Should You Require Registration On Your IDX?

LNL TV Episode #9: Should You Require Registration On Your IDX?

What do you believe to be true? What do you believe works?

Does what you believe have a firm foundation in reality or is it based on perpetuated myth that the real estate industry so loves to spread as “the gospel truth?”

I answer the question in today’s episode.

But, there’s more. Think about this… why are Boomtown, Tiger Leads, Curaytor, etal so successful? Why are they able to charge hundreds to thousands of dollars a month and why are real estate agents scrambling to get on their waiting lists?

Because the reality is, registration works, and works very well, for real estate lead generation.

Check it out:

Want more? Want to rock your real estate business? Get “RE-Freshed!” Your weekly guide to capturing, converting and closing Facebook leads for your real estate business.

Have questions for me? Come on over to the Facebook for Real Estate Agents group and ask!! I’m happy to help you!!

LNL TV Episode #09

by Christina Ethridge 2 Comments

Hey Real Estate Agents!! Email is Dead!! Move on!!

Email is DEAD!! Or is it???

This is a BIGGIE.

I have heard it a LOT in the last 12-18 months, catapulting into nearly daily event in the last couple of months.

Email marketing is dying.

~ Big Team Leader Real Estate Agent

Drip emails are marked as spam

~ Another Real Estate Agent

Email is DEAD! Don’t use email anymore. It never worked anyway.

Hmmm.

Maybe email is dead for real estate agents because real estate agents suck at email.

Yup. I said it. Real Estate Agents SUCK at email. Totally and completely.

They don’t know how to use it. They never have.

Tell me this… if “email is dead” why on earth are businesses finding that email is THE backbone of their business?

Businesses that are starting to ride the wave of the new “social web”. Businesses that rely nearly 100% on email to sell their products and services.

Take a look around you . . . Business in the online space today are focusing HARD on building an email list. That is their #1 goal. And, they are succeeding! They are building phenomenal businesses! They are growing… using EMAIL LISTS!

In real estate we say “lead generate, lead generate, lead generate”. We are supposed to be focusing on adding people to our database. Guess what. An email list and a database are similar. Very similar. In fact, I’d venture to say that as Real Estate Agents, instead of focusing on putting people in our “database”, we need to be focusing on adding people to our email list.

As Real Estate Agents we need to seriously step OUTSIDE of our industry. The Real Estate Industry has notoriously been years and years behind the “real world” and decades behind the “new online world” (is it even possible to be decades behind something that is just coming up on 2 decades old? Why yes! Yes it is!!)

As Real Estate Agents we need to be modeling the new wave of businesses. Studying them. Focusing on their successes. Modeling them. Instead, we are still back at discussing how email is dead and looking around for the next “shiny object”. Finding any “squirrel” opportunity to not learn, deeply learn, about what is actually working in online inbound marketing today.

When you study businesses today, specifically their inbound marketing methods, you quickly realize that email marketing is the key. Without an email list, your business will die. Heck, your business will never make it off the runway. Some won’t even get their engines started.

Are you ready to build a phenomenal real estate business? Are you ready to jump on the new wave of business bandwagon?

Then start focusing on building your email list. It’s that simple.

My question now is…. What are you doing to build your email list? Are you more focused on getting full names, phone numbers and mailing addresses that when you can’t get it all, you get nothing?

Change your focus. Stop focusing on “selling” and start focusing on “giving”. How many books have been written about this very concept? Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands? I know I’ve seen several running around the real estate industry: “The Go Giver” and “The Thank You Economy” are two that immediately come to mind.

Make an offer to give someone something that they are willing to exchange their email address for it. Make it something good. Make it something juicy. Make it something meaty.

Do it in person. Do it via snail mail. Do it on your website. Do it on your Facebook. Do it everywhere. Do it all the time.

Don’t ever stop. Don’t ever think you’ve got enough emails. Don’t change your tactic for a shiny object. Focus on getting email addresses. Focus on making your email list massive. Make it monstrous.

Whether your email list has 10 people on it or 10,000 people on it – treat it like gold. Give it things. Nurture it. Take care of it. Treat it like it’s the foundation to your business that it truly is. Give it things all the time. People are fickle. They have “squirrel” issues too. They’ll make sure they are getting all they can get, until they get the right thing, from the right person, at the right time.

Be that thing. Be that person. Be the right time.

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

by Christina Ethridge 2 Comments

How To Convert Real Estate Prospects: The Insider’s Secret You Must Know

Formerly Titled: Real Estate Agents! Give the Invisibility Cloak back to Harry Potter. Now!!

The Invisibility Cloak can only be “used well” by an 11 year old Hogwarts student. You, my friend, are not an 11 year old Hogwarts student. You are a Real Estate Agent.

The question is . . . Which type of Real Estate Agent are you?

There are two types of Real Estate Agents.

One type of Real Estate Agent is a fan of cold calling, door knocking, direct mail, email drip campaigns, constantly contacting anyone and everyone. They don’t care about annoying people. They don’t care if they are bothering people. They are sometimes likened with used car salesmen.

The other type of Real Estate Agent, isn’t. They can’t stand the idea of “in your face sales” or the idea of being likened to a “used car salesman”. They prefer that people like them and willingly come to them without being bothered by constant marketing or prospecting.

Which one of these two types are you?

Which one of these two types gets the most business?

Must it be an all or nothing deal???

Here’s the REAL deal….

You absolutely, positively, must get over your fear of people potentially not liking you. You must get over your preconceived idea of what you like or don’t like when it comes to being marketed or sold to. Absolutely. What you personally like or dislike is irrelevant. Totally.

I mailed to my farm every 10 days until they screamed at me to go away. If people are not complaining and not talking about you, if you are not IN THEIR FACE, you are doing it wrong. ~Mark Spain

Repetition is the absolute KEY to ANY type of successful sales.

Truly.

I’m not lying to you.

Couple that with… Most Real Estate Agents think doing something twice is “repetition”.

Nope. It’s not.

Repetition is constant. Repetition is unceasing. Repetition borders on annoying. Repetition is often. Repetition never stops (ok, that’s a repeat – see! I’m using repetition).

Any real record person knows that the number one most powerful marketing tool when it comes to music is repetition. ~Nile Rodgers

You must always be present. If you can’t always be present, you must have something that keeps you present in your prospects and clients minds.

A prospect that “sees” you today (whether that be in person, on Facebook, in an email, on a postcard) won’t remember you two days from now, or even tomorrow.

A prospect that “sees” you 2-3 times in a row will start to remember you for a day or two, or even three. Until you’ve let a few days lapse in between “seeing” them, then their memory fades quickly.

A prospect that “sees” you 6-8 times in a row will start to remember you in their longer term memory. That is, until you’ve let a few weeks laps in between “seeing” them, then their memory fades…

To become solidified in a prospects mind you must must must get in front of them a minimum of 6-8 times within an initial 2-3 week period. Must.

To continue to STAY in a prospects mind, you must STAY in front of them on at least a bi-weekly basis. At minimum.

This changes depending upon the way your prospects “see” you.

How are your prospects “seeing” you now? Are they a “fan” of your Facebook Page that you are sharing valuable content on at least once a day? Are they on an email drip campaign so they “see” you via email at least once or twice a week? Are they receiving a post card, gift card or newsletter via snail mail from you at least once or twice a month? Are they hearing your voice at least once a quarter? Are they seeing you IRL (in real life) at least once or twice a year?

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