Franchise Success Spotlight: Weichert® Affiliate Brenda Elliott Weichert, Realtors® – The Space Place

Huntsville, Alabama may be the one city in the country where the expression “it’s not rocket science” doesn’t apply. In Huntsville, it kind of is all about rocket science. It’s home to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, and the Army Aviation’s Space and Missile Command.

Weichert Affiliate Brenda Elliott, owner of Weichert, Realtors® – The Space Place, is well acquainted with the ever-present missile, spacecraft and rocket themes that run deep throughout the city. Indeed, the word “Space” in her brokerage name isn’t just referring to square footage. Though now an Alabama native, she lived in Georgia most of her life and still calls it home, graduating from the University of Georgia with a BFA in interior design. Her husband Paul graduated Georgia Tech with a degree in Industrial Management and their three daughters went to Auburn University.  Now a Huntsville resident for over 20 years, Brenda is intimately familiar with her local real estate market and her passion for real estate is clear.

Life as an Independent Broker

Brenda’s career in real estate actually started in Northern Virginia, in the early 90’s while Paul was stationed at the Pentagon. Brenda decided she wanted to know the real estate side of interior design and went to work for none other than Weichert, Realtors® in Burke, Virginia. The experience of working inside a Weichert Brokerage stayed with Brenda, even though she eventually started as an independent broker when her family moved back to Alabama.

“My family and I were blessed with moving to Huntsville, Alabama in 1999, where I helped start the Executive Group Realtors, an independent real estate company, with three other partners,” notes Brenda. “As we got going, I actually modeled some of our processes after what I had seen at Weichert.”

Brenda became the broker of record for the agency in 2002 and by 2005 helped build the agency to 56 agents working out of one office. Despite her success, with her increasing business responsibilities came the occasional desire for a partner who could provide guidance and help with the recruiting, branding, and lead generation challenges common to independent brokers.

Still when Weichert approached Brenda’s team in 2005, she told them she was too busy to consider an affiliation. “But their follow up impressed me,” remembers Brenda. “After months of small conversations in fits and starts I agreed to go to New Jersey to hear the full pitch.”

Deciding to Partner with Weichert

For Brenda the decision to partner was not easy. Brenda and her team had concerns about affiliation with a national brand in general, as well as affiliation with Weichert specifically. What would that mean for her existing business and how would her agents react? Brenda and her team had heard all the positives about proven processes, coaching and support and lead generation, but frankly, not enough straight talk about the downside of becoming an affiliate.
Brenda decided to make some calls. But rather than call the list of brokers the Weichert team in NJ gave her, Brenda called other Weichert brokers that she selected arbitrarily, from across the country. In fact, inside Weichert Corporate Offices, it is well known that Brenda set a record by calling 29 other Weichert brokers to try and find someone who would say something substantively negative about their Weichert affiliation. On the 29th call Brenda reached a Weichert Broker in Florida who finally gave Brenda what she needed to hear.
He said, “The downside of becoming a Weichert Broker was realizing that I had wasted so much time and money by not doing this years ago.”
Brenda was done. She began her affiliation with Weichert in 2006.

Everyone’s Path to Success is Different

Those who know Brenda, know she is all about her agents. According to Brenda “I didn’t sleep for about two weeks before the Weichert announcement.” Yet Brenda did not lose a single agent once she impacted. “I very quickly showed them the tools, training, and systems that were now at their disposal,” says Brenda. “Having this level of support for my team was great for me as well.”

Consistent with the Weichert philosophy, Brenda was able to pick and choose the benefits that she wanted to roll out in her brokerage. The Weichert processes allowed her to craft a strategy that worked best for her brokerage and that respected her independent style. That meant that agents could continue using the existing methods that worked for them and implement Weichert tools and systems where they needed them. And everyone was able to benefit from the increased recognition that a brand like Weichert brought to the entire brokerage.

During the market crash of 2008, Brenda watched other local brokers go out of business on a regular basis. Brenda credits her Weichert affiliation 100% for her agency survival. “Due to the advantages of being a recognized brand and having good systems and lead generation, we weathered the storm.”  In 2011, Brenda finally bought out her business partners and made the decision to go all in on the Weichert Model. “We had been implementing parts of the Weichert Model, but when I became the sole owner, I felt the time was right to really be ALL IN on the Weichert Systems,” says Brenda. “We hired many new agents who fully embraced the model from day one, and that has made all the difference.”

Weichert, Realtors® – The Space Place in 2018

Today Brenda’s team is firmly rooted in the methodology presented by Weichert, while still running things in a way that is appropriate for her local market. Weichert, Realtors® – The Space Places does a little commercial, a little relocation, some property management, but its primary focus is on residential sales.

