Real Estate Results Newsletter
JULY, 2006
Welcome to the July edition of the Real Estate Results Newsletter. In this month’s Newsletter:
- Should You Invest in Improving Your Internet Presence?
- How to Tell When You Need an Assistant
- How to Turn Yourself into “The” Local Real Estate Guru
Should You Invest in Improving Your Internet Presence?
 The answer is a resounding YES! according to the NAR. Results from the 2006 REALTOR® Technology Survey shows a strong relationship between the investment in real estate websites and the number of leads generated on the Internet.
The Survey also determined that the Internet has moved into third place in terms of generating leads for real estate professionals. That places the effectiveness of the Internet as a lead-generating tool just below referrals and repeat clients, but above community involvement.
Agents who regularly invest in their Internet presence often receive an average of 60% of their leads from their websites. Sure beats door knocking!
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How to Tell When You Need an Assistant
Growing your real estate business takes time, effort, and planning. One issue everyone seems to struggle with is when to start leveraging the time you spend in your business by bringing on an assistant.
My advice is to start off-loading tasks that don’t require your expertise as quickly as possible. It’s far too easy to get bogged down in the details. At that point, you can’t grow your business because you’re too busy managing the business you’ve already generated.
Here’s a good way to tell when you’re getting too involved in day-to-day activities. In this article, Dirk Zeller, a well-known real estate coach, talks about applying the 80-20 rule to your real estate business. You’re probably familiar with the Pareto Principle, or 80-20 rule.
The Principle proves that 80% of your results will be generated by 20% of the effort you expend. Dirk goes further, and identifies the six tasks that he suggests you focus on. Unfortunately, his experience has been that while agents put in long hours, they spend very little of their time focused on those six tasks.
Take a look at the list. If you’re not spending the majority of your time focused on the things that are most effective in generating revenue, it’s time to start making that happen. There are lots of alternatives for getting support, such as hiring part-time or full-time assistants, or working with Virtual Assistants.
Your initial reaction may be: But, I can’t afford to hire an assistant! I would suggest, however, that you really can’t afford not to.
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How to Turn Yourself into “The” Local Real Estate Guru
I’ve always found that most agents and brokers underestimate the market knowledge they possess. In addition, most real estate professionals don’t seem to make the best use of the resources they have access to. Therefore, I was delighted when I discovered the website being maintained by Keith Byrd, an agent in California. You can see Keith’s market watch website at www.SloWatch.com.
Keith pulls market information from his MLS on a monthly basis, puts it in easily-understandable charts and graphs, and posts it on his website. He has recently been asked to be a guest on a local radio talk show to discuss real estate issues in his area.
How could you use this type of information? You don’t necessarily need to create a separate website for it. You could post the information on your real estate website. You could post a summary on your website, then ask visitors to register to receive the full report. You could include updates in mailings to your farm and your sphere of influence.
How difficult would it be to pull stats from your MLS once a month? Sounds to me like a good task to assign to your assistant.
Until next month...
Kathleen Allardyce
Can we help YOU increase YOUR sales? Call us toll-free at 888-716-2418, or
Visit us at www.BuildRealEstateResults.com
www.BuildRealEstateWebsites.com
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