Feb 15, 2012

Have you ever stopped to think about just how passive some salespeople can be?  Consider all the automobile dealerships that have cars parked out on the lot, expecting the next prospective buyer to just drive right onto the lot.  Well, with real estate it’s a completely different ballgame.  Unless your idea of selling your home is to sit back and wait until the right buyer comes along at the right time, with the right price – a far better approach would be to get in touch with an agent that likes to move mountains on his or her own accord.

Here are just a few of the passive marketing techniques employed by an overwhelmingly large percentage of Realtors across the country:

• Putting a sign outside the home, hoping that a buyer will drive by.

• Listing the property on major national websites or the local MLS with the expectation that all the search criteria will be fulfilled with your home and an agent will be calling soon to make an offer.

• Hoping that other agents will notice the new listing and introduce it to their buyer clients looking for something similar.

• Advertising the property in publications, again with the expectation that the perfect potential buyer will notice the listing and respond.

• Holding one or more open houses with the intent to share the home in the buyer community hoping to generate interest.

In today’s market when almost everyone holds a smart phone or other tech device (read: tablet, notebook, laptop, book reader, who knows what next) allowing instant access to information – the last thing you can afford to do is to sit around and wait.  In fact, in many markets the only way to succeed in the endeavor of selling your home is to reach far out and grab the business.  In other words – you will have to make it happen yourself because it simply won’t happen on its own.

So the next time you find yourself asking an agent, your agent – or even one that you are thinking of hiring – what they will be doing to get your home sold, be sure that their answer shows they have drive, ambition and energy.

Strong Marketing Is The Cornerstone Of Successful Selling

Some would say that “marketing” is a just another word for sales – but that is hardly true. Sure marketing entails some sales within the larger scheme of things, but it covers a bigger picture that includes promotion, awareness, publicity and, very importantly, sales.

In real estate particularly, there are two basic brands of marketing engaged by agents across the nation and throughout the globe – and the difference can be measured in their levels of success.  Both passive and active marketing are techniques used by agents of every caliber but most top-producing agents utilize a far more active marketing stance.  In fact, when you consider the modern technological advances available today as opposed to years ago, it’s surprising that all Realtors don’t use the tools at hand to assist their clients.

Here are some of the ways that savvy real estate agents get their clients’ home sold faster, more efficiently and at a better price:

• Making regular contact with people in the buying circuit actively seeking homes in the current market.

• Utilizing all the latest tools available to measure the latest and most accurate market data and remain current with area comparables.

• Staying in constant contact with clients, via web chat, instant message, text message, real time email or daily phone communication.

• Providing useful tips, tricks and information through informational blogs and electronic communications.

• Personally contacting buyer prospects, sellers, other agents, buyers from out of town, major corporations with significant employee relocations, past clients and others.

• Tapping into extensive databases with client and contact information that includes word-of-mouth contacts and extended client databases of preferred lenders, vendors, suppliers and contractors.

Professionals who utilize this extra dimension of marketing are more likely to accomplish the success they set out to achieve.  Active marketing in terms of real estate is when Realtors go out and actively seek out potential buyers for the homes they have listed, using the tools that are “outside the box”.  They work to fill gaps and literally match properties to prospective buyers by calling their agents directly.  These are the people you should be working with to get your home sold.  These are top-producing agents.

To find out how we can help you get your home sold, call us today for a customized consultation so we can determine your needs and start working on it right away!