As agents we should pay particular attention to our spending habits and why we choose the companies and services that we use daily. They can provide insight into the mind of a potential customer, because we are also potential customers and as such we think like a customer thinks.  So what is there to be learned from where we purchase our gas?

I can count on one hand the number of times I have actually walked into the gas station’s building over the past year. I am sure that inside the station there will be a smiling sales person behind the cash register offering a warm greeting, maybe even a manager watching over the comings and goings, making sure shelves are stocked. I am usually in a hurry and have no need for a huge soda pop in a cup or a pack of gum. I’ll buy the station’s gas even without the warm and fuzzy greeting or any direct selling of their product. Why?

There are 3 reasons that I can think of for buying gas at a particular station without ever going in to speak with a sales associate.

1. I have a need.
2. They are are able to handle my need.
3. Convenience.

I have a need

I have a need for gas, so a purchase is going to follow. From the customer viewpoint, the need comes first and starts the purchase process rolling. Buyers and sellers of real estate have a need as well.

• Seller needs to relocate.
• Buyer needs to stop renting and buy a home.
• Seller needs to short sell their home.
• Buyer needs to use FHA or VA financing.
• Seller needs to purchase another home after selling theirs.
• Buyer needs to purchase a home in a specific area.

They are able to handle my need

I know that the gas station can fill my need. How do I know? I can see that they have gas pumps. I see other people buying gas ahead of me. They have a big sign advertising that they are a gas station and have a variety of grades of gas to sell.

Do customers know that you can fill their real estate needs? Do you make sure your marketing and prospecting efforts carefully outline what you offer that fills the needs of others?

• Do you promote yourself as a relocation specialist?
• What have you done this year that clearly identifies you as an agent that can assist first time homebuyers?
• Do you make sure your market knows that you have the education and qualifications to assist sellers with the short sale process?
• Who knows that you can help a buyer obtain a FHA or VA loan?
• Buying a home while selling one is more complex; does your customer base know you to be a knowledgeable real estate professional?
• Are you the area/city/town expert?

If we are to learn from the gas station, the customer would need to know all about us even without or before meeting us.  How is that possible?

Word of mouth, marketing and prospecting that accentuates your services.

Your current and previous customers are walking billboards. Your family and friends are your radio and TV spots, reaching into hundreds if not thousands of households with a message about you. Word of mouth will let people know that you can fill their needs before they ever meet you.

Does your marketing and prospecting accentuate what the customer is really concerned about, their needs? Is your message clear, for instance, that you are a relocation specialist and do you offer examples of how that benefits them. Do they know you understand the fears and concerns with buying a home for the first time and are able to guide new home buyers successfully through the process? Remember your goal is to introduce your skills to the customer and let them know what you can do for them before getting face to face.

Convenience

I pass by several gas stations on my way to the one I most commonly use because of the convenience of using this station. I know where to find the station, they are easy to find, easy to use, and are able to provide me what I need when I need it. If not, I search for the next “known” gas station I need.

Can potential customers say the same thing about you? Do you have enough for-sale signs out in the neighborhood that make it easy for a new customer to find you? There is a phrase, “you list to last” and the reason I find this to be true is because listings result in new customers calling the phone number(s) on the for-sale signs. Are you online? Do you take advantage of social media sites leaving online directional signs to you? Can the potential buyer or seller conveniently locate you anytime of the day or night from their home or office? Do you answer the phone? This is a biggie. Are you always letting calls go to voicemail putting all of the work on the caller to either leave a message or move on to a more convenient agent? If we are to pattern ourselves after a service such as a gas station, we need to be around every corner, open for business and ready to serve the needs of our customers.

We can learn from our everyday purchases

There is a lot for us to learn from our own buying and spending habits. Analyzing why we purchase from one store or vendor over another will help us reach more of the customers we seek. Start making mental or written notes as to why you shop a certain store or read one direct mail piece over another and then incorporate what motivates you into your own real estate business.

