2

Resurrect Your Real Estate Blog: The Best Idea You’ll Ever Hear

Let me ask you a question: Got a blog yet?

Maybe you do. But it’s languishing. No hits. No comments. No subscribers. That’s a good indicator you’ve got a lackluster yawn-fest.

So, without even looking at your blog, I can guess what’s wrong with it. It’s one of three–if not all–of these factors:

1. You don’t care.

2. You’re not very good.

3. No one is listening.

And if you’ve been at real estate blogging for any time, you probably have said this to yourself more than once in the last 24 hours: “Why am I working so hard on this thing? What’s the deal?”

Again, without looking at your blog, I could probably tell you what’s wrong with it: It’s all about you.

If that’s the case, then you can kiss prospects, subscribers–and even clients–good bye. Bottom line: you build an audience, attract prospects and generate comments from consumer-focused content.

With that thought in mind, here’s one of the most brilliant ways to do that: Write short, meaningful posts about people in your community.

In essence, become a local journalist.

That means, every time you are in the car, on the phone or in a meeting with someone…find out something interesting about them. And then ask them if you can blog about them. Keep a notepad and build up a pool of stories.

Once you start posting these stories, email the person to let them know. Then naturally they tell all their friends and family. Pretty soon you’ll have a large swath of people eyeing your blog to see if they made it on there yet.

In fact, you do this good enough, and strangers will go out of their way to meet you, hoping you “interview” them.

Why is this effective? Because people like to see themselves in print. Let me explain.

I got this idea from the book Made to Stick, where Dan and Chris Heath tell the story of a city newspaper that had a readership rate over 100%.

Over 100%? That means people outside of the papers base read it. That’s incredible.

What’s the secret to their success? The editor summed it up in three words: names, names, names. He and his reporters focused on the people of the town–their dreams, ambitions, families, jobs, fears, desires, hopes and lives–not the events.

That means you should do the same. So…what are you waiting for? Get to work.

Did you find this article helpful? If so, leave a comment or subscribe to the real estate marketing blog.

Related Articles

How a Cocky, Obsessive CEO Can Make You a World Class Blogger

Social Media Matters: Selling Houses During Hard Times

The 3 Reasons You Don’t Convert Online Visitors to Leads

1

One of the Most Powerful Formulas for Writing Persuasive IVR Ads

You might have noticed: I’ve been on a interactive voice response kick lately.

Why? Mainly because I’m getting phenomenol feedback from clients who are kicking butt in a market that’s done nothing but chewed up real estate agents…and spit them out.

In the last year alone 40% of the agents I know have shuttered their businesses. And gone to work for someone else. Not quite the end to their dreams they’d hoped for.

What about you: Are you close to hanging up your real estate lisence? Deals collapsing all around you? Or not even materializing at all?

Has all your normal shoe-ins for leads dried up? If so, you’re not alone.

Yet a small pocket of agents using interactive voice response technology are having their best years.

What gives? Part of the secret involves the psychology of IVR: most people don’t want to talk to a salesperson but would love to simply listen to a message.

But there’s another part to the equation: How you craft your 800 number ads. Let me show just one way you can do it.

PAS Formula: Like Skimming Stunned Fish Off the Water Surface

Pain and problems dominate us–especially in this economy. Every day and every hour people are constantly looking for solutions to their pain and problems.

Because of this you can use the Pain-Agitate-Solve copywriting formula to stop people in their tracks, draw them closer, yearn for your answer…and beg for your solution.

Step 1: Point Out the Problem

This formula works especially well in short ads like 800 IVR numbers. For example, all you have to do to point out the problem is simply ask a question.

“Are Going to Lose Your Home?”

It’s that easy.

Step 2: Agitate the Problem

So, once you’ve pinpointed their pain, agitate the wound.

“With this sinking economy–and no hope of it turning around soon–you’re not alone. Yet, losing your home will cost you your equity and destroy your credit scrore”

Step 3: Solve the Problem

Now, once you’ve got them wincing, introduce them to the resource that will answer their problem or cure their pain.

“Fortunately, there’s an answer. It’s called short selling. Call me for details.”

Don’t forget the call to action. Always ask them to do something.

Conclusion

If you use this formula there’s a good chance your phone will go bezerk. Can’t promise that…but it’s happened before.

Naturally, you can work this with all sorts of scenarios. You could craft simple ads that’s asking for listing apointments. Or target renters and move up buyers.

In fact, the beauty behind IVR 800 numbers is that you can create multiple ads…and accurately track each one. And you don’t even need an IVR 800 number to use this formula. It works in any sales environment. Even face to face.

