Revving Up Your Q1

Social Media

First key is frequency. Social media is a non-invasive way to stay connected with your sphere. You should be posting something interesting every day. If you post too often, people will ignore you. If you don’t post often enough, people will forget you.

Second key is content. Original content is the best, but if you can’t think of something unique to post, you can always find interesting articles that others have posted and share them. Here is the question though? What are your followers most interested in? Unless you share content they find interesting, they will ignore it.

Third key is interaction. It is not enough to use your social media as a one-way message board to promote your listings. Social media is about being social. Every morning you should read what others are posting and comment on their posts. They will feel a stronger connection to you if they see you engaging with them, rather than just promoting yourself.

Fourth key is investment. Being on social media is free (except for the time investment). However, if you don’t pay to play, your posts won’t get seen by very many people. Adding as little as $20 to boost a post can put you in front of hundreds more eyeballs. If you invest the time to write great content then invest the money to get it seen by as many people as possible.

Phone Prospecting

You will see a significant increase in your print marketing conversions if you follow up your mail pieces with phone calls. Phone prospecting can be used without a corresponding mail campaign, but the phone calls will be friendlier if homeowners recognize you when you call.

First key is to practice your scripts. During the pandemic, phone prospecting is your most effective and least expensive prospecting tool. Many agents avoid it because they don’t like the rejection, they don’t like being challenged and not having the answers, yet they don’t put in the necessary work to study the scripts. To be good at phone prospecting, you can’t wing it. You must have a good reason for calling, such as:

We have buyers for your neighborhood. They missed out on the one that just sold
around the corner from you. There were multiple offers and it sold above asking.
With sellers getting a premium for their homes right now, have you thought about selling?

Second key is to ask a lot of questions. If the homeowner says they are not interested in selling, most agents don’t know what to do with that, so they end the call. Great salespeople are inquisitive. People in North America are programmed to say no to marketing calls. That is why you should open the conversation with a straight question “Do you want to sell your house?”. Expect a no and then you can wrap around to giving them your reason for calling (e.g., we have buyers for your neighborhood). If they hesitate, then ask open ended questions. One of the best questions I like is “Let’s pretend … if you could change one thing about your house, what would that be?” Everyone wants to change something, and by saying “let’s pretend” it allows them to safely explore their wish list without committing to anything.

Third key is to know your target market. A prospect’s opinion of you will go up when they can see you intimately understand their neighborhood. When they ask you about recent sales, you know everything about them. When they ask what similar properties sell for in their neighborhood, you have the answer. When they ask how long it typically takes to sell, you have the answer. Not an “I think” answer, but an “I know” answer. I was recently talking to my sister-in-law and she said that often she knows more about our local real estate market than agents do. That should never happen! I mentioned before that agents are reluctant to make prospecting calls because they don’t like being challenged and not having the answers. If you do your homework before you call, you will have the answers they need and your confidence will go up. People buy confidence. When you know what you are talking about you are not a telemarketer, you are a local expert bringing a valuable service to them.