*Note: Text KEYWORD may vary by market

FAQ’s
Q: Where do I order yard signs?
A: You can order a yard sign here: Order Yard Signs

Q: Do I have to use the company phone number on my signs?
A: Heck no! Your listings, your leads. Feature your phone number big and bold!

When it comes to your yard signs, you should be willing to spend a few extra dollars to have a sign you can be proud of. Don’t try to save $25 if it means a smaller, low-quality sign. You can make tens of thousands from the listings that sign will sit in front of. Isn’t it worth spending a few extra dollars to make a great impression (especially if it earns you more listings)?

Below are the graphics to download for our company signs. There are several sizes to choose from. If you want to have a custom sign designed, you can download our logos here to provide to your sign company. There are many great local sign companies and they will ALL accept the design files below. There are two online sign companies that we have experience with and can attest to their quality but you are welcome to use whomever you choose. We recommend:

• RealEstateSigns.com – excellent price and quality but very slow delivery times
• Jack Pratt Signs – incredible custom designs and quality but more expensive

DOWNLOAD YARD SIGN GRAPHICS

	24w x 24h SIGN WITH PHOTO Download Art File in ZIP folder File contains the option to have your website or call/text-capture code printed directly on the sign. Let the sign company know which option you want printed at the bottom.
	24w x 24h SIGN – NO PHOTO Download Art File in ZIP folder File contains the option to have your website or call/text-capture code printed directly on the sign. Let the sign company know which option you want printed at the bottom.
	24w x 18h SIGN WITH PHOTO Download Art File in ZIP folder File contains the option to have your website or call/text-capture code printed directly on the sign. Let the sign company know which option you want printed at the bottom.
	24w x 18h SIGN – NO PHOTO Download Art File in ZIP folder File contains the option to have your website or call/text-capture code printed directly on the sign. Let the sign company know which option you want printed at the bottom.
	18w x 24h SIGN WITH PHOTO Download Art File in ZIP folder File contains the option to have your website or call/text-capture code printed directly on the sign. Let the sign company know which option you want printed at the bottom.
	18w x 24h SIGN – NO PHOTO Download Art File in ZIP folder File contains the option to have your website or call/text-capture code printed directly on the sign. Let the sign company know which option you want printed at the bottom.
	OPEN HOUSE SIGN – 24w x 18h Download Art File in ZIP folder Don’t worry, the design accounts for the arrow being reversed on the opposite side.

Almost every successful listing agent will tell you that they built their book of business through hard work and a more “traditional” means of marketing. You have to focus on becoming a ‘name-brand’ or ‘recognized expert’ for a given subdivision or smaller market area. What they usually fail to tell you is that once you have a solid base of listings, new listings tend to steadily fall in place. More specifically, listings generate more listings. Potential sellers often call on For Sale signs to speak with the listing agent about selling their home. Ensuring your sign, flyers and online listing photos look sharp goes a long way to generating more listing business. That’s not to say that once you’ve put in the initial investment to generate a dozen listings, you’ll never have to lift a finger again but we’ll save that for another article.

So what do you do if you’re just getting started and do not have the money to effectively market to your farm area? The first thing you will hear most brokers and trainers say is to call on Expired and FSBO listings. Unfortunately almost every agent is doing that. Fortunately for you, they all have the same message and rarely ever address the seller’s pains or needs. We’ll dive deeper into this shortly.

WHY YOU SHOULD TARGET FSBO SELLERS

When you drive through your neighborhood or nearby neighborhoods, how many For Sale By Owner signs do you see? Almost every neighborhood has at least one sign sitting out there. These signs are a cry for help and with the right marketing plan, your sign could be in the yard instead of that $15 FSBO sign. Multiply that by 10 and you have yourself a pretty strong foundation to grow your business. Aside from the obvious new listing you just got, think about the other potential sellers in the neighborhood driving by your sign. Just as important, think about the buyer sign calls from that sign. Listings are some of the best lead generation machines available to the real estate world and FSBOs are a great place to start.

As I mentioned earlier, agents rarely ever address the FSBO seller’s pain. So how do you stand out of the crowd and address a FSBO seller’s pain? The first step is to truly understand their pain.

THEIR PAIN IN ONE WORD

Simply put, the average FSBOs pain can be addressed in one word, “money”. If you want three more reasons then I would have to add money, money and who could forget, money. Keep in mind, when I say, “money”, I don’t mean money in the sense of greed. In fact, there are very few FSBO sellers that are listing as FSBO simply because they want to keep more of their equity to fatten their bank account. Let’s break that down a little more in order of reasons for listing FSBO.