I have also found another opportunity available to real estate agents just before the start of football season. An opportunity not often thought of is blogging about the upcoming season schedule for the local high school, college or professional team. Real estate blogs that offer more than just housing statistics will attract more readers. You will be surprised to discover how many people in your local community are searching online for the date and time of the next football game. Once they have discovered your blog and see all the great information available to them, it is very likely that they will subscribe or put your blog in their favorite places.

Kick off this football season with a blog post or two about the local season and watch your visitor count grow.

Better time management will help reduce stress and add an additional hour or two to your schedule but in reality the only agents not faced with an endless list of tasks on a daily basis are the non producing agents.

I attended a meeting recently where the CEO of Watson Realty Corp., Mr. William Watson Jr. stated, “If your list of must-do tasks ever dwindle, you are in trouble.” His words rang true. If we are able to spend a lot of time playing online games or catching up on the latest office gossip, this is a clear indication that our “to-do’ list needs restocking.

Start by stocking up on ways to get new business. Make sure a significant portion of your day is used to meet new people. Once you start meeting new people; inspection deadlines, ordering surveys, meeting appraisers, ordering deposits, putting out fires and doing the impossible in order to close, all of these things and more will quickly find their way onto your lists.

You can increase the effectiveness of your elevator speech by following a few guidelines.

Have an outline. You do not have to memorize an elevator speech script. Repeating a script could work against you and comes across as a canned presentation that you have little confidence or belief in. Instead of a script you should jot down the most important information you would like to give to someone when faced with only a few moments to do so. The key elements of an elevator speech for business would include; who you are, what you do, how this might benefit the person you are speaking with and how they can contact you. For example when meeting someone for the first time you might say:

“My name is John Doe and I am with ABC Realty. I provide solutions and answers to real estate questions people have and help buyers and sellers find opportunities in today’s market. Here is my card.”

Keep it short and sweet. An elevator speech that rambles on allows little time for the most important part of meeting someone new, listening to them. The example above can be spoken clearly and confidently in just a few seconds and allows time for the person you are speaking with to respond. Perhaps they will respond by simply thanking you or introducing themselves to you or they may have a question.

Use it or lose it. The hardest part for many is not in developing an effective elevator speech; the hardest part is using it. In order for the speech to generate results you need to eliminate the fear that prevents you from speaking to someone you do not know. If you have confidence that your speech will not bore them to tears, will not make them late for an appointment and could actually benefit the person you are speaking with, you have less reason to have fear of the situation or outcome.

Test-drive your speech. You will want to practice your speech with your loved ones or your fellow associates or with your manager. Being comfortable with your elevator speech is important to be well received by those who hear it for the first time.

A good elevator speech is the bridge that connects you to those who would benefit from knowing you and what you do. Start working on yours today.

Your goal should be to fill the top of the marketing funnel with as many opportunities as possible which will result in an increased number of closings. I think everyone should agree that closings are the true barometer to any marketing program.

Ask yourself if the amount of success you are realizing from your current marketing and prospecting efforts are satisfactory. Make sure you give yourself enough time to fully determine the success level, and closely monitor your efforts to make sure that your marketing is going to produce more leads than any other type of marketing prospecting avenues available to you.

Who should receive a thank you card?

Once you get into the habit of regularly sending out thank you cards you will find that it takes very little of your time but will produce results that are immeasurable.  You should consider sending thank you cards and notes to:

• Homeowners immediately after a listing appointment
• Buyers who visited your open house
• Buyers who called or who you met during floor opportunity
• Sellers immediately after listing their home
• Agents who showed one of your listings
• The title agent who closed your last transaction
• The mortgage rep who pre-qualified your buyer
• The inspection company that inspected your listing or inspected a home for your buyer
• The home builder who met with your client
• The family member or friend who sent you a referral
• The lender’s short sale negotiator after receiving lender approval

This is a sample of those who help us during our business who would appreciate that we took the time and effort to formally thank them by sending them a handwritten note or card to their home or business.  The card and message can be simple and short.  Here are a few examples of what your thank you card might include:

 Homeowners after a listing appointment

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to visit with you.  I appreciate the opportunity to discuss with you the home selling process.  I am happy to answer any additional questions you may have about the process and look forward to assisting you in the near future.

