Welcome back!

Last week we started talking about the 8 Drivers of Geometric Growth I’ll be discussing at BluePrint next month in Anaheim. More specifically, we’re focusing on the very first point, which I call the Five to Thrive marketing strategy. If you want to build your brand into a recession proof, lead generating machine, there are five tactics you need to be investing in.

To recap, these are:

  • Marketing Directly to Your Database for Direct Transactions and Referrals
  • Crushing Your Geographic Farms
  • Mega Open Houses
  • Invest in Online Advertising (Zillow, Google, Realtor, etc.)
  • Building Awareness and being the Trusted Advisor on Social Media

We already covered the first two, so let’s pick up where we left off, starting with…

 

Mega Open Houses

Mega open house master Andy Tse has five big tips:

1. Don’t skimp on the signs, or as Andy says, “cast a giant fishing net.” You want 25 to 35 signs for each open house. Two at highway exits. Three at major intersections. Two on every turn towards the house. If you only put out a few signs and the wind blows one of them down, think about how badly that could hurt you.

2. Focus on one person at a time. One meaningful conversation will mean more than a bunch of bopping around and showing fractured attention. You’re here to service people’s needs and provide them value, but you’re also demonstrating yourself and what it’s like to work with you. Being thoughtful and concentrated will go a long way.

Your goal at every open house is to get one rock solid appointment. Just one. This requires making a connection. But if you can’t spread your attention thin, you need to direct it where you believe it’ll be most valuable.

3. Be an expert on the area, not just the property. Know the whole local market. How many houses sell in a year? Is new inventory coming? What are the schools like? You should be able to talk about everything from the local restaurants to the traffic routes.

4. Be prepared to put in the time. Andy used to say you had to dedicate a minimum of 60 hours a month to effectively prospect from open houses. Now he’s raised that number to 80 hours… minimum…

5. Yes, the house is nice. Yes, they enjoyed seeing it. But do they want to buy it? You should ask each and every person if they would like to put an offer down on the house. Don’t be pushy, though. Bring it up casually, conversationally, as if you’re offering them a gift.

For more on what differentiates a “Mega” open house from an ordinary one, check out this six-year-old #TomFerryShow episode (Yes, it’s still relevant!)

 

Invest in Online Advertising

Why is it so important to get yourself on Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor? Because there are people who ONLY use these marketplaces. Are the leads expensive? Yes. Sometimes you might be paying over $100 per lead from Zillow. But what makes them worth the money is how fast these people are willing to move. These are inbound, hot leads who are often looking to buy a house in the next 90 days.

Adam Menconi invests $4,500 every month on Zillow and Trulia leads, but his annual GCI just from these sources alone is a whopping $475,000. He’s built his business on it.

Let’s just take Zillow for example. The first thing you need to do is get your rating up. Ask all your past clients to go on and leave you a review. Because people using these services are potentially less likely to know much about the home buying process, they’ll often go with the agent with the most five-star reviews.

Next is your customer satisfaction score (CSAT). This is a rating Zillow uses on the backend to see how often they’ll prioritize giving you leads. The keyword here is responsiveness. Zillow is looking to prioritize agents who answer their phone nine out of ten times. So be by the phone and be ready, because missed calls could hurt you in the long run.

Also, just because Zillow is passing you a lead through a connected property, this does not mean the lead is bound to that particular house. Get them into your office and start showing other listings. If you treat this as if you’re just processing orders, you’re missing big opportunities and likely losing clients.

 

Be the Trusted Advisor on Social Media

…which means, be the trusted advisor on VIDEO! Remember what I said last week about the power of video messages – people trust you when they see your face. The more someone sees your face, the more they’ll feel like they know you and be willing to work with you.

In real estate, you’re not just selling houses. You’re selling your expertise and the means by which you convey that expertise.

Are you funny, flashy, enthusiastic, or laid back? You should have your own unique style, but it doesn’t matter what it is. What matters is that you are informed, clear, and concise.

Take one day out of the month to look up some real estate questions that people are asking. Write 30-second answers and then film them all one after the other. In such a short amount of time, you’ll have content to fill your channels for an entire month.

This topic is way too big to fully cover here, but I will say that real estate is not a business where we keep all our knowledge to ourselves. The more you give for free, the more you’ll receive.

Speaking of giving for free… Make sure you’re keeping up with This Week in Marketing, where Jason Pantana and I share a ton of practical advice for shooting the kind of quality video that will bring you quality business.

 

You’re Not in this Alone

I know that juggling all of these “Five to Thrive” at once can seem like a lot, but it doesn’t mean that you need to sustain them all forever. By diving in and committing to each one, you’re positioning yourself as the agent of choice and establishing your reputation in the market.

The best thing about growing your business is that it’s something you don’t do alone. If your business isn’t headed in the right direction or you feel you would benefit from a deeper exploration of the 8 Drivers of Geometric Business Growth (and a whole lot more), consider joining me and hundreds of success-minded agents in Anaheim for BluePrint.