A Profile Photo In Your Facebook Shouts Out Loud

Social Media, the toy that now seems to connect us all globally.  Facebook in particular is simply huge.  Hard to imagine only a few short years ago, it was the product of collegiate fun.  Now that fun has become the connection point of global colleagues and to promote ourselves and our businesses.   How times have changed!

Facebook is one medium that has captured 1.06 billion users at last count.  It is said there are 100 billion photos on Facebook and the number is growing every day.  You would think that anyone who signed up with Facebook would be willing to share even one single photo to represent their identity and put a face in their profile.  And most people do!  After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.  However it seems more and more these days I get ‘Friend’ requests from people without a profile picture.  While some are spam for sure, some are legit.  Let us examine why people should have a photo in their FB profile if they are truly considering using it for if nothing else, social networking!

• Recognition – when I google someone’s name or search it up on Facebook  there are instances that the profile names are the same and the only thing that can prove that it’s he or she is through his or her profile photo.  However if there is no photo, I am in limbo looking for some more names that he or she might have been using.  Recognizing a person in an instant through profile photos is a great help especially if your time is limited.
• Confidence – A face really is worth a lot.  It shows you’re humanity.  (you are human, yes?)   Face value cannot be understated.  Like a smiling photo can show a friendly personality.  Of course, we can’t just rely upon a person by face value but without a face it grows a seed of doubt as to the legitimacy of who is friending you.  There is no shortage of account that has no profile picture where the account is no longer valid.  Coincidental?  Hard to know for sure.
• Networking – as business people, one of our goals in using FB is to connect to other people in businesses like ours.  This is one of many ways to network, extend a hand, share our services and possibly work out a deal together.  We have done more than one deal off of Facebook now so the credibility it gives can be huge.  Seeing you in photo and not just reading an invitation to connect is more than helpful for me to decide that yes, it is worth to network with you.
• Popularity – FB users are into popular personalities.  Many people like to connect with people who have a lot of friends in their respective fields.  In real estate, I would like to be connected with agents whom I worked with in the past, my mentor, colleagues and several more.  When I look for them I tend to look for them by trying to find them by their name.

So a photo is not just a photo, it’s more than that.  It is an identity that can make or break your social media status.   Privacy is important no doubt and that can never be understated however hiding our identity completely can have its setbacks.   In business, a single photo is all what you need to encourage people of your legitimacy.   It shouts out loud and says, yes, you and your business may be trustworthy.  I am genuine and people like it when people can be real with each other!

Sell Your Atlanta House Fast for Cash Today! We Buy PRETTY and UGLY Houses! We Pay Cash for Homes and We will Buy Your House Fast! We are Atlanta Real Estate Investors. We look forward to hearing from you today with your Atlanta Real Estate needs! Visit - http://workingwithhouses.com and http://atlantabuynow.com

Training Your Real Estate Team Members To Be Effective

It is essentially fact that people are the most important asset in a real estate company or any company for that matter.  So, we place a great deal of time on recruitment and the interview process in order to find the right person with the right attitude.  And our investment of time on finding the right person to fill the position doesn’t just stop after they are brought onboard.  We continue to find ways and means to train them regularly.
Here are ten significant points to consider so that your real estate business can grow.  Keeping a good staff by empowering them to take some ownership within their area goes a long way.  Well trained and qualified staff will also enhance your businesses’ reputation and give you the edge over your competition.
Ten Tips:

• Even before any training commences, select the right person for the job.  Don’t just focus on previous experience in real estate but rather consider the applicants skill sets to fulfill the particular roles requirements.  Train the new person to be proficient and competent within a particular job as focus provides better results.
• Allow some time outs during conference calls.  Follow up with your trainees about what they learned during the call and how this can be applied to their job.  Update them with new found ideas, new apps and other items used in real estate that you have come across that will be useful to their work.
• Consider bringing in a trainer / consultant to the office for on the job training.  You can also send them to webinars to learn new skills in real estate.
• Facilitate team discussions within real estate Buyer and Seller groups so that everyone can say what went well or can be improved.
• If they will work with Sellers, train them on how to handle these individuals to win their business, especially if they have listed their home for six months with no acceptable offer.   Also if they work with the online processes, brainstorm how these methods can always be improved.  Sellers appreciate simplicity once they wrap their head around it.
• Make SOP’s (Standard Operating Procedures) and document them to break down the elements of working instructions necessary to cover every job and process your real estate business uses.  Regularly review their value and if dynamic processes need to be rewritten.  Do not underestimate this time!
• Reward successes on the job, in particular if employees become qualified with awards of merit.   Reward can be a cash bonus but an award like “Real Estate Sales Rock Star of the Month” trophy can do volumes.  All kinds of recognition, financial or psychological can be appreciated by your reports.
• Use KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) to benchmark each employees success criteria.   The number of houses listed and sold per month could be examples of KPI’s.
• Recognize talent and promote high flyers and solid reliable employees.  Plan for succession for all key positions (including your own) and ensure you train the right people for the business to for the long term if you plan for the business to be around for a while.
• Finally, leverage the tracking methods available online for reports, ads or blogs to better understand the need for further improvement.  Stop guessing which one of your advertisements or blogs works and which one does not.  Targeted marketing that is working helps your team in producing an effective way to generate real estate leads seamlessly.

