Relationship Building Opportunity: Divorce Attorney/Divorce Mediator 

An unfortunate selling opportunity comes with divorce. Never will an agent find more motivated sellers then a couple that is splitting up. And while it’s hard to find leads who are divorcing on your own, attorneys and divorce mediators make it easy. By forming a relationship with a local divorce attorney or divorce mediator, agents can reap the benefits of referrals for years to come.

Unsure of how to walk into an attorney or mediator’s office and make a business ally? It is important to ask for a lunch date to learn more about serving this niche segment. After forming a relationship, a simple trick would be to offer a helpful real estate guide specific to divorcing couples. 

Pro Tip: divorce mediators are often unsung heroes with more free time than attorneys. They also spend more time with their clients than attorneys do. It’s best to start with mediators and then move onto the attorney’s office.

Join Local Facebook Groups 

This is probably the easiest way to drum up real estate seller leads. Over the past few months, I have watched the same real estate agent snatch up lead after lead on a local Facebook mom’s group. It’s a great place to hang out online since women make up 70%-80% of all purchasing decisions.

When women in the Facebook group ask for advice about moving or home valuation, the same agent swoops in and picks them up with a DM, every time. It’s so brilliant and simple. Using the group search function allows agents to look for anyone talking about moving, even when they were offline. As long as an agent participates regularly in the group and builds relationships, joining local lifestyle groups is an easy way to get seller leads. It’s a great way to use Facebook to grow your business without spending a dime.

Engage Past Clients Often 

One of the biggest missed opportunities comes from past clients. More than half of real estate sellers use their old agent when they sell again. This number goes up when a strong relationship is maintained. There are plenty of great ways to engage past clients. This includes giving great closing gifts, making sure past clients have current market information, and making sure to add past clients to tailored drip campaigns.

The relationship shouldn’t stop after closing. Every year agents should personally connect with past clients via email or phone.

Pro Tip:  Using email drip campaigns is an easy way to nurture your past clients. Just make sure your messages are personalized. Your emails should contain questions like “How are you enjoying your first holiday in your new home?” Nothing will turn your old clients off quicker than spam or generic messages.

Relationship Building Opportunity: Financial Planners 

The highest percentage (23%) of sellers are empty nesters, age 55-64. And most sellers make between 100-124k a year. Firms like Edward Jones and Fidelity specialize in serving and partnering with this same demographic and are often aware when one of their clients wants to sell. These planners advise their clients on how to handle their assets, including when it’s time to downsize.

Forming a relationship with a financial planner is an excellent way to get referrals, especially as these professionals are involved in the financial decisions of their clients. Asking for an educational lunch or coffee is a great way to learn about the empty nester/downsizing demographic and how advisors counsel their clients during the selling process.

Offering value, like partnering with a financial planner for a home valuation class and sellers’ course is a great way to generate leads. This niche market is full of leads that are methodical and like to think ahead. So, offering market reports and tips for improving their homes to sell for a greater ROI is always welcome.

How to Get Real Estate Seller Leads for Free

Real estate seller leads don’t grow on trees, but some covert more easily than others. Data shows that most real estate seller clients come from referrals and relationships, not from being purchased online. There are plenty of places to find free leads. Clients can come from Facebook, divorce mediators/attorneys, financial planners, past clients, and more. 

The post 6 Places to Find Free Real Estate Seller Leads appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.

So you have found your real estate seller leads and are ready to set up a listing appointment. The big question is, how do you stand out and win every listing? We are breaking down the ways to win seller leads every time. It really is all about the seller, and we are exploring how to work with every seller and win their listing.

Listen

The greatest gift you can give any seller is your ears. So many articles and seminars are all about how to market yourself and be in-your-face about your brand. While there is a place for those tactics, the truth is that selling a home is all about the homeowner.

Listing agents possess industry knowledge and are able to offer so much to their clients (more on that in a minute). But, many of them miss out on closing because they are too busy talking about themselves. When agents listen, they are able to hear and filter through any seller’s pressure points. THEY can sort through any concerns and fears address the sellers specific needs.

