Foursquare: Have you checked in?

Foursquare hit the social media scene in 2009 and has gained popularity ever since. With over 25 million users world wide and over 2.5 billion check ins, Foursquare allows users to check in at businesses and public places. Foursquare is a fun social media app but it isn't all fun and games when you consider its business applications

Become the Mayor of your favorite spots
When you check in to a place more times than anyone else you are deemed the mayor of that place. Being the Mayor can give you special things and general notoriety.

Register your office
Setting up your office as a place on Foursquare not only allows you and others to check in at your office giving it online exposure, but allows you to write about your activities like preparing a new listing. It also gives you the opportunity to write tips like preparing your home to sell.

Open House Buzz
Foursquare is a good way to post information about open houses. Sellers and other office agents can comment about open houses and the neighborhood.With Foursquare's ability to forward to Facebook and Twitter, more of your social community can view open house activities.

Connect with your Sphere
Checking in at local stores gives you the ability to see which of your friends are there. Imagine "bumping into" an old friend while shopping! Knowing that they're there gives the savvy real estate agent time to prepare for the casual conversation.

Take a few minutes to sign up for Foursquare if you aren't already using it. The online social community is blending into our face to face contacts making prospecting much easier.

CB Works eMarketing eCard Tool

This short video how to quickly make and send eCards to customers and clients. It's a snap! Take a look.

Use Social Network Sites to Research New Prospects

Social sites aren’t just for talking but for listening. Social networks provide excellent opportunities for real estate agents to search for people who are talking about making a move. Searching this way enables agents to make contact with people they may not yet know who are planning a move. Spend a few minutes (that’s all) each day searching your social media sites looking for people who are planning a move.

Think about who may be moving…

Anyone who has had a life event may be considering a move. Someone who has just graduated, had a baby, landed a new job, had children move out, etc. are all excellent prospects.

Searching is quick and easy when you know how to do it.

Start with the largest social media site, Facebook. At the top of the page is the search box. Type

what you are looking for in quotation marks. Here’s an example, let’s look for “moving to Houston” It’s important that you click on the magnifying glass to start the search instead of just hitting enter. Next decide what group to target. On the left side of the page are Search Filters. Start with Posts by Friends to check your friends. Move to Public Posts to check for people you don’t yet know.

Twitter also has great search capabilities. Just like Facebook,

type the search parameters into

the search box. Use quotation marks to narrow the results. The gear to the right of the search box has advance search tools. Add a location to your search to help target a certain area. Adding a target group of people is possible in the advanced search section of Twitter as well.

Searching for potential clients this way and reaching out to them on their social media site is the newest form of warm calling possible. The difference is though the potential prospects have already expressed an interest or need to make a move.

Just like any prospecting these potential customers may still require follow up before they are actually ready to buy. If possible, add them to your following or friends. Send them a message or comment on their post to help them notice you. Here's to your Success!

Open House Prospecting Plan

Prospecting in real estate should always be systematic and planned. Open Houses, a comprehensive prospecting system, is a great example. With both active and passive prospecting activities, open houses expose our listings and reach both buyers and sellers.
For open houses to reach their greatest prospecting potential, follow these simple steps:

Two Weeks before the Open House

• Choose a house to hold open
• Mail invitation post cards to 50 neighbors
• List the open house on the multiple listing service and on other real estate pages
• Order a short open house newspaper advertisement or facebook pay per click ad

The Week before the Open House

• Place an Open Sunday sign rider on the sign
• Place an event on Facebook and invite local friends
• Prepare flier for open house
• Call prior open house attendees inviting them
• Call twenty neighbors inviting them

The Day of the Open House

• Place at least six open house signs
• Request every visitor sign in by using an inexpesive raffle

These simple to follow steps will create an open house system that will generate many buyer and seller leads. Including the buyer prospect in future open house invitation calls insure more interest to your open houses and will create lucritive relationships with buyers.

Open Houses Create Successful Prospecting Opportunities

If Prospecting is the lifeblood of a real estate agent's career, then open houses are the blood cells themselves. No other single activity gives more opportunities to prospect for new customers than the open house.

