Increase Your Real Estate Business : When it comes to running a business.
Your sales are likely to move in one of two directions: up or down.
Obviously, you want them to go up.
If you simply try to “hold serve” and just remain profitable.
Without actively trying to grow your top line sales figure.
You’re likely going to see that number drop over time.
That’s why it’s important that you pursue an aggressive strategy that will increase your sales.
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Increase Your Real Estate Business
1. Define your target market.
2. Identify your target market’s desires.
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3. Study your competitors.
Understanding your competition will help you better position your offerings in the market.
Figure out how your competitors are advertising, pricing their products.
And any new strategies they are employing.
There are many ways to get this information, including: Online research.
The simplest way to track your competitors is by researching them online.
Look up what you can on their website and through online reviews.
Then, try using a service like Google Trends to identify what people are looking for and Google Alerts to get a notice when your business or a competitor is mentioned in the media.
- Look at industry reports. Find data from trade associations, analytics firms. and advocacy organizations.
- Talk to your customers. Figure out what other products or services they’ve used and why they have now chosen to use yours instead.
4. Enhance your competitive advantage.
A competitive advantage is a quality of your business.
Or product/service that allows you sell your offerings more easily than your competitors can.
Lower costs, higher quality, greater choice.
And better customer service can all be competitive advantages.
Identify one of these factors that your business gets right or in which you outperform your competitors.
If there is one area in which you routinely beat your competitors, single that one area out.
This is your competitive advantage. Once you’ve identified a competitive advantage.
Make an effort to emphasize and improve upon it by making changes elsewhere in your business model.
- For example, if you offer a cheaper product than your competition, try to cut costs elsewhere while maintaining the same product quality as a way to further undercut your competitors.
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5. Build your brand.
Your “brand” is the sum of the associations and connections you have with your customers.
That is, it is your business’s public face and the personality that it shows to customers.
This includes what the business and its management believe in.
And how your business helps fulfill your customers’ needs.
First, you’ll have to decide what your brand is.
Define it clearly and fully by writing out what your business wants to provide and what you.
As the business owner, believe in providing to them and your community.
From here you can use your brand in every point of contact with customers, from in-store interactions to emails.
- Assess your current brand. Does it say what you want it to? If not, it’s time to make a change.
Increase Your Real Estate Business
6. Use content marketing.
A great way to promote your brand online is to post useful articles that will appeal to people in your target market. Digital marketers call that content marketing.
- Good content marketing attracts people to your website who might purchase the product or service that you’re selling.
- If you’re not a very good writer, you might have to hire someone to write and post articles for you. That will require an investment.
- Be sure the articles that are posted to your website are optimized for search engines. You want people to find those articles when they’re searching for keywords relevant to your niche.
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7. Advertise your product or service.
If your customers don’t know about your business, you won’t be able to sell to them.
Build brand-name awareness by reaching people in your target market with messages about how your product or service will benefit them.
- It’s easy to track the effectiveness of both online advertising campaigns and “old school” media campaigns (such as radio ads). Online advertising, however, offers a more focused approach online versus the mass appeal of traditional advertising channels.
- Obviously, advertising requires an investment. Be sure to validate the effectiveness of your campaign so that you can determine if you’re receiving a good return on investment.
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8.Make the process of buying your products a safer bet (and publicize this).
Customers are more likely to buy from you if they’re confident that their money won’t be going to waste. Demonstrate confidence in the quality of your products by “insuring” the customer’s purchase.
- Offer a money-back guarantee
- Have a generous return program
- Have a “satisfaction guaranteed” policy
- Use social proof. One of the best ways to use social proof online is to provide testimonials about customers who’ve loved your product or service. It’s best to include full names and even pictures of the people who’ve given you rave reviews.
9. Build a presence in the community.
One great way to build positive recognition for your business (especially if it’s a small business) is to become an active player in the community.
Look for opportunities to promote your brand by sponsoring.
Or underwriting local events and charitable causes or by participating in gatherings and festivals.
As an added bonus, you may even have a chance to sell your products at the events you participate in.
Below are some of the types of events and organizations you may want to be on the lookout for:
- Charitable causes (dinners, auctions, fundraisers, etc.)
