If it’s not Jeremy, it’s Alicia or Rob, or Jennifer. Everyone sells homes and they spend thousands each year repeating that message over and over in their advertising. You see that message on bus benches, local papers, postcards and business cards. The problem is, home sellers already know that. In the mind of a consumer, every real estate agent sells homes. It’s what they do for a living.

How do you differentiate yourself in your marketplace? What is the unique promise that the market should associate you with and that is going to make customers call you instead of the next agent? What is your most powerful strength as you see it and as told by past customers? Is it negotiating skills, is it speed of sales, is it your local network. 

Even if you happen to be the number one sales person in your franchise this year, building your advertising with that being the main proposition can leave you scrambling next year unless you retain the top spot again. Meanwhile the opportunity to build a sustainable promise would have been pushed out an entire year, with an extra year’s budget to go along.

Advertising works best when the promise it delivers i) hits a hot button, i.e. delivers a relevant, compelling benefit, ii) is something you can deliver on better than anyone else and can show for it, and, iii) it is consistent so that the association of the promise with you and your brand builds in your audience’s mind over time and eventually becomes synonymous with you and your service.

One of the hardest parts in creating a compelling selling promise is going about it methodically. It takes time, patience, consistency and a very objective mind. And when years later people think of you first whenever the subject of a top negotiator comes up, you would have hit the advertising home run.

Competitors would be hard pressed to try and compete with you in the same context. If they try, they’ll be seen as a ‘me too,’ and lose credibility

Find your ‘unique’ strength, make sure ‘you can deliver on it’ and push that message ‘relentlessly’.

For more on the subject, here are two articles we published over the past year about unique value proposition.

No guess work here. Load up your website up with listings and you would have covered one of the top two things on a home buyer’s list of most valued information on a REALTOR®’s website. 83 percent of buyers who used the Internet last year to research properties said that detailed information about homes for sale are ‘Very Useful,’ according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ (NAR) 2010 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers report.

And given that 21 percent of sales agents reported generating between 11 and over 100 inquiries from their website, 3 percent pulling between 51 – 100 inquiries and 4 percent more than 100 inquiries, your online store has the potential to be more than just a pretty place. The reason I say this is that there are still 31 percent of agents out there whose websites bring in no inquiries at all! That’s a huge opportunity.

Established REALTORS® seem to be well set then, if they typically carry good inventory. Provided they do most other things right of course. We covered some of those things or ideas, in Parts 1-3 of this series.

Undoubtedly though, even the best sellers’ agents can benefit from additional listings, to attract even more visitors and generate more return visits to their websites. For those who have no listings or just few, this particular challenge can be daunting. Here are three surefire ways to add more listings to your site. As in, many more.

1)    Expand your personal network – This is an on-going exercise that requires time. If you want instant gratification, skip this step and go to points 2 and 3. But in the long run, this step will be key to success and business resilience especially in tough markets.

Here are some facts, also from NAR’s report. The most important thing people look for in an agent is honesty and trustworthiness, and nearly half of all buyers find their real estate agent through a referral from a friend, neighbor or relative, especially first time home buyers.

The more experience and transactions you facilitate, and the larger you grow and foster a supporting network of friends and contacts, the more business and listings you’ll get. Join and participate in local societies and groups, join one or more charities, volunteer time on a not-for-profit board and attend school events if you have kids. A note to self: ‘I won’t spend all my time at such events with people I know. I will reinforce those relationships and make it a point to meet several more people and exchange more business cards or phone numbers. And, my networking does not mean spending lots of time in online chat rooms with other agents.’

2)    Build IDX into your website – This can be as easy as cutting and pasting some code onto your website. IDX or, Internet Data Exchange, is a solution that allows visitors on your website to search approved Multiple Listing Service (MLS) properties in your area. The service is subscription-based and for the value it adds, many would concur is worth every penny.

There are several great IDX service providers in the marketplace today, so here are some things to look for:

-       Easy to plug (technical jargon: frame) into your website.
-       A solution that seamlessly integrates (funnels) leads into your prospect management system.
-       Don’t get held up by a long term contract. You should have the right to get out at any time.
-       Double check on the IDX service provider’s ‘uptime.’ You want a service that is ‘on’ all the time.
-       Affordable. You can usually secure a top name IDX directly or through your website service provider at a reasonable price.