1. Seller has little or no equity in their home and little or no savings which means there are no funds to pay a Realtor’s commission and still cover their closing costs. *Note- in today’s financial climate, this is a pretty typical reason as to why we have so many short sales.
2. Seller has equity but they need that money to cover the down payment on their next home. *Tip- this is a great opportunity to list their home for free if they buy their next home with you as their agent.
3. Seller has equity but are retiring and that is all they have left to retire on. It’s hard to blame them for wanting to keep more of their equity in this scenario.
4. Seller thinks Realtors are greedy and lazy and with a little Internet research, the seller can sell their home just as easily without paying that no-good, blood-sucking leech of a Realtor. All joking aside, there are a few people who feel this way and they’re not worth your time or breath anyway. From my personal experience, this group makes up less than 5% of FSBO sellers.

Now that you understand their driving motivation for listing For Sale By Owner, let’s talk about how you can address their pain and convince them to list their home with you. Virtually all Realtors try to convince the seller that they need to list with them by telling them why they are getting little to no traffic or scaring them by explaining how confusing or frustrating contacts and negotiations can be… seriously? Do they think the seller is stupid? These sellers know the MLS drives more traffic and they know contracts can be daunting. Don’t forget, they were the buyers at one point and have been down that road. Remember, in their mind, it’s not that they don’t want to list with an agent, it’s because they think they can’t afford to. If you want to address their pain then you need to come up with a way to allow them to list with you while still addressing the money issue.

So… you want to incorporate FSBOs into your strategy for generating listing leads. You understand what their pain is and why they are listing as For Sale By Owner. You’ve suffered through my ramblings. Now what? Here’s my sure-fire way to attract FSBO listings which ultimately attracts buyer leads through sign calls and more listings. I know this plan works because I have personally used it for years and have listed a lot of FSBO homes this way.

1. Create a special FSBO listing plan with a deeply discounted listing commission. Ouch, I know, nobody wants to discount their service but don’t forget, it will generate buyer leads and more listing leads. I use the following plan:
   • Full service listing on the MLS for $399 up front fee plus a $250 transaction fee at closing.
   • Seller only pays the buyer’s agent a 2.5% or 3% commission.
   • Offer to refund the $399 fee if they buy their next home with you as their buyer’s agent.
   • This plan saves the average home seller $5,650 in commissions by basically cutting their listing costs in half.

2. Locate all of the FSBO listings in your area. You can drive through your neighborhood, look in the newspaper and go to websites like ForSaleByOwner.com to create your list.
3. Create a flyer or postcard with your special listing plan and mail it or place it on their door once a week until they give in and list with you, take their home off the market or tell you to leave them alone.
4. If you’re a brave soul, take it a step further and knock on their door. This is by far the most effective way to win them over. Make sure you leave a flyer or post card with them in case they need time to think about it.
5. Keep a stack of flyers or postcards in your car’s glove box so you can quickly pull over when you see a FSBO sign.

Below is a listing flyer that you are welcome to use. I have provided it as a Microsoft Publisher file and as a Microsoft Word file. The Publisher file is superior but they are both pretty close in design and have the exact same verbiage.

FSBO LISTING FLYER - Right click link and choose “Save as…” to download
Download 8.5×11 FSBO flyer – MS Publisher file (editable)
Download 8.5×11 FSBO flyer – MS Word file (editable)

If you are interested in generating listing leads then I’d like to encourage you to put this plan into action. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Important Things To Keep In Mind – Many states, like Texas, have eliminated “limited service” listings. There is a minimum service that you MUST perform. You must provide the seller with professional advice in selling their home, pass on any and all offers, pass on all communication from the buyer and/or buyer’s agent, and maintain all contracts and records of the sale. In short, your listing has to be full-service, no exceptions. However, this doesn’t mean you have to provide marketing above and beyond providing a yard sign and listing their property on the MLS.

Here’s the tricky part, you cannot charge an up-front fee for simply listing a home on the MLS or in exchange for reduced commissions. You can however charge an up-front fee for “enhanced marketing” so as long as you are providing real value above and beyond listing on the MLS and your yard sign then you can call the fee an “Enhanced Marketing Fee” on the listing agreement. Enhanced marketing like professional quality photos, showcase listing on Realtor.com, visual/virtual tour, and a single property website can count for this up-front cost. Otherwise you will have to charge the $399 at closing along with the $250. If there is any doubt, it would be safer to charge this fee at closing.

Last tidbit, some cities require you to have a solicitor’s permit to leave flyers on doors or knock on doors. Make sure you look into the requirements for solicitation in your city. I have seen permits range between $50 and $90 per year.

Introduction
Internet leads are not always instant sources of income, so don’t be disappointed if your first few leads don’t result in a pending contract. Our experience has shown us that Internet leads require long-term commitments. The difference between a real estate agent that gets a positive return on investment from Internet leads and those that don’t is simply one has made a commitment to following a proven lead conversion system. A good lead conversion system requires that you time block, attempt to convert leads daily, and use written and verbal scripts and dialogues. With every lead, you’ll use all your systems and skills to do one of three things: Get an appointment to buy or sell, get a referral, or deepen the relationship.
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Agents that are successful at converting Internet leads follow a systematic plan over an extended period of time. Only then will you be able to harvest the true fruits of your labor. Sadly, a lot of real estate agents give up on Internet leads after only making one or two attempts to connect with them. With these types of leads, your speed of response is key. In our experience, if you can combine speed of response with consistent contact over a two-week time period, your odds of converting a lead to an appointment increase exponentially.

