You be the judge…

You know your email signature has value. And you know that if you attach it to a cute joke or interesting market information it’s apt to get passed around to someone who doesn’t know you yet – and they’ll call you as a result.

So why not teach your listing clients to use their own email signatures to help sell their home?

Choose an attractive photo of their home and supply them with a thumbnail image – along with a link back to the home’s page on your site. Show them how to add that photo, along with a linked note that says “Yourtown Home For Sale” to all of their outgoing email messages.

You just never know who might see that signature and follow it back to your site.

In fact, even if the seasons haven’t changed, if that listing is beginning to get stale, or if you’ve had a good price reduction, it’s time to switch.

Outdated photos can prevent showings:

Now that 80% or more of all buyers begin their home search on the web, the photos are more important than ever before. And while they shouldn’t be used to deceive those searchers, they shouldn’t be allowed to discourage them, either.

There are perfectly valid reasons why a house might not have sold quickly. Perhaps nothing in your market is selling quickly. Or perhaps the house is unique in some wonderful way and it’s just waiting for the right buyer. Or perhaps it went under contract immediately after listing but the buyer’s loan fell apart.

Buyers searching the web don’t have access to any of that knowledge, so when they see the same photo week after week, or when they see a photo with green grass and they know you’ve had snow on the ground for six weeks, all they’ll think is that the house hasn’t sold.

Unfortunately, the next thought after that one is “There must be something wrong with it” or “It must be over priced.”

What if your formerly overpriced listing is now priced right?

That’s another time to change the photo! If buyers and agents have gotten used to seeing that photo when they search, they’re apt to skip right over it without a thought – and without stopping to think about the new price.

So go get a new photo from a different angle – even from a different side of the house. Let the new photo attract new attention.

Some people like to show summertime pictures with their wintertime listings in order to show how inviting it is in summer. That’s a nice idea, but if you do it, be sure to preface the summer photos with something like “From the seller’s picture album” so you won’t give the impression that the house has been listed for months.

One more note on photos:

When you prepare a flyer for the box out front, use a photo of the house as it looks from that angle, but make it smaller and put it up in the corner or off to the side.

Then show a view of some enticing feature of the home that can’t be seen from that angle. It’s just one more way to show buyers that they need to take a closer look – and the small photo will help them remember which house it is.

How much of what you learned that day have you actually started using? Do you even know where you put those careful notes you took?

If you’re like most of us, you took good notes and had every intention of coming home and putting some of the good ideas to use.

But then, after taking a day or more from work to attend the seminar, you have plenty to do to catch up with things. You’re busy answering emails, following up with your buyers and sellers, calling agents for feedback on listings they showed while you were away, checking the progress of current transactions, and maybe even working on an ad with a deadline in a day or so.

In short, you’re busy. So instead of sitting down and re-writing your notes or even going over them to see what you can use right now, you put them on “the pile” or shove them in a drawer or a file folder. You have fine intentions of coming back in a day or two – just as soon as you get caught up.

And… it doesn’t happen.

Maybe you’ve made the trip to a National Real Estate Convention. That’s even worse!

At a convention you listen to multiple speakers, all with a different kind of advice to give you. And you may even purchase more than one program to use when you get home. I recall attending one such seminar and having to ship my purchases home because there was no room in my suitcase for all of them.

By the time you get home and get caught up, the enthusiasm for diving into pages and pages of notes or starting on a new program has vanished.

One lesson at a time is easier to put to use…

And it’s even better if you can listen and learn at a time when you aren’t required to do something else immediately after the class.

The most influential “seminar” I ever attended was in my own home. I had purchased the set of Home study CD’s produced after a Copywriting Bootcamp, and had started watching them one at a time after dinner in the evening.

One night one of the sessions was so loaded with good information that the minute it was over I came back to the computer, looked up the presenter’s website, and read every word of advice she had written. Then I stayed up until the wee hours following her instructions.

That seminar was about SEO, and since I maintain my own web pages, I was able to put the information to use immediately. (And yes, everything she taught really did work.)

But it doesn’t always work that way.

Yesterday, while sorting through one of the “piles” on my desk, I came across the notes from a tele-seminar I listened to a few months ago. It looked like good information, but had I actually tried to put any of it into practice? Heck no.

Now, as you head into a real estate season which might be just a bit slower, it’s time to set aside an hour or two every week to put some of that good information to use. Since it’s easy to put off such a task, write it down in your day planner as an appointment with yourself.

Just choose one set of notes or one program and spend an hour reviewing it. Jot down one important “take-away” and find a way to put it into practice in the coming week.

