OREGON EDITION
TIPS ON BEING A GOOD TEAM LEADER MAKING A 'LEAD GENERATOR' WORK FOR YOU GOOGLE AD WORDS: HOW TO MAKE GOOGLE DO THE WORK FOR YOU TOP AGENT TIPS AND QUESTIONS FOR CHOOSING YOUR LISTING AGENT
5 SOCIAL MEDIA MISTAKES REAL ESTATE AGENTS MUST AVOID COVER STORY
ROBERTA TAWELL
OREGON EDITION
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ROBERTA TAWELL
CONTENTS 4) GOOGLE AD WORDS: HOW TO MAKE GOOGLE DO THE WORK FOR YOU
17) MAKING A 'LEAD GENERATOR' WORK FOR YOU
13) TOP AGENT TIPS AND QUESTIONS FOR CHOOSING YOUR LISTING AGENT
20) 5 SOCIAL MEDIA MISTAKES REAL ESTATE AGENTS MUST AVOID 22) TIPS ON BEING A GOOD TEAM LEADER
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Google AdWords:
How To Make Google Do the Work for You There is no denying that the internet is the first place a buyer begins looking for a new home in this digital age. Knowing how to put the powerful tools available on the internet to work for you can give you a decided advantage when it comes to attracting prospective buyers to your listings, as well as you as an agent. Google is easily one of the major superpowers of the internet, and they have one of the most powerful advertising tools available. Knowing how to utilize Google AdWords in the correct manner can make your internet advertising immensely powerful and possibly your best way to reach prospective buyers. Google AdWords is also extremely cost-effective. This multifaceted tool gives you much more control over your advertising campaign than other more traditional methods. You can target specific audiences, choose the specific search terms, also known as keywords, that will bring up your ad in someone’s search results, and you can set a budget for each campaign that will dictate it’s reach and how long the campaign will run. Here are some tips for how to put Google AdWords to work for you. 4
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ent websites. You want to set yourself apart from every other real estate website users are viewing in their search for a house.
MAKE SURE YOUR ADS ARE GOING TO SEND USERS TO A SITE THAT WILL CAPTURE THEIR ATTENTION
You can spend an infinite amount of money on Google advertising campaigns, but if those ads don’t send users to a site that will capture and hold their interest, then you’ve just wasted all that money. Don’t put your cart before the horse. Make sure you are considering exactly where these ads are going to send users. To set up your website for success, at the very least you want to make sure users are greeted by clear call-to-action, such as a message that will encourage them to sign up for your newsletter or subscribe to your blog. You want to set up your website to maximize and capture the leads the ad campaign sends your way.
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BUILD CUSTOMIZED OR CUSTOM-MADE WEBSITES RATHER THAN TEMPLATE WEBSITES It is easy and tempting to use template websites, or to offer your agents template websites if you are a real estate manager or broker. While this offers a cost-effective solution to providing every agent with a website, it does little to set you or your agents apart and capture the attention of users that are used to seeing a wealth of differ-
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MAKE SURE YOU ARE OFFERING VALUE ON YOUR WEBSITE
Don’t simply use your website as a kind of brag sheet. Let users know what makes your particular services valuable to them. Highlight your expertise in a certain location through tools such as blog posts, providing market updates, or giving pertinent information on a unique type of property. This will ensure that your online advertising campaigns are much more successful.
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LOCATION IS EVERYTHING!
Location is everything in real estate, and the same holds true for Google AdWords. You can target specific locations in your ad campaign. While one approach is to focus on the area around your location, a more advanced approach would be to link AdWords campaigns to your Google My Business account. This is a Google service that includes your address in the ad, allowing people to then click on it and see exactly where you are located on a map.
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USE GOOGLE ADWORDS IN YOUR CAMPAIGN TO EXPAND YOUR BUSINESS IN GENERAL
Focus an AdWords campaign on expanding your business by incorporating specific zip codes and neighborhoods that will help you establish a presence in an area where you would like to increase your real estate business. Making sure that your ad appears in search results that are related to the real estate in a specific area will help shape the image and brand of your business as well as bring in new leads.
HARNESS THE POWER OF DATA
When you run a Google AdWords campaign Google Analytics captures a wealth of information about your target client demographic. You can gain real insight into your online visitors, such as when they visit, what they do and look at on your site once they get there, and what search terms they use. You can use all of this information to grow your business. Use Google Analytics to determine which users (location, gender, age) are utilizing specific aspects of your site, such as looking at multiple listings, reading your blog, etc. You can then use this information to target these specific demographics in your AdWord campaigns, Gmail ads, the Google Display Network, and other advertising.
