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Picture this: You brought in three new clients this week through three tremendous sales. These clients are now completing the next steps in their purchasing process and are researching potential mortgage offers. They’ve come to you for advice and you provide your unbiased opinion. You offer to make introductions to a select number of mortgage and title companies, resulting in all three clients working with the companies you’ve recommended.
Shouldn’t you receive some sort of benefit? After all, you brought the mortgage and title companies business, right?
If you’ve been in a similar situation, we’re certain this has crossed your mind.
Though the idea of sharing marketing strategy and costs with your mortgage and title companies might seem unconventional, we are certain it will result in an increase of resources while saving you money.
Sounds like a win/win, right?
Below are three ways you can work alongside your mortgage and title companies to reduce your individual marketing budget while resulting in an increase of qualified leads.
1. Targeted Marketing Campaigns Depending on your location and niche, chances are that you, your title company and your mortgage company all have similar target clients and demographics. With this in mind, targeted marketing campaigns should be part of your overall strategy.
So why not develop customized campaigns that offer your services alongside one another? For example, you could launch a three-week campaign that attracts new clients to work with an all-in-one solution; realty, mortgage and title companies. With a targeted marketing campaign, you could then develop online advertisements that target your ideal demographic for this solution.
2. Referral Programs We’ve talked about referral and affiliate programs in a previous post, and this approach certainly applies here.
We often don’t think twice about providing referrals for clients we work with closely, so why not include this as part of your marketing strategy?
Similarly, as a popular trend in marketing, affiliate programs provide incentives for referrals. Consider offering rewards, whether monetary or otherwise, for each client that your mortgage and title companies bring you – and vice versa. Affiliate programs can have a significant impact on client retention and management.
3. PPC Advertising Budget If you don’t use PPC marketing now, it would be beneficial to explore this option. Marketing agencies can provide additional resources without bringing employees in-house. Additionally, a reputable agency will always keep up-to-date on the latest trends in digital and traditional marketing, ensuring your business isn’t left behind.
When exploring agency options, consider approaching your mortgage and title companies to work with you. Whether it is in the form of community management or marketing campaigns, a marketing agency can explore the idea of bringing you on as one unified client, thereby reducing agency costs and budget.
The next time you bring new clients to your preferred mortgage and title companies, ask yourself – how is this referral benefiting me?
Getting and holding more real estate listings is the key to making the real money. If you’ve got the sellers and listings you control the market. Buyers and other agents have to come to you if they want to do business. The big question today is not just how to get in touch with more prospective sellers, but how to do it effectively, without the cheesiness, and over the top hard-sell that can cripple your real estate career?
Test out these nine tips and tactics to score more real estate listings…
1. Google Adwords
Inbound marketing is in. However, it is also becoming more competitive. Those that need guaranteed results, and need them quickly, may be wise to turn to PPC and Adwords to loan the top of their real estate lead funnels. These are property owners that have proven they are interested enough in selling to take action and reach out. They can be funneled to landing pages and email lists, social media, and inbound phone calls.
2. Drip Campaigns
Drip email, text, and social media marketing campaigns might not always sound like the sexiest option for eager Realtors that want to rush out and sign new listings today. However, they do work. In fact, in many cases they are absolutely necessary. It’s said that it takes seven ‘touches’ to convert prospects. So instead of burning the bulk of potential business in a rush, why not put smart marketing on autopilot? Just imagine how full your active pipeline and listing inventory would be right now if you had begun nurturing more seller leads two years ago!
3. More Open Houses
The fact that so few Realtors conduct open houses today is exactly why it can now be so profitable for those that do. Realtors have worked hard to downplay the benefits of open houses in recent years. Often because they didn’t want to be stuck sitting somewhere for hours on a weekend. However, there is no debate about the fact that sellers want them. Show that you are one of the agents that will give them what they want and you’ll keep your listings and get referrals. With 91% of Realtors using social media and around 90% of home buyers looking at online listings agents are sometimes ignoring offline.
A walk-in can result in a contract signing. Often it doesn’t. Often it is the neighbors coming in. That’s great news because the odds are they are going to sell soon and you’ll be one of the few Realtors they have had the chance to get to know in person. That’s a huge advantage. Also consider that NAR reports 45% of home buyers name open houses as being used in their search, and only 15% of FSBOs use them. Remember that a great number of buyers are going to also need to sell their homes to move up.
Remember that a Realtor’s success is directly tied to the number of new contacts they make each day. An open house is a great way to do that, and make sure the contacts are interested in real estate. Plus, being so much better connected today you can work on your online marketing while waiting for prospects to show up.
Hot Tip for New Realtors:
Note that you don’t have to have your own listings to host open houses. Ask around the office and create win-wins by hosting them for other agents.
4. Serve the Underserved
Find a niche that is underserved. This will provide easier to close seller leads, and an appreciative group of clients, that in turn may become some of your best fans and leads sources. In sizzling upscale areas this might be younger and less affluent, or older and more traditional owners that feel estranged by snobby and self-absorbed Realtors. Or it could be real estate investors. Find your niche, and dominate it.