Give yourself the benefit of money you’ve already spent.

A New Real Estate Marketing Idea?

This week I got an email offering me free membership in a site that posts real estate coupons on line.

The reason it would be free to me, the promotion said, was because I’m a member of “PORE, LinkedRE.com, PrimeAgents.com, TheReferralNet.com, YellowPagesRE.com, RelocationRE.com, MLSIDXSites.com, AgentPedia.com, REOAssign or WAORE.com”

Since I’m not a Realtor, I’m NOT a member of any of those, so I’m assuming the sender got my email address elsewhere – always a sign that the sender might not be on the up and up.

But since marketing is my business, I had to read on to see what it was all about.

At first I couldn’t quite figure out the point, since it went on to suggest I could send coupons to clients after a closing… for a discount on a home inspection, etc. Why would they want a home inspection after they’ve already completed the transaction?

Maybe a coupon from a pool service or a landscaper or window washer would be a nice gift – but would sending it help you secure their future business? And why would you need a coupon to past clients posted on line? Wouldn’t you just send it to them yourself?

The idea of offering some kind of incentive is a subject I used to think about when I owned a real estate office – what can an agent offer in addition to a free market analysis?

If you did offer something, would it help or hurt your business? You don’t see many professionals offering discounts, and you sure can’t offer free samples or discounts on a house. So, since offering a discounted commission would be distasteful (to most agents, anyway) you’d have to offer something from someone else. And would that build or diminish your professional status?

It sounds a little like the “But wait, there’s more…” commercials on TV.

I can see discount coupons as a marketing tool for others who provide services to your clients. Inspectors, home stagers, landscapers, even a cleaning service might gain more business through coupons you offered. And, if you helped them increase their business they might try to send more buyers and sellers your way.

It’s an idea to consider, at least.

With that in mind, here’s an idea that I think would increase the number of out-of-town buyers who come straight to you …

But there’s a catch, of course. It involves more time and effort. It might be a project to tackle during those dreaded slow months.

What if you secured a map of your marketing area – then invited other providers to purchase advertising space around the perimeter? You wouldn’t need to limit yourself to real-estate related providers, but could include other businesses as well – such as restaurants, dry cleaners, hardware stores, golf courses, gyms, etc.

Of course, your own marketing message would be prominent on both sides of the map.

You’d have to do good homework ahead of time – find out the cost of printing, etc. so you could divide the cost between your advertisers. Your own contribution to production costs could be the time you’d spend putting it all together.

Have enough copies printed so that you and each of your advertisers have plenty to hand out.

Once you have copies in hand, put a sign up box on your website, inviting out-of-town buyer prospects to request a copy.

Yes, mailing it would cost you some postage. But when those buyers hit town, they’d be carrying YOUR map, with YOUR advertising. And meanwhile, you’d be able to maintain top of mind awareness with them by sending drip marketing messages.

If a project like that seems too large to tackle alone, maybe your favorite mortgage broker or other professional would be happy to make it a joint effort.

If you’ve taken it a step further, you also offer a special report to buyers or sellers or one for each.

That means you have the opportunity to follow up with a “drip campaign” to stay in touch with those leads. If you do, and if you do it well, you’ll be the agent they call when they’re ready to take action.

It’s a fantastic opportunity, but too many agents are wasting it by sending letters that repel rather than attract.

Their letters say things like “If you’d like to look at homes, call me.” Or “I’m a really wonderful real estate agent, so if you’re ready to list, call me.”

Some agents send those same letters over and over and over. And what do consumers do? Most merely hit the delete button.

Instead, you need to be sending information they’ll be glad to get – so that when they see your name in their in-box, they’ll open your message and actually read it.

What can you send instead? Market information, for one thing. People who are interested in buying or selling are interested in what goes on with the local market.

So give them statistics:

• How many homes have sold in the past month?
• Is this more or fewer than the month before, or this month last year?
• What has been the average price?
• Is this average higher or lower than the previous month, or this month last year?
• How does this compare to national trends?

Unless you’re writing to people who responded to a specific special report – such as one for FSBO’s, Expired Listings, Short Sales, or First time buyers – then your information has to be generic.

You can do that and still offer useful information. But you do need to separate buyers from sellers.

You can give general tips on buying – such as paperwork to take along when meeting with a lender, getting ready to view homes by narrowing your “want” list, etc.

And you can give general tips on selling. That opens you up to everything from proper pricing to staging the house, to the reason why sellers should be absent during showings.

