Real Clues

[RealClues] #309: Dominate in '08

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This week at www.LuxuryClues.com
Custom Building Series: Throwing Mud on the Walls
Mindset, Not Tools, is the Most Important Influence on Production
How Luxurious Is Your Life?

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Table of Contents
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1. CoachingClues: Hot Opportunities to Dominate Your Market in 2008
2. Welcome Notes: Are You Backed Up?
3. Reprise: Back to Basics: Seven Strategies for Converting FSBOs
into Signed Listings
4. Create a Better Life: Help--I Need Two of Me!
5. Positive News for Positive Realtors(reg): Don't Drink the Wall Street
Kool-Aid--Why Realtors(reg) Are Smarter about Real Estate the Wall Street.

6. Featured Products: Learn the Listing Presentation that Beat 1200
Competing Agents
7. Increase Your Production with Personal Coaching
8. Give Us Your Feedback on this Newsletter
9. How to Subscribe/Unsubscribe

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1. CoachingClues: Hot Opportunities to Dominate Your Market in 2008
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According to NAR, there are 1.3 million REALTORS(reg) and approximately another 1.3 million people who hold real estate licenses. Competition, especially in a declining market, is tough. What can you do to stand out from the crowd and have a great year in 2008?

At its annual conference in November, NAR released its "Member
Profile" for 2007 as well as its "Profile of Home Buyers and
Sellers." These two documents reveal what's working in the real
estate industry today as well as potential opportunities for savvy
real estate professionals to capture more market share.

1. Get rich in a niche
The NAR study showed that 88 percent of all REALTORS(reg) earn more than 50 percent of their real estate income for their primary real estate specialty. Top producing agents normally niche their businesses to a specific neighborhood, a specific type of property such as relocation or resorts, or to a specific market segment such as first time buyers. Serving a specific niche is a great way to build your business in 2008. To determine which niche is right for you, review
your income figures from 2007. Identify the primary areas that
produced the most revenue. Expanding these areas is the best way to
produce more profits in 2008.

2. Don't rely exclusively on referral strategies
For individual agents, only 25 percent of their business is based
upon referrals as opposed to 29 percent for residential brokers.
These numbers increase with the agent's longevity. For those with 16
or more years in the business, 41 percent report that more than 50
percent of their business comes from referrals. The bottom line is
that if you want to increase your business in 2008, on average you
can expect 25 percent of your business to come from your referral
database. The other 75 percent must come from other sources. To keep
your business strong, utilize referral strategies, web based
strategies, as well as working with the tried and true fundamental
lead generation strategies.

3. Respond immediately to consumer inquiries
Consumers today expect immediate response to their inquiries. The
younger they are, the greater this expectation is. Given that the
median age for agents is 51 vs. 32 for the median age of first time
buyers, there is a considerable gap between how each group
communicates. Only 23 percent of the brokers surveyed reported having
wireless email. This means that 77 percent of the agents are unable
to respond to their emails while they are out in the field. An even
smaller number know how to text message. If you haven't upgraded to
one of the new smart phones and learned how to text, now is the time
to take the leap. Text messaging is actually quite simple. Type a
message on your phone and then hit the send message button. Unlike
email where the receiver has to go on-line and open their email
program, a text message appears automatically on the recipient's
telephone.

4. Customize your personal website--don't rely on your broker's site
Surprisingly, only 35 percent of all REALTORS(reg) have a website that they developed and maintain. Thirty-nine percent lack a website and 27 percent rely exclusively on their broker's website. Furthermore, there is a direct correlation between the amount of money agents spend to maintain their website and how much they earn from their site: the more money they spend, the more money they earn. To gain a competitive edge, expand your personal website. You may also want to consider providing each one of your sellers with their own personal website that uses the property address as the URL. Two resources include AgencyLogic.com and ListingDomains.com.

5. Earn a NAR designation
For the most part the public doesn't understand the alphabet soup of REALTOR(reg) designations. Nevertheless, additional training increases your professionalism and differentiates your services from those provided by competitors. Also, since 70 percent of all REALTORS(reg) lack designations, the time and effort is worthwhile to help you stand out professionally. Those who hold designations are among the best in the business. When they make referrals, they normally refer to someone who shares the same designations that they have. The latest numbers show that 18 percent hold GRI designations, 8 percent hold the CRS designation, and 9 percent have an e-Pro designation.

6. Blogging
Of all the opportunities to distinguish your services from those
provided by other brokers in 2008, blogging is probably the best with
the least amount of competition at this time. Only two percent of the
agents "frequently use blogs" vs. 88 percent who "rarely or never use
blogs." Four percent of the survey respondents had blogs. The younger
the agents, the more likely they are to have a blog. 2008 is an
excellent time to start blogging because of the limited competition.
If you can establish your blog as the one with market dominance in
your area this year, it can generate leads for you for years to come.

7. Podcasting
This is one of the hottest trends among Gen X and Gen Y, yet very few
agents have recognized the potential that podcasting (computer audio
broadcasting) has for growing their business. Only one percent of the
agents report that they regularly use podcasts vs. 94 percent who
rarely or never use podcasts. Implementing a weekly podcast to your
referral database with information about the local market as well as
good buys in the area is an excellent way to build your credibility
as well as to acquire more clients.

