Turning lunch time into commissions

We all have to eat.  So why not have lunch with a client or prospective client.  I go to lunch every week with past customers or agents or recruits.  Or I go have coffee with them at Starbucks.  This is really real estate basics but I see a lot of agents who do not use this time effectively.

It is a great way to stay in touch with your freindsand family and past clients.  I love to go to where they work and visit them.  The reason I do this is because I get to meet their co workers.  Has the light bulb gone off yet???  Yes I get to meet the guys they work with.  They get to meet me not as an agent but a freind of their co worker.  Then the find out what I do and many times I get a referral from someone in the office who needs to buy or sell. 

Personal referrals are the most valuble to you.  The trust factor is already built in.  And trust is one of the major factors a seller and buyer use to determine who they are going to work with. 

Let’s talk about a buyer and lunch or coffee.  Many times you get buyer leads from ads or email.  They just want info and have not decided on an agent yet.  Try this.  Ask them to meet you for an interview.  ” Can we meet for coffee at Starbucks and you can interview me to be your agent?”  Then shut up and wait for them to answer.  There are going to say yes, no or maybe.  It makes them realize that you want to earn their business and that they have a no obligation approach to meeting you.  Some buyers don’t set appointments with agents because they are not yet comitted to buying.  Some don’t want to commit to an agent yet.  I have used this technique on several occasions. 

The reason I thought about it this week,  was because one of the buyers that I met using this interview technique stopped by to see me.  I sold them a house on Lake Norman and since have sold them a commercial building.  And yes they are on my mailing list.  And we go to lunch from time to time.  So when you read my blog and think about how easy I make it sound.  Ask yourself can I do this?  Sure you can, but do you want to?  You have to love selling real estate to be good at.  So if you don’t love it I would suggest getting another job and let the ones of us who love it, do all the business.

As always if you have a referral for the Lake Norman, Mooresville, Cornelius, Davidson, Denver, Charlotte, Concord, Statesville and Troutman North Carolina areas.  Send them my way.  I promise we will take good care of them.

PS.  I am taking the wife and kids to Bermuda for a vacation.  Back in action the week of June 24th

Rick Knight

Direct mail to sphere of influence is a money maker

This week I was on a listing appointment and yes, I got the listing.  The client called a few months ago and we got together this week.  I have probably been sending mail to them for about 15 years.  This will be the fourth real estate transaction as their agent.  When the wife called me a few weeks back I asked her if she had been receiving my post cards. ” Yes,” she said, “I keep them in my planner to remind me to call you to sell our house.”

If you are new to the business please remember that real estate can be easy.  Stay in touch.  Stay in touch.  Stay in touch.  If you are out of sight then you are out of mind.  What you are trying to accomplish, is that when they think of real estate they think of you.  When they think of you, they think of real estate.  It is not that hard.  You have to follow up with great service. 

You can be someone’s agent for life just by staying in touch.  I have probably spent $50 to $60 on mailings to this client over the last 15 years.  Was it worth it?  Four sales with a sales volume over $800,000.  Yes it was.  So get your planner out and mark down each day of the month that you are going to mail to your sphere of influence.  Make a plan and stick to it.  The dividends will pay off.

Many new agents hesitate to start contacting the people they know or they assume the family and freinds will just contact them because they sent a business card when they started.  I learned the hard way in my early real estate career. I lost a few sales because I did not stay in touch on a regular basis.  You have to remind them and you have to show them success.  Just listed and just sold cards are the simplest way to do it.  When you run into a freind or family member and they ask,” are you still in real estate?”  You know you are not marketing yourself as a real estate professional.

Direct mail to your sphere of influence is a money maker.  So shake it !!!!!!!  In my opion it is the most profitable of all ways to market yourself.  Start your direct mail campaign today.  And of course, if you know someone moving to Lake Norman, North Carolina,  please send us the referral.  We will take good care of them.

