Leads and Leverage

helping entrepreneurs double their email open rates

  • Home
  • Testimonials
  • Community
  • Blog

by Christina Ethridge Leave a Comment

The TOP 4 things you must STOP doing right now if you want to bring in more real estate leads from your Facebook business page


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


No matter how much lead generation you do, if you keep doing these 4 things you’re going to consistently fail at it.

Today, I am going to talk with you and teach you the 4 things you need to stop doing if you want to bring in more real estate leads from your Facebook business page or from any form of lead generation you are doing.

We’re going to go over this. If you implement these 4 things you’re going to drastically change your results from your real estate lead generation.

Real estate does not have to be stressful all the time, there will be stressful moments. It doesn’t have to sacrificial, you don’t have to sacrifice your family or your life. You can actually enjoy your business. Create more time, make more money, and enjoy the journey. Again, I am Christina with Leads and Leverage I am really excited to have you here, today.

So do me a favor? The very first thing I am going to give you guys is a Facebook ad. You need to comment in the comments of the video above “Send me the Ad” then go over to messenger and respond to Ribbit inside messenger.  

I will give you the ad, you will also get a screenshot of the ad with the verbiage and the picture and where to get the picture, it’s free.  

I will give you all the pieces for your ad and all the directions are in messenger. Just type “Send me the Ad” and you will be good to go!

Alright, so we are going to talk about the 4 things. This is so prevalent in our industry and probably prevalent in a lot of industries I just know the real estate industry, I mean gosh I’ve been in it since 1995. Plus my Dad before me was in it from 1989 on, so I am a second-generation realtor,

I understand it, I’ve been with it through the changes. My brother-in-law and sister still own the brokerage and property management company so I we still have some peripheral contact with it. It’s kind of interesting that with all the change, nothing’s changed.

If You Keep Doing These 4 Things You’re Going to Keep Failing

So here we go, no matter how much lead generation you generate if you keep doing these 4 things you’re going to keep failing and you don’t want to fail!

#1 Expecting Immediate Business

The first thing, guys this is huge, when you’re lead generating and expecting “immediate business” – for instance you expect to run an ad and expect to get an appointment. That’s what you’re doing. Like yeah, I want a transaction, but here’s the thing, this is actually the worst way to lead generate.

The worst way. Number one, if you do it like this you kind of sound desperate. It’s okay to sound urgent and aggressive and assertive to get their business, but when you’re trying to go from ad on a social media site or platform where somebody is trying to relax and chill out and your suddenly trying to get them into buy or sell mode, hmmm it doesn’t work that way.

Your website, same thing, at a home show, a chamber event, it doesn’t matter where you are if you don’t actually do the journey with the person, you sound desperate. You’re actually alienating your future prospects.

If all you can do is focus on lead generating, immediate business – I am going to talk about how to actually switch this up so you get all of it immediate and future.  So you sound desperate you alienate your future prospects, you perpetuate the used car salesmen reputation, yes, yes, yes and you don’t want to do that.

We already  struggle with the public thinking we are overpaid, they have no idea what we do, they really don’t. It’s not just them, it’s everybody  who owns a business who understands all of the time and money that is involved in the business.

People who have never owned a business, do not get it or understand it. Someone who has never been a real estate agent before just doesn’t understand all the time, the training, the money, all the things that are put into it. No you aren’t getting rich unless you’re doing a billion transactions, you aren’t getting rich off of one or two commissions, it’s not happening.  

They don’t understand, but if we keep trying to look desperate or just focus on the immediate person, we look like that used car salesmen and we’re always stressed  

If that lead doesn’t respond right away we panic instead of continually lead generating, knowing that through it all there are people at all various levels of readiness and we should focus on getting them into our sphere and nurturing them through the process. Let’s bring them in and nurture them. That’s what we’re gonna do!

If you keep lead generating and expecting immediate business, you’re going to live in a perpetual state of feast and famine and stress. You have to stop doing that and focus on the long run.

Go to top

#2 Not Having a Long Term Follow up System

Number two with your lead generation, if you do not have a long term follow up system and I mean months to years, not 2 or 3 weeks, I am talking months to years.

If you do not have a long term follow up system in place or at least you’re building it then here’s the thing: all your lead generation is wasted. The time you’re putting into it: wasted. The money you’re putting into it: wasted.

Because you’re still in the I’m looking for immediate business.

You’re literally throwing away the hundred leads you get from doing a Facebook ad.

Let’s say you had a hundred people who opted-in, that’s a lot of time, money  and energy and why the heck you don’t have something in place to follow up with them over 3, 4, 10 years is beyond me.

You put time and money into and people are not ready right then. This is a very big decision, it’s a big sell, it’s a big  purchase, things happen. You need to be working their journey with them, walking their journey with them.

The whole process is not about that 6 month buy or sell time frame that they experience 2-3 times their whole life, for most people. Unlike me, this is like my seventh house we’ve purchased, not including all the other places we’ve lived, and I am only 47.

Being in real estate I move alot, so I am not the norm, We’ve only been here a year and I am almost positive we will move again 3-5 years. No idea, we just do this.

The point is most people only do it 2 or 3 times in their entire life. So if you don’t have a long term process in place and all you’re doing is wanting them is to buy or sell now then how are you going to stay in contact with them in the long haul?

Seriously, how are you going to get them to see you are valuable even when their not buying and selling.

How will YOU get them to believe you find them valuable when they’re not buying and selling? It runs both ways, you need to have a follow up system in place throughout their entire journey, this absolutely key.

If you do not have this in place or are not building or trying to build it as you go along, you are totally wasting your time and money. You are making your business a stress, oh my gosh you are going to be feast and famine, and it will be a nightmare.

Everything you’re doing right now is 100 days, if you did not generate a lead that is ready, willing and able to buy or sell right now – you’re not going to eat in 100 days, you’re not going to close a deal in 100 days. If you don’t generate people who are ready, willing and able right now for 4 months in a row or 100 days guess what?  

You are NOT going to eat.

You have to be doing long term!

Go to top

#3 Lead Generate That is Focused Only on Immediate Business

Number three, so number one is you cannot lead generate that is focused only on immediate business. You cannot do that.

Number two, you cannot lead generate if you have no follow up system in place or have no intention to set up a follow up system that is actually going to work over the course of a decade or two decades.

