Prospecting is arguably the most important thing you do in a given day or week. Without some sort of prospecting, you can’t attract or hold onto clients and without clients, nothing else you’re doing in your professional life really matters. Prospecting is essential for your success and that’s especially true in a sluggish economy.
But what activities offer the best return and how much time should you spend doing them? Is social networking as effective as more traditional kinds of marketing? Can socialnetworking completely replace traditional marketing? Is an hour spent online engaged in social networking equivalent to, say, an hour spent doing volunteer work in the community in terms of the contacts you’ll make and the business those contacts will generate? How do you know?
A recent article in the New York Times Magazine highlights the growing number of people who use computer software and, increasingly, mobile phone applications, to track their activities. People are logging everything from their dieting and weight-loss activities to their moods, their health issues and even their sleep habits. Online and mobile productivity tools make it easy to track how you spend your time and how much social networking or marketing you’re engaged in.
If you’re already checking in throughout the day and noting where you are or what we’re doing on Twitter and Foursquare, it’s easy to add an application like BubbleTimer to the mix. BubbleTimer lets you log what you’ve been doing at 15 minutes intervals all day long. At the end of the day, you can have a clear picture of how you’ve spent your time and within a few weeks you’ll be able to spot your personal trends.
Compare the number of clients who found you online with, say, the number of hours you devoted to socialnetworking over a given period of time. Or consider the ways that the Internet and its never-ending stream of information cause you to waste time. What could you be doing instead?
Successful business owners monitor their activities and continually hone their marketing strategies and you should, too.
Tags:productivity
Real estate and auto sales have a lot in common.
- Professionals in both industries are viewed with suspicion and distrust; “real estate agent” and “auto salesperson” often appear on lists of the least respected professions.
- Both industries are being forced to change as consumers—armed with information they’ve found on the Internet—bring new and different expectations to the sales transaction.
- Both industries have suffered through months of tightened credit and unemployed consumers, and both have benefitted from government tax credits that have encouraged sales.
But here’s something interesting to note: despite the near bankruptcy of several major automakers (or perhaps because of the bailout that followed) the auto industry is quietly improving. Even Toyota, which suffered weeks of bad press following the recall of problem vehicles in early 2010, had a rosy month in March compared to last year.
Consider the following data from Autoblog:
- Nissan NA: Sale up 43.27% March 2010 compared to March 2009
- GM (Core Brands*): Sales up 43.32% March 2010 compared to March 2009
- Ford (w/out Volvo*): Sales up 42.71% March 2010 compared to March 2009
- Toyota: Sales up 40.71% March 2010 compared to March 2009
- American Honda: Sales up 22.50% March 2010 compared to March 2009
The question is: Will the real estate industry be able to sustain momentum after the Homebuyers’ Tax Credit and where will it be a year from now?
(*Sales for the brands which are being discontinued are not included.)
Tags:real estate
Everyone loves a success story; write about successful people in your community and your readership will grow. People will be encouraged by your stories and at the same time, you will help make your community appealing to prospective buyers.
- Write about people in your neighborhood who’ve overcome tremendous odds.
- Share stories about local companies that have donated to outstanding causes.
- Describe heroes in your community who’ve lent their time and talent to help people in need.
- Write about nearby churches or community organizations whose soup kitchens or homeless shelters have bridged the gap for people in these tough times.
- Feature a senior citizen who’s gone back to school or who is doing great things in retirement.
- Tell about teenagers who are making a difference.
- Highlight local teachers, police officers, nurses, or fire fighters whose efforts go above and beyond what’s required of them.
Scour community newspapers and websites for people to write about. Include photos and testimonials on your blog. Encourage people in the community to contact you if they know of others you could feature. Focus on the positive in your area and let it become the centerpiece of your blog.
The more you do this, the more people will see you as an asset to the community. Market yourself without directly marketing yourself.
Tags:blogging
Everyday there’s something new—new gadgets, new websites, new social media—and each new tool requires your time and attention. Do you acquire new tools just because they’re new? Or do you first consider how useful they’ll be to you? Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- How much does this new tool cost? Can I really justify the expense or the added subscription fees?
- What’s the cost–benefit ratio? How much will it cost in relation to the new business it’ll bring in?
- If it’s not going to help me with my business, why am I getting it? Do I really need it, or do I just want it?
- Will using this new tool require me to buy more stuff to go along with it?
- How steep is the learning curve and how long before I’ll be using it well?
- How much time will it take to get this new tool configured and set up properly?
- How many minutes (or hours) will I spend each day playing around with it and could I be using my time more productively?
- If I’m getting it just for fun, when will I find the time to use it? There are only so many hours in a day.
- Does this new tool replace something I own that’s truly obsolete and outdated, or can I keep using what I have for just a bit longer?
- What’s the environmental impact of acquiring this new tool and throwing out my old one?
Tags:technology
Because content is king, every blogger has to figure out what he or she will write about that will grow the blog’s readership and keep people coming back for more. In essence, they have to find a niche. That’s especially true for real estate professionals who need to attract a large group of followers to their blogs or Facebook pages.
One Chicago Realtor® has solved that problem nicely by making data her major focus. Fran Bailey’s Chicago Area Metro Real Estate blog regularly features easy-to-understand, visually-appealing graphs that help her readers understand the Chicago real estate market.
Offering data is a great way to pull readers in because so many homeowners want to know what their home is worth now, or how long it might take to sell it in this market, or whether prices have come down enough that they can finally afford a home in XYZ community.
Data can also be an easy blog post if you don’t like to write; charts and graphs often speak for themselves so you don’t need a lot of other copy. In addition, there’s no shortage of material; information about the real estate market is everywhere. You just need to be good at grabbing small bits of it and putting it in an interesting format.
Fran’s posts often feature a particular neighborhood in the city or just one suburb. Sometimes they’re about only one type of property. In a recent post, for example, she presented data on the price distribution of 4-bedroom homes in just one suburb. Fran does post articles about other things, but her frequent use of data gives her blog a predictability that readers can depend on.
So, what’s your niche?
Tags:blogging
Prospecting is arguably the most important thing you do in a given day or week. Without some sort of prospecting, you can’t attract or hold onto clients and without clients, nothing else you’re doing in your professional life really matters. Prospecting is essential for your success and that’s especially true in a sluggish economy.
Know a real estate agent who needs help with technology? Saundra Washington at Technology Tools for Real Estate has the answer. Read About Us above to learn more or Contact Us. 
