One of the problems in the real estate business is the perception that real estate agents are a commodity. Many consumers think that all real estate agents are alike and that they all do pretty much the same thing. This means that many consumers consider price the only differentiating factor. To generate Realtor leads and to really build your real estate business you are going to have to overcome this perception.
One of the best work related changes a person can do for themselves is making sure their business is "the" choice, not just "any" choice for the customer. It is possible by anyone even though you may think you can't at the beginning. As a matter of fact, you should make one of your highest goals finding a way to create that kind of image for yourself. What I am referring to here is not just marketing hype.
It's being the single agent or company to give the mix of services, benefits, and guarantees you offer at the price you offer for the people you service. Specializing in home buyers who have experienced credit issues is a good example. You can become the local expert by creating relationships with lenders who have the necessary loan programs and legitimate credit repair services. By learning the ins and outs of these programs you could go after a certain part of the market easily and destroy any competition.
When you position yourself in a certain market niche with defined limits you can actually attain more deals and bring more transactions to closing. And once the system is in place more deals can be done in minimal time, and with less headache-causing problems. You see, if you target a particular market segment, then you can gear your advertising and promotion to members of that particular group. This also permits you to look at your chosen market segment and connect with them by discovering what kind of things bind them all together and where they all tend to hang out, metaphorically speaking.
The main thing to remember is that it will let you and/or your company be in the position of market leader or specialist. It boils down to this: you will be able to stand out in comparison to others in your field. This creates a situation where you aren't perceived as being the same as your competitors any more. If you manage how you are perceived and marketed, potential clients will come looking for you and asking for help; you won't have to get on the phone and try to drum up interest any more.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Being the Go To Real Estate Advisor
As a Real Estate Agent you have to market yourself to stay in business. To many agents this is the worst part of the job. Getting real estate leads and marketing doesn't have to be a horrible chore however. Especially if you position yourself as the trusted adviser rather than a pushy salesperson. In this way you can use your marketing system to "attract" prospects rather than to "pursue" them.
Lets ignore the buyer leads and just talk about seller leads. You may have two types of listing prospects either visit or call you. One type of client is the bargain shopper. Prior to listing their property, they call or drop by several companies. In their view, Realtors are equated with commodities. As such, their choices are based solely on price. This outcome is the least desirable.
The other kind of prospect is the ideal prospect. This prospect comes to your office only to meet with you, and wouldn't dream of doing anything else. They only want to work with you because you are THE local expert on real estate transactions.
Which of the customers will make the most money by the minute out of your investment of time? With the first type you may have to give 10 prospects twenty minutes each. On the up side, two may return; however, On the down side, they will drain you of more time. One of these prospects might agree to a listing. In this particular instance, a single listing took five hours time.
In the case of the second kind of prospect, the time required is far less. You will likely only have to invest an hour or less of your time to get the listing. Dedicating yourself to attracting the second class of prospect increases your listings five-fold. There are other advantages with these prospects also. They will be less concerned about cost and will be more likely to supply you with referrals. Your business can be increased by ten times if you develop a system where you will only be working with prospect type number two.
Lets ignore the buyer leads and just talk about seller leads. You may have two types of listing prospects either visit or call you. One type of client is the bargain shopper. Prior to listing their property, they call or drop by several companies. In their view, Realtors are equated with commodities. As such, their choices are based solely on price. This outcome is the least desirable.
The other kind of prospect is the ideal prospect. This prospect comes to your office only to meet with you, and wouldn't dream of doing anything else. They only want to work with you because you are THE local expert on real estate transactions.
Which of the customers will make the most money by the minute out of your investment of time? With the first type you may have to give 10 prospects twenty minutes each. On the up side, two may return; however, On the down side, they will drain you of more time. One of these prospects might agree to a listing. In this particular instance, a single listing took five hours time.
In the case of the second kind of prospect, the time required is far less. You will likely only have to invest an hour or less of your time to get the listing. Dedicating yourself to attracting the second class of prospect increases your listings five-fold. There are other advantages with these prospects also. They will be less concerned about cost and will be more likely to supply you with referrals. Your business can be increased by ten times if you develop a system where you will only be working with prospect type number two.
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