Whether you're a seasoned real estate agent or the ink on your license is still wet, finding your next buyer or seller is always top of mind. If you've been in the game awhile you've got a good referral network going, but you're always looking for better ways to build your brand. You're probably looking for real estate agent hacks, and if you're a novice, you've got to come up with a client base and marketing strategies to start your business -- and investors are the key.
Investors buy and sell regardless of season or economic cycles, so focus on finding those professional buyers and you're assured of success as a real estate agent. Here are some real estate agent hacks to help you get started, or to fine-tune your marketing strategies.
Manage Time With Technology
When you're a realtor, by definition you're really busy and figuring out how to be two places at once is your life goal. There are apps out there to help you manage your schedule--Waze is a great app for real-time traffic info; Road Warrior plans the most effective traffic route, and it integrates with Waze to avoid slowdowns and construction. MileIQ manages your miles for you; all you have to do at the end of the year is download the data for your accountant.
Social Media Presence
Sure, you're using social media--but are your posts driving traffic to your website, and are those clicks turning into leads? Interesting and interactive content is crucial to cyber success--not just recycling old posts from realtor.com. Post photos and testimonials from past clients, news articles about new schools or businesses in your target market, or anything that separates you from the realtor pack. Use a tool like CrowdFire to automate this and save some serious time.
Investors are more focused on the economy of their targeted areas than other buyers, so make that a priority.
Go Outside the Box
When you have a listing, your fiduciary duty to your client is to get the best price for their house. Common practice is to list the house at a percentage over the CMA--five to ten, depending on your market, then negotiate backward to an acceptable number. Really successful realtors are taking a different approach--pricing the house BELOW market value to create more interest in the house. This practically guarantees multiple offers, which in turn means a higher selling price. This is especially true for investor listings, where those multiple offers can create new leads.
Nurture Your Leads
In real estate, everybody you know is a potential lead. Here are a few ways to stay top of mind with leads that are dormant. You should have notes on all your past clients so you can send birthday and anniversary notes, but go the extra distance and send a congratulatory text when their team wins the Super Bowl, or you see they've gotten a big promotion.
Even if you're pretty sure a name in your database is never going to become a client, stay in touch anyway--they'll have friends and neighbors, and if you're the agent who's just a nice person and calls to chat, you're likely to get a referral.
Premium Software
Face it, most of the lead generation and management software are pretty much the same, just with different graphics. Most realtor organizations offer basic information in the MLS database, but not much that analyzes the market any deeper than a detailed CMA.
Privy software, on the other hand, takes that MLS data, combines it with data from investor transactions, and provides a snapshot of the investor picture in a given market. Not only does Privy track numbers for analysis, it features real examples of investor activity--not only the economics, but before and after photos of projects along with the numbers; information on whether a property would be a reno, a flip, or a scrape; and the capability to match your needs with what's on the market.
When you're ready to take your investor prospecting to the next level, let Privy show you how.
