Category: Management

You’re Welcome, Realtor.com

NAR has a big ad campaign running right now touting REALTOR.com as the most accurate consumer website for housing information. They make the valid point that the big national listing aggregators (i.e. Zillow and Trulia) are, by comparison, less up-to-date and less accurate than their site. They are spending millions to get that message out. Here:

It’s a message we got, oh, more than a year ago.

Remember the big flap about listing syndication that flared up in January, 2012? There was a very vocal broker ripping his listings out of syndication to Zillow and Trulia because they did not aggressively steer consumers to the source of listing information (the listing agent). A few others followed.

We talked about it long and hard here in the SFB and decided that such a posture was self-destructive. Zillow and Trulia are where the buyers ARE. That’s just reality and it isn’t going to change any time soon. A smarter strategy is to find ways to exploit the power of these portals (by opting into their premium agent program and becoming active in garnering reviews and interacting with their network) and regard them for what they are: lead generating machines.

We also talked about how to take leads generated by the big listing aggregators and get them to drop those websites in favor of our own. In those posts we suggested the following verbiage (or something similar) when talking with consumers about this:

Agent: How long have you been looking?

Buyer: Oh, a few weeks, I guess.

Agent: You found me on Zillow, is that how you’ve doing your searches?

Buyer: Yes.

Agent: It is very easy to use, I know. . . but have you noticed how many homes on there are not really for sale?

Buyer: Well, now that you mention it . . .

Agent: They have a real challenge there; it’s because they’re trying to do a local job on a world-wide platform. They get housing information from so many sources it even confuses them! Listen, how about letting me give you access to the local MLS – without all the data from Boston and St. Louis and Puerto Rico gumming up the works! You’ll have the most accurate and best information on houses for sale today in this market.

Buyer: You can do that?

Agent: Sure. I just need an email address and phone number and I can set you up with a buyer’s account on my website. You can search to your heart’s content, save listings, even set up email alerts when new properties that meet your needs come on the market. Plus, any time you have a question or want to see something, I’m just a click away.

Buyer: Sounds pretty good.

REALTOR.com’s new multi-million dollar ad campaign makes the same point: that the aggregators’ data is flawed and that theirs is better.

I am not so arrogant that I believe our discussion here on the Set Fee Blog over a year ago had anything to do with REALTOR.com’s marketing company coming up with that strategy. Anybody who really looks at the aggregators, how they get their data, how they weigh each data source, and what the end result is, would see the flaw in their platforms, and recognize the superiority of a local broker’s IDX feed. But, just as in December, 2011, when we predicted a housing shortage a year before it arrived, we were also way ahead of the curve when it came to syndication strategies.

So what do we do with the REALTOR.com marketing campaign? Yawn. Nothing. It’s pretty irrelevant. My guess is it won’t impact consumers one iota. It ignores the one great underlying truth about consumers searching for houses online: they really don’t want to connect with a real estate salesperson. That’s why they go to Zillow: they perceive it to be one step removed from REALTOR self-promotion.

If there is something to DO, it is this: continue to remind the consumers who contact you, with whom you develop a personal rapport, that your data is THE MOST accurate and THE MOST local. Home search is, above all, a LOCAL activity. Everyone looking for a home is looking for a home somewhere. Your local MLS feed will always be better than any national aggregator, even REALTOR.com.

Earning the Right to Answer the Phone

150 years ago, I was working for a great broker. Brilliant man. I learned so much.

Anyway, like most great brokers, he had an extraordinary office manager. She knew the business like the back of her hand, had all of the systems organized and functioning. She was almost devoid of personality, but that wasn’t part of the job.

In those days, buyer inquiries always came in via telephone (today they are as apt to come in via email or internet). My broker did a very smart thing: he put the office manager’s desk in the same space as the ‘Up’ desk.

Oh, you remember the ‘Up’ desk, don’t you? That’s where an agent, on ‘Floor Time’ sat to take incoming calls. I know, I know: today there’s no such thing. Agent’s who are on duty are usually out in the field or at home, taking calls that are forwarded to them. In really good offices, incoming calls (and web inquiries) are handled by a specialist whose whole job is to capture contact information on the buyer lead. Nonetheless, the tale I am about to tell still has implications even in today’s real estate universe.

