I am not an advocate for very many outside products or services.  One, there are millions of them out there and two, I am very, very picky as to which ones I endorse and put my name behind.  But every once in a while, something comes across that is so innovative and spectacular that I feel compelled to put it out there.

Everyone is familiar with the FICO score.  It’s a predictive analytic that helps financial institutions guess who will pay their bills and who is more likely to default.  Imagine if we could have something similar to help us market or prospect more effectively by only focusing on those who are most likely to move in the next 6 months.

Now we can.  There is a group who had 3 PhDs working 24 month to create the Predictive Analytic algorithms.  By leveraging over 255 different variables they can generate a prospecting list ranked from most likely to least likely to sell in next 6 months.

I was skeptical, but looking at the data and results it became evident that you could cut 80% of your marketing budget and accurately predict almost half of the sales increasing your return on investment 235%.  For those who were slightly more savvy, they multiplied their market reach  5x and used the same marketing dollars they already allocated and they were able to increase their business exponentially.

There is a cost to the service, but it is amazingly affordable and is exclusive to you.  As I talked to the guys, we brainstormed for a few minutes and found at least two dozen ways to make a list like this pay off in spades.  If you want more info, shoot me an email to chris@mastery-coaching.com and I’ll send you over an info packet.

I had two really good agents enter into an extended slump.  Not all that uncommon over the last couple of years.  After talking to them at some length I discovered they were spending way to much time in their cushy home offices.  So I took them away – not literally of course, but figuratively.  I told them that they had to close the door and they weren’t allowed in for 30 days.  Instead I asked them to go to Starbucks with their laptops and do their work from there. 

Secrets to Successful Branding – The Law of the Word

If, we, as the real estate community really understood the concept of branding and its importance, we would save a fortune by cutting the misplaced dollars we are spending in the name of “getting their name out there.”

Most of us are re-treads – people who fell into this business and came from some other background. In 15 years of asking, I’ve only found one person who grew up wanting to be a real estate agent (and she is no longer in the business). I can’t tell you how many people I’ve interviewed as a Broker that said the reason they wanted to be an agent was because they liked houses and people. If that is the sole reason they are here my advice to them has been – “Don’t get started in this business because in 6 months you will hate them both.”

Those that make it in this industry in today’s world are those that approach it with an amount of business prowess. Unfortunately, that isn’t taught in the “learn everything you need to know to become successful in real estate in two weeks” class. So, we throw the newbies to the vultures (vendors who sell BS products that do nothing but line the pockets of the vendors and serve as filler our nation’s dumps). We let them sling mud on a wall and see what sticks and hope against hope that they will be one of the very few fortunate ones who will survive the first three years.

Over time, those that emerge as mega agents realize that to truly win in this you must realize that it is a business not a career (and there is a major difference) and start learning how to become the “RainMaker.” Although we have dozens of proprietary campaigns to generate more leads, from time to time, we need to strip back to the basics and dive into the philosophy to align ourselves with the right thinking to launch our business to the next level. This week, it’s all about how to brand effectively so that you may maximize your ROI in any marketing or advertising program your engage in. From Al Ries, a master of marketing and branding in the retail sector, we take the lessons and apply the fundamentals to our real estate businesses.

In Branding , There is the Law of the Word

There is a limited amount of real estate in our consumer’s active memory. The lion’s share of the space going to the things that weighs most heavily on their mind. Because this resource is precious and limited your brand should strive to own a single word or concept in the eyes of the consumer. You are not competing with other agents; you are competing against every other professional and service industry. You have an advantage because real estate and the client’s home equity can be leveraged as an important value on a constant basis with spikes of interest as it comes time to move. But you must keep the importance on the consumer’s top of mind with all the other competing interests vying for attention.

You want to establish yourself as the expert and go-to person for real estate regardless of where they are in the buying or selling process. Become their resource and contact. Ideally, you want to get to the point where when your perfect client drives past a competitor’s sign, they think of you.

I will start out by saying that this story, Wayne’s story, is not allegorical.  Wayne is not only a client of mine, but a friend. 

Within weeks of Wayne getting his real estate license, his wife moved out, took their daughter and re-located 400 miles away, his home burned to the ground and his car got stolen.   I’m completely serious.  His new broker/manager allowed him to crash on his couch until he could find a new place to stay and he would ride his bike to a neighborhood close by.  He would chain his bike to a stop sign, and start door knocking looking for business.  Door after door, day after day, Wayne would knock. 

He didn’t necessarily like it, nor was he especially good at it in the beginning.  But he was determined.  He started to lose weight, pick up business and gain confidence. 

