Posts Tagged ‘Sales’
What Luxury Agents Do for That Sale
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Demographics, Real Estate Economics, Real Estate Sales, Real Estate Trends on November 8th, 2011
According to the LA Times, real estate agents listing an $8-million home in Santa Monica wanted to ensure a good crowd for an open house last month, so they hired a stilt walker, shirtless male jugglers and a contortionist who floated in the pool, encased in a clear plastic bubble.
Nearby, an agent stationed models in front of a new condominium project. Wearing velour robes and flip-flops, the young men and women served free drinks to promote the cocktail hour lifestyle at the development.
Still another went all the way to Spain to drum up business.
When marketing a multimillion-dollar mansion, a plate of cookies and free coffee simply won’t do in today’s new market. Agents have been outdoing themselves to help get through this market.
Aerial Showgirls, Thai foot massages, and Botox treatments… is all this really necessary? Although agents are putting up thousands of dollars for these remarkable parties, they are definitely seeing up to three times the traffic than they would with a simple display ad or a listing on MLS and some generic signage.
Agents are treating buyers seeking homes in the $2-million and more range like royalty, including facilitating their home tour starting with a red carpet.
Sometimes, it can be as simple as putting a new spin on an old standby, such as staging.
A recent agent recruited a well-known interior designer to outfit the home with vintage and contemporary furniture and art, which was then offered for sale at the open house.
He told the LA times that the cost was less than hiring a traditional staging company, the event drew about 200 people and the property received multiple offers, selling at nearly full price within a week of coming on the market.
To get foot traffic, a condo agent put a new “spin” on a sign-spinner by hiring models to hand out fruit drinks on the sidewalk… and beer, wine and mimosas to adults that came in to see the model units. The agent spent about $5,000 but sold four units on the weekend following Thanksgiving.
What’s the bottom line? You may be afraid to spend the money and think outside the box, but this is the time to go above and beyond and really draw attention to your properties. While we don’t think you should pull out all the stops and hire a circus, there are some worthwhile ideas in the shock and awe mindset that might just get you results.
Why Should Realtors Use LinkedIn?
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing, Real Estate Trends, Social Media on August 23rd, 2011
Although much more conversational that its original intent, LinkedIn is still best used to gain 
professional connections. By linking up with mortgage professionals, appraisers and even other agents (for referrals or joint venture opportunities) Realtors can build a great network around the Social Web.
Remember that the right keywords are as imperative to LinkedIn as they are to Google, as LinkedIn itself is used as a refined search engine. This means don’t write lengthy, fluffy descriptions for your profile summary and specialties – use words that your prospects would logically be searching for.
One of the best things to happen to LinkedIn for branding yourself as the leader in your industry is the Groups feature. In addition to having a stellar profile, groups are another great way to cultivate relationships and generate leads. When you participate in conversations and offer useful, free information, you become the “go-to” person for all things Real Estate. Make sure you answer questions without selling your services and ultimately you will see how LinkedIn “word of mouth” marketing turns into leads!
How Do You Track Social Media ROI?
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing, Social Media on August 2nd, 2011
Social Media is rarely tied to direct, instantly measurable sales. What must be measured are influence, engagement and conversation. No easy task! Yet clients like to see numbers justifying the time and energy expended on Blogging, tweeting, and updating Facebook regularly.
Social media interaction tends to happen outside of the purchase process, either before or after. This type of contribution can’t be easily tracked and incorporated into a company’s ongoing metrics.
What metrics actually matter?
From a business perspective, what’s important is showing that your social media marketing is effective at achieving your business goals. Establishing tangible goals will help track your progress and allow you to tweak your social media campaign to improve its effectiveness.
Reach. Done correctly, over channels that make sense for your business, social media provides ways to share your message efficiently. You can start monitoring visitors, fans, followers, comments, and influence. Long-term, these aren’t the end-all numbers that make or break the success of your campaign, but it’s a good place to start getting familiar with how your message is reaching your ideal clients or customers.
Actions. Your readers need to know exactly what you expect them to do. Without a clear call to action and trackable metrics behind it, it’s impossible to measure the actions of your prospects in this setting. Getting your audience to join your list in exchange for a free report, watch your videos, or subscribe to your Blog are just a few ways you can take your reach to the next step.
Reputation management. In today’s real-time, 24/7 communications world where everyone’s a potential publisher, it’s critical to have some form of social media monitoring in place. While most businesses have a hard time with the fact that negative comments may occur on their Blog or Facebook page, social media provides the mechanism for quick response without the need for crisis management. Having an established social media presence provides the opportunity to minimize potential issues. After all, people will put their opinions and negative comments out there regardless – why not create a controlled place where you can monitor and respond to them immediately?
How do you measure the success of your social media campaign? Which mediums are harder than others to track? Let us know by posting in the comments below or on our Facebook wall!
Surprising Condo Market Recovery – Can You Guess Where?
