I have seen the future of real estate.
It is the "new" Realtor.
I met four of them in my most recent seminar. And you can read about others in the June issue of Realtor Magazine in the fascinating article, "30 Under 30."
The new Realtor is tech savvy, highly energetic, motivated and upbeat about his or her career, and markets themselves and their listings in a whole new way.
They have no fear.
They have no "call reluctance."
They have set no limits on themselves. They fully expect to be successful -- not if, simply when -- and that expectation manifests itself in a contagious enthusiasm and zest for what they do and how they do it. They happily perform the business-building tasks that unsuccessful agents often aren't willing to do.
Here are six examples of how the new Realtors are generating business in this challenging market:
- At every possibility and to anyone who will take one, they hand out over-sized, eye-catching postcards when going door-to-door in their geographic areas, as part of a concerted effort to convert that geographic farm into an e-farm.
In addition to being well-designed and chock-full of good information, their postcards all prominently feature a value proposition: "Would you like to know what your home is worth? Find out free at NameofRealtorWebsite.com."
Maybe you're thinking, "Where's the innovation in that? People have been driving traffic to their websites for years now." And right you are. But to the tune of 1000 per WEEK!?
- They hand out a whopping 2,000 business cards per month, with a value proposition and their email and website address on it. You didn't read that wrong, by the way: That was 2,000 business cards per month! (For those of you who like to keep score, that averages nearly 67 a day during a 30-day month.)
- They excel at social networking. They put a tremendous amount of effort into developing online relationships at special interest websites, such as meetup.com.
Social networking is an integral part of their overall networking. Blogging is a viable way to connect, and increasingly, they are taking advantage of this highly popular technology. Almost every one of the Realtors of the future I have met maintains a blog and participates in other blogs about real estate and other personal interests, like music and sports.
- They give -- cheerfully -- back to their communities; they sponsor Little League teams, etc. The point is, they are involved. They wholeheartedly participate in their communities, and that selflessness does not go unnoticed.
- They generate much of their business by marketing online: They buy leads; they use craigslist.com, Google, Oodle and others.
- Many of these Realtors of the future are also beginning to podcast their listings out to a group who have chosen to opt in to receive the information. It's an interesting, entertaining, and best of all, effective way to spread the word (and pictures) of their listings to potential buyers.
Do you see anyone in this group sitting and waiting for the phone to ring? Do you see any of them bemoaning the change in the marketplace? I've met quite a few of these "new" Realtors, and those traits simply aren't in their business DNA.
In my recent seminar, the more seasoned agents in the room were in awe of these up-and-comers.
While they were adjusting to the changing markets and unhappy at the fact that their listings took longer to sell and the buyers were slower to act, these newer agents didn't know they couldn't go out and close business in this market. They made it happen.
This is the future of real estate. Welcome aboard!