The 2009 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers states that of those who purchased a home last year, the average buyer only searched for two weeks on their own prior to contacting a real estate agent. This was the underlining reason why we created our ten-day Internet lead conversion process. This program is a super-aggressive system that focuses on making contact during that statistical fourteen-day window of opportunity.

We named this program “10 Days of Pain,” because it is as painful for the consumer to receive as it is for real estate agents to complete from start to finish. “No pain, no gain” is a truism for a reason. The “10 Days of Pain” conversion program is a proven system, and your success using it hinges on your commitment to follow the program through to the end.

The purpose of leveraging social networks is to build and grow your sphere of influence. This allows individuals to eventually pick up the phone and contact you when they have a real estate need. For the people you know and who know you, following up is easy. It’s just a matter of using your scripts and dialogues to establish motivation and set an appointment.

Through social networks you can attract thousands of friends, followers, and connections who might one day click on one of your posts and register on your website. And thousands more potential buyers and sellers can brush up against your real estate business through your blogging efforts and subsequently email you a question or request a CMA. Despite being labeled “friends, followers, connections,” most of these individuals may not know you personally and you probably won’t know them. When a lead comes from this group, following up and connecting can be a real challenge. Agents who have a great lead follow-up system in place have the best chance of converting these largely anonymous leads into relationships and business opportunities.

Before we go too far, let me make sure we’re speaking the same language. Everyone has their own definition of a “lead.” For example, a popular definition is contact information with someone who is ready to do business in the next ninety days. For me, it’s all about the contact information. If I can connect with them, I can then discover which of the three positive outcomes (a home sale, a referral, or a new relationship) can happen. By default, they will have to decide whether or not to do business with me in the first ten days or they cease to be a lead I’m actively pursuing.
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The “10 Days of Pain” program is a combination of persistence, contact, scripts and dialogues, and enticing offers that are tailored to assist you in accomplishing one or more of the following three goals:

1. Validate and collect contact information including the individual’s correct name, email, phone number, mailing address, and if the lead belongs to any social network like Facebook or LinkedIn.

2. Classify the lead as an A, B, or C (A being someone buying in less than 30 days, B buying between 30 and 60 days, and C buying 60 days and beyond). In Fathom’s lead system, your options could be Hot, Watch and Nurture.

3. Set an appointment to get the buyer prequalified, show homes, or provide a market analysis of their current residence.

When potential buyers register online, they tend to be reluctant to release their contact information. At times, we’ll see bogus registrations ranging from Daffy Duck to Anita Bath. Although the ideal Internet lead would have provided all “valid” contact information including their name, email, phone, mailing address, and home search criteria, the reality is that most leads will lack almost all of the aforementioned contact information and probably will have provided only a valid email address. That’s why the first goal is often just discovering their true identity.
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Before we start explaining the Internet lead conversion process, let’s take a quick look at the tools and messages you’ll need to implement it. We’ll start with the tools. You probably have many of these already; however, you’ll probably have to track down and set up a few.
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the tools

High-producing agents implement systems and find tools that can be used to leverage their time and money. Interviews with top real estate agents from across the United States and Canada have provided some ideas on what good Internet lead conversion ratios would be (meaning the amount of leads needed to generate just one sale). Those ratios ranged from the very best agents reporting 1/10 (1 sale per 10 leads) to as low as 1/100 (1 sale per 100 leads). Since you must generate many more leads than you actually convert to a closing, using tools and systems during this process is not really a choice.

Successful systems I currently use to convert leads include all of the following:

1. Contact Management System – Fathom’s lead management system is excellent and allows you to create an “action plan” that will auto-remind you to take certain actions on specified days.

2. Custom Solutions – Originally, the only tool we used was WhitePages.com to search phone numbers for names and addresses. The next tool we started using was Google to search for each lead’s email address. When you “google” an email address, you can see all the websites, social media profiles, and blogs associated with it.

Nowadays, we have advanced tools like Xobni.com (pronounced “Zob-knee,” it’s just the word inbox spelled backward) which is an Outlook plug-in that matches email addresses with photos, names, mailing addresses, phones numbers, Facebook profiles, LinkedIn profiles, Skype numbers, and even a Hoovers profile. You get the point: It’s like having your own private detective. Christopher Walton and Abel Bazan from the Home4investment Real Estate Team have reported getting double the amount of responses from sending Facebook messages to web leads as compared to sending traditional emails.
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the message

