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by Christina Ethridge 10 Comments

This January, leverage gifts to bring in more business. Here’s how.

Do you know how to leverage gifts to bring in more business?

I’ll bet you’ve been taught to give out an “item of value” that includes a branded notepad, or branded mousepad, or branded sports team schedule, or branded whatever.

Guess what. There is a difference between giving a gift and handing out a promotional item.

Want help building your lead generation list? Click here to hop onto RE-Freshed and I’ll teach you how to capture, convert & close Facebook leads.

In this video, I’m talking about leveraging the power of gifts… not stuffing promotional items in people’s faces.

I share several client appreciation events and small gift ideas you can use in January to grow your business.

Check it out:

Here’s how to leverage gifts, not promotions, to build more relationships and bring in more business.

Along with client appreciation ideas, I went to my local dollar store and found some cool gifts you can give that will elevate you in the minds of your prospects and clients.

BOOK I mention (and show) in the video:
Giftology: http://amzn.to/2iEygjw

APPRECIATION ideas I mention in the video:
Shred Day: http://bit.ly/shreddayexample
Got Junk: http://bit.ly/gotjunkexample

Let’s get Facebook working for you: Click here to hop onto RE-Freshed and I’ll show you how to capture, convert & close Facebook leads.

Filed Under: Lead Conversion, Lead Generation Tagged With: real estate

by Christina Ethridge 5 Comments

Should Real Estate Agents Outsource Their Social Media?

Let me guess. You’ve heard “experts” tell you repeatedly that if you aren’t doing your own social media, you aren’t doing social media. Right?

social media
Image courtesy of [ddpavumba] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
What about this, if you have to outsource your social media, you are doing it wrong?

And this one… The last thing you should do is outsource your social media, it’s about making connections and building relationships and that’s something that can’t be outsourced, right?

I’ve heard every single one of these and then some.

I’ve heard them from “experts” and from “newbies” and everything in between.

And guess what? Every single person I’ve heard this from is “inside” the real estate industry.

Every . Single . One .

Oh, I’ve seen it mentioned in passing outside of the real estate industry, but not with any real weight to it.

Not really. People building businesses know it’s not realistic.

The thing is (I’m going to reveal something to you here . . .) even I agreed with it. I believed it. I lived it.

That is, until I started wrapping my mind around reality.

So what changed my mind about all of this “outsourcing social media” hoopla?

outsourcing social media
Image courtesy of [Stuart Miles] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Well, I built my real estate business and was frustrated that the “experts” kept telling me I needed to be in expert in all things online. All things including social media. That I needed to work on my business, not in my business, while at the same time telling me I needed to be directly managing my social media, all . the . time .

I realized, I just didn’t have time to do the lead generating I was doing and be “present” when I needed to be on social media.

I even tried the whole “”Ten Minutes A Day” myth that is still perpetuated in our industry. Yes, it’s a myth.

This myth happens to work very well in conjunction with a well thought out and implemented social media strategy, that someone else manages. Not as a stand alone, single strategy to generate social media leads.

Really. Have the strategy, have it managed by someone else, and you spend your “Ten Minutes A Day” connecting on a different level within your social media networks, while your implemented strategy (implemented by someone else by the way), continues to run without you present.

I was beyond frustrated with the idea I had to be all and do all.

It was at that moment that I stopped listening to the “experts” and started doing my own thing.

I did my research. I learned a heck of a lot. I’m still learning.

It seems that, within real estate, we think it’s an “all or nothing” situation.

You see, we seem to think that outsourcing social media means we are giving it all up. We are giving up control, we are giving up our personality, we are no longer interacting, we are no longer available . . .

On the other hand, we think that managing our own social media means we need to be on it and available 24/7, answering every question that comes our way, personally, responding to every request and comment, personally.

Let’s get real – on both sides.

Outsourcing social media does not mean sending it off and never touching it. On the other hand, completely managing our own social media is also ridiculous to consider, especially if you have any growth plans to expanding your real estate business.

Let’s be realistic.

There is no way you can respond to every contact made via a social media network and still work on your business.

outsourcing means building a team
Image courtesy of [renjith krishnan] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
There is no way you can effectively create continuous, engaging content for your social media networks and still work on your business.

It’s not possible.

Nor is it realistic.

Nor should you even consider it.

What are your talents?

What are your passions?

What are the most important things you should be doing for your business?

You need to be doing those things and handing off the rest.

Creating leverage.

And yes, using leverage for your social media efforts is viable and realistic.

Here’s the deal. While I wholeheartedly believe outsourcing your social media is viable and realistic and will help you grow your business, I know it is not a good idea for you to outsource your social media to a basic VA (virtual assistant). It just isn’t.

Why on earth would you want to put someone, possibly from another country, you don’t know and who doesn’t know you, in charge of the image and outreach of your business on social media networks?

Unless they understand who you are, what your personality is, who your clients are, the real estate industry as a whole, your local market as a focus, how you serve your clients, what prospects are looking for in your area . . . you are making a mistake thinking you can outsource something as important as this to a VA.

You just are.

Facebook Domination Secret for Real Estate Agents

Do you really think you’ll find a VA that is a master at this? The thing is, VA’s tend to be “jacks of all trades, masters of none”. In other words, they are perfect for data entry, flyer creation, basic editing, basic task implementation, etc.

If you want a VA for something specific, that takes expertise, knowledge and experience, you need a specialist, not a traditional VA.

If you want a successful social media strategy, that stays on top of the changes, keeps you connected with your fans and captures leads for nurturing, you have got to hire an expert.

Experts that know the real estate industry. Experts that can reach out in your voice, to your prospects, to drive traffic to your business.

As I mentioned above, I was frustrated in my own business.