- Non-profits with a large potential audience (college radio stations, etc.)
- Local entertainment venues or organizations (community theaters, sports teams, etc.)
- Large outdoor gatherings (street fairs, music festivals, etc.)
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Increase Your Real Estate Business
10. Create new demand for your product or service.
How can your product or service appeal to people in a way that you haven’t thought about yet?
Try marketing it with that angle and see if sales grow.
- The classic case of Arm & Hammer advertising from decades ago is a great example of how to multi-purpose a brand. The company advertised its baking soda product as a means to deodorize drains once it had outlived its usefulness as a refrigerator air freshener.
Increase Your Real Estate Business
11. Raise prices.
You might think that, to increase sales.
You should lower prices in an effort to attract more customers.
While sales and discounts often lead people to purchase your product or service.
Sometimes raising prices is also the right move.
- If you keep the same number of customers after your price increase.
- Then you’ll definitely raise your top line sales figure.
- Higher prices often lead to a perception of increased quality.
- That impression could send more business your way.
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12. Offer (and publicize) special deals and discounts.
Customers love great deals, so special one-time offers are a great way to raise your sales in the short term.
However, to take full advantage of the sales “spike” a special deal can provide.
Make sure as many people know about it as possible.
This may mean mentioning upcoming deals to your existing customers.
Distributing flyers or handouts, paying for advertisements, or more.
Balance the costs of publicizing your deal with the benefits you’re likely to gain from it.
- Flat or percentage price cuts for certain products (e.g. $20 off all microwaves)
- Percent discounts for purchases over a certain price (e.g. 10% off on purchases over $70)
- Buy x, get y free deals (e.g. buy three, get one free)
- Limited-time bundles (e.g. buy a computer by the end of the month and receive a free keyboard)
- Free shipping for orders over $50.
13. Offer an opportunity to “upgrade”.
Why sell a product for $100 if you have a chance of selling a different product for $150?
By offering customers the chance to buy a better version of the product they want to purchase.
You boost your sales and the customer gets a better product. Everybody wins.
- If, for instance, your customer is purchasing a 21 inch (53.3 cm) television set, you might give them an opportunity to upgrade to a 24 inch (61.0 cm) television at the checkout, for only a little extra. The customer may or may not take the bait, but you’ll never lose the original sale unless you push very hard, so it’s very difficult to lose money with this trick.
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14. Offer “companion” items.
Don’t settle for making a sale on one item if you can get away with selling two!
When a customer is making a purchase.
You may want to offer them another item that complements an item in their shopping cart.
Recommend something your customer is likely to need to make the most out of the purchase.
Like some sort of optional accessory.
You can even offer a discount on the second item to sweeten the deal!
- For example, if a customer’s buying toys, you might upsell by offering your customer a pack of batteries.
- Or, if the customer is buying a printer, you might offer $10 off of a pack of ink cartridges.
15. Offer pertinent services and plans.
Another great way to make a little extra money is to upsell optional services or plans when the customer makes his or her purchase.
Optional warranties, protection plans, and subscriptions to services or publications related to your customer’s purchase are all things you can recommend to make a sale more profitable.
- For example, if you’re selling a customer a car.
- You might offer a warranty that covers any problems caused by the car’s workmanship as part of a package deal.
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16. Offer small, inexpensive items for sale near the point of sale.
One way that businesses frequently practice “passive” up selling is by positioning small impulse-buy products near the point of sale (cash register, checkout line, etc.)
Because these small items are relatively cheap and offer instant gratification.
Customers will frequently add these to their purchase.
Over time, the profits from these tiny sales can add up.
- You have probably noticed this method of upselling in practice at the grocery store checkout line, where gum, candy bars, and beverages are frequently for sale.
- If you’re running an e-commerce business, you still have a virtual checkout line. Advertise small, inexpensive items within the shopping cart screens so customers can buy additional items they might like.
17. Teach your salespeople how to demonstrate the value of your products.
By explaining or showing your customers how your products can make their daily lives better.
You can strike a personal chord with your customers and boost your sales in the process.
You may want to direct your salespeople to make reference to common uses for hot products.
