Month: December 2009

Message in a Bottle

I spent a week around Christmas this year in Costa Rica.  It was a wonderful trip, full of volcanoes and white water rapids, jungles, waterfalls and indigenous people.  One morning, I was walking on the black sand beach just north of Puerto Viejo and came across a green bottle, rolling up on the shore with each incoming wave and then rolling back.  I noticed it was stoppered with a sturdy cork when I picked it up . . . and then I saw the paper inside. 

I had come across a true message in a bottle! 

I sat down on a log and pulled the cork, but the paper had unrolled to the point that it would not make its way down the bottle’s neck and out into my waiting hand.  I glanced around and spotted a medium sized rock in the sand.  Walking over then shielding my eyes I smashed the bottle down on the rock and it exploded – leaving the rolled paper under a sparkling green cover of broken glass. 

Nearly trembling with anticipation, I extracted the little scroll and unrolled it between my two hands. 

I gasped. 

There, centered at the top of the page, in glorious red, was . . . a Help-U-Sell Logo.  Was this a coincidence?  Or was someone playing some kind of joke on me?  I looked around for the hidden cameras, for the crew that would jump out declaring I had been ‘punked’ – but no one was there.  I returned to the page and began to read what was written there beneath the logo. 

I do not know who wrote this piece or even when – it was neither signed nor dated.   I do know that it appears to be a set of New Year’s Resolutions for a Help-U-Sell Broker somewhere.  I think there is some wisdom here and wanted to reproduce it for you, word for word, as I found it.  Perhaps you will find an idea or two to incorporate in your own set of goals for 2010.  Enjoy:

This year, I will update my market analysis in January, May and September.  I will pay attention to the mix of Short Sale, REO and Equity Seller transactions.  I will use the information I glean to focus and plan my activities in the coming months

I will create an affordable marketing plan that accomplishes four things: 

  • Keeps me visible in the marketplace
  • Generates new leads into my business
  • Enables me to take care of opportunities like FSBOS, and Expired Listings
  • Keeps me in meaningful contact with my client base

I will track every inquiry, getting as much contact information as possible and noting the source of the lead and its disposition through the real estate process.

I will evaluate my marketing by comparing the number of leads and dollars generated by each piece of advertising I do.  I will revise my marketing plan to maximize the return I get on every dollar I invest.

This year I think I’ll buy a cute car – a bug or a cube or something like that – and have it wrapped.  I’ll drive it, of course, but mostly I’ll just park it where it can be seen by the largest number of people in my marketplace.

This year, my minimum listing inventory is 20.  Pendings don’t count.

I will work at least one expired listing every day.

I will have 3 FSBOS working at all times.

This year I will take no listing priced more than 5% above market value.

This year I want at least 50% of my closed sides to come from buyers.  To facilitate this I will:

  • Learn as much about finance as my mortgage rep knows (check out www.realfinancesolutions.com)
  • Sit down and learn how Jack Bailey creates a ‘Real Estate Plan’ for his buyer prospects and how he uses it to cement their loyalty and referral business
  • Become lethal on the telephone.  If they contact me, they won’t hang up without my getting contact information and permission to call them back.
  • I will use Listingbook with all of my buyer prospects.  I will also spend a few hours in January learning the full range of Listingbook capabilities.

Right after the first of the year, I will contact my Sphere of Influence, Centers of Influence, Past Customers and Clients with news about the new tax credit.

In April I will contact them again with information about Homestead Exemptions, Mortgage Interest deductions, market trends and local market activity.

I will write and mail at least 3 personal notes every day.

I will plan each business day the night before.  I will note problems, challenges and primary objectives for each coming day.  I will allow myself to ‘sleep on it’ overnight so that I am focused and purposeful the moment I get out of bed in the morning. 

I will remind myself that real estate emergencies are rare and will carefully weigh alternatives before abandoning my plan to wrestle with the crisis of the moment.

I will spend at least 30 minutes each day (but no more than an hour) building my online presence in the following ways:

  • Taking advantage of my free Help-U-Sell Broker website as soon as it is available and learning how to personalize and customize it in the OMS.  I will make regular content updates throughout the year to maximize its attractiveness to search engines. 
  • I will set up my professional Facebook page, join various real estate related groups and invite my CI’s and SOI’s to become ‘friends.’  I will keep my posts friendly, short and always professional.
  • I will visit Trulia, Zillow, Activerain and other real estate related websites and participate in forums, Q&A and blogging. 
  • I will attend ‘Tech Tuesday’ webinars whenever possible to learn as much as I can about how to take advantage of the power of the Internet.

