Being a realtor is a crowded business. This is why we talk about standing out so much here at Smart Agents.
When you are regarded as an authority in your real estate market and area, owners want to work with you.
They reach out to you.
In order to get there, you need to brand yourself and become the authority in your area.
Agents in this category have systems in place that define them as the authority. Between marketing system and referrals, listings come in bunches for them.
Here are the ten ways you can become an authority:
1. Know Your Market and the Recent Activity
The more you have to offer consistently to owners and people that are interested, the more they will interact with you.
Then that leads to their business. So you need to know how hot your market is, the prices that places are being sold for, and what neighborhoods are selling or buying a lot.
If you speak to a lead and they inquire about prices or how fast homes are selling, don't get caught not knowing that information.
If you say you'll get back to them, they could immediately go to another agent for information.
If you think of each and every interaction of building or keeping your brand and status, then you need to know the details when someone asks for a price range.
2. Know the Area's Shops, Schools, and the Entire Community
This is the next step after understanding the real estate side of your town. You can't be the area's go-to agent without knowing what is going on and what your area offers.
Get to know the schools around, and their ratings. This is a big question for families.
The more details you can help them with, the more trust they'll have with you.
It's a good idea to keep event calendars on your website, blog, or send it to your email list. Share events like concerts, fests and other things of that nature, with your social media.
If people interact with you when they aren't selling, chances are they will when they are selling as well.
3. Have and Use a Big Sphere of Influence (and Always Work to Expand It)
This is the best way to constantly get quality clients. If you Keep in touch with your old clients, business partners and referrals will come.
That's the key to referrals, and you don't need to be afraid to ask for them when your relationship is good enough.
Working with divorce lawyers, banks and builders can benefit both sides. You can send them clients. In return, they can send you people who need a realtor.
Divorce is a big niche in real estate, and they will usually take their lawyers advice. So if you have an agreement with the lawyer, you can get that recommendation.
Set up the same system for builders. Keep expanding your circle as well. It can never be too big.
4. Never Stop Learning, Improving and Studying New Trends
You could be researching or listening to audio podcasts. Learning and developing your skills and knowledge each day will go a really long way.
Read a business-related book that can expand your horizons in ways that are still relevant to your career.
Something like 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Business books and books about relations or customer relations will do more for you than real estate books since they will translate to other parts of your life as well.
Learning more about your industry will help you become an expert in your field. It will then naturally separate you from competing agents in your area and niche.
Other professionals may not be as knowledgeable or up to date about the latest industry trends, rules, and standards.
5. Have a Consistent Brand that Paints You as an Authority
Whether it's a neighborhood with your face on a few yards or selling a home for the best price, your brand has to be consistent everywhere.
Each interaction with ANYONE in this business is a reflection of your brand.
This is what your social media needs to reflect. Your ads, your signs and everything else needs to have that message.
6. Be a Part of Your Community, Advertise at Events and with Local Business
You want to be a type of community figure. Work with local businesses and advertise there.
Go to events and market yourself. Hand out treats or something, along with some information about you or the housing market.
The more people that start to recognize you at these, the closer you are to being the authority in town.
Go to a football or sporting event where parents are around and pass out signs with the team’s name on one side and your logo and phone number on the other side.
Every time the flier is displayed, the fan looks right at your company information. That's just an example of a place with a lot of homeowners.
Be known around your target area.
7. Be Prepared and Dominate Listing Presentation
This is where agents can really separate themselves from others. It's where you prove that not all agents are the same.
Show them that real estate is not all luck. There actually is stuff that a realtor can do to get a seller a better result.
Show them how your marketing plan will increase the odds of their house selling and selling for more money.
Put your case studies and testimonials in there. Mention your knowledge of the community, and your presence in it.
Build in stories that help prove your points.
This is similar to the testimonials, but it is much more engaging with the audience, so it doesn’t need to be placed in the end.
Use stories to help overcome objections, prove your point, or demonstrate why the prospect should do something you feel is better than what the majority of the competition may be telling them.
Everyone loves a good story. Use it to show them how you stand out.
Make your real estate listing presentation about your prospect and NOT about you.
Showing them how you can help them, rather than just being another agent who beats their chest and explains how great you are, will really help you separate yourself from the competition.
8. Always Give Leads Valuable Information for Free
This is why some agents blog. Smart Agents members license books and give them to owners.
This is the biggest way you can stand out. For example, send a FSBO an article with tips to get their home ready for a showing.
It’s the law of reciprocity. If you give something to them, they will feel obligated to give something back.
In this situation, they’ll give you some time (and more respect than other agents).
Now you see how fruitful it is to give them marketing tips, staging tips, and material to improve their listing.
Who are they going to turn to first when they give up?
9. Make Your Listings Stand Out
The best way to do this is with great pictures and great copywriting.
Showing off selling points is important. Take the pictures of any special architecture or additions. Make it look amazing.
Edit the pictures a little to give it that extra pop. They stand out.
Just like photography, your descriptions are important because they speak to the buyer about all the great features of your home.
Either take the time to craft them out yourself or get someone with writing experience to do them.
10. Get Testimonials and Reviews
Talk about reviews from the start of your business relationship (and maybe even throughout it).
Even before they are your client, mention the reviews and their importance.
This way when you bring it up throughout the process and at the end, they’ll really have a good understanding of what these can do for you. You can even mention it a few different times, though the more subtle the better probably.
These are so important. They can be your most important marketing material.
Keep it simple and easy for them to give you reviews.
Give them direction and suggestions about certain aspects they can talk about. Offer examples, so they have a type of template to go off of.
Smart Agents gives you the way to automatically be an authority.
What if you left a book that you were the author of with these owners?
Books have a huge perceived value. They don’t get thrown away.
They can get tucked away somewhere, but most people aren’t going to toss them in the trash. They’re worth something, and they’re worth something to the author’s name.
Do this and you will position yourself as the authority in your market. When you give away your book, it will separate you from your competition.
A book will do a lot of this legwork for you. Owners will reach out and want to work with you.
Want to get a free sample of the book that will get you more listings? Click the link below.
Joe Nickelson is a real estate professional dedicated to helping home buyers and sellers achieve their dreams of owning property, and helping real estate agents stop using the sometimes-vicious tactics that weigh on their consciences. He believes that the Smart Agents books will, quite literally, change people’s lives for the better. Check out his full bio here!