Seriously, you can’t just throw something out in the mail once or twice a year and think that is follow up.

You’re not only wasting money, you’re lying to yourself. You need a system and you can set it up.

It’s much easier than you think. It’s tough the first year, but after the first year, most of what you’ve done can be repeated, again.

Number three, if you’re lead generating, whatever you’re doing, and you’re constantly on the react side versus the proact side, let me give you an example.

If you’re on the the react side it’s like “Oh I put that ad up yesterday and I haven’t gotten anyone to respond yet and I spent $10 per day, I need to stop that ad and change it.” Or “I sent out this ONE direct mail, I spent $500 and I didn’t get a result, so I’m just going to stop that because it doesn’t work.”

Guys the problem isn’t the method you’re using, the problem is you. The problem is that you did not take any time to understand a strategy. You saw what someone else was doing and thought “Crap, I need to do that”and you just did it without even learning about it or understanding it or even knowing if it was working for them.

This happens all the time, I see people inside our membership do it ALL THE TIME. The path I give you guys inside Leads and Leverage is all about the long game, building a growing sustainable business through every up, down, sideways market you can imagine.

It is about the long haul, but here is what happens: Members get in there and panic because “oh my gosh my ad didn’t get an opt-in the first 24 hours, in the first 48 hours” or they panic because maybe the ad only got 5 opt-ins then they’re not actually doing the follow up which is what I am teaching.

You cannot always react whenever, you need to be proactive and understand the strategy you’re using.

If you are using direct mail, understand the strategy. Understand gosh I need to hit them once a week, every week for 8 weeks. Then I need to hit them every 2 weeks, like clock work, never ever, ever missing a 2 week period. It needs to be stuff they will find valuable, NOT all related to sales or open houses or stuff they won’t be interested in if they just bought a new house or they have no intention of moving in 5-7 years.

You need to go on their lifestyle journey with them. You need to stop reacting because here is a perfect example: When you’re implementing any type of lead generation strategy online or offline, it does not matter, any type of lead generation strategy and you go the long haul, of the first 100% you put into it – the first 90-95% you’re not going to see results.  

If you know it take 12-18 months for direct mail to get people to respond or start listening, etc, guess what? You need to commit to 18 months and you need to  not stop doing it. I don’t care if at month 8 you’re like, “I’m stopping, this isn’t working.” Guys, it’s the same thing with losing weight. You get tired of it, you get bored with it, you see another thing, you’re not willing to put in the foundational basics.

We all do this. I do it. You have to push through. There is a great analogy I know you have heard of it, I know I have talked about it before, but you need to hear it again.

The question arises: Would you rather have 3 million dollars, right now today or I will give you a penny on the first day and double it every single day for an entire 31 day period.

Which one would you rather have? The 3 million dollars today or that penny doubled at the end of 31 days?

Here’s the thing guys, that person who choose 3 million dollars today will feel like they’re ahead all the way up until the 29th day, it is not until the 29th day that somebody gets 3 million dollars, on the 30th day it’s 5 million and on the 31st day it’s 10 million.

What’s the point in all of this? It means that even when you think you’re not getting there you are getting there if you are implementing the strategy if you are doing it right. If you are reacting and expecting immediate business all the time and that’s all you’re getting, if you’re frustrated because well you’re getting some fake people in there, so people are still looking, they’re still doing it..

Do you know many “fake” people I sold homes to? They put their “fake” information in there in the beginning, but since then as I was giving value, guess what? They turned around because “oh this isn’t someone who is going to call and annoy me” This is someone who is actually giving me value.

You need to be focused on the long game, not just immediate business. When we focus on immediate business we forsake everyone else who maybe interested months down the road; We assume they will call us, no they will not call us if we are not in contact with them, you have to be in contact with them.

We think we don’t need long term follow up or random follow up. Of all of you guys listening, I would bet maybe one of you have a legitimate long term follow up that includes email, snail mail, a phone call and an appreciation. Maybe one of you. I have been behind the scenes of so many mega teams that have crap for follow up.

They have some immediate stuff for some of it, they have all these people that they are getting, but are not following up with and they have no long term follow up. They buy all this canned crap and cannot figure out why it didn’t work. They have all these contacts and no long term follow up.

Do you know when they are generating a 1,000 leads a month, if they had this really great long term follow up that gave value through the process of that they would never have to spend $40,000 a month on Realtor.com,Trulia and Zillow to generate more leads because they would have so many leads they could keep going into infinity at the same level they’re at, but their follow up sucks.

I am not talking about following it up in 3 seconds or less, which is the name of the game for number four.

Go to top

#4 Chasing the Same Cherry Pickings as Every Other Agent

Number four, If you are chasing the same cherry pickings as every other agent, which means the immediate business stuff, if you’re only chasing immediate business that everyone is chasing then you’re going to be one of the 87% who fail in the real estate business in 5 years or less.

Yes, that’s a real stat right from NAR. This is exactly why all these agents chasing the same exact very few people who are ready right now – these exact same agents is why all the “gurus” stress fastest to the lead wins. They know everyone is chasing the same stupid leads, they’re chasing the same ones and they know everyone is desperate.

What a freaking stressful way to run a business. Holy cow, I wouldn’t want to work that way. How do you think it’s possible like everything you do, if you’re trying to beat that lead you’re gonna have to be up at 2 am texting that lead or have someone doing it for you. You have to be on it all the time and that is stressful.

If you think trying to develop a know, like and relationship in 10 seconds is actually possible then wow , that is just stressful. They are using memorized script objectives which means – they are not actually listening to the lead.

The lead is a real person, they aren’t actually listening to them. All your are doing is listening for key words so they can pop out a script.

Yes, you need to know your market, absolutely. Yes, you absolutely need to be able to answer their real objections which means not popping out a script, and digging deeper to find out what the real problem is, to find what the real objection is. They think we don’t care because we act like we don’t care.

If you want to be successful at any type of real estate lead generation, you must : (I am giving you the opposites now!)

#1 Lead Generate for the Long Game

Number one, you must lead generate for the long game. If you generate for the long game, yeah you will get immediate business, but you need to know every single lead that comes to you is valuable.

