What is a real estate professional to do? How can we maintain our position and business when everyone seems to be tightening their belts? How can we stay motivated when we don’t see the numbers we used to see?

Three things come to mind as I consider these questions:

1. The real estate professional will get back to the basics. What I mean by this is that we need to remember that we are in the prospecting and lead conversion business. In the good times, when buyers/sellers abound, we can gather them up by simply “showing up.” In these more difficult times we need to go out and find them and then give them reasons to work with us now rather than later. If they are set on “later” we need to cultivate them so that when they choose to buy/sell, we are their “top of mind” choice.

Real estate agents, as well as all sales people, are notorious for being “cherry pickers.” They are always looking for the “now deals” and as long as there are plenty of them, they are good at what they do. What only the real professionals do is to plant and cultivate “cherry orchards” so that in any market there are those ready to buy/sell with these professionals. Not because they are better at listing/selling, but because they are better at lead generation, cultivation, and conversion.

2. The real estate professional will become creative in their marketing efforts. I think that one of the least used marketing efforts is that of developing a social consciousness. Looking for causes that you can not only believe in, but one’s in which you can take the lead. Look around your world, if it is anything like mine, there are plenty of places to get involved and even take the lead. Finding something you believe in to sponsor/support will bring you the satisfaction of meeting another’s need and will cause people to think of you first when they are ready to buy/sell.

A note about this kind of “marketing:” Don’t be a hypocrite! The people you work with will quickly see through a hypocritical facade. If you do not have a real passion for the cause, stay out! In the end, hypocrisy will do way more damage than any short term gain could benefit.

3. The real estate professional will learn to cultivate a strong referral base. Every house you sell, every deal you close, every life you touch should provide you with future clients. For this to happen you need to learn how to cultivate this group. Remember them as friends, not just clients. Get “into their lives” in ways that are true and genuine and let them know that you are concerned about their “everyday.” Stay in contact with them regularly and let them know that you are not just looking for the “next deal.” The more people who become your friends the more referrals you will receive.

Use every means possible to follow these three steps and you will never fail to have business even in the most difficult of times.

In the first post on the subject of the sales cycle, I talked about the new real estate buyer/seller who comes to the first meeting with his/her agent already well educated and looking for someone who brings value and expertise to the table that they cannot find elsewhere.

So … if this potential client is sitting across the table from you with all their information that they got from the internet in front of them, what are you going to tell them that will cause them to want to give you “a piece of the action?” Why should a seller list with you? Why should a buyer let you find the house of his/her dreams? In other words what makes you a professional whose services should be paid for?

First, you must provide them with the sense that you have their best interests at heart. You cannot undervalue the fact that you provide your clients with a level of security that they cannot otherwise have without you helping them with their real estate needs. Anyone with the proper wrench and some basic know-how can change the spark plugs in a car. However, there is a greater sense of confidence in knowing that a mechanic who cares about you and how well your car runs is doing the work for you. If your clients understand right from the start that you are going to carry the load for them, they will more readily turn their real estate needs over to you!

Second, you must instill in your potential client an understanding about your skills in the subtleties of the real estate business. With so much information available to anyone via the Internet, your value to a client will rest in the subtleties that come only through time and experience. (Things like inventory levels, market valuation, market direction, effective pricing, negotiation skills, etc.) Even the newest agent at least has access to these subtleties through the relationships they are developing with more senior agents/brokers. To become highly valued (and therefore worth paying) you must outline these skills in a way that your potential clients can’t live without!

Third, you must present yourself as someone that your potential clients both like and trust. You need to be yourself, relaxed, confident, and in charge. Given the opportunity, people will most often hire an agent that they like and feel they can trust. You have to become that person for them. How can you do that? Three things come to my mind: 1. Ask questions and really listen to their answers. Let your potential client’s answers be the clues that lead you to the next question. 2. Show an interest in your potential client’s wants, needs, and desires. I know that we are told that “buyers are liars and so are sellers” but if you approach the sales cycle with that mindset, you will never really gain their trust. 3. Lead your clients rather than driving them. If you are out front throughout the whole sale process, clearing the way for your potential clients, they will feel like they are buying/selling their home and you are working alongside them to make things run smoothly. This will increase their confidence in you and improve both the likability and trust factors.

If you follow this course in developing new clients, you will be seen as someone whose value goes beyond the facts. You will be seen as a trusted friend and adviser. You will reach any level of success that you want and are capable of!

In these modern days of well educated and tech savvy consumers, the sales cycle has often been completely deconstructed and rebuilt to favor the customer rather than the sales person. The customer often comes into the process with equal or greater knowledge than the sales person. This is a BAD thing and places the sales person at a distinct disadvantage.

So, how does all this relate to real estate? Well … it relates quite well really. With all the information about properties for sale, with websites that will give basic market analysis (as well as home values) to anyone for free, with more and more information being made available which was once the private domain of the real estate professional, if you are not making yourself more valuable to the customer, you are loosing ground.