Buyers who visited your open house

Thank you for visiting the open house I held at 111 Main St. last Sunday.  I enjoyed meeting you and your family.  Please feel free to call me if you have questions about the home or about the home buying process in general.

Agents who showed one of your listings

Thank you for bringing one of your buyers to view my listing at 111 Main St.  I am always excited when I see top agents in the area visiting my listings!  Let me know if your buyer has any questions or concerns about the home that I can help answer.

Start sending cards today

If you have not been sending out thank you notes I would encourage you to start doing so immediately.  You will find that the person receiving the note will appreciate it plus it is a simple and effective way to add to your marketing and prospecting efforts.

I think I can point some agents to the solution for their blog topic problem and the solution is right under their nose. In the course of a year an agent will write many emails to a buyer or seller that answers questions, provides an explanation, gives direction, suggestion or recommendation, or offers insight or prospective on any number of real estate related subjects. Dust those emails off, remove names and addresses, generalize them and what you have is a brand new spanking blog post.

The topic of your email is very likely something that a majority of buyer or sellers surfing the net would be interested in hearing or finding out about. You did not know it at the time but when you wrote the very professional and detailed email to your past customer, you may have been writing a future blog post.

There you have it; an informative, content rich blog post is just an old email away from happening.

Buyers

If you are not working with enough buyers then you should plan on holding several open houses over the next few months. Pick homes that are on busy streets or sought after communities. Agents who have success with open houses walk the neighborhood prior to the open house and personally invite the neighbors to attend.

During the open house successful agents do not act as wallflowers instead they warmly greet each person who walks through the door, engaging them in conversation about the home, or the neighborhood or the real estate market in general. If you are listening you should be able to quickly determine the reason your guest is there and what steps you will need to take to build an agent-customer relationship that will result in future business.

Continue to put yourself in the path of buyers and your business will increase.

Sellers

Having a large, well-managed listing inventory has always translated into success. Expired listings continue to be a leading source of listings.

Listings of your competition that have expired may have never been provided any more information about the current market except that it has “slowed down.” The sellers who really want to sell will appreciate you being truthful. With the competition so fierce, homes need to be priced competitively in order to sale. The best valued home at the best price and in the best condition will result in offers and a sale.

These are just 2 of the steps that an agent who wants to increase their business should take. These steps work for those agents who work them continually.

According to the National Association of Realtors ® 2009 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers Florida Report buyers who used the internet indicated that when searching for a home they used agent websites and company websites nearly the same. 46% of all buyers responded that they use a company website in their home search and 45% of all buyers surveyed reported using an agent website.

What are the advantages to a home buyer in using an agent website when searching for a home? Agent sites tend to be more local in nature and include more that just homes for sale. Buyers can find addresses and detailed information on the community including schools, shopping, and government offices. They can receive a wealth of information about buying a home, financing, inspections and related issues dealing with the home buying process. Buyers can receive all of this and also have the ability to search for homes on the agent site.

If the same amounts of buyers are looking to agent sites as a source for home buying information as there are looking at company sites, shouldn’t you be looking at your personal site a little closer too?

A real estate agent should have a balanced marketing plan that includes all the various forms of advertising media available in their area.  Local newspapers, especially the print version, may not be the prime source of news and information but newspapers still draw eyes and these eyes are potential buyers and sellers.  Advertising a listing in your local paper often provides double exposure, those who pick up the paper from their local newsstand or front porch and those who real the local paper online.

You may want to try running a new listings or weekend open house ad that is prominently displayed in the real estate section of the newspaper.  You should definitely consider enhancing your listings as they appear in the paper’s online version.  If you agree a real estate agents main job is in meeting people, being where 171 million are in one week is not a bad idea.