Most of us have sent a just-listed/sold/pending postcard to a neighborhood. These can be an effective way to touch more potential sellers and unlock new listings.

But what if we had a different twist on this traditional marketing approach, that is more effective? Here are two different techniques which may dramatically improve your results: 

The first is a pre-listing letter that you send out before you launch your next listing. Let's assume your sellers have given you permission to put their home on the market but strategically you are doing a coming soon campaign so you have a few days before the listing goes live in the MLS. This is a perfect time to do a pre-listing letter which will say something like:

"I will be marketing a new listing in you neighborhood in the next few days. As a courtesy I wanted to let you know will see some some increased activity. Also because I've done a ton of research in the area I thought I would reach out to you and offer my services. If...

 It was an honor to have Joe Sesso on our eRealEstateCoach podcast program! Joe is the National Speaker and National Sales Director for Homes.com.

Since 2008 Joe has traveled the country speaking to more than 35,000 real estate professionals in 49 states on how to sell more real estate and build independent wealth using proven sales techniques and technology.

During the show we discussed his latest book - Secrets of Top Selling Agents featuring Alexis Bolin, Dirk Zeller, Michael J. Maher, Leigh Thomas Brown, Marki Lemons-Ryhal, Sherri Johnson and the late Howard Brinton! Joe was even kind enough to allow me to contribute a chapter to the book focused on For Sale By Owners! 

Get ready to learn the best habits, mindsets, and tactics of super producer's in real estate.

Recently a coaching student come to me and had a question about negotiation because they had a really good cash offer on a higher tier property. They knew the seller wasn't going to be excited necessarily about the offer because it was less than full price.

Here were my two quick strategies:

First look and see how many homes have gone pending in your listings price range last month, it turns out in her case out only four had done so because of the price point. My suggestion was to point that out to the seller, for instance she could say:

"Listen in the entire MLS only four properties in your price range went pending last month. So this is a great opportunity! Very few sellers are even receiving offers - its' great news that we received an offer!"

Second look at the average price that people are receiving in your market - list price vs sales price -- in her case that number was 94.9%. The good news - the offer she received was 95.7% of list price. My suggestion was to...

The number one way to attract clients is with high quality inventory. So what happens when you are low on inventory?

Borrow a Listing

Of course you can borrow one from your own office colleagues, which is a common technique, but you can also borrow cooperating agents listings as well. To expand this concept you might target some of the top teams in your market and give them a phone call by saying:

"Hey, I'm looking to do some open houses this weekend, I know you have some great listings. Would you be open to allowing me to do an open house on one of your listings?"

You might be surprised to find that even though they have buyers agents sometimes these buyers agents are already busy, or they don't have enough manpower to do all the open houses they need to based on their listing inventory.

For Sale by Owner Open Houses

Another opportunity, which is really outside the box is to call For Sale by Owners in your market with this quick script:

"I have an out of the box question for...

Who is the urban flight buyer?

This is a growing group of people that live in major cities but are looking to exit densely populated, metro areas. In many cases they want to escape to a suburb or a more rural market because they don't like being trapped in their house because of Covid-19.

Why do people want to move?

Two key reasons why people are leaving metro markets - they want more space inside their home and then they want more space outside of their home. Behind this is a new ability to actually make the move a reality. Here are four reasons why this dream is coming true for so many people. First jobs are becoming more remote, especially for people that are working in an upper-tier employment role. In addition many school systems around the country have now gone to a virtual classroom. Third we are also seeing record low interest rates. Finally there is the quarantine lifestyle effect. Because of Covid-19 people are much more focused on their homes today because of 'shelter...

What is a mini brochure card?

These are over-sized business card sized brochures which feature a couple pictures of your listing, a few key bullet points, along with the price and address of the home. On the reverse side of the card is your contact information in the form of a traditional business card.

How do you use a Mini-Brochure Card for marketing and lead generation?

First when you take a listing provide these cards to your sellers as a way for them to provide information about their listing to family and friends. You might say:

"I am providing you with a stack of mini-brochures to provide to family and friends. I like to cover all bases with my marketing. The card has a link to my website so they see the virtual tour and HD photos."

The cards not only market the home, they market you as the listing agent. In addition they could go into a flyer box and be used at open houses. Another use for a mini-brochure is to use them when talking to the neighborhood, for...

During this episode of Erin Bradley's Pursuing Freedom Podcast we covered a lot of ground including digging deep into my philosophy for creating raving fans and building a referral based business by leveraging tools and technology. 

Episode Description: 

In this episode of Pursuing Freedom, Jim joins us to share his story and teach us how to create abundance through the simplicity of action. 

It’s All About Relationships

Before Jim got into the real estate business, he was working at a lumber mill and was going to college full-time. When the opportunity presented itself, he quit everything and jumped into real estate with both feet. It took him a while to accept that he couldn’t achieve the level of success he wanted on his own, so he sought out coaches and mentors, and started building his tribe—that’s when Jim’s career transformed! He listed over 150 properties his second year and devoured every resource he could get his hands...

What do you do with a disloyal client?

Barbara Brown an amazing principal broker told me a story that can help all of us. It's a story of forgiveness. She had a client that she had worked with for years, be disloyal and list their house with another agent. It hurts but we have all had it happen.

When the holiday season came around, she said to herself - Should I delete these people off my database list and not send them a holiday card or should I keep them on my list?

She struggled with the decision and thought about it for a long time. Finally she decided to take the high road keep and them in her database. She sent them her traditional Holiday Card.

Guess what happened?

Those disloyal clients circled all the way back. Their listing didn't sell and they called Barbara to come list the property. Of course Barbara had to ask the question - Why didn't you call me the first time?

Turns out in their previous transaction with Barbara there had been some little rub around closing...

Looking for a new strategy to start conversations with homeowners around your new listings - try this amazing technique that starts the conversation before you put a sign up in the neighborhood. This strategy will make your phone ring with more appointments and opportunities!

I picked up a tip from my marketing director, Tiffany Wilkerson. She had a flyer delivered to her mailbox. It came from a tree trimming company. This company was going to do some work in the neighborhood, but before they arrived, they sent a mailing to everybody in the neighborhood announcing that they were going to be coming soon to the area.

I thought it was a brilliant idea.

It said very simply: "Hey, my company's logging crew will be doing tree work near your home in the next week or so. If you have a large tree, multiple trees need to be removed, trimmed or need clearing work done, this would be a great time to save on that project. Please call me now for a free estimate." And then it had a handwritten...

Land is a unique animal in the real estate industry. It is the last area to heat up in a busy market and the first thing to cool off when the market takes a downturn.

So how do you effectively market land? Let's start with a technique called roof topping. Roof topping comes from the commercial side of the business. It means if you were to go to the roof of any commercial building you are trying to sell and you were to look out over the horizon somebody in that horizon is highly likely to be the buyer for your building. The same is true for land. By targeting people that own land now around the property you will may quickly zero in on your ideal buyer as these landowners will either be a buyer themselves or may know a buyer.

Next talk to the immediate neighbors and ask "if they would like to take control of the property before someone else builds on it?" This simple question can be very motivating for a adjacent land owner.

Next attempt to find financing for the property....