Over the next few weeks I am going to be dealing with this subject (the sales cycle) and trying to help you find ways that you can stay on top of this ever changing event. When you present yourself as a knowledgeable and competent professional, you will be able to maintain control. When you do not, game over!

While the answers were all over the board, the bottom line was that nearly all of these resistant agents did not understand the difference between a promotion and a give away.

Give aways are just that, something you give away to whoever walks in the room, past your desk, or through your open house. This is what most realtors have and this is how they usually disperse them. Someone convinces them to buy a box full of pens with their name and phone number on them and then they just hand them out to anyone who will take them. There is no rhyme or reason to their passing them out and no way to measure any kind of response that might come from them.

On the other hand, a promotion is a well thought out piece of your overall marketing strategy. In a promotion you are looking to accomplish several things:

1. You are looking to brand yourself as someone unique in your market.
2. You are looking to gather personal information on potential clients or reward and remind current clients of your place in your market.
3. You are looking to test a particular kind of marketing to see if it provides a valuable ROI for your business.

Let’s look at an example. We have all seen give aways at open houses where agents will put pens (or some other item) on the kitchen counter and offer them to those who come through the open. Most of the time these items are considered just a give away because we have no plan in place to gather information or measure any ROI. So you buy the pens, put them out, and hope that someone might remember you when they are looking to buy/sell.

What if you did this instead. Instead of just a pen, you provided both a pen and a writing pad (both with your branding information prominently displayed). Then you put up a sign on the counter that you were having a drawing for a gift card at a local restaurant. There are only a couple contest rules: (1) They must give you pertinent information (name, address, phone, email) (2) The information must be printed on a page from your note pad. (3) They cannot be working with another agent already.

Entrants to the drawing would be notified by the 5th of the following month as to their status. Your give away has just become a promotion. It allows you to brand your uniqueness in the market, it provides you with leads that might well become clients (if you follow-up correctly), it creates a system of testing, innovating, and measuring that allows you opportunity to accurately measure your ROI from all your marketing efforts. (Remember, holding an open house IS a part of your marketing effort.)

This kind of promotion allows you to begin to build relationships with people that could lead to many more transactions. And, it all begins with knowing the difference between a promotion and a give away.

You see, I am afraid that, after a two year down-turn, what he and others are experiencing as busyness is just a bubble and when the bubble pops they will be back to “normal.”

In order to stop the high, highs and the low, lows every agent needs to learn the art of innovative thinking and the marketing efforts that will result from that thinking. This kind of thinking will create a balanced business model. Balance and success go hand in hand.

So, just how does innovative thinking make your business?

First, when you are an innovative thinker you are always looking for ways to make your business better. Innovators look at the basics of the real estate business and find ways to make their doing these things stand out. They make the kind of changes that improve the buying and selling experience for their clients, they follow-up for the long term and find new and exciting ways to generate new listings and referrals, and they are constantly learning more about the real estate industry, allowing them to show themselves to all they meet as true professionals.

Second, when you are an innovative thinker you become more willing to work with a group of other innovative thinkers to bring success to the whole group. By being willing to share and receive counsel from other innovative thinkers your mind stays active and you are more apt to find unique methods that you can use for your success.

Third, when you are an innovative thinker, you become more confident in your everyday efforts. As you learn to think about better ways to do things, you will never be overwhelmed in the day to day. Every problem that comes your way will simply be an opportunity for you to find a unique answer that will strengthen your position in the eyes of your clients and will increase your confidence level regarding the problems that inevitably come in every deal.

So, before you get so busy with the bubble of new business, don’t forget to take time to think about how this increase in busyness can bring you a steady stream of business in every market. As one blog put it, “Innovate or die!”

Don’t let potential buyers or sellers slip through the cracks because you don’t take the time to follow-up. It does take some time and you can’t let it slide, but it will produce the greatest results in your whole business if you work it right.

Here are just a few suggestions to help you work it right:

1. Send a thank you note to everyone you speak to about real estate. This includes potential clients, business partners, and other agents. There is no better way to have people remember you than to thank them for their help in your business.
2. Send follow-up information to these same people that will be of interest to them. If you find a recipe for rhubarb crisp and send it to a buyer who has said she likes to bake (and loves rhubarb), she will think more highly of you than if you send her something about the number of single family homes sold in July.
3. Make sure that you continue to keep in contact with this group until they “opt-out.” People don’t buy/sell homes very often and sometimes things change and what might have been a deal this month will be pushed back for a time. When that right time for the client comes, you want them to still be your client because you have kept up with them.

It won’t take long, if you follow this plan, that you will have a large list in your follow-up system and you will see an increase in calls and referrals to you. People who you have heard regularly from you and who have come to the time when they need your services. Your phone will start ringing and your business will grow!