3)      Handshake™ with other REALTORS® in your market – This idea applies only to Point2 Agent users. Handshake™ is proprietary technology that allows you to publish other REALTOR® listings on your Point2 Agent website, and the other way around. The idea is to automatically and immediately give you credibility but importantly, a large inventory to market. Especially for new agents, this advantage can make a significant difference. The more local co-marketing relationships you initiate and approve through your Point2 Agent site, the more listings you’ll get. You can test this technology for free here.

Public speaking ranks at the highest levels of all things feared by humans, period. Whether presenting on stage to a thousand people, at the office to your team or management, or offering your services to a prospective client, certain success denominators if mastered can make a big difference in your results.

This subject is deep and far reaching. My aim from this article series is to impart some of the more fundamentally important tips that you as a real estate professional can start to apply right away and that can make a significant difference in your performance.

One BIG ‘Don’t’ that, in my personal opinion, warrants we open the series with are ‘Non Words,’ also known as ‘Fillers.’ Non Words fall into what is technically described as Speech Disfluencies.

From Wikipedia: “Speech disfluencies are any of various breaks, irregularities, or non-lexical vocables that occur within the flow of otherwise fluent speech. These include false starts, i.e. words and sentences that are cut off mid-utterance, phrases that are restarted or repeated and repeated syllables, fillers i.e. grunts or non-lexical utterances such as “uh”, “erm” and “well”, and repaired utterances, i.e. instances of speakers correcting their own slips of the tongue or mispronunciations (before anyone else gets a chance to).”

Did you know that a whopping 20 percent of the words many people use in a sentence are Non Words and Fillers? That is shocking.

You have great tools at your disposal. For example, you click a button or two in Point2 Agent and out comes a gorgeous listing presentation and you rush out the door for your new client meeting. You now look phenomenal on paper. But how much would some more power and confidence in your speech and personal presentation skills go to get you the deal? How about your impact in a video recording for posting on YouTube or your blog? Wouldn’t you want to come across as more professional and assertive.

Many of us may have picked up the ‘Filler’ habit as kids at school, or at the office from some rising hot shot, thinking that must be one of the reflections of success. You’ve surely heard kids – and adult professionals – spray around words and Non Words like ‘um’ ‘uh’ ‘like’ ‘oh my God’ ‘sooooo’ or ‘you know’, like there was no tomorrow.

How about those who can tag several fillers to each other, literally saying an entire short sentence without communicating anything. Try this for size: ‘let’s seeeeee, uuuuuh, now, wait a minute, ehhhh, yes, it’s like …

The bottom line is that if someone pitched their services to you and packed one or two eh’s and um’s in between every few real words, they have an obstacle they just don’t know about. As a buyer, your perception is affected. With that, while not the only parameter in your consideration, your decision.

Fillers are distracting. They diminish your impact and show hesitancy and uncertainty. They annoy listeners and directly affect their perception of you and their decision about your services or products.

Remember this. Fillers are Killers. They hit your credibility and potential right in the heart no matter your domain and level of expertise, or your message. As delivery and presentation makes up around 90 percent of a presenter’s impact on an audience, Non Words simply do not belong. As an exercise, try to listen to your own voice in your next conversation. How many unnecessary words can you count?

For those who may think fillers give them the right to the next speaking spot (uuuuuhhh don’t interrupt me I’m not done speaking yet), think again. Especially on the phone, your listener might also think you keep getting distracted by other things like people, text messages or email. Tells them they are not the most important thing on your mind right now. Not very professional.

One of the keys to getting rid of Fillers is focus. Focus on your audience and your message. Use pauses between sentences to catch your next thought (or for effect). The silence, which may seem to last a lifetime when you’re on stage, or when trying to rush an idea past someone, seems only that long to you. To your audience, the pause emphasizes the importance of the message. It gives them time to assimilate the point and take better notes, and you come across as more confident, more assertive and more knowledgeable.

While attitude has a lot to do with success, there are many tangible ideas and tools virtually anyone can take advantage of. As you will quickly realize, hardly any of those ‘revealed’ in this article are secrets or mysteries. The real secret lies in the ability to take action and apply the ideas, rather than in the knowledge itself. Here are three ideas.

Top Agents Are Easily Found on the Web – With a third of all home buyers starting their search online, and a whopping 90 percent using the Internet in the buying process, the winning agents are those found more easily where buyers lurk. There are consumer real estate portals, search engines, auction sites and classified ad sites. The Point2 listing syndication service available for free through nearly 250 MLSs and associations in the United States is a great way to achieve high exposure with virtually no effort.

Another way to be found is through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Today you can automate SEO, with the new Site Builder website product by Point2, launched this past June. Just select the city you operate in and a website with great initial SEO is generated for you, meta tags and all!

