Selling Soulfully with Jennifer Allan

And fun was had by all (well, I had fun anyway) on Wednesday evening in the SWS Studio! My four esteemed guests, Lenn Harley, Robin Sherman, Karen Rice and Renee Burrows gathered around the virtual table and answered all your questions about how exactly they generate good business from the Internet. Okay, well, that's a lie - they didn't answer ALL your questions - not even close. Even though the show ran the full 90 minutes, I came away with five pages of listener questions we weren't able to get to.

If you missed the show... well... darnit. You can go HERE to see Renee Burrows' recap of the questions asked and how she answered them. Speaking of Renee, you can also go here to learn more about her online strategies, written of course, in her delightfully irreverent style (e.g. "Get Your Blog Freaky and To the Floor"). I plan to hang out there quite a bit today - maybe we'll run into each other.

Anyway, at the end of the show, I promised to post the unanswered questions to my blog and allow my guests (or anyone else who wants to contribute) the opportunity to respond.

So... here we go!

Tom asks: "Where do you find the Google webmaster?" (referenced by Lenn as THE SOURCE for all things Google)

http://www.google.com/webmasters/

Jenny & Anonymous ask: "How often should you write or post something to your blog?"

Donne asks: "Renee - what are your syndication sources?"

I believe they've connected on this offline, but the rest of us would love to hear, too!

Donne Knudsen comments: "I find that I spend a lot more time and energy converting internet leads compared to the time and energy it takes to convert a referred lead."

Great point! Would love others' thoughts on this. 

Jenny asks: "Do any of the speakers hire out their online lead generation work or do they do it all personally?"

Nathaniel asks: "Is internet marketing targeted towards brokers only or can real estate sales persons take advantage of marketing on the net without any conflict from the broker?"

Doug asks: "Can we see some examples of good real estate blogs?"

Here are the blogs of our speakers who blog, but please feel free to add to this list!

Renee Burrows: http://activerain.com/blogs/lasvegasrealestateforyou
Karen Rice: http://www.pikewaynepablog.com/
Lenn Harley: http://activerain.com/blogs/lennharley 
 

Phyllis asks: "Other than Active Rain, where do you post your blogs?"

Anonymous asks: "Based on the leads that come online and register - how long will you stay in contact with them - 1,2,3,4 months? .... Before they actually buy... at what point do you give up on someone?"

Ruthmarie asks: "Regarding pay-per-click, did using pay-per-click help you get your site/blog established? Or did the results go away once you stopped using it? In other words - can I use PPC to establish my site and then stop and continue to see results?"

We had a lot of questions about IDX and although we tried, I'm not sure we answered them satisfactorily for many in the audience. The main question was "What's the best IDX" or "What IDX do the speakers recommend?" Our answer was that it depends on your local MLS as to what IDX(s) is/are available to you, and whether or not your board even allows broker reciprocity. Some attendees commented that their broker don't allow individual agents to have an IDX on their websites. Any thoughts or comments on this?

On a related note, Vickie asks: "I'm an agent with the largest real estate brokerage in the metro Kansas City area. Every agent has a personal web page with IDX. What would you recommend I do to stand out & drive business to my site?"

GREAT question!!!

Dolores asks: "Do you recommend showing or not showing the property address on your IDX feed site?"

Dixie asks: "What quanity of leads do the participants receive on monthly basis? What percentage turn into closings?"

Kevin asks: "What about successes with specific targeting of small markets or is your focus broad based in larger geographic areas?"

Nishika asks: "How important are the graphics (maps, stats, charts) used in blogs? Any recommendations on vendors who create them?"

Tonda asks: "Is Karen using her personal facebook or does she have a business fan page?"

Jenny asks: "Do you update the information on your websites on a regular basis?"

Maureen asks: "Do you recommend using your own name for your real estate website?"

Karoline asks:  "What one thing would you say makes your website a success in gaining business from the website?" and related: "What do you find reaps the biggest reward for your time, updating the website, blogging,etc....?"

If you'd like to respond (and please do!) to any or all of these questions, just copy & paste 'em to your comment. Feel free to add links to your heart's content if they're helpful in the context.

THANKS!!!

 

 

 

What does it mean to "get business from the Internet?"

I dunno. I've never really done it, as a real estate agent anyway. Oh, sure, I get a hit every now and again from my (nearly abandoned) real estate blog, my Facebook page, and my www.CharmingOldDenver.com site, but it's certainly nothing I could live on.

I've half-heartedly experimented with various online lead generation systems and tools ($1800 here, $275 there) and haven't seen squat for my efforts or dollars. So, when I hear agents claim that they get "most of their business online," I have to admit I'm a bit skeptical... and admittedly a little envious.

So, with the goal of enlightening myself and my beloved readers, I've put together a panel of experts to tell us all exactly how they "get business from the Internet."