Maintaining good staff in a real estate business is not difficult.  However, it does require work.  Implementation and follow up on simple processes should be done consistently and this will benefit the company in time so that all can reap the rewards repeatedly.

Sell Your Atlanta House Fast for Cash Today! We Buy PRETTY and UGLY Houses! We Pay Cash for Homes and We will Buy Your House Fast! We are Atlanta Real Estate Investors. We look forward to hearing from you today with your Atlanta Real Estate needs! Visit - http://workingwithhouses.com and http://atlantabuynow.com

Be Consistent To Attract Your Preferred Buyers

Housing wholesalers need to plan best the ways to keep business coming; houses don’t flip themselves and potential clients don’t just stop you in the street or at the burger bar.  You have to proactively farm and fish to generate or harvest your new business opportunities.
Consistency is a must as you build and grow your business. And all effort needs to be measured because until you have tried something new for a period of time and in a consistent manner, you can’t decide if it works or not.  You cannot measure effectiveness if you have not done it consistently.  When consistency is practiced, it maintains your message and establishes your reputation.  Just make sure it is a good one.  :-)
What Buyers to sell to?  Cash!  I have learned to never assume that every wholesaler knows that cash Buyers is what they want.  I am amazed at how many try to sell to finance Buyers (and rarely succeeding).  Selling to finance buyers is not usually our first choices since they have all these other requirements.  If you work as a rehabber, this can be worth the wait since you are dealing with larger projects in many cases.  If you are a wholesaler, you want the cash Buyers.  Speed and simplicity is king in your line of work.
Choose Clients That You Prefer
First of all, we will work with anyone who is credible.  However let’s talk reality here…some people are easier to work with than others.  It will help you to analyze and make categories for the Buyers you already sold to so that you can target the kind of buyers that you can however as a wholesaler, you want simple and easy every chance you can get.  Some categories may be as follows:

• First time buyers wanting their own home (for the rehabbers)
• Brokers with Buyers (could be wholesale or rehab deals)
• Other Investors including Flippers
• Wholesalers
• Tire Kickers (and other investors who may not be so serious)

With tire kickers, some are truly legitimate and sometimes a simple conversation to help them out can be very helpful to you to create a win-win.  Some simply want a quick buck from the latest infomercial.  I tend to avoid the latter but you can make your decision accordingly.

Put Some Thought and Effort into Advertising
Attract the right buyers by appealing to their core values.  As mentioned in my previous blog: To Succeed in Investing in Real Estate Don’t Let Dollar Signs Blind Your Vision,  people will buy from people who they like and trust.

• Newsletters are fun!  They are interesting, appealing and even useful and don’t lose your sense of humor.  It’s good to joke around too.  Newsletters also serve as a reminder that our company exists and that we are consistently in the market.  We can position our company as a real estate expert.
• Mail blasts can be fruitful but don’t start spamming.  Only send these to subscribers or to people interested enough to leave their contact details on our website or request to be added to our mailings.  Mail blast can be a very effective tool to get our new listing quick enough to generate interested buyer.
• Check out the MLS for investors who can be identified on the Multiple Listing Services as buyers and sellers of property who are part of an LLC or Trusts. Sometimes these can be very valuable contacts.
• Foreign investors.  While this is a bit of a mindset shift for many of us, there is great opportunity here.  Some are doing this because they know the potential of investing in the USA and others who may want to invest as a stepping stone to get a US citizenship.  Understand their needs and the relationship can be mutually beneficial.

Remember, consistency will eventually payoff.  Planning makes perfect and it is a habit.  If you plan your business goals and target the clients you want to attract, then you can be very successful in 2013 and beyond.

Sell Your Atlanta House Fast for Cash Today! We Buy PRETTY and UGLY Houses! We Pay Cash for Homes and We will Buy Your House Fast! We are Atlanta Real Estate Investors. We look forward to hearing from you today with your Atlanta Real Estate needs! Visit - http://workingwithhouses.com and http://atlantabuynow.com