In talking to a FSBO just yesterday, he was not so much intrigued by showing him how I was going to make him more money by going with me and paying my commission (although he was impressed) nor was I able to close him on the mere fact that listing his home with me will bring in better more qualified buyers. His eye brows raised and the head started to nod based on the fact that selling your home on your own and sticking that red and white FSBO sign in the yard opens the doors for anyone to stop by at any time.

He travels quite a bit for his job and his wife stays home with the kids who are both under 8 years of age. After that he told me they sold their Townhouse on their own a few years back without any problems and that is why they are doing it again. I proceeded to explain is it worth the safety of your family? That red and white sign in your front yard is typically an Open Invite to anyone driving by to stop in at anytime of the day and not only knock on your door, but walk around your house, peek in the windows and even bug your neighbors. A lot of these individuals have not even applied for a mortgage and truly have no interest in buying a home. In some cases you could be opening your doors to someone staking out your home for a future burglary. Is it worth it, I continued to ask?

When you list your home with a real estate professional you are automatically providing a much safer and secure means for marketing and selling your home. You will dramatically decrease the chance of drop-ins and nosy window peekers and you will more than not have pre-approved people going through your home.

I then asked, how much is all of that worth? I proceeded to answer it for him as he was truly speechless….It is priceless Mr. FSBO, absolutely priceless!!

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

I say this in love. I am getting EXTREMELY frustrated with many of our clients. I do what I do every day to help people. Zig Ziglar says it best… “If you help enough people to get what they want… you’ll get what you want”.

Anyway, we have taken our Veri-Link service to a whole new level and are now Veri-Linking more consumers to agents than ever before. Veri-Link is an amazing service that allows us to connect a consumer with a real estate need directly to an agent.

Successful agents: Sit down, this is going to SHOCK you.

75% of the agents NEVER ANSWER THEIR PHONE when we attempt to connect them. We then get back on the line with the lead and have to say, “I’m sorry, but (Agent Name) isn’t available, but we are leaving a message for them to call you back.”

We might as well say, “Yeah, uhm, the agent doesn’t think you’re important enough to talk to right now… but when the agent has time for you, they’ll give you a buzz.”

I just sat here at my desk listening to a consumer who wanted to sell their home because they got relocated and the agent didn’t answer. By the time the agent gets around to it, they will probably have called someone else.

We are building tools to help make you successful as a real estate agent… but it’s very difficult if you don’t follow up with your leads (66% of the leads we generate are never called by the agent according to our surveys). It’s also difficult for us to help you succeed if you don’t answer the phone.

So, if you see “717″ as the area code on your caller id… PLEASE ANSWER YOUR PHONE. Your success depends on it.

Because he was duct taped to a Realtor! Now I am only going to say this once, so pay attention, YOUR LOAN OFFICER MUST ATTEND EVERY APPOINTMENT THAT YOU HAVE WITH A POTENTIAL CLIENT!! Read the rest of this entry »

You know who I am talking about the Agent you met at the Open House you went to 3 weeks ago that keeps calling you to earn your business. Or the Agent that you called regarding a home you saw in one of their ads that emails and calls every other day. Or that Agent who knocks on your door 2-3 times a week to prove they are the best person for the job. 

Stop shrugging them off…Stop feeling annoyed…Stop dismissing their attempts as futile and Stop pretending that you do not need their service…YOU DO!! You want that Aggressive Agent on your side representing your needs, because if you do not have one an Aggressive Agent is going to come along and walk all over your Non-Aggressive agent.

Those same aggressive, in your face, tenacious, doorknocking, telephoning and information leaving Agents are the same Agents that will Aggressively market your home; sell your home; find buyers to bring to your home; help with financing; negotiate the best price for your home; handle all problems “with your interests in mind” from meeting to settlement; and will have you telling others what a great job they did. 

If you want a “Timid and Shy” Realtor selling your home (they are out there in abundance), you will more than likely get “Timid and Shy” results. However, getting that Aggressive Realtor you have a better chance of getting Top Dollar Results….The Choice Is Yours!!

You want the Realtor to give you your home value over the phone, without ever seeing your property. Or you want your home value to be automated online without all the details necessary for a true home value report. And you want your home value to be at least $100,000.00 more than what you were expecting. You want all of this and a cash deal…right??

Do me a favor, as a former Realtor and speaking for the nearly 1 million Realtors nationwide….DON’T BE RIDICULOUS!! I have nothing against being optimistic in any situation however, your home value has so many variables that determine value (or lack there of) that it is impossible to do accurately without the visitation of a real estate professional. It is okay to let them into your home….they will not bite! They want to give you what you want…an accurate home value report as opposed to guessing over a phone call or hoping through an online valuation.

When you are dealing with the absolute most expensive item in your life, don’t you want to be 100% accurate…at least 100% of the time??