Anand Patel
By Anand Patel
With conference season in full swing, I have met many new and seasoned real estate professionals debating if conferences are worth attending at all. For newer agents—the conference virgins—they look at the cost and automatically dismiss the events as too expensive to even consider. Some seasoned agents—those that have gotten rusty at it—are “too busy” to waste time at a conference. Is it worth attending conferences, events, and seminars? It all depends on your mindset going into it.
From my experience I have found that, in general, I learn more from fellow attendees than from those speaking on stage. This only happens if you make it a point to meet new people, share ideas with others, pick up tips from them, and then go home and IMPLEMENT something you learned. If you go in with an open mind and a clear intent on learning and sharing, you will find value in attending conferences. You may have heard the quote that “each person we encounter is a teacher,” well that rings true for those you encounter at conferences. Keep an open mind, filter out the bad traits and learn from the good you find in fellow attendees.
I just got back from our Florida REALTORS® Conference and can tell you I made some wonderful new connections (and referral opportunities) that will continue long after the conference ends as long as I work to foster those relationships. If I don’t keep in touch, then yes, it will have all been a waste of time. If I don’t implement anything new I learned, then yes, it was a waste of money. It’s all up to me to make it worthwhile.
Are you a conference virgin? If so, here are some tips for your first time (or if you are getting back into it): Continue reading »
David Krichmar
By David Krichmar
Any time you come in contact someone who needs a REALTOR®, you should add them to your database. Trust me, I know this idea in itself is not brilliant. Once you have a database, how do you keep in touch with those clients?
The key to having a database is to stay in touch with past clients, current clients, and future clients. Not just past clients. What about someone who contacted you but did not need your services at that time; that is defined as a “future” client. So if you don’t already, add every person and email address to your data base as soon as they contact you. Now would be a great time to start. Once you have a growing database, let’s talk about 5 ways to keep in touch with them.
- e-Newsletters - Again, not a rocket science idea; you probably already do this. But if not, start doing it. Many email marketing programs will do the newsletter for you and send it out monthly. Making this the easiest way to keep in touch. Make sure the newsletter does not just talk about real estate, but other topics as well. This gives a better chance of your contacts actually reading the information and finding it helpful. Keep in mind, not everyone needs a REALTOR® right at this moment. But they always are looking for helpful information.
- Friend them on Facebook - As Facebook has grown, the majority of folks are on Facebook daily. So friend your database on Facebook. This makes it easiest to keep up with their needs and life events. Most people look at Facebook as being private, so not all clients may accept your friend request. In this example I suggest just friending past clients, that way you have the strongest relationship with them. Continue reading »
Jared James
By Jared James
We are only a few days removed from the Navy Seals finally tracking down Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, and while so many are focused on the world reaction, I would like to take a different view as to what this event can teach us as sales people in regards to proper follow-up with prospective clients.
I believe that we have become very much an Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) society that wants immediate gratification or we move on to whatever is next. We are trained as REALTORS® to ask qualifying questions of our prospects with the ultimate goal of determining how serious and qualified they are, but in the back of our minds what we really want to know is if we are wasting our time working with them. Asking qualifying questions is not only smart, it is also good business. But there is a danger in it as well.
Many times if we determine that a prospect is not ready to buy or sell in the next 60 days, we may follow up with them one or two more times, but we end up chasing whatever new prospect comes along and tickles our fancy, thinking it might be a more immediate sale. Take a look at the statistics below and see why this may be an unhealthy practice to adopt for the long-term health of your business.
• 48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect
• 25% of sales people make a second contact and stop
• 12% of sales people make more than three contacts
And yet 26.6% of all inquiries result in a sale
This should motivate you. Continue reading »
Jared James
By Jared James
Tell me that you have not ever had the experience of being fully committed to someone else, passing all of your leads to them, only to look on the MLS one day to see that they have listed their house through some other REALTOR®. Is there anything more frustrating in the world? Well, of course there is. But this is maybe a close second.
So the question becomes how do you avoid this in the future; or even better put, is this avoidable?
The obvious answer is “yes”… but how?
I have had the fortune of hearing from and working with thousands of REALTORS® from all over the world over the last 12 months and I truly believe that the answer lies in something as simple as being intentional with your business. It amazes me how many real estate professionals create a network of other business professionals that they refer their clients to on a regular basis and never really bother to make sure that the people they are referring to are just as committed to them and the success of their business.
Now, if you can relate to this say “aye,” but don’t worry because you find yourself exactly where the majority of REALTORS® do. The only question now is what are you going to do to make a change and become more intentional with your business?
Step 1 – Contact everyone that you have referred business to in the past, or will consider referring business to in the future, and have what I call “the talk” with them. Have a casual conversation with them and then at some point mention that you run into people all the time that you could possibly send their way and are they interested in receiving these referrals. Their response is obviously going to be a resounding yes. Now is the time to let them know that you just have certain business practices that you follow and one of them is that you don’t commit to any other business that is not just as committed to you. Follow this up by asking them if they have a REALTOR® that they are committed to. The best way to get to the bottom of this question is to ask them if they were to buy a house, or sell their own right now, do they have a REALTOR® in mind who they would be working with. If they don’t have anyone in mind, use this as an opportunity to form a reciprocal relationship with them where you are both just as committed to each other’s businesses. Keep in mind that you may want to have this conversation with some of your people over the phone, while others may be better suited to be had over a cup of coffee. It is up to you to determine which is appropriate according to the relationship that you have with them. Continue reading »
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