Turn The Low Inventory Challenge Into A Recruiting and Retention Strategy

Everyone in Real Estate knows that this is a cyclical industry and if you are a brokerage who has lived through the last 15 years, you’ve seen a lot. From boom times of high demand and rising home values to times of scarcity where homes sales are few and far in-between. Now, even in relatively good economic times, agents across the country are experiencing the unique challenge of low inventory and competition for those few listings is fierce. These circumstances flow through every aspect of your brokerage business. How well you can help your agents withstand these cycles can affect your ability to retain them, as well as attract new talent to your firm. How well are you prepared to help them?

By providing agents with the right ammunition to work through these market challenges, you position yourself as a resource to them, which elevates your value. Take the current low inventory trend for example. Weichert Real Estate Affiliates, Inc. Sr. Vice President of Consulting Services, Mark W. Hanna, sums it up: “…low inventory does not mean NO inventory. It means that there ARE listings, just not as many as buyers (and agents) would like. But instead of pulling out the phone and calling potential sellers, what many agents are really saying is, ‘I’ll let my competition get whatever listings there are and I’ll try to work with one of the many buyers competing for them and hope I win the bidding and/or timing game.’”

Sound familiar?

The franchise coaching team at Weichert has been working with many affiliate agents and offices over the past several months on how to meet this issue head-on. With just a little coaching and the right tools and systems, it’s been amazing how many more listings they have been able to capture, even in a market such as this.

Weichert Systems Help You Provide Value

The real question you as a broker need to ask yourself is “What am I doing differently?” Whether it’s low inventory or any issue your brokerage is facing, are you standing still or are you doing something about it? Weichert coaches its franchise offices and agents through a Listing Mastery program, outlines systems and activity plans for reaching customers through phone or direct mail and provides tools like its 2-Step DOORS Listing presentation. That, combined with its Weichert Lead Network to attract buyers and the WeichertPRO CRM system to manage contacts, helps ensure their franchise offices and agents stay in front of their spheres of influence and getting as many listings as possible.

By combining these proven strategies with effective tools and technologies and adding high-quality, local lead generation and exposure, your brokerage will provide value to your agents to strengthen your recruiting and retention efforts. Not only will this ensure that you attract and retain a high-quality, productive agent base, but it will also help you nurture and drive your existing team to be more productive associates.

And that’s good for everyone’s bottom line.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/real-estate-broker-marketing/turn-low-inventory-challenge-recruiting-retention-strategy/

How Taking Your Real Estate Brokerage Online Can Save You Money

Online real estate marketing is a must-have for any brokerage that is focused on growth, success and brand development in 2017– but that’s not all it can do. It is also one of the most cost effective ways for reducing your brokerage’s marketing costs. Here’s how:

• Affordable marketing:When it comes to marketing your brokerage online, the costs are minimal. In fact, if you already have a good website, you’re more than halfway there. You can manage and produce content for your social media sites with just a bit of time and effort – content that can reach hundreds and thousands of potential buyers each day, routing them to your website and agents. Virtual home tours, Q&A sessions, promoting new listings, and sharing information on locations can all be created to build your brokerage’s brand, get your buyers interested and engaged – and can all be done using a smartphone or a mobile device. This form of marketing is very affordable and effective and a great complement to traditional print marketing.

• Virtual personal assistant: Real  Estate agent CRM systems are designed to act as a 24-hour personal assistant to each agent and broker. It makes users more efficient, whether it’s working with a buyer/seller or a recruiting prospect. Not only will it log appointments, notify you of queries and develop personalized follow up plans, it can also receive hot incoming leads assigned to your agents to manage. This allows you and your team to automate many day-to-day functions.
• More Efficient Use of Time: Brokers know that there is only one way to be productive in this industry – and that’s when your real estate agents are not behind a desk. For your brokerage to grow, your real estate agents must be generating and closing sales. So, traveling to and from the office multiple times a day to collect leads or to follow up on administration is not the most productive use of time. Online technology allows real estate agents to take care of administrative tasks, manage their day and stay in touch via  a central intranet system, all from a mobile device or smartphone. This means that they can achieve optimal levels of productivity, helping to increase business in the most effective and efficient manner.

