Here is a great email that Ray Wood has given me permission to post to you guys. What a champion. Thanks Ray, over to you…
12 ‘Musts’ for Real Estate
- 1. If you have unsold listings, then sell them or sack them. Simply grade your stock as to motivation (10 has to sell yesterday and 1 has no reason). Then peel off your 7s or better and make a time to meet and get them priced right to sell. Dont do it on the phone if you can help it. Right now you can ask if they want to be sold by Christmas. No point looking for more listings when you are not moving the ones you have. Watch your days on market as well. When this blows out it gets costly. Your sellers want leadership and results. We are marketers not valuers. Honour you commercial obligation and get a sold sticker on that for sale sign before December 25!
- 2. Keep building your contacts. If you go to a listing presentation and you have no relationship established with the seller, chances are you are just a price check.
- 3. Dont rely on email for your communication. Sure, it can be part of it but it’s getting harder and harder to cut through all the junk these days. The only reason you are reading this is that you and I have established a connection and you feel there is value in what Im offering. Otherwise you would unsubscribe so it’s my job to not only come up with fresh ideas that will make you money but I need to keep you interested too.
- 4. So if thats the case, make sure you use the phone as your main contact method. The phone is still the real estate professionals weapon of choice.
- 5. Make a plan to build extra business contacts. Why dont you create a list of PREFERRED BUSINESS PARTNERS? Include everyone from your eye specialist to your dry cleaner and get them printed off. Hand them out at opens and listing appointments. You can offer them as a download from your website too. Make sure you send on to everyone on the list so they know you are helping them make money in the new economy.
- 6. Use a good Professional Photographer to take your pix. Please?
- 7. Offer free stuff (Free Book, Free CD, Free Makeover Consultation, Free Professional Photography etc…) Free stuff is a great lead generator in the new economy
- 8. Use your Free Offers when you make phone contact. Dont call and see if they want to sell, call and offer stuff. EG: Hello Mrs Johnson, its Ray calling from Free Stuff Real Estate and I wanted to let you know that we have a free advertising package available for property sellers in November and December. Can you think of anyone who might be selling?
- 9. Okay…this is good… Make sure you multiple contact. Lets say you have a great free offer in place. Your strike rate will be much higher if you go email, letter, phone and text all in the same two day period.
- 10. Daniel Mendes tells me he regularly swaps vendors with someone else in his office. This is very cool thinking from the guru. He simply calls one of his co-workers vendors and provides buyer feedback when a price needs reducing. His co worker does the same for him.
- 11. Target your marketing to send a single powerful message. Unless you are following the 600 Plan, your promotions need to have one single point. We think its fresh and new and exciting to get different stuff out all the time but our target market just gets confused. Imagine if Nike only used Just Do It every so often.
- 12. Get organised! Heres the number 1 way to catch your competitors napping; Work out what needs to be done and do it beforehand. I love doing a list of things that need doing the day before. That way my sub-conscious gets to work on it while I’m sleeping. Somewhere between lunch with Elle McPherson in Paris and helicopter Skiing in NZ, my mind will begin work on the next days actions. Try it, its amazing…(and say hi to Elle for me)
- 13. Focus on Dollar productive tasks. Spend 90 percent of your time doing… 1 Putting a deal together. 2 A listing presentation. 3 Looking after your sellers and getting their price reduced if required and 4 Finding new contacts and phoning your existing ones. Buyers are way down the list. Control the stock and OWN the buyers.
Ok, it’s Glenn again, follow Ray’s tips, learn your craft because the days of simply being in real estate and making money are over. YOU MUST LEARN THE SKILLS NOW. Check out my stuff, Ray’s or whoever, but get good, QUICK or suffer the consequences of being the latest statistic. Here’s tip 14, buy my CD program designed to get you more business than you can poke a stick at, especially in times of financial crisis, you need choice in order to discard anyone below a ‘7’ (see Ray’s tip number 1)
Glenn Twiddle (guest article by Ray Wood, thanks again mate)
