Real estate leads are vital to the success of any real estate agent. Without leads your business is non existent. People like to do business with those that they know, like and trust.

So one of the best ways to generate more real estate leads is through your ever expanding network of friends and business associates. But how do you actually do this?

Keeping in touch with your network is crucial so as to build long lasting relationships. In business it’s essential that you are top of mind with your network whenever they need a product or service that you can supply.

Here are 5 ways to stay in touch with your network:

1. Use The Calendar Creatively
   Some real estate sales people send birthday cards to their customers. On the anniversary of their house purchase they might remember to send an anniversary card. But we need to be a little more creative and use the calendar to it’s full potential.
   Do you have a Jewish friend in your network? Send them a card for Hannukah. You’ll definately stand out from the pack. Make sure the cards are personal. Add a message aimed specifically at the recipient or the occasion.
   Over time you’ll build up a big list of creative ways to send cards throughout the year. Set up a system to track these events for you. People will be amazed how you remember them year after year.
   Any Irish mates? Why not do a St Patrick’s Day lunch. There’s lots of ways to use the calendar creatively.
2. Be Aware Of Community Events
   What events are happening in your area this year? Do you have any members in your network involved in certain groups that run community events? Let’s say you have a colleague in Rotary and they are having a clean up in your area. Volunteer your services. Connect with your colleague and show your support to their cause.
   The Red Cross always have an annual Appeal. Donate to the charity.
3. Be LinkedIn
   LinkedIn is a great place to connect and build a network. Participate in discussions and post regularly yourself. Observe any changes within your network with regards to employment. Send a friend a congratulatory email or card on thier promotion. Tell someone that they’ve done well if they’ve lost a few kilos and are getting healthier.
4. Clip The Newspaper
   Just by reading the newspaper you can find ways to stay in touch with your network. What if you have a friend that lives in a town that’s featured in today’s newspaper. Clip the article and send it to your friend with a note saying that you were just thinking about them and thought they might like this article your saw in the paper. They’ll really appreciate your thoughtfulness.
5. Use Stop Overs Wisely
   Are you stopping over in a city where you have a friend in your network? Even if it’s just for a short time, make contact even if it’s just a phone call. If time does permit arrange in advance to catch up for coffee or a meal. This is a great way to stay in touch with your long distance associates.

Being part of a netwotk means that you have to be active within that network if you want to grow it. Staying in touch allows you to build stronger relationships. Your network is a breathing organ. It can create and sustain life, especially your business life. Be involved with people and you’ll be rewarded in your agency business with more real estate leads that will convert into sales.

Real estate Christmas card templates make it easy for real estate agents to send out Christmas cards to customers without having to stockpile a large number of cards which can be expensive. Send Out Cards, a US based greeting card company, offers such a template service. But is it any good? What’s on offer, how much is a card and how simple is the service to use?

Today I’m going to review real estate Christmas card templates by Send Out Cards to see if it is a worthwhile alternative to buying season greeting cards from a stationary shop or printer.

