Too many real estate agents (sales people) still do not get Lead Generation Follow Up yet so I am going to break it down into simple terms so that everyone can understand:

1) You get a lead;
2) You call (talk) the lead right away or leave a message and email the lead;
3) You discover what bits of information you are missing from the lead and you get the information through various obvious places (Google…duh!!);
4) You place all the leads information into your Contact Management (CRM) [Prospect Maximizer] system for regular and automated follow up;
5) You at no point concern yourself with the Leads time frame for doing business for that will allow you the opportunity to falsely accuse the lead of being invalid and since you are not going to only be in real estate for 6 months you can put a lead in your pipeline that has an 18 month window and know they will eventually be your client….trust your abilities and your follow up system;
6) You follow the contact management structure you have established for the lead which includes calling, visiting, emailing, mailing, etc.;
7) You continue following up with the lead until they become a client at which point you can stop referring to them as a lead;

Any questions?

In this podcast guest hosts Marc Hargraves and Matt Self from GetMyHomesValue.com discuss a recent article by Craig Proctor breaking down 3 mistakes that are crucial to avoid…especially in today’s more competitive buyer’s market.

Matt says: Be proactive. If you’re expecting a return phone call at 2:00pm from a prospect and they don’t call at 2:00, don’t wait around…”Call them at 2:01.”

Marc says: Be aware that a homeowner who is selling may not have an agent representing them for buying their new home. “This is a missed opportunity on the part of the listing agent.”

Remember, the guys are very passionate about real estate and having the right attitude and they say some things and use some words that might make you blush…so please listen with an open mind.

RIGHT CLICK HERE AND SELECT “SAVE AS” TO DOWNLOAD THIS PODCAST AS AN MP3 FILE

In this podcast Rory, Steve, Dave and Marc Hargraves discuss a recent article highlighting the crucial points in servicing your customers. Don’t let your job control you, or you will quickly become overwhelmed. If you take care of your customers, success will surely follow.
Remember, the guys are very passionate about real estate and having the right attitude and they say some things and use some words that might make you blush…so please listen with an open mind.

RIGHT CLICK HERE AND SELECT “SAVE AS” TO DOWNLOAD THIS PODCAST AS AN MP3 FILE

You are struggling, you are allowing situations to control your paycheck, you are trying to blame others for your troubles and you are considering getting out of sales and getting into something with a steady paycheck but limited income. If no one has “The Balls” to tell you the truth then I will….THE PROBLEM IS YOU! Now you can choose to get all upset which will make your struggles even worse or you can choose to listen and do something about it!! The solution is simple stop being trapped in the box that is handcuffing your success and start being creative with your actions and “Think Outside The Box” for success beyond imagination.

You are in sales and you control your own destiny but you struggle from time to time because you are not thinking past traditional means. Here are just a few creative ways to get your creative juices flowing:

-REFERRAL TREE: Instead of just calling your sphere of influence to touch base call them to give you 2 names of people that you can introduce yourself and proceed to do so. Those become warm calls.
-GIFT CARDS: The gift card is perfect anytime, not only after you complete a sale. Get a bunch of $5 Gift Cards to Starbucks and get them to your most stubborn prospects with a note that says “I want you to be fully awake when we finally get a chance to meet…..Does Wednesday at 4:00 or Thursday at 11:00 work best for you?”
-MAIL THEM A SHOE OR A FOOT: Easy now….do not cut your foot off!! If you can get your hands on some old Manequin feet or better yet just get some slightly used shoes at Goodwill and put one in a box and send it signature required with a note “Now that I have my foot in the door, please let me know when would be a good time for the rest of me to join it?”
-SEND A SINGING TELEGRAM: Send a singing telegram with a song that details exactly what you are selling, why you are great and when you want to meet with them.
-SEND A CARD: Not to the prospect, but to the prospects spouse or significant other asking: “Hello….would you mind having (name) call me when they get home, for some reason (he/she) is not getting my calls at their office and I am trying to schedule a meeting with them in the next week.

I know some of you are saying that wow these things are very Corny and my reputation is more important than doing things like that. I will look you straight in the eyes and tell you that if you are not going to use every creative effort imaginable to make sure that your income is always in excess of $150K++++ every year can you please step aside so that the good sales people can get through and maintain their reputation….THANK YOU.

I truly PHind it amazing when so many sales people struggle with sales and acquiring new leads and PHollowing up with those leads and then to hear they are aPHraid of or unwilling to use the most important piece of equipment they own. PHenomenal things happen to individuals who PHocus on the simple and most basic sales tool that has been around for over a 100 years. You PHind time to talk to PHriends and PHamily with this century old technology….then why is it so diPHicult to take the same approach in your business world.