It might be valuable now, very rarely, but most likely it will be valuable 9 months from now, 18 months from now, 54 months from now. It is valuable, it is a person on a journey. You must focus and realize every single lead that comes in is valuable EVEN IF they cannot give you a commission check right now.  They are valuable.

Go to top

#2 Have a Long Term Follow Up Process

Number two, you must have a long term follow up process and if you do not have one, you need to create it as you’re going along.

You need to dedicate time in your business every single month to make sure you have a mailer going out, an email going out, and you have some kind of client appreciation – it can be small, every quarter and you need to somehow be in contact with people in real life.

You have too! If all you’re trying to do is generate a lead to get a closing, you are going to fail. Absolutely, you will fail if you do not have these things in place.

Go to top

#3 Be Proactive not Reactive

Number three, if you are constantly reacting, you need to know the strategy if you are going to start lead generating.You need to know how long it’s going to take, in some cases it’s a couple of years for long term stuff, so you need to be dedicated to it.

You need to mentally get yourself in gear for the long term game. You are building a business, not trying to get a quick meal, you want an actual business. That is the mindset difference, we come into it thinking, “I want money now!” or do you want a business that feeds you over the long term. You have to be proactive not reactive.

Go to top

#4 Build Real Know, Like and Trust Relationships

Number four, you stop chasing the same cherry pickings that every other agent is. You don’t need to know script objectives, you need to know your market.  

You don’t need scripts, you need to be able to dig in and understand the person, you need to show that you care, you need to build real know, like and trust relationships not this fake crap in 30 seconds.

You need them to hear you when you say do not look at or listen to Zillow. You need them to hear when you say, your home is overpriced, you want too much for it.and here’s why. You need them to go, “You’re right, you’ve said it before, I’ve heard it before from you, I trust you.” etc.

That’s what you need from them and if you want that you need that long term connection with them. You have too. Period.

These are the 4 main things not to do and I flipped it around and told you exactly how to do it.

Go to top

What Was Most Useful For You?

You guys, here is what I need to know and I forgot to ask this yesterday, but this is really important to me.

I need feedback, what do you guys need from me? How I can  help you guys through this journey? What was most useful for you, today?

As I was talking about those 4 things, what was most useful for you?
What do you think helped tripped a trigger in your mind?
What has helped change your thought process?

Let me know in the comments below. I really want to know this because I want to answer your questions to help you guys move forward.

For most of us throughout the country, here in North America we are going into our slow season . We are coming into it so if you were not as busy as you wanted this summer or you were busy, guys you will slow down. It’s going to slow down, flat out.

People,especially people with kids tend to not to move after school has started unless something drastic requires them to move.

So you cannot keep shifting who you are focusing on, you need to understand your strategies behind everything, this is a long game.

You need to have the fortitude and the mental capacity to push yourself through when you take dips, when it gets frustrating, when you’re not seeing results. Instead of keep pulling your money from everything else you’re doing and trying a new thing,

I watch you guys do this. Leads and Leverage has been around almost exactly 5 years now. Do you know how many of you guys I have watched from that point to this point coming and going. “Oh I am going to try Leads and Leverage for a couple of months”  then you go to another one, then to another one and then come back to Leads and Leverage?

Guys, all that bouncing around – we’ve had several agents who started with us and stayed who now have BIG businesses. They had nothing at the beginning. . and why? Not because they’re special, not because they have something over you, except they stuck to it. They put blinders on and stopped looking at all the shiny objects, stopped reacting and focused on being proactive. That is huge.

That is where your power is. That is why you build.

I started Leads and Leverage five years ago. Do you know how many people have come and gone trying to sell crap to you guys as vendors? Do you know how many? Like tons. I’ve seen tons and some have grown and some have not but they come and go because they’re not focused on the long game. They’re focused on an immediate sale. They don’t understand how to push through. When you guys are bouncing around they get frustrated.

Do you know how many repeat members we have because we didn’t get frustrated with people who left? We knew what they were doing, I could see what they were doing, but they weren’t ready to hear from me, they weren’t ready to hear that they shouldn’t be bouncing around like this. Fine. They needed to go experience it for themselves, but now they’re back.That happens all the time, every day in everything we do.

Are you going to keep being reactive or are you going to be proactive? Are you going to build out your business over the long haul, no matter what the Facebook algorithm does no matter what the market is like? Those are the keys.

This kind of turned into a rant because it is frustrating and disheartening to see agents do this, if they would just stick to what they were doing two years ago, they would be where they wanted to be right now. I know it, because I built it myself – I have helped agents in our membership build it themselves, it’s consistency and pushing through the slog. It really is.

Okay so, awesome you guys, Tony said, “What’s most important to him was long term follow up.” It is key. It is the absolute key.

Susan said, “Stop feeling the pressure to react,” Yes! That’s like the shiny object syndrome is kind of all in that.

Susan says ““I see marketing as a long term theme and to not be pressured to do what other agents are doing which is to chase the same leads everyone else is chasing.”

Yes, because here is the key to this and I want you guys to know this, if you’re just chasing the same leads everyone else is chasing now and you’re still getting leads in and you’re not taking care of them, when they’re ready those will be the same leads others are chasing.

However, if you preempt all your colleagues and competition and you start taking care of those future leads now, there won’t be any chasing because you’ll have them and there will be less for other people.

You’re going to get them all. That’s how it works.

Alright you guys please, please, please let me know what was most useful for you in the comments.

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.


Go to top

Filed Under: Facebook Tagged With: facebook lead generation, real estate lead generation

by Christina Ethridge Leave a Comment

Do you know why your Facebook lead generation, your direct mail efforts and your email marketing are failing? ONE reason and one reason only…


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 why your Facebook lead generation, your direct mail efforts and your email marketing are failing?

There is ONE reason and one reason only, and guess what? I am going to talk with you about that today, teach it to you, walk you through how to overcome that reason and what to do instead.

Today, I am going to talk to you about why, the one reason that your Facebook lead generation, your direct mail efforts and your email marketing are not working for you.

Okay, we are going to talk about the one reason that your lead generation, all your lead generation, your email marketing, your direct marketing, your Facebook, why you are struggling with it. Why it’s not working.

Here’s the deal- let me give you some examples, these are real people, I’m not going to say their names, I’m not going to say their genders, I’m not going to give you their information- these are real situations that have come to me and flat out said “this is not working.