5. Make it More Attractive to List with You
Don’t discount yourself and the industry into oblivion. Otherwise you won’t make enough to stay in the business, no matter how many listings you have. Do make it more appealing to list homes for sale with you. Depending on your local market and niche this could be some form of guarantee or concierge services, or even offering open listing agreements so that sellers don’t feel trapped.
6. Build Professional Referral Networks
While many see going straight after homeowners as the most direct route to securing more listings, others see higher ROI and business volume in focusing on referrals. Contrast converting one seller with a single property versus a banker or attorney that may be able to refer ten warm listing leads each month.
7. Create Less Formal Networking Opportunities
Proximity and time are two key components of building relationships and drawing seller leads and listings in a warm way. Today consumers have become incredibly averse to anything that smells like a hard-sales pitch. So how about creating groups or meet-ups around topics that your prime prospects care about, and simply help nurture the ties in a warmer way?
8. Interactive Real Estate Marketing
Empower prospect to engage you via their mobile devices with interactive technology like iBeacons, mobile push notifications, and augmented reality.
9. Off-Page Article Marketing
Search engine marketing (SEM) is hot, but it’s also an increasingly competitive arena. Realtors should have a budget for consistently building up their own online presence by expanding their websites and weekly real estate blogging. However, those wanting to secure listings now can also find great results with simple landing pages which are fed by article marketing, press releases and ads on third party websites that already have established traffic.
Where are the motivated sellers hiding? How can real estate agents connect with more of them, and convert them into listings?
Motivated sellers continue to be considered the most desirable types of real estate leads for most agents. They are already mentally ready to sell, need help, and can be far easier to facilitate deals with than those just wondering if they can get a lofty sum for their homes.
So where are the motivated sellers in your market, and how do you win their business?
Institutional Sellers
Banks, credit unions, and mortgage servicers still have billions of dollars in distressed property and non-performing loans on the books that they need to sell. According to data compiler RealtyTrac at the beginning of 2015 foreclosure rates remained at 1 in every 1,153 housing units. While the media has painted a picture of diving defaults, RealtyTrac claims 1 in every 286 properties in New Jersey are in foreclosure, and that nationally pre-foreclosures rose by over 24% year over year to December 2014. Some institutions have established channels for moving this inventory, others still need professional help.
HUD Homes
There are still thousands of HUD homes coming online for auction. This is one of the largest and most motivated sellers on the planet. Getting approved as a HUD broker means Realtors can help home buyers and investors bid on large amounts of well-priced inventory and get paid.
Relocating Professionals
As the US economy continues to shift, corporations move, and new job markets take off, corporations are increasingly having to help workers and new recruits move. Today this still means often having to pitch in for moving costs and sometimes picking up the slack when truly needed talent is stuck in underwater homes or slow moving real estate markets. They could use a Realtor partner to help them trim their losses, and may have volumes of business to give.
Professional Referrals
Distressed property owners definitely have their guard up today. They are bombarded by direct mail, cold calls, and more. This makes it hard to help them, even when they desperately need it, and no matter how superior your service really is. A referral totally turns this around. It’s no long you selling them or yourself; it is another trusted professional saying “here is the person you can trust and who is best equipped to help you.” That makes for easy slam dunks. The key is in winning by creating strategic alliances with attorneys, mortgage brokers, title companies, and contractors.
Drive-By
All serious Realtors ought to be driving their ‘farm’ areas every week. This is one of the best ways to spot motivated sellers in distress. The symptoms include tenants moving out, landscaping being neglected, code enforcement violations, debt collectors at the door, and FSBO signs.
Real Estate Investors
Real estate investors and agents don’t always get along. They are often held back by the feud mentality, and believe they are at odds. This doesn’t have to be the case. Realtors can provide so much value to investors. And active investors can bring dozens of deals and leads each month. Extend and olive branch and make it clear you are an investor friendly agent.
Facebook
While it is often the number one social network everyone loves to hate, there is still no denying that it is the biggest. Facebook has become so embedded in daily life most people couldn’t fathom ever unplugging. Some of the best ways to use Facebook in the real estate business are Facebook ads and PPC. However, it’s no secret that this has become more expensive in the last couple of years. While the social giant keeps on stripping out low cost marketing potential, there is still opportunity to leverage personal accounts to build relationships and drive web traffic to your real estate website.
Yard Signs
The National Association of Realtors reports that despite the rise of technology, yard signs have continued to be the second most used way of searching for a home, with 51% of buyers leveraging them. Remember many buyers are also sellers, and sellers will use the contact information on them to get a better idea of what their own homes are worth. Leverage this and use capture technology and follow up with automated text messaging, or funnel them right to your landing pages via their tablets and smartphones.
Print Ads
Print will make a significant come back as real estate markets get even busier. However, right now may be the right time to negotiate a great deal and get ahead of the crowd. Integrating technology print can still be used to seamlessly drive motivated sellers online, to your website, landing pages, social media profiles, or even initial live phone calls or video support.
Ultimately there is no question that there are still masses of motivated sellers and properties needing to be sold quickly out there. Weaving offline advertising and tech tools together real estate agents can serve these sellers better than ever before and create endless win-win solutions.
