Social Selling Made Simple

Building relationships is crucial for being a good real estate agent, but it’s also important to know how to protect our clients. How can our own knowledge of online tools help us to be a better resource for our clients? What steps can we put in place to make sure they don’t lose their money to a scam or other types of fraud? How can we choose the right CRM to use? On this episode, CEO of RETI (Real Estate Technology Institute), Craig Grant shares on how we can build a better and safer online presence as agents. It’s more important than ever to build relationships with your clients. Is if there's no friendship in place, don't expect to get hired again. -Craig Grant   3 Takeaways When you start working with new clients, instruct them to pull out their phone and create contacts for everyone in the transaction. Tell them if they ever get a phone call for somebody claiming to be the title company, to hang up and try to call back to make sure it’s not a scammer. You can run your entire business with unlimited storage and great support and security with Google’s G-Suite, which is for business. It costs just $12/month. Protect yourself and your clients with cyber insurance. Only 12% of consumers hire the same Realtor twice, and that’s because we don’t follow up or communicate. We also discussed; How to protect your clients from cybercrime How to choose the right CRM for your business The importance of being educated about emerging technologies As real estate professionals, we want to make money, but we also need to protect the money we make. The real estate industry is highly prone to cyber attacks, hackers and scammers, and we have to prepare our businesses so that we don’t become victims. We do this by investing in technology that keeps our data safe, and educating our clients before hand. Everyone wants the flexibility and unlimited earning potential of being in real estate, but only a small percentage of people actually realize they're entrepreneurs. Thinking about safety and security is one of the most important parts of preparing your business.

Creating good video content can seem intimidating if you have no experience or on-camera confidence. How do you determine the kind of content you should be creating? What steps can you take to feel more comfortable on camera? How can you create content for different platforms? On this episode, I’m joined by expert videographer and one of Chicago’s Top Real Estate Video Marketers, Justin Barr, who shares helpful insights and tips for mastering live video. It's really about figuring out what you are, what your brand represents, and then creating content around that of brand targeting the correct audience. - Justin Barr   3 Takeaways 2-3% of your database on social media is interested in buying and selling. The rest of the people want entertaining, valuable, and inspiring content. If your brand is more educational, do an educational series. If you want to be more about showing off personality, opt for attention-grabbing content. Equipment for making videos on the go: a lavalier mic, good lighting, and a tripod to stabilize your video. We also discussed; Why having good audio is so important The importance of telling a story How to fill curiosity gaps   The way to grow your database and generate leads is not to talk only about houses. You should show off your personality and interests because that’s what attracts people. In order to make really unforgettable video content, you have to know what your brand is and the kinds of content your target audience responds to, and then create it. Always remember that the goal is to bring value and make an emotional impact.

The MLS is one of the most under-utilized resources in real estate, and agents can make more money by leveraging it. What is some of the data we can gain from the MLS and how can we use it to improve our marketing efforts? What can we learn about our real estate markets through the MLS? Why is it so important to become as educated as possible when it comes to your business? On this episode, digital marketing strategist and real estate technology expert, Carrie Little talks about how she uses data to help agents sell more real estate. You will not go from making no money to making money in real estate unless you start to understand the business. -Carrie Little 3 Takeaways Everyone you know needs to go into your CRM because it allows you to start generating leads. Absorption rate: three months or less means houses are moving faster and it’s a seller’s market. Four to six months is a stable market, but over six months is a buyers market. When it comes to rate of sale, you want to look at communities where you will have the least barriers to entry. We also discussed; How to leverage date on absorption rate, rate of sales and off-market rates How to use the right hashtags in your marketing The importance of consistency   Whether you’re tech savvy or not, the key to success in real estate is all about how well you know the numbers in your business, and the numbers in your market. To know your business, you need to have a CRM, and to know more about your market, the MLS is key. You have to learn how to use and manipulate your MLS, understand what's happening in the marketplace, and become a consistent learner of that information. This information will help you craft the right marketing strategies, sales approaches and who to even target in your business. Without this important data, you’ll be flying blind in business which will make it harder to grow your business and achieve your goals.  