I’ve poured two-thousand dollars into my Facebook lead generation and I tried it for a few months, and it’s not working.”

Or “I dumped five-hundred dollars into a direct-mail mailing, and I didn’t get any results.”

And “I put twelve-hundred dollars into a paid list, and I sent out an email, was told the list was going to work, did not get any results.”

And “I put up a booth at a home and garden event- I spent a hundred dollars on giveaway stuff and I even had a drawing and got no results.”

Have you ever done any of these things and just been like “what on earth??” Throw your hands up, get frustrated, comment below and let me know.

Have you ever been so frustrated, when you did direct mail, you did Facebook marketing, you did direct-mailing, you did booths at events and stuff, and they are not working?

Comment below, I want to make sure that what I’m talking about today and is something that you need help with. So let me know.

What do all of these things have in common? This is where every single one of these things have something in common- every single one of these lack an understanding of the psychology of people. Now, that sounds all scholastic and academic, and do I really need to get into this?

Let me explain more, okay? It’s when you are lacking the knowledge of who the target (your person) is, what their desires are and how they will take next action.

So let me explain this, it’s a little “heavy” I guess. Basically, all of these lack an actual strategy. Every single thing that you do, you will fail if you don’t first understand the underlying strategy.

It’s not really about lead generation, it is, but it’s also not all about it either. I mean, lead generation is your end result, right?

Bear with me as I talk about this- the thing is, the most important thing about this that you must understand, in anything that you do, is the consumer, is the prospects of the very next logical step, and it’s a micro-step.

Now this is not your next logical step for them- it’s their next logical step. And I’ve talked about this a little bit, but here’s an example. When you send an email to somebody, via email marketing, the very next microscopic step is to get them to open the email.

When you send an email, the goal, at least for most of us, is “I want to get an appointment!” But that’s not actually the next logical microscopic step, it’s not the next thing that you need to work on.

When you send an email, the very next thing you need to work on is getting them to open the email. You need to get them to open it. So it’s not about a conversation, it’s not about a phone call, it’s not about an appointment- that’s the end game- but you need to bring them on the journey to make that happen.

So after they have opened the email, the very next microscopic step you should take is to get them to read the email. And this means that what you say in the subject line better be delivered in the email itself.

You better be truthful, and honest and actually giving them what you promised in the subject line. Because if you are not, then they won’t open any more emails from you. And they will start reporting your emails as spam, etc.  

So you don’t want to disappoint them. In fact, you want to deliver more than they think they are getting. So focus on “wow-ing” them, I guess is the best way to say it.

This concept is exactly the same for your Facebook business page, your direct mail, of course your email, your open houses, the Home & Garden shows that you go to, everything, that is your focus.

You need to be thinking the next microscopic step- “how can I bring them through this journey?” You have to learn who your person is, what they want and what they need. You have to give them valuable reasons why they should trust you.

This should not be you telling them why they should trust you- you cannot tell people “trust me, I know what I’m talking about.” Oh boy, I wish I could! I’ll explain that a little more later today, I really wish I could, but you can’t tell them. You have to show them. And you have to show them over and over and over and over.  

There are five-billion other people, five-billion other noises out there and you have to be the one who is consistent, and the one that is giving and the one that is teaching, educating, inspiring, motivating. You have to be the one that makes them say “Oh, that’s who I want to go with” and “that’s who I want to see.”

Here’s the thing- our industry actually does all of us a disservice when we “focus on getting the appointment.”  When we’re focused on that, just that, we are in a rush to get there.

Let me give you an example. I was at a street fair this weekend, it’s a huge events, street fair, Art on the Green, it’s a huge event, I think we have fifty or sixty thousand people who come into the town itself for it, that’s not my estimate, that’s what I’ve heard from the “officials,” they come into our area just for this event.

So we are at this event, we are there, it’s morning and we are totally chilled. I am business turned-off, tasks turned-off and just enjoying myself. We walk past a booth that is for Anderson Windows. We are looking into, we are starting the looking process to replace our windows.

Now we know, based off the brands we had been looking at before, and because of where the windows are in the house and how many there are and the fact we need wood windows, we know for a fact that it’s going to be expensive.

So we are a couple of years out, so this is a similar situation to someone who is going to buy a house, we are a couple of years out, so go to this booth.

We have already started looking at this Anderson dealer because number one, we have been using Home Depot and we are trying to some more customized windows and we want someone to make the windows that are truly the right size, so we know what we are looking for, right?

So we walk past this booth, and I go “oh look, an Anderson Windows booth” and they had a little slip of paper where I could fill out my information to be contacted later on, so I think “okay, I’ll do that.” So I fill out my stuff.

The lady in the booth, well, she pissed us off. Like I just wanted to fill that out, and have them contact me at a later date because I wasn’t truly focused on that because I was on a “vacation day,” so to speak.

I was serious about buying windows, but not for another two years or so. But she was relentless, she kept saying “make an appointment now” and “let’s make an appointment now,” and finally I was like, “I’m not going to make an appointment right now. I’m not going to do anything this year, it doesn’t matter what kind of deal you give us. Have them call me after this event.”

And they had even said “make sure you give us your information, because we will contact you later.” So it’s a commission thing, but she was nasty, frustrating and nasty, because all she could think about was getting to the appointment, because that’s probably what she made money for.

That’s our assumption after we left, based on how high-stressed she was.

Instead of her going “okay, where are these consumers? How are they doing? What are they doing at the street fair?” If she could only get the leads during the street fair, there are ways to do that- “hey, can I get your number, I’ll text you later on so we can do something via text so that I’m not interrupting your time right now.”

That would have been the next logical step, because literally, that’s where everybody else is, relaxing. We are not interested in looking at our calendars and making appointments for next week. I had no interest in doing that.

And so, that’s what I really want to stress here, is that when we focus on getting the appointments, we are more likely to lose the appointment. When we realize “what is the next step? How can I make it easier for them, to get them to where I want them to be, right from where they are?”

That’s why people feel pressured, and run screaming away from realtors, because they know it’s not about them as a consumer, they know it’s about the commission that they bring.

