relationships that empower your business, there are opportunities for you to market your brand as well. Set up a holiday photo booth with props and encourage guests to post their photos to social media with a branded hashtag. You could also hire a professional photographer to take fun candid’s of the party to use in your social media marketing. This shows the world how much you care about the people of your community; not just the houses they live in. Don’t forget to write a press release and publish photos on your social pages. Send A Personalized Holiday Card Holiday cards are a long-celebrated tradition. Although it may be easier to send out a standard card to everyone, your efforts will go a lot farther if you write a personal message in each one. It doesn’t have to belong, but it should reflect your appreciation for their contribution to your business. It also never hurts to share an inside joke or pleasant memory if you can. Again, this is not about directly soliciting business, but leveraging the law of reciprocity to your advantage. Write Holiday Themed Blog Posts Themed blog posts are often some of the most popular of the entire year. While helpful tips about how to make it through the holidays or holiday decorations are always popular, why not take a more hyperlocal approach? Offer a local holiday shopping guide profiling the mom-and-pop shops that make your neighborhood so great. Local restaurants and other businesses with holiday specials work, too. A list of the best holiday-themed events in your market will also be a big hit. Themed hyperlocal posts like these increase your SEO reach, position you as a local expert, and generate loads more traffic by being so shareable on social media. Don’t forget to include hyperlocal and holiday-themed hashtags to help expand your reach with every post a bit further. Give Back To Those That Need It Most Although you should be giving back to charity and your community throughout the year, the holidays are certainly one of the most heart-warming times to do it. There are countless ways that you can deepen your connection with the community while doing good. Food, coat, and toy drives at your office offer the opportunity to get some facetime with people that wish to join your cause. By having the collection point at your office, you can get priceless face to face time with your clients as well. You could also organize a team of caroling agents to visit homeless shelters and aging communities where holiday cheer could use a boost. For a more hands-on approach, consider gathering volunteers for Habitat for Humanity or local soup kitchens. Social media posts, blogs, and videos are a great way to show the positive impact of giving back during the holidays and showcase your dedication to the community. Host A Home Decorating Contest On the lighter side, you can start an annual home decorating contest. Encourage your network and social audience to submit their most festive rooms or exterior decorations for the chance to win a prize. Consider enlisting your networking group and/or other local small businesses to provide prizes and encourage them to promote the contest. To expand your reach further, consider making it a requirement that they like your page, share your post, or subscribe to your newsletter in order to enter. Announce the winners during a Facebook Live event and don’t forget to tag everyone involved in the contest for even more free exposure. At the Holidays, Keep it Real The holidays are a wonderful opportunity for you to take stock of your production, set new goals, and reconnect with the people that have enabled you to get where you are today. Although it is wise to continue marketing yourself during the final months of the year to keep your pipeline full, it is important to be tactful and lead with reciprocity. Strike a balance in your marketing strategy by investing the time in your relationships with the community and leveraging online channels to promote your dedication. At Weichert, we believe the real estate business is based on personal relationships and is the driving force behind all the tools and systems we develop and prescribe for our affiliates. If this sounds like it would be a fit with your brokerage, go to www.weichertfranchising.com to learn more about a franchise opportunity. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/5-real-estate-marketing-ideas-for-the-holidays/ As the year is winding down, you may want to consider reflecting on how far you have come in the last 12 months and where you would like to be at the end of the coming year. Many people will advise you that as a broker and a business owner, you should get in the habit of writing an annual business plan to set goals and measure your progress. Many brokers tend to “wing it” and don’t see the value in writing one. However, writing a business plan can be one of the best things you can do for your business. Follow these tips to create your own yearly business plan before year’s end and insure that next year is your most productive year yet.
When Is The Best Time To Write Your Yearly Business Plan? In short, NOW! The best way to set yourself up for success in the year to come is to block off time to write your annual business plan well before the new year begins. Since many real estate agents and brokers have considerable downtime during the holidays, that is a great opportunity to focus on your plans and goals for the new year. Carve out enough time in November or December to look over the current year’s production and assemble a strategic plan for next year to get started off on the right foot when January 1st hits. What Should You Include In Your Yearly Business Plan? For a business plan to be useful, you really have to consider your goals, tactics, activities, and budget in some detail, and develop a reasonable plan that has these things working together. How much detail you get into is up to you, but err on the side of more detail if you can. At a minimum, a real estate broker needs to give some thought to the things below:
GOOD GOAL: “I will recruit 20 new agents next year of which at least 5 will have previous experience and one who has agent management experience. I will target 8 in the first half of the year and 12 in the second half of the year.”
