As a brokerage or team owner, you should be recruiting every dayâat least one hour a day. If you're not, that's a whole different conversation. But letâs assume you're doing your job, recruiting daily, because thatâs the #1 way to bring new agents into your office.
When you get an objection, how do you react? Do you see it as an opportunity or something that scares you? Do you embrace it, or do you run from it?
Objections are just like the ones you get from buyers and sellersâthey actually show interest. The worst thing that can happen is getting no objections at all. If a recruit gives you zero pushback, doesnât respond, or their eyes glaze over, that means theyâre not interested. They just want to move on, and youâre nothing more than a nuisance to them.
But when they object, that means theyâre engaged. Theyâre processing what youâre saying, thinking it over, and thatâs a good thing.
One of the best ways to handle objections is to anticipate concerns before they come up. Put your...
Hereâs a question I get almost every day from people who think they need to start recruiting to grow their business.
As a real estate brokerage owner or team leader, the only way to grow profitability is by increasing the number of agents working for you.
You have to switch hats. Many of you are coming from being top-producing agents, where your focus is on personal production. But when you move to the brokerage side, itâs no longer just about your productionâitâs about where production comes from.
Production doesnât come from one, two, or even ten agents. It comes from a team of agents working under you. Your customers are no longer buyers and sellers. As a brokerage owner or team leader, your customers are agents.
If you want to grow, you need more customersâmore agents. If you stay stagnant with the same number of agents, you wonât just fail to grow; youâll become less profitable over time. Inflation is constantly eating away at your profit margins. Itâs grow or die. Expanding y...
Hey guys, I want to give you a strategy as we head into the busiest season of the year for listingsâFebruary, March, April, and May. This is when the most homes hit the market, so itâs the perfect time to ramp up your efforts.
Iâve got two strategies that can help.
1. Create a Real Estate Resume
A real estate resume highlights your background, skills, education, and successes. Keep it simpleâjust a one-page document. You can use Canva, where you'll find plenty of great resume templates. Pick one, customize it, and build out your real estate resume.
Once it's ready, send it out to your entire database with a cover letter. The letter should say something like:
"As we enter the busiest season of the year, I wanted to share my real estate resume in case you know any buyers or sellers looking for an agent. Iâd love to interview for the job of helping them buy or sell their home."
This positions you as a professional and keeps you top of mind with potential clients.
2. Build & Share Y...
Okay, guys, hereâs some great language to use with buyers who are on the fence. When youâre following upâbecause we should all be following upâyou can say something like this:
âHey, I just wanted to touch base with you and let you know Iâve been thinking about you. Now that weâre in a new year, I wanted to talk to you about all the new listings starting to hit the market. February, March, April, and May are when we see the most listings, which means the most opportunities. In fact, we have 10% more inventory on the market this year compared to last year. So, I wanted to reconnect and see if we could start looking at some properties together.
âNow, I know you might have some concerns about pricing and finding the right value. Hereâs the key message: When you work with me, weâre not buying the marketâweâre buying a specific home. My job is to ensure you get the absolute best pricing and value on the home that fits your needs.â
You can also add a personal story to connect with them, li...
Do you think your buyers have unrealistic expectations about the homes theyâre seeing because of TV shows about housing, fixing up, and flipping?
The answer is absolutely yes.
In fact, 73% of homebuyers have unrealistic expectations based on their TV viewing habits.
So, what can we do about it? We can either do nothing and have them feel disappointed every time they walk into a house, or we can reset their expectations and shift their mindset. Hereâs how we do it.
Many of us are already using buyer questionnaires before meeting with clientsâsent via text, JotForm, or Google Forms. These questionnaires help us understand their needs. One useful question to add could be:
"Do you watch reality TV about housing? If so, what are your favorite shows?"
When you get this feedback, it gives you insight and lets you address the issue during your first meeting.
For example, in your buyer presentation, you might say:
"Hey, I noticed you like to watch reality TV about housing. Thatâs greatâ...