So, they don’t want to give us information. Same with this Anderson Windows woman- all she wanted to do was make an appointment. I was like “Nooooo!” Every hint that we gave her, she wasn’t even really responding, she was doing this “script, script, script,” bit. I hate those, I hate those.

They make me go, I don’t actually do this, but I want to say “Look, shut up. This is what we are doing, if you want my business, contact me later after this.” I did not do that, but that’s how I feel.

That is how the consumer feels when you, as a realtor, are just railroading over them, and trying to get to the appointment. So you need to consider and see what the very next step is in their journey.

Where are they? What mood are they in? What event are they at, and what would they most likely be doing?

Home & Garden shows are very different then a general art fair where people are just chilling out, we are going to Art on the Green, which is all art stuff, we are just chilling. Very different.

So just be aware of that, know where they are and treat them as if you are not stressed to get the appointment.

There is a distinct difference between a hard sell, and a know-like-trust business relationship, you know, if she had gone “you know, today is a day of relaxing, I’ll just text you later today or tonight, and you can respond at your leisure and I’ll give you some appointment times.”

That would have been way better then her trying to push me into something.

But, here’s the thing, just between you and I, let me walk you through what I’m doing, right here and now. I’m going to lay it all out right now, exactly what I’m doing right now to develop relationships so that you know that I am the source of what you need, and that’s my goal.

I went live every weekday in August, and I am probably going to actually extend that because I am having so much fun.

Why?

Because there are three main reasons- the first one is for myself. I want to develop the habit and the self-discipline to challenge myself to commit to doing something, and to do it even when I don’t want to do it or even when I’d rather do something else.

Let’s be real- every single weekday at 10 am, it’s been gorgeous here! I want to go into the pool sometimes, ya know, I want to go out with my husband sometimes, there are some ideas to have this business so I can be flexible. There are just times when I just don’t want to do this right now.

So I wanted to do this for myself, to develop a habit of self-discipline and to challenge myself to move forward.

The second reason I wanted to do this is for you, to give insane value. I wanted to answer the hundreds of questions that I receive every single week, to give you a place where you know you will be given the truth.

Tell it like it is. Where you won’t feel sold to, where you know that the answer I give you is best for you and your business, and not me and my business.

I wanted to have these videos and these resources for that exact reason.

So number one was for me, number two was for you and number three, here’s the underlying thing, when I do it all, it’s for Leads and Leverage.

I want to reach more real estate agents. I want to expand the business, I want to create a whole lot of content that I can repurpose.

I can use these videos for other trainings, I can use them as launch points for deeper lessons inside of Leads and Leverage, I can use them as a way to reach you on something that you are struggling with, because not all of you are struggling with all the same questions that I get, you are all struggling with your own things.

By doing this, I am able to reach you, guide you and give to you. This is huge. So those are the three main reasons why I do this.

So if you notice, not a single reason I’m doing this is to push a sale on you. If I have something that could help you, duh, absolutely I’m going to share it!

My main focus is not about selling, my main focus is about reaching you, so that I can build know-like-trust relationships.

My end game, of course my end game is to expand the business, of course my end game is to get more of you inside of Leads and Leverage so that you can experience the amazing community we have in there. Of course, that’s my end game.

But if you are new to this right now, if this is the first time you have ever watched one of these videos, if that’s all I was doing, was pitching to you to get into Leads and Leverage, you would have been like “dude, back off.” And you wouldn’t watch any other videos.

So I am very, very focused on building relationships with you.

I have a very specific passion for real estate agents, because our industry sets us up for failure.

87% of real estate agents are out of the business within five years, and quite frankly, that’s horrific. That’s terrible.

I am so sick of seeing the supposed successful agents pushing “this one way and one way only” to become successful.

Heck, I have lead generated more transactions than 99% of those gurus and terrible agents could ever even imagine possible. Ever. We have had a huge business consistently over time, and I know the behind the scenes secrets, I know that people have been changing.

Here are the keys- back in the 80s and 90s, buyers and sellers essentially did whatever we told them to do without research, without objection, they just did it.

Why?

Because we knew them. Because we knew nearly 100% of our buyers and sellers- they were referred to us by friends or other agents, but it was very much relational back then. We already had a know-like-trust relationship, boom, there was not a lot of noise, so they trusted us.

Then, between 2000 and 2010, there was a small shift- people started using the internet to do “pre-searches,” that’s what I call them.

They started learning that they could do actual research. And yet, real estate agents didn’t hop on board.

Oh my gosh, they didn’t. WordPress came out in 2001, or 2002, something like that, I mean, hello, Youtube came out in 2004, Facebook in 2006, to the public- and yet, so many of you don’t have your own website.

Like, you seriously don’t. You have a broker site, or you are using some vendor site but you still don’t have your own website.

When we realized where this was going, real estate agents didn’t hop on board, but we did, which is why we scaled so fast, and stayed that way. But it was still, back then, all about “selling” on the first meeting.

In other words, we were trying to build know-like-trust relationships all in the first thirty-to-sixty seconds we talked to someone, saw someone, etc, whether on the phone or in person.

And this is why video did so well for us, because we started the relationship before we ever even met people. That’s what gave us a leg up. That was huge.

Then, come 2010 to present, there has been a massive shift. This is where the keys came about- the ability to understand the psychology of people, the microsteps, etc.

Where was that shift? Well, it was social media, but it’s also the noise. All of the noise. You have to be on social media, absolutely, if you want to have a successful business, you have to be on social media.

However, however, you do not need to have profiles on every stinking social media thing that comes out. If there is some weirdo thing that oh, will get you referrals, how many of those do you guys get? How many of you sign up for these things? Because they are “free” and you can, you know, you signed up for it. There are like five bajillion of them and they will do nothing for you.

So it’s not just social media. You have to be on one or two platforms, that is it. I don’t care. If you are not Linkedin person, don’t get on Linkedin. If you hate Twitter, get your butt off of Twitter. Don’t bother. Do not bother. Be where you are going to be.

For me, that is Facebook and Instagram. I use Pinterest, but I use Pinterest for personal. I use Facebook for personal and for business, and I use Instagram for mostly personal but a little bit of business thrown in, and then I use Pinterest for personal.

Yep, I have profiles on Twitter, and LinkedIn, and I don’t know how many other but I do not use them. They are not helping you, so stop trying to be in all places at once. You cannot do it, it’s not possible, because you need to dive deep, not wide.

