Josh McGrath, a Broker in Real Estate Central Cross Lanes, W. Va, knows a thing or two about embracing technology and incorporating it into a successful marketing strategy. Read on to find out his top method, as will as how he stays ahead of the competition and motivates his agents.
Region served: Kanawha Valley
Years in real estate: 13
Number of offices: 4
Number of agents: 86
Average time on market: 83 days
Average sales price: $147,000
Top tip for building relationships with clients: Focus on customer service and make sure you’re honest and fair.
What are the current market conditions in your area?
We’ve kind of weathered the “economic storm” better than others; we are in a bubble. While our market has slowed a bit, we still have lots of people buying and selling. People here move up and down, but not in and out of the area. We aren’t very transient, which keeps the market moving at all times. Our market here is stable for sure, and I would go as far as to say that we’re back on track.
How do you work to stay ahead of the competition?
We make sure we’re up-to-date on the latest and greatest technology. I work closely with other industry professionals to get their thoughts on the best technology available, as well as how I can use it to make life easier for my agents.
What’s the most effective way to motivate agents?
The best way to motivate them is to get down and work with them, and I love to do that. I’m a state approved continuing education instructor and I enjoy spending time with my agents, helping them build their business, whether they’re brand new or seasoned. Most of the people that work for me enjoy being challenged; that keeps them motivated.
Describe your best recruiting technique.
We’re a very agent-driven company, and we focus on making Real Estate Central a better place for agents to come to work. I try to take the best possible care of the agents I already have, and then they go out and tell everybody and I don’t have to recruit. When we started 6 ½ years ago we had four agents including myself. Now we have four offices and 86 REALTORS®, and I attribute so much of that to the fact that we take very good care of the people that work for us.
Are you embracing mobile technology and how are you incorporating it into your overall marketing strategy?
We absolutely embrace mobile technology. In fact, we are currently looking at some of the marketing tools offered by The Real Estate Book, and I have taken out eight pages in their next issue for the company, based solely on their new mobile marketing tools. Some of our agents are already using their text messaging platform and have found it to be very successful. We’ve also done advertising with The Real Estate Book over the years, and we encourage our agents to utilize this resource as well.
In addition, all of our agents have both individual websites and individual mobile websites, so clients can find the agent or the company, then search listings, contact the agent and leave their information. We also use QR codes in all of our advertisements so clients can simply scan the barcode with a smartphone, go to a mobile website and see pictures and property information.