So, I had just joined the office. I’d been in the business for several years and was considered a seasoned professional. I supposedly knew what I was doing. My first Floor Duty day came around and I took my seat at the Up Desk, right next to . . . Godzilla the office manager. I tried to strike up a conversation but her monosyllabic answers to my questions and seeming refusal to lift her gaze from the paperwork on her desk told me loud and clear to leave her alone.

The phone rang. It was a buyer wanting information about one of the office listings. I cheerfully gave it to them, they thanked me and hung up. Godzilla almost came unglued! She didn’t raise her voice, but like most mothers, she knew how to strike terror with a low monotone. ‘What the hell was that?’ she growled.

What followed was a refresher course on my role at the UP Desk, what the broker was spending to produce the phone call that I just blew, and how I’d better handle the next call. When the phone rang again, I was actually nervous. I knew she was listening and was afraid I might say the wrong thing . . . which I did. What followed was another instructive butt chewing. And another. And another. By the end of the day I was a wreck.

I slumped back to the Bull Pen (that’s what we called the large open area where the agents’ desks were located) and collapsed in my chair. There was a handful of old timers chatting at the back of the room – some of the top agents in the office. I felt so awful. And though I didn’t want anyone to know how badly I had failed, I needed reassurance, and turned around. ‘Does Godzilla really hate me? Or is she just . . . a b***h?’ I asked.

Instantly, the little crowd burst into laughter. Turns out they’d all felt the same way when they were new. And while Godzilla was still chilly to, well, everyone, there was a little appreciation from her towards those who got better under her tutelage. One of the agents – I believe she was number two in the office in production – insisted that I work with her to perfect my phone dialogues. She sat with me for half an hour a day for a week and role played inquiries. At the same time, I had regular hot seat sessions with Godzilla.

Within a week I was damn good on the phone. I was able to communicate value and charm when the phone rang and it was rare that I didn’t get contact information. I got so good that one day, as I hung up the phone and completed my notes on yet another secured lead, Godzilla (without ever raising her head from her work) mumbled, ‘You silver tongued devil!’ It was the best compliment I ever got from her.

Here’s the point: as a broker, you are spending major bucks to cause inquiries to come into your office. Whether you have one person handling the calls or they are handled on a rotation basis among the agents, you must take control of that process. You must start to track the effectiveness of the people responding to inquiries in getting contact information and you must start to ‘listen in’ so you know where the problems are.

I’ve said this before, but as a business consultant to real estate companies, I can almost always increase the office bottom line significantly, simply by working with the incoming lead handling and dialogues. Really. It’s absolutely the arena in a real estate office, where marketing meets sales. The whole game is either won or lost on how well we convert inquiries into leads (with contact information).

You, or someone you designate, needs to take on the role of Godzilla, running quality control and constant training on how your team interacts with the public. Oh, you don’t have to be as icy as Godzilla . . . though I have to tell you: once I realized how vital her tough love was to the success of the office and to each of us individually, I came to really appreciate her. Everyone did.

Understand this: nobody in your office really cares how much it costs you to create an inquiry. Left to their own devices they will usually create rationales for their own shortcomings, putting the blame outside themselves. This ‘arena’ is one you have to manage. You have to create the procedures, the tools and the scripts; then you have to install them into the psyche of everyone on staff; and finally, you have to inspect, inspect, inspect . . . and hold people accountable. It’s the only way inquiry conversion ever improves.

Do You Really Need A SmartPhone?

(2 months after I wrote this post, I re-read it and realized it was not as clear as it probably should be.  Please read on if you are inclined, but I believe I did a better job with the subject HERE.)

Most of us understand so little about wireless technology (and billing) that, when it comes to our phones, we simply buy what’s hyped. We are walking around with our IPhones and Androids with unlimited calling, messaging and data, and really have no idea what that means other than it costs between $100 and $150 a month. Let’s demystify it, ok?

First, almost all phones, Smart and Un-smart, do two things: make calls and send/receive text messages. These two tasks occur over your carrier’s mobile network and may be billed per minute/number of texts or as a monthly allowance of a certain number of minutes/texts (which might be unlimited).