I’m not anymore.

Now I have a business that bridges the gap. Bridges the gap between social media and reality, when it comes to your real estate business.

The whole “social media must be from the agent” is still perpetuated strongly and loudly. However, for the agents who know it’s not realistic and frankly, know it’s a lie, for the agents who have found an excellent way to outsource, their businesses not only bring in more leads via their social media channels, but they are more relaxed about the entire process.

You see, social media is a lead generation channel, a “pre-relationship” channel so to speak.

relationship building with social media
Image courtesy of [jscreationzs] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
We refer to it like it’s all about relationships when really, it’s all about funneling. For networking, it’s relationship building. For prospective clients, it’s funneling. Funneling them into your sales funnel allowing you to actually build a relationship with them.

You can’t build a deep relationship with someone in a check-out line, in a grocery store, at the movie theater. You have to move both you and that person to the next level, a coffee shop. And then on to the next level, dinner out. And then the next level, deep conversations in your home.

“Lead” funneling is exactly the same thing. You can not build a deep relationship with someone solely on the front end of a social media channel. You have to funnel them to different levels.

If you are on the level of scale, in other words, you know it’s impossible to build a lot of relationships on a one-on-one scale, you’ve got to have a system set up to help build relationships for you. It’s not impersonal, it’s bringing people through the funnel.

It’s akin to “group dating”.

If you have zero desire to scale your business, to grow it, to make it larger, this isn’t for you.

However, if you are interested in leveraging your time and using sources to help capture and build social media relationships, this is definitely for you.

Interested in learning more? Check this out.

re-freshed sign up button

Christina Ethridge is the founder of LeadsAndLeverage.com, helping real estate agents capture, convert and close Facebook leads.

 

Filed Under: Facebook, Lead Conversion Tagged With: facebook for real estate

by Christina Ethridge 7 Comments

How To Convert Real Estate Leads And Close More Sales, Just Like A Mega Agent!


Featured Download: The Facebook Page Setup Checklist – specifically for real estate agents – get your Facebook page setup to capture real estate leads.


Do you know what the difference is between a “Mega Real Estate Agent” and “All Other Real Estate Agents”?

I’ll give you some hints . . .

It’s not the size of their teams.

It’s not the number of people they know.

It’s not how long they’ve been in the business.

It’s not the number of their leads.

It’s not “luck”

It’s their ability to convert real estate leads into real estate closings.
Convert.
Conversion.
This is the key.

So here’s the deal…

Converting real estate leads and closing more sales all come down to two things . . .

Follow-Up
and
Fulfillment

It’s that simple and, it’s that hard.

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Follow-Up

Apparently follow-up is so hard, 48% of agents never even follow-up once with a prospect. Not a single time. Never. I’m wondering how agents expect to close a deal when they aren’t even attempting to contact a prospect even once.

Not once!! Wow.

However, that does mean that 52% of agents follow-up with a prospect at least once. Well, at least half of real estate agents follow-up at least once. This is really a pathetic statistic. Makes me wonder why 48% of agents are “in the real estate business”.

Ok. What about twice? You know, you leave a message or respond to an email or text the first time, but what about a second time? Yeah, that’s even worse. Only 25% of agents contact a prospect a second time. They stop after the 2nd contact. Wow. Again.

Maybe they think the prospect, who contacted them initially, isn’t interested? Or has changed their mind? Or they don’t have an effective method for keeping track of who to contact and when? Who knows. But still, it’s not like it’s that hard to follow-up with someone more than once or twice. Really. It isn’t.

Ok, let’s go just a little deeper. What about a 3rd contact? Only 12% of agents make three or more contacts with the prospect. That means 88% of agents didn’t bother trying to follow-up with a prospect after the 2nd contact. Wow. Yet, again.

Here's the biggest kicker…
2% of sales are made on the first contact
3% of sales are made on the second contact
5% of sales are made on the third contact
10% of sales are made on the fourth contact
80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact

Do you know what this means?

It means that 88% of real estate agents share 10% of all sales, which also means that 12% of real estate agents are sharing 90% of the sales, simply because they contact their prospect three or more times.

difference between mega real estate agent and other agents

It means you have GOT to get over your fear of offending a prospect by contacting them “too much”. Really. You’ve got to.

You are not badgering them. They communicated to you that they are an interested prospect. You must be there, when they are ready, willing, and able to consummate a transaction.

You can never follow-up too much. No, you can’t. Stop allowing your limiting beliefs to control you. If it’s too much for someone, they’ll tell you. They’ll say go away, or unsubscribe from your email, or something else.

 The key is, do not stop following-up until they buy, sell or say stop. 

Now that you understand what you need to do with follow-up, let’s look at fulfillment.

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Fulfillment

Fulfillment is what you are giving them. What questions are you answering, what needs of theirs are you meeting.

Their most important need is for you to be there when they are ready. This is accomplished through consistent follow-up. Their second most important need is for you to anticipate their questions and other needs, and provide answers, resources, and resolutions.

Fulfillment is much easier than follow-up, but fulfillment requires follow-up in order to accomplish it. Simply by following-up, you are meeting their number one need.

By following-up you are there to answer their questions, as they have them. By following-up you are anticipating their needs. By following-up you are able to provide answers, resources and resolutions.

So now that you know how to convert real estate leads and close more sales like a mega agent, what are you going to do differently?

What are you going to implement that will jump you into the 12% who close 90% of the real estate sales?

Go to top

Featured Download: The Facebook Page Setup Checklist – specifically for real estate agents – get your Facebook page setup to capture real estate leads.


Christina Ethridge is the founder of LeadsAndLeverage.com, helping real estate agents capture, convert and close Facebook leads.

Filed Under: Lead Conversion

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