Online Real Estate Marketing Saves Money – And Increases Sales

Simply put, no marketing medium has the reach and affordability of online marketing. Easy to use, practical and with a reach that puts your real estate brokerage in touch with hundreds of potential property buyers, the right online marketing strategy, tools and training can deliver exceptional results for your business.

At Weichert, real estate specialists offer a franchising system developed by brokers and real estate agents, for brokers and real estate agents. It gives our affiliated real estate brokers access to essential resources for growing their business successfully, including expert real estate coaching, our real estate agent-specific CRM system, and industry-specific marketing and management tools.

For more information, please contact us today at https://www.weichertfranchise.com/  and see if a Weichert Franchise is a fit for your brokerage.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/real-estate-marketing-tools/taking-real-estate-brokerage-online-can-save-money/

Are You On the Fast-Track to Success or Failure

Brokerages fail for many reasons, but sadly many real estate businesses follow the same, time-worn path. Is yours one of them? To ensure success, you’ll want to avoid common mistakes. However this is a lot easier said than done, as in real estate, brokers often assume the path to success is the most heavily traveled one. Here’s how to avoid taking the wrong exit.

The Recruitment Express Lane

Many brokers don’t focus on recruiting. It’s a sporadic activity at best, often prompted by a vacancy left by another agent. Yet recruiting is critical to putting your agency in the fast lane for growth. Jim Weichert discovered this early on. By making recruiting an organized activity of your office, you create a pipeline of agents that will ensure a steady flow of business. Agents will always come and go, but a strong pipeline will minimize any disruptions in business. What makes up a strong recruiting strategy? Setting goals for hiring and staffing. Consistently engaging in the right activities to attract prospects and having attractive marketing materials to effectively market your brokerage. Once you’ve hired them, you want to retain them. This requires you to consistently promote your value as a brokerage. What do you offer your agents? How do you support their professional development?  How do you help them secure listings? How do you help them find buyers? What types of farming support and systems do you provide to help them grow their business?

Sales & Listing Rubbernecking

Many of today’s agents tell us that they’re feeling the pain of today’s low inventory market and are always on the hunt for a leg up on lead generation. This can too often leave your best agents peeking over the fence toward the seemingly greener pastures of competitive brokerages. A recent Inman survey of agents identified buyer leads (32%) and listings (30%) as topping the list of valuable services their brokerage does not–or could do a better job of– providing. What are you doing to help generate sales and listing leads for your agents? Do you have a highly dependable and productive lead and listing system for keeping agents engaged? Or brokerage specific Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software for effectively managing customer contacts? In today’s high-stakes, instant-access mobile world, minutes could cost you a solid lead. Stop looking back at what competing firms are doing, and zero-in on what you can do in your own brokerage to reach success by developing a coherent and disciplined action plan with tried-and-true methods. When your agents perform well – so does your brokerage.

Agency Bypass

How do you stand out in your market to avoid being bypassed? Building a strong presence requires consistency. Consistent marketing, consistent promotion and a consistent level of customer service by your agents to create a memorable experience for clients. However, it can be a daunting task to implement those things and keep up with them all by yourself. Joining a national brand is a great way to raise your profile. It also allows you to tap into constantly refreshed resources for marketing, promotion and training of agents so they are confident, productive and can provide the best real estate service in the market and stand out from the crowd. You also benefit from networking with peers to learn what has worked for others with similar challenges.