In addition, SmartPhones have the ability to access the Internet. To do so when you are out and about requires an additional ‘Data Plan’ from your carrier. Data plans are billed by a monthly allowance, like 1 GigaByte or 2 GB of data each month (or unlimited GB).

Today, tablets are very popular, especially with REALTORS – which makes sense: you need something to access the MLS when you are out on the road (and though your SmartPhone may do this, the screen is too small to be practical). Most carriers will let you share whatever Data Plan you have on your SmartPhone with your tablet for an additional charge. I just checked Verizon and the additional charge to share your data plan with your tablet is $10 a month. Mind you, this ‘sharing’ requires that you have a SmartPhone and a plan for it.

Now, here’s a wildcard when it comes to Data Plans. Your SmartPhone and tablet also can access the internet via wi-fi. For example, my home Internet provider is Cox and a wireless router sends the Cox wi-fi signal all over my house. I have my phone set to use wi-fi for data (or Internet access) whenever it is available. Why? Because as far as my phone bill is concerned, Internet use over wi-fi (not over the carrier’s data network) is free.

So, now let’s think about this. You need calling and messaging capabilities, no question. And if you are busy, you probably need an unlimited plan for them. That’s a given. But what about a Data Plan? How much are you actually using the Internet over your carrier’s data network (not over wi-fi)?

I just went to verizonwireless.com and found the link for ‘Analyze My Account.’ It let me look at my phone, text and data usage over the past six months. I have a plan that includes unlimited everything, so my bill is stable. When I looked at my data usage, however, I saw that I never reached 1 GB of data in a single month. Usually I hovered around half a GB. So my unlimited data plan is a little overkill, right? Right. Now, mind you, I don’t use my phone for MLS access and you probably do. That’s why you need to go to your carrier’s website and do the analysis for yourself (by the way, if you need the help, most carriers’ customer service reps will do the analysis for you over the phone).

If, like me, you discover that you are consistently using less data than you are paying for, it might be wise to change your plan to something less expensive.

And maybe you don’t need a data plan on your phone at all. Maybe you need a data plan for your tablet so you can get to the MLS anytime, anywhere. But maybe your phone only needs calling and texting capabilities.

And, just maybe you’d be wise to ditch your current small phone and big tablet and get one of the new hybrid devices, like the Samsung Note, which is, essentially, a SmartPhone with a larger screen so that you have just one device for phone/text/MLS/data instead of two.

My data usage is so low I have to ask myself, ‘Where are you using data? What for?’ On most SmartPhones, in the ‘Settings’ area, there is a button for ‘Usage’ that will show you what tasks are using the most data on your phone. For me, by far the biggest user was the Google Play Store which automatically updates the apps on my phone, most of which I don’t use. Then came Google Services – things like Internet search and Navigation, and then Facebook. And Finally, email. Take a look at that and then ask yourself: ‘Do I really need this stuff?’

Actually, a better question might be: ‘Do I really need this stuff ALL THE TIME?’ Because, if you knocked out your data plan all together, all of those items would still work over wi-fi for free! When I look at what I’m using Data for, the only thing that I probably wouldn’t be happy running only when I’m on a free wi-fi network is . . . Navigation. That’s a nice thing. But I do remember getting along fine without it not too long ago.

But consider, for example, Facebook. Do I really need to see what my ‘friends’ are ‘liking,’ instantly, in real time? Wouldn’t a morning and/or evening check-in from my home computer connected to my wi-fi network be satisfactory? Or even BETTER? Hmmmm.

I started thinking about this in January and February of this year when I was in Mexico. We all know that US wireless carrier networks are very expensive when used across the border: you really don’t want to do it. In fact, a lot of people who plan to be in another country for an extended period turn off their American cell phons entirely and purchase prepaid phones in the country they are visiting. Instead, I simply turned off the mobile network on my phone – my access to Verizon’s phone network, and also turned off Data Roaming – access to Verizon’s data network. My SmartPhone became a wi-fi only phone – which was free to operate.

