Social Selling Made Simple

A key part of using social media to get more sales is to get in front of more people, and right now Facebook and Instagram Stories are where people are hanging out and making connections. How do we choose where to post our stories? What kind of content can we create and how do we create engagement? How do we turn the connections we make on Stories into leads? On this episode, broker, CEO and social media expert, Barbara Betts shares how real estate agents can turn Instagram stories into a powerful relationship-building tool.   3 Takeaways The easiest content strategy to use with Instagram Stories is to document our day. There are many interesting things we do as Realtors that our clients would love to see.  The better we feel about yourself, the more we’re going to post.   If we’re too scared to post a video of ourselves speaking to the camera, we can start with baby steps. Take videos of something else while talking, or go on camera with someone else.    Instagram has over a billion monthly users, and a huge percentage of those people are viewing Instagram stories. As Realtors we can take advantage of all the eyeballs on Instagram stories and use it to not only put out content that makes us relatable; but to create conversations, connections and stay top of mind. The people who engage with our content are the ones who are interested in what we’re doing and we can take these relationships offline. Through stories, we have a great opportunity to put ourselves out there authentically and sell more effectively.

While we’ve all had to deal with naysayers at some point in our lives, we also need to own up to the fact that sometimes, we might be our own naysayers- or worse- someone else’s. Even though we may think we’re ‘keeping it 100’ by being what we think is realistic about other people’s dreams, it’s important to remember that just like we can manifest our desires, so can the people we think we’re helping.    When my son was accepted into Howard University, I told him I wouldn’t be able to afford his tuition. By giving him this dose of reality, I thought I was helping him. However, I later realized my language was hindering my child and his dreams. It dawned on me that he was capable of achieving his dream of graduating from Howard, and it wasn’t my place to put limitations on his abilities. I changed my negativity towards the situation and after 5 years, he completed his degree.    As parents, we should be encouraging our children to reach their dreams by celebrating them and affirming their abilities.   Connect with Marki & download free tips & tools: https://markilemons.com/

Early in my career, I was balancing two careers, as a pharmaceutical rep and as a real estate agent. Even though it seemed impossible, I was the top earner in pharma sales, and then I successfully switched to real estate full-time, and made more in a month than I ever would in MONTHS of pharmaceutical sales.  I refused to let people’s doubts get in the way, and I prepared through reading, coaching, affirmations, and prayer. That’s what allowed me to take a skill I learned in sales into a successful real estate career. We can make the impossible happen when we are stubborn in our self-confidence and belief that we will go far in achieving our dreams.  Connect with Marki & download free tips & tools: https://markilemons.com/

Real estate is one of very few business ventures where we can earn good money in a very short time, but to achieve this, we have to play the game right. What does someone looking to get into real estate need to know about getting licensed and becoming successful? Why is it so important for us to focus on a niche from the beginning? On this episode, I talk to Lawrence Watkins, host of Black Business School. We discuss what it takes to succeed in real estate and how to get started.    3 Takeaways If we’re licensed in multiple states, choose one local area that we can go really deep on, and then in the other places, earn money through referral fees.  A real estate licence is all about consumer protection, it does not teach us how to sell real estate effectively. For that, we need additional education.  When building our network of real estate professionals, have more than one lender, each focusing on different niches and areas in our market.   Real estate is a powerful vehicle for financial freedom and success. From a money standpoint, it has a low barrier of entry. But just because it’s easy to get into the industry, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t treat it like a business. We have to go deep on a niche, because splitting our time diminishes our effectiveness, and we have to prioritize education and surround ourselves with the right people.

Everyone has naysayers, people who have something to say about what we can and cannot do. Successful people simply don’t listen to them. In this special episode pulled from the first of a series of Facebook Live videos, I’ll share my own experiences with negativity.   I’m here because I refused to accept what people told me. I refused to let the challenges I faced in my life hold me back. From the age of 5, I knew there was a God, and praying and leaning into Him is what has led to all the wonderful things manifesting in my life right now. I’ve overcome many hurdles, lost everything twice but I never gave up.    The lesson is don’t listen to the negative things people say, all we should care about is possibilities, positivity, opportunity and creating a great life.    Connect with Marki & download free tips & tools: https://markilemons.com/

Real estate agents are so often focused on generating a lead that we never prepare for what happens after that lead comes in. Why do we have to map out the lead nurture and conversion process? How do we avoid talking ourselves out of a sale? How do we make sure our online and real life personas match up? On this episode, I talk to the Sales Whisperer, Wes Schaeffer. He shares why we need to map out our sales process and why. He also gives insights into how we can transform a chaotic system.   3 Takeaways Every transaction has a process, we need to think through it systematically so we can map them out ahead of time. It allows us to prepare for objections and create content that answers the consumer’s questions.  Be courteous in text messages and emails. If people don't like our tone or feel as though we belittled them, they will take a screenshot and put us on blast. Process before login. Before we go looking for a CRM, we need to map out our process, and what we need so that we can choose a system that fits our style and utilization. Our industry may be about relationships, but going the distance is about marrying the human connections with systems and processes. The most successful agents are informed and prepared, and that comes from anticipating the needs, questions and thoughts of our clients. Before going out and generating leads, trying to convert them, and paying for a CRM, we have to have our system mapped out ahead of time. If our process is streamlined, we’ll always have the ability to be the solution to the problem our clients have.  

