Online directories are today’s version of the traditional Yellow Pages. In fact, you’ll find YellowPages.com on the web along with industry-specific directories for every vocation from attorneys to zoologists. These directories differ in the amount of information they allow you to post, the search options they offer and the fees they charge. Costs for directories range from free to over $240 a year. Some are free with a reciprocal link exchange. Many real estate directories are actually lead-generation sites where a visitor fills out a “blind” form to ask for more information. Then the company contacts members of their directory to sell that lead or they sell it through other outlets.

Directory Listing-Pros: A directory listing generally is the least expensive way to place your contact information online. Popular directories may provide an opportunity for new business since they generate traffic. If your directory listing has the added benefit of a link to your web page or website, it could convert more prospects since they can “click through” to learn more about you. A directory listing is the bare minimum in web presence, but it’s a start, and the more listings you have, the better…”more needles in the Internet haystack.”Directory Listing-Cons: Directories typically limit your information and may charge extra for premium upgrades such as posting a photo or logo, being listed for more than one city, or having top-of-the-page placement. Also, if a directory depends on advertising for income, its pages may be cluttered with tiny ads and flashing banners, not exactly a professional image. AND directory companies often intercept customer inquiries to turn around and sell those leads to you and any number of other agents. If you want a web address you can add to your business cards, ads or flyers, a plain directory listing probably is not the answer. Most provide an address that’s long, unfriendly, and not suitable for marketing, such as: lottaagents.com/us/oh/785mcl28119v?asp.39071. Try putting that on a business card or typing it into your browser! Most don’t offer a search-by-name feature, so if a past customer wants to find you or refer someone, they can’t locate you without doing a search by city and state, then scrolling through the list until they find your name. Also, directories are frequently programmed in a format that doesn’t allow bookmarking “favorites,” which means a customer can’t return to your information without doing another search by city and state, then scrolling again.

Following are only a few of the companies offering online directories. (Costs quoted are subject to change.) These are not the highest or lowest fees but are typical of the industry:

Generic online directories: SuperPages.com, free. MagicYellow.com, free. Real estate online directories: ABCRealEstateDirectory.com, free with link exchange. REALS.com listing, $19.95/year. RealEstateABC.com, free with logo/link on your home page or $25/year.

About the Author:
Sharon Hassler was a loan officer and real estate agent in Southern California, then served as Communications Manager for First American Title-Arizona for 11 years. She specializes in affordable websites and search engine optimization for small businesses and is founder and manager of http://www.GoGetNotary.com, a nationwide directory for mobile notaries and notary signing agents.

Copyright Sharon Hassler. All rights reserved. Permission to reprint this article is granted if the article is reproduced in its entirety, without editing, including author’s information. When using this article in magazines or newsletters or online publications, please include the full URL or a hyperlink to http://www.SmallBusinessWebsitesOnly.com.

By now we know that 80% or more of all home buyers search the Internet before they ever contact an agent. We don’t see statistics on how many sellers search the Internet looking for an agent, but we can assume that quite a few are here.

But where on the Internet are they finding you? Is it your own website that brings them, and if so, how did they get to your website?

Your own website is the one place you can track easily. You can set up a different autoresponder campaign on each page of your site – and you’ll know instantly how many people came to you from each of those pages.

You can also create different landing pages for people who come from different social media sites. If you’re writing Localism posts on Active Rain you can invite readers to opt in for a special report you’ve set up on one page, while your contacts from LinkedIn, Facebook, and other sites can be directed to different pages.

Once at your site, your autoresponder can capture the names while they deliver the promised reports. Since they’ve opted in to hear from you, you can follow up with a drip campaign designed just for that segment of your audience. Autoresponders are not expensive, and they’re not difficult to use. Get Response and Aweber both allow you to set up an almost unlimited number of autoresponders.

Then, the reporting features let you see how many people opened your message, and how many clicked on your links.

Since we don’t know how many sellers use the Internet and you don’t want to miss the 20% or so of buyers who are looking in other places,, you do need to use other media in addition to the web. On a given day you may be running an ad in a newspaper, a homes magazine, and on the radio. How will you know if those ads are working? You can’t ask people to bring in a coupon for “cents off” a house!

