Let’s face it, real estate can be confusing. Real estate can be frustrating. Real estate can be overwhelming. And, real estate can even be a little bit of a headache. That’s why many people in America, those who could afford to purchase a home but don’t, wind up renting for years longer than they want to… all because they don’t know what they don’t know. Some of them might struggle with wanting to get married or start a family, maybe they think they are too young, or perhaps they think that with their current level of income, they would never qualify for a mortgage. That’s where you, the real estate expert, comes into play… Your primary job when working with this type of buyer, the one who is “just looking”, is to reassure them that you are the expert in your area and are working for them, as a part of their team. Especially since NAR’s most recent Profile of Home Buyers & Sellers breaks down the first-time homebuyers in these categories… % of all FT Buyers Household Income Median Age All FT Buyers 100% $75,000 32 Married Couple 57% $87,100 32 Single Female 18% $54,000 35 Unmarried Couple 16% $77,300 30 Single Male 7% $59,600 31…Read More
“A coach is someone who can give correction without resentment.” – Coach John Wooden Do you have an Inside Sales Agent? Who’s coaching them? Do you have an ISA Coach? If not, you could be limiting the effectiveness and success of your Inside Sales Agent (ISA). That’s because coaches help you identify and focus on what’s important, which accelerates your success. According to coaches.com, good coaches: Create a safe environment in which people see themselves more clearly; Identify gaps between where the client is and where the client needs or wants to be Ask for more intentional thought, action and behavior changes than the client would have asked of him or herself Guide the building of the structure, accountability, and support necessary to ensure sustained commitment Successful athletes obviously understand the power of coaching. The United Kingdom Coaching Strategy describes the role of the sports coach as one that “enables the athlete to achieve levels of performance to a degree that may not have been possible if left to his/her own endeavours.” The top real estate teams and brokerages understand that ISA coaching can help increase the performance and output at of their ISA. ISA coaching can have a massive impact on an organization’s financial performance; according to an ICF…Read More
The reality is that ISAs are becoming a bigger part of profitable real estate teams. And it’s 100% true. Back in 2004, Gary Keller’s book, The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, described the role of inside sales agents as mere “telemarketers.” Today, the ISA’s role has progressed to the point where organizations have entire departments dedicated to inside sales or they outsource their ISA efforts to companies who engage and qualify leads for their teams. The Millionaire Real Estate Agent 2 is to be released soon and shifts its outlook on the ISA by introducing it as a “Key Role” that should be introduced as early as possible in the team building process. ISA’s are all in all fairly new to the real estate space. It was a natural evolution from glorified “receptionist” to “lead qualifier” to full blown commissioned sales positions. The ISA role has become much more than simple “lead scrubbing”. What is an ISA? The basic job function of an ISA (Inside Sales Agent), whether they are virtual or in-house, is to usually be the first “human” contact made with a new lead. They progress a lead up to the “qualified appointment set” step but stop short of going on listing or buyer appointments, and…Read More
What are buyers and sellers looking for when it comes to trusting someone that’s going to help them make their dream of owning a home a reality? How do they know if they’ve found the right agent? The most important characteristic that buyers and sellers are looking for in an agent is someone who is going to take the time to really educate them on the choices available to them and their ability to buy in today’s market. As the financial guru Dave Ramsey advises consumers: “When getting help with money, whether it’s insurance, real estate or investments, you should always look for someone with the heart of a teacher, not the heart of a salesman.” They will do their research. They’ll ask their friends and family for recommendations of professionals they’ve worked with in the past and have had good experiences with. They are going to look for an agent who will be honest and trustworthy; after all, they’ll be trusting you to help them make one of the biggest financial decisions of their life. Whether this is their first or fifth time buying a home, they want to make sure that they have an agent who is going to have the tough conversations with them,…Read More
I originally recorded this video exclusively for a small-group mastermind. The agents in this group had the same frustrations and pains that we’ve all faced… Not knowing where your next lead, your next phone call, your next appointment, or your next sale is coming from. Let’s face it, one of the toughest things in real estate is predictability… Not only for business growth or, in some extreme cases, knowing that your going to stay in business, but also for peace of mind, momentum, and knowing what you should be working on to get the best result. So let me ask you a question… Do you know your numbers? What I told you that it was fairly easy to go from 25 opportunities, to 10 Appointments, to 4 sales a month? That’s what The Stasek Method is all about… this is how we build a pipeline. Opportunities Let me be clear upfront. An opportunity is not a lead. An opportunity is someone that we’ve talked to, had a conversation with, and determined whether or not they were going to sell their home, and if they were, what their timeline was. Any opportunity that is taking action now we will set an appointment immediately. Opportunities that are looking to sell in 1-2-3…Read More