Using the internet to help advertise your business and your listings is one of the smartest moves you can make as an agent in this modern age. However, you don’t want to simply go into the process blind or you’re wasting a lot of potential resources and data that could make all the difference. To reap the benefits of Google AdWords, you must apply an intelligent strategy to using these campaigns. 6
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ROBERTA TAWELL 7
ROBERTA TAWELL Commitment to education, devotion to clients, attention to detail and desire for lifelong clients have shaped Roberta Tawell’s remarkable 17 years in real estate. Fortunately for the real estate industry, the “veterinarian thing” didn’t work out for Roberta. “I hadn’t considered real estate,” says Roberta, a Portland, OR, area REALTOR® with Windermere Real Estate. “I was interested in veterinary medicine because I loved animals and was really fascinated with biology and chemistry. But when the veterinary path didn’t work out for me, I decided humans were my next best option and earned a master’s degree in clinical nutrition and, later, a second master’s in healthcare admin8Copyright Top Agent Magazine
istration.” That led her to a successful career in medical settings. There, Roberta discovered her gift for helping different kinds people meet different goals. She also decided she might be best suited for starting her own business. This is the point at which one might guess Roberta went to real estate school – not culinary school. “I was trained by professional chefs, opened an artisan bakery and developed some great products!” she says of the next twist in her career’s plotline. “Customer service was a huge part of that business.” Although owning a bakery was back-breaking work, if not for the bakery Roberta may not have found real estate. Top Agent Magazine
“My husband and I owned the building with the bakery and made a profit when we sold it, and I realized there could be something to real estate!” she says. “I already liked working with people, communicating and helping people achieve their goals.” In 2000, Roberta earned her license and joined Coldwell Banker in Pasadena, California. “I learned all I could, applied all the skills I had acquired and began developing a successful real estate career,” says Roberta. She worked the floor taking calls and walk-ins, and held open houses, building her business one client at a time. When it came time in 2006 for Roberta and her husband to move to Oregon, Top Agent Magazine
she then applied that same tenacity to starting up in Portland despite being “air-dropped into a market where I knew no one,” she says. Given her ongoing desire to form close connections, Roberta established herself in the three-county Portland Metro Area, where she has sold cottages, luxury homes, investment properties and condos. She helps seasoned home buyers and sellers as well as investors and first-time buyers through Windermere. “I chose Windermere because their values align with mine,” says Roberta, who appreciates that Windermere agents give back to the community and all agents donate from their commissions to the company’s foundation, which supports organizations benefiting Copyright Top Agent Magazine9
“I want to learn whatever I can and share that knowledge to help my clients reach their goals.”
women, children and families. One way she learned Portland was by training as a volunteer educational walking tour guide for third graders through Urban Tour Group, where she still volunteers. Always wanting to provide more, Roberta’s numerous certifications include Certified Residential Specialist, which only 4% percent of REALTORS® hold. She’s a Master Certified Negotiation Expert, a Seniors Real Estate Specialist, and Short Sale and Foreclosure Resource certified. She is also a trade ally of the Energy Trust of Oregon, through which she is well-versed on energy efficient construction. “I want to learn whatever I can and share that knowledge to help my clients Copyright Top Agent Magazine Copyright 10
reach their goals,” she says. “My clients come first always and they’re clients for life.” Clients appreciate the rapport they build with Roberta and notice that she removes the burden from them, making things as seamless as possible. They become friends; with many she enjoys Portland’s thriving “foodie” scene, nearby wineries and outdoor recreation. Looking to the future, Roberta plans to carefully expand her team while maintaining her high-level of client focus. “You have to be detail oriented to succeed in this business,” says Roberta, referring to a wise saying she embraces: “Service isn’t a big thing it’s a million little things.” She also will never stop learning. “Education is part of who I am; it’s in my DNA,” she says. “Anyone who is well educated can better help their clients.” Having navigated a fascinating, education-based path into real estate, Roberta knows that in 2000 she found her perfect-match career. “It’s very natural for me to do this work,” she says, gratefully. Top Agent Magazine
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To learn more about ROBERTA TAWELL, visit robertatawell.com, email rmtawell@aol.com or call 503.358-2851 www.
