Some Thoughts on Leads

Interesting points from Stephen Pacinelli speaking at the RE/MAX R4 Convention. "It’s not what you say about you, but what other people say about you that counts, testimonials and reviews rule the world, and that’s what ‘world of mouth’ is all about." says Stephen Pacinelli Lean into testimonials and reviews – According to Nielsen  Research Company, 90 percent of people trust peer recommendations, but only 14 percent trust advertisements. Be aware of your rankings – If consumers are weeks from starting the buying or selling process, chances are they’ll start searching for an agent on Google. If they search "real estate agent," one key result in the list of suggested searches is "real estate agent reviews." These sites are in their infancy, but they’re not going anywhere.  Setting up profiles on most of these sites is free. Make reviews part of your process – Ask clients to visit your profiles on the one or two websites you've chosen to focus on  after each transaction closes. Pick just one or two, because clients aren’t going to visit seven websites to write reviews. Use compete.com – Which is the best agent review site to focus on? It’s hard to say, but compete.com can give you  current information about how much traffic these sites are receiving. Create profiles on the one or two that are most popular.

We're Going Viral

Property Management

The secret is out, real estate prices declined a bit over the past 4 years or so!

No doubt the past few years have seen a few changes to our market.  While most of the changes would fit into the "I didn't need that" category, a few opportunities have come to light.

One of these, is the rental market and the opportunity to provide these services for your clients.  In PA, the services need to be provided through a broker, but therein lies a great opportunity for the agents of today.

Your office provides the framework for the property management, including all the not so fun work of collecting rents, calling in repairs, etc.  You get to:

• Increase your range of services - It is pretty simple here, the more topics and tools you can offer someone the more people, clients, and profit you stand to make.  The rental market is starting to grab the headlines, be prepared!
• Engage with future buyers - The vast majority of the rental market includes those who want to buy, but just are not ready.  With a well thought out, but simple follow-up plan, who might these folks turn to?
• Learn the property management business - so when you're ready to build your investment portfolio you or your office will have the right tools in place.

Opportunity lurks out there, are you or is your office providing the tools for today's client?

How Would You Describe Your Office?

We asked our agents this very question, with one caveat...

Check Out Their Answers!

CSI-Customer Service Index

There is the old adage, "what gets measured gets done" and in a business so dependent on relationships and service, it is critical to measure the service you are providing. Do you have a customer service index? Are you asking for feedback? Is your office doing this for you?

If you are not or they are not, I would start doing so today! It is very difficult to improve on anything, especially your service, without knowing what it is you need to address. Are your communications with the client timely, but lacking detail? Are you setting the correct expectations? You get the idea.

So what should you be sending? Here at our office, for the benefit of our agents, we mail a survey to the client two weeks post closing. We include a gift card as a thank you in advance for their time. The survey itself is pretty straightforward. Six questions discussing the quality and timeliness of individual actions, as well as rating the process in general. All answers are forwarded directly to the agent involved for their benefit.

Prior to becoming an owner, I was a part of a team that provided a bonus to all team members for every survey returned with an "A" for outstanding service. Not on a team? Give yourself an extra $100 for every survey returned or treat yourself to a day of shopping.

Not only will you feel better about yourself, but you'll be getting invaluable testimonials from your clients and insight into what it is they liked most about their dealings with you. Once you know that, you can be sure to expand on the strengths and work on the weaknesses.

Cool Information!

How do we Stack Up!