1. How Many Templates Are On Offer?
   Send Out Cards has over 450 Christmas card templates as part of their total 15,000 card templates. Most of these cards have a message within but you can add your personal touch as well.
2. Do The Cards Come In A Physical, Printable Format Or In Email Format?
   The cards are printed by Send Out Cards in their warehouse saving you time and ink charges. In my opinion it’s nicer to receive a physical, printed card than an email card. Email delivery is unpredictable and may get caught by the recipient’s spam filter and end up in their junk folder. Posted cards have a greater chance of delivery.
3. Is The Quality Good?
   The cards are printed on quality, sturdy paper. While I’m not sure of the gsm of the paper used, they feel comparable to cards supplied by other major greeting card makers.
4. Are The Templates Easy To Find?
   Once you are inside the Send Out Cards site, you can select Create A Card and enter Christmas cards in the search box. This will give you access to 450 plus greeting cards. You can also search for other real estate cards for customers throughout the year.
5. Can I Write My Own Message?
   You can enter a personal message in your selected font. Send Out Cards also gives you the option to upload your own hand writing font which can be used to give your card that handwritten feel. The beauty of using a template is that this message can be saved and used over and over again. Not only does this save you time but it will save you from writer’s cramp if you had to hand write your cards yourself. And imagine the saving if you had to send hundreds of cards.
6. Can I Add A Photo To My Card?
   Many people love to add photos to cards especially at Christmas. It’s the one time of the year that families separated by distance have an opportunity to see each other via a photo. You can order such a service with your local printer but it maybe expensive depending on the run size. With Send Out Cards you can add photos to your greeting card even if you are only sending just one card.
7. What Price Are The Cards?
   There are a number of greeting card companies offering real estate Christmas card templates to produce your own greeting card for around $3 – $5. Cards at the local paper store are typically sold for $3.95 – $5.95 but do not offer the option to upload photos into the card. At Send Out Cards you can produce a Christmas card for as little as sixty two cents. Photo Christmas cards start from ninety three cents for preferred customers. Casual users can pay up to $1.98 for a greeting card.
8. Is There A Minimum Spend With Send Out Cards?
   This is perhaps the only downside with Send Out Cards. In order to send a card you must register with the company as either a retail customer or preferred customer. Retail customers invest $9.80 per month which allows them to send approximately six to ten cards. Preferred customers need to spend $31 per month but for this they get a lower cost per card giving them somewhere between thirty to fifty cards to send. In either membership, subscriptions can be cancelled at any time. Real estate agents should being keeping in contact regularly other than just Christmas.

Overall the Christmas card template offered by Send Out Cards offers a quality and  convenient product at a competitive price. No more searching for cards at various stores or having to que to post them. Send Out Cards does that all for you.

The company also offers a contact database system which allows real estate agents to send real estate christmas cards and others on autopliot. Check out the service now.

WordPress is one of the most popular sites being used today. Influential companies like Ebay, Oprah and Mashable all use wordpress. Real estate groups such as First National, Zillow and AgentPoint also like the WordPress format.

So what makes WordPress so popular:

1. Easy To Install
   Installing any website generally requires the servives of a web designer. But with WordPress most web hosting companies like Bluehost now offer a one click solution to installing the site. This obviously saves you costs as this done can be done by yourself without a web programmer.
2. Easy Functionality
   Plugins are great for adding photos, maps, social media widgets and a like but can be cumbersome to install. At WordPress your plugin installation is smooth and effortless. There is an ever growing list of plugins provided.
3. Easy SEO
   Search engine optimization for your site is essential in helping you get found. Normally you would have to employ SEO experts to tweek your sit so that customers can connect with you. WordPress sites have a lot of SEO features built in which is handy for the average real estate agent. Nothing too tricky here but you will have to add some free plugins to optimize your site.
4. Easy Theme Designs
   Wordpress offers a ton of free themes you can upload with the click of a button and install to give your business a more professional appearance. There are a lot of real estate based themes in this category or you can go for the paid versions. Ideally look for a theme that has a custom header feature which allows you to put your personal touches into the header of your site
5. Easy Content Addition
   Content can be easily added to your site. WordPress allows you to create your content within the site thereby bypassing the need to create in word and copy into your site later. With certain plugins like TinyMCE Advanced you can create content in differnt fonts, sizes and headings. By using keyword research you can create good quality content and upload your post to your site with just one click.

Bad habits cost real estate agents about 50% of their income with no help from their sales managers, head office nerds or outside competition.

