When you want to be successful in your local market, you need to always stay on top of your marketing and lead generation. What are the most effective ways for targeted segment marketing? How do you make an open house successful? And how do you manage your team effectively? Dan Lesniak joins us to talk about this and more.

Three Things We Learned

Keep it personal

When putting yourself out there, it's important to keep a presence in your local community. That helps with your lead generation and networking and it means that you create rapport with potential clients even before meeting them.

Perfect your open house strategy

There is a lot of advice out there on how to make your open houses effective. Cherry-pick all the best tips and make them work for you. Scope out your market, know your agents and that way you'll have more successful open houses than before.

Think outside the leadership box.

There are different ways in which you can make your team work and these all depend on the specific personalities of the people in your team. Don't just stick to a 9-5 work routine. Use Google Hangouts, phone calls, emails and other ways to work from a distance. The more ground you can cover as a team the better.

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When you think about marketing, it's important to remember that building rapport starts before you meet the client. Make a name for yourself in the community you want to work in, the more you work towards becoming a household name in the world of real estate, the better. Don't underestimate the power of face-to-face interaction. No amount of digital communication can ever replace sitting next to someone at a barbecue and talking about your interests. Finally, trust your team and keep communication open with them - you never know where the best advice will come from.

Being a new agent in the business can be intimidating and scary. Where do you even start? How do you handle old leads? Should you build your own website or work with a company? On this episode, we are joined Misty Weisenberger and Neely Freeman who share the most important steps to get your business off the ground.

Three Things We Learned

Have a game plan.

Before you start your business, make sure that you know where to start. A step by step outline of everything that you need to do will help organize your time and your mind and allow you to keep track of your progress as you move forward.

Get information wherever you can find it.

Find people who are already succeeding and see what they’re doing. Find podcasts or videos online from people in the industry. If there is a resource out there that can teach you something new and valuable, find it.

Always come from a place of value.

No matter how new you are, or how much experience you have, it’s important to know that you bring value. You have an individual point of view and a brain, don’t forget it.

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It’s hard to start new, and it’s even harder to thrive, but today we talked about some great first steps you can take to succeed. It’s more than just hard work, although there’s lots of that too, it’s about educating yourself and planning. With a good game plan, some information and confidence, you can get your business off the ground.

You might think that it's very difficult to be noticed by local and national media, but it might be a lot simpler than you think. How do you hack the Facebook algorithm - and can you? Why are celebrity homes important? And how can you start with local magazines that won't let you get anywhere close? PR guru Christina Daves joins us to share her top tips on pitching to national and regional media.

Three Things We Learned

Use your social networks effectively.

Social networks can be a powerful tool but only when used to their biggest capacity. Tag people in your public posts and be very active - but don't tag-bait. You can't force interaction between the people you are following, but you can foster communication and start important conversations. Remember: Facebook Live is your best friend.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Facebook can be a great tool, but it is impossible to say whether or not it will become obsolete in a few months. Always make sure to have a backup email list. Contact your followers and ask them if they are okay for you to contact them outside of Facebook - that way you will create an invaluable database of contacts.

Don't underestimate regional magazines.

It's very easy to shoot for the stars and aim for the national publications and maximum exposure. But you always work in your local area first, so don't underestimate local publications. You would be surprised how picky some local magazines are. As a realtor, it's important to make an impression in your community, so do your research on local publications carefully.

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There are a lot of ways to achieve good exposure in your area and reach as many potential customers as possible. National media outlets are always great for boosting your name, but consider going local as well - or if you don't want to bother with pitches, go for a system like HERO. Find what works for you and how you can boost your brand image in the most effective way to bring value to both media professionals and potential customers.

A lot of people use their brokerages as an excuse not to get into action. How do you know if you’ll be able to work hard within a virtual brokerage? What prevents agents from converting people from their social circles into clients? On this Q&A episode, we riff on these questions and more from our audience.

Three Things We Learned

You have to have the systems to back up the prospecting work you’re doing

In circle prospecting, you start building momentum with all the work you do, and when it does pay off, the success and results will flood you and build up very quickly. You have to have good systems to make sure you can handle all the business that will start coming.