I will Plug In to Help-U-Sell.  I will not be an island.  I will participate in the Wednesday Broker Roundtable calls whenever possible.  I will also attend Thrusday training when I can.  I will call my peers and my corporate reps regularly.  I will investigate the coaching program and will become involved.

Assuming my plan produces the activity I expect, I will begin to look for a buyer’s agent in the first quarter.  I will contact new licensees and look for a good candidate there.  I will also target agents in their first year with my competitors, ones who may be disillusioned and therefore open to the Help-U-Sell opportunity.  I will not worry about the many seasoned agents who, alas, are likely already spoiled by the ordinary real estate world. 

In January, I will create a detailed list of all the reasons why an agent would be attracted to Help-U-Sell.  I will continuously expand, revise and study the list.

I will get a minimum of 30 minutes aerobic exercise – for me that means walking or biking — three times a week.

I will practice portion control when eating (I will start to regard Doggie Bags as chic).

I will snack between every meal:  on fruit, cheese, a few nuts and raw vegetables.

I will sleep soundly for seven hours every night.

I will remember to smile and laugh – especially at myself. 

And I will have faith that everything is improving and that I am poised and ready no matter what comes down the pike. 

I will be proud. 

 

I Am Help-U-Sell

I am Help-U-Sell.

I am grateful for a business model that generates a profit while saving sellers money

I am grateful for market data that enables me to make logical, structured marketing decisions

I am grateful for premeditated marketing that maximizes results

I am grateful for leads management that enables me to know when marketing produces results, where I need to work harder to convert leads, and who on my staff is performing well

I am Help-U-Sell

I am grateful for ‘Sold and Saved’ properties that tell the world that I am here, people use my service, and it works

I am also grateful for testimonials that say the same thing

I am grateful for my own special color:  Red, and for the signs that are recognizable a block away

I am grateful for car wraps

I am Help-U-Sell

I am grateful that I produce so many buyer leads that I need help to manage them all!

I am grateful that I can provide a place for a good agent to sell more real estate than they ever dreamed possible

I am grateful that I don’t need a huge retail space and dozens of desks to run my business

I am grateful that I am so feared by my competitors that they spread false rumors about me

I am Help-U-Sell

And I am IN the real estate business, not the recruiting business

I am Help-U-Sell and I live and die by the quality of the work I do for buyers and sellers and by the money I save them

I am Help-U-Sell, and I am grateful for the opportunity

I know that the system works and I am grateful to work the system

I am Help-U-Sell and even in the darkest hour I am optimistic about the future

I am Help-U-Sell and I will always find a way

I am Help-U-Sell and you can’t kill me

No matter what the turmoil, the chaos the bad decisions and broken promises, you can’t destroy me

I have a life of my own and I am bigger than any of the dogs that nip at my hem

I am Help-U-Sell.

I am well.

And I am ready for 2010.

Bring it on. 

 

 

The Help-U-Sell Consumer Offering

Remember Denzel Washington in ‘Philadelphia?’  He played the no-nonsense attorney that finally takes Tom Hanks’ case.  Several times in the movie, he stops the person speaking to him and says, ‘Talk to me like I was a five year old.’  It was a plea to be spoken to plainly and clearly so that there would be no misunderstanding.  If you’ll indulge me for a few minutes, I’d like to speak to all of us as if we were five year olds about the most basic of concepts:  The Help-U-Sell Consumer offering. 

The Seller offer is pretty easy.  By easy, I mean I think most grasp it pretty well.  It is:  We charge a set fee for our services which is not only logical, but can also save thousands over what an ordinary broker would charge.  Our set fee is comparatively low for a number of reasons but mostly because we market efficiently* and because we let the seller handle some of the less complicated parts of the process. 

We get all hung up about that last bit.  Somehow the whole Full-Service vs. Limited Service vs Discounter debate trickles in and next thing you know, Help-U-Sell brokers are holding open houses and handling the showings and filling the flyer box.  If you factor all of that into the low set fee, you may be working for $5 an hour when it’s all said and done.  (By the way, I’m all for you holding an open house to find buyers, just as long as you’re not the only one doing it!)