Trust me it is absolutely PHun to knock on doors but to cover more ground and to convert more leads into clients, it is essential to harness the power of your PHone(s).

Successful Lead Generation is solely dependent upon the sales representative who works the lead. If you do not have a solid follow up and/or contact management system you are doing yourself and all marketing dollars a severe injustice. In doing sales training this morning for a small group of reps ranging in experience from 2 months to 25 years it amazes me how proper follow up systems are often overlooked and how the most experienced sales rep can easily fall into a state of complacency, not due to the lead but due to their inability to commit to a follow up system.

I truly find that most of the unsuccessful sales representatives or the ones complaining about business or the lack there of is due highly to their inability or unwillingness to properly follow up with a lead. Reality has to truly kick you in the a** sooner or later to show that not all leads are going to “Pay Out” today. They must be put into a CRM and/or a consistent follow up system for successful conversion.

Truth be told….Leads are everywhere! Thanks to the power of the internet and various other technologies, the ability to gain access to individuals that have an interest in the product or service you offer is easier than ever. Calling a lead only 1 time and emailing the lead only2 times does not equate to a strong plan for success.

So, we have been back and forth with a customer we’ll refer to as Mr. Agent. His wife signed up with our service in September and did not do the things that we suggest. They are refusing to contact the people who are in need of help that come through our site. I could go on and on. Now, they are threatening to call the Better Business Bureau, The National Association of Realtors, and others to tell them how we have “wronged” them because they canceled on January 2 and wouldn’t refund them (we already spent marketing for January and our contract clearly states that you must cancel by the 15th to end your subscription for the following month).  Keep in mind, we don’t even have a long term contact like most of our competitors… so there’s never someone who’s “locked in”.

I was concerned that maybe we did something wrong so I investigated.  That’s when I found out that we have literally introduced them to 22 people, 12 of which were verified with a real estate need. These leads were not followed up with.

Mr. and Mrs. Agent did not follow up with these people and have made comments to us that we’re selling “swamp land in PA”, and that we’re not providing a valuable service.  The funny thing is, they haven’t even used the tools that we provided them with.  They did not view all of the educational webinars that we created either.

I don’t usually get directly involved in issues with customers at all any more, but because my personal character was attacked this time, I thought I’d share a letter to them publicly through our blog. Feel free to share your comments… this blog is an open, transparent book.

Mr. and Mrs. Agent:

You stated in your email that you are refusing to contact any of the leads that we send to you. That doesn’t seem like a very intelligent business decision. If you’re getting leads, why on earth would you not contact them? I will be sharing your emails with the National Association of Realtors as well as Long and Foster’s corporate team through our blog. We have a horrible ethics problem in this country with agents not following up with customers who request information. It is truly a shame. We spend hours on the phone apologizing to home buyers and sellers on behalf of agents like yourself who never contact them. It’s comical to me that agents purchase our service, don’t do the things that have been proven to be successful over and over again and then claim that our service is “garbage” instead of looking in the mirror and acknowledging that it’s their lack of follow up and desire to succeed. It’s always easier to blame someone else, I guess.

Do you realize you haven’t even logged into Prospect Maximizer since November 29!?!?!? How on earth can you state with a straight face that our service is garbage when you’re not even utilizing the thousands of dollars worth of tools we provide you with at no cost?

You also haven’t done a thing with the RemarkableAgents.com web site that we provided you with and you didn’t attend the educational webinars that teach you how agents that are making a lot of money with our service do things. The more I look into this, the more frustrated I get.

Regarding you not being with our service, your first email stated December 31, and the more recent ones have stated the 7th. I am staring at an email right now that you sent on January 2, 2008. You are set for cancellation on January 31, which means you will continue to get requests from buyers and sellers until then. We are contractually obligated to continue serving you through January 31, and will do so.  You will not be charged on February 1st.

I advise that you DO contact these home owners who have requested information from you. Not only is it a horrible business decision not to (it’s money in your pocket), but it is also EXTREMELY unethical to not serve the community that you promised to serve when you became a licensed Realtor.

I understand that you are retired, but even so, you have the time to spend typing an email over and over about not being with our service, but do not have the time to call Mr. Johnson regarding his request for your service? My associates and I have sold more than half a BILLION dollars in real estate between us, we are now in the business of helping other agents do the same. Some agents follow the system and are literally earning hundreds of thousands of dollars per year with our service alone, others don’t take the time to educate themselves on the internet consumer or how to be more effective with online lead generation and fail.