So you need to be developing relationships and creating them, but you cannot do that when you have multiple platforms.

It’s not possible. If you keep doing what “seemingly” worked before, and I mean the whole expecting people to know-like-trust you, and still expect to get in front of someone and actually get their attention for thirty-to-sixty seconds and get them to be loyal to you, if you keep trying to do it that way, you are going to keep failing.

It doesn’t work that way anymore.

There are two things that have been tossed around in the real estate business for, I don’t know how long, for like fifteen years, maybe twenty years, ever since the internet came along, and people were able to get sold data in most areas or they were able to start getting information- the words “authenticity” and “transparency.”

But here’s the thing, it’s still the industry’s idea of “authenticity” and “transparency,” is the data.

That’s it. That’s what they think is being “authentic” and “transparent.”

Do you know that social media is about real “authenticity?” It’s about real “transparency?” It’s about “real?”

What does that mean?

I’ve said this before- it means that if it sucks to sell right now, and you would never even want anyone you know to sell right now, but you are out trying to get a listing and saying “oh yeah, how’s the market?

Well, it’s better than I deserve!” Or however the heck your answer is, or whatever the kind of intensive training answer is that you have learned- that’s not authentic.

When you can tell someone “you know, unless I had a job transfer, unless I had XYZ, or whatever it is, I wouldn’t be selling anything right now.”

Until you are ready to be actually real, and authentic and truly transparent, everybody is going to know. The consumer’s going to know- do you know why?

Because there is someone else out there being truly authentic and transparent. They are telling you what’s working and what’s not.

The fact that I’m telling you that most vendor stuff does not work and it just creates noise- I get it. I’m not selling those vendor things, so I don’t have a vested interest in that, however, those same vendors have contacted me “hey, you could make $100,00!

Just send all our information in your email list.” Yes, that happens every single week- I get contacts from vendors who want me to sell crap to you guys. Some of its good, but I’m not going to sell it to you.

Why?

Because that’s not what you need! You do not need more crap!

You need to understand what’s going on right now, through people and the industry, and outside of the industry, and how to get past all that sales crap to get into the hearts and minds of people so that they want to use your services.

You want people to know you, to like you and to trust you.

Social media is about real authenticity, about real transparency and it’s about being real. It’s about you, not a brand. It’s about you, not a company.

It’s about you, not a business. Which is why logos, and colors and all that crap- they are useless. They’re useless. They are pretty, they are fun but they are useless, because what people remember is how they feel after they’ve experienced you.

How do they feel? Do they feel oily and icky because you are telling them “yeah, right now’s a great time to be buying or selling in the market, the market’s going up, you will want to get in before it goes down.” That’s just an example.

Or, are they feeling like “Oh, what else does this person say? Should my desires to buy or sell go beyond what I think? Should I buy or sell, should I not?” It works, because you are telling them the truth of what’s going on.

So how do they feel? You must connect with your prospects, flat out, before they will ever connect with you.

And if you want them to stick, you have to be real, you have to be transparent and you have to be willing to tell it like it is. I’m sure you could do it in a much more gracious way than I have ever done- I’m more blunt than most people.

But you need to be clear, you need to let them know, and you need to make them not worry about the sale or the one you might lose. You cannot worry about that- you have to focus on giving value, because quite frankly, the more people you help, the bigger your business will be.

It’s really that simple. But you really have to help them, you have to really help them.

So when you do this, when you focus your business on this, you have a huge leg up when you connect with people before they use their services.

And you stay connected through value and serving. Why? Because no amount of “guru hard-sell” will ever celebrate a loyal follower from you.

When you have done something, given something that has changed their life, changed their knowledge, changed their experience and you keep doing that, they are loyal. They won’t change.

What you hold to be true over time, do you know how many businesses similar to mine, when I started Leads and Leverage in the fall of 2013, I was literally the only company that was doing this.

There was not a single company out there that was teaching you like this, video, etc, on how to use Facebook for your real estate business, period.

There was not.

There were companies out there trying to sell you content for your Facebook business page, or posts to go on your page, yep, and it was a once or twice a week thing, well, there were businesses like that, but there were none like what I am doing.

Then, over the years, many have popped up, there are some that have completely copied what I made and tried to sell it, they have popped up. But they are not there anymore-why?

Because they are not invested in you. They don’t care. They have something to sell, and they are focusing on the deals, not on the long game. They are not focusing on that long stretch.

So what are you going to do now? I want you to reverse all this- I’m sharing all my knowledge and insight with you, what are you doing to focus on the long game, for someone’s life choices, for when they are buying and selling houses?

What can you do, who can you be? Because let me just tell you, if you are focusing on the deal, that’s all you will get- just a couple of deals.

But if you focus on helping people in the long run, I know that we hear this all the time in real estate, “every seven years, they become a client and I’ve got this many” and you are thinking “geez, I don’t have seven years because I needed food yesterday.”

But if you don’t start thinking that way and going “okay, I realize that I’m not helping anybody right now and that I don’t have any leads in the pipeline right now,” but if you don’t start helping people right now, you will always be struggling and trying to get leads into the pipeline.

You have to think of the long game, you have to think of the relationships you are building, absolutely. I don’t care if you are task-driven, or people-driven, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter, because the name of the game is relationships.

So if you are not focused on teaching people and helping people through their journey, you are going to fail.

Eighty-seven percent of real estate agents fail- there is a reason for that. It’s because what we are taught- sucks.

It doesn’t actually work. It doesn’t.

You see the big “gurus” up there who have only been in the business for five years, even some that have made it a couple of years but there are so many “40 under 40” who don’t even make it past their first five years, they are part of the 87% too.

There are very few agents who apart of the big “guru,” who ever make it past the five year mark, and many of them are struggling because they haven’t adapted their businesses to what’s going on now.

Their profit margins are getting smaller because they keep throwing their money at the same things they were doing before, because they have more money to do that but their profit margins are getting smaller.

You are going to see a lot of them starting to shut up, shutting down. You see all these people starting to struggle, as you see us move towards another.