Remember how Don Taylor created this thing.  He meticulously kept track of his activities and paid attention to which ones produced the highest payoff and which could easily be handled by others.  Clerical and admin stuff was assigned to assistants who were paid a reasonable hourly rate.   He realized that some of the things ordinary agents did were probably better handled by the seller and, if taken out of the broker’s job jar, could free him to spend more time on high pay-off activities.  Seller participation was born and suddenly it made sense that the fee was low:  it was a trade off. 

Today, the seller’s phone number has disappeared from the sign.  We’ve grown stingy with those buyer calls and want to field them ourselves.  But seller participation is still key to making this system work.  It allows you to hold dozens of houses open on a Sunday (Instead of just one), allows you to multiply the number of directional signs leading to all of those open houses and frees you from the very basic tasks of opening the door, showing the house, etc. 

As far as limited-service, full-service and discount-service goes, that’s just your competitors talking.  The Consumer doesn’t care, really, as long as the value is there.  And Help-U-Sell is the Best Value in Real Estate. 

We’ve always struggled with the consumer offering on the buyers’ side.  We tried rebates for awhile, but truly, they don’t fit with the logic of Help-U-Sell.  If all you’re doing is giving the buyer $$$ back out of your commission without a specific consumer offer to go along with it, you’re just saying that your commission is too high.  Like the Seller offering, the buyer should save money for a reason, a corresponding action on his part that enables you to rebate some of the cash. 

Here’s what I’m thinking:  Consumers have changed.  They want to do their own research.  They don’t want to sit in the back of your car weekend after weekend looking at houses.  They want access to good information that’s easy to use and they want someone available when they have questions or need a door opened.  I think that might be the basis of an offer.  It might go like this:

“I’m different.  Unlike an ordinary broker who’s going to want to drag you around to house after house after house, who’s going to want to be your only source of information and who’s going to hound you until you buy, I’m going to partner with you in the process.  I’m going to show you how to use the best tools available so that you can do a lot of searching on your own.  Oh, I’m going to be searching too, just in case you miss something, but you’ll have all the time you need to look at what’s available and compare.  I’ll be in touch when I have something important to share and you can call me anytime you need information or have questions.  I invite you to drive by neighborhoods and homes you think you might like to help narrow the field.  All I’d ask is that you not go into any home without me.  I’ve found by helping my buyer clients do their own research – something most want to do today – they get more involved in the process and actually have fun doing it.  Any time you want to see something I’ll be there to take you.  Because you’re participating in the house hunting process, I’m able to rebate $$$ of my commission to you at closing.  It’s like we’re working as a team.  How’s that sound?” 

I believe the low set fee was always a value for value exchange:  the seller got a low set fee because they did some of the low pay-off activity typically done by brokers.  If we’re going to have a similar offer to buyers, it’s got to have a similar exchange, value for value. 

What do you think?

*By efficient marketing I mean that we don’t do what ordinary brokers and agents do.  In an ordinary office every agent is on his or her own.  They take a listing and they devise a marketing plan from scratch on it.  Every agent has a different marketing plan for every listing.  There is no coordination, no maximization of effort and usually no accountability for results.  In a Help-U-Sell office, the marketing is organized, orchestrated, coordinated and controlled by the broker.  He or she has made judicious decisions about where to market, how to market and which properties to feature so that every bit of marketing he or she does creates buyer leads for every listing held.  It’s efficient.  It’s why well run Help-U-Sell offices are lead generating machines.  And it’s something your prospective sellers can understand. 

The Internet Buyer Revealed

NAR has some interesting data in their research update today.  They looked at characteristics of buyers who use the Internet vs. buyers who don’t.  The data shows that  Internet buyers are younger and they make more money — I think we all knew that.  What jumped out at me was how much longer they spend looking for a home and how many more homes they tour before buying.  It’s back to what I’ve been carping about for ages:  You have to have a system to tie that Internet buyer to you, but allows them to do their searching on their own.  They have to recognize the value of working with you early in the search process and you have to deliver that value over and over again until they find the home they want to buy.  I’m almost embarrassed to say it because I’ve said it so many times you may start to think I’m on the payroll, but Listingbook absolutely does that, and it does it better than anything else I’ve seen.  If they are working with your MLS, you need to get involved today. 