So, interested in crafting an that will take off like something from the launch pad of Cape Caniveral? Or simply inject some feisty juice into your current yawn fests? If so, then get to work.

Did you find this article useful? If so, leave a comment. And if you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.

Related Articles

Just 3 Steps to Good Leads in a Sluggish Market?

Sick of Failure? The Seven Natural Laws of Real Estate Prospecting

Try This Six Step Lead Generation Strategy for a Shaky Market

0

What Can George Orwell Teach You about Generating Leads in Sluggish Market?

George Orwell, the English author of 1984, Animal Farm and other classics, has six rules of writing.

You need to know this: These rules are all gems and can turn you into a ruthless copywriter. A killer blogger. A writer with dangerous copy chops.

But what do they have to do with generating leads? Simple. Use these rules when writing ads and you’ll create tight little advertisements that boost your conversion.

Combine it with one of the most powerful IVR ad formulas…and you’ll be unstoppable.

Here’s the deal: Once you read these rules, take the challenge below. You’ll definitely want to give it a try:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech that you are used to seeing in print.

2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.

3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

4. Never use the passive voice when you can use the active

5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday equivalent.

6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous!

What’d you think? Pretty simple, right? That’s the beauty of his advice. The cool thing is–it works. Want proof? Try this.

So here’s the challenge: Take any page from your website…any sales letter…any brochure…any long piece of copy you might have.

Have someone read it. Get their reaction. After they’ve read it, go rewrite the piece based on Orwell’s advice. Then give it back to that person.

And see what they think. Then come back here and tell me their response. I look forward to hearing from you!

Did you find this article useful? If so, leave a comment. And if you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.

Related Articles

Just 3 Steps to Good Leads in a Sluggish Market?

Sick of Failure? The Seven Natural Laws of Real Estate Prospecting

Try This Six Step Lead Generation Strategy for a Shaky Market

0

Just 3 Steps to Good Leads in a Sluggish Market?

Imagine: in less than 30 minutes you can map out a strategy to create good leads, convert more clients and sell more houses in the first quarter of a sluggish 2009 market.

What do you have to do? Use these three keys to successfully enticing prospects to take you up on any offer and call you:

1. Demand. It has to be information they want. (Seems obvious…but this is crucial.)

2. Interesting. It has to be interesting and attention-getting. No one takes action to check out something that’s boring.

3. Easy. Then finally, it has to be EASY for your prospect to request or receive this ‘Free Information.’ (This is where technology comes in.)

By using technology that reaches prospects first eliminates your competition. You get to prospects before your competition. Then, once you’ve reached the prospects, you can use a little clever psychology to compel those prospects to respond.

Powerful One-Two Punch

In the process of using this strategy two things happen. First, by reaching the prospect first, you gain a 3 out of 4 advantage over your competition automatically.

Then second, it completely eliminates any Do-Not-Call list issues. When a prospect calls you, you can call them back as many times as you like within the next 90 days, regardless of whether they’re on the national Do-Not-Call list or not.

What’s the Key to Delivering This One-Two Punch?

Answer: Shift all your marketing to a ‘Free Information’ offer. (This is the psychological part.)

More importantly you need a tool like interactive voice response technology to really pull it off. IVR is a tool that will allow you to never again wonder how to get all the leads you need (and get them in the least expensive way possible)

It will also help you track every penny spent on advertising…warm up your prospects before you even talk to them…and even allow you to make an immediate profit in less than 30 days.

Take This a Step Further

I lay out this total strategy in a newsletter called The Real Estate Insider. This newsletter is completely free. And in it, you’ll learn how to use three trigger words with this tool to compel practically every single person who sees your ad to call you.

Inside this newsletter you’ll learn how to use the 3 steps described above in detail. Plus, I’ll share a truckload of explosive secrets we’ve discovered from twelve years of working with some of the most successful real estate agents and trainers.

Simply sign up and get insight to our most recent and reliable methods to creating good leads. Remember, these strategies are really only for you if you are struggling…if you are about to leave the business because nothing else is working…or if you see that things could turn south really quick.

Let me know what you think.

Did you find this article useful? If so, leave a comment. And if you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.

Related Articles

The Two Most Productive Lead Generation Activities in Real Estate

Take Advantage of This Psychological Buyer Quirk to Sell Any Home Now

Social Media Does Matter: Selling Houses During Hard Times

2

5 Tips to Eliminate the Fear of Rejection and Call Reluctance

3

7 Proven, No-Nonsense Ways to Get Way More Referrals–and Save Your Real Estate Career

For the overworked, overcommitted and all-around overwhelmed real estate agent I have one piece of no-nonsense advice for you–that really works.