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


Filed Under: Facebook Tagged With: facebook for real estate agents, facebook lead generation

by Christina Ethridge Leave a Comment

If you’ve been using a vendor to post real estate stuff to your personal profile it has been officially nixed by Facebook. Get the inside scoop NOW on what to do and how to get around that issue


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


[BREAKING NEWS]

As of TODAY you can no longer post to your personal profile using a 3rd party tool… so if you’ve been using a vendor to post real estate stuff to your personal profile… that has been officially nixed by Facebook.

So… what are you to do? How do you use that content to bring in real estate leads? Should you do something else? If so, what and most importantly, how?

I’m going to WALK YOU THROUGH how to GET AROUND this issue – right now in this post.

As of August 1st, 2018, you can no longer use a 3rd party tool to post to your personal profile.

So if you have been using something like any of  the normal tools, like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Smarter Queue, Edgar, etc. and you’re posting to your personal profile, if you have been using real estate directory, Back At You Media, any of the real estate vendors and your posting to your personal profile, you can no longer do that as of today.

No more,so what do you do?  What are we going to do? What are we going to change? How are we going to get around that thing that Facebook nixed?

If you can’t post to your personal profile with these automatic tools you’ve been using, you can’t drum up business from people you already know.

What are you going to do?  

How are you going to use to Facebook?

That is what we’re going to talk about today.

So today starts off with a bang, because Facebook gave us a huge, wonderful thing for us to talk about and walk through today.  

Let me start by explaining this real quick.

First of all there are two pieces where you can use tools or where you could use tools like Real Estate Directory or Back at You Media or I know there are other real estate specific vendor tools that let you put or post some pictures they have, etc. but also the non-real estate tools, like Edgar, Hootsuite, SmarterQueue, TweetDeck or whatever, of those tools you can no longer use to post to your personal profile.

 Let me be very clear. PERSONAL PROFILE. 

You can still use the tools to post to your business page.

These tools, however, are no longer available on your personal profile.

There two parts to this.

I am excited this is happening in one way because I got tired of seeing all of those real estate provided post on personal profiles because guys the rules and terms of service of using Facebook are really clear.

You are not allowed to use your personal profile for commercial gain. There are ways around it and you can tweak it, but using that automated content…hmm… not so much and quite frankly, it really wasn’t working.

I mean sometimes you would have a post that would work and sometimes you wouldn’t, but profiles can’t happen anymore, pages you’re good to go!

Those tools are meant to leverage your time for your business page. You personal profile quite frankly are supposed to be you, kind of in the moment.

It’s a virtual representation of you, so we’re going to talk a little bit today about how to separate the two and how to use those tools.

If you using Real Estate Directory or Back to You Media or your using Meet Edgar with the content we give inside of the Leads and Leverage membership, or using something else like HootSuite, Tweetdeck or Smarterqueue or any of those others for anything else you’re doing – when should you use them? How should you use them? Or how do you get your page to get the same amount of energy as your personal profile did?

If you want the Facebook page set-up checklist, download it here because what we’re going to talk about today is how to get your Facebook business page gap for you, how to take over where you can no longer use your personal profile to do this.

That checklist I have for you, that is for you to use to set up your page so that you get the same reactions, the same engagement so you get the same leverage you feel that you were getting on your profile.

So let’s go through all the questions!

Let me be really clear, you can no longer use these 3rd party tools, the tools that allow you to post out, schedule your post, like HootSuite, TweetDeck, SmarterQueue, Meet Edgar, all of those plus real estate specific ones like Real Estate Directory, Back At You Media and whatever ones that are specific, you can no longer use those tools on your personal profile. They are only to be used on your business page.

The first thing I know some of of you are like that’s the only way.  I’ve been posting to my personal profile and I schedule it out.

I am to going to tell you, you’re going to actually have to post to your personal profile, but here is the beauty of you personal profile just like we all have time where we want to be with people or we don’t want to be with people, there are times we feel like sharing what we’re doing and there are times we don’t feel like sharing what we’re doing, your personal profile is perfect for that.

I am on Facebook with you all the time, so you guys aren’t going to believe this but I am an introvert.

I get my energy from being alone. I cannot tell you, like I go through a day like this looking forward to 7:00 pm.

Do you know why?

7:00 pm is when I go into my sanctuary, my space, when I get my time. There are nights I don’t get that, but here’s the thing if I give people a whole lot, the last thing I am going to want to do is post on social media, because it still feeling like having to be in engaged in that.

How do you get your personal profile to work for you?

Well you start sharing things, as real estate agent, I am willing to bet you go out to something, a lunch, a dinner, an open house, a brokers open, a title company training, a conference, etc. I am willing to bet at least once or twice a week you go somewhere out in the community, check in – check in on Facebook wherever you are.

Share with them, if you’re at local business check-in. Use your personal profile to check in, this will keep you in engaged with people.

Share memes or inspirational quotes that you see on Facebook with your person crowd. Let people know what you’re doing and where you’re going with your personal crowd.

If you’re at little league, take a picture and share it, if you’re at a park and rec thing take a picture and share it, at a local gym, take a picture, it doesn’t have to be of you or a person, just take a picture and share it.  

Do that 2-4 times a week, so you can do that.  If you notice on my personal profile, www.facebook.com/christina.ethridge, you can go follow it, I have a lot of public post, I will share things I am passionate about, interested in,

I share pictures of one of my cats, it’s an ongoing joke because all he does every single morning, at the same exact time, goes to the window and sits there so it’s funny because people think he is statue.

I share those kind of things because I don’t have to talk, so if you’re more of an introvert there are lots of things you can do on your personal profile that will still engage people.

If you’re at a closing, don’t be salsey or braggy, just share that you’re at a closing. There is a real estate agent in our market who does a great job of it, she was at a closing at a title company that has very limited parking for people, they have parking reserved and she just just took a picture of that sign and said “I wish they had this everywhere!” The sign had the title company’s name on it, so that was a subtle hint as to where she was and why and also a subtle reminder of what she does.

Your posts are not meant to be canned crapped as I call it, it’s supposed to be in the moment, flexible. Okay?

On your business page, you need to go through the checklist first of all, but it should not be focused on you. Your business page should not be focused on you.  

Your business page needs to be focused on the consumer, what do they want? What are their needs? What are their passions? What are their desires? It’s not a billboard for you because quite frankly, nobody cares about your sales pitches, that’s why we don’t get activity on our business page.  

