This week's interview was with JC, a long-time member who is getting inherited leads to reach out to her.
In the interview we went over:
| Smart Agents: | Alright, cool. How long have you been a member with us with Smart Agents? |
| JC: | Since September 2013. |
| Smart Agents: | How long have you been a realtor? |
| JC: | Since 2007, the second time. |
| Smart Agents: | So you said you listed the Inherited Home, was it with Inherited Book? |
| JC: | Yes, several of them. |
| Smart Agents: | Can you tell a couple of the stories of how those came about to be? |
JC: |
Sure. The first one was actually a for sale by owner that I had stopped to talk to with the book and we took the book and then they ended up calling me going I'm looking at your website and you have an Inherited Home book.This is actually an inherited home and I'm in over my head. That's how we started really talking about Inherited Homes otherwise I don't think I would have been on his radar for listing.Anyway, ended up listing the home for $149,900 and it sold it 79 days. Since then he's listed two other investment properties that he had with me. |
| Smart Agents: | How did you find his lead originally? |
| JC: | I was looking at for sale by owners. |
| Smart Agents: | Where'd you get the lead though? |
| JC: | Actually just driving around the neighborhood. |
| Smart Agents: | Can you talk about the other Inherited Listing you had when you offered the book with the picture of the book? |
JC: |
Yes, she had been looking at my, some emails I had been sending out and went to the site and saw the Inherited Book and she had just inherited a home with four acres and a workshop and a property with many moving parts.And called me and we got together and we talked and that listing will be coming out in about two weeks and will probably be in the $300,000 range. |
Smart Agents: |
How did you offer her the book? |
JC: |
She had called and said I've seen some of your things and I saw your Inherited Books, I went out there to talk with her and she was really like I'm really too busy, I have three kids, I don't really want to read the book but just the fact that you know what you're talking about and I saw it, I was just already placed in a position of being an expert. |
| Smart Agents: | How many listings have the books been involved in throughout the couple of years you've been a member? |
| JC: | For Inherited Listings only? |
| Smart Agents: | Just anything. |
| JC: |
Oh, quite a few, probably at least 15 homes and I haven't really actively marketed the books.I'm just now really starting to, I'm really beginning to see the value of the actual books for either expired or for subway owner or the wealthy home sellers. More of just putting me as as expert, putting me in a niche, to changing the value that I've been bringing. |
| Smart Agents: | Have you had other Inherited listings with the books besides those two? |
| JC: | I had another listing but gosh, that was way back, several years ago, which was another Inherited Listing, which came from the website that I had my book listed on. That one was a much bigger one, it was an estate sale, it had to go through and it sold for roughly around, well, we had it priced, we did a little bit of a price reduction, it sold for about $275,000. It's definitely a niche I'm looking at now because the times I've talked to these people, they're not talking to anybody else but me. |
| Smart Agents: | How, so you would say the majority, at least for all three of those, they're just see your Inherited book online and then contacting you or you're showing it to them online? |
| JC: | Yes. |
| Smart Agents: | Do you have any other ways you've gotten listings with the books? |
| JC: | With all the books or just that book? |
| Smart Agents: | With all the books. |
| JC: | Oh, Expired, I've done quite a few Expired. I subscribe to an Expired listing service. I've been reading over the materials here again and getting those sent out. So, Expired's are definitely one way I've gotten quite a few recent listings. |
| Smart Agents: | Where do you, do you just mail the books, Expired's at first? |
JC: |
I've been mailing them, yes. I went to the post office and took the book and envelope and got the postage so I've been putting the actual stamps on there and mailing them out.I dropped many of the books off. |
Smart Agents: |
When you do that, how do you follow up on them? Or do you wait for them to follow up with you? |
JC: |
No, then I have a postcard I send out about two days later, just to kind of follow up and then usually if I have the phone number, I text them. So, it's about a five to six point touch to circle around with them. |
| Smart Agents: | When you reach out to them, what do they mention about the book? |
| JC: | They were very impressed, they were impressed with the book, they were impressed with some of the follow-up. Granted, they're inundated, it's just shocking to me how many people are knocking at their door or calling with the same pitch. So I think this really separates out the expertise of coming in with a book, coming in with the reviews as was shown by you all to put on the letters. It just, it separates me out from the other hundred people that are knocking or calling them. |
| Smart Agents: | Do you have any other niches or ways you've used the book? |
| JC: | Secret for Wealthy Home Sellers, I've been using that more in some ads and just on Facebook, just posting those periodically. They're so many ways to use them I guess, mostly just I've recently dropped them around my neighborhood to some of my neighbors that I know were thinking of selling and selling their homes. The response I get is just very motivational to what I've gotten with other avenues. Okay, I'm just another realtor with no value. The books really separate that out. |
One of the best methods we use at Smart Agents to separate yourself is books. 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. That’s how a smart agent thinks!
Want to get a free sample of the book that will get you more listings? Click the link below.