Frequently, real estate agents try open houses and then give up doing them because they quickly learn that open houses don't work. Though this will sound contradictory to my initial statement, they're right. Open houses don't usually work ... by themselves. Most of the time an agent plans an open house by placing an announcement on the local mls, an Open Sunday sign, places a directional sign or two and lets it rip. If this is your idea of an open house, let me save you some time, GIVE UP!

Open houses offer many proepsecting opportunities that need to be used to not just increase attendance to the open house but to also prospect for other buyers and sellers.

- Think about your sellers. They're looking for the BEST price for their home. Brining in more buyers may bring more than one offer but at least the highest possible offer.

- Think about the neighbors. They're watching the for sale sign in your seller's yard. They are considering selling but haven't found a real estate agent yet. They're waiting to see your efforts.

- Think about other buyers. Often buyers visit open houses long before they're ready to buy.

Prospecting for these groups will increase your customer base dramatically. Having success using open houses takes a systematic approach with a variety of open house invitation and follow up activities.

Ready, Set, JUMP!

Being cautious and looking at a problem from all sides is a great business practice. Business plans should include intricate details about marketing and product development. After careful analysis, however, sometimes you just have to take a running start and jump in! Don't forget to make as big of a splash as you can!

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Content Marketing for Social Media Sites

Many new Facebookers have true concerns about what and when to post material. Instead of creating a page and then trying to determine what information to provide, do it in reverse. Decide what content to provide and then create a page designed to deliver the information.
Before creating your Facebook page decide what kind of content or information to provide. This will depend completely on who the targeted audience is for the page. This allows the page to focus completely on consumer needs and delivers enough content for the first thirty to sixty days.
Three good questions to ask before creating a Facebook page are:

1. What kind of information does my targeted audience mostly likely need?
2. Why do I love selling real estate?
3. Why do I love this community?

The answers to these three questions are the beginning of a cntent grid. Use the following chart to help create a content grid.

Post several times a day in order to maximize exposure. Some recommend even posting the same material more than once to increase readership. Though this may look a bit like spam to frequent Facebook visitors, allows for the greatest exposure.

With all this great consumer centered information being produced, length of article or post is a concern. Facebook users are accustomed to short bits of information which is why Facebook is not in the center of the social media hub. Facebook allows the consumer to readily find topics and shorts posts of information. The true source of the information is the blog. Facebook just directs the consumer to it Even so, some bits of information may come from other sites like
governmental agencies, Realtor ssociations, school websites, news organizations to name a few. Create a link tothis information and post it directly on Facebook. Add the URL to longer articles or helpful link lists posted on the blog.

Each blog post has its own distinct URL or web address. By clicking on the title of the blog article, the URL will appear in the address bar. Copy and paste the URL for the article to Facebook. This gives the blog article greater exposure. The back link helps in placement in Google searches as well.

Content on blogs and Facebook is not limited to written articles. Content can be as simple as a picture with a title posted from Flick’r onto Facebook and the blog. Use the hub to create a network of sites whenever possible! Content can be shared as a video as well. Imagine, for example, keeping the community informed about a local construction project by posting
frequent and short videos. These videos are stored on YouTube and linked or embedded into the blog and Facebook. Creatively, client testimonials can be video as well. Ask satisfied clients to make a short 30-45 second video instead of writing a letter. These are great show instead of tells for blogs and Facebook.

Now that the social media hub is in place and beginning to work, refocus on the content grid to deliver quality and enjoyable information to your targeted group of consumers. This is the fun part!

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How do we interact in 2011?

To reach consumers it is necessary to understand how people interact today. More than likely, people meet online with 1 in 5 marriages originating from an online introduction. With the likelihood of personal interaction initiating online, a strong, widespread, dynamic, and planned online presence is a must for a real estate professional to grow a successful and productive business.
An online prospecting campaign must include a substantial amount of Facebook. Successful campaigns that create a measureable return on time and dollar investment usually include use of both the personal profile and a business page along with facebook ads.