This is a time to avoid specifics. Don’t assume that your reader is a first time buyer or a newlywed or a retiree. Doing so shows that you don’t know who they are and many will see it as insulting.

Finally, unless you know you are proficient in grammar and spelling, get someone to check your work before you send it. Misused words, misspellings, and garbled sentence structure will do you more harm than sending no letter at all.

Remember, everything you send represents you and your professionalism. Make it good!

You can write these letters yourself… but if you’re short on time, short on writing ability, or just don’t like to write… use mine.

Visit Copy by Marte for a wide assortment of letters, all ready to personalize and send.

You can, of course, create a winning agent bio – but who knows if it will ever been seen?

If you’re not satisfied with the luck of the draw, then your first move should be the creation of your own real estate website. And that doesn’t need to be a huge expense.

Purchasing a URL costs around $10, and hosting is a few dollars per month. And having great copy written is a one-time expense. You don’t need to change it unless you have something different to say about your service.

As for adding content and building your Internet presence – a good blog will serve the purpose. Of course, you mustn’t forget to optimize each page on your site.

I realize that most real estate websites are complicated by the fact that you need to offer MLS search capabilities. Signing up with a company that offers search could cost you more. So why not ask your broker if you can simply link to the company’s search page?

Then you can concentrate your efforts on letting your future customers and clients know why they want you to represent them.

About now you’re thinking that you have no experience – no track record to offer.

So what? You have other things – such as boundless enthusiasm, a recent education that has you up-to-date on all the current regulations, and a strong market knowledge based on diligent study of the market. You may also have area knowledge based on years of living in the community – or based on all the exploring you did when you first moved there.

Was it Mary Poppins who said “Accentuate the positive?” I’m not sure, but whoever it was, they were right. So sit down right now and write a list of all the benefits you can offer a buyer or a seller.

The only real negative you have to overcome is lack of experience. So stress your diligence in doing research, in viewing every home you use in a market analysis, and then show how your past experiences gave you tools you use in real estate sales. You can also cite strong broker or mentor support, and the fact that if you don’t know something, you’ll find out as quickly as possible. Not even 20-year agents know everything, and some of them aren’t willing to do the work to find the answers.

Once you have your website, put your URL on everything, including your email signature lines. Join Active Rain and start blogging – and directing people back to your site. Write to all your friends and sphere of influence and invite them to your site. Comment on real estate blogs and answer Yahoo questions – and always include your URL.

And of course, when you send prospecting letters, invite those folks to get acquainted by visiting your website.

To learn more about real estate websites, visit me at www.copybymarte.com.

Some say they simply can’t make a living any more. “Nothing is selling” is a refrain I’ve heard from agents from coast to coast. Many of these agents are dropping out of the business or trying to work part-time while they take a job that pays wages.

Others say they’re doing fine – that they always make money during bad times.

So what gives?

I believe the difference lies in their attitudes and expectations. Each agent gets what they expect to get, because their expectations color their activities. And their activities determine their success – or lack of success.

I can almost guarantee that the agent sitting in the office playing video games isn’t making any money. Neither are the ones gathered in the break room crying about how bad things are. They don’t expect a buyer or a seller to call, and they don’t reach out to anyone because they “know” that no one is interested.

Then there are the ones making money. They’re either on the phone or out there making contact with potential buyers and sellers. They’re also studying – learning how to deal with the new regulations. And they never stop marketing. Instead, they’re finding creative ways to market their services without spending a ton of money.

These agents are taking a critical look at their marketing methods and measuring what works and what doesn’t work. Then they’re directing their dollars to those activities that bring them business. I may be wrong, but I think we’ll see a huge shift away from homes magazines and newspaper ads.

Since over 90% of buyers begin their search on the Internet, smart real estate agents will shift more of their attention to creating web pages that capture visitors – and they’ll set up systems to keep in touch with all their leads via email.

They’ll also do more social marketing. Agents are using sites like Active Rain to show their area expertise and drive new buyers and sellers to their websites. Those who blog regularly are reporting huge increases in sales just from this one source.

Of course, there are those who use social marketing poorly and never gain a following. I’m thinking of the ones on Twitter who post the same message about a new listing 20 times in a row. Marketers in other businesses do the same, and they’re just as forgettable.

We have entered an age of skepticism. It’s a time when we don’t automatically trust people, but wait to see if they’re worthy of our trust. We want to get acquainted and know a little about a person.
Blogging creates that opportunity for potential customers to gain insight into who you are. So does drip marketing, if you’re willing to “give away” a little helpful information in your messages.