Need for tips for 2008? See next week's column to discover what
today's buyers and sellers are really doing.

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2. Welcome Notes
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Welcome to our new subscribers this week. Each week RealClues
provides you with great strategies to improve both your business and
your life. If you find this issue of RealClues helpful, take a moment
to hit the "forward" button and send it to another friend in the
business.

Next time you're lamenting all the changes in technology, you may
want to try a little experiment. If you have access to a computer
that is at least 5 years old, try running it and see how well it
functions compared to your current machine. My tablet PC needed a new
mother board and I ran on my old Dell for 6 weeks. I couldn't believe
how often it crashed, the number of times that I lost work, and how
slow it was compared to the tablet. Plus, it didn't have sufficient
memory to run many of today's software programs. Bottom line,
technology changes are with us to stay and most (maybe with the
exception of Vista) are improvements.

The question is how well would you function if your computer went
out? If you haven't backed up your system recently, there is a simple
service that is just a few dollars per month at www.Mozy.com or
www.carbonite.com. It will take you about 6 to 12 hours to do the
initial backup. Then, the system backs you up daily at whatever time
you select. Normally, it only takes a few minutes. It runs in the
background so it doesn't interfere with your other work. Best of all,
if something happens to your machine, you can still access all of
your files.

If you like this technology tip, sign up for our
www.ListenandLearnRealEstate.com program. We are now offering both
the sales, marketing, plus the technology segments for $29.97 per
month or $147.00 for six months. I just returned from the Inman Real
Estate Connect Conference. I'll be discussing two or three new
technology tools each month as well as how to use them in your
business.

Make it a great week!

Bernice Ross, MCC, and Byron Van Arsdale, MCC
www.RealEstateCoach.com, www.LuxuryClues.com, www.RossdalePress.com,
www.ConferenceCallTraining.com, and www.TeleconferenceLine.com

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3. Reprise: Seven Strategies to Harvest FSBO Business from the Web
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This is the second article on FSBOs in our Back to Basics for 2008.
This article is packed with great ideas on how to convert FSBOs into
signed business, even though it first ran in January of 2003. While
the article says that 80 percent of all FSBOs convert into signed
listings, according the NAR, that number for 2007 is actually 12
percent. To learn more about how to convert more FSBOs into signed
listings, click on the link below:

http://www.realestatecoach.com/articles_archive/art20030210.html

If you missed the first article, click on the link below

http://www.realestatecoach.com/articles_archive/art20030203.html

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4. Create a Better Life: Help--I Need Two of Me!
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This is an oldie but a goodie that first ran in 2002. The information
about how to create more time in your life and how to have a better
business is still as accurate now as it was over six years ago.
Enjoy!

http://www.realestatecoach.com/articles_archive/art20020520.html

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5. Positive News for Positive Realtors(reg)
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Don't drink the Wall Street Kool-Aid--When It Comes to Real Estate,
Realtors ARE Smarter than Wall Street. Learn the one thing that you
already track that really tells you where the market is going. Real
estate is local. Also, positive news from the latest PMI study about
anticipated drops in prices. Check out this week's Positive News for
Positive Realtors(reg) to hear the good news about the real estate
business.

http://listenandlearnrealestate.com/news.html

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6. Featured Products: Learn the Listing Presentation
that Beat 1200 Competing Agents
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Jon Douglas, the owner of the company I worked for 18 years, had over
1200 top-notch agents. He built two estate properties in Beverly
Hills that he planned to list with the company's two top producers.
Would you like to learn the listing presentation that made me the
listing agent for both properties? If so, you need our "List and Sell
Real Estate Like Crazy" audio CD Program. If you want to convince the
most difficult sellers you are the right agent for them, then this
program will show you how. To see the complete list of topics covered
in this powerful listing training program, click on the link below:

http://www.realestatecoach.com/training/listandsell.html#list

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7. Increase Your Production with Personal Coaching
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Looking for a well-trained coach who knows the real estate business?
Our coaching team can help you increase your production and make your
dreams come true! Send an e-mail to Shane@RealEstateCoach.com and
we'll help find the right coach for you.

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8. Give Us Your Feedback On This Newsletter
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We want your feedback-to share your thoughts and suggestions, please
e-mail us at Shane@RealEstateCoach.com.

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9. How to Subscribe/Unsubscribe
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Visit our Web site, http://www.RealEstateCoach.com to
subscribe/unsubscribe to RealClues.

Copyright (c) 1996-2008, RealEstateCoach.com and Teleclass4U.com,
LLC. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce, copy or
distribute RealClues as long as this copyright notice and full
information about contacting the contributors to this newsletter is
attached.

Contributors to this newsletter:
Bernice Ross, MCC, and Byron Van Arsdale, MCC, Owners,
www.RealEstateCoach.com, www.LuxuryClues.com,
www.ConferenceCallTraining.com; www.RossdalePress.com; and
www.TeleconferenceLine.com
Shane Bowlin, REC General Manager

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