Real Estate Prospecting

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Creating Yourself as a Brand as a Realtor

Published March 27, 2017 by Real Estate Leads

Here at Real Estate Leads, we won’t even began to suggest we’re experts on the subject but we do know of a number of tips for getting ahead as a realtor. These days – in the age of digital media – one of them most prominent of them is being able to create yourself and your services as a brand all within itself. Some of you may not know exactly what that entails, so let us explain.

What Exactly is Branding?

To give a definition, branding is “the marketing practice of creating a name, symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a product or a service from other products or services. In a nutshell, a brand is what sets us apart from our competition.

That’s exactly it – we want to secure greater numbers of clients, and setting ourselves apart from our competitors in the industry is key to doing that. Clients have choices – plenty of them. Being really good at what you do just isn’t enough. You need to start making yourself recognizable as a distinct choice for them. Different from others. A unique name or catchy slogan won’t come even close to doing that on their own.

Every part of your marketing collaterals need to be geared towards creating a greater ‘whole’ – if you will – that’s regarded by prospective clients as a brand.

What Makes Up a Brand?

There is the “look of a brand” or the visual components. This can include logos and colours that you use on your website, specific repeated images, communication language choices, etc.

To use a very well known example, think about Apple. The distinctive logo, the “i” precursor in the titling of its products, etc. You associate a quality personal computing product when you see them, right?

When done properly, your brand will tell your customers exactly who you are and what they can expect when they use your company.

Creating your brand involves online and offline strategies, and that probably comes as no surprise. Your brand might begin with your website. Give some thought to the following; when someone goes to your website from one of your promotions, what do they see? Do they see the same logo? Do they feel like your website is an extension of your personal brand that you have built? If you can’t say ‘yes’ to that definitively, you either may not have much of a brand for yourself, or your brand is a work in progress.

That’s perfectly fine, and it’s not like this has been a staple process for realtors for decades. We’re still adjusting to the information age.

Getting Started

You want to create a ‘total’ brand. That’s the sum of two parts; the first being your companies brand (likely already well established if you’re part of a major brokerage) and the second being your personal brand (which again, is perfectly natural to be lacking at this point) The first step here – again considering we’re in the 21st century – should be a no-brainer. Secure a domain name that is immediately associated with ‘you’ as a realtor. And yes, that’s your name!

If you don’t already own your “name domain” you should get that as soon as possible. So if your name is Ron Donaldson you will ideally acquire the domain rondonaldson.com. Don’t delay in making the inquiry with a reputable web hosting provider asking if that domain name is available

Next up is a sharp, distinctive logo that speaks to who you are – both as an individual and a professional. Don’t hesitate to hire a creative designer who can coax ideas out of you if you’re at a loss for them yourself. You can get a simple logo on Fiverr.com for just $5 bucks or if you want to spend a little more you can check out companies like 99designs.com.

On to your tagline, or slogan as it’s also called. It should tell everyone what you do, but not be so plain and obvious as ‘I sell homes.’ Try to be creative, and again it’s vastly preferable to hire a communications pro rather than settle on something you came up with yourself if you’re really not sure about it.

Just do a little brainstorming to come up with your own tagline. This is just one more way your customers can remember you.

Consistency is Key

Before you begin this whole process of building your brand, you want to spend some time thinking about the big picture. Everything that is used in your business should contain the same branding. The same logo, colours, and tagline should be incorporated uniformly with all of your printed materials – letterhead, newsletters and business cards, all pieces of marketing collateral. The look and message of your website should be consistent with this too. If you buy company apparel you will want those to be the same too.

Your brand should embody your values, your ethics and your way of doing business, along with a healthy bit of who you are ALL the time, not just when you’re working as a real estate professional. The brand that you create is how you want people to think about you. Just remember that if you aren’t able to deliver what your brand promises or what it stands for, then a nice logo and some cool colours won’t make up for that.