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Top Agent Tips and Questions for Choosing Your Listing Agent Now that you’ve decided to sell, it’s time to select the professional to help you market your property. Before meeting with agents, however, consider Top Agent Magazine’s tips for preparing yourself. Frist, ask yourself what kind of relationship you’d like to have with your listing agent. Are you seeking a casual, personable relationship and the latest marketing tools or are you interested in a more formal, traditional relationship and approach to marketing techniques? Next, populate your list of agents by attending open houses and asking for recommendations from recent buyers and sellers. Finally, schedule your meetings at your home, where you’ll be able to gauge the chemistry between you and each agent. During your meetings, expect any Top Agent to ask you several questions, but also consider discussing the following: Top Agent Magazine
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Will you please describe your sales experience and local network?
Ask your Top Agent to describe recent listings and sales of homes comparable to your own. Ask about the sellers’ priorities, the original list price, market time and number of offers. Top Agents will also describe how well they are connected with other REALTORS® in the region as well as their contacts with relocation companies, local corporations and chambers of commerce. Be sure to ask about each agent’s knowledge of how your market has changed over time and what has influenced change.
Six Powerful You’ll learn a lot Prospecting Tips by listening to agents’ opinions. to Build Your Business
How will you market the property? Each
Top Agent has a unique set of online or local marketing tools at his or her disposal. Some use lead-generation applications and nearly ever luxury agent take advantage of video. Even video marketing tools vary from agent-to-agent, however. You’ll get to decide if you prefer an agent with higher-end video production and 3D Matterport tours or an agent with Boe more intimate techniques featuring By John walk-and-talk style video tours. Why is it that some sales reps consistently earn a six-figure annual income while other reps, putting inyour the same hours,recommendation? selling the same products, What factors influence list-price Before and antrained by thequestion, same sales manager struggle swering this most Top Agents willeach havemonth severalfinancially questions to formake you, ends meet? The answer this focused questiononisapainfully the six-figure including whether you’retomore faster salesimple; or a higher list price. sales reps understand theon importance of balance businessboth development andand never They’ll also educate you how best to market time list forgetrelative to ask for referrals. price to sales histories your area. Top sales repsthe set home, high standards for themselves and spend the Nowproducing that you’ve seen what repairs or improvements do majority of their time eitherlisting? activelyYou’ll prospecting business or you recommend before learn afor lotnew by listening to closing agents’
sales. Successful sales reps productivity establish priorities, and opinions on your home’s saleset potential with orgoals, without some improvements. don’t waste their precious hanging out in the break room or taking prior twoMost Top Agents will alsotime recommend a full professional inspection hour lunch to listing tobreaks. avoid surprises during buyer inspection.
Top producers don’twith needstaging? to be reminded to ask for referrals daily How will you help Some Top Agents will pay on for apart or
basis on hot becausehowever, they understand that prospecting all of or thefollow-up staging costs. Atleads, a minimum, a Top Agent will have a for newprofessional business is aornecessity andpartner not just an activity. goodatnews is staging two in their network. WhileThe they’re it, they that prospecting for new like any painting, other learned skill set, be may provide referrals forbusiness, carpet cleaning, gardening andcan other trainedfinishing and developed into a habit. minor touches. 14
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What attributes of the property will you want to highlight? Each Top
Agent will have a somewhat different answer to this question, but that’s a good thing! Even if you have your own ideas about your home’s greatest attributes, you’ll glean insight into the current market by considering different agents’ opinions. In learning their views, you may even change your mind about your home’s most marketable features!
What is your approach to Open Houses? How many agent-only Open
Houses will your Top Agent want to host? How many truly Open Houses? Some Top Agents may even reveal a “swankier” approach to the Open House – such as an evening cocktail party or by-invitation “open” hours to which buyers visit along with the agent representing them.