The real estate crash of 2008 may be over a decade ago, but many of us are still traumatized by it. How do we condition ourselves so that we can recover from the challenges we face in business? What are the ways we can strengthen ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually? On this episode, I’m joined by author of The Titan, founder of the Hour of Champions and my good friend, Steve Werner who talks about his work helping people overcome anxiety and depression and his own path. In order to be the best version of yourself and get through anxious moments, you have to be conditioned spiritually, mentally, and physically. -Steve Werner   3 Takeaways Nobody in business is immune to stress, anxiety and depression. There’s a difference between mental illness and sadness and fear resulting from a difficult life event. Stop rehearsing for disaster by worrying about what’s going to happen. It only depletes your energy. We also discussed; The difference between mental illness and a life event Why we need to overcome fear in order to succeed The importance of faith The difference between contacts and relationships Sometimes life is a lot like going into battle. We have difficult challenges and circumstances thrown at us, and it can be hard to overcome them. In order to win any battle, we must be physically fit, mentally sound so that we don’t become overwhelmed when difficult moments arise. If we have faith in our higher power, we’ll always be led out of the challenges into the direction of our dreams.

Mobile homes are a lucrative business venture, but so few people in real estate know about it. Why are mobile homes such big business? What’s driving the growth in mobile home investment and ownership? How can you get started, even as a new investor? On this episode, I have an exciting conversation with two young real estate investors, Byron Sellers and Sharnice Williams, who are making waves in buying and flipping mobile homes. Mobile home is recession-proof because there will always be a need for affordable housing. -Byron Sellers 3 Takeaways Mobile home flips are very simple: white paint, vinyl flooring, and white appliances.   Illinois has 1,098 mobile home parks, Indiana has 1,300, and Springfield, Ohio is the mobile home capital of the world. There’s a lot of opportunity for mobile home investing in the Midwest.   From as low as a 550 credit score and $1,000, you can get started. It’s a model that suits new investors.   We also discussed; Why we need to change our perceptions of mobile homes How rentals work with mobile home investing   Twenty-two million people in America live in mobile homes, and that number is set to grow because it’s such an attractive investment and residential opportunity. As the costs of living in the city continue to rise, more people are going to opt for the lower lot rentals and chance of ownership that traditional housing doesn’t offer. Ultimately, as an investor, you also get to be a part of building wonderful communities.  

Many real estate and loan professionals put too much energy into implementing every new tool and tactic while forgetting the fundamental- building deep connections in our communities. Before we implement a new tool, what is the first thing we need to be doing in our businesses? What are the other key pieces we need to add to our strategies? How do we balance between brand awareness and lead generation so we’re not just putting out content without generating business? On this episode, I’m joined by loan officer, coach and author of Lead Generate: 61 Days to Double Your Pay, Scott Groves. He talks about why the true answer to making more money lies in the sphere we have right now. The first big benchmark of success is being famous with 50 people. -Scott Groves 3 Takeaways At least once every 90 to 120 days, do a self audit. Google yourself and see what comes up and if all your details, contact information and photos are accurate. There is a difference between marketing and lead generation. We need marketing to get in front of more people, but for it to be lead generation, we need to have respondents' information to contact further.  If you commoditize yourself, it’s not easy to be replaced. Think of how you can position yourself as an advisor that adds value to people’s lives.   We also discussed; The importance of consistent lead generation Why Facebook messenger is the most powerful lead generation tool right now The importance of treating your business like a job The foundation of a strong real estate business are the connections and relationships we have, and that doesn’t mean hundreds of people. As real estate and mortgage professionals, we meet many people but in order for it to make a difference in how much we earn, we have to be famous with just 50 of them. We have to be the person that comes to mind when they think of real estate. We achieve this by consistently adding value to those people and by being trusted advisors, and being in regular contact with them. By doing those things and treating this business like a job, you become a true entrepreneur.

Most entrepreneurs are told that they have to specialize and focus when it comes to finding a niche, but we have to apply this concept to every area of our lives. How do we clean house in our lives and let go of behaviors that delay our progress? What are some of the values we need to uphold as entrepreneurs, and the inner hurdles we need to remove? On this episode, I’m joined by, author, speaker and wealth strategist, Danielle Pierce as we discuss our journeys and experiences as women, mothers and entrepreneurs. Consistency is doing what needs to be done, regardless of how you feel about it. -Danielle Pierce 3 Takeaways   As an entrepreneur think of the specific problem you solve for people first. That will help you determine what you will sell. Before you start to promoting yourself, do the work internally to overcome your fears, doubts and insecurities. They can make navigating the business world a lot harder. Helping people is great but don’t make yourself a “Master of the Universe” in the process. You’ll burn yourself out, cripple people, and end up with people who resent you. We also discussed: Things you have to let go of in order to succeed The importance of spending time with yourself and doing your inner work How to eliminate things that aren’t helping you progress Becoming an entrepreneur isn’t just about the elimination of a corporate job we don’t like, it's also the elimination of things that aren’t serving us and actions that aren’t giving us the results we want. Specializing isn’t just about making business easier, it’s about being focused on one goal. Very often, we have to take a long hard look at ourselves and realize that not doing our own internal work holds us back, and when we do it, business and life will only get better.