In their sales pitches or even have them actually show the customer your products in use.
- For example, many large department stores like Costco have employees give product demonstrations on the floor. They show customers how to cook with electric grills, how to clean soiled carpet with steam cleaners, and so on.
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Increase Your Real Estate Business
18. Offer sales incentives to your employees.
One time-tested way to boost sales is to give your salespeople a reason to work extra-hard. Offering incentives to employees who make lots of sales is a good way to maximize the selling power of your company. Below are just a few of the types of incentives you may want to offer to high-sales members of your workforce:
- Commissions (a small percentage of each sale’s cost awarded to the employee who made the sale)
- Reward packages (e.g. extra time off, gifts, etc.)
- Promotions
- Achievement awards (e.g. employee of the month, etc.
19. Let your customers try your products before they buy them.
If a customer can experience a product’s benefits firsthand.
He or she is more likely to remember (and eventually purchase) the product in question.
If possible, try to give your customers a chance to “sample” or “try out” your product or service for free.
- This option isn’t suitable for every business, though.
- You can’t “try out” a life insurance policy, for instance.
- For example, if you run a grocery store, you may want to have an employee distribute small samples of new products to your customers. This principle applies to non-food industries, too. Car dealerships are best known for using the “try before you buy” method by offering free test drives.
Increase Your Real Estate Business
20. Arrange cooperative marketing with other businesses.
Reach out to businesses that are affiliated, but not competitive.
With your business and discuss strategies to help each other.
For instance, if you own a landscaping company, partner with a local nursery.
You can offer plants and supplies from the nursery to your customers.
And the nursery can recommend your landscaping business to their customers in exchange.
Clean the house, store furniture and stage it.
Offer complimentary outside landscaping to increase chances of the house selling.
Offer to reduce the commission if the house sells at list price.
21. Set Yourself Up For Social.
Make sure you have social media accounts on all the big networks (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, and even Instagram if you snap a lot of house pics). Interact with users, share good press, and promote your properties.
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22. Add Social Sharing To Property Pages.
Chances are, home shoppers are eager to share their top housing pics with friends and family, so make it easy for home buyers to email and share various properties online by adding social sharing buttons.
23. Keep An Eye On The Competition.
What are other realtors in your area doing? What do their websites look like? How active are they on social media? Take note of what competitors are doing – then avoid their mistakes and replicate their success!
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24. Make Yourself Easy to Contact.
Put your contact info on every page of your website. Ideally, make an impressive contact us page that grabs attention.
25. Create a Killer Business Card.
Get an awesome looking business card and hand them out like pizza flyers on a Friday night.
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Increase Your Real Estate Business
26. Make Use of Local Images.
In many ways, you’re not just selling a house, you’re selling a whole town or area. Showcase the best that your area has to offer, with high-quality, beautiful photos of local town landmarks and familiar sites.
27. Create an Irresistible Content Offer to Capture Leads.
Consider producing an ebook like “X number of things new home owners should consider before buying” or “X most valuable features of a new home.” Offering free ebooks in exchange for an email address (and zip code, in the case of real estate) is a great way to capture leads.
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Increase Your Real Estate Business
28. Hire a Photo Pro.
Successful real estate relies heavily on great photography. Bad photos will diminish interest in even the greatest of properties. It’s absolutely vital that you have gorgeous photos of your properties. Hire a professional photographer (preferably with experience photographing homes and architecture), or, if you have sophisticated equipment and are confident in your abilities, have your own hand at it. Just remember this is one of those scenarios when it pays to bring in the professionals.
There are tons of great resources that provide in-depth detail about real estate photography – this guide from Digital Photography School is helpful (so long as you have some basic photography experience under you belt already).
29. Create a Virtual Tour.
Your clients’ time is precious, and they want to understand as much as possible about a property prior to visiting in person. Virtual tours are a great way to give a comprehensive, accurate preview of the property for potential buyers.
Here’s one example of a virtual tour (although you’ll find some aspects of this video are quite outdated). If you make your own, I’d beg you to not use music that resembles the soundtrack of The Sims.
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30. Local Sponsorship.