It is so fundamentally simple, but most agents overlook listening to their real estate seller leads. The best way to win any listing is to ask targeted questions and listen to their leads’ concerns.

So how can you listen in a way that benefits you?

Give Homework

Giving homework before any listing appointment does four things:

1. Helps identify how serious your real estate seller leads are about listing
2. Shows real estate seller leads your intentionality and that you are listening
3. Provides you with important data
4. Sets the tone for the listing appointment

The best way to deliver the homework is via a signed-for package. Again, this shows your intentionality and your desire to listen. However, depending on your market, an email with a receipt request may work best for you. The key is to make sure the seller lead knows you are aware of the status of the document. Be sure to request that their homework is returned before the listing appointment.

Some key questions to ask in your homework document include:

What is your ideal moving timeframe?
Why are you moving?
Are you moving to a new city or nearby?
What do you like the most about your home?
Are you already under contract for your new home? If so, are there any contingencies in place?
What is your ideal asking price for your home?
Have you looked at other homes for sale in your neighborhood? If so, where did you get the data?
What excites you the most about selling your home?
What parts of the home selling process are you least looking forward to or concerns you?
Are there any other contingencies to your move that I should know about?
Addition questions or notes:

This information will be key to tailoring your listing appointment to best meet your leads’ needs.

Transparency and The Two Key Questions

The two key questions that all real estate seller leads want answered are:

1. “How quickly can you sell my home?”
2. “How much money will I get for my home?”

While you can’t whip out your crystal ball and provide exact numbers, you will need to address these two questions. The best way win listings is to be transparent when answers these two questions.

When addressing “How quickly will you sell my home?” be ready to with detailed market information. Show the trending data in a shiny format (like Area Pulse). Drilling down to neighborhood information is important. Be sure to lay out where the market is and where it is headed. Also, be sure to summarize your closing track record in an easy-to-read format.

This will lead right into the next question, “How much will I get for my home?” The key is to be transparent. Be very detailed and clear about your comps. Share printouts as much as you can. If the seller says someone told them they could get more, tell the seller you would be interested in learning more about where their data came from. Be prepared to explain why figures like Zestimates are inaccurate, too. An educated seller is a smart seller.

On a side note: Never give a seller an exact price. Instead, give a range for the seller to choose from. This gives the seller ownership of the process and does not leave you on the hook if the property doesn’t sell for another reason.

Be sure to tie the two questions together. Homes sell quickly when priced correctly. Explain that most homes should sell in only two-three weeks. The key to selling quickly is to price homes correctly. If overpriced homes go on the market and sit for a while, buyer agents are less likely to bring their clients by. The listing will grow stale and buying agents will know the homeowner has over-inflated expectations. Pricing any listing well at the beginning is important. When it is fresh, listing agents and people browsing online will notice it as a priority listing.

Your Value

Throughout your listing appointment, you should weave the ways you are going to help the seller into the conversation. Don’t be shy about letting real estate seller leads know how you want to help them. This is a great way to show them they will be able to trust you and enjoy working with you. Some of the ways you bring value include:

Your Marketing Plan:

single property sites, virtual tours, open houses, Facebook Live tours, professional photography, drone photography/video, professional staging, MLS listings, your network, sign riders, social media ads, etc.

Lead Generation and Quality:

Including how you will use your professional network, the internet, and your lead contacts to find a buyer. Not only that, but you will filter through under-qualified leads to get homeowners the best price.

Legal Knowledge and Negotiation:

Including your ability to navigate the fine print of contracts and closings to ensure that sellers get the best deal possible. Also, don’t be afraid to talk about your negotiating skills, highlighting a few key past clients if the owner would like to follow up.

Comps and Market Knowledge:

Again, this where an explanation of why sources like Zestimates are inaccurate, help. Explain how you come up with your price ranges and why it is valuable to price a home appropriately when it hits the market. Highlighting your neighborhood knowledge is also a great idea.

