By Chris Alston, Team Leader, Keller Williams Realty

Ignite…

So many things come to mind when I think of the word.

Combustion, fire, flames, spark, imagination, light bulb, innovation.  I don’t see a camp fire, I see a bon fire! I bet the fire you see is different from the one I am imagining, and yet they are both hot!  I’m not looking at the actual size of the light bulb, but the fact that there is light in the dark that existed before that ray brightened the room.

When I think of the word Ignite and how it plays into a real estate agents’ career, I see something so similar!  Success, listings, contracts, money, leads, growth, achievement are all words that come to mind.  And again, I am not seeing a new agent just starting out or launching their career, I am seeing agents, and their rise to the level of success the desire. And here’s the coolest part.  The level could be 20-40 deals, or 100-200, or maybe it’s taking the leap to achieve a first transaction.  I bet the level of success I am thinking is different from yours, yet they both are successes.

We all know that the fundamentals of real estate still apply. We are in the business to generate leads.  Without lead generation, our careers may shrink and force us to believe that we need to go find a “real” job. What we have to remember is that real estate sales IS a real job.  Too often we stand around the water cooler and buy into the gossip about how open houses do not work, and cold calling is terrible.  Or that no one wants to hear from us anyways, so “why bother calling.”

Continue reading ‘How HOT is your production?’

By Brenda Marshall, Keller Williams Realty International

With all of the tech tools out there for generating leads, it’s refreshing to know that old school is still cool. Gary Keller and Tony DiCello, director of KW MAPS Coaching, led a panel about lead generation systems and approaches. The panelists—KW associates Chris Suarez and Richard Stone, and Greg Harrelson with The Harrelson Group—all enjoy phenomenal business with simple, inexpensive techniques for filling their business pipelines. Collectively, their systems represent the trifecta of lead generation.

1.            Open Houses—Chris Suarez is an open house master. When he was new to the Portland area, he used open houses to immediately add people to his database and immediately got into production. His team closed $23.2 million in volume his first year in Portland. Chris’ steps to successful open houses are: hold homes open every day, be specific about your farm, advertise, capture leads, and follow up with each one. Chris, a BOLD Achiever, also attests that without BOLD, he may not have had the commitment to follow his own system so consistently. BOLD helped him realize that while real estate is tough, it’s simple.

2.            Farming—Richard Stone’s disciplined approach to farming is largely MREA-based. Much of his day is scripted, and he’s implemented his own set of 9 rules to ensure he stays on script, the first of which is to lead generate 4 hours a day. Richard holds himself accountable by devising his own bonus plan. He pays himself a cash bonus each time he completes all 9 rules, and fines himself when he doesn’t. With $30.5 million closed volume last year, Richard might be onto something!

3.            Expireds and FSBOs—Greg Harrelson got his start in real estate prospecting part-time for his father’s business. He worked his way up to expired and FSBOs—sellers with more challenging objections—and his skill set expanded at the same time. Today, expired and FSBOs are the foundation of his business, yielding in $117 million in closed volume last year. His approach to calling these wary sellers begins with having the right mindset—these sellers need help, Greg can help them, and he needs to give them the opportunity to be helped. Greg believes that the best way to handle objections is to eliminate them, and he finds that he is able to do this within the first ten or so seconds of a call. When calling expireds, his script leads the seller to agree that their last agent failed to sell their home, that they still want to sell their home, and that they need a second opinion. Frequently, Greg has an appointment after asking just a few simple questions. When calling FSBOs, Greg’s objective is only to allow the seller to let him in the door to preview the home for no more than 15 minutes so that he can find the right buyer. Often, the seller will start asking questions, realize the value that Greg can provide, which naturally opens the door for Greg to ask for—and get—the appointment.

Tony DiCello concluded the panel by pointing out that these three agents embody the heart of the business—they’re what business is all about.

Technology…  It seems that there are so many people, companies and sites offering the latest and greatest product, system or tool. There’s Facebook, Craigslist, Twitter and Google… There’s a new crop of camps and seminars all aimed at helping agents overcome their biggest hurdle these days, which seem to center around technology. As we try to leverage our time dedicated to Internet Marketing and Social Media we often turn to these very tools to keep our Web strategy moving in the background while we focus on other aspects of our business.  Sometimes though, the guarantee of success doesn’t always pan out. We find ourselves using a product that doesn’t work, or leveraging a system that didn’t quite do what we thought it was going to do.

So often we don’t have the time to experiment with each product, or tool or new system. We ask ourselves, “will this work for me in my business? How do I know I should spend my money on this type of advertising, or should I hire someone to work on my Search Engine Optimization?” The list of questions about how to successfully implement a Web strategy that actually puts money IN our pockets goes on and on, doesn’t it? We think … “If only someone could tell me which strategy, tools and products I should use and how to make them work for me.”

So KW created this day of learning called Mega Technology Camp… Content created by agents and for agents…  And not just any agent, but agents that are having success in the very products, technology and systems that they are talking about.  So sitting, learning and hearing what successes these agents are having right now is truly amazing.

On Monday, we learned about using Craigslist to promote our listings, utilizing ads that are generated for every listing to create buyers. We saw what Mega Agents are doing with Facebook and learning how to be interested in others to get them to be interested in us.  We also heard strategies for creating content on Twitter and using sites like scvngr to take your Web strategy to the next level and generate more business.  All in our quest to raise our Klout scores!

Mega Camp not only is about helping agents achieve the next level with guidance from Gary Keller, it also includes technology, Luxury Homes, KW Commercial, Rural Homes and land/farms, leadership and training.  When you make your plans next year, don’t just book Mega Agent, also book a few more of the add on’s! I know I will!

Chris Alston

Team Leader – Cupertino CA

calsotn@kw.com www.twitter.com/chris_alston www.facebook.com/realestatetrainer

Following on the heels of Mega Technology Camp yesterday, Gary Keller and several panelists continued the Internet Lead Generation conversation.

Carissa Acker, who’s on track to do $37 million this year shared her typical “10 Days of Pain” a set of follow-up systems created and perfected by Ben Kinney.

The idea behind the “10 Days of Pain” is that a good lead conversion system requires that you time block, attempt to convert leads daily, and use written and verbal scripts and dialogues. With every lead, you’ll use all your systems and skills to do one of three things: Get an appointment to buy or sell, get a referral, or deepen the relationship.

To learn more about the “10 Days of Pain” download Soci@l the Book by Ben Kinney and Jay Papasan.