They Take Time to Add Rich Content to their Websites – This mystery does not pertain to a technology tool, but a discipline. One agent we know of and that we wrote about in a separate story gets 80 percent of his business from his website! That is a number worth paying attention to. He does it by engaging visitors with rich content.

“If I had to pick one aspect that works… well, actually there are several. I believe the ability to display a large number of photographs, room for plenty of information and the creation of a virtual tour environment is very much appreciated by my clients and potential clients. These three features not only serve to market the property well but also reflect on the client’s perception of my professionalism.”

They are Good at Converting Leads into Revenue – You might be surprised at how many leads are left to rot in agent inboxes. As the majority of prospects will go with the first agent who responds to them, having the right tools in place to help you be first out of the gate is key. Check if your website incorporates a lead management system that captures inquiries coming in from your listing syndication efforts and if it routes leads to your cell phone. This is extremely important to beat the 30 minute patience guideline of online prospects. This strategy is a winner!

Perhaps one of the greatest myths out there is that knowledge is power. It is not. Knowledge without action is nearly useless. Power, as Tony Robbins, one of my favorite life and motivational coaches says, is the ability to take consistent action towards a specific goal. That’s when luck also seems to kick in!

So without further ado…let’s get started!

Point2: What would you consider your most valuable online marketing initiative? (Blog, Video, Website, Syndicate Listings, etc)

Cam: I wish I had more time to blog to enhance the site even further and increase traffic counts. As you know Blogging with “fresh” content pushes your site to top of the charts in the search engines. However, I am guilty of not doing that very often but I am in the market to hire that out (under investigation now to sub that out). The best thing we have done is the video of our listings whereby we either use a little flip camera and do our own thing, or on the larger more elaborate homes we have hired that out and found a great photographer that does exceptional work.

Point2 is to be commended for the quality of the pictures that get posted at amazing speeds. The syndicate listing program is very beneficial as I constantly get people visiting my site through the extensive radio and TV advertising I do, and for those that have accepted me in handshake agreements – I guarantee their listings get tons of exposure via this form of advertising so why not syndicate with most of your colleagues?? In fact, just today I had another inquiry from someone who is asking me questions from the IDX program she had signed up for and is asking about one of my handshake agent’s listings… so everyone benefits from the system… the consumer, the seller and the agents involved.

Point2: Which online marketing activities do you find produce the best results?

Cam: My best results for online marketing is the lead generation that is built into my Point2 site. People who visit the site and enter their names get emailed automatically each home that matches their criteria…. I then get these emails from the customer thanking me for keeping them so well informed. The letters that are created and sent automatically are great and well worded so I just thank them for their business and sell them the house they have emailed me that they want to see… its all good.

Point2: What percentage of your business do you think is generated by your online marketing activities?

Cam: Considering I have not held a Public Open House or ran an ad in newsprint for the past 4 -5 years, I would say that 100% of my business is derived from online activities. Again I touch about the need to drive people to my site via the radio and TV ads, but when they get there they do get the help they are looking for… at the end of the day it spins off into buyers who have come to the site.

Point2: How much time do you spend on SEO and/or social networking?

Cam: Other than Facebooking and spending social time on there I don’t get a lot of business on Facebook. We do post our listings on Facebook (my son who works with me does this)… however, there is plenty of opportunity to promote the site and do more things on  Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, etc that we can all and should all be on. It’s the time factor to be everywhere that makes it difficult to do all this… show and list homes and have somewhat of a social life… it’s tough to get the perfect blend in lifestyle, however, the site has allowed me to make more money and when its time to take a break… it’s a good one.

Point2: Do you keep accurate traffic data of your online marketing initiatives?

Cam: This is just something that we stumbled across within Point2 – the availability to see where all you’re your leads are coming from and what works and what doesn’t. I find this now to be a great way to source my business and do the proper investing to get the best ROI.

Point2: We all struggle to balance the time between being out in the field and finding time to update our website/blog/engage in social media/marketing. What tips would you give to those looking to find a balance between all of these?

Cam: That’s a great question… If anyone reading this has a great answer – would love to hear from them. In the event that I arrive at an appointment early (which seldom happens), I will use my Blackberry and go online and do some little posts just to keep in peoples faces. I do believe too much is bad, as overkill on Facebook can be hard on one’s reputation. The little status updates that say, “Up at 7am sipping on coffee having a left over donut,” are a waste of time for me to even read, and I find them very annoying. So I don’t want to be one of those that give every breath I take as part of my day and post it on Facebook.