For these people, you simply need to remember to ask how they found you. And then write it down. Keep track of where your customers and clients are coming from.

Once you’ve seen what works, stop spending money on what doesn’t work. This can be difficult, because none of us want to “miss something.” I well remember how hard it was to finally say “no” to placing an ad in a homes magazine. We knew it wasn’t getting results, but since everyone else in town advertised there, we were afraid that if we weren’t there people might think we’d gone out of business.

But they didn’t. The only result was that we kept the $400 per month to use for other things.

So keep track – and then focus your marketing efforts in the places that bring you results.

Marte Cliff is a Freelance Copywriter who specializes in writing for real estate and related industries.

She’ll help you with one letter, or an entire marketing plan. For Real Estate agents and brokers who are ready to get full value from their websites, she’ll be happy to put together an entire package – from the web copy to the lead generation packages that make an agent’s phone ring.

For busy agents on a budget, Marte offers prewritten letter sets for use in postal mail or in e-mail continuity campaigns. The current selection includes letters for FSBO’s, Expired Listings, Short Sale sellers, First Time Buyers, and a set for new agents to send to buyers. Read what’s included in these sets by visiting http://www.copybymarte.com/pro/prospecting.html

Marte’s weekly ezine for real estate professionals offers tips and hints for building a successful business. To subscribe, and to see other resources available for real estate sales professionals, visit her at http://www.copybymarte.com

For the past few months, real estate professionals have been urging buyers to hurry up and get their offers in by April 30 in order to take advantage of the Federal tax credit. The message has been “If you don’t act now, all is lost.” Which is very similar to the old proverb: “He who hesitates is lost.”

I did a little research and found that the rest of the quote is: “Swift and resolute action leads to success; self-doubt is a prelude to disaster.” The proverb goes back to ‘Cato’ (1713) by English essayist and poet Joseph Addison.

That surprised me, because I thought perhaps it came from something like the Revolutionary War, when hesitating might mean losing your life.

The phrase has been used many times by authors throughout history. Interestingly, one of the more common uses referred to ladies who couldn’t make up their minds to accept a suitor.

But back to real estate and the loss of the Federal tax credit. I think many agents are afraid that sales will completely dry up with it gone. But why? Consumers were buying homes long before anyone even thought of a tax credit.

They buy homes because they want and need them, not because the taxpayers are going to give them free money. Some may have hurried a bit more, and real estate agents may see a little slump for the next few months before the next wave of first-time buyers is ready to come into the market, but they will come.

That means real estate agents need to continue marketing, but with a different focus.

All buyers – first time or 10th time – need to be shown that the time to buy really is now.

In my work writing blog posts and marketing copy for real estate clients, I often have occasion to view sales statistics. And what I’m seeing, especially in areas that were hard hit by the foreclosure crisis, is that while average prices have been slowly creeping upward, those foreclosures and short sales are still holding down the overall average prices that consumers see reported in the news. Non-distressed homes are selling for considerably more than lender-owned homes and short sales.

And, since distressed properties make up a larger proportion of sales than listings, in some areas it might not be long before those bargains are gone and prices begin to rise more sharply.

Then there’s the interest rates to consider. Financial experts are warning that interest rates are going to rise.

Lower prices + low interest rates mean that those who buy today could be strutting like proud peacocks a year or two from now when they’re locked in to a low payment – while those who hesitated are faced with higher prices, higher interest, and much higher payments.

We can’t say that “All will be lost,” because paying more for a house isn’t a life-threatening disaster, but it could mean that those who hesitate now will be forced to buy smaller houses, maintain two incomes, or forgo other pleasures in order to keep up with house payments.

Or, they might have to remain renters – possibly for life.

Marte Cliff is a freelance copywriter specializing in writing for real estate and related fields. She offers custom copy for websites, email campaigns, press releases, postcards, direct mail letters, newsletters, and more.

Marte also offers pre-written real estate letters for agents who know they need to prospect but just don’t have the time or desire to write their own letters. Read about her first time buyer letter set at http://www.copybymarte.com/pro/firsttimebuyer.html

For those who prefer the “do it yourself” method, Marte has a free report on how to organize and and write a “drip campaign” that will build trust and reel in new clients. Just visit her at http://www.copybymarte.com/dripmarketing.html to request your copy.