Check out these 6 bad habits that reduce their pay cheques:

1. Bad Follow-Up
   If you’ve ever attended a seminar or trade show you’ve probably been
   given a brochure or some information. Unfortunately that’s it. There’s
   very little or no follow up after. Good real estate agents put your details into their database and begin to build a relationship by
   connecting with you 20 – 30 times over the next year using email,
   phone calls, greeting cards, event invites, social media etc.
2. Bad Company
   Hanging out with the office losers. In any organisation 5% of the
   sales people make 80% of the money. Don’t hang out with the other
   95%. There’s no money there, only crumbs.
3. Bad Venues
   Coffee shops, bars and golf clubs won’t make you money. Some
   will argue that the club is where they do all their business but
   I bet they are in the 95% crowd mentioned above. Good agents
   hang out with the 5%, networking organisations like BNI and
   corporate events with like minded successful people.
4. Bad Time Management
   Poor real estate sales people wait for their next customer to arrive.
   They are usually hanging around the water cooler chatting to
   the office secretary or having a smoke with the lads out the
   back. Good real estate agents are never waiting for a lead to
   walk in because they work by appointment only created
   from referrals that they’ve actively generated.
5. Bad Systems
   The ad hoc sales person will never have the income of a
   systemized professional. Good sales people have a system
   to generate leads from multiple sources. They also have
   a certain system of selling that keeps them in control and
   not the buyer calling the shots. Good real estate agents also
   have a system to create and reward referrals.
6. Bad Self Discipline
   Low income agents never have accountability with themselves.
   No goals or standards they must meet each week. Good agents
   measure their progress to remain focused and on track to
   achieving their long term goals.

Bad habits can be changed by practicing good habits consistently. By
gradually eliminating them from their lives, low income agents will
see a dramatic improvement in their success and income.

Unfortunately prospecting is is the one skill most sales managers and business oweners pump into their sales teams as a necessary task. No matter what great argument the boss outlines to his team, prospecting is generally hated by salespeople. They are genuinely fearful of cold calling, door knocking and they don’t much care for spending hours in the boiling sun dropping leaflets into non inviting letterboxs.

And you know what? I hate prospecting as well. If I had to rely on getting leads for my business by cold calling or door knocking, then I would give up and pack groceries at the local supermarket.

There must be a btter way than prostituting ourselves in order to get people to buy our products or services. Most sales people dream of the perfect customer coming through their door or website, credit card in hand and ready to buy. This is utopia for a sales person.

Well what if you could make that come true? What if you could get a ton of pre-qualified leads coming to you begging you to do business. Well there is a way.

Instead of prospecting to all and sundry why not position yourself in your market place as an expert that people seek out to do business with. Rather than you chasing prospects, they come to you. You see when do all the chasing, the prospects sales radar goes up and they become wary of you. But if you are seen as the expert, qualified prospects will come to you and buy.

Here’s how you can position yourself to attract the right prospects:

1. Writing
   Write articles and have them published in newspapers, websites and article directories to help people find you. Once in circulation these articles last a life time and will generate quality leads for you forever. Make sure your topic is well researched and provides value to the reader. You’ll have a prospect turn into a customer for life.
2. Public Speaking
   Speak for free at your local associations in your city offering advice that can help them. If you go online or look up your local yellow pages you’ll find a list of clubs and associations who would love to have a guest speaker address their group from time to time.
   Another way to lift your profile with speaking is to team up with an already established speaker and offer something that they are not covering or have expertise in. This way you’ll get great exposure to their existing clientele which could be in the thousands.
3. Be Better
   Be better in all things that you do. Stand out. In the case of real estate agents, do you deliver a pre listing kit to your prospects seeking an appraisal? If you do make sure it is spectacular. Include some copies of your newsletter, throw in your testimonials (especially if you have them from famous people), add some media stories about you and finally, throw in a discount coupon on advertising, signage etc if they proceed with you in listing their property.

Prospecting is hard work. It’s something that you’ll have to do over and over again. Positioning on the other hand will reap you benefits forever once the people know you as the expert and come looking for you.

Build a website and they will come. That’s the thinking of most business owners on building a business relationship. Unfortunately that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Remember when you first got started in business straight out of ‘job land’.