I want to share one of the best strategies Iâve heard from a top agent in years. This story comes from my friend Dan, who had a client searching for a specific type of property.
Dan started making calls and came across a duplex owner. While driving by the property, he saw the owner outside mowing the grass. He introduced himself:
"Hi, Iâm Dan. I have a buyer interested in multifamily properties, and I was wondering if youâd consider selling these units."
Her response? "No, I think Iâm going to hold onto them."
But hereâs where Dan worked his magic.
Dan didnât stop at the first âno.â Instead, he asked a follow-up question:
"Can I ask why youâre holding onto them?"
Her answer? "I think Iâm getting a good rate of return."
Dan responded: "Thatâs great! And if you are, you should definitely keep them. But if I could find you something with a better rate of return, would you consider selling these?"
That opened the door to a conversation. The result? He listed the property, sold it,...
Have you ever had a seller who wants to overprice their property? Almost all sellers, right? It's pretty much universal. So, what's a conversation we can have with sellers to help them price their home correctly?
One approach I like is called the "One Bite at the Apple" conversation.
Here's how it goes:
"Hey Mr./Mrs. Seller, I totally understand that you want to get top dollar for your home. But the market has shifted a bit, especially when it comes to marketing homes. Over the past five to ten years, mobile and internet searches have become the dominant way buyers find homes. Most buyersâ99%âare signed up on a portal to receive new listing updates.
So, here's what that means: when we list your home, within 24 hours, essentially every buyer in the market is going to see it. They'll all get the listing in their inbox around the same time and make a snap decision: is it priced right or overpriced? Do I want to go see it?
This is why most homes that sell do so within the first five t...
Hey guys, have you had a chance to talk to your social and sphere audiences about the importance of flood insurance?
This should be a priority, especially with what's happened with Helene and Miltonâitâs on the top of everyone's mind.
Here's something interesting: typical homeownerâs insurance doesnât cover flooding. Since 1996, 99% of counties in the U.S. have experienced some kind of flooding event. Whatâs more, 20% of all flood claims come from homes not in traditional flood zones. And just one inch of flooding in your house can cause at least $25,000 in damage.
Thatâs a huge reason to encourage your clients to get flood insurance.
To help with this, there are a couple of things we can do:
First, partner with a local insurance agent who specializes in flood insurance. We could record a webinar or have them join a live stream to discuss the importance of flood insurance.
Another option is to direct people to the government website, FloodSmart.gov, which has a ton of information...
Hey guys, you know what everyoneâs starting to get right now?
Their property tax statements.
When people get those statements, they rush to open them and think, "My homeâs worth more than that," or "My propertyâs worth less than that," or something in between.
Hereâs an opportunity for us. Why not reach out to all of your clients, your sphere of influence, and your social audiences with this message:
âHey guys, youâre probably getting your property tax statements around now. If you look at that assessed value and disagree with it, or just want an updated value of your property, give me a quick call or text. I do this as a free service for all my friends and family, just to keep you in touch with your finances and your equity position.â
Thatâs it! Thatâs the messaging. People will absolutely take advantage of this, and it opens the door to conversations.
You might wonder, "Jim, why would I do this if theyâre not interested in selling?" Youâre doing it because friends refer friends...
How many of you are using cold emails to reach out to neighborhoods or farm areas?
If youâre not doing it yet, itâs something you might want to add to your toolkit. You donât need to send thousands of emailsâmaybe just 50 or 100 at a time. Keep it manageable.
You might be wondering, âJim, where do I find these email addresses?â
There are plenty of places to find them. One of my favorites is REDX. They often have email addresses for homeowners in certain neighborhoods. They might not have them all, but they have a surprising number. Once you have those email addresses, you can send out emails to solicit listings or at least start a conversation about potential interest in selling.
Hereâs an idea: use the same script youâd put on a postcard or mailing and adapt it for email. Then, take an integrated approachâsend both the physical mail and the email. You can also add âlayersâ by sending a text and running a social media ad targeting that neighborhood.
REDX has a system called Ad Bui...
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