Consider helping sponsor local festivals, sports teams, or school events. Signing up as a local sponsor often means getting your business a spot on t-shirts, program pamphlets, or flyers.
31. Animated Video.
Consider outsourcing a quality animated video for your real estate businesses. Short, cute, high-quality cartoon videos can help establish your brand as well as give a touch of personality. You may even want to consider featuring local landmarks or sites in your animated video to make it ultra-unique and targeted.
Your animated video doesn’t have to be super sophisticated – check out this short and very simple animated ad from Geico.
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32. Pinterest Boards.
Pinterest boards are a great way to provide images and information for specific listings. You can create a Pinterest board for a single property that, in addition, to property photos, highlights major benefits of the area.
Increase Your Real Estate Business
33. Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly.
Tech-savvy consumers spend tons of time on their mobile devices. In fact, a recent study has shown that 80% of Internet users use their mobile devices for online activity. It’s paramount that your website is mobile friendly. Even better, consider creating a mobile app that potential buyers can use to review listings.
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34.Create a Newsletter.
Email marketing is one of the best strategies for building client relationships. Collect emails from your website, local outreach, or any other methods you can think of. Send your email subscribers the stuff they’re looking for – notices about upcoming open houses, new houses on the market, news about seminars you’re offering in the area, etc. (Note: if you work in different geographical areas, you’ll want to segment your newsletter subscribers based on their location, ensuring that they only get relevant emails and updates from you).
Increase Your Real Estate Business
35. Start an Email Nurture Campaign.
Nurture campaigns are like the breadcrumb paths of Hansel and Gretel, except instead of a gingerbread house at the end, clients find their dream home (hopefully without a resident evil witch).
Leave your clients a trail of high-end panko breadcrumbs by tailoring your interactions with them based on previous actions they’ve taken. If they first attended an open house with you, send them an email detailing other nearby houses on the market. If they attended your first time homebuyer’s seminar, send them your “10 Things Every New Homebuyer Should Know “ ebook. Deliver content that will help your clients take the appropriate next step, depending on where they are in their journey.
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36. Build Your Google My Business Page.
Google My Business is the latest in Google location-based pages. If you’re feeling confused, don’t worry – it’s basically the same idea as Google Places for Businesses and Google+ Pages. Setting up a Google My Business account makes it easy for users to find you in Google Search, Google Maps, and Google+. Trust me, this one is a no-brainer.
Increase Your Real Estate Business
37. Consider Going Niche.
If you’ve got some real estate marketing competition in your area, you may want to consider making yourself stand out by going niche. Become the go-to real estate agent for dog owners, families with kids, divorced individuals, whatever. Making a name for yourself in regards to a specific niche need can make you memorable, especially in saturated zip codes.
38. Use Emotional Storytelling.
Utilize emotional storytelling with compelling copy and powerful visual elements. Humans respond to stories – tell a good one and clients will flock to you.
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39. Host a Webinar.
If you feel comfortable enough, hosting a webinar can be a great way to garner attention for your business. Host a “12 Little-Known Things to Look For In A New Home” webinar, providing a Q&A at the end for questions. Webinars can also be repurposed as YouTube videos, with can serve as valuable video content that can live permanently on your website! Here are some more tips on putting together a great webinar.
Increase Your Real Estate Business
40. Saddle Up For Social Ads.
Don’t be afraid to dish out dough for paid ads on social media. With organic reach dwindling on many popular social networks like Facebook, paid Facebook ads are often the most effective way to get in front of clients. Facebook has tons of great targeting features that ensure you’re only paying to get noticed by your key target audiences.
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41. Old School Mailers.
The web is where it’s at, but that’s not to say traditional advertising doesn’t have its place, especially when you have targeted audiences. Consider sending out postcards to qualified leads or potential buyers in the specific zip codes you are active in.
42. Become a Columnist in Local Magazines.
When it comes to real estate, it’s important that you get laser focused on local. Getting yourself in local magazines or newspapers is a great way to get the word out about you and your brand. See if you can write a column or feature for local publications. You don’t want to be blatantly salesy – today’s consumers don’t like to be pitched to. Instead, try to showcase your knowledge. Write about how rising prices of houses on the market shows that the town is doing well, or list the reasons why your regional area is becoming more popular (maybe it’s the revitalized downtown area or improved school system).