Recently some words jumped out at me from a web page. They were “Farming vs. Hunting.”

For some reason they stayed in my mind and I kept coming back to those words and pondering them all day. Words and their meanings fascinate me.

Later it hit me: For months now I’ve been using the word “prospecting” to describe the many marketing methods real estate agents use to gather in new customers and clients. The letter sets I’ve written for agents to use to connect with new buyers and sellers are even on a page that’s labeled “prospecting.”

But I was wrong.

In truth, what I’ve been advising real estate professionals to do is not prospecting; it’s farming. Prospecting is more like the “hunting” reference that got me started on this train of thought.

You’re not sifting through the sand hoping to find a golden nugget. You’re planting seeds and nurturing those seeds through the growing season and into harvest. Or at least you should be.

Your first letter is the seed, and your subsequent letters are the sun, rain, and fertilizer that helps those seeds grow. When you do it all correctly, you reap the harvest of a new client or another closed transaction with a past client.

By the time your future customers have read your 3rd or 4th letter, the seeds that are good will have sprouted, and the rest of your letters will serve to nurture them. The remaining letters will add more sun, rain, and fertilizer until they blossom and reward you with a harvest.

Farming isn’t limited to planting seeds via letters and e-mails you send to new prospects.

You plant another seed every time you meet a new person and give your elevator speech. You plant another every time you speak with someone on the phone and offer your advice or assistance. You plant a seed when you send a Twitter message or put a nugget of real estate advice on your Facebook page.

Your monthly or quarterly newsletters; your phone calls to past clients; your participation in community meetings; and even casual chats with those in your sphere of influence all provide nurturing for seeds you’ve already planted.

You may be prospecting at the same time – sifting the sand for those folks who might need your services in the future. But by continually offering your advice and assistance once you’ve found them, you’re farming – nurturing your relationship and increasing the chance that when they need the kind of help that customers pay for, they’ll call on you.

I’m sure there’s not a real estate agent on this planet who doesn’t know what I mean when I talk about prospecting. The word has been interchangeable with farming for as long as I can remember.

But there really is a difference between prospecting and farming, and we as marketers need to use both activities.

Marte Cliff is a freelance copywriter specializing in writing for real estate and related fields. She offers custom copy for websites, email campaigns, press releases, postcards, direct mail letters, newsletters, and more.

Marte also offers pre-written real estate letters for agents who know they need to prospect but just don’t have the time or desire to write their own letters. See how she can help build your business by visiting http://www.copybymarte.com

For those who prefer the “do it yourself” method, Marte has a free report on how to organize and and write a “drip campaign” that will build trust and reel in new clients. Just visit her at http://www.copybymarte.com/dripmarketing.html to request your copy.

Development and implementation of real estate marketing strategies is an important part of buying and selling houses. Without some sort of marketing plan it is virtually impossible to locate realty for sale or buyers ready to purchase. Whether trying to buy or sell residential homes, commercial properties or raw land, marketing is the key to success.

The first stage of real estate marketing involves developing an overall plan. Marketing plans help investors establish their target market and identify buying habits of potential clients. Individuals interested in residential properties will have entirely different needs than those buying commercial real estate.Retired couples will have different housing needs than newly married couples or families with children. In order to sell properties investors must gather as much information as possible about their clients and the market.

One of the most common mistakes investors make is to gear marketing materials around their own successes. The first rule of thumb for any marketing campaign is to remove the marketer from the equation.

Although it is true that clients might be impressed that an investor possesses 20 years experience or closed mega-million real estate deals, they really want to know how investors can solve their problems or help them buy or sell property. Therefore, realty marketing materials should address how investors solve problems and overcome challenges.

The best way to start is to compose a list of common problems buyers often face. After identifying these challenges, create a list of how your investment company can solve each problem.

These might include addressing financing options for buyers with bad credit and those who have filed bankruptcy or lost their home to foreclosure. Realty marketing materials can help investors establish trust and build relationships by demonstrating how they can solve problems.

