November 2012

Leads For Your Real Estate Business

Posted on Nov 13, 2012, By Adam Glassman

Picture in your mind a bucket – but not an ordinary bucket. Think of this bucket as one you must keep full – full of leads so that your real estate business doesn’t dry up.

 

The good news: directly above this bucket are 10 faucets. We can call them “lead faucets.”

The bad news: many REALTORS® don’t use them.

 

That’s unfortunate, because each lead faucet has powerful potential. And just a little tinkering can mean a steady gush of leads that will keep your bucket filled to the brim.

 

Let’s look at these 10 ‘faucets’ and how to create a fire hose-strength flow.

 

1. Past Clients – Vital because their referrals come with an implied endorsement of your services. Put past clients into two categories: A – Those who’ve given you referrals, and B – Those who haven’t given you referrals. Set a reminder system to stay in touch with each regularly with cards, calls, small gifts, etc.

2. Internet – A must if you plan to stay in business. Put your focus on responding to the site visitors. Can you respond in 15 minutes? If not, fix it so you can.

3. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) – The hotline numbers buyers can call to learn about properties. Again, ignore technology at your peril. (Incidentally, I have a client who landed 11,298 calls from his hotline number in 2005. His secret? An irresistible call to action.) In fact, visitwww.CorcoranCoaching.com/rismedia and take a look at the sample Homes Magazine ad that’s there and notice what information we show and more specifically what we DON’T show.

4. Sphere of Influence (SOI) – The more you think about your SOI (basically your family, friends and acquaintances) the larger it gets. That “acquaintances” category, for example, should include everyone you’ve met. Think how you interact with those you meet casually – develop the effective 10-second “elevator” speech for them. You can visit my website, www.CorcoranCoaching.com/rismedia for a free proven system to make the most of your SOI.

5. Signs – Revisit your signs. How can you make them more effective with more eye-catching color and contrast? Do they include an IVR hotline number?

6. Direct mail – It can be expensive, so find out what’s already being sent in the area you’re considering. The two keys here are differentiation – will your mailer stand out and will the offer and the call to action actually produce desired results.

7. Broadcast radio and TV ads – Yes, some may be too expensive. But don’t rule it out completely. Both radio and TV have massive reach and there are deals out there. The key is, if you do go with these mediums, use them regularly. Frequency beats reach – so don’t buy for just a one-shot deal.

8. Print Ads – Give them a fresh and thorough inspection. What’s keeping them from really grabbing your target audience by the collar? Often, they lack contrast and that prevents them from being noticed in the first place. Don’t forget to add muscle to your call to action.

9. Prospecting – Absolutely essential. It’s one of just four real dollar-producing activities a REALTOR®can do. The trick is to schedule time everyday to do it – the so-called ‘hour of power’ – usually in the morning because it’s the most controllable time of the day.

10. Networking – Choose where you network carefully. There are literally thousands and thousands of groups out there. Be strategic by examining what potential business they bring to the table.

And here are a couple ‘faucet maintenance’ tips:

Keep a balanced approach with all faucets flowing regularly, and avoid relying on just one or two lead generators. What if you put 90 percent of your lead efforts into your Web site and it goes down for a few days? Where will that leave you until it’s up and running again?

It’s fine to focus on three or four lead generators, but never ignore the rest of them. You might, for example, work to generate a third of your leads from past clients or SOI. Then maybe 20 percent from ad and sign calls. Another 20 percent from prospecting. The rest can fall into the five to 10 percent range.

Always keep track of where your leads are coming from – understand intimately how each one came to you. Then readjust your efforts on those that work best for you.  -Bob Corcoran

5 Ways To Increase Real Estate Sales

Posted on Nov 13, 2012, By Adam Glassman

Break down your territory

Looking to increase real estate sales? It's important to break down your sales territory into manageable "chunks" so you can identify your best sales opportunities. By doing so, you can more easily determine who to target and how to best establish and nurture a relationship with those prospects.

Generate leads in existing accounts

It is much easier to find new opportunities with existing customers than it is to find new prospects willing to buy. While not all customers have immediate opportunities, don't neglect your customer-focused lead generation efforts. Although they may not have any needs today, it is highly likely they will buy from you when future opportunities arise if you keep them up to date on your value and expertise.

Identify others who can help you

Enlist lead generation assistance in the form of partners. Partners might include a formal business partner of your company; someone who offers services complementary to your own or with similar business goals; or people within your own organization who interface with customers in different ways, such as customer service reps, technical support, accounting, and product development professionals. Teach them your value proposition, and guide them in how to identify new leads for you.

Use email

Email can be a very effective way to generate leads because it provides a way for prospects to respond easily. Some things to keep in mind when implementing an email campaign include: use a quality database, limit the number of emails you send at one time, create effective subject lines that will get a person's attention, structure your content to avoid spam blocking, use links effectively, and follow up on a timely basis.

Webcasts, conferences and other approaches

Other creative ways to generate leads include hosting different types of events such as webcasts, forums, or sessions at association meetings. Attending and speaking at industry conferences and trade shows can highlight your expertise and generate a host of new leads. Press coverage of your company's products or services is also a great way to draw people's attention.

If you're not getting the sales you need, it's time to implement new techniques that will help you uncover new leads and opportunities.  -Kendra Lee

Optimize Your Sales Lead Generation

Posted on Nov 13, 2012, By Adam Glassman

Billions of dollars from business-to-business marketing budgets are spent

each year on sales lead generation. Billions more dollars are spent to

fulfill and follow up on marketing responses, and to determine which sales

leads are qualified and ready for sales attention. Unfortunately, much of

this investment in sales lead generation is wasted. Why? Because many

sales lead generation programs and lead qualification efforts are not in

harmony with the needs of sales.

 

With this in mind, have you optimized your company's sales lead generation

programs to be in harmony with the needs of your salespeople, reps,

resellers or distributors? Here are some questions to ask yourself:

 

1.    Have you built consensus with sales management on the definition of a

qualified sales lead? Has this definition been clearly communicated to all

parties?

 

Typical definitions include criteria such as:

 

Does the prospect have a need or an application for your product or

service?

What is the prospect's role in the decision-making process?

What is the prospect's timing for purchase or implementation?

What is the status of the prospect's budget?

What is the size of the opportunity?

 

2. Have you calculated how many qualified sales leads are needed in the

sales pipeline in order to meet or exceed the company's sales revenue goals? Have you broken that number down into how many qualified sales leads are needed each month and each quarter? Have you built your company's sales lead generation programs with those target numbers in mind?

 

3. Have you put in place programs specifically designed to weed out the

non-prospects and nurture the longer-term, not-yet-qualified

opportunities-only forwarding the truly qualified sales leads to

salespeople, reps, resellers or distributors for follow-up? Have you

budgeted appropriately for this important sales lead development function?

 

If you answered "yes" to these questions, the good news is that you are not

guilty of wasting your company's sales lead generation investments. Instead, you are probably well respected by the people in sales and corporate management. -Mac Mcintosh

Hello world!

Posted on Nov 13, 2012, By Adam Glassman

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