Virtual brokerages require a self-starter

Virtual brokerages allow agents to make more money and build long-term wealth, but for you to work successfully in that environment you have to be productive on your own.  You have to be able to make the calls, reach out to your database, and get out there and get clients. You have to be able to execute on your own.

Don’t be a secret agent

The biggest reason people struggle to convert their sphere into closings is that they don’t tell people that they are in real estate. You have to tell people what you do and put them into a consistent follow up system.  

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If you can implement without a lot of direct oversight and supervision, a virtual brokerage would be the right fit for you. The systems you’ll get there are far better than what you can get with a traditional brokerage, and you’ll be able to build wealth. The biggest thing is that you can be productive and work well independently. But ultimately, no matter where you work it will always come down to how much action you take and what you implement. You have to be a self-starter.

Facebook ads can help you generate low cost real estate leads, but there’s a caveat. What don’t tell you about the quality of Facebook leads? What tools can you use to feel more competent when you’re out prospecting? On this Q&A episode we answer these questions for our audience.

Three Things We Learned

How to get now business

When you do prospecting, you have to know that if they don’t have a connection with you or an need for what you do, you won’t be able to get now business. It will be a long-term play.

Facebook ads are cheaper but the quality isn’t always high

While it’s cheaper to generate more leads on Facebook, you have to remember that they won’t be as high quality as leads from Zillow or Trulia. People who show up on Facebook and see your ads aren’t specifically looking for real estate, they just stumble on it.

How to start nurturing relationships.

When you’re out prospecting remember not everyone is going to give you now business. Those people are people you can add to your database and send marketing to. That’s how you monetize the nos.

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Success in circle prospecting and being able to generate now business comes down to you serving an urgent need for someone, or already having a relationship with them in place. Without one or both of these factors this person should become a nurture in your database. You have to bring value and position yourself as the knight in shining armor.

What do you do when your market starts heading downhill? How do you narrow down your group of potential successful leads? And does putting fewer people into the funnel actually benefit your business? Scott Hack joins us to give his best tips for organic lead generation.

Three Things We Learned

Follow the quality over quantity principle with lead generation.

Pop-up registration boxes can be useful but consider all the sifting work you have to do afterwards to figure out the genuine, useful leads. Opting for a registration box in the page where your contact details are gives potential customers the time to look through your website and decide if they want to commit to your services.

Empower your customer.

When visiting a website, people want to see prices straightaway. Filling out forms is bound to only make them frustrated. Customers want direct access to content, prices and information at their own terms. Structure your website around this principle to create a good impression.

Treat every buyer as a seller.

Don't get too bogged down into your buyer-seller ratio. When buyers look towards selling, they will want to find someone they can trust. Build up that rapport with them and know how to read them as leads. If you build up that trust and realise the potential of buyers as seller leads, you will be in a great position to facilitate both deals.

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Organic lead generation is all about proving your value to the customer. In 99% of the cases, both buyers and sellers know what they're looking for in an agent. It's your job to figure it out and offer it to them. Don't bombard them with content and information that they might not need because you'll find yourself losing leads. Give customers control to get the content they want at their own pace, but also make your presence well-known. When you prove yourself as an agent, you also prove yourself as a confidante, and a human being. If they like who you are, they will also like working with you, so build up a successful, open, trustworthy image of yourself for the best results.

Building relationships is a powerful way to grow your business. What is the best way to go about it? Is it better to build a relationship on Facebook or meet people face-to-face? How can you use networking to establish yourself as a rockstar in your market? On this episode, we are joined by Steven David Elliot and Nicholas Cioffi from Rockstar Connect who share how to network at the highest level.

Three Things We Learned

Nothing beats human to human contact

Social media is a great way to communicate with people and build relationships, but nothing deepens a relationship faster than meeting face-to-face. This is why networking is so powerful.

Be a giver, connector and helper in your community

If you really want to get the most out of your networking, your events cannot be about you and what you want, but rather about being a person of value to the people around you. If you do more for your community, it will make an impact on your business too.