Another important aspect of marketing plans is to develop follow-up strategies. People rarely make important financial decisions simply by reading a marketing brochure or sales letter. In most cases, it takes an average of five to seven contacts with a person before real estate deals transpire.

Realty marketing plans should encompass the various tools investors can use to attract buyers. These might include developing a website; sending out letters, sales flyers, or postcards; follow-up marketing strategies; and advertising strategies such as billboards, signage, park benches, Internet marketing, or Classifieds ads in local newspapers or realty magazines.

Real estate marketing is an on-going process, so investors should plan to review their marketing efforts on a quarterly basis and make necessary adjustments. Technology is constantly evolving, so investors must make an effort to stay abreast of market trends.

Investors should consider hiring freelancers to help with marketing materials. These can include copywriters, graphic artists and webmasters. While hiring others initially costs money, having professionals design real estate marketing materials can save money in the long run.

The Internet is a great resource for locating freelancers and obtaining marketing advice. Consider joining investor forums, social networks, and real estate clubs to network with other professionals. By taking time to network, investors can find the resources and buyers necessary to develop a successful business.

Simon Volkov shares investing secrets and insider know-how of buying and selling investment properties through the development of a solid real estate marketing plan. Sellers and investors are encouraged to list their real estate investment properties via the “we buy houses” form at www.SimonVolkov.com.

There is a lot of talk out there about the sell and rent back scheme, back and forth people are discussing about its merits and demerits. This is a system that offers quick cash to a home owner in distress who finds himself unable to service a secured loan or mortgage and since the lender wants to repossess the asset, they look for a way out or people simply looking to release equity from their home. Usually a property investor will buy the house, at between 65-70% of the market value of the property to help the individual release equity or pay off the debt and thereby lose ownership of the house. The owner will have staved off repossession which would have put him in bad credit books making it difficult, nigh impossible for him to receive any credit in future. After the sale has gone through the house owner continues to stay in the same house and now pays a monthly rent instead of mortgage.

That is the ideal situation as far as the original intentions of the sell and rent back scheme are concerned. However, the truth of the matter is that some unscrupulous companies do not respect any agreements made with the former house owners, choosing instead to evict them, even when they have continued to pay the agreed upon monthly rent. The reason is that these selfish traders may have found someone else willing to buy the house and the new tenant looks like is becoming an impediment. Without caring about their welfare they serve them with an eviction notice and the erstwhile home owner now becomes an unwanted homeless person just like that. These are some of the reasons the government had to come in through the FSA to put guidelines in place that guarantee the dignity of the home owners selling under this scheme.

This has now come to change, thanks to results of a survey carried out by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) which unearthed the extent to which this malpractice had spread. The FSA has come out with guidelines that must be followed by all companies that wish to continue with this line of business. To begin with they must get registered with the FSA and sign a code of conduct where they will be given Interim Authority. The letters of Interim Authority will hold in place until later this year when the FSA will have finalised its drawing of the complete list of regulations that should bring sanity to the industry. One of the fundamental issues addressed by the FSA is the amount of time a home owner can stay as a tenant. The former home owner has a right to stay on for up to 5 years, of course on agreement and subject to him paying the monthly rent.

After the authorities have taken action we should be in a position to see fewer people being hurt by those traders who only care about the money they are going to make. The five year tenancy period is guaranteed and so if you are seeking a sell and rent back solution, you need to agree with the property investor how long you intend to stay in that house and also agree on a manageable rent to be paid, which should not be higher than the current market rate. And since your financial challenge may be one that is just temporary, when things have improved you may also consider buying the possibility of back the same house, but all these things need to be agreed upon at the beginning of the transaction. Do not let any firm take advantage of you and sit on your rights simply because you are going through some tough financial times.

Steven Martin is a FSA interim authorised provider of Sell and rent back and also provides a Quick property sale and Stop repossession service. He works at http://www.quickpurchase.co.uk

WARNING: The information in this article will help you capture more leads and win you more sales!

“The more buzz you create the higher up you rank in Google search. It’s like going to an amp’d up chamber of commerce meeting and having everyone’s attention. This is Web 2.0.”