We’ve seen the increased engagement of video take off over the past 7 years with innovations in technologies that make it easier and easier to engage with your audience. As more and more businesses are using video to engage with consumers, consumers are becoming increasingly more particular about what they watch and what they expect. In 2012, the National Association of Realtors found in a study that 85% percent of buyers and sellers “prefer to work with an agent who uses video marketing,”. Ok, that was in 2012, it’s now 2018. Since then, video consumption has become more and more the “standard” in lead/consumer engagement. As many other agents have made the shift to video, there’s now another level of video engagement that a few savvy agents are leveraging. If you want to stand out from the noise of videos your audience is seeing every single day, you need to create a targeted video. What is targeted video? It’s a video that’s not made for any potential client, but a specific client. That’s right. It’s specific content made for a specific audience. For example, if you’re targeting first time home buyers, you need to create a video that speaks directly to a first time home buyer in…Read More
We’ve all heard them. Heck, me might have even used some of these same lines when we had door-to-door salesmen, prospecting phone calls from folks we weren’t expecting, or even with overly pushy car salesmen. It’s the oft dreaded objection. “I have to talk to my wife”, or, how about, “I have to sleep on it. If it’s a good idea today, it’ll be a good idea tomorrow!” Objections are a salesperson’s worst nightmare… or their greatest ally. By being able to articulate your value while overcoming your prospect’s objections, your sale is all but guaranteed. And, even most agents don’t want to admit it, a big part of being a real estate agent is sales… and a big part of sales is objection handling. So here it is… the top objections and a seamless script to be able to adapt to any situation. “Just Bring Buyers…” Of course, I’d love to bring you some buyers; however, the last thing I want to do is it bring people who aren’t qualified to your home, so can you tell me a little bit more about the house? “Why Are You Asking These Personal Questions? I Don’t Feel I Need To Disclose This To You. (Expired)” I completely understand,…Read More
ver the last 4 years, buyers that are 36 years old or younger (Millennials/Gen Y’ers) are the largest share of home buyers at 34%. 66% of these buyers were also first-time home buyers. This year’s report saw an increased share who purchased in suburban locations and who purchased detached single-family homes. 49% of buyers 36 years and younger now have children under the age of 18 in their home, 66% are married couples, and 13% are unmarried couples (the largest share of all generations). With those numbers, it’s well worth spending some time to learn a bit more about these buyers. You NEED to know what they’re looking for and what’s important to them. We’ve Compiled This List Of The Top 5 Reasons Millennials Are Choosing To Buy: To Have Control over Their living Space – 93% Many Millennials who rent a home or apartment prior to buying their own homes, dream of the day that they will be able to paint the walls whatever color they’d like, or renovate an outdated part of their living space. Many others who have waited to add a pet to their families daydream about the day that they’ll be able to go pick out their ‘furever’ friend. Owning your own…Read More
Just like our clocks this weekend in the majority of the country, the housing market is preparing to “spring forward!” Similar to tension in a spring, the lack of inventory available for sale in the market right now is what is holding back the market. Many potential sellers believe that waiting until Spring is in their best interest, and traditionally they would have been right. Buyer demand has seasonality to it, which usually falls off in the winter months, especially in areas of the country impacted by arctic temperatures and conditions. That Hasn’t Happened This Year Demand for housing has remained strong as mortgage rates have remained near historic lows. Even with the recent increase in rates, buyers are still able to lock in an affordable monthly payment. Many more buyers are jumping off the fence and into the market to secure a lower rate. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently reported that the top 10 dates sellers listed their homes in 2017 all fell in April, May, or June. Those who act quickly and list now could benefit greatly from additional exposure to buyers prior to a flood of more competition coming to market in the next few months. Bottom Line You need to start educating the buyers and…Read More
We can’t tell you how many different opinions we hear from agents across the country on whether or not you should advise your home seller to invest in staging their home. We all know the points on each side of the argument and we’ve heard it all. So we decided to stop guessing and look at the facts. We did some research and here’s what we found… Top Findings From Seller’s Agents: 25% of sellers paid to have their homes staged before listing 50% of staged homes saw a 1-10% increase in dollar value offers from buyers The Breakdown: That means that of all homes sold between October 1st, 2017 and December 31, 2017, those homeowners who opted to have a professional home staging company deck out their home, half of them saw an increase in the offers that they received. It’s easy to see just from these two data points that the listing agents who were able to articulate the value of having the homeowner stage their home prior to putting it on the market would unanimously agree that, on average, staging was a wise investment for their clients to make. Top Findings From Buyer’s Agents: 77% said staging made it easier for buyers to visualize the home as their…Read More