Who will be our primary point(s) of contact from your office? This
important question will help you understand the scope of your agent’s practice. You’ll get to see if your agent runs a robust team with many hands on deck or if he or she works by close, one-on-one contact with each client. Either approach is wonderful; you get to decide what suits you. Now, let’s list! Top Agent Magazine
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Making A ‘Lead Generator’ Work For You by Carla Cross
When it comes to sales, some people just seem to have the ‘golden touch’. There are agents who seem to be able to convert ‘leads’ into appointments, while others struggle. I had an opportunity to observe this time and again as a manager. Jerry, in my office, seemed to be able to convert ‘floor time’ calls into appointments with ease. (Floor time, as you may remember, is a scheduled time when agents answer inquiry calls from consumers). George, on the other hand, seemed never to get an appointment while he was assigned floor time. In fact, George accused me of giving Jerry “all the good floor time”. From Jerry’s conversion rates of calls to appointments, it may have seemed like it. However, we simply rotated floor times with all the agents. No one got any better ‘floor time’ than any other agent! Why did Jerry convert calls to appointments, while George struggled? You would know the answer if you just listened to each Top Agent Magazine
man on the phone. Jerry immediately established rapport, asked great questions, and answered objections masterfully. He followed up immediately. He had awesome sales skills. George had no skills, seemed not to care much about the caller, and acted as though he was doing the caller a great favor simply by answering the phone! A “lead generator” is anyone or thing that generates leads for you. There are two types of lead generation: Pro-Active: You go find the lead (like calling on for sale by owners) Re-Active: You wait for the leads (like lead generating companies, floor time, and open houses) Too often, agents like George blame the re-active lead generating source for lack of quality of leads. On the other side, lead generating sources feel that agents don’t convert enough of the leads provided. Instead of blaming each other, we can take 17
positive steps to assure that you can screen your leads effectively, and turn good leads into appointments. Now, both agents and lead generating sources are happy! The First Principle: Follow Up on the Lead Now! A web site lead costs $215 to generate, on average. Yet, a majority of real estate agents don’t even get back to a lead—ever! Why? I think there are three reasons:
you can’t just get back to a lead three days later. The consumer today expects to get a reply quickly. I’m constantly amazed when someone thanks me for responding quickly about a product or a question about our coaching. Our standard for answering product and coaching inquiries is within the day. What’s your standard for answering lead inquiries? (Which require much faster responses, in my opinion, than my ‘leads’).
There’s Competition For That Lead • Agents mistakenly think that the A few days ago, I was visiting with lead will be theirs forever—that my cousin, whose daughter just went there’s no time sensitivity to into real estate (she’s twenty-two). She has immediately put technology answering that lead to work, creating an awesome • Agents believe there’s no database and contact management system. She’s selling up a storm— competition for the lead and making the agents in the area • Agents don’t know the cost of a mad at her. Why? Because she’s lead—in both time and money so getting to the consumers before the they don’t treasure that lead as if it other agents do. They thought they ‘owned’ those consumers’. But, my were gold cousin’s daughter is proving that no With the instant information age, one owns the consumer. She’s 18
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turn that lead into an appointment. In my coaching program, Carla Cross Coaching, we find that developing agents lack the sales skills to optimize their time and energies. So, we The Second Principle: Give provide sales skills training resources to shore up their motivation and desire the Lead Its Value to reach their goals. If you’ve ever spent time generating your own leads, you know what this Set Your Sites And Raise Your means. As a new agent, I knew Skills To Mastery about two people in the area. Because I had no built-in network, I Our high accountability training did every kind of lead generation program, Advantage, is helping new known to man. I worked all the and newer agents capture the sales time. I learned by all my mistakes and organizational skills it takes to how to generate leads—and the convert leads more often. But, value of a lead. Purchasing a lead is training is only the start. It takes so much easier than generating your coaching to master any skill, along own. But, you must treat that lead with your determination to get like the potential gold it is, so you’ll really good at lead conversion. be the Jerry of sales, not the George. Decide today your standards for performance, what you want to The Third Principle: Develop master, and how you’ll go about it. Now, you’re on your way to Your Sales Skills becoming a top producer! Following up on the lead immediately shows you value the lead. But, that’s Copyright©, Carla Cross. All rights not all. It takes specific sales skills to reserved. demonstrating that those who put technology to work effectively today capture the consumer’s attention and loyalty.
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SOCIAL MEDIA MISTAKES
Real Estate Agents Must Avoid There is perhaps no greater marketing tool for agents these days than having a large presence on social media, but there is more to social media marketing than just opening an account and gaining followers. A lot of agents forget the social part of social media. It’s all about engagement, but it needs to be the right kind of engagement. This can often be the first impression potential clients or industry peers have of you, so make it count. There is no second chance to make a first impression, and that is especially true for real estate agents. Here’s just a few things you want to avoid.
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1 Using it to Vent
Social Media is a great place to complain and commiserate about things, but save that for your personal page. A real estate transaction is already a stressful ordeal, the last thing anyone wants is someone who seems like they’ll bring a negative energy to the process. Even worse? Bad mouthing other Realtors® or listings. You’re selling yourself and your skills, so don’t sell anything that shows you in a bad light. Much like marketing a property, everything you put out should be professional and inviting.