Interestingly, even though access to Verizon’s networks was off, I could STILL receive and send text messages. Each text sent or received carried a small additional charge – like fifty cents or something – but it was an acceptable way to be somewhat available to folks back home. I changed my voice mail greeting to instruct people NOT to leave a message but to hang up and text me. Then, I’d call them back when I had access to a free wi-fi network using Skype to make the call. Skype, by definition, works over the Internet and doesn’t require your cell carrier’s network to function. I had to upgrade from a free Skype account to one that costs about $3 a month to do this from Mexico. (Caution: most cell carriers still charge you to make calls via Skype if you’re phone is connected to their network at the time of the call).

So with that anecdote and the preceding information, you hopefully have a better understanding of your phone, how it works, what you need and what it costs. Now, how about what’s next . . .

Like PCs and Operating Systems, SmartPhones are now so sophisticated and so fine tuned that the Next Big Thing is apt to be a bit of a yawner. Just as PC users are shrugging off the impulse to invest in new hardware and a Windows 8 Operating System, so too will SmartPhone users begin to resist the impulse to jump at the latest and greatest on their ‘Upgrade Date.’ Let’s pause for a moment to de-mystify that. Your cell carrier contract has a term, probably two years. Your ‘Upgrade Date’ is usually a few months prior to the expiration of your contract. When you take advantage of the Upgrade you have to renew your contract for another two years (or whatever the term is). That’s how your carrier keeps you. My guess is that pretty soon the ‘Upgrade’ won’t be that different from what you have in your pocket, and many of the new features will be things you won’t use. It will become easier to resist the urge to ‘Upgrade.’

I’m looking forward to my Verizon contract running out in January – and I won’t ‘Upgrade.’ I already have an HTC Rezound which is about as close to top of the line as you can get today. When my contract is up, however, I’m going to buy an unlocked Google Nexus 4 phone directly from Google for about $250. Then I’ll gravitate to whichever pay-as-you-go plan seems best at the moment: TMobile, Boost, Virgin, whichever. Don’t get me wrong: I love Verizon. Their coverage is the best and I’ve never had anything but remarkably good customer service from them. But continuing as I have for, oh, the past ten years means being held hostage by a contract and overpaying for services, many of which I don’t use. What about you?

Mistakes Real Estate Agents Make

My last post was all about brokers – Help-U-Sell Brokers in particular. This one is different not just because it’s about agents, but because it’s about ALL real estate agents.

Real estate agents are . . . what? En Mass, they are overpaid, unproductive, ineffective and blah blah blah. But that’s not the whole story. The good ones are really good. They are worth their weight in real estate paperwork. In fact, good real estate agents are heroes. Trouble is, there’s just not that many of them out there. Most are mediocre at best, hoping to make quick and easy money selling a very expensive commodity.

So how do you tell if your agent is good or mediocre? Start with production. The average agent in America today does about 7 deals a year. That’s hideous. Not just for the agent, who on average will make about $34,000 on that kind of production, but also for the consumer who gets stuck with an agent who does so little he/she can’t possibly be as sharp or up to date on the business – and particularly on how to solve transaction problems – as someone doing, say, twice as many deals. So ask your potential agent: ‘How many deals did you do last year?’ You should hear something in double digits and ideally, the first one should probably be a 2 or better. But don’t fool yourself into thinking the one with the largest number of deals done in the previous year must be the best agent. Not always true. In fact, not usually true. You’re looking for the one who not only has decent production, but has clients raving about their buying or selling experience. Ask to see testimonial letters – the good guys have tons of them – or do what you’d do if your were hiring an unfamiliar babysitter: ask for references . . . and then call them.

Ordinary real estate agents make money by securing clients – either buyers or sellers – and working with them to affect transactions. Agents work on behalf of Brokers. In most cases Agents can’t do anything without their Broker’s supervision and approval. When you list your home for sale, you may think you’re listing with Sally Agent, but you’re really listing with Bill Broker. Sally is just there on behalf of Bill. Commissions are paid to the Broker, who then splits the commission with the agent (there are exceptions to this compensation scheme, but they are rare).

Ok, so there are three paragraphs of consumer education about real estate agents. Now let’s get on to the mistakes agents make.

