You’ve seen our blogs. You’ve read our success stories. Business is slow, and you wonder if the books will really make the ultimate difference in your business.
You know you should take the plunge, but one question is holding you back:
How can you afford to pay for the books when business is so slow?
I’m here to let you in on a little secret that not many people know about, a way to get the books to pay for themselves.
Did you know that you can sell advertising inside your books?
That’s right. When you’re setting up your books, you can request to add advertising pages at the end. I’ll explain the process in more detail below.
The benefit here is mutual. You get advertisers to cover the cost of your books, and the advertisers get easy exposure to all the leads who receive them.
Plus, you can recommend the professionals and contractors who advertise in your book, and they can recommend you to all of their clients. It’s a win for everyone!
Want to discover how it works?
I’ll show you how to get started.
Due to RESPA guidelines, you must carefully go through a process to sell advertising.
According to the NAR, RESPA prohibits a real estate broker or agent from receiving a “thing of value” for referring business to a settlement service provider, or SSP, such as a mortgage banker, mortgage broker, title company, or title agent.
Receiving kickbacks is illegal. And wrong. But, selling advertising is legal. Here’s how you can set up a mini-advertising company and sell ads inside your book.
Let’s go through the steps.
Creating your own Marketing company enables you legally and ethically sell advertising to anyone who wants to advertise to the people you are marketing to.
Once you have the corporation established, you’ll want to set-up a bank account. Just bring your corporation documents to your bank, and the clerk will handle everything to get it set up.
Contact the following to discuss advertising within your books:
Explain the mutual benefit of advertising in your books. They'll get direct access to local home buyers and sellers, and because you're a published author, their business is immediately boosted to expert status. You can also offer to personally recommend them to all of your clients.
It’s better to have things in writing so everyone understands what is happening.
Have them write a check to your advertising company. Deposit the check into your company's bank account, and you are in business.
If you are a Book Leads Member, then you can ask us for some example advertisements. Or, put together your own ads yourself. We recommend having the ads at the back of the book, rather than the front.
If you have any other questions about this process or the books in general, our support department would be more than happy to help you out. Email support@smartagents.com or call (386) 752-6534. Our business hours are 9 AM to 6 P.M. EST Monday through Friday.
Our members say the books more than pay for themselves. But don’t take my word for it.
Liza has landed 5 high-end listings since she started using the books.
She ordered 80 books to start and will be receiving 20 more to round out her order to 100 books.
A 100-book order costs $479.
“The one book got me the three transactions. Those transactions were a million-dollar sale, a $1.5 million property, and a $500,000 property. I'm currently working with somebody, and his house is going to be around $900,000. We're just getting it ready for market. I have another house coming on for about $2.5 million from the book.”
The average agent makes a 3% commission on each transaction side. Let’s do a little math.
When all is said and done, Liza will have made $6.4 million in sales. But, let’s imagine that she doesn’t make 3%. Let’s say it’s 2%. For those sales, she stands to make $128,000 at 2%.
For the astronomical payoff she’ll receive in either scenario, the $479 price tag seems trivial. And, according to Liza:
“One of these transactions more than pays for the book investment.”
But even if you aren’t working a high-end market and selling million dollar homes, the books more than pay for themselves.
Just ask Ray, who invests about $2,000 a year in our book program.
“What I'm getting at is now you're talking about almost $40,000 of income just off of your little book. Within a year’s time, I have to spend two grand and I get $30,000 to $40,000 worth of income off of it. I'll take that deal all day long.
In fact, just one book snagged Ray five listings. A woman who was looking to sell her townhouse referred him to four other people in her subdivision.
“It gives you credibility is what it does.”
Still not convinced? You can order a free sample of our Business Card book to get started. Now imagine handing that book to a potential client and demonstrating your real estate expertise as a published author.
But the benefits don’t stop there. Our MyBooks membership also includes customized websites and social media marketing tools. We’ve made content licensing easy for real estate agents.
Your membership includes:
If you’re not ready to make a large book order, start small and work your way up. You can cancel at any time. The most important thing is to just get started.