Recently Facebook incorporated Facebook generated lists to help organize friends into manageable groups. Lists allow individuals to post status updates to specific groups of people allowing a great opportunity to target market. It would be beneficial to post an open house for friends in a specific geographic area. But it may be considered spam to others who live far away from the open house. Lists also allow facebookers to review or watch posts from specific groups of people. Many people today have more Facebook friends than they can interact with. Lists allow people to streamline friends into smaller lists. The smaller groups let posts move slower down the wall so it is easier to pay attention and interact with friends.

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Social Media giants dominate the internet

Many agents believe a website will suffice in capturing online consumers. This is far from the truth. In a Comscore Report dated Tuesday, December 21, 2011, consumers spent 35% more time on social media sites than that of a year ago. Websites are too static for today’s online consumer who searches sometimes daily for updated information. Websites should change as the market changes and should provide current
detailed information customized for a targeted group of consumers. In many instances, blogs have taken the place of websites. Agent blogs have the ability to be changed easily, are usually controlled by the agent, and are preferred by search engines like Google.

An agent’s blog can be the hub for consumers to be drawn towards with other even more dynamic sites used as outposts to guide the consumer in. Social Media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube are constantly changing and highly trafficked. Youtube, for example, is the second most searched site
behind Google. Facebook has enough members to make it the third most populated country in the world. These, and other social sites, are excellent areas to find consumers who are searching for information about real estate. These sites are needed to help draw buyers and sellers to the agent’s blog. Social sites also allow the agent to create an online personality necessary to creating a personal brand.

Linkedin is a business related social networking site. Somewhat like an online rolodex, Linkedin allows members to connect to each other. Members can post their profile and job history along with updates. Linkedin, according to Wikipedia, has 21.4 million monthly visitors just in the United States and is growing at 2 members per second. Linkedin has over 135 million members worldwide.

Twitter is another fast growing social media site with more than 300 million posts called tweets and 1.6 billion searches a day. Limited to only 140 character posts, Twitter delivers short text like messages and links to its members. Twitter is great for posting links to blog articles and for public conversations within groups.

Youtube is a social media giant with postings of not just short videos but full length movies and music. Youtube, started in 2005, is now a subsidiary of Google. According to Wikipedia, Google reported in May 2010 that it served nearly 2 billion videos a day and nearly double the primetime audience of the three major television stations combined. Registered Youtube users can post videos and video blogs that are viewable by the public or to a specific audience.

Flickr, like Youtube, hosts videos but is mostly used to host photos for use by bloggers. Owned by Yahoo, in June 2011 Flickr had more than 51 million registered users and more than 80 million unique visitiors. This is a perfect place for real estate agents to posts house photos. It also is a great place to post photo libraries of communities.
Though not even scratching the surface of the social media sites, the final outpost of the online marketing hub is the social media giant Facebook.

Facebook Continually updating, Facebook allows users to create both a personal and business persona, posting information about the user’s life and business. Due to its popularity and strength, Facebook dominates the social media scene with over 800 million users. According to Wikipedia, by April 2010 nearly 42% of the United States’ population had a facebook account. In May 2011 Facebook announced it served nearly 140 million monthly users. Comscore's December 20th 2011 report stated that one in every seven online minutes is spent on Facebook while three out of every four minutes spent on social sites are spent on Facebook.

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Prospecting for a New Consumer

Statistics continue to point that the trend of using the internet to learn about literally any topic and to interact is not only not going away but is getting greater. We continue to see individuals reaching toward their peers to get information about products and services instead of relying on advertisements to help them identify brands and make purchases.

Real estate consumers are always becoming more adept at researching without the assistance of a real estate agent. They easily obtain information on communities, researching schools, proximity to amenities, prices, and more before reaching out for the services of a real estate professional. This new consumer is a confident researcher able to make choices based on the availability of endless information.

Though stated many times in the previous decade, real estate agents are no longer the gateway to the information. The role of the agent is changing rapidly as much of the control of the real estate transaction is moved into the hands of the consumer. The availability of information is only paled by the ease of communication. The new consumer is relying on peer recommendations, referrals,
and independent rating systems to aid in choosing a real estate professional. This savvy consumer bases service provider selection on relationship over advertising. Simply stated, the consumer demands a relationship based on trust. This trust relationship must be earned by the
agent and cannot be underdeveloped.