#1 – Thinking that their commission split is the most important factor in their decision to affiliate with one broker over another. You know those ‘average’ agents doing 7 deals a year? In many markets around the country they can command 70% of the commission dollars coming into the broker. Sometimes even more. Many agents simply shop and negotiate with brokers until they find one who will pay them the highest split . . . so they can make the most money on the 7 transactions they will do each year. It’s as if the high commission split affirms them as successful and desirable as real estate agents, somehow blotting out the fact they they do only 7 deals a year. What they don’t seem to understand is that a broker who will pay them big splits on lousy production will probably bring NOTHING to the table to help them build and develop their businesses. A broker who gives 7 out of every 10 dollars away before he/she even begins to pay the bills isn’t going to have money for marketing, for support staff, for lead generation . . . for anything except the legal ‘blessing’ of the agent’s transactions.

It doesn’t have to be that way. In truth, the relationship between broker and agent can be very powerful. If the broker is really IN the real estate business, s/he attacks the local market strategically. S/he studies it daily, schemes and plots, builds and pays for a comprehensive marketing program that produces leads, leads, leads. The broker builds an operation so powerful that s/he needs help to handle all of the business it has created! That’s where agents come in. They are the ‘help,’ the ones who take all of the business the broker has created and turn it into sales. Wonderful! But, a broker who is taking responsibility for marketing, for generating leads, for expansion and business development cannot afford to pay huge splits even to good agents. And S/he can’t afford to keep the 7 deal a year crowd around either: they blow many more leads than they close! So the agent who works for such a broker probably has a lower split: 50% – 60%, but has the benefit of a steady stream of business created by the broker. That’s a value for value relationship; everyone wins. The broker keeps enough commission on each deal to make a profit and the agent does far more production and makes much more money, too!

Look. My dad got licensed to sell real estate in 1967. He went to work for Ted Tamminga, a local broker who had placed an ad for ‘Help’ in the newspaper. Ted had been in business for 30 years and was a fixture in the community. His connections and his marketing produced dozens of leads every week, leads he was too busy to handle. He was missing opportunities because he was maxed out. So, my dad went to work for him to handle the overflow. Ted threw him the crumbs, the buyers with problems, the sellers with unrealistic expectations; and he paid my dad 50%. Dad worked for Ted for 4 years, I think; and by that time he had his own client base (all of those leads Ted had fed him), and he opened his own shop. Ted was delighted with the help and wished him well . . . and placed another ad in the newspaper.

Now THAT’s a broker/agent relationship that makes sense, don’t you think? A little like the master/apprentice relationship in the olde days. My dad built a client base on Ted’s lead generation effectiveness and had the benefit of 30 years of experience as he learned how to run a successful real estate company. That’s worth far more than the measly 20 percentage points more he might have made in commission split paid by a broker on life-support in 2013!

Agents, when you shop companies, it’s not about split. Split is almost irrelevant. It’s about the Broker: what business is s/he in? Is s/he in the recruiting business? Constantly chasing and hiring ever more agents (and watching the failures sulk out the back door)? Is s/he in the training business, spending most of his/her time working with the non-productive agents on staff in hopes of magically making them into super stars (and ignoring the truly productive people)? You want a broker in the real estate business, one driven to achieve ever increasing market share in a clearly defined target market (that coincides with your own). One who masters in marketing, studies it, tracks it, plans it, executes it and tweaks it. One who believes job one is lead generation. (Why lead generation? Because it is leads that will serve his listed sellers the best).

If you can find one of those, you don’t even have to ask what the split is. It doesn’t matter. You’re going to make more, do more transactions, and have a heck of a lot of fun in the process!

