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There was a blog post published on Active Rain recently that was called “10 a Day Keeps the Deals on the Way”.  It was written by Melissa Stahl.

The focus of the article is on how the “10 a Day” helped Melissa reach her 2011 stretch goal in August of 2011 instead of December.   What’s the 10 a Day?  She talks about handing out at least 10 cards a day, just to let people know she is a real estate agent.

In the post, she pointed out that most agents let people know they’re in the business in a “stealth” way.  And, I agree with her.  Real estate is a people business.  You’re around people a lot every day, so it makes sense to take advantage of the built-in audience.

The biggest question in my mind as I was reading the beginning of her post was:  how do you make contact with people without being pushy or embarrassing yourself so you’d never try it again?

The All Important Sentence

As I continued to read the post, it occurred to me that the 10 a day wasn’t the most important message in the post.  The thing that really hit me upside the head was HOW Melissa make those 10 contacts.  She kept repeating the same sentence,

“Boy, I’m sure glad it’s cheaper to buy a house than to buy [product] these days”.

And she changed the [product] identified to fit the situation she was in.  For example, in the grocery, with a likely prospect nearby, she said, “Boy, I’m sure glad it’s cheaper to buy a house than to buy a gallon of milk these days”.

That started a conversation that ended up in a closed sale.

Read the Post

• To find out how Melissa has made use of this approach in more detail, read her post. 
• Then, decide if Melissa’s sentence fits you.  Maybe you’ll come up with another client-creating sentence. 
• But, if nothing else, “borrow” her sentence and try it out yourself!

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If you’re not a member of Active Rain, you may not be able to access the post(s) mentioned above.  So sign up for Active Rain now.  If you’re not a member of Active  Rain, you should be anyway.

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I imagine that there are a number of marketing tools that can transform a real estate business.  And, I imagine that the real estate marketing tool that achieves transformation could be different for different real estate professionals.

But, if you have been following this blog recently, you’ve seen some posts about the importance of contact management and using efficient approaches for staying in touch with your sphere of influence, past clients and prospects or leads.

Therefore, I was very interested to see Cal Yoder‘s post on Active Rain about communicating with folks in his database.  According to Cal, setting up a systematic way of staying in touch with his sphere of influence is, “transforming my business.”

Cal is accomplishing that transformation using the eEdge contact manager from Keller Williams, and Gary Keller’s guidelines from the book, The Millionaire Real Estate Agent.

Do you have to be a Keller Williams agent to accomplish the business transformation Cal is experiencing?

Of course, the answer is no.  You can use a good real estate contact manager to do basically the same thing.

Do you need to use Gary Keller’s guidelines?  No, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea.  At a minimum, you must set up activity plans that will accomplish the same thing – consistent contact.

So, visit Cal’s post.  And, think about how consistent you are in staying in touch with people who will be your future clients if you try.

If you’re not doing anything (or enough) to achieve consistent contact. . . .

Now is the Time!!

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Two days ago, I published a post about the somewhat unknown real estate marketing opportunity at Angie’s List.  Today, I received an email from Mike Russer at Online Dominance about a webinar he’s sponsoring about… you got it, Angie’s List.

So, looks like this marketing opportunity is not so much of a secret now!  In fact, here are some things Russer put in the email announcing the webinar:

“At a recent conference I attended, there was an top producer on a panel that shared how Angie’s List referrals accounted for the majority of her new business (and in this market!).”

Based on what’s happening at Angie’s List, Russer invited Michael Jared from Angie’s List to participate in the webinar and spread the word.

“Michael will be sharing everything you wanted to know about Angie’s List and how to use it for your advantage”

This is how Mike Russer ended his email:

“PS: Everyone now knows how important social media is. Think of Angie’s List as social media on steroids because it is explicitly about on-biased recommendations –and you can’t get any better referral than that!

PPS: You can’t pay to be on Angie’s List, you must earn your way. This means two things: a) there is nothing you have to purchase to take advantage of what is being shared during this session, and b) you will likely be the first in your area to take full advantage of this opportunity.”

In my earlier post, I listed some statistics about the number of people currently using Angie’s List.  While the groundswell has started, you probably will be one of a few or the first to get involved.

This webinar sounds like a great way to get a head start in using Angie’s list to increase leads and sales!  If you want to attend the webinar, set aside an hour next Tuesday, September 20th from 7-8pm EDT.

You can reserve a space at the Webinar by clicking here.   I’ve already got mine.

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I’m sure you’ve heard of Angie’s List.  Where I live, they’re doing quite a bit of advertising, so I’m very aware of their website.  Do you think being on Angie’s List would generate leads for you?  I think websites like Angie’s List are most well-known for finding service professionals, such as movers and plumbers, based on the reviews they get.  But, what if it worked for real estate professionals, too?