Learn to make people talk about you.

Last week I wrote about the two most productive lead generation activities in real estate marketing that several Baylor University researchers discovered–referrals and IVR technology.

To piggyback on that discovery, I’m going to zero in on referrals this week and IVR technology next week.

You’ll Make More Money. Simple Enough?

Referrals are by far the most effective leads you can find. They don’t cost anything and they come with a substantial recommendation from a past client, friend or family member.

Referral leads are ready-made leads. They are leads that require nothing more than for you to bump them into the basket.

But it’s not really that simple.

It does require diligent work with clients, providing divine customer service–the kind of service that people only dream about. But when they do experience that kind of care, they can’t believe it, and they can’t stop talking about it.

Sound like a far-fetched dream?

It doesn’t need to be. Just follow these 7 practical steps to creating a great referral business and in less than six months you’ll unlock a majestic mountain of fresh, ready-to-buy or sell leads.

1. Provide Astonishing, Jaw-Dropping Service

The first step is to provide a high level of service in the first place. If the service is not exceptional, no one will send any referrals. This goes back to the idea of divine customer service.

But in my experience what most clients want from you is consistent feedback. (Has that been your experience?)

When your clients feel you have communicated with them clearly and regularly and beyond their expectations, their level of satisfaction goes up. Clients can overlook other errors at times, but lack of communication is rarely forgiven.

Achieve a satisfying level of communication with your clients and you’ve found the first key to generating more refarrals.

2. Ask Past Clients for Referrals

A second, but simple step toward obtaining referrals is to ask for them.

There is no substitute for actually prospecting for referrals. Picking up the phone and communicating with your past clients is crucial.

3. Ask Current Clients for Referrals

Third, do not forget to ask your current clients. (Tips two and three can be summed up this way: ask every client.) The people you are currently working with can be your best referral sources.

The ides is to strike while the iron is hot.

They’re telling everyone they meet that they are either buying or selling. They are in a fit of anxiety, eager to talk to people about buying or selling a home. Their whole conversations revolve around their current activity in real estate.

So, you want to hit these people early on when their excitement is high.

4. Create an Automatic System to Cultivate Past Clients

Understand you must consistently contact your past clients in order to achieve success in referrals. Creating a program that helps keep you in constant contact with your past clients will yield the best results.

You will receive a good 80 percent of your referrals from 20 percent of your past clients.

5. Track, Monitor and Measure Referrals

Make sure to effectively track who is sending you the business. You need to know which people to spend the most time, energy, effort, and dollars on.

You might be surprised who is your leading salesperson in the field. By tracking, you can accurately reward the ‘top producer’ of referrals. And people love recognition from others.

A simple spreadsheet or more complex customer relationship management software can help you do this.

6. Build Something Past Clients Are Proud to Share

Put out the welcome mat. Invite your current and past clients to visit your website to enjoy articles, tips or quizzes.

Also, make it easy for your current clients to navigate your website or blog. Do something on the web that establishes your authority.

 

 

7. Identify and Provide What People Want

Finally, the surest way to success is finding out what people want–and then giving it to them. This can even be about finding needs or wants people don’t know they have…and meeting them. Think Apple iPod.

Nobody thought they needed the iPod. But Apple mined their customer base and the world at large and discovered some keen insights that helped them develop the iPod. All Apple had to do was get out of the way after that.

Conclusion

My best advice to you is become something incredible. Become something people can’t stop talking about. Become a purple cow.

Be diligent in identifying and providing what your customers want or need. Pay close attention to what people on the street are saying. Never stop asking, listening, learning and giving.

Once you do this, all you’ll need to do then is get out of the way.

Did you find this article useful? If so, leave a comment. And if you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.

Related Articles

Sick of Failure? The Seven Natural Laws of Real Estate Prospecting

Try This Six Step Lead Generation Strategy for a Shaky Market

Your Personal Strategy to Building Some Serious Real Estate Wealth

4

The Two Most Productive Lead Generation Activities in Real Estate

3

The 3 Best Social Media Ideas for Improving Your Sales You’ll Ever Read

Leads are like molecules. They’re a billion of them, but all so small and insignificant you don’t even pay attention to them.

Leads are like molecules in another way, too. Without molecules, you wouldn’t exist. Same is true for leads.

But maybe you don’t have a billion leads coming in. Would you like a billion leads over a years time? If so, one way to get there is by doing lots of microprospecting.

What’s microprospecting? Just another way of saying “prospect small, and often.”

Microprospecting is sending a personal email to a satisfied client. Crossing the street to meet a stranger. Microprospecting works in the digital world to, like social media.

