Social Selling Made Simple

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. 

Referrals are the most underutilized and underestimated ways for us to earn more money. What motivates referrals, and how do you make yourself more referable? How can we build referrals into every stage of the sales cycle? What are the biggest contributing factors when it comes to getting more referrals? On this episode, I’m joined by referral expert, Chad Durfee who shares how we can take our referral game to the next level. It’s all about understanding the psychology of what motivates people to refer and then building that into your systems and processes. -Chad Durfee     Four Takeaways The key contributing factors for referrals are trust, social proof, authority, scarcity, engagement, and commitment.  Don’t be POOR: Passing Over Opportunities Repeatedly. Satisfied clients don’t refer, engaged clients do. We can engage clients by making them feel like they are part of our business.  Get people to sign up for an appointment through a calendar app. The simple act of people clicking on a time slot in a calendar app makes them 7 times more likely that they will show up and show up on time.  Referrals are so powerful that we can build a thriving business around them, and what’s great about them is that we have the ultimate control over our business, instead of paying for leads. Our clients want to refer us and all we have to do is help them along. We can do that by making sure we put value in the strategic points in our sales cycle, from courting them, all the way to the post-client experience. If you build a system for referrals, you will be able to multiply it and boost your business consistently.

One of the greatest ironies of real estate is that many agents don’t invest in real estate, or make other investments. What are some of the mistakes agents make when it comes to their finances? What are the steps you need to take to start leveraging your income so that it can eventually become passive? What is the Infinite Banking Concept and how can you employ it to better yourself? On this episode, Wealth Without Wall Street Chief Financial Coach, Joey Mure shares how real estate agents can level up from technician to entrepreneur.  Insurance companies allow you to borrow your own money with no repayment structure allowing you to fund your business growth and bridge your expenses in lean times. -Joey Mure    3 Takeaways Your ultimate goal as a Realtor should be investing in your business so that it becomes passive business ultimately.  If you don’t have cashflow in your business, you won’t be able to do anything else to grow your business. Through Internet Banking, you can utilize life insurance as a vehicle for savings, not just for protection. We also discussed; Why real estate agents struggle to pay taxes  How the Infinite Banking Concept works  The steps we can take to build wealth in our families   In many cases, real estate agents find themselves working to the bone for decades without building any real wealth, which is a far cry from the freedom they seek. In order to change this reality, we need to be smarter with our money and how we leverage it. We need to be working our way towards making our businesses passive so we can actually have the freedom to do what we love. The Infinite Banking Concept is one of the most powerful ways for us to build wealth. It allows us to utilize a high cash value life insurance policy, and not just as protection but as an asset. By putting the right pieces in place, we can pull all the levers to increase our business and eventually make our business passive, which makes us true entrepreneurs.   

Reality TV has done a disservice to the world of real estate by making people think that getting into the industry and becoming successful just happens. What are some of the realities of real estate that we don’t hear about on HGTV? How can new agents build a business that goes the distance? How can we make ourselves more memorable, and stop wasting opportunities? On this episode, I’m joined by agent, trainer, and author of “The Reality of Real Estate”, Candy Miles-Crocker, and we talk about how agents can set themselves up for success.  People who don't take the time to build systems after that first year of success burnout. -Candy Miles-Crocker 3 Takeaways As a new agent, choose a brokerage that offers training and education.  Long-term sustainable success in real estate is built on systems. Don’t be afraid to ask for the business. If you’re not actually putting yourself out there, you're wasting an opportunity. Running a real estate business without a foundation and the right mindset leads to burnout, stress and as a whole the high turnover our industry has. In order to build sustainable success, you have to run the business with intention and purpose, show up well-dressed, interact with people, and have the confidence to ask for the business. With the right systems in place, you can run an efficient business and stay in business for decades.