Fall is here and for many of us, that means less activity in the market – so what can we do to keep the leads and sales flowing? Focusing on what works with all of the noise that bombards our senses on a daily basis becomes more difficult when leads slow down. How we handle ourselves right now plays a role in our business next year as well as the remainder of this one.

The keys to finishing the year strong with momentum to start the new year, in my opinion, are to focus and to get back to basics. Start by setting aside a few minutes early each day to lay out what you need to do and what you need to accomplish. Focus on those items. Setting aside this time each day helps to slow everything down and makes each task more manageable. This will give you the ability to handle your goals easier. Next, and most important, is going back to basics. You know – what is proven to work.

When the market slows, we tend to be reactionary rather than purposeful. This leads us to try new ways to drum up business, but it often wastes are time and leads us down a path that isn’t as successful as some things that we already know work and it takes away the precious time we needed to use on what we know works.

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Now that you’ve got a few weeks of 2011 under your belt take a few minutes to look back at your business in 2010. Did you accomplish what you hoped to? Which items are still on your to-do list? Which goals are still ahead of you? It’s important to pause and reflect; recognize your past achievements, and refocus on what lies ahead.

Examine your business in a few different, but measurable ways such as the number of homes you sold or mortgage loans you originated, the number of leads you handled, the amount you earned, and where you stacked up against your peers. Look back at the strategies you tried throughout the year and think about what worked, and what didn’t? Come up with three new ideas to increase your business in 2011 and develop a plan for putting them into action.

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Many real estate agents complain about online consumers creating leads which contain bad information, leads which cannot be pursued, a.k.a. “bogus leads”.

This is no doubt the case a large percentage of the time. However, it seems that recognizing a “good” lead has become clouded by the expectation that online leads are all “bogus”. By this, I mean that, in many cases, when an agent receives a new internet lead, they already feel that it is not worth the effort to follow up.

Is this simply a case of recognizing what constitutes a good lead? How much consumer information is needed for a lead to be considered “good”? In our estimation and in keeping with online consumers’ behavior, only minimal information is required or should be demanded or expected. Most online consumers do not want to work hard to get to where they want to go.

Whether this is accessing the MLS on your website or requesting assistance with their current real estate situation, most consumers do not want to be forced to divulge too much information until they feel comfortable doing so. If you come away with the consumer’s name and a valid email address through the consumer’s first experience with you or your web site, that is all you really need to get started turning them into a “good” prospect. Continue reading this post

Today HomeGain announced that it is inducting 18 AgentEvaluator® Find A Realtor® club members, bringing the total to 73 inducted agent members this year — and whom together have earned over $6.8 million in gross lifetime real estate commissions. Read the press release.

HomeGain last inducted 27 members into its clubs in July, and is now inducting an additional 18 members (see below for club agents’ names):

• 5 new HomeGain Platinum Club members (totaling 369 agent members who have earned $125k or more in gross real estate commissions from HomeGain leads)
• 7 new HomeGain Gold Club members (totaling 303 agent members who have earned $75k or more)
• 6 new HomeGain Silver Club members (totaling 260 agent members who have earned $50k or more)

“We are pleased to induct these new club members and highlight their remarkable level of achievement,” stated Louis Cammarosano, General Manager at HomeGain.

HomeGain has 26 agent members in its Diamond Club (who have earned more than $500k in gross commissions) and two members in its Million Dollar Club (who have earned more than $1,000,000 in gross commissions).

HomeGain AgentEvaluator Award Club members have earned over $100 million dollars worth of real estate commissions since 1999 when HomeGain was founded. Award Club membership has grown to include 960 HomeGain members.

Newly inducted agent club member comments:

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I’ve been online tonight reading a lot of different views on Internet Leads.  I keep hearing and reading the same complaint.  “Internet leads are no good because I don’t want to chase the business.”  “They are never serious buyers.”   “I would rather work on referrals and networking”.

It’s interesting because in some ways, not much as changed since I got into Real Estate back in 2001.  I was told then by everyone, don’t waste your money or time on Internet Leads.  As I look back, all of those real estate agents who told me that either never had more than a half dozen sales per year, or are no longer in business today.

So let’s talk for a minute about what they call “chasing the Internet Lead”.

Firstly, chasing and prospecting can be interchanged.  If you are going to make money in this business, you need to understand that prospecting is a major part of this business, at least for those who are successful.  I recently attended a seminar in Las Vegas that had 4,200 Agents attending.  I had talked to probably 50 Agents that sell between 50 and 150 homes per year.  They all had one thing in common: they all prospect daily.  Therefore, they are successful because of the amount of prospecting they do on a daily basis.

So what does this have to do with Internet Leads? Continue reading this post

It’s been almost 6 months since we started our Lead Conversion Administrator (LCA) program. So much has happened and I continue on the quest to increase our lead conversion.  I won’t do lead conversion stats for another few weeks, but I thought our results so far are very notable.  So far this year we have closed about 175 properties with 15 more set to close this month.  On top of that we have around 20 or so short sales contracts waiting to close too. We know that doesn’t mean anything though.  Right now we are 19.1% ahead of last year which keeps in line with my goal of 20% growth per year.

With all this said, it’s still interesting with the struggle we have with keeping Agents in work mode.  Yes, the market has been tough.

However, as I try to explain to my Agents, it’s only tough if you are trying to sell listings.  Since 90% of our sales come from buyers, my Agents need not worry about how bad the market is, but how they can help their customers.  We are blessed to have over 38,000 leads in our system and a software product, our 100MPH Marketing software, that allows us to seek out only the most active leads with potential to buy.  I have been analyzing my numbers on a regular basis.  I know, no surprise to those who know me.  It still comes down to having the right agents.  I have 21 Agents right now.  Of those Agents, 12 never sold a home prior to coming to my office and are all on track to have at least 20 sales this year.

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