You can fill your macro funnel with leads by laying hundreds of small social media prospecting lines. And the cool part? Is doesn’t take a lot of time.

In the case of social media, here are the 3 best–and fastest–things you can do everyday that are guaranteed to grow your pipeline.

The Best Blogging Idea You’ll Ever Read

The most obvious choice here is to start a blog. If you haven’t a blog yet, it’s imperative you get one now.

What can you do daily on a blog that will improve your sales? Write short, meaningful posts on the state of your local market.

But I have a much better idea.

Write short, meaningful posts about people in your community. Become a local journalist.

Every time you are in the car, on the phone or in a meeting with someone, find out something interesting about them. And then ask them if you can blog about them. Keep a notepad and build up a pool of stories.

Once you start posting these stories, email the person to let them know. Then they tell all their friends and family. Pretty soon you’ll have a large swath of people eyeing your blog to see if they made it on there yet.

In fact, you do this good enough, and strangers will go out of their way to meet you, hoping you “interview” them.

Why is this effective? Because people like to see themselves in print.

I got this idea from the book Made to Stick, where Dan and Chris Heath tell the story of a city newspaper that had a readership rate over 100%.

What was the secret to the newspaper’s success? The editor summed it up in three words: names, names, names. He and his reporters focused on the people of the town–not the events.

You should do the same.

The Best Recommendation Idea You’ll Ever Read

The next best social media idea is to give people recommendations. But not just any old recommendation.

How can you do that? Join LinkedIn if you haven’t already and search out people you’ve worked with in some capacity. Then, recommend them.

But say something positive and unique about that person. Unique is key. Zero in on something about that person that makes them stand out. Give the recommendation teeth.

I’ve given several recommendations where people have returned with “wow…that really pops out of the page.”

You can learn how to write a good LinkedIn recommendation. It’s really easy and involves a 15 minute investment.

Give one recommendation a day for 30 days and you’ve made 30 people smile. Hopefully you’ll get 30 recommendations in return. That’s not always the case, but 20–even 10–is better than none.

The Best One Night Stand You’ll Ever Have–and the Only One You’ll Ever Have

This goes without saying, but to make the best use of social media, you have to be social. Like Dustin Wax at Stepcase Lifehack said:

Building relationships starts with a friend request or invite  — it doesn’t end there. Get to know the people you are connected with. Answer their questions, send them a link or piece of information now and again, and read their profiles.

But if you look at social media as a one-night stand–you’re doomed for failure.

You’ve got to love people. Everything about them. Like Leo at Zen Habits–who I swear doesn’t have a bad bone in his body. He is truly interested in everybody.

[Just follow him on Twitter to see what I mean.]

When you fall over yourself to get to know people–one person at a time–becoming popular is inevitable. And that means you have to spend more than one night with them.

The 90 Day Social Media Challenge

Social media is out there to help you. And it’s perfect for what you want to do–generate leads. Where else can you have access to millions of people in the matter of a few clicks?

So, my challenge to you is this: for the next 90 days try and do these three simple social media ideas everyday.

At the most it should take you an hour and a half.  But that hour and a half maybe your best time investment as your social network grows exponentially.

Disclaimer

By the end of that 90 days you won’t have a billion leads. Probably not a million. Or even a thousand. But a hundred isn’t far-fetched.

And if you have one hundred new leads, and got just one lead from each person, your leads just doubled without you having to do anything.

That’s the beauty of compound marketing.

0

Sick of Failure? The Seven Natural Laws of Real Estate Prospecting

Tired of dealing with snobbish buyers? Getting walked all over? Losing? If so, what you need to do is create some competition using the same principles farmers use to grow crops. Let me explain.

Prospecting is essential to success in real estate. It’s a key ingredient that will help you earn and get paid the amounts of money you want to make each year.

Yet, so many agents disregard, forget, ignore or flat out neglect prospecting. That’s bad. Especially in this market.

What you need to do–instead of settling for whatever rolls in from the front desk–is create an arena of competition. That is, you must get buyers competing with each other for a home. That means, you must get a lot of buyers bidding for the same home.

How do you do that? Prospect, prospect, prospect. Even though that sounds easy, it won’t happen over night. You have to sow today, to reap tomorrow. Any farmer will tell you that. It’s the natural law of the harvest.

And part of the law of the harvest is to focus your efforts on prospecting. Just like a farmer plants, then waters, then fertilizes, then harvests…you also focus on the other three pillars of real estate–and prospect.

Follow these seven natural laws of prospecting to create competition and in no time you’ll harvest a bumper crop this year of leads, clients and commissions.