As a lot of my friends know I love the real estate business. One reason I left was for promises of greener pastures… but I didn’t find that pasture until recently. Actually, after months of time and money invested I eventually found my pasture.

This article isn’t necessarily about the business I’m currently in, but more about a week or two of brainstorming about what I would do if I got back into real estate. Sure it is easy to brainstorm, but I have learned these strategies and put them to work in my business. As expensive as “traditional” advertising has become it is reaching a smaller and smaller market segment. The New Tradition of marketing has to work for most of us on a budget.

It’s important to look at your lead gathering as it flows into your sales funnel. Imagine a number of pitchers dumping water into a funnel. Each of those pitchers are sources of leads you need to fill that funnel so that customers and clients spill out the narrow end. As you evaluate your business at the end of the year it’s important to examine where your leads came from and how successful each channel is in providing leads. Is floor time contributing to your business? The relocation department? Print ads? Cold calling? A web page?

Of course, the internet is the New Tradition that I am referring to above and it has leveled the playing field for so many purposes. As a real estate agent, you must understand that your client or any potential lead has more information at their fingertips than ever before. As Google has become a verb in the lexicon of the internet so has most of your real estate customers have become experts in your market (or so they think).

Old online tradition: Realtor.com ™ was the first to lure agents to the internet while charging exorbitant fees just so you can have your face on the internet and your listings and they could charge you more for virtual tours and additional pictures. That was the 1990′s when we were thrilled just to have some sort of presence on the WWW. The downside was that you were stuck in Realtor.com’s world. Adding your expertise to the equation was more along the line of putting up your best pitch on your profile page and hoping someone would call you directly.

One thing about the pitch…Its days are over! You need to know more about attracting new customers rather than pitching them like the Sham-wow guy.

I have to admit. I sold houses from Realtor.com. I even had someone call me because he liked my picture. And I still don’t know how I feel about that! I’m not saying this website is evil and they probably have a position in most online real estate marketing strategies, but hold on…

Let us talk about free. What is available to me for little or no cost that is a huge lead generator? And for Goodness sakes! How do I get my hands on it?

By a show of hands… (Not really…you’ll look silly if there are other people in the room)…How many of us think that MySpace is for 15 year-old teenage girls? Or if you think YouTube is just for posting videos of your rad skateboard moves? Or how many think LinkedIn is just for stuffy office cubical types? And then there’s Twitter, Facebook, etc, etc.

How many of us think that we don’t have time for all of this nonsense? I would say if you don’t have time, you really need to pay attention to the rest of this article.

All of these Social Media outlets can be managed very easily and provide you with a great flow of leads into your sales lead funnel. I will quickly show you how these can work in conjunction to make you look like a star.

First of all I would sign up for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace. I would fill in all of the profile information. Keep it professional. Upload a picture…A professional one. No party pictures, nothing with a drink or a smoke in your hands. You don’t need to wear a tie, unless you are a tie person. This is the first impression that you are giving a potential client.

For instance, when you are filling out your profile on Facebook, there is an entry for “interested in”. I see so many people put in “Men” or “Women”. If you are there to date and you want to give that impression, then go for it. If you are there to conduct business then keep it professional.

Build your social media lists from your email lists. Please tell me you keep track of all your email addresses (on your computer…and not on a post-it note on the monitor). Almost all of the social media platforms have an “Invite” tool that will comb your email list and invite them to that platform, saving you a lot of effort in the meantime. Pretty cool, huh?

Because some of you know her I will use only an initial to tell the following tale: My wife, we will call her V, has collections of stuff. What I call a pile, she calls a collection. As I write this, I am sitting in a room hearing the hum of 3 computers. Anytime I try to thin down “the collection” it seems there is a valuable phone number, email address or date that has been scribbled on something (an envelope, a post-it, etc) that disappears. Try as I might to convince her to put it in her phone, palm pilot or one of these humming computers when she receives said information, she just can’t bring herself to do it. She doesn’t have a Blackberry even though she should. As a professional, you should have some sort of smart phone too.

So please keep in mind: Anyone who has emailed you or who you have emailed before is a potential customer. In today’s world we have to think in these terms. All that contact information costs money, one way or another. Or it can turn into money. I’m not talking about spamming ANYONE. Like John Cleese: “I hate spam!”