Rick Knight   ERA Wilder Realty 

 Toll free 1-888-892-7373 Ext 105

 

 

Real Estate Sales and Sushi

I had lunch with a client yesterday who has been on my mailing list for almost my whole real estate career.  I am closing a property he owns next week.  Interesting sale, because it will be about our 10th closing together.  It made me think about the importance of follow up and working your sphere of influence.  You not only have to work your sphere of influence with a direct mail campaign but you have to also follow up with personal visits and phone calls.  Meeting for lunch or meeting for a cup of coffee is a great way to stay in touch.  Real Estate Sales is not a hard as some make it out to be.  If you love what you do and you can work with people you like then it really does not seem like work. 

The listing he gave me was a condo.  The buyer called me off a web site and I asked her to preview the videos on youtube.  She did and then went to the virtual tour.  And before I knew it, we had a contract and now it is time to close.  I have added her to my sphere of influence mailing list.  And I will be taking her out for sushi soon.

So get out of the office and call someone on your sphere and take them out for some spicy tuna. 

And of course, if you have a referral for the Lake Norman, NC area please call me toll free 1-888-892-7373

 

 

Real Estate Marketing Basics Keeps the Phone Ringing

As I work with new agents, they always seem to be looking for a new way to build a better mouse trap.  Some of them have a hard time grasping the basics.  There are just a few basics that any agent can follow and have a very successful career.

#1  Contacting your sphere of influence. 

This can give an agent their highest return on real estate marketing investment.  If I was only given one tool in my real estate marketing tool box, I  would pick this one.  I make commissions all year long from staying in touch with this group.  Direct mail, email, phone calls, personal visits, lunch appointments, social events, holidays and the list goes on and on.

When you are reviewing your budget please put this at the top of your list.  100 people will cost about $600 a year for a direct mail campaign.  What budget ?  You can’t be in the real estate business without a budget.  So start there.  When I interview a new agent we discuss budget.  It lets me know as a manager what we have to work with.  If your budget is $5,000 or more  a year then this is no biggie.  If your budget is $0……….Don’t laugh……. some agents have a budget of almost nothing but they are in the business.  Well I say go get a part time and make $600 to have at least  a direct mail campaign to 100 people.  The flip side is when an agent has a large budget and they spend spend spend on everything but a direct mail campaign to their sphere.  It makes me want to pull my hair out. 

My sphere of influence usually needs me every five years.  But they can send me referrals all year long.  So for 100 people you have the ability to make 10 to 20 closings or referrals.  Some don’t use me because they are out of state but they call me for advise and I refer them to another broker and get paid.  It is a beautiful thing.

So if you are spending spending spending on all this other crazy stuff,  just stop it.  Make a plan of action to start a direct mail campaign.  Just listed post cards and just sold post cards are the very best because they show your sphere  what you do.  SELL REAL ESTATE !!!  I am not cook so I don’t need a recipe card.  I don’t need a card reminding me to change my clock back for daylight savings.  I do want people to know I sell real estate.

Real estate marketing basics.  Get a data base of family, friends, neighbors, spouse’s freinds and relatives, past customers.  Then start a just listed / just sold post card campaign to them.  Call them.  Go see them.  Email them.  Work your sphere.  Have a party and invite them.  If it is in your budget.  You want them to think of you when they think of real estate.

oh yeah.  You have to give great service as a real estate professional or you are waisting your money and their time.

More to come on working your sphere and the basics.    Start your plan right now !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and send me a referral for Lake Norman, NC

Youtube.com real estate video commercial

http://youtube.com/kknight781

I love youtube.com

I use youtube.com for my real estate sales business.  I also use it to to learn new songs for my guitar playing.  I use it for doing research for any upcoming trip.  I have noticed that more and more web sites have youtube.com videos.  If you are in sales you must.  I say ” MUST !!!”  get with the program. 

Check out www.youtube.com  then search for  Rick Knight ERA Wilder Realty

The commercials in red were produced by Time Warner cable for my TV ads on the local cable channel.  I just then post them on youtube.com.