Final Tips to Keep in Mind Business plans are not a one-size-fits-all tool. It is important that even if you use a pre-designed template that you customize it according to your individual goals, targets, and challenges. Think in terms of both your immediate goals, as well as how they fit into your big-picture goals. As an experienced real estate broker, you have a deep understanding of how important it is to treat your business like a business. By taking the time each year to write out a detailed plan and strategy of how you will tackle each benchmark on the path to success, you stand a much greater chance of getting there. Plan Your Business with a Partner At Weichert, we encourage all of our franchise owners to create a business plan each year. By writing down the plan, together with the coaching they get from their business consultants, Weichert affiliates have found this process to be truly valuable in sustaining growth. By implementing formal business plans, they are able to do more and focus their energy and resources on the right things. It’s just one of many proven strategies Weichert gives its owners to help them grow. We can help you with your business plan, but even better, we can give you the tools and processes to execute it. For more information about how Weichert empowers its affiliates to do more, go to www.weichertfranchise.com . Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/january-is-too-late-to-write-your-business-plan/ Franchise Success Spotlight: Weichert® Affiliate Ronda Bailey Cooper Weichert, Realtors® – Cooper Group Indy Ronda Bailey Cooper never set out to be a Weichert Broker. In fact, Ronda never set out to be any kind of broker at all… Indianapolis Indiana and its suburbs support a thriving and dynamic real estate market. Despite its misunderstood moniker as “Naptown”, the city and its roughly 1 million inhabitants, are anything but sleepy. Ronda Bailey Cooper grew up here and despite an occasional relocation, she is a proud Hoosier and Indiana is the place she has always called home. Ronda Bailey Cooper operates Weichert, Realtors® – Cooper Group Indy from almost the dead center of Indianapolis. Her clients are mostly suburban homebuyers and renters who work in or near the city. As Ronda reflects on the crooked line of fate and career that landed her on the doorstep of Weichert, she will tell you, “I never planned to be a broker–it just kind of happened!” The Jagged Path to Real Estate Broker Ronda’s working life started as a high-school teacher and sports coach for girls volleyball, softball and the cheerleading squad. In this mix, it was the coaching she really loved. The ability to mentor athletes and inspire a team to come together, compete, and achieve something important, hardly seemed like a job. What’s more she knew she was good at it. After many years as a teacher and then a day-care center operator, Ronda was casually introduced to people from Indiana’s largest home builder. After some thought, Ronda agreed to forgo the day care center for a job as a salesperson for the builder, selling houses under construction across the state. With her newly minted real estate agent license in hand, Ronda had precious little experience in the role of builder salesperson, but her energy, mature business skills and personality got her the job. Ronda set about the hard work of publicizing the developments, partnering with other real estate agents and brokers and sponsoring huge professional events. Over a 12 year career, Ronda rose to regional manager, and ultimately sales director for the entire company. In 2008 Ronda and her team were responsible for the sale of 1700 homes across the state. But the Recession hit. And in 2009, her company was out of business, and Ronda was out of a job. The recession hit builders across the country hard, and Ronda’s company was no exception. But she had developed more than a sales team there; she had developed a culture that was open, supportive, collaborative, and focused on winning. The culture changes extended throughout the company. In this job, she had become coach and mentor again and the thought of starting over was tough. It wasn’t long before Ronda accepted a job out of state, moving her family to Alabama to work for another builder who hoped Ronda could duplicate her success there. However, it soon became clear that their culture was very different than the one Ronda wanted to create and they were not really open to the kind of transformative change they thought they wanted. It taught Ronda how important a culture and the cultural fit is, and how if the fit isn’t there, it isn’t always possible to make it work. In 2012, when her daughter graduated, Ronda took the family back to Indianapolis and got her first traditional real estate agent job, hanging her hat with a tiny Mom & Pop brokerage who provided little more than morning coffee. To train herself in her new profession, Ronda created her own coaching and mentoring program by hiring and paying friends and professional contacts from all over town to teach her the ins and outs of being a real estate agent. One day a friend called her with congratulations. Ronda asked her what for, and she said “for being a top 10 realtor,” as published from results pulled from the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors for the greater Indianapolis area. Ronda had no idea. She had closed 240 homes in just her first two years of being an agent, and the local industry was starting to notice. Agents reached out to her for mentoring. Brokerages tried to recruit her. Ronda decided that maybe it was time to make a career move. The Road to Weichert Ronda got her broker’s license and shortly after started her team with two agents, one a friend, and the other, her daughter. It was around that time that she had a preliminary discussion with Weichert, but she wasn’t really