The goal of a real estate agent is to turn the people they talk to into deep, meaningful relationships, and that’s impossible to do without a solid lead capture plan. When it comes to capturing leads, what kind of information do we need to collect to increase our chances of getting a sale? Why should our goal be to personalize the information we put out to people, and how does the quality of our lead capture influence this? On this episode, ActiveCampaign Director of Education, Chris Davis, talks about the building blocks of lead conversion. We’re not just trading emails and names. We’re really exchanging valuable information for attention. -Chris Davis 3 Takeaways Your first investment should be your contact relationship management. There’s a lot of information you need to centralize in order to close the deal. If you can’t centralize the info, you won’t be able to personalize it. When creating a landing page, the questions we put should answer themselves. They should lead them down the thinking process. How we frame the question is going to lead to their probability of filling out the most accurate information. Social media isn’t for us to share what we’re doing, it’s for us to share what we know and what we do. We also discussed: Why attention naturally declines in marketing How to centralize to personalize Why we need to capitalize on video   In this business, we’re not just collecting names. We’re giving valuable information in exchange for attention, and the amount and quality of attention we get is determined by how personalized our message is. Our outbound communication is only as good as the information we’ve captured, and that goes back to our lead capture, the kinds of questions we ask, and how we ask them. Additionally, we need to have a centralized place to collect this information, because that increases our chances of having the right information that will trigger a sale.

The biggest challenge agents face in social selling is the belief that we have to be a certain persona to succeed, but that misses the point of technology entirely. How should we leverage technology to boost our businesses? How do we show our clients that we care using social media? What are some of the tools we can use to be more engaged and active online? On this episode, I’m joined by EXIT Realty’s Vice President of Technology Engagement, Annette Anthony, who shares what we can do to separate ourselves from other agents.  Technology has given us the opportunity to enrich what we do and highlight who we are as people. -Annette Anthony 3 Takeaways Hone in on who you are, be comfortable in your own skin and really highlight who that is online.  When we are doing our work, meeting and talking to people, many nuggets and pieces of information are thrown at us. We need to take that content and share it with the world because it has value.  Mobile business cards are a way to give out our information to people and make it easy for them to download our contact information. We’ll no longer have to worry about running out of cards.   We also discussed: The kind of content we can create. How messaging utilization has surpassed the utilization of social media and technology. Alexa Flash Briefings and how to use them.   Social media is not about being a certain personality or playing a role—it’s actually the opposite. It should be a tool for us to be ourselves and highlight what makes us unique and what we care about. As real estate professionals, we should be striving for being known for providing value, mentorship and improving lives. Social media is our way to do this seamlessly and sustainably.  

When it comes to sharing online, many real estate agents struggle to find the balance between the personal, the professional, and what people actually want to see. What is a “professional social persona”, and why is it the perfect way to build your brand online? How can you increase your online engagement? How can we build relationships with people who are the influencers in our market and industry? On this episode, I’m joined by tech strategist and author, Crystal Washington, who shares on how to improve your brand online.   3 Takeaways Put your professional social persona online. Find a balance between who you are as a REALTOR® and what people actually want to see on social media. When it comes to contacting people, it's not about the initial numbers. It's about your closing ratio and the quality of the interactions you have. Many REALTORS® haven't stopped to really think who their influencers are. Think about the whole professional ecosystem working in real estate and build relationships with the right influencers.   At the start of the show, we talked about the professional social persona, and how to leverage it online. Next, we talked about the kind of content people respond to online, and what being a professional means nowadays. We also discussed why the quality of conversations you have are more important than the quantity on social media.   We also discussed: How non-tech natives can increase their online engagement Why the “spray and pray” method isn’t effective Financial advisors and other professionals you should build relationships with   To make an impact with social media, it’s not about you showing how many houses you sell. It’s about giving information that’s relevant and impactful to consumers in your market. You have a wealth of information that can be valuable to the people who see your profile online, and if you can find someone to help you polish up your knowledge for social media, you can build solid relationships and boost your business.   Guest Bio- Crystal is a futurist, technology strategist, speaker and author of the books One Tech Action and The Social Media Why. She works with organizations that want to leverage technology to increase profits and productivity. Technology includes social media, apps, smartphones, and the web. Hired by companies including Google, Microsoft, and GE, companies in North America, Africa and Europe book Crystal Washington when they want their teams to take action online. Go to https://crystalwashington.com/ for more information.