Professional Network:

Teamwork makes the dream work. Your local, professional network makes the smoothest selling experience possible. You know the best photographers, mortgage brokers, inspectors, real estate lawyers, etc. in town and you will leverage those relationships to create the best selling experience.

By listening, giving homework, being transparent, answering the key questions, and highlighting your value, it is easy to show real estate seller leads that you the best agent for their listing.

The post How to Win Over Real Estate Seller Leads appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.

In order to impress your potential sellers you need to be in front of them before they even meet you. Get your listings first, getting them on all websites possible, and making them attractive to your sellers.

Give your sellers their own domain name and website. This is going to make them feel important, like they are a priority and you are going to help them in being successful quicker. By doing this you are going to gain that lead and turn it into a sale for yourself.

Provide them with free options to see your work in action before you ask them for money. This will give them the satisfaction that you are going to provide them with the best possibilities for them.

By keeping your leads intrigued, you are going to notice that you turn more leads into listings. By utilizing Single Property Sites you are going to be working alongside a marketing team that helps you optimize and keep those leads.

The post Why do you lose leads? appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.

As a Real Estate Agent it’s likely you have used Craigslist for marketing real estate listings at some point or another in order to generate more leads or website traffic. The question is, are you using Craigslist in a way that is effectively generating leads or chasing them away?

Below are 3 simple things to consider when making your next Craigslist posting:

1) Do the headlines of your posts make people want to click?
It’s no lie that Craigslist is not a flashy looking website. It is very basic and quite boring. When potential clients browse the site, they are faced with long pages filled with links to different ads. It’s very easy for yours to get lost in the mix. The most important thing in effectively using Craigslist for real estate marketing is to get people to click on your ad.

• Don’t use all capital letters in your headline – While many Real Estate Agents might think that writing a headline in all capital letters makes their ad stand out, it will also make your ad look like unprofessional and even “spammy”.
• Spelling and grammar is key – Nothing will kill your credibility quicker than typos and grammar issues.
• Motivations are important – Think about why someone would be looking at Craigslist in the first place. Are they a prospective buyer or are they trying to sell their home? Place yourself in their shoes and write your headlines to cater to their needs.
• Don’t use the same headlines over and over again – Mix up your headlines from time and time to test which ones are more effective.

2) Write eye-catching ad content.
Once you do get people to click on your ad after posting a great headline, it’s time to keep their interest and drive your point home.

• Be honest – Don’t promise people the world in your ads if you cannot deliver. Once they discover your ad is filled with promises you cannot keep, you have lost that person forever (along with any of their friends who they tell as well).
• Spelling and grammar is key (always!) – Again, remember that spell check is your friend when it comes to posting effective ads.
• Utilize images along with text – Many Agents will create an image with text on it that includes all of the information they want to present in their ad. This typically looks fantastic when done correctly, but it is terrible for search engines. Be sure to incorporate regular text in your ad along with any pictures, and incorporate your target keywords into this text.

3) Other best practices for generating real estate leads on Craigslist:
In addition to creating catchy headlines and engaging content, there are a few other very important things to remember.

• Don’t simply link the ad back to your homepage. They will likely get lost in your website and leave. Link them directly to the sign up form or wherever you want potential customers go for more information on your specific services.
• Don’t keep posting the same ad over and over. If people keep seeing the same headlines or content every day, they will become desensitized and uninterested.
• Include your contact information directly in the ad.
• Don’t only post in your city. Post in all surrounding cities as well.
• Don’t overload your ads with too much information.

While these are just a few examples, they will go a long way in helping you to perfect your Craigslist ads. Incorporate Craigslist into your overall real estate marketing strategy and start generating more leads!

Click here to see how Single property Sites automatically posts your listings to Craigslist.

The post 3 Simple Ways to Generate Real Estate Leads on Craigslist appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.