What do you suppose the difference is between an agent who is successful with internet leads and an agent who is unsuccessful with internet leads? We have both of those subscribing to our service. The difference that we see is that the ones who are successful understand how sales works, understand CRM (contact relationship management) and it’s importance and have an incredible grasp of the internet consumer and the differences between them and leads from traditional sources. I would encourage you educate yourself on the internet consumer through our siccess center and your concept of what a “junk” lead is will change.

I will be informing NAR of the veri-link that we had on the line who had an immediate need on September 28, which you elected not to contact. I will also be personally contacting all of the people we have introduced to you to find out if they received their home value reports that you comited to providing them with when you signed up. I will then be sending a report to NAR, NJAR, and Long And Foster’s executive team with my findings. We have hundreds of happy Long and Foster customers nation wide between our different services. Again, what is the difference between you and them?  Many of our customers are making money with our service and have received less leads than you have.

GetMyHomesValue.com is a company that my partners and I personally built from nothing which turned out to be one of the fastest growing companies in Pennsylvania. My wife, my children, my friends and those that I do business with know us as ethical, upstanding, charitable citizens with great integrity and character. I take it extremely personally when someone who should look in the mirror accuses us of something like “selling swamp land in PA”.

If your goal was to anger someone because you were angered yourself, you have succeeded because of your personal attack on our character. Congratulations. So, here we go… you contact the BBB, NAR, NJAR, Harrisburg, The attorney general, and whoever else you mentioned… I’ll do the same. I’ve got 22 people, 12 verified (and counting) that wanted your services that you refused to help after signing a contract that you would. Those organizations will be interested in hearing from each one of them individually.

There are winners and losers in life. Winners don’t always win the game… but they ALWAYS give it all they have. Losers come up with excuses for not giving it all they have.

Dave Conklin
President, Co-Founder
GetMyHomesValue.com

In this podcast Rory, Steve and Dave introduce GetMyHomesValue.com VP Mark Hargraves and discuss a recent RISMedia article outlining 9 things consumers don’t care about…but agents tend to brag about. Let your actions do the talking!

Remember, the guys are very passionate about real estate and having the right attitude and they say some things and use some words that might make you blush…so please listen with an open mind.

RIGHT CLICK HERE AND SELECT “SAVE AS” TO DOWNLOAD THIS PODCAST AS AN MP3 FILE

We have finally had the opportunity to edit our first of many video podcasts. This particular one you have already read about if you keep up with our blog. It was recorded while we were in Wenatchee, WA meeting with Blaine and Erin Davidson. It’s our first one, so please accept our apologies for the lack of video quality.

In this podcast we learn now Blaine and Erin Davidson have amast over 40 real estate transactions from nothing more than a lot of on line lead generation and a great business model. Those who learn, implement and do what they have to say here will be champions.

Earning over $40,000 in Gross Commissions every month sure sounds like a great idea for most agents. Now go get “schooled”!!! Have fun.

[coolplayer width=”320″ height=”240″ autoplay=”0″ loop=”0″ charset=”utf-8″ download=”0″ mediatype=”"]
http://www.rorysteveanddave.com/video/davidsons_final_part_one.wmv
[/coolplayer]

Okay so you have an inventory of 10-20 listings that have sat on the market for over 3-6 months and you are scratching your head wondering what to do. You cannot understand that the homes have not sold I mean you put a sign in the yard, lock box on the door and entered the home in your local MLS, but you are still puzzled. You even went as far as scheduling an Open House 2 Sundays after you listed it, but since only 3 neighbors came to the home you figured it was not worth doing any more…so you did not do any more. So you have pretty much done all that you can do….right??

Ask yourself these one question….Do I know everything possible about every single one of my listings and does everyone of my listings know everything about me and the current market?? This is very important….the more everyone knows the more possibilities for success. For example:

1) Why are they selling;
2) What is their time frame;
3) Where are they moving to;
4) How flexible are they on price;
5) Have you completely explained to them the state of the market and how homes that sold for $350,000.00 in 2006 are very likely to be selling for $280,000.00 right now but it is still $60,000.00 higher than what they paid for it in 2000;
6) Have you explained to them you are prepared to fire them if they are not flexible with pricing and/or your marketing ideas;
7) Have you introduced creative ways of selling and marketing such as “Reverse Offers” and “Home Staging” and “Daily Open Houses”;
8) Is this a “Sellable” listing and if not make it “Sellable” or fire the client!!
9) You must know their sense of urgency to sell in order to determine your sense of urgency to spend marketing dollars to get it sold.
10) It is always better to have a $250,000.00 listing that you draw leads from and sells in 3 months than it is to have a $1,000,000.00+ listing that gets no activity and does not sell.

Please get your listings and clients under control and the best way to do that is by introducing yourself and expectations to them.