We attempt to contact each lead via phone, email, messaging, snail-mail, and so on. How we contact each one varies from lead to lead. However, the message stays pretty consistent. I have a few rules that we always keep in mind when communicating with web leads (Figure 5).
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The following is an example of a powerful script that we use every single day (Figure 6). We use it for everything from email leads to sign calls. The message below follows all three rules noted previously.
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This message is so important that, throughout the rest of this chapter, I will be including scripts and samples that we are currently using in the “10 Days of Pain.” Now that we have spoken about why we work so hard during the first two weeks and how we contact them, the next step is to outline the ten-day conversion process itself.
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THE 10 DAYS OF PAIN

The 10 Days of Pain outlined in this post is a suggested order of activities. There is no reason that days couldn’t be swapped or messages changed to fit your unique market or style. The point of the program is to be systematic and consistent in your follow-up with Internet leads. In particular, use this system to follow up on inquiries and website registration leads when you have very little information about your potential customer. Again, it’s not something you employ within your sphere or “Met Database” (presumably you know how to contact them!). However, for people you don’t know—your “Haven’t Mets”—it is both proven and powerful.

Once you have set an appointment or had a meaningful conversation that allows you to establish motivation, then I would recommend stopping this process and starting your normal buyer follow-up campaign. Although this process was originally created for use in my business, we have shared this program with agents across the United States who have had similar success. In fact, Carissa and Jay Acker from Denton, Texas, reported that “when we first implemented the 10 Days of Pain program, we noticed an immediate increase in the number of appointments being set by our team. When we then started using the program on leads generated over the last six months (which in our eyes were ‘dead’ leads), we were surprised when we started converting a large number of them into appointments.”
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day one

The most important day in the lead conversion process has always been the day the lead was received. From my experience, you have the highest percentage chance of making contact with a lead while that consumer is still browsing your website. Our goal is always to make initial contact within minutes of receiving a new lead notification. The InsideSales.com/MIT Lead Response Management Study reported that “the odds of qualifying a lead in 5 minutes versus 30 minutes drop 21 times.” By waiting just 25 minutes, you are reducing your opportunity to get the sale by more than 20 times. During a shifting market when leads are scarce, you can’t afford to take those risks.

Step 1. The first step you need to take is to research the lead. Attempt to verify if at least one piece of contact information is valid. Use Google, WhitePages.com, and Xobni to both verify information and search for additional means of communication.

Step 2. Call immediately if the lead provided a valid phone number, and leave a message if there is no answer.

Step 3. Send a text message to their cell phone, if provided.

Step 4. Email an introductory message—include a list of just-listed properties attached to the email. Sending the email from Fathom’s lead system allows you to use pre-written email templates, insert listings and track your communications. This is significantly more affective than sending emails from your personal email system.

Step 5. Mail business cards if address was provided.

Step 6. If you are able to locate a Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter profile, attempt to establish communication by sending a direct message and requesting to connect or become a friend.

Step 7. Record the results of each one of the above steps in your lead management system. This may sound tedious but it is a very important step.
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day two

By this point, the lead has been contacted in a variety of ways. As you proceed through this process, it is important to note that there are far fewer tasks each day, and for the remaining “less painful” days, you are trying different tactics to evoke a response.

Use information that you gathered during your day-one research step to make an educated guess if the lead is relocating or if they may need to sell locally first. If unsure, attempt to send a combined email that offers either a free CMA or a relocation package.

Step 1. Send the free relocation package email and/or the free market analysis of their home offer. Attach a list of properties that match their criteria to every email. If the lead has not provided any search criteria, send a list of properties that represent the average prices for your area.
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day three

Day three is dedicated to determining what price range and neighborhood the buyer is interested in. We use offer-and-response messaging to gather this information both in writing, phone message, and on the first video email. Make sure that you are consistent with your messaging. The reason that we use the foreclosure and best-buy scripts is because everyone wants a good deal, even if a very small percentage actually go on to buy a distressed property.

Step 1. Send a “Foreclosure, Bank Owned, and Short Sale Teaser Email.”

Step 2. Make first follow-up phone call and leave message if no one answers (use the foreclosure teaser script located below in Figure 7).

Step 3. Send your first video email.
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day four

If you have not made contact by day four, it is time to start the research all over again and try and locate additional ways to communicate. Try searching other social networks by email and name, then follow the steps below:

Step 1. Attempt to make contact on another social network like LinkedIn.com or Plaxo.com.

Step 2. Send the “Price-Reduced Properties Email” and make sure to attach a list of properties that have reduced their prices recently with it.
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day five

You must continue to provide value throughout the entire lead conversion process, since there is a really good chance that your buyer has already registered on multiple real estate agents’ websites. In the end, it will be the agent that provides the most value that will win the client’s loyalty and their business.

Step 1. Send the “Best-Priced Properties Email,” which we outlined at the beginning of this chapter.

Step 2. Copy the “Best-Priced Properties Email” and send via Facebook or LinkedIn.
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day six

Even the best agents need a day off. Let the break in communication come during the times you normally take time off. The potential client will appreciate it as well. We normally take one or two days off during this process. If you miss more than one day, consider extending the 10 Days of Pain another day.
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day seven

It is very important throughout the lead conversion process to express to your leads any openings you might have to show homes, any open houses that you might be hosting, and most importantly, that you are in fact a real person that is taking time each day to provide them this service.