Angie’s List????

This topic came up when I read a post on Active Rain by Debbie Gartner.   Debbie represents a flooring company, and has had great luck with advertising on Angie’s List.  Take a minute or two to read Debbie’s post, and you’ll learn lots of interesting things about her experience with Angie’s List.  In brief, she has found that:

• Her Angie’s List clients are some of the best to work with because they chose her.
• The quality of leads is very high.
• It takes time to establish a reputation and to get placed near the top of the lists.
• Membership is cheap.
• Advertising costs are relatively low and are not tied to the number of leads generated.

Debbie also describes how the List is ranked and the different ways you can use the List.   Another REALTOR® who is using Angie’s List also pointed out that clients must be members of Angie’s List in order to write a review, so that may limit the number of reviews you can generate.  On the other hand, you could buy your client a one-month membership – it’s cheap and will give you an edge!

Real Estate Agents ARE Using Angie’s List

I was curious about how REALTORs® were using Angie’s List, so I did some poking around and came up with some interesting statistics:

• Atlanta has 5,560 agents listed, 48 of which are Top Rated
• Philadelphia has 4,761 agents listed, 71 of which are Top Rated
• Charlotte has 2,237 agents listed, 52 of which are Top Rated
• Los Angeles has 18,534 agents listed, 120 of which are Top Rated
• Cleveland has 2,074 agents listed, 46 of which are Top Rated

In those five cities, there are 337 agents who are using the service aggressively enough to be Top Rated.  That makes me think that there’s something to be gained, even for real estate agents.

Are you using Angie’s List?  Does anyone have experience with the List?  Please, leave a comment!

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If you’re not a member of Active Rain, you may not be able to access the post(s) mentioned above.  So sign up for Active Rain now.  If you’re not a member of Active Rain, you should be anyway. 

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Let’s see. . .   I’ll bet you all would!  Giving a gift to a buyer or seller at the conclusion of a real estate transaction is just about an industry standard.  The question is. . .

What Makes a Good Closing Gift?

A Closing Gift is:

• A tangible symbol of your appreciation for your client’s business.
• A way to end a real estate transaction with the client feeling warm and fuzzy about your relationship.

A Good Closing Gift is everything listed above, plus:

• It lasts.  That means that you forget the gift baskets and bottles of wine.  A good closing gift will be around a good long time to remind your clients of you on a regular basis.

The Ultimate Closing Gift is everything listed above, plus

• It is tax deductible.  Closing gifts are a business expense, but how often have you been able to deduct the cost for the closing gifts you’ve given?

Why is Choosing a Great Closing Gift so Important?

Here are some interesting statistics from NAR’s Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers:

• 66% of consumers say they WOULD definitely use their real estate agent again.
• 10% of consumers actually DO use the  agent they worked with before.

That’s a pretty lousy set of statistics.  If so many people would use the same agent again, why don’t they?  There may be lots of reasons:  Uncle Harry just got his license, and needs work, for example.  But, a good portion of the reason seems to be because the consumer just doesn’t think about contacting the person who helped them with their last transaction.

There are many ways you can stay top of mind with past clients, and I encourage you to do anything you can.  That’s one reason why I recommend using a real estate contact manager that you will actually use to stay in touch with your sphere.

But, don’t ignore the easiest thing you can do.  You already give closing gifts.  Why not give gifts that will help you stay top of mind, too??

You’ll find a variety of closing gifts that last on our BRER Approved pages.  I also wanted to announce our relationship with Cutco.

Where Do You Find Closing Gifts that are Tax Deductible?

There is one type of closing gift that you will have no problem deducting.  Why?  Because the gift is engraved with your contact information.  That makes it a form of advertising, not just a gift!

I’m pleased to be able to provide you with the opportunity to purchase Cutco closing gifts.  And, you’ll get a discount on the engraving, too! 

If you’re not familiar with Cutco, I think you’ll find they live up to their tagline: “The World’s Finest Cutlery”.

For more information, visit our Cutco closing gift web page.  You’ll hear comments about using Cutco closing gifts from attendees at NAR’s last convention in 2010, and you’ll see larger versions of some of the other closing gifts that are available.  Or, you can request that a Cutco representative contact you.

My recommendation?  Forget the traditional Closing Gift.  Focus on Good Closing Gifts or the Ultimate Closing gift.  As long as you’re spending the money, make sure your closing gifts are working hard for you!

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This information is not intended to be legal or tax advice.  Please consult with your tax adviser about your specific tax situation.