We’ve just scratched the surface of what brand building for realtors entails here, but there’s a wealth of information out there for you and we’re happy to introduce you to the idea if it’s something that’s unfamiliar for you. Advancing your real estate career is going to be a priority for all of you, and it’s a great idea to sign up with Real Estate Leads here for qualified buyer and seller real estate leads delivered to you each month for your (and yours alone) territory in Canada.

Tips for Even More Success with Open Houses

Published March 14, 2017 by Real Estate Leads

If you’re a successful Real Estate Agent, chances are you spend nearly every Saturday and Sunday holding Open Houses. And while that keeps you very busy on the weekends – truth is, you wouldn’t have it any other way! These events are an integral part of the selling process for homes, and prospective buyers obviously put a lot of value in their ‘walk through.’

We imagine you hold great open houses, and that a good many of them lead directly to you matching the right buyer with your seller. But there’s always room for improvement isn’t there? Here at Real Estate Leads we’re all about advice for real estate agents, so here’s 10 tips for making your Open Houses even better.

Advertise online: This is a no-brainer these days of course, but advertise online with an aim to STAND OUT from all the listings in the neighbourhood. Write colourful, descriptive ads and place them in web classifieds or open house directories, too. Post Internet listings everywhere.

Map your open house signs: Find the busiest intersection closest to your home and put an open house sign at that corner, with arrows pointing buyers in the right direction. Repeat them every few blocks until you end up at your house, and don’t be afraid to jazz them up so that they’re remarkable. It helps!

Remove all vehicles from the driveway: A clear and unobstructed view from the street is preferable. If you feel comfortable, ask the neighbours to help out by not parking in front of your listing.

Let in the Light!: Open all the drapes, blinds and window coverings –– natural lighting does wonders for the real ambiance of a home shining through. This is true even if it’s not sunny outdoors.

Serve beverages and refreshments.

Do NOT use air fresheners of any sort: Many people are allergic to synthetic odours.

Illuminate!: Turn on every light in the house, except lights that produce noise such as exhaust fans without separate on / off switches.

Soft, pleasant music: If possible, play it at an appropriate level on each floor to help set a mood.

Have good looking print collaterals for buyers: 4r-colour flyers filled with quality photos and attractive points for the property should be available for all buyers, even if more arrive than expected.

Do the same for materials with financing options so buyers can make estimations regarding financing and long-term affordability.

Being upbeat, cheery and greeting each buyer who enters the home is also highly advisable. Try to prioritize your movements around the home and similarly try to be engaged with all guests in a timely manner. Find out what the buyers are looking for and, if possible, show them why your home fits those requirements.

And last but not least, ask for feedback. Ask each buyer what they thought of your home and would they consider buying it. Agents and sellers can be hesitant to ask for a buyer’s opinion, but just put your apprehensions away and ask. It’s the only way you’re going to get a direct answer, and the answer just might surprise you and help you make more informed choices.

All the best in your ventures this week, and we always welcome feedback here. Sign up with Real Estate Leads to receive qualified monthly leads provided to you exclusively as the only realtor assigned to a specific area of the country. It’s a big plus and definitely worth the investment!

Location, Location, Location: Drone Video Footage for the Biggest Picture

Published March 9, 2017 by Real Estate Leads

Not only will every real estate agent be familiar with the ‘location, location, location’ adage, but we imagine nearly every one of them will also agree with it. The home itself is one thing, but where it stands and all that’s around it is just as much – if not more – of the equation. As always, we’re very happy to discuss tips and strategies for real estate agents in Canada. Here’s one that’s not only super effective, but also involves some good old fashioned fun as well!

Realtors in generations past would take plenty of photos of a listed home’s nearby features and the neighbourhood as a whole, but they wouldn’t have the time or inclination to take shots beyond say a half-kilometre beyond the property. And all of those photos were taken from eye-level, unless of course you had one that was inclined to climb trees!