Step 1. Send the “Free Home Inspection Offer” described in Figure 9 and attach a limited list of bank-owned or short sale properties to the email.

Step 2. Make the third follow-up phone call that restates the same message: that you have an opening to show homes on a specific day or time.
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day eight

Many of us can get motivated by a little competition. On day eight, we create an offer that is time sensitive and “limited” to only a few winners to generate some buyer urgency.

Step 1. Send the “Contest Email” in Figure 10 and make sure to attach a list of just-listed or price-reduced properties to it.

Step 2. Send the “Contest Email” and attach just-listed properties to a message sent via Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.
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day nine

By this time, you will have a pretty good idea if you are going to be able to make contact with the lead or not. Something to consider is that it is not uncommon to get your first response from a lead on days 9 through 11. Day nine is just about maintaining contact and being consistent. Remember when making your phone calls to mix up the time of day that you call. Try calling once in the morning, lunch, night, and once on the weekend.

Step 1. Send the “Price-Reduced Properties Email” (Figure 8) and make sure to attach a list of properties that have reduced their prices recently within it.

Step 2. Make a fourth follow-up phone call, and make sure you leave a message if there is no answer.
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day ten

By the last day, you will have made more than fifteen different attempts to contact, which might have gotten a restraining order placed against you—or with any luck the potential client has decided that you are the hardest-working real estate agent of all time and hired you. All joking aside, our experience has shown very few people respond in a negative manner if the quality of the content was present. The people that do respond negatively were not going to use you anyway so there’s no real loss.

At the end of the ten-day time period, you will need to take one of the following courses of action:

• If the contact information is invalid (like your email has bounced back and the phone number is disconnected), your only option is to change that lead’s category to “Trash” in your lead system.
• If you have made contact with the lead and established a motivational level, then you need to classify the lead as an (A, B, C buyer or Hot, Watch, or Nurture) and continue your normal follow-up plan.
• If you have made no contact with the lead but the contact information appears to be valid, change their category/status to “Nurture” and establish a follow-up plan with automated e-alerts, long term email campaigns and attempt make contact a minimum of once per week (or two weeks if your contact list begins to grow out of control).

Things to remember: Internet lead generation is another form of long-term investing. If you are not disciplined enough to email and call leads systematically over a 2–24 month time period, you will never realize your true return on investment.

This process might seem tedious because it is—but leads cost money, plain and simple. The lower your conversion rates are, the lower your margin and the higher your cost per transaction. Now is the time that we must focus on reducing our expenses, increasing our lead conversion ratios, and capturing more people in our Web.

If you requested to have your Fathom email address be forwarded to your personal email account (e.g., Gmail or Yahoo, etc.) then these settings do not apply to you. Please contact your broker or admin if you wish to set up your Fathom email in its own account.

SERVER CONFIGURATION SETTINGS:

EMAIL CLIENT SETUP:

	Outlook 2007		Outlook Express		Mozilla Thunderbird
	Setup Guide (POP) Set Up Guide (IMAP)		Setup Guide .		Setup Guide User Guide
	Outlook 2003		Windows Mail		Netscape Mail
	Setup Guide .		Setup Guide (POP) Setup Guide(IMAP)		Setup Guide User Guide
	Outlook 2002 / XP		Mulberry		Mozilla SeaMonkey
	Setup Guide .		Setup Guide (POP) Setup Guide(IMAP)		Setup Guide (POP) Setup Guide(IMAP)
	Outlook 2000		Outlook 98		Eudora
	Setup Guide .		Setup Guide .		Setup Guide (POP) Setup Guide(IMAP)

MAC CLIENT SETUP:

	MacMail Leopard		Entourage		Opera
	Setup Guide (POP) Set Up Guide (IMAP)		Setup Guide .		Setup Guide .
	MacMail		PowerMail
	Setup Guide (POP) Set Up Guide (IMAP)		Setup Guide (POP) Set Up Guide (IMAP)

WIRELESS DEVICE SETUP:

	Apple iPhone & iPad		Android		Blackberry
	Setup Guide (POP) Set Up Guide (IMAP)		Setup Guide (POP) Set Up Guide (IMAP)		Setup Guide .
	Windows Mobile		VersaMail (PalmOS)		SnapperMail (PalmOS)
	Setup Guide		Setup Guide		Setup Guide User Guide
	ChatterEmail
	Setup Guide

If an effective campaign is supposed to speak to the recipient’s needs and every person has different needs then how can one campaign speak to everyone? That was more of a statement and less of a question. I would like to challenge you to devote time to creating a campaign for each of the following:

• Local Buyer Campaign (never met/spoken)
  the only way to know if they are local is to require the phone number field during registration. Even if the phone number is fake, the first 3 digits are usually accurate. If the number gives you no clues then assume they are local for email purposes.
• Relocation Buyer Campaign (never met/spoken)
  must require phone number field to know. Offer incentives like city and neighborhood information or a special relocation packet.
• Buyer Campaign (spoken with, buying in 2+ months)
  touching base type emails in addition to emails of “just-listed” properties matching their criteria.