Looking positively at the new consumer, the agent can now truly focus on providing superior service and invaluable intricate knowledge about the real estate transaction. Agents can focus more on providing a singular place to gather information regarding specific communities and the transaction. Agents can once again truly specialize and provide develop a niche market.

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Video Blogging Helps You and Consumers

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The New Facebook Timeline

The new Facebook Timeline is creating a lot of stir. People are beginning to add it to their profile making it available for all to see. With the excitement comes a lot of questions.

Facebook has a video illustrating how the timeline is set up. On the page with the video are photos explaing the different parts of the Timeline page. It includes an explanation of your Cover which is a larger picture that you can use to help illustrate your personality. Here's mine:

My friends would, hopefully, agree that this picture exemplifies me. I love my wife and children more than anything. The outdoors is important to me. I enjoy a nice glass of wine. And, that dog drives me crazy.

The second part of the new Profile page highlights our Stories. These are the events in our life. We can highlight events so they show up on our Timeline. I added, for example, the date of my wedding, and the birth dates of both my sons. I felt those dates were fairly significant in my life. If not for the good, at least, they definitely changed my life!

The third part of the Profile page shows the Apps that you use.

Initially, The new Timeline page won't replace your Wall. But seven days after you get the new Timeline it will automatically become visible. Go on, give it a try. I think you'll like it! To create your new timeline, click on this link and click on Get It Now. Happy Facebooking!

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Service Starts with Hello

In many ways I am a bit conservative and set in my ways. And, I’m ok with that. I like routines and the certainty of knowing what to expect.

Because of this characteristic, I tend to shop at the same places even if it is not necessarily the most convenient. I’ll actually drive past several similar stores to go to the one I know even if they’re the same brand. Peculiar?

Recently, I had to get an oil change. I mean really had to get an oil change. I’d been putting it off because the place I usually go is clear across town now and Saturdays have been so packed with events. So, I’ve been circling this place at lunch checking it out the last couple of days. Yes, there is medicine for people like me. I choose not to take it.

Finally, yesterday I bit the bullet and actually pulled into the driveway. As soon as I did, a worker (Sorry, but what do you call someone who works at an oil change place?) walked to my car and greeted me. He actually welcomed me to the established and asked how he could serve me today.

Dumbfounded by his enthusiasm, I was speechless. I rarely get greeted so eagerly by hosts at restaurants or sales people let alone by a mechanic. He kept his side of the conversation by asking several key questions until he understood what kind of service I needed. Professionally and succinctly the service-minded worker explained the procedure and then guided me into the shop. His crew took over from there while he offered me coffee and magazines to occupy my time.

I didn’t need a magazine, I was lost in thought. Imagine if real estate was done this way? I mean a hearty welcome. Ok that’s common. But then a series of questions by the salesperson so she could understand the needs of the consumer and then a presentation. It’s not a unique idea nor even new.

Ken Blanchard focuses on customer service in Raving Fans. So do many other authors and business trainers and coaches. But, do we? Is $ally our $eller truly our main focus? Or is the consummation of the transaction our goal. My head was swimming!
While deep in these ideas, the worker drew me back to the room. As promised, my newly found service hero had delivered my car to me. He then reviewed the service his crew provided, and then (get this) genuinely thanked me for choosing his shop. Unbelievable. Thanks, Jim! I will be back you can guarantee it.

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Seven things you need to do to engage your Facebook followers

This is a no-brainer, but were you aware that people buy more when they are engaged? Though I can't source this, some statistics show that consumers spend 20-40% more when they are actively engaged with the salesperson or company.

Do you know why? ...Because buying and selling is emotional

We must move away from one-sided tightly scripted messages to a free form of dialogue with consumers. Creating dialogue and engaging your consumers means you have to know who you’re attracting.

• Ask Questions - Brainstorm a list of questions your followers will find engaging
• Keep it simple and fun - Use videos and photos to attract followers
• Keep an editorial calendar - Plan your posts around themes.
• Create a content grid – Organize your posts into categories: Real Estate, Local Interests,
• Personal Interest, Your website
• Reply to every Like or Comment - Simply, “Thanks for the likes” will suffice.
• Reply to every Share - People want to know that you’ve seen them.
• Measure your success with analytics - Use the basic Facebook analytics or more detailed Hootsuite or Google Analytics to measure your traffic.
  