This need to get acquainted also puts new importance on agent bios. They’re an opportunity to show potential customers that you’re a real person – with interests and passions that go beyond your professional duties. Bios give prospects a way to connect with you and trust you because you’re “like them” in some way.

One thing I believe is certain: The agents who take the time and effort to learn how to market effectively in this economy will be the market leaders when things improve.

Quite often, when real estate agents think about communicating with customers they think of what they need to tell the customers. And, most of the advice written about the subject does look at it from that point of view.

Agents do need to tell their listing clients the truth about pricing for current market conditions, even when those clients would rather hear larger numbers. They also need to have those difficult conversations about condition and presentation.

One of a real estate agent’s most difficult tasks is telling a listing client that they really must do some “house beautiful” work if they expect their home to sell.

In a down market agents must also be consistent in staying in touch with listing clients, even when there’s not much to report. That’s another difficult task. It isn’t fun to call a homeowner and tell them that there has been no interest in their house for the past two weeks, or even for the past month.

But those are all things that an agent must communicate to their client. And communication is really a two way street.

Effective communication, like an effective conversation, involves listening as well as talking.

This really came home to me a few days ago when I spent some time talking with my son’s neighbor when we were all outside watching the kids play. I commented that it was nice to have so many children in the neighborhood so close in age, so they had someone to play with. And then I mentioned that it was fun for the kids to be in a cul-de-sac where it was safe for them to ride their bikes and play catch in the street.

The neighbor told me that it hadn’t been easy to find that perfect location. He said he “went through 4 agents” before finding one who would pay attention to his “want list” and show him the right houses.

He said, “I told them I wanted a two story house on a cul-de-sac, but they kept taking me to see homes on busy streets – telling me how beautiful and well-appointed those homes were.” He related asking those agents what part of his two-item list they couldn’t understand, even after he repeatedly refused to get out and look at homes that didn’t fit.

Finally he found someone who would listen and he purchased the house.

This man had something specific in mind, and he had a good reason why he wanted it. He wanted his children to be safe. But the first 3 agents paid no attention and instead showed him the homes they wanted to sell instead of homes he might want to buy.

Experienced real estate agents know that sometimes buyers choose a home that doesn’t really fit the description they’ve given of the perfect home. But they won’t buy a home that doesn’t fit when there’s a strong reason why they want what they want.
Agents need to listen and pay attention to those reasons why. Agents must ask questions and learn the buyer’s true motivation.

And they need to learn to tell the difference between “must have” and “it would be nice to have.”

In light of the housing crisis and the number of real estate agents who are scared out of their wits about trying to make a living, I decided to drastically reduce the price of my Real Estate Career Builder course – and to do a pay per click campaign to let everyone know.

When I got to Google I was in for a surprise: Yesterday I made some changes to my existing pay per click ads – today, when I decided to do something new and different, I had to pay to open a new account! Was this a surprise to everyone, or had I just not been paying attention?

Whatever – Google made some serious money today! The fee to set up an account is only $5, but just think how many people like me paid that $5 today!

Will this make any difference in how many people use pay per click? I doubt it. $5 isn’t enough to scare off anyone serious about wanting traffic.

What do you think?

We have to be honest here, and realize that a whole lot of agents who got in when the market was hot weren’t really trying much then, either. Just being there gave them enough business to keep them in the game. During my 19 years in real estate I met dozens of them who gave little effort to sharpening their skills – either as an agent or in marketing themselves.

Their decision to drop out is good news for you! They really were just cluttering things up and making it harder for customers and clients to find you.

Now is the time to sharpen your expertise – about all the homes for sale in your niche, and especially about how to deal with selling repossessed properties. And now is the time to market yourself as an expert.

Since many of those homes are in a pre-foreclosure state, it’s also the time to learn all you can about handling short-sales. They do require an extra dose of patience and persistence. They also call for your use of compassion and kindness, because those home sellers are in a state of unhappy turmoil.

For those who serve the market in other ways, you may have to shift your idea of who your customers will be – for instance, instead of marketing exclusively to home sellers, also market to the agents who handle REO properties.

But think about this: Those people who are not in financial trouble, but who need to sell and move during tight times, may need your services more than ever. We all know that a sparkling clean and properly staged and landscaped home will sell faster than homes that merely look “lived in.”

Your task is to show home sellers the advantage you can give them over their competition.

So get out there and present yourself as the professional they need! And if you have a hard time developing your marketing plan, get in touch.

This really can be a time of prosperity…

Marte