• Seller Campaign (spoken with)
  not every seller will be ready to sell immediately. Emails touching base in addition to a fresh CMA every 2 or 3 weeks.
• CMA/Seller Campaign
  leads from CMA form on site, can be same campaign as above with additional emails in the beginning regarding their requested CMA)
• Past Buyer Clients – 60 months (ouch, how long?)
  ask how they are, ask for referrals and offer a CMA every few months. Make sure you are the listing agent when they are ready to sell or when their neighbor sells!
• Past Seller Clients
  see above if they also bought from you, otherwise, ask how they are and ask for referrals! A newsletter can be used after 12 months.
• Newsletter – 12 months repeating FOREVER or until the world ends, whichever comes first
  pre-written, month/season specific info with a blank spot left for current events. This goes to EVERYONE, past clients, future clients, friends, family and inmates… okay, I know what you’re thinking, family might be a stretch.

TIP: To make this a more attainable goal with immediate results, do not pick one campaign at a time. Write out the first week for each campaign and then move on to the second week for each and so on. Yes, that’s what I said. It goes against all that is natural but you will find this tip will help you implement each campaign faster while keeping you fresh with ideas for writing. Buyer campaigns can feed you ideas for seller campaigns and vise versa. If you pick one campaign and attempt to write out a whole year’s worth of emails then you will discover first hand what writer’s block means. Plus, if it takes you a week to get through writing out one campaign then it will be months before you finally write out the last campaign missing out an opportunity to reach more people.

TIP 2: Services like Constant Contact, Mail Chimp and iContact are great ways to implement your campaigns and help ensure they arrive in the intended inboxes. They also give you the ability to monitor the open and click-thru rates for improved lead conversion tracking.

Did I forget anything? Are there any other campaign types you can think of? Campaigns for Investor maybe? Please share your list or ideas with us. *Disclaimer- drip campaigns should NOT be the only source of long-term communication! They have a greater probability for getting caught in email filters of an unspeakably horrific nature. It should be used to supplement your communications, not replace it.

As stressful as a bad lead can be, some valuable information can come from the bad information. Did you know you can use a bad phone number to improve your email communication? There are times when you will receive a new home buyer lead where the name looks real, the email doesn’t bounce but the number is a fake (per the irritated person on the other end of the line when you try to call). Thanks to human nature, most people lack creativity. When they input a fake phone number, the first three digits are usually accurate. For example, if your phone number is 972-867-5309 (sorry for the 80′s reference), then most people will enter 972-555-1212 or something similar. The beautiful thing is that now you know if they are local or a possible relocation. This will help you determine which email marketing campaign to place them on. If you do not have different email campaigns for local or relo buyers then take a moment to read my article, “Drip Campaigns: Something For Everyone“. A campaign that speaks directly to the recipient’s needs will greatly increase your conversion rate.

What if the email address and phone number is bad? Well, unfortunately it’s a lead destined for the trash but if you are doing a good job in tracking the micro-conversions of your visitors, then this lead can still bring value. Insane I know! I grew up in Alaska and if I learned anything, it was to waste nothing… not even that nasty whale blubber. Who knew whale blubber could be worth so much?

So how does this relate to bad home buyer leads? To answer that, I first need to explain what I mean by micro-conversions. A micro-conversion is a single step a visitor takes on the way to becoming a client. To track “on site” micro-conversion you must have website analytic tracking set up (e.g., Google Analytics). Here are some examples of micro-conversions:

• Click-thru rate from your pay-per-click ad
• Visitor bounce rate
• Desired actions by visitor
• Visitor registration or form filled – Lead

So now that we are on the same page, let’s take a step back and think about the four micro-conversions listed above. What does this bad lead tell us? First, it tells us which source and ad successfully brought that lead to the site. Second, it gives us trackable website data to help identify which landing pages are working and which ones visitors fail to connect with. Third, depending on the phone number given and whether their IP address was recorded, it helps us identify what part of the country our ads are connecting with. This lead may have been compelled to give bogus info but that doesn’t mean the next visitor will. The fact is, your ad worked in getting a visitor through the pipeline and into your inbox. Count that as a partial success.

TIP: If you notice that you have a lot of leads originating from one part of the country, consider creating an ad geo-targeted specifically for that area with language speaking directly to them. You will notice your click-thru rate skyrocket for that ad. As a result, what you were paying $1.47 per click to be in the 5th position, you may find yourself spending $1.21 to be in the 1st position.

Do you have any ideas on how to turn a bad lead into useful information? Please share your thoughts.

