Marketing Automation: High Tech Doesn’t Mean Giving Up On High Touch

There is no question that technology has become a driving force in the real estate industry. Not only are you required to build a strong online presence, but the increasing demands on you as a broker have likely caused you to turn to automation tools in order to manage your client data, and your to-do list. Marketing automation in real estate brokerages, has become extremely common as it allows for you to maintain touchpoints with large numbers of clients both hot and cold, without having to always be hands-on in that capacity. Despite this, many brokers are slow to adopt these tools, fearing the complexity or that the human touch will be lost.

Here are a few things to consider if you are wondering how to strike this balance.

You Still Control The Message

Sometimes it can feel unnerving to automate portions of your business because it feels as though you are giving up some level of control. However, just because you are using a marketing automation tool like a chatbot or social media content scheduler like HootSuite, you still have control over what is said, who it is said to, and when it is said. You can control the imagery used, and select different messages based on the unique concerns of your prospect. The best part is that you only have to set up these emails or posts once, then they can be reused for each new client fitting the bill. That saves agents a lot of time while increasing their touchpoints with current and future clients.

Segment and Personalize

Investing the time to create carefully tailored emails for contact lists that are segmented by the type of client, allows you to create a more personalized outreach to subscribers. For instance, if you are working to attract FSBO leads, you should create a lead capture that specifically appeals to people considering selling their house themselves and automatically add them to a segmented email list that receives content relevant to FSBOs. Fill your emails with solutions to their deepest pain points, testimonials from similar people you’ve already served, and personality to seem more human. The result will be an increase in open and click-through rates which will ultimately bring more leads and referrals.

Automation Is Just Another Tool In Your Toolbox

There is no denying that the real estate marketing automation tools out there today are brilliant and getting better every day. They are very effective at drawing people into your funnel, nurturing them through their buying journey and creating leads. Still, even though these tools are meant to save time and energy and increase responsiveness, there is a risk of becoming complacent after using them for a period of time. Rather than treating these tools like a “set it and forget it” button, actively monitor them, measure results, and make adjustments as necessary. It should be one of the many things you utilize to run your business.

Staying True To You

While automation tools can alleviate much of the strain caused by the demand for constant touch marketing, they are not a replacement for the human touch that you bring to your business and brand. Make sure you mix in a healthy dose of person-to-person contact, including phone calls, door knocking, open houses, educational seminars and community events. Don’t just rely on tech to bring business and recruits to you.

Weichert brokers and agents have discovered that when done correctly, these powerful resources can allow you to be in multiple places at once, expand your reach, and impress your audience. We coach our offices not to substitute tech for personal contact, but rather use it to complement your arsenal of tools to run your business. Weichert, for example, provides a CRM, complete with a mobile app, sophisticated tools for open house management and follow up, as well as the contact management and branded outreach automation, which is great for organizing contacts and staying on top of follow up. But Weichert also coaches on hosting call sessions, door knocking and regular open houses to integrate personal touch points as part of an overall marketing plan.

For more information about how Weichert agents use marketing automation to realize that next level of success, go to www.weichertfranchise.com.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/marketing-automation-high-tech-doesnt-mean-giving-up-on-high-touch/

Creating A Brokerage Team That Works

As an experienced real estate broker, you already know it can be challenging to strike a balance between profitable camaraderie among your agents and loyalty to your mission. Many agents prefer to maintain a strong sense of independence and work on their own, but you can foster a more productive work environment if you can inspire them to work together with you at the helm. This may seem like a case of easier said than done, but with the right vision, this cultural shift pays big dividends in lead generation, customer service and recruiting.

The Benefits of Uniting Your Team

 

At Weichert, we coach our affiliates on cultivating a supportive and cohesive team strategy within a brokerage, which allows agents to work independently, as well as together constructively with you as their leader. Hosting weekly sales meetings, planning brokerage community events that involve your agents and having regular awards and recognition are three easy ways to engage agents with the brokerage. This kind of team strategy can bring about many productive benefits.

Capitalize on Agents’ Strengths: Consumers expect a lot from agents and working together as a team allows each agent to leverage one another’s strengths to put their best foot forward in the overall sales process. This typically will deliver a result that thrills the client and creates a positive impression of your brokerage.

Collaboration: When you bring your agents together to brainstorm, your agents can develop creative solutions to everyday marketing and sales challenges and spark unique ideas to help your brokerage stand out from the competition.

Avoid Agent Burnout: Agents can take vacations or get assistance from team members when needed which will help them avoid costly burnout. Working together as a team will allow your agents to attain that desirable work-life balance that inspired many of them to become agents in the first place and increase their loyalty to you.

Improved Customer Service: As a broker, it is your job to both generate leads for your team and ensure those leads are properly nurtured. Getting agents onboard with following a consistent selling and marketing strategy will ensure clients get a consistent level of service and experience.

Start from The Ground Up – Recruiting

When recruiting agents and administrative staff, make sure that they are aligned with your brokerage’s vision and values, are able to contribute something valuable as a team member and are an overall good fit with the team. At Weichert, we encourage our Affiliates to adopt our Core Values and recruit agents with similar values. It is crucial that you set clear expectations about your company culture from the very beginning to avoid costly turnover. Building an agent team that is all rowing in the same direction will not only make for a stronger brokerage, but will also act as a magnet to attract more similar members.

Generate Leads as A Group

Just because every agent in your brokerage is working to generate leads for themselves doesn’t mean that they can’t feed off one another to be more effective during the lead generation process. Getting everyone together to door knock or make calls or strategize on the marketing of a home, is a powerful way of getting agents motivated and excited to do the activities that lead to productivity. To add an element of fun, consider hosting a competition among those that participate. Awarding prizes for the agents that produce the best results during these power-hour sessions helps to drive productivity even further.

Creating a team that really gels inside your brokerage is a challenging, but rewarding, activity. If like Weichert, you believe that creation of a good team and a good culture is central to your success, then we encourage you to learn more about the benefits of becoming an Affiliate.

Please contact us or visit www.weichertfranchise.com.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/creating-a-brokerage-team-that-works/