This month’s featured real estate agent in our Agent Success Newsletter is Sharon Detrick or RE/MAX Suburban Northwest in Houston, TX.

Here’s the feature story:

In less than five months this year, Sharon has already closed 5 home deals with AgentEvaluator homebuyers compared with two deals in 2007.

Why the difference?

After adding in references to her proposals that she sends to potential clients, she’s been experiencing a higher response and interest level from those consumers in her services.

Although it varies year to year (she’s been a HomeGain AgentEvaluator member since 1999) she’s definitely seen an increase since having added the references.

“I was hesitant to add in references because I didn’t see the value,” stated Sharon. “Obviously nobody is going to put in a negative reference, but apparently consumers really do want to see what others say about you – and know that real live people have had positive experiences with you as their agent.” Continue reading this post

I got my Real Estate license while still in corporate sales. My wife was already selling Real Estate and as is my custom when I start something new – I read books about my new profession.

At the top of my list was the Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller and number 2 was a book called Real Estate Rainmaker: Guide to Online Marketing by Dan Gooder Richard. As it turned out, I couldn’t have picked any better books to start my career.

Quest for Online Presence in Real Estate

As I started my quest to learn how I could create a presence online, I soon realized that it was going to take some time to rank a website well enough in the search engines to make a difference in our business.

We did start a website but no one knew how to find it unless we told them directly. This is about when I stumbled upon HomeGain.
I set up an account with several ZIP codes in my area for my wife (with the AgentEvaluator™ program) because I had not officially started into Real Estate yet.

As my wife became successful in Real Estate Continue reading this post

Ann Marie Clements of RE/MAX Realty Group in Maryland was the Featured Real Estate Agent of the Month in our March Agent Success Newsletter.

Here’s the story:

If you ask Ann Marie what she thinks of today’s conditions, she’ll tell you that it’s great market for a Realtor®. After 20 years in the business, Ann Marie’s business is growing every year – it’s already up 40% from last year!

Ann Marie Clements was also just featured on the March 2008 cover of REALTOR® Magazine in which she discussed her success with finding new clients on Facebook.

How is Ann Marie able to be so productive?

She relies on two main things: referrals and HomeGain.
“I just sold one house for $700k and another one for $480k, both as a result of HomeGain leads,” said Ann Marie. Continue reading this post

I once impressed a CEO in another line of work, distribution, by making a statement regarding a Wal-Mart account – “I don’t want to meet their needs, I want to astound them.”

I know, it sounds like I was kissing up, but I really meant it, it’s how I was trained early on—nothing special, just ingrained into my mental model of doing business.

It’s difficult to practice this over and over with online leads that you could easily dismiss as “not serious” or “just lookers”.

But the trick is to train the mind to visualize each email address as an embodiment—living, breathing people who you are meeting in theory, and, if all turns out well, face to face.

You’ll want to astound those who can make you successful, but first you’ll need to believe.

Having gone from 5% to 20% to, last year, 80% of my revenue coming from the internet, I’m a true believer. When email addresses turn into satisfied, happy clients receiving keys at a closing table often enough, you become a true believer. Continue reading this post

Vikas Pawa of Prudential Hills Real Estate in Tucson, Arizona, has only been in real estate for two and a half years, but has already experienced success that some agents never come close to.

We spoke with Vikas to get his take on what’s happening with the market, and how agents might be able to overcome any hurdles they are facing.

Vikas comes from a family of realtors, real estate investors and developers. So, naturally, when he was faced with a career decision, he felt it was a clear choice to get into real estate.

“Anyone just starting off in real estate can expect to work hard, and deal with new and unfamiliar situations on a regular basis. Just because you may have a website, and maybe signed up for a lead service online to help get more business (like HomeGain), doesn’t mean that you can take a back seat and let it happen. It takes work to see results.”

Vikas adds, “Too many buyers ask me how I’ll get paid for my efforts! They don’t realize that we represent them for free.” Continue reading this post

A few months ago, we featured Mike Beernink of Century 21 Findley in Georgia as the “Agent of the Month” in our Agent Success Newsletter.

A HomeGain AgentEvaluator™ Platinum Club Member, Mike spoke with me about his business techniques and the essential tools that help him achieve his goals.

According to Mike Beernink, success in real estate all starts with prospecting. Every year, Mike creates a strategic business plan, which always starts with prospecting objectives. “Prospecting is one of the most important things an agent does,” says Mike.

Having been in the real estate business for 8 years in the North Atlanta, GA area, servicing mostly sellers, Mike is had his best year yet in 2007, even in a down market. Mike had closed 36 sides by the end of August last year with his gross closed commission ahead of those in 2006.

Here’s how Mike creates his business plan:

Continue reading this post