Enter the Drones

All of this has now changed with the introduction and increasingly common use of drones these days. Many models have an integrated video camera that can be remotely activated from the controls and uploading the video to your smartphone, notebook, tablet, or desktop is easy. The appeal this will have with both real estate agents and selling homeowners (including FSBOs) is easy to understand. Now you’ll have photos and videos of the home from the standard perspective AND a really appealing and informative view of the large neighbourhood and even the city or town itself.

Cameras that feature a wide-angle lens with panorama view option are preferable, as is 1080p video resolution for obvious reasons. Choose a sunny day and get your drone up high and video rolling! Flying drones is surprisingly easy, and it’s been reported that the average user is ‘fully proficient’ with operation of the drone within 30 minutes. It’s definitely not a difficult task, and the higher-end models are surprisingly stable in the air and easy to lift off / land.

A Surprisingly Versatile Marketing Tool

Video footage generated from a drone can also be utilized for more specific purposes, and shared in formats outside of the standard uploading method. For instance, drones are excellent for providing an up-close analysis of the condition of a home’s roof or chimney. And higher-end drones will allow you to stream live, either on their own or via your mobile internet device of choice.

The newest drones have built-in redundancy. If an operator lets go of the controls, it simply hovers in place. In addition, standard prices for high-quality drones are expected to drop to as little as $500, though drones with higher-end features, including gyro-stabilized platforms, which help steady the video images, will still run in the vicinity of $1,000 to $1,200. The smaller gyro-stabilized drones, with the rotors shut off, can also be handheld and walked inside a home to provide steadier images during a video walk-through.

Have you already got on board with drones as part of your marketing efforts, or are you considering purchasing one and doing so? We’d love to hear about your experiences with them, and – as always – the more listings you have to try out your new toy video recording them from on high, the better. So sign up with Real Estate Leads right here and get a big online boost to your lead generation efforts today!

The Less-Conspicuous Driving Force Behind Soaring Home Prices

Published February 22, 2017 by Real Estate Leads

A very interesting article in the thetyee.ca today by journalist Geoff Dembicki entitled ‘The Real Reason You Can’t Afford A Home’ highlights a specific aspect of the new global economic realities that is manifesting itself in many people no longer being able to afford a home in hot spots like Vancouver and Toronto. There’s much in the way of real estate trends and news these days, but it’s hard to argue this isn’t easily at the forefront of them.

To introduce it in a more-simplistic overview, it’s that the amount of global capital becoming available for investing is rising much more rapidly than actual economic growth. Here now in 2017, there’s so much capital available that investors don’t know what to do with it all.

The response has been to pour a large portion of it into real estate, and not just here in Canada but in popular metropolitan city areas all around the world. It’s considered a ‘safe’ investment given the current climate, and prices are becoming sky-high as a result as the impetus for the investment shifts to a much more speculative one.

The 2 Distinct Spheres

To understand this in a more brief and easily digestible piece, we need to look at why there is both ‘real’ and ‘financial’ economies, and how distinct they are from each other as it relates here. The “real economy” – as Dembicki puts it – is what most of us are familiar with, all the goods and services produced across the world — the global GDP — and the infrastructure that makes this activity possible.

The “financial economy” is something different altogether. This is where investment happens. Securities, mutual funds and bonds, along with the balance sheets of banks and other financial institutions. With all this talk about a ‘bubble’ for real estate in Vancouver and Toronto, it’s the financial economy that’s blowing the air into it.

The article states – very correctly – that digital technology and globalization are the 2 primary contributors to the rise of this investment boom and all that comes along with it, good and bad. Digital technology has allowed investors to create more sophisticated and profitable ways of investing, while globalization led to massive amounts of new wealth in countries that never had much of it before.

The volume of this newfound ready-to-go capital is enormous, and it’s entirely natural that investors have begun looking for new opportunities. The simple fact is real estate is the one of the best avenues for investing now, and so here we are with super-inflated markets in our big cities.

