Generate Real Estate Leads and Get Your Creative Juices Flowing

I recently read an article by Sir Richard Branson advising to use an unlikely mix of people from different backgrounds, placed in unusual but enjoyable situations to get a “think-tank” of unusual and creative ideas that can work. This beats brain storming on Monday morning with a bland backdrop of filing cabinets, clinking of the coffee cups and the refreshments trolley moving around the office.
Some Out of The Box Ideas:

• To close more real estate deals, think creatively, go to the park and join in with the yoga instructor.  As we all know yoga makes the body more flexible and relax even if you are in a stress stricken environment.  Encourage your staff to practice yoga as well.  Yoga can help them feel happier, peaceful and more energetic.
• Travel broadens the mind and it can sharpen your wits to close more deals. Go on a nature trail or climb a mountain or jump onto your speed bike and peddle your way to somewhere and enjoy the journey.  You may also offer free trips to your staff as an incentive for increased productivity.
• Read that motivational book about flipping your way to millions and read all the blogs about housing on LinkedIn or Twitter so that you are fully attuned to current ideas and can follow on with your own plans.
• Hear what employees and clients are saying and react to their needs before issues get blown out of proportion.  Also keep up with social media posts so you always know what people are saying and thinking.
• When calling Sellers have something interesting to talk about.  Make them aware of what’s going on in the Real Estate market these days. Or make them talk in terms of what interest them the most and give some of your insights that will help them realize the importance of why their decision is the right decision.
• When dealing with Buyers and Sellers, make sure that the number works and always a win-win.
• The Power of focus. Your overall performance depends largely on your ability to focus.  Focus is one powerful strategy that every successful businessmen and top performers thrive.  Your 100% focus will help you enjoy more of your time, reduce any stress that you’re experiencing and of course increase your net worth.

Don’t ignore the importance of creative thinking out of the box and do use your imagination to stimulate the gray area even if some may think your means a tad eccentric.  Do not be afraid to exhaust your ideas until you reach a level that is worthwhile.  Remember that any idea can be improved after the initial thoughts. This concept applies to all great products and no one launches into full scale manufacturing without developing a prototype first.

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

To Succeed in Investing in Real Estate Don’t Let Dollar Signs Blind Your Vision

Consider this scenario and see how the folks you meet up to do business with perceive you.  If you always have an agenda to resell and flip houses and that’s the extent of your vocabulary, then you are missing out.  People appreciate some personal touch, some rapport and a relationship that’s not just ‘okay, it’s sold, I gotta go, I am done here!’, ‘Thank you, sir or ma’am.’  ‘I don’t have business talking with this guy anymore, I got what I wanted.’  Your goal to succeed is dependent on how you manage to transform your business goal into something more meaningful and ideal.  People do business with people they like and trust is the old saying and it’s true.

It’s about common sense, common decency and identifying common interests that you and a potential client and/or business partner share.  It could be your ambition for your kid’s education, or writing a book.  You can always find something that you both can relate into.  Not everyone is likeable though so, we try to answer the question, ‘why do people like us in the first place?’  People like us when we are honest, genuine and positive.  Before we worry about impressing our potential client, let us be ourselves and say genuine things and make sure that we deliver.  When the client sees your sincerity they will start to open up and that’s when you can further establish the relationship.  The business bond between you two can prosper.

When you establish a lasting relationship, you will care about the risks you take and the business risks your clients take because of your recommendations and advice. The sincere and good advice you give will lead to repeat business that should last for many years to come.  And business will not just stop between you two.  When your client is happy, business can multiply.

Remember, the biggest turn off is greed and the lust to just make money.  This just adds to the aversion people feel towards you if you are perceived that your only goal is the satisfaction of making lots of cash and have no interest in the outcome for your client.  You have to be committed from start to finish.  Do not shy away from commitment.  Do it and don’t make excuses.

To achieve better relationships send e-mails and social networking messages that are not just about availability and prices on deals.  It’s better to share a part of your life. This is not only more satisfying but may genuinely put you in a preferred category when time comes time to talk shop.  People will talk and they will recommend you. You will be seen as an expert in your field.  Remember, a good deed will never be forgotten.

Turn over a new leaf today and start to build lifetime business relationships that really bring about win-win deals.  Whoever says “People do business with people they like and trust”, absolutely hit it right.

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

Always Be Marketing

ABM – Always Be Marketing…EVEN in a Sellers Market

We all know this.  Really we do.  In Real Estate, it is truly all about marketing.  Our market right now along with many others in the country is a Seller’s Market in many pockets.  I have already started to hear the conversations in some agent circles about good times ahead.  While that may be true, my first question is always ‘How do you plan to leverage your marketing during these times?’

While the days ahead may indeed be promising for listings, one need only remember what happened a few short years ago to many agents who enjoyed the real estate boom without lifting a finger.  Always be marketing was not on the forefront of many people’s minds.  Always be marketing was ignored.  Always be marketing may never be needed many thought.  The lack of Always be marketing is what caused many of them to now have jobs and be in other career paths.  What goes up must come down.  And Real Estate is different.

Many agents today survived the tough years by marketing.  Nothing has really changed for them and they are as consistent as always.  However many have struggled to hang on.  And now there are several new folks to the trade.  If there is one lesson that should be learned it is this one.  Always be marketing.  It doesn’t matter if you have one closing or 20 scheduled.  Always be marketing.  Always, always, always.

You never know what tomorrow holds.  If indeed good days are ahead and here to stay for some time, always be marketing so you can make the most of the moment for as long as it lasts.

Always.  Good luck!

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

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