Lenn Harley, Karen Rice, Renee Burrows and Robin Sherman will be joining me in the SWS Studio on Wednesday, February 17th to spill the beans on the what's, where's, why's, how's, etc. of generating real estate business online. They may not tell us ALL their secrets, but if you're as clueless as I am about concept, I'm sure you'll know a whole lot more AFTER than you did BEFORE.

It's a freebie show, so if you have time in your crazy calendar, please stop by. You'll have to register to get access - Just Go HERE.

It's Wednesday afternoon/evening, starting at 4pm (Pacific) / 7pm (Eastern).

REGISTER HERE! 

I'm on a ranting roll this week and it's only Tuesday.

My friends... let's stop complaining about "working for free." Let's stop proclaiming that we need to better protect ourselves from the home-buying and -selling public who live to abuse our willingness to do work "without any guarantee of compensation." 

WE DON'T WORK FOR FREE. WE WORK ON CONTINGENCY.
There's a big difference!

Our willingness to work on a contingent basis - that is - to not be be paid until or unless we perform, is precisely WHY real estate fees are what they are. We are able to charge a lot of money to do what we do, far more than we could charge if we were paid by the working hour or by the job, upfront.  

Working by contingency is risky. And when something is risky, it means, by definition, that there's risk involved (duh). In our industry, the risk is that we may not be paid for our efforts. No, we don't much care for that outcome, but it's the chance we're willing to take to be able to charge the hefty fees we do when we're successful.

If you don't want to work on a contingent basis, you're welcome to find a different model that better suits your personality. There ARE other models out there - Mollie Wasserman's ACRE program is a great one, and there are hybrids where you reduce your fee in exchange for a retainer or upfront marketing fee.

But if you, like most of us, enjoy the challenge of shooting for the sweetest possible payday, stop worrying so much about those "wasted" hours!  As long as you were doing something that taught you more about your real estate market and/or put you in front of a warm body to impress with your wonderfulness, you weren't working for free. You were just building up credits toward that next sweeeeet payday!

Rant over.

 

 

I read a featured blog the other day written by an agent who was regretting not insisting on a buyer agency agreement and was subsequently ditched by the buyers she was working with. She was disappointed, and in her blog, reconfirmed her commitment to always get that agreement in place before investing much time in a new buyer client.

Fair enough. I disagree with the agent's conclusion that the solution to being ditched by a buyer is a written contract, but that's okay. To each his own.

But one of the many comments on the blog caught my eye. It was something about how now that we're in a new decade; it's a perfect time to set new priorities. In this case, the commenter meant that he or she intended to be even more committed to getting those agreements signed before working "for free."

Again, fair enough.

But it occurs to me (yep, here comes a soapbox) that it would do us and our industry far more good if we set our priorities a little higher. If we set them based on what the customer wants and needs, rather than on what we want and need. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about looking out for #1, but when you put your customers first, my experience has been that Your Favorite Real Estate Agent benefits right alongside!

So... how about instead of making it a higher priority to be more diligent about contractually obligating your buyers to you... you commit to making yourself indispensable to your buyers so that no contract is necessary?

How about instead of making it a higher priority to more efficiently beat the streets looking for more and more and more and more listings... you commit to figuring out how to sell the listings you already have?

If we shift our industry's priorities away from the face in the mirror and focus them on the consumer we're licensed, hired and well-paid to serve, I promise you we'll all benefit. Our buyers will buy and our listings will sell, so we'll attend more closings and see more repeats & referrals.

It really might be that simple!

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(Before we officially get started, I must note that as of this moment, I have 999 subscribers to my blog... who will be Number 1,000?!)

Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

Last year, I "spoke" via video at the 2009 Real Estate Cyber Convention & Expo about my favorite topic - "Selling to Your Sphere of Influence - No Sales Pitch Required!" It was my first ever such project and while I, of course, saw all the flaws and flubs and fly-away hair-do's, it apparently went over quite well.

So well, in fact, that the Real Estate Cyber Society (the nice folks who put on the Cyber Convention & Expo) asked me to be a Keynoter at this year's event! This year's topic? "No More Doom & Gloom- Let's Get Ready for the Real Estate Boom!"

The Convention & Expo starts on February 21st and runs through the 27th. It's an online event (thus the word "Cyber" in the event name), so your admission fee gives you free access to all the festivities day or night. There are four Keynoters (me, Lawrence Yun, Michael Russer and Randy Eager), along with at least 50 other well-known speakers, including Dave Beson, Dirk Zeller, our very own Jeff Turner, Jim Kimmons, Mollie Wasserman... and a whole bunch more.

You can also visit dozens of cyber "booths" where you can register to win prizes and free goodies, just like a real convention - except that you don't have to leave home to attend! (Now that's MY kind of event - convention-ing in jammies!).

I think there are special offers if you register early - a discounted price and some free bonus goodies. I also have a limited number of free passes ('cause I'm so special) that I'll think of some creative way to distribute.

But anyway, just wanted to share the news with my AR friends - hope you'll stop by and see me at the 2010 Cyber Convention!