Point2: In terms of the conditions of the real estate industry (especially in the United States), what would you say is the most vital thing a real estate professional can do to ensure success during unstable economic conditions?

Cam: We here in Saskatchewan feel we are in an incubator and have been doing very well economically versus other parts of the world, with our rich resources we are fortunate to have.  I have great friends to the south of me in the USA, and for the most part those that stay the course and stay focused on the issues at hand learn to deal with real estate the way it unfolds. We, as REALTORS, did not create the market place but we get to deal with it, and it’s important for us as REALTORS to not take it personally when prices dip below what people paid for the home. There are people still buying homes in the most depressed locations throughout the US, and it all depends on proper pricing.

In 1991, our market was in turmoil and I had to resort to wining and dining bankers. I began to work that angle but one has to adapt and stay updated on the Short sales, and learn the way to win them and get the short sale for their Buyers… that, I understand is quite a technique to pull that off – and for those who have taken the time to read this, and are having problems learning the proper way, ask others in your market on the do’s and don’ts of a short sale. There are still the same number of houses and people… they all need a place to live, so either an investor is going to be buying them and renting them back to the people who have lost them, or the end user -  the owner occupier will be buying them. Everything will sell given enough time to sell!! The Point2 lead generation and drip mail programs are a huge factor to keeping in front of people and showing them you are there to help them buy or sell.

Moral of the story –stick with it, those of us who do come through will be that much better off when things do turn around and they will turn around!

Point2: Where do you see the real estate industry in the next 5-10 years?

Cam: Newspapers will be used to put in your canary cage – they are a thing of the past. I always tell sellers there was a time and a place for a telex machine. When I started in 1985, I had to have the ‘Vendors’ as they were called back than to send me a telex saying that they would take the price or whatever the case, and that little ticker tape type of paper formed part of the offer. In 1986, was the first time I had witnessed a fax machine -so my question to the seller is how many telex machines do you think were sold once the fax machine was created? Not many.

The purpose of my point is the same scenario for the newspaper – it is a dying business yet they wont truly admit it. I have not ran an print ad for 4-5 years, and yet am doing just fine selling my 100+ ends per year here in my market.  How? Its so easy that everyone who has cash has a computer and shops online – that simple! We will have to continue to adjust  and rely on improving technology to keep ahead of the times or stay up with the times, but do I feel that the REALTOR is going to dry up like a leaf and blow away? ABSOLULTLEY NOT! Buying a home is the largest single investment anyone makes in their entire life, to attempt to buy a home without the services of a REALTOR makes no sense. After all, its usually the Seller who pays the fees so why would anyone want to be a buyer and do this on their own? Makes no sense to me, so it always has been and always will be a people business – but for those not willing to adapt to the new technology,  sorry to say but I will be taking your business away from you in a matter of time! All the Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin… plus whatever lies ahead, we had better adapt and accept it – as it is coming, so either adapt or get off the bus.

Point2: Lastly, just for fun… Favorite new home feature? New home ‘style’ and why?

Cam: To save some face, by the time I get this to you and out to the agents my “like” will be old news, so better keep with basics. The technology of being able to adjust the temperature of your home from a cell phone and turn on your surround sound from a cell amazes me… but like I stated, that is old news. I will wait for the robot to be sitting there with my rum and coke when I get home, and I can just dictate to it to do my blogging for me!! My dream home will be backing a golf course in Phoenix, but for style and plans, as long as I can still swing a golf club I will be a happy camper!

Do you have a website you want to show off? Or maybe some useful marketing tips you would like to share with the real estate community? Let us know!

Not only is Cam’s website pleasing to the eye, he has also used Get a Grip Audio Solutions (Point2 Alliance Member) to add an element of sound. His site hosts a ton of listings both via Handshake and MLS, and he also constructs a video ad for each of his listings that are seen both on his website as well as The Real Estate Channel.  Among several things, he also has a ‘Contests’ area where clients can win a night out to watch a hockey game with private box seats (perfect for Saskatchewan folks!).

As an added incentive to his detailed marketing plan, is Cam’s guaranteed sales program.  In fact, if the listing hasn’t sold within 120 days – he’ll buy it himself.

It’s my pleasure to feature to SellingSaskatoon.com this month, and I’m also equally as excited because Cam agreed to do a mini Q&A session with me. Stay tuned for the next post where we’ll get an inside peek into SellingSaskatoon.com.

Do you have a great website/marketing plan? Want to share it? Let us know, and maybe we’ll feature yours!