I’ve personally taken the time to register around the country for the sole purpose of having a great email drip campaign to convert leads into appointments and appointments into pay checks. Ironically, I’ve accidentally noticed that many of the websites I have registered on were not calling my personal cell phone, let alone sending me an email of properties or even a thank you for registering.

So I ask the question, “why force registration and not follow up?” My data gathered around the country over a period of about six months has astonished me, and possibly even you. Experience clearly shows the importance following up and having great systems in place in the way to grow your business and dominate as opposed to drowning in today’s market.

I’ll get to the statistics in a moment. First off, I was amazed that this project took me so long. After starting this project, I realized how many people do not force registration. I also realized how many people do not have websites. Sorry, I did not collect data on the number of websites I had to visit in order to register, however the number was at least 2 out of 3 who did not force registration. Continue reading this post

Congratulations to the latest winners from recent HomeGain surveys!

As a way to thank Realtors for their time for completing our surveys, they were entered into a drawing to receive a complimentary copy of Florida real estate broker Mitch Ribak’s book, 100MPH Marketing for Real Estate.

The winners include:

• David Miles – Miles Properties, Inc., Georgia
• Don Carey (“I got the book. Loved it!”) – Keller Williams Realty, Louisiana
• Jeanette Jones – Long & Foster Real Estate Inc., New Jersey
• Sue Boyle – RE/MAX Checkmate Inc., Tennessee
• Carylon Dopp – Security Pacific Real Estate, California
• Rufus Hutchinson – Keller Williams Realty – SouthPark, North Carolina
• Jeri Bingham – Prudential Utah Elite, Utah

A big thank you to all of the real estate agents and brokers who participated in our survey.

Stay tuned for the complete results of the Q2 2010 Home Prices Survey (and new winners)!

Used to be not having a net was a sign of your proficiency. Back in the day before a thousand people got killed an hour in television dramas, people looked to other means to get their “need for a buzz” satiated. Who can forget August 7, 1974, when high-wire performer Philippe Petit amazed the residents of lower Manhattan by going for a high wire stroll between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Without a net.

It’s different today. Now we watch things like this every day on TV, and, after the person falls to their death, we see close ups of the gore as CSI teams come in and prove it was actually murder, not a gust of wind that caused the latest victim’s demise. The thing that used to make these types of events so thrilling was the fact that the deed was done …

Without a net.

Nowadays, circus unions ensure that nets are in place to protect the safety of the participants. The thrill is gone because the potential of possible demise has been replaced with the theatrics of flawlessly executed maneuvers done with ever increasing degrees of difficulty, outlandish costumes or a combination of both. It’s just not the same.

There is still, however, an arena where participants still perform their death defying acts without a net. It happens every day, and it’s far more common than many realize. The arena is real estate, and the performers are …

Realtors.

A strange thing happened a few days ago. Someone tried to send me a fax. It’s not that I don’t have a fax machine. I have a really nice one, in fact. I just don’t use it anymore. There’s no need to. Continue reading this post

Every time I meet with a client I ask myself, “Are these people wasting my time?” Good time management and qualifying skills are so important to a successful real estate career. Realtors can get bogged down with time wasting tasks and people. Your production will suffer if your week is filled up with activities or clients who misuse your time and energy.

Here are 5 common “warning signs” from a potential home buyer:

1)      “We would like a tour”

If I hear the word “tour” I cringe.  This is usually someone very early in the buying process or who is a complete waste of time. I’ve noticed that many real homebuyers are willing to drive themselves around.

2)      “I need a steal”

Of course, everyone is looking for a steal and there is nothing wrong with that. Be scared of those buyers who are not willing to purchase at market or appraised value. They are usually only interested in buying a home if they can get it at a wholesale price.  These types of buyers can have you chasing your tail in no time.

3)      “I’m positive that I can get financing”

This one can come back to bite you. Imagine spending 10-20 hours working with a buyer only to find out that they cannot get financing. Many times people who think they can get financing easily don’t want to go through the hassles of a mortgage pre-qualification or pre-approval. If that is the case how motivated of a buyer are they? Continue reading this post

How effective are the different marketing options out there for you as a Realtor? What are other Realtors doing that you aren’t…but should be?

Thanks to over 1,300 real estate agents and brokers who completed the HomeGain Realtor Marketing Survey in December 2009 and March 2010, the results are in! HomeGain today announced the survey results for the top most effective marketing methods of Realtors® in a national press release today.

Top 10 Effective Marketing Strategies for Realtors*:

1. Referrals (Scored 8.7 out of a possible 10)
2. Featured Listings (4.8)
3. Email Campaigns (4.7)
4. Postcards/Mailers (4.6)
5. Blogging (4.1)
6. Online Lead Generation Services (4.0)
7. Facebook (4.0)
8. LinkedIn (3.6)
9. Outdoor Ads (3.6)
10. Print Ads (3.6)

* (Cumulative Average Scores, 1 = Least Effective /10 = Most Effective)

Referrals

On the survey Realtors indicated that they think getting referrals is the most effective strategy to acquire new clients, with a cumulative overall score of 8.7 out of a possible 10 for effectiveness. Surveyed agents indicated that they will continue to focus on referrals as their leading marketing strategy in 2010.

Featured listings (4.8 effectiveness score) and email campaigns (4.7) were considered the next most effective marketing strategies.

Social Media

The survey shows that Realtors rank YouTube (3.5), Twitter (3.3), banner ads (3.2), pay per click advertising (3.2) and MySpace (3.0) as the least effective marketing methods.

Although Realtors did not indicate Facebook as a top 5 most effective marketing method (scored at 4.9), surveyed agents indicated that they will increase their use of it in their marketing plans in 2010.

2010 Marketing Goals Continue reading this post

This week HomeGain announced in a press release that its commissions based award clubs for its AgentEvaluator® product has grown to include 900 HomeGain members. HomeGain award club members have now earned over $100 million dollars* worth of real estate commissions since 1999 when HomeGain was founded!

“We are pleased to add 15 more HomeGain members to our commissions based award clubs,” stated Louis Cammarosano, General Manager at HomeGain. “In today’s market finding a quality real estate agent is a priority for many home buyers and sellers. With HomeGain’s AgentEvaluator program, consumers can find and compare Realtors® to help them with their real estate transactions.”

“HomeGain has been a great referral source for us throughout our careers,” stated Robert Gosalvez & Gary Shapiro of Intero Real Estate Services in California. “We recently became Diamond level referral agents; as a result, we’ve been going on more buyer and seller interviews. More often than not, we are successful in taking the listing once we’ve had the opportunity to interview or been selected to help the buyer, so HomeGain has played a large part in our success.”

Club members inducted since December include: Continue reading this post