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Real Estate Economics, Real Estate Sales, Real Estate Trends on April 28th, 2011
The hardest hit real estate market in the U.S. is making a resounding recovery! The Miami Association of Realtors report that existing condo sales topped 1,500 units in the month of March. That’s an 85% surge in the market!
It’s surmised that lower priced units and record low mortgage rates are responsible; however, these low prices actually attracted a large percentage of cash buyers. In fact, more than 64% of buyers paid cash.
What is not surprising is that buyers came from around the world to get their hands on American condos at the lowest prices in more than 15 years: more than 90% of new construction condos were purchased by non-U.S. buyers.
What do you think this means for the overall market recovery? Is this a step in the right direction, or is that fact that 60% of all closed residential sales in Miami-Dade County were distressed giving us false hope? Do you think this is unique to the Miami market, or a starting trend for Condos?
5 Reasons to Form a Joint Venture
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing, Real Estate Sales on April 6th, 2011
What exactly is a joint venture and why should you do it?
A joint venture (JV) is when you collaborate with another person or company to share your expertise and also any revenue created.
Interviewing top experts or being interviewed is a wonderful service to offer to your list, plus it can be profitable for you if you promote each other’s products and services. You can promote such interviews to your list and have it reciprocated by your JV partner, which will build your list of contacts. You can also promote these interviews via social media marketing.
Still not convinced? Here are five great reasons to form a Joint Venture:
1. Expands your audience. From a list-building perspective, a good JV will give you exactly what you want: a (fast) new audience of people in your target market.
2. Increases your credibility to your community. Yesterday’s expert paradigm is long gone – today instead of broadcasting your message it is much more valuable to rub elbows with other experts in your niche.
3. Spreading costs. You and a JV partner can share costs associated with marketing, and other expenses, reducing your financial burden.
4. Access to new markets. You can combine customer contacts and together even form a joint product or service that accesses new markets altogether.
5. Strategic move against competition. A joint venture may be able to better compete against other industry leaders through the combination of markets, technology, and innovation.
Idea Associates has proudly collaborated with many other experts in the industry, including ULI, Barrett Design, Inc, Market Solutions Group and more. Let us help you find your perfect partner to grow your business today!
One good thing about a recession is that it inspires innovation. Did you know rebates were developed during a recession? That’s right, rebates. I don’t think you can buy an electronic device today without a rebate offer to go with it.
The point is that in order to generate sales in hard times, we need to be innovative with our strategies. Real estate consumers are changing not only by choice, but also by force. This recession is forcing people to be more conservative with their spending and they need to be sure of their purchases. Traditional marketing techniques can’t really give them the assurance they are seeking.
A Good Example of Innovation
Below is a great sales idea from Rodney Hall with The Talon Group. They were able to come up with an innovative way to put a positive spin on slow sales. Not only were they ‘thinking outside of the box”, they were smart enough to realize that a face-to-face selling situation was critical in our current economic climate. You can read the original post here .
Several years ago I interviewed a Director of Sales candidate for one of our builder clients. I asked if he could point to a specific action or idea that resulted in sales which might otherwise have never been achieved by virtue of market momentum. His answer, “a Private Sale Program,” was a good one at the time and even better in our current market. Here’s how it works:
- Pick two week nights… Tuesday and Thursday for example… to close the model park an hour or two early. Reserve that time for invitation-only customers.
- Have your sales team make follow-up calls to everyone who registered within the last year to determine if they might still consider a purchase. If so, explain that you have instituted a private sale program two nights a week, at which time the model park will be closed early for the exclusive perusal of one or two buyers.
- A salesperson will be available to work one-on-one with the buyer, who will be presented significant incentives not otherwise advertised. The buyer will then have 24 hours to make a buy decision before the incentives expire.
The message delivered to this select group of buyers needs to be clear, authentic and believable. Rather than skirting the obvious (how bad the economy is), use it instead as a sales tool:
- Yes… the economy is making it tough for everyone, especially home builders. The fact remains that you (the builder) need to sell homes and are willing to offer significant incentives to a few buyers in order to make that happen.
- The incentives package is far greater than you could extend to each buyer. However, one or two each month is worth it to maintain sales activity, keep trades busy, etc.
Point: Both of those statements are logical and will make sense to buyers. The more directly you address the obvious issues, the more likely the buyer is to trust you and subsequently, buy from you. Keep in mind, the incentives need to be attractive enough to make the program legitimate… meaning you truly wouldn’t want to repeat it on every sale. However, this type of program avoids the need to advertise it on a wider scale and done right, could add incremental sales where none existed before.
How Innovative Are Your Ideas?
Again, this is a great example of “thinking outside of the box”. We must realize that we are facing a new sales day. Being innovative is the only way to make sales happen, that and creating a face-to-face selling situation. How have you been innovative in your sales strategies? Share your ideas by leaving a comment below. Having trouble coming up with ideas? Shoot me an e-mail. I am always willing to help.
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