A Persistent Market

It’s true that corrections always tend to occur with big-stage global economic trends, and this will likely be no exception. The ‘invisible hand’ always shows up, but the reality is that this trend of ‘unaffordable’ homes is likely here to stay for a good long while. And it should be said that there are plenty of very ‘liveable’ cities in Canada outside of Vancouver, Toronto, and Calgary!

To Be A FSBO… Or Not

Published February 4, 2017 by Real Estate Leads

We’ll start this week’s post by explaining that we’re well aware that this is a real estate topics blog and that the majority of our readership will be real estate professionals who’ll be well aware of what exactly ‘FSBO’ means. We’re going to take a quick moment though, to explain this wacky acronym to anyone who’s not so familiar with it.

FSBO (fizz-bo) stands for For Sale By Owner, and it’s a term used to describe a homeowner who’s made the decision to list and sell their home on their own, without the assistance of a realtor. Now we’re similarly aware that the same majority of you will obviously recommend against such a practice with vehemence, but let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons to being a FSBO. After all, being a well-informed realtor who can offer perspectives without bias or prejudice reflects very well upon you and it’s good to be able to appraise prospective clients of both sides of the coin, no matter how it may end up.

Advantages

Avoiding Commission

This one’s simple to understand from the seller’s perspective, as much as it’s in contradiction to your interests as a listing agent. On average, they’ll pay about 6% to sell their home—split evenly between you and the buyer’s agent. They should factor in the realtor’s commission when determining the asking price for their property. Their decided-upon sale price should be enough to pay off the remaining mortgage balance on the property, plus pay the commission. If that calculation leaves a little bit to be desired, this is one reason they might consider becoming a FSBO.

There are Plenty of Selling Resources These Days

The days of creating your own yard sign and then putting an ad in the local newspaper’s classified section are long gone. Now there are an array of resources available to help you sell a home. These included locale-specific real estate purchase agreements that can be found online, and local title companies or a real estate attorney can help with the legalities and answer questions – often online as well if you can’t contact them in person or by another means. This is huge for folks in more rural areas. Perhaps more important though are the excellent resources available on the web for advertising your property. You can include photos of your house, as well as detailed information about the property, including the number of bedrooms, upgrades, square footage and other features. The Internet is pretty much the greatest thing to ever happen to FSBOs!

Sense of Accomplishment

This one doesn’t need a whole lot of explanation. If you’re the type who likes doing all manner of things yourself, and saving money accordingly – you’d probably make a great and determined FSBO.

Disadvantages

Lack of Access to MLS (Multiple Listings Service)

This is definitely drawback numero uno when it comes to choosing to go FSBO as compared to working with a real estate agent. Working within a city or town’s MLS is restricted to participating (and paying) realtors exclusively, and having a home for sale featured in the MLS is of paramount effectiveness in putting the home in front of the largest number of buyers and the realtors they’re working with. It’s pretty much the bible in this regard, and selling your home without having it featured there puts you at an immediate disadvantage when it comes to exposure and finding the ‘right’ types of prospective buyers – no doubt about it.

Lack of an Industry-Professionals Advice Regarding Pricing, Etc.

A qualified and experienced realtor is often invaluable with the way he or she understands the value of a home in the bigger context of the ever-changing housing market in any specific locale. You may think your home is worth X-amount – and you may have some very solid reference points in coming up with that number – but it may simply not be a realistic asking price given the conditions of the market and any of the other factors that can come into play. The majority of which are beyond the scope of understanding for anyone other than a professional realtor.

Pricing yourself realistically but fairly goes a long way in having you sell the home within the timeline you envision, and FSBOs often struggle right out of the gate this way.

Being Overwhelmed / Intimidated with Requisite Paperwork

There’s a LOT of paperwork involved in selling or buying a home, and often more than the average person could ever imagine possible. Without having a realtor who’s gone through these documents many times previously on your side, you may well find yourself moving along at a snail’s pace, and becoming immensely frustrated accordingly.