You need to use that checklist.

Go through that check list, and I’m actually going to be doing a #Live workshop, a brand new Facebook page strategy workshop and I will tell you more about it as I am on over the next few days.

Remember I will be #Live every single business day in August on my page LeadsandLeveage with Christina Ethridge.

I will be going over the entire checklist  but your strategy on your page, just to briefly go into this, the strategy on your page it’s about the consumer, not about you!

If you’re going to continue using the stuff from Real Estate Directory, Back to You Media, or stuff you have scheduled into HootSuite or anything like that you need to customize it to your consumer.

 This is important that you do that, because it’s about them, about their lifestyle, about their desires, when you can show that you can relate to them that’s when they start trusting you.  

That’s when they believe you when you tell them not to even look at the Zestimate from Zillow, because we all know they suck, the consumer may or may not know, but if you want them to listen to you and believe you and clearly implement or do what you say, then you have to give them a reason to trust you first.

That is the goal on your business page. The content you got, you can still use it for your business page, but please customize it. You need to, you need to invest time to do that.

Now, it is really important that you know if you just post stuff automatically to your business page and people are not reacting to it and you’re not getting the right people to engage with it Facebook won’t actually shut the page down, but if you’re filmlar with “ghosting” on Craigslist where you think something is published, but it’s not?

It’s a similar concept where they won’t push your page out organically, at all.

Additionally, if you run ads to promote your page and it’s a dud with people, with the consumer, Facebook is going to make it harder for you to get out, they will charge you more to get out into the algorithm, because people aren’t responding to your page.

You really, really need to make sure your page is really catered to engaging with the consumer.

Which is why you really want it to be about them, the lifestyle they like.

Does it include HootSuite?

Yes, it does include all 3rd party tools, it’s officially turned off.

You have seen email or notifications from the vendors you’re using. I believe it was turned off yesterday or the day before where you could no longer schedule anymore.

I use Meet Edgar, for all my business page stuff and I don’t actually use it for my personal profile, I never have, but I did see where that was all turned off.

How Do I Use My Personal Profile?

Here’s the thing, your personal profile is for you to be connected with people you already know.

If you’re on PTA or go to a lot of local businesses or a member of chamber of commerce, anything like that then you need to be connected with these people on your personal profile.

That is key.

These are people you know or you’ve met at least once in real life, IRL people, so you want to continue that relationship with them These people you know, who you’re already engaged with.

How Do I Use My Business Page?

Your business page is to reach people you’ve never met or you may never get to meet any other way, That’s what the business page is for.

The goal for your business page
The goal for your business page is to use it a conduit between people you do not know and your database. It’s a conduit. That’s what it is and it’s for people you do not know.

Some people may come over you already know, click on it and stuff so you may not need to post the same stuff in both places etc, but when you have something on your business page and you do want to share it on occasion, once a week, maybe to your personal profile no matter how many real estate agents I am connected with on my personal profile I have mine open so people can follow me.

I do it have it that whenever I want to post something private to my friends only, I can do that. No matter how many real estate agents follow me on my personal profile I hardly ever, maybe twice a year I actually share things from my business to my personal profile.

Even though, there are many people I could target on there, it is my personal page, it’s about me as a person.

And yeah, I am passionate about Leads and Leverage with Christina Ethridge and helping you create more time, make more money and enjoy the journey, but those are not the only pieces of me.

I am wife, I love my husband, I am a Mom, I love my kids, I am a daughter and sister, I have fur babies, I go to shows, I love to travel. All of those are all pieces of me as well.

When you are using your personal profile and it just looks like you have Realtor logo as your picture and your header, people know right away you’re using it only for business.

They aren’t interested, they want to know you. They want to connect with you.

There is a reason I connect with certain people on Facebook because I am curious about their life. I am curious what they’re doing. I am curious about their passions. I am curious about their interest.

Things like that, I do not want to be sold to and neither does anybody else for you guys, so be aware of that.

I’ve never used my personal for Real Estate.

There is a fine line and there are ways to do it. I shared different random things I have accomplished, for me usually Leads and Leverage members end up tagging my personal profile in that way, I get some business on my page. It’s all fun stuff, it’s the more relational stuff that’s on there.

Again there are ways to use your profile for content. They way Facebook has been acting lately I am actually surprised they haven’t done it sooner.

It was, and has been for awhile now, really annoying, I would not connect with real estate agents because all they pushed out on their personal profile was real estate agent directory stuff. I would see the same exact post, all over in my fed, so I would just stop.

What was the point in this? They think it’s a tool they pay for so it will get them business. It doesn’t always get you business.

If I Place Ads on my Business Page Do They Automatically Post on my Personal Profile?

It does not post on your personal profile. What you are seeing is your own ad in your newsfeed. Your newsfeed is a compilation of everything you’re clicking-thru,but if you put an ad, an actual ad on your business page, like you’re going into ads manager and creating an ad on your business page, and you’re seeing it in your newsfeed, it is not on your personal profile.

Just make sure you know personal profile vs.business page. You need different content for each one, if you want the page setup checklist, let me know below.  

Stay on Top of the Facebook Algorithm Changes

If you want to be sure you do not get hit by one of these algorithm changes because quite frankly every single month for the last 6-8 months there have been multiple algorithm shifts and changes and you want to be sure that you do not get blindsided by these, you NEED to join us inside of Leads and Leverage.

If you want to ensure you are always ahead of the game, come on in! All videos and workshops that I do are available inside the membership for replay. There is a lot in there, how to set up your page, your posting content, content strategy, everything, it’s an entire process all in there.

Right now, you’ve got to put it all on your business page and if your business page isn’t set up correctly it’s just going to die so get the checklist. It will be a waste of your time and energy if it’s not set up right.


Featured Download:

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


Filed Under: Facebook Tagged With: facebook lead generation, facebook page setup

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • …
  • 11
  • Next Page »
Copyright 2013 - 2021
Leads and Leverage LLC
1869 E Seltice Way #392
Post Falls, ID 83854
All Rights Reserved
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Our Guarantee
  • Refund Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
Transaction Processing
Image(s) or Footage (as applicable) not personally taken and owned by Christina Ethridge are otherwise used under license from Shutterstock.com