From one office and 38 agents in 2011, Brenda has grown her team to 3 offices and over 125 agents covering a good portion of northern Alabama. Brenda credits things like the Weichert DOORS™ listing presentation and their recruiting system, which includes “career nights”. Brenda sells at least 2-3 houses a month using their open house process and embraces the WeichertPro CRM for marketing campaigns, and more. “I especially love that while I get amazing support inside the Weichert model, I’m still free to build the systems that work in my area. This is an active and creative partnership with real experts at the other end.”

The Weichert Model

At Weichert Real Estate Affiliates, Inc., we exist to help you make the most of what you’ve already built and learned. Brenda is right about partnership we strive for with our affiliates. It’s the kind of partner support you won’t get from any other national real estate brand. When you affiliate, you become part of a supportive family where you’ll never have to wonder what to do next.
For more information, contact the Weichert Affiliates team today at 877-567-3350 or visit weichertfranchise.com.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/franchise-success-spotlight-weichert-affiliate-brenda-elliott-weichert-realtors-the-space-place/

Why Track Leads Through CRM

As an experienced and well-educated real estate broker, you already know that a CRM can do many things for you like automating your follow-up and increasing your production. However, despite their popularity, many brokers are struggling to realize the full value of using a CRM or haven’t figured out the best way to implement one into their business yet. If you fall into one of those two categories, this article is for you!

Review the Rewards

While there are many real estate CRM’s out there, it seems that no two are exactly the same. This can make finding the right one for your business a bit tricky. However, if you take the time to prioritize the rewards and results you hope to reap from your real estate CRM, the selection process becomes simplified. To help you sort through all the bells and whistles, look for a CRM that provides the following benefits:

Lead Tracking – When a CRM enables your agents to track their leads, it also enables you to be able to track their performance and offer coaching in areas where they may be hitting roadblocks.
Automation – There are few real estate agents and brokers out there saying that they have too much time on their hands. The promise of a properly managed CRM is that it will free up precious time by automating or simplifying many common client management tasks.

Regular Reminders – As an experienced broker, you understand that most agents can benefit from regular reminders to follow-up, tackle important tasks, and implement best practices into their routine. When they do, the result is more closings for them and more income for you.

Just Listed/Sold – Communications around just listed and just sold are one of the best opportunities you have to reach out to your sphere of influence with interesting content that puts your local brand in front of people. A good CRM makes this easy by giving you a professionally designed template and managing the list of client email addresses for you, so you can send it to those who may be most interested.

Know All That It Can Do for You

In many cases, brokers that purchase a CRM fail to get all of their money’s worth out of the software because they are unaware of all that it can actually do for them. The Weichert Pro CRM, for example, does a whole lot more than just store all of an agent’s prospects, leads, and past clients. It also provides agents and brokers with integration to the Weichert lead network, templates for automated email marketing, and tools for complete open house management before, during, and after the event. This is a proprietary CRM which is provided to all Weichert affiliates.

Choose a System With Flexibility

Just as all real estate CRM’s are unique in their own way, agents and brokers are also unique. You and your agents may have different styles of running your businesses that work best for each of you. It’s important that whatever CRM you use that it allows people to work in ways most comfortable and productive for them. For example, you may prefer to time-block all of your CRM data entry and put it in once each day. Others may prefer the convenience of mobile, like the Weichert Pro CRM mobile app, that allows them to update and use their CRM as they go.

Managing technology in your brokerage is an octopus with many heads. The way in which you choose to implement processes and procedures around this plays a big role in how efficient and effective your business can be.

A CRM is just a tool, what really counts is how you use it. This is an area where Weichert can help. Through training, best practices and tips from peers, we help our affiliates leverage our technology to its fullest potential. To learn about other tools and systems available to Weichert affiliates, click here.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/why-track-leads-through-crm/

Recruiting Top Real Estate Agents

Recruiting agents is the lifeblood of building your real estate brokerage. Agents will come and go and often it can feel like a roller coaster, but if you are constantly recruiting, you will keep your pipeline full and that will help minimize the ups and downs. It’s important to continually recruit a good mix of new and experienced agents. Above all, you want them to be productive and in alignment with the goals of your brokerage.  To keep them, you need to continually provide value that they will have a tough time getting anywhere else. Having a good group of experienced agents helps maintain continuous production, while newer agents get up to speed. They can also serve as role models.

How Will You Attract Experienced Agents?