You Alone are the Open House Coordinator

This one’s also fairly self-explanatory. Prospective buyers will always want to tour homes they’re considering buying, and if you choose not to work with a realtor you’re very much on your own when it comes to scheduling, staging, promoting and so on and so forth. An agent can filter calls and inquiries from other real estate agents and coordinate open houses and showings for your property, so you can go about your everyday life and not have to concern yourself with it – and it always involves a LOT of concerns. And last but not least, a realtor can speak of your home and it’s attractive features and amenities in a smooth, convincing manner in a way you simply can’t. It’s a developed skill.

Here at Real Estate Leads, we provide realtors with qualified leads generated online and exclusive to them and their region in Canada. We also like to talk about trends in real estate, and if you’ve got anything to add to this post or any other we’d like to hear what you’ve got to say!

More Real Estate Prospecting Tips For Agents

Published September 12, 2016 by Real Estate Leads

Prospecting is something that real estate agents often procrastinate or avoid entirely. However, every lead you can accrue is a potential payday.

Below are some general tips to help you with your prospecting:

Following up is crucial

Here are some prospecting statistics:

* About half of agents never completely follow up with a prospect

* About a quarter of agents make a second contact and then stop

* About 1/8th of agents make up to 3 contacts and then stop

* Agents make more than 3 contacts 1/10th of the time.

Also here are some key facts:

* About 2% of sales are actually made on the 1st contact

* 3% on the 2nd

* 5% on the 3rd

* 10% are make on the 4th contact with an average lead.

Focus on quality rather than quantity

Forget thinking about how many people you can possibly speak to in an hour. Rather, focus more about how well you speak with each person that you are talking to. Build rapport and seek to understand the person on the phone; rather than seeking to be understood. Understand where each person is coming from. Ask for specific contact information, not for permission. Try to never say “Can I have your phone number?”. It is not a very good idea. Instead say something like “Jane/John, what is the best phone number to reach you on? Home or cell?” Take this approach in general, try to avoid handing them an ‘out’.

A Persistent Mindset

An approximate sales average is 1 sale out of 14 typical leads, which can be discouraging to some agents; however, this is a numbers business.

Your mindset should be that of owning and managing a business. Forge your mindset to be persistent now – because 80% of sales are made between the 5th to 12th contact!

There are a handful of common reasons why agents wind up giving up on prospective clients. The most important one usually is the fact that most agents haven’t really formulated a plan. Your strategy should include: scripts, a good value proposition, commitment, and keeping record of your activity so that you can learn from mistakes. 9 out of 10 agents typically don’t track. Tracking results is necessary in order to achieve maximum real estate success.

Focus on appointments

In Real estate sales prospecting can defined at the point of making first contact with a new lead. Exchanging emails counts too in this day and age – however hold in mind that you can’t sell a house until at least the point that you have had a verbal conversation with a prospective buyer and an appointment as well.

The one most obvious common denominator of top producers in real estate is that the top dogs work nearly every day to get that next appointment. Prospecting is part of their daily routine.

Also, there is absolutely no point in being nervous on the phone. When you are building rapport, it is like you are talking to a friend while offering them help and assistance.

Rehearse your scripts

One way to get feedback on your calls it to record them on your phone. There are various call recording apps available for iPhones of Androids. However, for the sake of privacy, those calls should be for your ears only. Then a good time to listen is when you are driving. You can listen like a 3rd party bystander. This will help you iron out your script and avoid pitfalls in the future. Investing time into formulating 2-3 good scripts will help you say the right things, and just at the right time. Record your script into your phone too, trying to get it delivered as smooth as possible. In a week’s time, you will have your script memorized entirely.

Are you an agent that would like a sure-fire way to stay ahead of your competition? If so visit RealEstateLeads.ca.