As a real estate agent, you may find yourself working long hours in an effort to build your business and ensure the success of your clients. This week, Mitch Ribak, team leader for Tropical Realty Beachside, joined us for our Secrets of Top Selling Agents webinar to share some key tips to earn more money by working fewer hours. Yes, this may seem impossible, but hopefully, after these tips, you’ll be prepared to do just that.
Understand the Business You’re In
During the webinar, Ribak took a poll asking agents what business they believed that they were in. Answers ranged from relationship building, to service, to marketing. But one answer in particular stood out to Ribak: lead generation.
Real estate agents are in the business of lead generation. You have to be able to generate leads in order for you to build your business. There are many ways to accomplish this, but Ribak suggests heading back to the basics if you’re looking to generate more leads and earn more money.
Open Houses
If you’re in a state where open houses are currently allowed, Ribak suggests implementing them in your lead generation strategy. He suggested a couple of things to consider before hosting an open house:
– Pick the right house. Choose an unoccupied home that has been on the market for a little while (if possible). Also, choose a home that has 2-3 other homes for sale in the same neighborhood and avoid choosing gated communities.
– Scheduling. If your business is a little slow, Ribak suggests holding open houses every day from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. If your business is normal or a little busy, hold open houses on weekends during the same time.
– Advertising. According to Ribak, 90 percent of sales come from signs that advertise the home, so be sure to use them. Do not use ads to advertise the home unless you have seen success from it in the past.
Finally, if you plan to hold open houses, make sure you have the correct materials. This includes a wireless laptop, some water for visitors and some finger food to share with visitors. Do not print out the current listing but be prepared to share it via email so that you can add attendees’ contact information to your CRM.
Plan Your Communication Standards
You probably plan to keep in contact with clients and potential buyers that you meet during your open houses. When planning to work with your clients, Ribak suggests adjusting your messaging on how you will interact with them.
To start, Ribak suggests asking personal questions (within reason) and getting invested on a personal level. You can also ask about showing other properties nearby. If they are interested in seeing listings, ask if you can text them your information. By doing this, you are able to save their contact information into your phone or CRM and keep the conversation going.
If you do intend to keep a relationship with your clients, Ribak says to talk less about real estate and to talk more about their family and lifestyle. Remember to jot down a few notes after your interactions—you never know how important personal details could be during your relationship with your clients.
Know Your Circle of Influence
Ribak described a Circle of Influence to be “the most underutilized gold mine in real estate.” To identify your Circle of Influence, create four lists: friends and family, out-of-area contacts, acquaintances and past customers. The communications you send to members of each list should be created specifically for that group.
Friends and family should have content such as a personal update, market update and something that is going on in your area. Acquaintances and out-of-area contacts should only have a market update and something exciting about the area you work in. Past customers should have emails that pertain to other subjects such as listing updates or a market analysis.
Bonus Lead Generation Tips
Ribak concluded the webinar by providing some bonus tips for generating leads to elevate your business. He suggests joining some clubs such as yachts clubs or country clubs to get to know the members and what they may be looking for in the future.
He also mentioned that you can build your own networking group. You can try this by joining a Facebook Group or connecting with other real estate agents on LinkedIn.
Generating leads to attain your business goals can be challenging. Hopefully after reading this you’ll feel ready to elevate your business while potentially working less. To watch the webinar recording, head over to the Secrets of Top Selling Agents Facebook Group to join in on the conversation.
Joe Sesso is director of Sales and national speaker for Homes.com. For more information, please visit marketing.homes.com.