Increase Your Real Estate Business
43. Host Free Seminars For Home Buyers.
Make yourself and your knowledge available to the community by hosting mini-seminars. Consider providing a basic 101 seminar about the basics of home buying and mortgages.
Remember, marketing today is all about inbound, and that doesn’t just apply online. Users want you to share some of your knowledge for free before investing time and money in you. A home buying seminar is the local equivalent of a webinar. Yes, it will take time and energy, but attendees will walk away impressed and will have established a relationship with you. That relationship will be worth its weight in gold when they’re ready to shop for a home.
Increase Your Real Estate Business
44. Get Branding.
Branding is your buddy – that means pens, drink koozies, and all those other freebies people love. Give out some branded goodies at local festivals and events to spread your brand.
45.Partner With Local Businesses.
Developing relationships with other local businesses will be key for your real estate marketing efforts. See if you can get local breakfast joints to let you buy them a set of new coffee mugs with your logo on them, or buy a place on their paper placemat setting. Don’t be afraid to get creative with local partnerships.
46. Ask for Testimonials From Former Clients.
Testimonials are tremendous trust signals. Showing that real, live people endorse your services means the world to potential clients. When a homebuyer has had a great experience with you, reach out to them and ask for a testimonial. If possible, try to get a photo of them as well. Make the most of these testimonials by placing them strategically on your website and sharing them now and then on social networks.
Increase Your Real Estate Business
47.Create an Awesome Website.
Today’s consumers like to do a lot of legwork themselves online when making major purchases, and that includes home buying as well. I myself have only rented, but even when renting a property I’ll Google Map the address, use Street View to get a feel for the area, see which businesses are within walking distance, look at home photos, and, ideally take a virtual tour of the property.
Make it easy for users to access all this information – make sure all your property pages have great photos, virtual tours, and easy access to Google Maps and Google Earth. List the hot spots nearby and their respective walking distances (mention the bus stop that’s just a five minute walk, or the Starbucks at the end of the block).
48. Make Your Site Easy to Navigate.
All the great property pages in the world won’t mean much if your site is a nightmare to navigate. Your visitors need to have a good experience on your website, so take the time to brush up on user experience design skills and information architecture.
Increase Your Real Estate Business
49. Include Local-Oriented Copy.
Make sure you are including some local-oriented keywords in your copy to ensure that your content is found by buyers Googling online for homes in your area.
50. Get On Zillow.
Zillow is basically the Yelp of real estate marketing, and you really need to be on there if you want any chance of being discovered – you can ignore the sun, but it will still burn you! Zillow offers the ability to advertise as an agent on their website. This can get a bit pricey, but considering the huge role Zillow plays in home buying, it’s probably your best bet. After all, sites like Zillow account for 48% of all site traffic for real estate searches on the web.
Zillow also allows users to review real estate agents, so put on a smile and rack up that rating, as a solid star rating will greatly increase your leads.
Increase Your Real Estate Business
51. Shared Scheduling App.
Use a scheduling sharing app to coordinate times to show a house to buyers. Scheduling apps like Doodle can cut down on the endless back and forth timeslot swapping.
52. Give a Local Care Package After Closing.
Your relationship with a client doesn’t end right after they close. You want them to remember your name so that hopefully they’ll share your info with friends, family, and acquaintances who might consider moving in the future. Send a local care package to clients after they close, with local movie or theater tickets, restaurant gift cards, etc.
Increase Your Real Estate Business
53. Keep In Touch.
Stay in touch (even months and years later) with past buyers in order to build in that good relationship. Send anniversary cards, holiday cards, etc to stay fresh in their minds. When they have a friend who is ready to buy, they’ll pass along your info.
54. Create a Referral System.
Provide incentives for past clients to refer you to future homebuyers.
55. Leverage Call Tracking.
Real estate is one of those industries that absolutely must use call tracking in their paid search campaigns. Most people use the phone when trying to find a realtor or make an appointment to view an apartment, condo or house. If those calls come about because someone saw your PPC ad, you want to be able to track which ads and keywords are driving calls.