#2 – Getting caught up in the real estate ‘cycle.’ Many agents wake up and realize they have no business; so they do what they should: prospect, prospect prospect . . . which leads to a few listings . . . which take time energy and effort, especially when the offers come in. The prospecting stops because the agent is too busy with listings and offers. And then s/he is too busy processing the ensuing transactions to prospect for new business, until all the transactions close and then . . . YIKES! they have to start all over. Their production (and their income) looks like a mountain range: peak – valley – peak – valley. The answer is systems. Prospecting is neither mysterious nor magical. It’s just an activity, a routine, repeatable process. It can become a system that runs almost on auto pilot, but for that happen it must be given sacred space: time that is scheduled, set aside and inviolable on the daily calendar. It must continue even when all hell is breaking lose in other aspects of the business. Taking care of listings, presenting offers and shepherding transactions to closing must also continue every day no matter what. And, hopefully, you’re seeing the impossibility of all this ‘continuing.’ Unless the agent is willing to hire and develop help to get it all done, to take on servicing, buyers, transaction processing, etc., s/he will be limited in the number of transactions s/he can do.

But, once again: it doesn’t have to be that way.

There are rare brokers who take the burden of lead generation off the agent’s shoulders, who do the prospecting for listings and who have systems in place for servicing and transaction processing. Agents in these special offices simply take the buyer leads the office has generated and turn them into pending sales – which are handed off to the processing entity. The lucky agent then goes back and gets another office generated buyer lead and repeats the process. It’s a heavenly, non-cyclical real estate existence!

#3 – Believing their office is one big happy family. Uh-huh. In ordinary real estate offices, it’s every man (and/or woman) for himself. With leads in short supply, and everyone competing for the same customer . . . well, don’t leave your new buyer’s phone number laying around on your desk, ok? Let’s reality test that ‘one big happy family’ idea. How many licensed agents are in your local Board of REALTORS? Got the number? Great. Now, how many transactions were done in your local Board/MLS last year? Got it? Ok. Now, divide the number of transactions by the number of licensees. You’ll probably get a number like 5 or 6. That’s how many transactions each agent would do if the leads were distributed equally. WAKE UP! There is not enough business to support all the people trying to make a living in real estate, not in your Board, not in your MLS, and not in your office! Your ‘happy family’ is probably more like ‘Cutthroat Island’ (by the way: that’s a great movie!). Only in offices where the broker takes responsibility for generating the leads and then takes ownership of them (assigning them to capable agents and holding those agents accountable) can this kind of gunslinger ethic be avoided.

#4 – Thinking that if they just keep doing what they did last year and the year before, they’ll do better this year. That’s the definition of insanity, remember? Doing the same thing and expecting a different result! The problem is most agents are stuck in a dead and/or false paradigm. The picture of what their career should look like is in stark contradiction to reality. The only way out is to adopt a new paradigm . . . which is very hard for anyone to do in even the most favorable circumstances. Until the agent is willing to question every assumption they’ve made about their career: the function and value of a Broker, their own value in a transaction, what needs to be done to sell a listing and so on, only then can the old paradigm begin to crumble. And truth is: few are willing to be so bold, so brave.

It almost goes without saying (I mean: consider the source, right?), but the solution to all of this agent angst is Help-U-Sell. That idealized broker referred to above actually exists. S/he runs a Help-U-Sell office. S/he understands that job one is to generate leads, which are assigned to agents. Agents whose job description is focused and manageable. If you’re wondering why your real estate career sucks, why you never can seem to get ahead, why not do something different? Question your own attitudes about commission splits and lead generation and then go see a Help-U-Sell broker. It could be one of those life changing events.

Mistakes Real Estate Brokers Make

I’ve been away from Help-U-Sell for three months now. I am starting to see the forest, not so much the trees. It’s an interesting, uncluttered perspective. I found myself this morning thinking about some of the common mistakes Help-U-Sell Brokers make in their quest to dominate the (real estate) world. Here are a few that jump out at me:

Not adding help when it’s needed. Help-U-Sell brokers are very passionate about what they do. The mission of saving consumers money and changing the way real estate is sold is sometimes so precious that they have difficulty delegating parts of the job to others. But, without that delegation, there is a limit on how many consumers you can actually help. Staffing in a Help-U-Sell office is driven by one metric: overwhelm. That’s the trigger that it’s time for help, and it’s true regardless of whether we’re looking for admin help or sales help. If administrative tasks are keeping you from doing the marketing you need to do or from getting that new listing in a timely fashion, it’s time to hire an admin assistant. If you’re spending all of you time in the office because you’re bogged down processing transactions, it’s time to hire a transaction coordinator. If you’re losing buyer leads, not getting back to inquiries in time and so on, it’s time to look for buyers agents. We never recruit to build our businesses. We recruit to take care of the business we’ve already created. If you are overwhelmed, if you are dropping plates, try to identify the area that’s sapping your current resources and hire someone to free you up to do what you do best: meet the people.