You placed some ads in the city newspaper, put a couple in the local free newspaper, posted an ad in the school magazine and dropped a few flyers into the neighbourhood – and then hoped for some enquiry.

After repeating the exercise a few times and losing a few thousnad dollars in the process, you wake up to the idea that either this approach is not working or you stink at converting leads into business.

Really what is happening it that your system is flawed.

You need to turn your ‘baby’ into a ‘franchise’ system. Now I’m not referring that you need to open 100 clones of yourself but rather than adopt a franchise style system.

One of the great advantages of a franchise is that getting customers is not something you do, but something that just ‘happens’.

Let’s look at McDonald’s again. Inspite of their poor food, people flock to their stores because they like the speed and efficiency of getting the food (system) and they trust the brand to be consistant. A Big Mac in Sydney , Australia is the same in New York , USA.

It’s this building of trust, a relationship that you need to get into your business. How do you do that?

By offering good value information to your customers through an ‘autopilot’ system, relationships will be built with your customers. Now read the first five words of the previous sentence again. “…good value information”. Notice I did not say a sales pitch. Give them information on how to solve their problems.

What system should you use?

There’s many ways to do this. One of the most popular is email marketing via autoresponders, like this service I’m communicating with you now. It’s easy to use and messages can be preset to go out at a future date.

But if you truly want to create an impact with your customers but without the huge financial outlay, www.getgreetingcards.com is the best relationship building system I’ve seen.

You can put your toe in the water with this system for just $10/mth (cancel anytime) but if you truly want to get all the bells and whistles and reduce your costs to just cents in the dollar, you need to get the preferred customer $31/mth (cancel anytime) or entreprenuer pack.(I use the entreprenuer pack)

These packs also include a contact manager which allows you to import your existing database, create campaigns, and automatically send cards at a future date. You can even upload your own handwriting as well as pictures to further personalise your service – all for cents in the dollar. It’s simply amazing!

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“We have over 167,000 members in our Group’s juice business. Sending a physical card, personalised, at the touch of a button from my computer, is sensational.

We’re killing our competitors!”

Brett McCallum

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What campaigns could you run to build relationships?

• Merry Christmas
• Happy Holidays
• Happy Easter
• Happy Birthday
• Happy House Anniversary – real estate agent
• Donate to Charity – $x from every sale will go to ABC Charity for the month of X

Seasonal – winter, spring, summer or fall/autumn Get more ideas on using cards at our FREE weekly webinar. Register today at www.40marketingtips.com

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“I used the seasonal campaign with my clients and woke up some ‘sleeping giants’

My $4.67 annual expense on one customer created an additional $800,000 sale; yielding me over $20,000 in extra commission.

Now that the best $4.67 I’ve ever spent!”

Margaret Roberts, Century 21

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Start building your relationships on autopilot today.

Until next time

Greg Reed www.getgreetingcards.com (best viewed in Firefox – download www.mozilla.org)

Understanding keywords and being found is just part of what it takes to have a top LinkedIn profile. Discover 18 powerful ways……………..Read More

The weekly real estate office sales meeting is the usual place where the Principal tries to instill some motivation into his team. Unfortunately for most team members the ‘motivation’ is gone soon after the sales meeting finishes.

So how does a top real estate leader inspire his team to greater productivity.

Watch the video below to discover the answer that makes some companies great.

Top 5 Postcard Marketing Secrets Exposed

A couple of months ago the season for political campaigns were in full swing. The television and radio airwaves were full of political ads. I picked up the paper and there were even more ads.

And it seemed that every billboard on the road was being rented by a political candidate. One day I went to pick up my mail and got a huge postcard. It was from one of the local candidates.

It almost read like a special report it was so large.

Needless To Say…

… it got my attention and I ended up voting for the gal.

But it was amazing that big media like television, radio, newspapers, and billboards couldn’t sell me on a candidate.

But a humble (albeit oversized) postcard did the job. It was the postcard that had the ability to deliver the candidate’s marketing message in a way that convinced me to vote for her.