Characteristics of Home Searchers and Search Activity by Use of the Internet

(percentage distribution)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source:  2009 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers

Plug In

As Help-U-Sell team members, we all have an obligation to plug in.  It’s on each of our shoulders to take advantage of opportunities to connect with each other, to share ideas and encouragement.  This isn’t always easy.  While there are a handful of metropolitan areas where ‘clumps’ of franchisees are located, many more of our offices are located miles from any other. 

We are our own culture.  We’re different than any other REALTOR in the marketplace.  We have our own values, our own bull’s-eyes, our own definition of success.  When you are all by yourself and you aren’t taking regular sips of the Help-U-Sell Kool Aid, it’s easy to let the messages of your competitors become your reality – and believe me:  if you’ve done your job well, they don’t like you.  When you reconnect with your Help-U-Sell peers, when you remember who you are, it’s like putting on the chain-mail armor and sharpening your sword for another day in the real estate jungle. 

In the interest of keeping ourselves and our culture healthy, here are a few recommendations for staying connected:

  1.  Take advantage of at least one of the national teleconferences held each week.  There are three:  Tech Tuesdays, Talk Wednesdays and Train Thursdays.  All of the meetings are held at 11am Pacific time, 2pm Eastern and each lasts an hour.  Robert Stevens shares the latest news about our growing web capabilities on Tuesdays and then usually opens the call up for questions and discussion.  Ron McCoy anchors the Wednesday Broker Roundtable call, which is one of my favorites.  It’s a time when Help-U-Sell brokers from across the country come together to share ideas, strategize and celebrate successes.  Maurine Grisso conducts training every Thursday and it is excellent, topical stuff.  Almost single handedly, she’s taught the entire organization how to survive and thrive in a Short Sale Market and how to go after REO business.  (You get reminders and login information about these meetings every week but if you can’t find them and want to join in, just call me or anyone at corporate.  We’ll be happy to send you the link)
  2. Any time there is a Help-U-Sell meeting within a couple hours of your location, get there.  It’s worth a day out of the office to recharge your batteries and reconnect.  And, by the way:  in most areas, discount air carriers make travelling a little further easy.  A $125 roundtrip plane ticket that gets you to the meeting in the morning, recharged and out again in the evening is well worth the expense.  (Get ready for the big Sarasota/Las Vegas meetings in March!)
  3. Pay attention!  I know:  we send you a lot of email and much of it looks and reads the same:  reminders of this and that.  Still, you owe it to yourself to read through your Help-U-Sell email.  It’s our primary communication tool and, by the way:  when we distribute website leads, that’s how we do it! 
  4. Join the Help-U-Sell Facebook page and those of your fellow brokers.  Once a day check in and see what’s going on and participate:  post and comment. 
  5. Read this set fee real estate blog and comment.  I promise to keep each post short enough to be read in 10 minutes or less and I promise to focus them on items of interest to Help-U-Sell family members.  Your comments keep the blog interactive and also provide great fodder for the search engines (that’s a whole topic unto itself – we’ll take it up soon). 
  6. Connect with Connect!  The Help-U-Sell Newsletter.  It comes out once a month and is the best way I know to stay up with what’s going on and where the current focus is.  John usually does a corporate update in video and in addition to the news, we also recognize top performers and people doing unusual or special things well. 
  7. Pick up the phone.  Call me. Call John Powell, Call Robert Stevens and Ron McCoy and Tami Patzer, call anyone at corporate and tell us what’s on your mind.  And don’t hesitate to ask if you don’t know:  everything’s new right now and there are no stupid questions.  Call your fellow brokers, too.  One of the powerful characteristics of the Help-U-Sell team is its willingness to share and brainstorm ideas and, honestly, the best ideas I’ve ever come across were those that bubbled up when two or more Help-U-Sell brokers got together. 
  8. Get involved in Coaching.  John started the coaching program last year and it’s been discovering itself a little every month.  As we head into 2010, the coaching program has become more solid and better defined.  I’ll give a detailed overview in an upcoming post. 

One of the reasons we all joined Help-U-Sell was to tap into something exciting, something we could believe in and be passionate about.  It’s very hard to maintain excitement, energy and passion if you are isolated on your own desert island.  Plug in. 

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