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Lack of Consistent Branding
Yes, social media is about social engagement, but it’s also about creating brand recognition. While you don’t want it to be purely promotional, you are running a business, so create a consistent branding across all social media platforms. If you can afford a professional graphic designer to help you out with this, that’s great. But at the very least, have the same profile pic, cover image and highly visible contact information, across the board. And don’t forget to share links to your other accounts, some people prefer different social media applications.
3Not Posting Enough
It’s good to create a schedule of how many times you’ll be posting per day and to pick times when you might have the most engagement. Don’t over do it, but three posts a day at the right time, tends to be a good goal. There are numerous tools on Facebook, for example, that
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can let you see when interactions are the highest. Stick to your schedule and adjust accordingly. It’s also important to not just post your listings. Be a resource for people who follow your page. Post community events, or other informative articles that are relevant to home ownership. Be a page they want to follow even when they aren’t buying or selling a property. They’ll remember you when the time comes.
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Not interacting With Your Followers
It’s called social media for a reason. The more you engage with your followers, the more they see you as a real person, and not just a marketing tool. Not only do you get to know your past clients and potential clients, on Facebook, engagement actually will make your posts seen by more people. So it’s a win/win.
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Not Sharing or Linking to Others
It might not seem like a good idea to not promote the blogs, pages or listings of other people, but it’s not only an excellent way to build goodwill, it will also increase your own presence when they reciprocate. So make a point to share posts and links for local businesses and even the blogs of your peers, if it’s a post that offers valuable insight into an expertise you don’t have. That will encourage them to share your posts and even your listings, which will increase your potential buyer pool. This is another incentive to create your own blog. Unique informative content is always of value, and more likely to be shared than promotional links.
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Tips on Being a Good Team Leader Your business is booming, so much in fact, that you’ve finally made the decision to start a team. You’ve made sure it’s financially feasible, and you’ve found the right people, but there is still one other component of a successful team. And that’s an effective leader. It’s your job to not only generate business, but to motivate your team, which in turn increase productivity. Here are a few simple tips on being a good team leader. 1. Evaluate each team member, making sure to utilize their strengths Hiring the right people is one of the first steps in creating a successful team, but once you have those people it’s really 22
important to figure out where they best fit into the operation. Having every team member be an ‘expert’ in their part of the process leads to seamless transactions and a business that runs like a well-oiled machine.
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Of course it’s also important to create a supportive atmosphere that allows team members to stretch beyond their comfort zones, under your guidance. It’s to the whole team’s advantage when people take initiatives to up their game by taking additional training or mastering a new and innovative technology that can improve productivity. The key is to constantly evaluate not only your systems but the people running them. It’s your job as a leader to encourage that personal growth while making sure to always protect against any major misfires. Which leads us to… 2. Always reevaluate what is and isn’t working It’s a good idea to have a weekly meeting where the whole team can convene and go over any snags they may have hit in the systems that you developed when starting your team. Your team is in the trenches with you and since everyone probably focuses on a different aspect of the transaction, it’s important to make sure things are working on every level. Make sure copious notes are taken during these meetings so you have a track record of what was suggested, as well as a history of things that may have been tried and the results. Another good thing to focus on in these meetings is goal setting. Set weekly and monthly goals, and use the meetings to discuss what’s being done or needs to be done to meet them. When goals are met, it’s a great bonding experience for everyone. When they aren’t, it’s a moment to learn how you can do better in the future. Top Agent Magazine
Don’t forget to always take in what you can do to be a better team leader as well. 3. Stay connected and in communication These are your team members! There’s more to that than just a label. Be connected to them on a daily basis. Clear, open and honest communication is important on a busy team and that’s much easier if you actually like and trust your co-workers. Sure you want to succeed for yourself, but knowing that other people you respect are counting on you, is an additional motivating factor, that is certain to lead to everyone going above and beyond creating a wildly successful business. 4. Be inspiring and supportive If you’re enthusiastic about what you’re doing, it really will be infectious. Encourage innovation and creativity. Yes, systems and consistency are great but don’t let your team get in a rut either. Support their individual careers, always encourage them to go for more, let them rely on you for mentorship. If they sense that you want each member to succeed as much as you have, you won’t find more loyal employees. And perhaps most importantly focus on what’s being done right. Don’t be the boss that just points out things they don’t like. Let them know when they’ve done an amazing job and be specific about what it is. Make them feel valued and they will become a valuable asset to you and your business. 23
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