Not doing a thorough market analysis before spending money on marketing. Our approach to marketing is very different than the one employed by ordinary brokers. We never spend a dime unless there is a reasonable chance for a return, and we never spend unless we can track the results. Predicting a reasonable return by gut or by listening to the salesperson is the way ordinary brokers do this. At Help-U-Sell we massage our neighborhood numbers until they are granular as the sand at the shore. We look at turnover rates, ratios of equity sellers to REOs/Short Sales, date of purchase and so on, and we look at it by Zip, by neighborhood and by carrier route. We target our marketing to the segments that are performing best in those key areas. But before we pull the trigger on marketing, we install a powerful inquiry/intake process that will result in lead capture when the marketing produces. I worked in ordinary real estate for decades before I came to Help-U-Sell, and I can tell you I never saw an ordinary broker approach marketing in this logical manner.

Cutting back on marketing or not marketing at all when cash is tight. Help-U-Sell is a powerful brand with powerful consumer recognition and acceptance. Many people know we sell real estate and save people money. Owning that identity in the minds of consumers is very powerful. It’s an enhancer, and makes every bit of marketing you do more effective. Unfortunately, if you don’t do something to keep your logo in front of consumers in the local marketplace every day, all of that power will evaporate. They’ll want to sell, they’ll want to save, but they won’t know you’re there! Visibility is job one in marketing, and it must be managed even in the leanest of markets.

Not plugging into the network. We are a dispersed group. We’re all over the country, and it’s rare that we have two offices within easy driving distance of one another. Most of our offices are like little islands of sanity in an ocean of real estate lunatics. It’s unfortunate, but sometimes, in moments of weakness, sane Help-U-Sell brokers become overwhelmed by the the babble of their ordinary competitors and (YIKES!) start to question their own program. Sometimes they even begin to tweak or flat out change what they’re doing because some six percenter did a good bashing job on them. There is one great remedy for this and it’s tapping into the network. We meet every Tuesday for tech issues and every Wednesday for general broker issues. The meetings are lively and crisp. I can think of no better way to plug in, stay focused and motivated than to attend theses meetings whenever you can. Hearing Richard Cricchio or Mark Dosik talk about what they are doing is golden. And how cool is it that YOU get to participate in the design of the next great website enhancement just by showing up to an occasional teleconference?

Looking at agents like an ordinary broker. Let me remind you of some differences . . . . The ordinary broker recruits agents to build his/her business. The Help-U-Sell broker builds his/her business through careful marketing and adds agents to help take care of the business that has been created. The ordinary broker expects his/her agents to do a journeyman’s job on every aspect of residential real estate: listing, selling, prospecting, processing, marketing and so on. The Help-U-Sell broker expects his agents to take the buyer leads the marketing program has created and convert them into happy customers. One of the reasons you can charge consumers LESS than ordinary brokers and still make MORE on your transactions than they do is that you don’t have a listing agent to pay. The broker (or his assistant) takes all listings. Listings belong to the office, not to an individual agent. Abundant listings produced by the low set fee offer produce a strong stream of buyer leads – leads created by the office and owned by the office and assigned to agents. It’s a very different perspective!

Back to basics:

1. We go into the market with a superior offer for home sellers: Sell fast, save thousands with our Low Set Fee pricing.

2. We carefully target where we spend resources establishing our message based on where we are most likely to get a return.

3. We are absolutely deadly on buyer inquiries. We practice, practice, perfect, and fine tune how we respond, how we communicate value and competence quickly, and we convert more of our hard earned leads than anyone else.

4. We hire agents to take care of the business we’ve created. It’s a great, focused, fun job, that’s not for most agents. That’s why we monitor our agent’s performance and sometime de-hire or replace those who don’t seem able to convert the leads they are given.

(If you want to know how to go back to basics in greater detail, HERE is a series of 10 posts that will show you how to rule the real estate world)

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