Real Estate Solutions

PhotoJoJo

I would guess anyone reading this blog owns a digital camera. And like the Photojojo website says “you’ve probably taken a bajillion photos with it.” PhotoJoJo offers creative ideas for your photos many of which you can adapt to real estate. (Ok, maybe not the idea of putting your face on a cupcake.) Photojojo’s twice a week newsletter is a quick read and full of cool tips, projects and even unusual photo “stuff” to buy. While their newsletters are fun and entertaining, they cover serious stuff like how to take family portraits or photos at night.

Just what are the basics anyway?

 

The market is slow in most parts of the country and how to cope with current market conditions is a hot topic at office meetings, online forums and water cooler discussions. When I talk to experienced agents and ask them how they are handling the current climate, they usually mention going back to “the basics.” I concur, but it occurs to me that anyone who hasn’t been in the real estate business for more than 5 years doesn’t have a clue of what the rest of us are talking about.

I’ll be the first to admit that for many of us, the past few years were a great ride, but one that didn’t require skills beyond how to deal with multiple contract situations. We worked hard but it was an easy kind of hard, if that makes sense. We didn’t need to worry about “the basics.” We paddled as fast as we could, worked a lot of hours, and for those of us that were able to put good systems in place, we made a lot of money.

I drove past a little house in Groton, CT yesterday. I hadn’t been by that house in years and the memories of my early career brought a smile to my face. That little house was my very first listing in 1977 from a seller who wasn’t a friend or previous acquaintance. I can thank “the basics” for that listing; I was standing in line at the Navy Exchange wearing my name tag. A young lady saw my name tag and mentioned she needed to put her mother’s home on the market. I offered to do a market analysis and a week later I had the listing.

Wearing a name tag, sending short notes, and making phone calls to past customers, all fall into “the basics” category. And what about simply asking for business? When I started in real estate 31 years ago, I didn’t have any family in the area. I was a Navy wife who had only been in Connecticut for 3 years. My friends were pretty much limited to other navy wives. I memorized the words, “Do you or anyone you know want to buy or sell a house?” I made a phone list of everyone I knew. It wasn’t a big list but from that list I found my very first buyer. I asked the question, "Do you or anyone you know want to buy or sell a house?"  and the answer was YES!

I can almost hear the generation Y’ers snickering but wouldn’t that same question work today?  Or am I too distracted with the latest social networking site or newest tech toy to ask the question?  Have I convinced myself that I am working hard when at times I’m really just wasting time?  Don’t get me wrong, I love all the latest technology.  Heck, I could be the poster child for HomeGain’s BuyerLink which gives me a nice supply of online customers. And even though I refuse to throw sheep, I’ve made some forever friends on ActiveRain and Twitter. There is no question that technology has helped me become more efficient and given me the ability to reach more buyers and sellers through my IDX website, “drip campaigns” and social networking.

I sold a lot of real estate before my first website in 1995. Today I turn on my computer with my morning coffee. I don’t think I could stay off the computer for a whole day at a time but maybe it would be a good idea to pick a specific time each day to turn off the computer and start doing some “basic” prospecting by calling past customers, updating sellers by phone, sending a few notes, or contacting expired listings.  (I know I should have included calling For Sale by Owners but I can’t make myself do it.)

I have a feeling “getting back to basics” might produce some good results just like it did in 1977.

You are your database.

Bill Gates, in his book called "Business at the Speed of Thought" said "How you gather, manage and use information to serve the needs of your customer will determine whether you win or lose in your business."   I happen to think Bill Gates is a pretty smart guy.  I know he has more money than I do, so I try to pay attention to what he has to say. 

Whether you are a single agent or have a team, whether you use Top Producer, Online Agent, Outlook or something else for contact management, you should spend some time each week on your database.  You’ll need a good system of categorizing your contacts. 

Here are the categories I use in my database:

Clients:  Clients are anyone who I have done business with and as a result, earned a commission.  

     I also include my sphere of influence as part of this category.  My sphere of influence includes people who have given me referrals.  Members of BNI groups, Rotary Members etc. would go here.

Prospects:   Prospects are people I hope to do business with in the future.   This list includes:

     CMA prospects - anyone I have completed a CMA for including those "thinking" about putting their home on the market. 

     Orphans - those people who bought my listings. They will most likely be ignored by their own agent so I adopt them.  When it comes time to sell their home, they will remember me because I will be in touch.

     Movers and Shakers - Political leaders,  organizational leadership like the local Chamber of Commerce.

If you have a team and generate online leads for them, you might want to add an Online Leads category here. I’ve gone back and forth on this.  At this time, due to the volume of lookers on my IDX site, I prefer to keep those leads separate. I can create drip campaigns there so this group is not being ignored.

Family and Friends:   They should be on your mailing list too!  Sometimes they need to be reminded you are in the real estate business.

Out of Area:   These are clients who have moved out of the area.  Because I live in a military community, this category is a great source of referral business and I keep in touch several times a year. 

I have other categories including attorneys, appraisers, mortgage professionals, home inspectors etc. as well as local agents and out of area agents.  I also have a category called vendors, for people like painters, cleaners etc. 

I include the obvious under each contact:  Address, phone numbers, email addresses.  And maybe the not so obvious like birth dates, children’s names, favorite dessert, pets names etc.  How do we get this information?  For all of our clients, we send a VIP form in a self addressed stamped envelope. I’d say we get 95% of these returned.

The notes section under each contact is where I tell each person’s story and comment on recent phone calls or correspondence.  For instance, I like to send my clients articles they may find interesting.  I make a note of it in this section. 

As I develop my business plan, and more specifically my marketing plan each year, I decide what I am going to send to each group in my database.  I plan how often I am going to make contact, whether by mail, phone, email or in person. 

The overall benefits of having a well organized database are many, including efficiency, time savings and continuity in communications. 

My database is my future business.  I try to take good care of it.