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Prospect to Urgent Consumers

The key to prospect identification is URGENCY:

• TIME is the key criteria for determining who is a prospect
  
• Categorize your prospects by WHEN they want to move
  
• Question for motivation using time based questions:

1. How soon do you plan on moving?
2. How much longer will your home meet your needs?
3. At what point would you consider seeking the services of a sales person?
   

Bring information to customers who you know want to move. Focus on using active propsecting methods attracting those with an urgency in the buying or selling desires.

FSBOS

Expired Listings

Open House attendees

Referrals

Good News Bads News

Cold calling this group can be more difficult because they don't know who you are. - Bad News

Cold calling this group can be lucrative because they are ready to make a move. - Good News

Key Concept - If you need business right now then you’ll need to take the initiative to actively prospect the groups that are urgent now and develop relationships by making cold calls and make them warm.
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8 Quick Tips How to Successfully Tell 20

CONTACTING PERSON TO PERSON TIPS:
When doing Tell 20, or asking homeowners if you can put signs on their property for open
houses, or walking your farm area:

• Wear your name tag at all times
• Dress professionally.
  
• State your name clearly and clearly state COLDWELL BANKER UNITED, REALTORS.
  
• Give a specific purpose to your visit.
  
• Be confident, positive and enthusiastic.
  
• Always graciously thank people for their time even if they turn you down.
  
• DON’T walk across lawns.
  
• Stand back a little way from the front door, you’ll seem less threatening.
  
• Have something to give people, even if you are just asking to place a sign. Hand them an open house flier, business card, brochure, newsletter.
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Prospecting is a Contact Sport

Reaching out to consumers comes in many forms. Some methods require agents to actually make active contact with people. These active prospecting methods have face to face contact, phone or email contact, or other contact methods that allow for conversation. Other prospecting methods are inactive. They place prospecting materials in front of consumers with the hope of the prospect then to reach out for the real estate agent. Real estate agents’ prospecting plans need to include a balance of active and inactive prospecting methods.

Belly to Belly, Nose to Nose, and Toes to Toes

If I can hand you a business card then I am involved in an active prospecting activity.

– Steve Barnes, Coldwell Banker United, Realtors®

Active Prospecting includes activities that allow engagement in conversation such as face to face meetings, phone callings, emailing, and some social media posting. Real estate agents who are handing out business cards in a networking meeting, talking to their friends in social settings,calling friends and family member or neighbors to discuss market conditions, homes on the market, open houses, and other real estate activities are conducting active prospecting activities.

Active Prospecting Methods
Phone calling
Handing out business cards
Networking at social settings
Emailing friends and family members

Passive Prospecting creates opportunities for consumers to see, hear, or read about you, your company, and your services. The marketing piece gives the consumer enough information to be able to reach out to the agent. Passive marketing pieces usually have a call to action and a valuestatement along with the contact information of the real estate agent.

Passive Prospecting Methods
Billboards
Direct Mail postcards, etc.
Print Ads
Internet Ads
Websites
Flier boxes
Door hangers
Television Ads
Agent Intro Videos
Calendars and other giveaways

To be successful in real este, agents must use a combination of both active and passive prospecting methods. What are you using to insure success in your business?

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Filling the Funnel

Real estate opportunities are in each relationship we have. Whether in a first encounter with a consumer or with a long time friend, all people need a place to live. Not only do all people need a place to live, many people invest in real estate. Some invest in residential rental properties, while others purchase residential properties to rehab and then sell for profit. Both of these residential transactions, in addition to the lease opportunity, may include at least one real estate agent. This limited approach in real estate does not include any commercial transactions or development though each is attractive income generation options.

The question that comes in mind when considering all the opportunities to generate an income helping people buy, sell, lease, or develop
real estate is, “How do I find people who have a need in real estate?”