That’s the power of postcards.

4 Reasons Why You Should Be Using Postcards

…Yes postcards.

Reason 1. LOW COST

Postcards are a low cost way to get your message out. In fact, standard sized postcards are 38% cheaper than using regular sized letters

Reason 2. CLEANSES MAILING LIST

They keep your mailing list clean. One of the benefits of using first class postage for a regular size postcard is that it will be mailed back to the sender if it has a bad address, which helps you update your list.

Reason 3. HIGH IMPACT

Postcards can have a high impact. Because letters are enclosed in an envelope the consumer gets a chance to decide whether to open the envelope or just throw it away.

Many people will just throw the letter away without opening it. However, with postcards, there’s no envelope to hide the message. It’s almost impossible to throw the postcard away without looking at its message.

Reason 4. SIMPLE

Postcards are simple to create and send. With postcards there are no assembling, collating, stuffing, licking envelopes etc. The hardest part of sending a postcard is putting on the stamp. And there are services that will even do that for you.

But if you decide you want it done for here’s the service I use.

http://www.getgreetingcards.com

You don’t have to touch the postcard at all. It’s all done for you with the push of a button.

5 Tips for Successful Postcard-ing

Here are four tips to make your postcard marketing campaign successful.

Tip 1. BE BRIEF

Keep Your Message Very Brief Only use your postcard for lead generation.

Don’t try to explain all the details just give some teaser information to get your reader to take the next step, which might be going to your website or calling your office or a toll free recorded message.

Tip 2. EDITORIAL DESIGN

Design Your Postcard in an editorial format.

I’m not a big fan of four color postcards. I’d rather use all the space I can on the postcard to give the reader an irresistible urge to take the next step.

The best way to do this is to make the postcard look like it came from a personal friend. But make sure you use a compelling headline.  That will be the most important part of your entire postcard.

When I want to send them to a website I show a picture of my website and if I want to send them to a phone number I make the phone number as big as I can.

Tip 3. GO CHEAP (SOMETIMES)

Don’t spend a lot of money on printing. When I send bulk postcard I use an 8 ½ by 11’, 110lb fluorescent yellow cardstock and I simply print four postcards to a sheet by cutting the cardstock into quarters. Its that simple.

HOWEVER, when I show pictures of websites, people, locations etc., I’ll use a 4 color postcard.

Tip 4. QUALITY LIST

Remember, no matter what type of mailing you’re doing, it’s usually the list that will determine its success.

In the direct mail world you’ll hear the 60-30-10 Rule.

The success of your direct mail campaign will be determined by the following:

60 – List 30 – Offer 10 – Design

Any in house list will outperform a rented list and if you’re wanting to use a rented list make sure you use a list broker to help you.

Tip 5. PURLs!

If you are driving your prospects to a website, very few things will increase the response rate of your postcard than a PURL (persoanlized URL).

For example, if I was sending a postcard to “John Smith” using a PURL, I would put a link on the postcard that looked like this…

http://www.MarketingBestPracticeReport.com/John.Smith

When John saw that URL, his curiosity would immediately compel him to visit the URL.

For my PURL marketing campaigns, I use http://www.getresponse.com/index/gregreed

Postcards make sense for most any small business and using these postcard marketing tips you won’t go wrong.

Article by David Frey

It’s vital of course to remember that real estate leads are people, and that most people do not like to be treated as “leads”. It takes a small bit of tact, self control, and excellent people skills to talk to someone without them feeling like you are a typically starving sleazy real estate agent. It is up to you what you do with my list of 54 ways to generate real estate leads and how you handle and convert the leads that come to you as a direct result. As the saying goes: “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”

Some of these ways to get real estate leads are free, some of these ways will cost only time, others may cost a small amount in advertising or marketing costs. Sure, you can buy real estate leads too – but why do that when you can get your own better qualified leads on your own?

Read More………