If you don’t take time to put this kind of system into place, you will constantly be chasing new clients and connecting with them only if they are ready to start now and have not found anyone else to work with. This will provide a significantly fewer number of potential clients.

Think about it ….

There are several options (and several price breaks) for automating your follow-up system. The least expensive of those is the email/calender program you have already on your computer. What you need to do with it is to take each new contact and schedule in a series of tasks that will “pop up” on the days you have scheduled them. This works well but is rather time consuming. In that you must do something each time your calendar “pops up” with a new task.

The next option is to find an “auto-responder” system that you can program with a series of notes, letters, emails, etc. that will be sent automatically via email to your follow-up list. The upside to this kind of a system is that you only have to create the emails once and they are then automatically sent without having to remember from day to day. You can also set up different sets of information for buyers, sellers, mortgage lenders, etc. Each group will receive information from you on a regular basis. The downside is that there is very little “personalization” of the information that you are making available and email is the only means of delivery.

The third option is to use a combination of tactics that include cards, emails, and personal contacts. This kind of a system has been shown to provide the best in long-term follow-up. Through it you will actually develop a relationship with your clients, vendors, and fellow agents. Developing and maintaining these relationship will make you stand out in the crowd and encourage your clients, vendors, and other agents to refer business to you. While the costs for automating this system is has the highest cost, it will also produce the best results for the long run.

No matter what system you decide to create, it will take you time and effort on your part. But, remember that those who are the most successful know that the fortune is truly in the follow-up. Are you creating a system that will provide the best follow-up for your clients?

What does it take to create a fortune in the follow-up? Personally I think it takes five things:

1. You must follow-up with everyone you meet on a business level. This means everyone from your clients (past, current, or potential), to bankers and builders, to office staff, and even fellow agents. If you let people slip between the cracks, you loose potential sales.

2. You must establish relationships with those who respond to your follow-ups. People in this generation want relationships more than they want a sales pitch. Even if you are the best, people still want to work with someone they have a relationship with.

3. You must be consistent in staying in touch with your list. People are more willing to work with you and refer you if you stay in touch on a personal basis. When you only check occasionally and only when you want something, you will be disappointed.

4. You must provide your list with real information that will be valuable to them. Find information that will be valuable to your niche and get it to them (at no cost to them)! There will be time to sell, but not when following up.

5. Don’t be afraid to ask for referrals. If you are building a relationship with your list, they will be willing to introduce you to their friends, family, and business associates.

The fortune is in the follow-up, but only those who are willing to make follow-up a priority will ever find the fortune!

Just my thoughts ….

“What am I trying to accomplish?”

Every successful agent spends lots of time, money, and effort to market and promote their answer to this question. Their marketing efforts are designed to make themselves stand out in a sea of agents in their local markets. They are “list builders” and every one of their lists are built with purpose (lenders, builders, inspectors, other agents, prospects, past clients, etc.) and are worked in unique ways.

Every tool that these leading agents use will either “get their name in front of people” or will cause the people on the list “to respond directly to them.” These agents  then track their efforts and refine them to create the greatest results that produce the most business. They have a plan and they work all the time.

So ….

What are you trying to accomplish in your real estate business?

What is your plan? Do you have one?

What are you doing to build your lists?

Are your marketing efforts trackable?

All of these questions must be asked and answered as you put together a successful marketing plan. If you are not sure how to answer these questions you need to find someone who can help you. Success in any business rests on your ability to market and innovate and until you have skills in both areas you will struggle. Real Estate is no different than any other business in this respect.

If you are unsure how to start, just stop by my main site and take a look around. Fill out the request for additional information and I will get back to you.

Let me know how I can help!

Think about it … if each of your past clients referred one new client to you per year and you closed half of those new clients, you would eventually have more business than you could handle just in referrals! That being said, the obvious question then becomes, “How do I get one new referral from my past client list every year?”

I think that there are five things that you must do to successfully gain these kinds of referrals from your past clients:

1. You have to connect with them on a personal level. You cannot expect people to risk their reputations, not to mention friendships, on you if you only want them to help you succeed in business. People most often do business with folks that they know and like. You have to become that person to receive a steady stream of referrals from your past clients.
2. You need to look for ways to refer business to them as well. Most of the time you have to do this first, before you can expect referrals in return. Keep your past clients business cards in a file and if you can (without ruining your reputation) send your friends and business associates to them as you ask them to do that for you.
3. You need to find ways to support things that interest your clients. If you have a client who is a big supporter of a particular charity, find a way to support it as well. You don’t have to “out spend” or “out support” your client, just let them know you care about things that concern them.
4. Pay attention to their families. Remember things like birthdays, anniversaries, children, etc. Nothing will endear you to a family than you going out of your way to remember important days in their lives!
5. Ask for referrals! If you don’t believe in your service enough to ask for referrals, your clients won’t think to provide them.

If you take care of your past clients with cards, phone calls and little gifts, they will happily refer you and your business will soar!

Just my thoughts ….