This week I spoke with Steve, a long-time realtor, and somewhat new Smart Agent's member.
He currently has 6 listings that are all luxury homes.
In the interview we discuss:
| Steve R.:
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Yeah, I've been an agent for, it'll be 25 years in 3 months. |
| Smart Agents:
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And when did you sign up with smart agents? |
| Steve R.:
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Oh, golly I don't know. You should have that in front of you. I don't know. Ten months, nine months ago. |
| Smart Agents:
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And have you gotten any listings with the books? Or with the help of the books? |
| Steve R.:
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Oh, golly yeah. Half a dozen at least. Even though I don't try real hard. I send a lot of them out and I don't ... I've got a half dozen listings but they're all over 500,000 because that's all I. Because I'm a salaried broker and I don't really have time. |
| Smart Agents:
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So you only high end listings with this? |
| Steve R.:
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That's all I'm looking for. |
| Smart Agents:
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That's awesome. Can you tell a couple stories of how you got the listings, how you gave the owners the books, and what happened? |
| Steve R.:
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The first thing I do is i solicit them by way of either phone calls or emails. And I only solicit expired or withdrawn high end listings. And the title of the one I have is "How I can sell properties that others couldn't." That's the book I have.And I send them out to expires. And I don't send the books out. I have a tendency of liking to hand the books hand to hand to people. And I have a color photocopy that I mail just the cover page. I mail them the cover of the book and I say "If you'd like me to come over and give you ..."I tell them that the book has a $19.95 value but I haven't ever sold one. I've give them away to people and after they read them the people enjoy the information contained in the book, and if you're so inclined you can call me at this number. And like I said in the past 9 or 10 months, a half a dozen people have done so. |
| Smart Agents:
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So, wow. So you just send a letter or a picture of the book and say "Do you want this?" |
| Steve R.: | Yeah and then they call me and then I go there and meet them. |
| Smart Agents:
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Wow. What type of envelope do you send that in? |
| Steve R.:
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It's a regular business envelope. It's a photo copy. I did glossy it. It's a glossy cover photo copy of the cover of the book. |
| Smart Agents: | And what do they say when you get there and give them the book?
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| Steve R.:
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Well that's when I do my sales pitch. I hand them the book and I tell them "There's things in here that you can read through." And I go over some of them. I kind of by the time I meet them, I've done a little bit of homework on the house and tell them I kind of have a good clue on the true, real reason why their house hasn't sold.
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| Again, I'm only dealing with expireds and withdrawn listing where they've been on the market for usually 6 months. And I kinda have a handle from the description in the NLS. Some of them are impossible to show. When they say, "You can only show the house between 2 and 5 on Wednesdays," that's the reason it hasn't sold. I kinda go there very quick with that information and share that with them while I'm handing them the book. Typically it's over priced, of course. But not always. And we have the discussion about curb appeal.
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| And to be honest with you, also, I've been successful with a couple of out of state and out of country owners also. I have a higher percentage in success for out of state and out of country owners. Especially out of country owners, they get less solicitations when they've expired because I guess a lot of people are reluctant to pay 48 cents for a stamp. They're definitely not gonna pay 98 cents for a stamp. And I got one from Czechoslovakia.
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| I have mailed a couple books but on 2 occasions they actually listed with me before I even sent them the books. Just because I sent them the cover of the book. In other words, they never even got to read the book they will have already listed it with me just by the fact that I authored the book.
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| I love it. It's a great deal. It really is good.
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| Smart Agents: | So these are vacant houses, basically?
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| Steve R.: | Yeah, they're investment properties. On one case it was an investment property that expired and then another case it was a vacant home.
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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.