Live video is something so many real estate agents are afraid of, but implementing it into our marketing can help us get more people wanting to work with us. What kind of content can we create and how can we optimize it? How can we boost our video content with chatbots and Messenger? How can we use chatbots without spamming people? On this episode, I’m joined by fellow speaker, regular collaborator, and technology expert, Jeremias "JMan" Maneiro, who talks about how we can get more comfortable with Live video.    3 Takeaways As real estate agents, we are now broadcasters in our own right. Through YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, we can create quality video content that allows us to reach the masses.  When we interview local businesses, we should approach it like reporters. Our goal should be to highlight and make the community look good. Put out a video on Facebook, and when people comment on that video, they can end up in our chatbot. Then we can segment the conversation further by sending people content that is relevant to them.  As real estate agents, we need to stop getting ourselves ready to do video and just go for it. Ultimately, success all starts with relationships and those relationships are created through content that helps people know, like and trust us. The content doesn’t have to be perfectly polished, if we have high energy and people are hooked from the beginning, we’ll get the engagement and the algorithms will push out the content and we will connect with people. If we leverage Messenger to create content that’s relevant to our audience, we can take it even further.

New real estate agents and agents who are getting back into the market can be intimidated by trying to get their database together and generate those first leads. How can we leverage a small database to get business? How can we use that database to get some referrals going? What can we do to leverage video content? On this episode, I’m joined by agent and real estate coach, Genny Williams who shares on how she got back into sales after 10 years of coaching, and how she got the most out of a 48-person database.  Once you get into someone's world, you've got to make sure that you're training them to be an advocate for you. -Genny Williams     Takeaways Every small business owner should be training people to be foot soldiers who can be on the lookout for what fits our business.  If we're trying to get into a new marketplace, or get back into the game, joining the local Chamber of Commerce allows us to connect with like-minded business people. It will also give us some much needed exposure. The 3 points in the transaction to ask for a referral: when they love us the most, after the contract is signed, and a week after they move in.  Whether we’re new to the real estate game, coming back into the game or we’ve been in the game for a while, how we generate leads and business will never change. It’s all about the relationships we build and cultivate, and constantly being of value to the people we meet. Our ability to have conversations will always determine the quality of our business. Technology allows us to combine the personal touch we need to have, and the volumes that allow us to reach more people. The greatest asset we have as agents will always be our ability to build solid relationships with people. 

Many real estate agents post content on Facebook and expect leads to come in and clients to just get in touch. Why is it important for us to seek them out? How can we create content that is the perfect opening for us to reach out? How can we use social media engagement to create leads? On this episode, I talk to my podcast producer and Pursuing Results CEO, Matt Johnson. We talk about how we can boost our business by having more conversations online. If all you did was have regular, non- real estate conversations with the top 150 people in your database, you will have more business. -Matt Johnson    Takeaways Social media is a conversation starter. Use it to reach out to the people who watch your content. When you do Facebook Lives, you can look back at who watched and commented on your video and you can re-engage these people by sending the voice or video messages. It’s better to have 20 people watch your video than it is to have 1,000 views. It’s harder to reach out to people when there are so many of them. Engage and respond to comments strategically throughout the day. If you're going to reply to comments don't reply to all of them at once. Just spread them out a little bit.   Posting content is just step one of an effective social selling strategy. Just throwing content out there and expecting it to come back in the form of an instant sale doesn’t just happen. What we should be doing is putting out content and then re-engaging with the people who comment on it. We should always be looking for opportunities to have conversations with people so we can add them to our database. When we build relationships, those people become our advocates, and our champions, and the people who will refer us.

As real estate entrepreneurs, we should always be on the leading edge of technology and ways to show our listings off in their best light. What are virtual properties and how can we leverage Matterport devices and videos to give clients a feel for a house? On this episode, I’m joined by Matterport Marketing Content Manager, Amir Frank who shares a new and unique way to create engaging real estate content.   360-degree models essentially allow you to virtually walk the visitor through the space, and you can show them things that they wouldn't otherwise be able to see in a listing. -Amir Frank    3 Takeaways Start at the lowest level of the home and work your way across that level and then go up to the next level and capture the rooms in that order, instead of jumping from room to room.  For $69 a month, we can have 25 360-degree videos active on Matterport. The 360-degree video can be enhanced by adding additional videos, documents and landing pages to them.    The benefit of technology is that it allows us to leverage tools that don’t just make us more efficient in business, but can enhance the customer’s experience. We don’t just have normal photos and videos at our disposal for listings, we can take our listings to the next level with 360-degree videos and 3D virtual tours. Bringing that level of detail allows people to see themselves inside of that space, and imagine themselves living there. We should always be employing a Blue Ocean strategy and doing what other entrepreneurs aren’t doing. Matterport’s images and videos are one way we can set ourselves apart.