1. Prospect Enough

Prospecting is THE PATH to finding the leads that will become your successfully closed transactions in the weeks and months ahead. If you don’t search for and cultivate the best people to work with in your territory, your competitors WILL find these people…and successfully close transactions with them instead.

2. Prospect With a Good Attitude

People respond to you based upon what you are putting out to them. When you have a great, positive, fun-loving attitude people will like talking to you more.

3. Follow-Up With Prospects

Following-up on the leads you’ve uncovered and enrolling your prospects in follow-up systems is really what being a successful real estate agent is all about. Follow-up systems are essential.

4. Prospect the Right People

Are you prospecting the people you ideally want to be working with? Are you prospecting in the geographical area that has the properties you really want to list or sell? Make sure you’re prospecting the people who will be closing the exact kind of transactions you want to be working on.

5. Ask Your Prospects for Referrals

When you are prospecting you will maximize your results when you ask your prospects who they know that might be interested in buying or selling in the near future. When you ask the right questions you can also begin prospecting everyone else they know. Don’t be afraid. Just do it!

6. Mail to Your Circle of Influence Constantly

Mailing to your circle of influence keeps you “top of the mind.” You get their attention and remind them of who you are every single month. And the more you consistently mail the higher the probability that one of your circle of influence (or someone they know) will buy or sell right around the time that one of your mailers arrives on their doorstep.

7. Prospect Even After You’ve Generated Activity:

To be the best you can be in your real estate career you need to prospect constantly. If you get busy and stop, or substantially reduce your prospecting you will most definitely experience a gap in your incoming commissions in the weeks and months ahead. Don’t delude yourself about this. Know with certainty that whenever you slow down your prospecting you will substantially decrease your income for the year.

Final Thoughts

Carve each day you work into four quadrants and focus on one pillar in each quadrant. Especially prospecting. Don’t deviate. Always prospect and you’ll create competition and render those snobbish buyers humbled. Count on it.

Related Articles

The Surprising Secret to Growing Your Business Through Self-Control

Try This Six Step Lead Generation Strategy for a Shaky Market

3

Use the Problem-Agitate-Solve Formula for Killer Sales Presentations

Pain and problems dominate us. Everyday and every hour we are constantly looking for solutions for our pain and problems.

This holds true for home buyers and sellers. That’s why it’s a great idea to use the PAS formula in your sales presentations.

Whether you’re persuading a buyer to bite the bullet and buy a home or convincing a seller to stake YOUR for sale sign in their yard, you can use the PAS formula to get the job done.

What Is the Problem-Agitate-Solve Formula?

The PAS formula is Dan Kennedy’s darling. Or at least he gets credit for it. Nonetheless, it’s pretty basic.

Identify a problem. Agitate the problem. Solve the problem.

Identify a Problem

Imagine you just met a man at the tennis club. Imagine he told you he lives in a two-bedroom, one bath home with his wife and two kids. Imagine the children as one girl, one boy. Next, imagine the girl 7 and the boy 5. And they share a bedroom.

See a potential problem?

If you do, point out the problem.

You: Hey Stan, are you concerned about your daughter wanting her own privacy?

Agitate the Problem

Once you’ve identified the problem, now aggravate it.

You: Man, that’s probably pretty uncomfortable. You guys are probably looking for a house soon, right?

Stan: You bet. But it’s tough. With the market and all.

You: Yeah, but if you don’t get her own space soon–especially as she gets older–could be a nightmare for all of you. Don’t you think?

Stan: Oh man, yeah.

You: Often one thing can really drive a wedge between a brother and sister–even a family.

Stan: Yeah, my wife and I are really concerned about that.

You: Could be a real problem when she realizes she’s the only 8 year old who shares a room with her brother.

Stan: I don’t even want to think about it.

You: But how can you think about moving when the market stinks and you really don’t know how well your house will sell.

Stan: You can say that again.

Solve the Problem

This is when you trot out your solution.

You: Stan, if you got some time this week, any chance we could get together and I could maybe show you how we could solve your problem? I’ve got some great ideas to share with you.

Stan: Even though I’m not in the market, I think I might be able to swing that.

See how easy and casual that was to set an appointment? Works just as well in any situation.

Conclusion

Use the Pain-Agitate-Solve formula to stop people in their tracks, draw them closer, yearn for your answer and beg for your solution.

Use it during casual conversations or planned-out sales presentation. It doesn’t really matter. Just remember, PAS.

Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add. And if you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.

Related Articles

When Being a Narrow-Minded Fundamentalist Works

Stunningly Easy 25 Minute and 25 Second Routine for Finding Buyers

Eliminate Competition at Your Next Listing Presentation Even Before You Arrive