I am a big believer in SEO and writing with purpose. The purpose of writing content for your website should consist of one goal and one goal only… closing more deals and increasing your bottom line. Why else would you spend time writing when you could spend time on more effective income producing activities or, more importantly, spending more time with your family?

Am I suggesting that writing about personal issues on your real estate site is a waste of time? Not just no, but heck no! I see great value in showing your personal side in your blog. In fact, I’d highly suggest you also allow your personality to shine through when writing about real estate. Be candid, personable and not only will your content read better, your readers will find it easier to relate to you.

The time you spend writing should meet the following objectives; increase your rankings within the search engines for the keywords that are relevant to your business; and provide true value while establishing a relationship between you and your readers.

So, how do I come up with content for my website or blog? I first look inward and determine where my business needs expanding and then I decide how my article can accomplish that task. For example, if I want to work with buyers looking for new construction homes, then I will write an article about a local builder and their neighborhoods. I will focus on the keywords that will drive those website visitors looking for more information on that builder to my article. I will then optimize the content and keywords in an attempt to outrank that builder on their own name. If they are a small to medium size builder, that’s a pretty easy task! Lastly, I ensure there is a value proposition. E.g., Fill out this form for a list on homes available for immediate move-in.

When you sit down to write your next blog post or page of content for your site, I want you to ask yourself the following questions;

• “How will this article (or page of content) help me capture a new client?”
• “Will this article be relevant to potential buyers or sellers?”
• If the article is not specific to real estate, then ask, “Will this article build trust and increase my readership?”

Here are some additional, and more specific, tips on how to accomplish your goals.

1. Make sure you have a “call to action” within the post or have some type of lead capture on the page. Afterall, if you drive traffic to your website without having a way to capture it as potential business then it’s like pouring water into a bucket full of holes.
2. If you are writing content that is real estate related, pay attention to keywords to ensure your article will rank well for those keywords.
3. When writing a blog post, make sure your keywords are in the blog’s title which should automatically show up in the page title.
4. When writing a page of content for your site, make sure your keywords show up in the page title and also consider framing them in a “H1″ tag which tells the search engine that these keywords are the main “thought” for that page.
5. If possible, and without making the content look spammy, pay attention to “keyword density” by placing the keywords 2 to 4 times for every 100 words. Be consistent with the keyword phrase (e.g., when using “Stonebridge Ranch homes”, don’t switch it up and use “homes in Stonebridge Ranch” as those are considered two different long-tail keywords).
6. If you add a picture to the blog post or page, use the keyword for that image’s Alt tag and Title tag. This will help the search engine index the image for that keyword.
7. Take advantage of the content you’ve just written to link to inner pages of your website. This will help some of your other pages you want to rank well. For example, if you are writing an article on new FHA guidelines, and happen to mention McKinney Real Estate, be sure to use the words “McKinney Real Estate” as the link text and link it to an inner page. Specifically one that you have already created to rank well for McKinney Real Estate. If you remain cognizant of this throughout your site, then you will help the search engines do a better job of indexing your site. If you haven’t been doing this and already have a lot of content, consider going back through your site and past articles to add these inner links.
8. Don’t be afraid to link out to outside websites. If you are writing about a new IRS tax code, link the words “IRS tax code” back to the IRS.gov website on the exact page discussing those tax codes. Pointing your readers out to trusted “authority” websites is beneficial in your own rankings. One point of advice, use the target=”_blank” tag for the hyperlink to make sure the outside site opens in a new tab and does NOT drive them away from your site.
9. Be personable, funny, candid, transparent, etc. If the reader can relate to you, they will be more likely to bookmark your site for future reading and more importantly, more likely to call on you when the time comes to buy, sell or refer a friend.

Ultimately, like you, your blog should be goal oriented. It should be used to increase your bottom line unless, of course, you simply have nothing better to do. How do you come up with content for your blog and what goals are you trying to achieve?

Login to our Training On Demand System to get started. Below are a few of the available courses organized by skill-set. The average video is only 15 minutes so set a goal to watch 1 or 2 videos every day and watch every video, even if you don’t think you need it.

NEW & INTERMEDIATE AGENTS
SECURE A PROSPECT
Prospecting, Lead generation
RL01-1 Prospecting: Be There, Sources, Follow Up, Systems
RL01-S3 New Agents: Getting Started with Prospecting
RL01-S4 Top Ten Tips for Contact Management
RL01-2 Prospecting: Contact mgmt, Time Based Q’s, Referrals
MS01-1 Introduction to Prospecting
MS02-2 Establishing a Referral System
MS03-1 Open House: Create Traffic, Preparation
MS04-1 FSBO: Things Not to Do, Making Contact
MS05-1 Expireds: Understand and Contact