In working with a small army of mega-producing agents, I have found that none of them are good at everything.  Each one of them has developed a mastery of one, possibly two, prospecting methods.  Wayne’s is door knocking.  He now works in one of the highest cost zip codes in the nation.  Surrounded my multi-million dollar estates he still will hit the streets when business slows down.  He has earned the ability to rest on his SOI, marketing, repeat and referral business, but he looks at his door knocking as a volume knob.  Business is good, he can cut back, business or the market drops, he can turn it up.  He can tell you how many doors he has to knock to get a closing.  He can do it in his sleep.  He is truly the best door-knocker I have ever seen.

Maybe your thing isn’t door knocking – that’s ok.  It doesn’t need to be.  But you need to have something you can fall back on to generate new business.  Something you can dial up or down depending on your business activity; something that you can use as a regulator.  I would encourage you to pursue something that fits your personality and get good at it – no, get great at it. 

This year the strong will not only survive but thrive.  The pros always make money – that’s why they control 90% of the market activity.  They don’t have an escape clause; they don’t have another choice of career.  They aren’t trying real estate.  They simply chose to do. 

You don’t sell houses. Let me say it again, you don’t sell houses. Not in a successful marketing campaign. You sell your USP or Unique Selling Proposition. There are hundreds of thousands of agents in world today. If all you do is sell houses, then there are at least a few others that are willing to do the same thing. What makes you better than any other? Why should a client hire you? As an industry, we have been caught without enough distinction which is why over the last few years we have experienced such a high level of “Commission Compression.”

Here’s an example - If I were to buy a new BMW 7i and one dealer had one the car for $80,000 and another dealer could get the exact same car for $72,000 which would I choose? All things being equal, price will become my determining factor. But let’s say that I just wanted to buy a car that allows me to get to and from work in a safe comfortable manner. What makes me consider an $80,000 BMW versus an $18,000 Kia? Price no longer becomes the only factor. BMW knows they aren’t selling a car or mere transportation; they are selling “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” In fact, they’ve done quite well getting buyers to buy to satisfy the buyer’s own ego needs. And more interestingly, how many BMW owners would cop to ego being their primary reason for buying the car? With that said – let’s not beat up on the BMW crowd too bad, the same could be said about Lexus, Mercedes and others and they don’t have the distinction of being the “Ultimate Driving Machine.”

What is your USP? What are your strengths? What can and do you do better than anyone else? What are your values? What do you care about and hold most dear? Market around those things and you will find yourself in the rare air of those agents who make the rules about how the real estate game is played and who hold the top %1 who dominate the marketplace.

If  you could cut 80% of your marketing budget and accurately increasing your return on investment 235% by predicting  almost half of the sales in a particular area would you be interested?  For those who are slightly more savvy, you could even multiply your market reach  by 5x and use the same marketing dollars you already have allocated and increase your business exponentially.

I am not an advocate for very many outside products or services.  One, there are millions of them out there and two, I am very, very picky as to which ones I endorse and put my name behind.  But every once in a while, something comes across that is so innovative and spectacular that I feel compelled to put it out there.

Everyone is familiar with the FICO score.  It’s a predictive analytic that helps financial institutions guess who will pay their bills and who is more likely to default.  Imagine if we could have something similar to help us market or prospect more effectively by only focusing on those who are most likely to move in the next 6 months.

Now we can.  There is a group who had 3 PhD’s working 24 month to create the Predictive Analytic algorithms.  By leveraging over 255 different variables they can generate a prospecting list ranked from most likely to least likely to sell in next 6 months.

There is a cost to the service, but it is amazingly affordable and is exclusive to you.  As I talked to the guys, we brainstormed for a few minutes and found at least two dozen ways to make a list like this pay off in spades.  If you want more info, shoot me an email to chris@mastery-coaching.com and I’ll send you over an info packet.

There are good clients and there are bad clients. "Bad" clients take time, energy and focus away from your ideal clients – those you connect with, respect your time and experience. I’m not saying "bad" clients are "bad" people, I’m simply saying that they aren’t the best clients for you to be working with when it comes to ROI (return-on-investment).

By shifting your focus from attempting to serve any and all potential customers, to identifying and serving your ideal clients better, you will be free to not only increase your profitability, but more importantly, allow you to reclaim a sizable chunk of time and energy to reinvest into other areas that have a higher ROI. This upgrading process ultimately helps your viability and is continual, so keep losing the below average and average customers and replacing them with those that are loyal, profitable and enjoyable.

Some key points to keep in mind -

- Remember profitability and longevity is dependent on serving your ideal/best customer not every customer. It’s ok to lose customers that are too costly in time or energy.

- Pay attention to all customers for niche and innovation ideas, but get to know the top 20% of your customers so they refer to you as "their friend in real estate." Really take the time to understand:

• Why they use your service.
• What they want improved about their lives.
• How they feel and talk about you.
• How you can improve your service.

– Define your great clients as the ones that keep using your service and refer others consistently. Your "Raving Fans" should be the backbone of your business and are the most valuable part of your marketing plan. 

Tags : Advertising, Business Dynamics, Marketing, Marketing Plan, Prospecting, Sales Skills