interested. “I had never been anything but independent, and I was really afraid of losing that.” Ronda persisted alone, growing her business slowly and being very careful about who she hired and who she kept. “For me it was all about attitude. I wanted agents that would be open to the culture, the coaching and mentoring I wanted to provide and who would work more as a team.” That meant both a careful screening process and being willing to let go of producers when they had a “bad” attitude. After two years, the agency grew to 6 people and was doing well, but Ronda was becoming aware that she didn’t know what she didn’t know, and her growth was being impacted because of it. “The technology stuff and the brand development were not really my forte. I’m more a people person.” As Ronda planned a trip to NY city to see her daughter, Weichert happened to call and she thought, “What the heck, they can pay for my visit and I’ll stop in to see them while I’m in the area.” While listening to Weichert at their corporate offices in Morris Plains, NJ, all the pieces started to fall into place. Recruiting process? Check. Plug & Play Technology Solutions? Check. Active one-on-one expert support? Check. New agent training process? Check. Branding and Marketing Solutions? Check. Still, Ronda wrestled with concerns over her independence. While she knew that Weichert was the only affiliation she would consider, it was almost a year and a half after these initial meetings that she finally came on board. It was her daughter who, after watching her struggle with the decision, finally said, “Mom c’mon! What are you waiting for!” In 2017 Ronda became Weichert Realtors® – Cooper Group Indy. The Weichert Experience “The human collateral I’ve had at Weichert since day 1, has been amazing”, remarks Ronda. “As a people person, the ability to take live trainings, attend our SAW sessions and management retreats, have been tremendously exciting.” What Ronda likes the most though is the culture of transparency and sharing that exists within the Weichert broker community. “There is simply no scarcity mentality or being secretive. I never want to be the smartest person in the room and with Weichert, I never am.” When it comes to tools, Ronda is using it all, from the Doors listing presentation methodology to the Weichert Fast Track training for new agents. The plug and play nature of much of these processes meant that she saw improvements on day one that have continued through her two years with Weichert. “With Weichert, it’s not about any one single tool or process, but the way they’ve made them all work together and complement each other is quite amazing.” Ronda has doubled the size of her team using Weichert methods and has seen a 15-20% year over year growth in sales since becoming an Affiliate. She still builds her team her way, though—slowly—with an emphasis on openness and cultural compatibility. “It turns out that Weichert has the same culture that I do when it comes to openness, sharing and teamwork,” observes Ronda. “Weichert delivered 100% on the promises it made to me all those years ago and continues to do so.” Weichert – A Culture of Support As a Weichert affiliate, you’ll have a dedicated real estate business consultant and regional service manager assisting with everything from business planning and coaching to recruiting and financial management, plus support to help you leverage the wide array of marketing and sales tools at your fingertips. You’ll have the opportunity to attend local broker councils and management trainings to network with colleagues, as well as regional rallies and exciting conventions, along with your agents, so that everyone on your team is rallied around a common goal. The support you get will enhance your skills to make you a better leader. Be our next success story. Call Weichert Franchising today or visit www.weichertfranchise.com. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/the-accidental-broker/ When you’re considering purchasing a real estate franchise, brokers inevitably focus on the costs of the investment trying to understand if gains made by the relationship will ultimately outpace costs of the relationship. While each franchise is different, here are some of the key things you should expect from a real estate company offering a franchise opportunity.
With the Right Partner, Franchising Benefits Quickly Outpace Costs It’s easy to get caught up in the numbers when you’re looking at a franchise opportunity, but it’s important to never lose sight of what each franchise is really offering you in return for your hard-earned money. Pay close attention to the totality of each brands’ offering and remember that what’s cheapest isn’t always the best deal – the returns on your investment and the scope of training and support that is offered are what really counts. At Weichert, we believe in the power of the handshake, supported by advanced technology and proven processes. With Weichert you have both digital assets and expert real estate professionals that provide you training and coach you through your specific challenges every step of the way. If this sounds like a good fit for your business, we’re happy to chat with you in more detail visit https://www.weichertfranchise.com for more information. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/youre-really-paying-invest-real-estate-franchise-2/ Maybe you’ve heard of it and maybe you haven’t, but one of the latest buzz phrases in marketing is “experiential marketing”. As the name suggests, experiential marketing is all about taking that face-to-face approach to the next level. This is done through the transformation of common events into standout experiences, which are then shareable on social media. So how can real estate brokers and agents use this to grow and market their business to a new generation of customers?
