“Staying informed is one of the most basic ingredients to success in real estate,” says Juli Feinberg of Crestmark Realty Group. “I believe if you don’t have knowledge, you cannot service a buyer or seller.” For more of Feinberg’s words of wisdom, read the following interview.
Juli Feinberg
Crestmark Realty Group
Years in real estate: 29
Region served: Scottsdale, Ariz.
How are you operating your business more efficiently? Where have you cut back and where have you invested?
We see a lot of new buyers coming from the East Coast of the U.S. as well as from Toronto, Canada. Because of this, we are putting our marketing dollars into our branding concepts, creating our own seller presentations for high-end properties. We are on 140 sites, including China’s largest real estate site, which has produced results for us. We work hard on conversion, so we go out and listen to a lot of people; then I come back and coach our agents.
How are you staying educated and informed about market conditions?
I coach my agents monthly on where our market is going. Staying informed is one of the most basic ingredients to success in real estate. I believe if you don’t have knowledge, you cannot service a buyer or seller. I go out everywhere always listening. One of the most important things I do is go out into the corporate world and see how leading companies are running their businesses. Even the coaches I listen to are from the corporate world, not from real estate. I find the corporate ideas translate well into real estate, but also give me a leg up, as the spin is different and more leading edge. While we are cutting edge on one hand, we are also going back to basics. I have my agents knocking on doors, doing open houses and going for human interaction. My agents cannot sit back and expect business to come to them. They have to get out into the community and find new business.
What is one of your most creative marketing ideas?
I do not believe in using gimmicks. But I do believe in giving excellent service. Take, for example, the way we go after expired listings. In our market, you can’t go out and behave as one might in a used car lot. So when we go after an expired listing, we send out a well-crafted letter on beautifully printed paper. We send it out by FedEx and make it very simple. Also in the no-gimmick, excellent service area, we make sure all of our homes are staged well. The photographs are first rate and we are using floor plans as well as tours.
How do you help your agents stay successful?
I am very big into coaching and make sure that I coach my agents monthly. I nurture them and have an open door policy. I am there for all of them. I pay for lead modules and I teach my agents how to convert those leads. I also give them a great deal of support. I advertise all over the place and try very hard to work outside the box. I would say one of our best attributes is that we are productive without being gimmicky. My office has always done things just a little bit differently like being more corporate than typical real estate offices.
What’s your personal motto?
To me, being ethical is everything, so my motto is: “If you are not ethical, you are not referable.”