Qualifying and Follow Up
KFT24 Seven Steps to Building Rapport
MS01-2 Questioning Skills
KFT02 Questions That Turn Prospects into Clients
MS01-3 Determine Who is Ready, Willing & Able
KFT01 Get Your Buyers to Buy Now
MS02-1 Telephone: Convert Sign and Ad Calls
MS03-2 Open House: rapport, debrief, appointment
KFT09 Open House Techniques That Secure Buyers
MS04-2 FSBO: Follow up, Qualify Qs, Listing Presentation
MS05-2 Expireds: Questions at First Meeting

LISTINGS
Seller Counseling
RL04-S Pre-Listing Packages
MS06-1 Seller Counseling: Preparation
MS06-2 Seller Counseling: Trust & Determine Motivation

The Presentation
MS07-1 Listing: Open the presentation
MS07-2 Listing: Acceptance & Present Marketing Plan

Close
MS07-3 Listing: Close for the Listing
MS08-1 Resistance: Categories of Resistance
MS08-2 Resistance: Questioning Objections

Pricing
MS09-1 Pricing: Separate Listing & Pricing, Present CMA
MS09-2 Pricing: Respond to Pricing Objections
RL02-1 CMA: Rules, Importance of Pricing
RL02-2 CMA: Criteria Determine Value, Obj. Standard
RL02-3 CMA: Adjusting Differences, CMA Summary

BUYERS
Buyer Counseling
MS10-1 Buyer Counseling: First Meeting, Needs, Motivation
MS10-2 Buyer Counseling: Financial & Prepare to Buy
KFT23 Prepare Buyers to Buy
RL06-1 Buyers: Counseling, Agency, Expectations, Urgency
RL06-2 Buyers: Needs & Motivation, Financial
RL06-3 Buyers: Agency, Loyalty, Prepare to Buy, Showing
RL06s Financial Qualifying with Debbie Morris*
RL10s Loan Fraud by Oliver Frascona*

Showing
MS11-1 Showing: Sequence and Guidelines
MS11-2 Showing: Writing the Purchase Agreement
MS12-2 Negotiation: Coops, Counters, Customers for life
RL08-4 Wolff/Referral: Working with Buyers, Showing

EXPERIENCED AGENTS
Prospecting, Lead generation
RL01-S1 REALtalk Interview: Bill Barrett on Referrals*
RL01-3 Prospecting: Real Touch Promotions
RL08-1 Wolff/Referral: Growing the Business, Referrals
RL08-2 Wolff/Referral: Leads, Prospecting, Marketing

Presentation Skills
RL03-1 Seller Counseling: Need Base Selling, Interview Skills
RL03-2 Seller Counseling: Motive, Expectations, Readiness
RL04-1 Need-Feature-Benefit, REALmarketing Sequence
RL04-2 REALmarketing Steps 1-4
RL04-3 REALmarketing Steps 5-8
RL09s-1 P1 Russell Williams Unedited Listing*
RL09s-2 P2 Russell Williams Unedited Listing*

Objections, Pricing, Commission
RL08-3 Wolff/Referral: Listings, Pricing & Commission
MS08-3 Commission Objections
KFT04 No Difference? No Deference.
RL09-1 Closing: Assertive vs. Aggressive, Mistakes
RL09-2 Closing: Establishing Needs, Implied consent
RL09-3 Closing: Trial Closing, How to Close, Types
MS12-1 Negotiation: Strategies, Presenting the Agreement
RL10-1 Objections: Anticipate, The PAID Method, Pause
RL10-2 Objections: Acknowledge, Isolate, Discover
RL10-3 Objections: Attitudes of Resistance, Answering
KFT05 Managing Expectations
KFT12 Securing Higher Offers

Growing and Managing the Business
RL05-1 RE as Business: Time to Get Help, The First Hire
RL05-2 RE as Business: Building Team, Managing, Leading
RL05-3 RE as Business: Systems, Administration
RL08-5 Wolff/Referral: Managing, Systems, Staff, Goals
RL05-S Take Your Business to Next Level, Howard Brinton
KFT19 Client and Charitable Giving
KFT14 Mastery of the Game of Selling
KFT21 How to Enhance Your Personal Equities
KFT26 Creating Unique Selling Propositions

REFRESHERS
Get Re-Started
KFT02 Questions That Turn Prospects into Clients
KFT10 New Year Action Plan
KFT07 Values Based Goal Setting
KFT17 Answer the Dang Phone!
KFT18 Fall Back Into the Game
KFT20 Generating Leads w/Extended Buyer Tax Credit
KFT22 Managing Leads
KFT25 Life After the Tax Credit
RL04-S2 RESPA with Oliver Frascona

Pricing: An Ongoing Challenge
KFT13 Seller Motivation: Sell or Stay
KFT06 Separate Pricing from Listing
RL07-1 Pricing: Dynamics / Changing Market, Seller Motive
RL07-2 Pricing: Seller Education
RL07-3 Pricing: Absorption Rate, Price Reductions
KFT03 How to Cure P.D.S. Pricing Denial Syndrome
KFT08 The Upside-Down Seller
KFT15 Overview of the Short Sale