Contributing to your community makes an impact

The goal through networking is to make thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and ultimately, millions of dollars for your community.

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People want to do business with people they already know, like and trust and it can often feel like that process takes a while. There’s nothing that accelerates the process of people trusting and liking you more than becoming an altruistic person in your community, being a provider of value and actually caring about the people around you. This type of networking will give you the highest return on investment and elevate your status in your market.

A lot of real estate agents see their work as a job and not a business. How does this make it less likely that they’ll go the distance? What is the value of building a relationship-based business instead of a transaction-based business? On this Q&A episode, we answer these audience questions.

Three Things We Learned

Should you text a prospect?

When it comes to texting a cold lead, the best approach is to try to call first, and then text. The younger generation is a lot more comfortable with texting, and that can work out to be a better way of communicating with those people.

Dealing with super cold leads

When you put yourself in a position where you get very cold leads, you have to bring your A-game. It’s unpredictable and it depends greatly on your ability to build a relationship quickly.  

Work to become an expert and respected professional in your market

When you know that you are an expert, it gives you that inner confidence which will carry into the conversations you have with your prospects. That confidence benefits both you and them.

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A lot of agents see this business as too much of a job. They look for way too much direction, expect brokers to be their bosses, and want to be told what to do. We’re looking for it to be structured like a job but still have the benefits of the freedom. Approaching it this way will only make it harder for you to succeed. Your goal should always be to build relationships with people who know, like and trust you because those people will be your biggest asset.

A lot of agents struggle with communication because they don’t know which milestones to carry people through in the conversation. Does NLP help with this? How do you figure out and leverage the pain points of your prospects? What kind of FSBOs should you avoid at all costs? On this Q&A episode, we answer these questions.

Three Things We Learned

Don’t tell people you’re a real estate agent in the voicemail

When you’re making a voicemail, the point is to get people to call you back. For the most part if you say you’re an agent in the voicemail, you lower your chances of getting a call back.

FSBOs: Don’t spend too much time on people who aren’t realistic

When it comes to dealing with FSBOs, you have to know who is worth your time and who isn’t. The toughest thing is if they have an ego thing, there’s no need for them to sell or there’s no urgent time window. If they have that, walk away.

A prospect who doesn’t want to sign till after the Super Bowl

A client might tell you they only want to put the house out after a specific event. You can counter this by bringing up the value you bring and even showing them your marketing plan so they see that it requires time. Also make sure you distinguish between a time issue or an issue they have with you.

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It’s so easy to get caught up in your internal monologue and making sure you sound right, but all this does is take the focus off the prospect, which is where it should be. If you genuinely come from a place of caring you will build a strong relationship. It’s not about saying the exact right words, it’s about going in with the mindset of value.

A lot of entrepreneurs can’t move forward in business because they are stuck in lead generation. How can you actually grow beyond that phase? What changes has Facebook made and what do they mean for your business? What is the best way leverage your skills? On this episode we answer these and many other questions, with special guest Gene Volpe.  

Three Things We Learned

If you’re making a 100 phone calls and you aren’t getting appointments that tells you something wrong with your approach

Every lead generation method requires time for you to see if it’s actually working, but if you’re making a lot of calls and you aren’t getting results that should tell you something’s wrong.

Facebook wants to deliver to more people what other people are saying is great content

Facebook feels like the platform has become too impersonal, so they want people’s timelines to feature more content from people’s friends and families. This still presents opportunities for business pages if they can promote engagement on their pages.

Go with the people experiencing the most pain

When it comes to leveraging your skills and putting them to the best use, consider going for the people that are experiencing the most pain. In real estate that means going for expireds and FSBOs.

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There’s no such thing as making calls to make calls, that’s only step one of the process. Even though every form of lead generation requires some time between the time you start taking consistent action and the time it starts to pay off, you can still see if what you’re doing is working early. When it comes to winning with Facebook, the best way to guarantee your success is putting out really good content. To leverage your skills at the highest level, go with the people experiencing the most pain, and that’s expireds and FSBOs.