Paving a Smooth Road Ahead

You wear a lot of hats to ensure your brokerage’s success – but you don’t have to go it alone. Tested and proven systems and tools exist for successfully addressing your brokerage’s growth challenges. You already know you have to attract agents, stand out from the competition, boost listings and move inventory faster. A franchise partner such as Weichert is an example of a resource with proven, successful systems that businesses can plug into encompassing everything from recruiting and securing listings to attracting and managing leads to marketing your brokerage. Discover how to put a Weichert® real estate franchise opportunity to work for your business today.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/real-estate-broker-marketing/fast-track-success-failure/ 

5 Ways Technology Is Used in Selling Real Estate

Successful real estate brokers and agents know that the key to building their business is in reaching the right buyers and sellers. Online real estate marketing specialists (experts?) say despite the prevalence of technology many agencies underutilize commonly available tools and techniques to make their agency and its listings more visible. Here are just five of the ways in which technology can be used to effectively market your real estate brokerage and your listings.

1. Social Selling for Brand Development and Increased Closings:

In the old days, selling was all about newspaper ads, walk-ins, and referrals. But what many brokers and agents don’t realize is that each of these proven strategies has acounterpart in the internet world and its name is social media.  While most agencies have a presence on Facebook or Instagram, they are often underutilized, misused or just plain ignored. An active social media strategy that includes elements of paid advertising, should be a part of every agency strategy in the new digital economy. This strategy should create credibility and visibility for the brokerage, as well as socialize key properties for increased local reach and online word of mouth.

2.  Virtual tours:

While not a replacement for a face-to-face meeting, virtual tours have become a staple in the real estate industry. However, their full potential has only recently been realized by brokerages looking to grow. They don’t require high-tech equipment – in fact, your staff can film it on a smartphone or tablet with ease – and they can be posted on social networking sites like Facebook and Instagram as well as your website, reaching your brokerage’s followers as well as their friends and connections with ease. This is not only great content for your brokerage’s social media followers, it helps build your company brand, promote feedback and advertise properties as well.

 3. Mobile apps:

While websites are incredibly popular with property buyers and sellers, mobile apps allow your brokerage’s real estate agents to interact with clients on the go through a simple, user-friendly format. It’s a vital tool for planning a route for visiting the show houses, conveniently looking up the details of a property, finding directions to a property and getting the details of the agent in charge of it. In this way, mobile apps work for brokerages by directly linking potential clients with your listings and agents wherever they are, making your brokerage and your real estate agents more accessible to potential clients and leads.

4. Real-time lead and contact management:

The Internet allows us to instantly connect brokers, real estate agents, and clients, whether in the office or out in the field. A real estate CRM system designed specifically to meet the needs of the real estate industry provides your agents with the ideal online space to track and manage leads via smartphone or mobile device.

A good lead program can be invaluable in driving new business to your agents and your brokerage. They key ingredients to a good leads program is that perfect combination of high-quality leads, coupled with quick response time to capture them. The ability for those captured leads to then feed right into your CRM—a bonus! Agents can then save client notes and emails automatically, helping increase their productivity and sales results.

5. Knowledge Sharing:

For many buyers, the home buying process is a confusing one. However, your brokerage can turn this to an advantage by sharing information with sellers and buyers to build loyalty to your business and brand. Online home loan applications and queries help demonstrate the affordability of the property. Digital signature technology allows buyers and other parties to quickly and easily deliver, sign and return important documentation – all of which can be stored and processed online. The buying process can also be monitored online, showing the clients a timeline of the different stages of the buying process and where they are in relation to it. It helps them to track their property purchase and plan their move. Is there a specific tool to do this or is this something the blog is suggesting the brokerage/agents use email and other tools to do on their own? This not only makes your business more visible than your competitor’s, it directly increases efficiency and productivity, making the sales process smoother and faster than before.

Want The Technology To Help Your Real Estate Agency Grow? Speak to Weichert

To flourish, you want your team using the best real estate agent marketing tools and techniques. At Weichert, we utilize industry-leading technology, expert support, and real estate coaching programs to assist our affiliates in developing highly effective marketing strategies and implement efficient programs that maximize results.

Keeping up with technology is a challenge for every broker, but we have the tools, training, and resources to help you without getting in your way. Contact us today at weichertfranchise.com  for more information on our services or to see if the Weichert franchise model is the appropriate opportunity for your brokerage.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/5-ways-technology-used-selling-real-estate/