As a savvy broker and business owner, you already understand the value of having a comprehensive business plan in place, but how often do you update and revisit it? It is helpful to create or update your business plan each year to help you stay on track, move the needle forward, and keep your goals front of mind. This plan should certainly outline how you intend to attract high-quality agents to your team and how many of them you need each year. At Weichert this is part of “knowing your numbers”. Here are a few ideas to consider:

1. Create a Powerful Brand That Will Act as a Recruiting Magnet. For independent brokers, having a big brand presence in your local market is particularly important when trying to compete for seasoned agents. One story we hear over and over again from our brokers, is that recruiting got a whole lot easier the day they put the Weichert sign on their building. A big brand also helps with lead generation which is always a concern of established agents looking to change affiliation.
2. Lead with Lead Generation. Even senior agents who have a good network are attracted to the possibility of quality leads that can come their way with little or no effort on their part. To the extent that you can show them a ready pipeline of these leads that come into your brokerage, you can demonstrate an advantage over where they are now. This is perhaps one of the strongest recruiting assets Weichert has, thanks to the Weichert Lead Network, a national system of advertising and technology that delivers online leads to live agents within minutes.
3. Tools That Work. Then provide things like a CRM, listing presentation, professional personal branding and marketing materials that they don’t need to spend time creating themselves. Now you’ve now positioned your brokerage as a place that provides value. Weichert, for example, provides its agents with a proprietary CRM, as well as listing and selling tools like our DOORS™ listing presentation, unique Price Trend Analysis,” and “Getting to Know You” workbook, plus libraries of professionally designed marketing brochures and customizable templates for attracting clients and listing and selling homes.

The Power of a Brand In Recruiting

Part of the reason for the see-saw of agent headcount is often recruiting gets a lot of attention one week, then none for the rest of the month! What do you need to have a successful recruiting program? Here are some things to consider:

• An annual recruiting plan
• Defined recruiting activities
• Professional marketing and presentation materials to use with recruits that presents your value
• Consistent execution
• Training to get agents up and running and productive fast

At Weichert, we believe recruiting is one of the key pillars to brokerage success.  This is why we provide our affiliates with guidance and support in each of the areas above. In addition, by providing agents with a full suite of selling systems, technology and marketing materials to support their business, we help our affiliates retain their agents by creating ongoing value. To learn more about the Weichert systems and the benefits they provide brokerages across the country, contact us at 877-567-3350 or view weichertfranchise.com.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/recruiting-top-real-estate-agents/

The Three A’s For Building Brand Credibility With Millennials

With Millennials surpassing Baby Boomers as the largest segment of our country’s population, it is more important than ever to build a brand and a business that appeals to them. Especially since Millennials are approximately one-third of all home buyers and sellers. With these numbers in mind, it is clear that establishing and maintaining a real estate brand that wins over 21-35-year-olds is now mandatory. The question is, how does one create such a brand?

Dispelling the Millennial Myth

When you think about Millennials and building a brand that will earn their trust, you probably think that technology needs to be at the forefront of your messaging. This is the most common millennial marketing myth out there today. Although technology is a priority to them, Millennials care far more about authenticity, altruism, and accountability, the three A’s of Millennial marketing. The biggest way that companies lose their footing with this lucrative sector is that they lead with their tools, rather than their hearts. Even more than Baby Boomers and their parents, Millennials want to see and need to believe deep down that you care about them before they will buy into you.

Natural Authenticity & Altruism

While everyone is out there telling Millennials that they care about their needs, a better approach is to create content that is in the best interest of this demographic and offer it up for free on a consistent basis. This shows that you authentically care about the community and are willing to earn their business. The more content that you create, and the more valuable it is, the more powerful your brand will be at attracting all the right people, whether they be buyers and sellers, agents, or referral partners. Give your knowledge and content freely without expecting anything in return, and the returns will come.

Another very powerful way that you can show off your authenticity is through customer service, which happens to be another major priority of Millennials. Don’t claim to be dedicated to providing quality service and then drop the ball down the line. Instead, go above and beyond the call of duty and create content around how you help people achieve the results they crave. When Millennials talk, they will talk passionately about those that helped them and showed them that they really cared.

Accountability for the Win

There are moments in every business when things don’t go as planned and that is okay. Most Millennials are extremely forgiving when it comes to human errors with one caveat: you must hold yourself accountable. Let’s say that you made a promise to a young couple that you would meet with them for an hour to help them prepare an offer, but something comes up causing you to miss or forget your appointment. Don’t just shrug off the missed appointment or try to make excuses. Instead, use it as an opportunity to prove you are accountable by apologizing and providing even more time and assistance than you originally promised. Every mistake or human error can be transformed into an opportunity for advancement with Millennials if you prove that you are accountable for your actions.

Weichert^® Brokers Live the Three “A”s

It is easy for Weichert to talk about the three A’s because these are similar to the values that have been part of our culture since before there were Millennials. Those are Integrity, Professional Standards, Added Value, Personal Service and Relationships for Life. These values not only apply to how you can better appeal to buyers and sellers, but also how you appeal to new agents and how you make your brokerage the place to be.  As Jim Weichert has said since starting his business in 1969, “People buy people before they buy products or services.”

For more information on the Weichert approach to real estate and the tools and resources we offer to help you market your brokerage call us today at 877-567-3350 or visit weichertfranchising.com.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/the-three-as-for-building-brand-credibility-with-millennials/