The New Year gives us all an opportunity to reflect on our lives and commit to making changes to improve ourselves. We all struggle with different aspects in our lives such as our weight, family, and especially now, the all mighty dollar. The news reports that almost 75% of New Year’s Resolutions are forgotten less than 3 months into the new year. Who really wants to end up as just another statistic? We all end up on one side of the statistic equation, but what separates those that meet their goals versus those that fail?

You have to develop and follow a plan, then you must hold yourself accountable no matter what resolution you hope to achieve. In our case, it is creating the potential client activity needed to; 1) build a consistent income to survive, and 2) begin to create long term wealth.

Personally, I believe that real wealth is built thru consistent investment in real estate and the stock market while our  ‘day job’ pays our bills and puts us in a position to begin making those investment decisions for our future. For purposes of this discussion, we’ll focus on the activity required to create an income to support our Realtor careers.

The very first point that needs to be understood if you want to make sure real estate becomes an actual paying career is that there are two kinds of clients; 1) those that know you, & 2)  those that do not!   

Understanding the significance of branded versus unbranded marketing will be critical to your success. If you do not have a consistent lead generation system in place that will put you in front of those potential clients that do not know you it will be virtually impossible to meet the goal of creating a full time income. In this market, we figure you need at least 8-10 well priced listings on average to ensure you get a closing every month either from a buyer or a sold listing. We all know that many listings are still overpriced so that number may actually be much higher. We set a goal of creating at least 15-20 NEW client leads a month for our Realtor Partners.

Creating the Activity

We all know the statistics regarding buying client leads. Most never translate into money due to the nature of the beast. The real question is how to create that consistent lead volume needed without paying a bunch of money upfront to get them. We do not believe in paying for leads. Sure, some work and end up in an actual cashed check. However, there are so many factors involved in converting a lead to an actual client that 3^rd party lead systems get very expensive when looking at the statistics. Ask yourself this, if buying leads is such a full proof system as many of these lead companies claim, why are their territories always coming open? Wouldn’t we all spend $2500 a month if we knew it would create $10,000 a month in income?

You need to have an unbranded marketing system that you either own yourself or operate under a partnership or referral basis. You can still buy great local domain names that meet this unbranded requirement. You will have to dedicate your time and money to building this platform over a 3-5 year time period. There is no easy way to do it unless you have an enormous budget and can buy the top spot on Google for you market. It takes time. Many of the best global unbranded domain names like www.sellmyhouse.com and www.webuyhouses.com have been taken. Most utilize a pay per lead or per territory business model. There are a few that will partner with good Realtors though. Do your research!

Be creative with your service platform and set yourself apart from your competition. Everybody offers the MLS. Why are you different? Use this in your unbranded marketing. If you partner with somebody, they will be anyway. Remember, this is a volume business. The more leads you bring in the front door, the more closings you usher thru the back door. We utilize a for sale by owner strategy, online auction platform, and special financing options to give our Realtors an edge in their market.

The internet is a tremendous tool to generate leads. However, it does not create a brand. Local signage is critical. If you are lucky enough to partner with a national brand, MARKET IT!  Remax, Century 21, and Coldwell are all great brands. If you work for them you market their name don’t you? Do the same with your unbranded partner/domain. If you understand the following statement you will be successful. Potential clients that do not know you are looking to buy or sell a house, not work with a specific Realtor!  The Realtor is just the tool that gets them to their goal and there are literally thousands of Realtors in your market who can help them reach that goal. You have to use unbranded methods to get in front of that type of client or get lucky and have the perfect house listed that they are looking for.

Have a strategy to deal with investors! At the moment, they are the buyers with the money. Because the market is demanding it, we are in the process of developing a website specific for the wholesale investor sector. You need to be flexible in terms of your client segment. Working only with buyer’s in the first time home buyer category may lead to months without a paycheck.

Follow Up! Invest in a CRM system. Not every client you talk to today will buy or sell today. Use the unbranded system to generate the lead and make the introduction. Use the CRM system to turn them into a client when they are ready!

In summary, if you really want to create or resurrect  a long term career as a Realtor, you better get very serious about lead and client creation. If you do not, you stand a 75% chance that at best, this will be a part-time gig. Even Realtors that have been in the business 15 years are struggling to survive right now because they have no unbranded marketing system in place. The days of having 5 or 6 listings resulting in 1 or 2 closings a month are behind us for the foreseeable future. Time to make some changes.

Jason K Roberts

Founder & CEO, SellMyHouse.com

888-557-2772

Realtors · sellmyhouse.com