Hold on…The real powerful stuff is on its way.

You don’t have time to post to all those different websites? What if you can just make one post that goes to all your social media accounts? You can do that. You can use a simple utility from your computer’s browser and just type in your useful thought de jour…

Have a blog? No? You need one. I had my first real estate website about seven years ago. My account rep at the company that managed my site said I need to blog. First, I didn’t know what a blog really was and I never thought of myself as the blog kind of guy. I thought a “blog person” would be the nerdy type who lived with their mother and couldn’t get anyone to listen to anything he had to say so he used it as some kind of therapeutic outlet.

A blog makes you look like the expert. Don’t know what to blog about? Find something from your last license continuing education. There are a lot of real estate related newsletters for agents. You can borrow a subject from Broker Agent News and expound on it or even quote it. At the end of your blog post have a call to action. This is critical. “Call me…” “Email me… for more information.”

Now that you have written 4 or 5 paragraphs of very helpful information, how do you get people to it? This is where Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn all comes in to play. You send a quick summary sentence and a link to the blog out to your network.

Let’s think for a moment about how we use Facebook. I am friends with a lot of agents on Fb and I can tell you most are doing it wrong. I don’t want to upset anyone. More importantly, I want to show you how to make this tool work for you. Think of Fb as a free platform to reach your clientele or future clientele. What is their perception of you and your life as they see your posts? Are you a stuffy business only expert agent or a silly social butterfly? There is a balance. Marketing research shows that there are actual formulas to attract people to your social media platform. People do business with people who they know, like and trust. All of your social media should build all three of those factors.

An example post: “Now that the purchase contract is signed, what are the 3 deal-killing pitfalls you MUST avoid? Find out at davesblogthing.me”.

See how that worked? You wrote your blog and pointed to it with your social media platforms. Anyone with interest will go read your article. Assuming you have a convincing call to action you will have interested prospects calling you, the expert, for information.

Have you ever Googled your name? In today’s world I would do just that if I was calling an agent on a floor call. I would want to know who I am talking to and use the information I find as part of the interview process when selecting my next agent. If I didn’t find anything about this person I would want to know why. If I found some coherent articles about real estate with that agent’s name on them I would be suitably impressed. If I found links to their website or the opportunity to follow their (informative) tweets then I would be ready to rock.

What you are doing is generating BUZZ. Buzz about you and your business. The more buzz you create the higher up you rank in Google search. It’s like going to an amp’d up chamber of commerce meeting and having everyone’s attention. This is Web 2.0.

In real estate your brand is YOU. YOU build your brand and it is this internet-based world that YOU need results in. If you aren’t seen in an internet search, then your brand isn’t strong enough.

Want to look like a real estate rock star in the web? I can help.

Here are a few Google-ranking and time-saving solutions:

Video tape yourself in front of your new listing and a helpful buyers or sellers tip included in the script and post it to YouTube. “Hi my name is Jane or Joe the Super Agent and I am in front of a beautiful 5 bedroom home in Biltmore Park. Living in this home you will be walking distance to dinner and a movie and the YMCA. As a seller, have you thought about how important a prelisting home inspection can be…?”If you have some money to invest, get a website with an opt-in form on the front page. Real estate customers are willing to trade some contact information for something of value. They want to know what their home is worth, get a list of area foreclosures and see your listings. A name and an email address is cheap currency for this information. I can direct you to a really good company that has a handle on the Real Estate business and knows what agents need to get in front of the right market.Put all of your business online. Left stuff in the home computer? Left stuff on the office computer? Are you traveling and need the information? Look into online solutions. There are a number of free solutions that are available to you.Have a BlackBerry or another smart phone? You have more computing and communication power in your one hand than any Apollo spaceship. Use that power for good. I can think of a hand full of ways to attract more clients and to keep your current clients informed and more up to date.

Need more information about where to blog, where to post videos, or setting up your social media platforms? I can help you assess your needs and get a strategy set up for you! I can help you fill your sales funnel with valuable leads.