The word used to find people to work with is called prospecting. It is how real estate agents come into contact with consumers who have an interest in buying, selling, or leasing real estate.
The goal in prospecting is to find as many consumers as possible who are interested in transacting real estate. Reaching out to friends, acquaintances, neighbors, and others is like filling a funnel. The more prospects that are placed in the funnel through prospecting, the more likely a steady stream of income flows out the bottom of the funnel. The income level is dependent upon the volume of the flow and usually the dollar amount of the transaction. Assuming though a constant dollar amount of the transactions, the only way to increase income then is by increasing the number of transaction which is dependent on the amount of prospects reached. Reaching more people to make more money sounds simple. Yet many real estate agents fail at an alarmingly high rate. To have success, real estate agents need to have a plan about how to make contact with consumers and then follow their plan.

There are many ways to reach consumers to fill an agent's prospecting funnel. When creating their plan, agents can choose their prospecting methods by determining which are their favorites and their own strengths.
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Prospecting through social media

Social Media is Relational NOT Transactional

In creating a set of business objectives, we tend to look at number of contacts needed to create one appointment or one revenue share. Though textbook planning, this doesn’t necessarily lend itself to the essence of social media: creating a network of people who share about themselves.

Looking then at the goal of Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites, I am enthused by the potential of online relationship building. Wow, social media creates the perfect platform for personal branding!

Often people question which social media platform yields the greatest results? The answer varies greatly depending on the preference of the media user. Though many people believe Twitter, for example, is more B2B focused, it provides ready opportunity to build hyper-local market interest. Facebook, on the other hand, is commonly considered a business to consumer media source. Neither social media platforms, however, will produce prospecting results unless they are worked consistently to deliver relevant market contact.

Easy steps in making money with social media:

Choose your favorite platform. If you like Twitter, use it. If Facebook is your favorite social media platform then become a Facebook professional. Learn your social media platform’s tools and posting methods.

Identify your content strategy by understand your target market. This could be a geographic group like in the old neighborhood farm days or it could be an interest group like model railroaders.

Research and “friend” or “follow” your target market.

Identify daily tasks. These are 4 to 5 daily posts of information that are of interest to your market group.

Manage the delivery of the information through a realtime drip marketing program. Just like neighborhood farming, you can’t send out a year’s worth of postcards in one day. Sites like www.hootsuite.com, www.tweetdeck.com, and http://www.socialoomph.com deliver scheduled posting opportunities. Most blogging platforms like Wordpress and Blogspot do as well.

Keep posting! Growing a group of faithful followers who know, like, trust you takes time. Success is dependent on consistent longevity.

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Sale slumping or nonexistant?

Sales can be a discouraging and frustrating business when you look at each potential customer one at a time. Remember when Tom Hopkins and his quarters? This is a contact sport frequently requiring many attempts before obtaining a sale. I’ve seen statistics that show 100 contacts make 5 appointments that make one signed agreement. To create a signed agreement (buyer rep or listing agreement) you’ll need to hurry the process along by making more contacts every day.

Here’s what I mean, you’re right FSBO’s don’t want to pay commission. They’ve got their guard up because they know you’re going to ask. We know, however, that 70% of all FSBO’s give up and list with a real estate agent. Create a relationship with them through multiple contacts. Statistics show only 4% of prospects sign agreement after the first contact. This increases to over 80% after the 8th contact. Review your FSBO plan and keep calling. Don’t give them pricing info. That’s what they get when they list with you. It’s your expertise.

Now, how else are you going to fill your funnel? Open Houses? Expired listings? Social Media? What about your Sphere of Influence and the 7 Second Presentation? Revisit your business plan.You can do this. If you lost it or didn’t make one then ask and I’ll give you some templates. The bottom line is simple mathematics. If you want a signed agreement each month you’ve got to be making 100 contacts EVERY WEEK.

Make the act of prospecting your goal so you can have some immediate success. Here’s what I learned as a new agent: “I don’t expect you to sell a house every day. I expect you to do the ACTIVITIES necessary to get in front of people.” In other words I had to teach my wife and kids to stop asking me if I sold a house today and asking me if I did my prospecting activities. Get it?

You still get to ask for the business with your contact it just isn’t as imperative to make business with every person when you’re following up with 100 or more people.

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