We all know why we have websites, right? Lead generation!

With so many people using the web to find out information before even placing a call to a Realtor, we have to keep our websites up with the times.

I have made my website easy to use and full of information. From links to the MLS system for easy home searching, to a list of what to expect, to a list of preferred providers, to a mortgage calculator, it is all in one place.  I am constantly uploading new listings, price changes, and disclosures for all of my listings.

There is a fine line on providing too much info. Vs. creating a reason for the lead to call.  Continue reading this post

“Buy this book.” ”This is the Ultimate Sales System.”  ”You can’t help but succeed when you follow our proven system.”  Blah blah blah.

“What do you attribute your success to?”

“Oh, I’ve always been unique.”

Let’s say that the person actually was unique, that he or she was correctly answering the question.  If that was true would there be any reason whatsoever to even bother listening to anything regarding techniques or methods they had to say about success?  If it couldn’t be replicated what difference would it make? 

Or if you wanted to learn to swim at a championship level would hearing Michael Phelps say, “The secret of winning each of those races was I swam faster than the other swimmers”?  Would hearing that help you to swim faster?  Oddly enough, it just might.

I’ve been in the house selling business for 31 years.  My first twelve years I was an ordinary 17 – 22 deal a year guy: living from one closing to the next, never really having a stable business.  I clearly understood that there was “something” that the stably successful mega agents had that I didn’t but I didn’t know what “it” was.  

Continue reading this post

SO… it’s official. We’re finally in a depression. You think? And it took our government telling us to know it? Truth is, most Realtors I know have already been in a depression for a LONG time. At least now the government agrees with them. It’s a small consolation to some, I’m sure.

So now what? You could:

• Go out and run up a credit card debt SO large the government will have to bail you out to keep VISA from going out of business.
• Go and buy a larger tub -– you’re already taking a bath, why not invite some friends to join you?
• Go and sell your house on the San Francisco Peninsula and with the proceeds, buy an entire Midwestern state and set yourself up as a ruling monarch.

On a serious note, times like this define a Realtor, and can help break them out of mediocrity. There ARE Realtors out there (other than REO listing agents) who are actually doing well in the current market. They’ve taken the time to build systems into their business which continue to bring a steady flow of prospects.

As any successful Realtor knows, you cannot depend upon one stream of business –- like a stool, you need at least three legs to properly support your business strategy.

Here are 5 things you can do right now to ensure that your business has the foundation it needs to succeed:

Continue reading this post

I recently read an excellent article published by Baylor University, “Lead Generation: What Really Works”, which articulately discusses lead generation. The three categories the writers included in this article were lead generation, conversion of the lead to an appointment, and closure of the appointment to a transaction.

One of the studies I found particularly interesting was finding out the extent that real estate agents and brokers take to keep records of their lead generation efforts. And for those who keep records, how detailed the records are that they keep.

For “conversion to appointment” only 23% of the respondents reported their records as Moderately Detailed or Extremely Detailed. With a mere 32% reporting moderately or extremely detailed for “closure to a transaction”.
With a reported 17% of the respondents marketing budget allocated on the Internet or Website activities, unfortunately, or fortunately for us, the online world remains this big black hole. And, without keeping detailed records, it shall likely remain this ominous, monstrosity, money pit for many but it doesn’t need to be this way.

HomeGain’s BuyerLink does a great job of tracking your advertising budget. I’ve been using BuyerLink for years now. The concept is that it’s up to you to keep on tracking your results from the initial lead generation, to conversion through close.

Regardless of your preferred marketing method, they discuss how are you attracting your leads? Are you “seeking” or “attracting” your leads? In today’s tough market the survey results reflected that more seek oriented (60/40) for highest lead conversion in a tough market.

Of the leads generated 58% were buyers and 42% sellers. Many brokers, including myself, consider home buyers a premium in this Continue reading this post

The problem with online marketing for real estate professionals is the reality that learning online marketing has little to do with real estate practice. Remarkablogger confirms one of real estate’s online marketing principal missions – lead generation and conversion.

If visitors don’t take actions that result in profits, you are wasting your time.
You can do all the SEO work you like, but if nothing happens when visitors show up, you did it for nothing. You can pay tons of money in advertising, and you have thrown away every penny if nobody buys anything or signs up for your newsletter. You can write comments on other blogs and work through social media to attract visitors, but if those visitors just bounce right back out of your site without doing what you want, you’re leaving money on the table.

Mastering the tricks and vagaries of effective online lead generation are beyond the scope of 99% of real estate professionals. The industry knows this, and online real estate applications have historically aimed to simplify or automate online marketing presence for agents: Continue reading this post

Since I speak in front of many real estate agents who don’t know a thing about blogs, I hear the same urban myths associated with blogs.

These myths seem to be circulating among real estate agents as a way to halt the spread of blogging in the real estate industry. Why? Some real estate agents who don’t believe they can blog, or just don’t want to see bloggers as their competition, are threatened by the success stories and buzz associated with blogging.

The urban myths get started in part as a way to preserve the status quo.

I admire and congratulate Louis, Jessica and their team for developing a blog forum on HomeGain, particularly when blogging (for lead generation) is perceived to be directly competitive to HomeGain’s business model of selling leads. And Louis knows it… Louis’ post, The Case Against Blogging is a direct poke… he defines by exclusion some of the obvious qualifications needed to Continue reading this post