We’re all familiar with traditional marketing approaches like open houses or door knocking. These approaches are indeed personal and generate contact directly between you and potential prospects. Experiential marketing, however, takes that further by establishing more shareable experiences and more personal connections around your brokerage and your agents. In this way, people have an opportunity to get to know you and your brand in a less-salesy, more personal way. In the words of our founder Jim Weichert, “people buy you, before your products or services.” For brokers and agents committed to a long-term career, experiential marketing can deliver both short and long-term results. Here’s a few ideas to get you started. Creating Experiences for Your Clients & Partners Almost any event you have sponsored in the past, such as an open house or seminar, can be upgraded to an experiential marketing event with a little extra work and thought. The experience you provide will vary, but the key is to make it fun, memorable, and shareable. Some events may not be tied to a specific home sale, but bringing visibility to your brand creates the opportunity for outreach in the future. Educational Events Most brokers have hosted educational events that allow you to showcase your real estate expertise in a more personal way than a blog post or postcard. Common events include first-time homebuyer classes, staging classes, and real estate investing classes. One way to make these events more experiential is to host them in more interesting places, like a local wine bar, or microbrewery, at an art gallery, or even inside a home you have listed. The key is to present a complete experience around the training, that is compelling enough to merit posting and sharing on social media. When creating these events, cost and creativity are your only limitations, but three words that help set the tone are: fun, food, and photo ops. Events with Hyperlocal Focus Events that allow you to mingle with local prospects and clients while indulging in local business are powerful for networking and making a positive impression. Some examples of hyperlocal events could include historic walking tours of your area, wine tasting tours, and “best of” restaurant tours. Organize a cleanup day at a local park and invite parents and kids. Rent an ice cream or food truck to coincide with a group door knocking event. Choose something you’re passionate about and that you feel your community will enjoy. Encourage people to take pictures and share their experiences on social media to get the maximum value out of your efforts. Partner with Other Local Influencers A way to host more compelling events and keep costs down is to partner with other local influencers or businesses. Host an event at the local animal shelter or pet adoption agency. If you’re marketing a 3 bedroom ranch in a family area, consider throwing a barbecue or partner with a local restaurant to cater an event for a local charity. An event catered by a beloved local hot dog shack will have just as much pull (maybe more) as a 4-star restaurant and give a sense of fun to the entire gathering. Or turn the tables and let your office be the host for a wine tasting, exhibit for local artists or holiday event like a pumpkin giveaway or trunk or treat. Document the Journey as well as the Event Don’t view the planning, brainstorming, and even the headaches of setting up your experience as things to hide. Instead use these as opportunities for photo ops to create content that will give you more mileage out of your event, such as pictures of the team setting up or your planning meetings. This way you can get a dozen or more pieces of content to publish across multiple channels for weeks, instead of just a single Instagram story published on the day of the event. Remember that one of the key goals of experiential marketing is its ability to leverage the connections of all those involved by getting them to share on social media. Encourage all manner of photographs and selfies at your event and encourage attendees to post. Staying Connected Online, Compliments the Experience While these experiences and events are an opportunity for you to connect more deeply with your network offline, your social media strategy can enhance these connections even further. Post consistently in the lead-up to the event to build anticipation and use the phone and email to increase touch points as much as possible. At the event, have someone create content like live feeds and video that can be used later as well. Make sure your team will respond promptly to every comment and interaction on their social profiles. It turns out that experiential marketing leverages some of the things that real estate professionals do best: being friendly and being organized. Experiential marketing ties directly into the Weichert philosophy of the personal connection in real estate as first practiced by founder Jim Weichert, handing out business cards twice a day in a Chatham, NJ train station. But the experience we most often create at Weichert, is one of success. For more information on becoming a Weichert franchise, visit www.weichertfranchise.com. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/how-to-use-experiential-marketing-in-real-estate/ We 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:
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. This content originally published at https://bit.ly/2J7VPzF |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
July 2020
Categories
All
|