Dave Noyes is a recovering real estate agent who now has time to eat breakfast with his kids. He enjoys teaching others strategies to fill their sales funnel with leads using inexpensive and free solutions offered on the internet. He is available to talk to groups or for one-on-one consultations and can be reached through his website: http://davenoyesonline.com.

Have you ever wondered what all those letters behind a real estate agent’s name mean? Worse yet, have you ever wondered why your agent doesn’t have any? Here’s valuable insight into agent designations and what they mean to you the consumer.

If someone could wave a magic wand and make the tedious task of finding real estate leads a simple and easy task, you’d go for it, wouldn’t you? If you’re like most real estate agents, your answer would most likely be a resounding yes.

Why? Perhaps the high turnover of new agents and the rate they quit right after starting says a lot. Some experts note that 50% of new real estate agents give up within a year of starting, citing frustration despite all their efforts as one of the reasons for quitting. You may not necessarily want to quit. But the thought of wanting to make things easier as far as finding real estate leads are concerned must have certainly crossed your mind.

You are also probably wondering how did those successful agents manage to be where they are and earn what they do in spite the difficulty of doing business in general nowadays. Maybe they’ve got great communication skills. They probably are one of those “born” salesmen that can sell anything. Or perhaps they’re just plain lucky.

Those may or may not be true, but one thing is for certain: Successful agents succeed because they’ve built and maintain an extensive network that ensures him/her that business will come in no matter what.

Seems easy? Yes and no. It is easy in that the act of networking is simply making a connection to a person who can lead you to several others. Also, you have to be the kind of person everyone wants to refer to his or her friends and acquaintances and THAT part takes work.

But once you establish that kind of network, you will find that those real estate leads are reliable and are very likely to keep doing business with you. They may even throw more business your way. They will also be the most cost-effective leads because all it takes to generate a lead is only as much as you would spend on a personal phone call or well-written email/letter.

Getting started
That said, how do you start building a network that will work for you and give you leads you need? For one thing, it does NOT begin with printing out fancy business cards. It begins by working hard on building on a credible reputation for yourself and/or your agency. Be the kind of person that walks the talk. Think about it, would you rather work with a shady dealer or with someone who is genuine about everything he/she says and does?

People pick up not only the words you say but also more importantly, the way you say things. If they feel that you are simply after making profits out of their transaction, you’ve most likely lost the deal before you could negotiate it. Compare this with someone who shows a real concern for helping find the best deal possible and you’ll see why this kind of agent lasts longer than the hard-sell kind.

Listen more
Probing for usable information and sales leads is an art.  An agent like you must be able to develop the skill in fishing out information from every conversation you take part in. Getting the information requires discipline on your part to listen more and talk less. That’s NOT to say you keep your words to a minimum, but rather, give your contact more opportunities to talk and listen to what they have to say.

If you need to speak, it is more to encourage the person to share rather than you interjecting a word to dominate the conversation.

Now, onto your business card…
Of course letting people know how they can reach you is an important part of doing business in real estate (or with any business for that matter). But it is more important for you to be asking for that information. After you build an initial rapport, politely ask for his/her contact information.

Don’t even think of handing out your card when it’s not asked for. At least, ask permission if you could give them your card just in case they need to inquire about anything regarding real estate. Thrusting out your card to a person who’s not asking for it is pretty much like saying, “Call me.” In dating, we find that pretty presumptuous. The idea doesn’t change when it comes to business.

Now that you’ve built a genuine and likeable persona and now that you have the information you need and the contacts to pursue the information with, you need to work on mining this information for real estate leads.

Follow up with friendly correspondences. It helps to refer to your last conversation to open up your letters/calls. It is here where the benefits of listening come in. Your contact realizes you took the effort to remember what they said, and that speaks a lot about you.

Another plus in guiding the conversation towards something related to your business is that there is a logical take-off point for you to introduce your services and what you can do to help the person with their real estate concerns.

A genuine character and attitude, coupled with strategic probing and follow-up will get your network working for you and may give you real estate leads that are as good as closed. It takes a lot of work, but the process is far more pleasurable than a cold call. You are connecting with someone who wants to connect back to you and may be willing to introduce you to their own network simply because they like you and the way you do business.

[tags]lead generation, real estate broker, real estate business, sales[/tags]