Frankly Speaking...(from the Publisher of Homes & Land Magazine)

Our blog is intended to open your mind to escape from the old ways of 'listing oriented' advertising in order to achieve greater success. I've spent the past 8 years observing, studying, attending seminars, training sessions, and watching other businesses successfully advertise their products and market themselves through various mediums.

Want to know more? Subscribe anonomously to this blog using the RSS feed link at the top left (or watch the video to better understand what an RSS feed is). I will answer your questions &  share my knowledge and the experience of agents who have learned how to truly differentiate themselves with effective, and rewarding, advertising and marketing strategies.

Sincerely,

Jim Sedgwick, Owner/Publisher

 Homes & Land Magazine of Bucks/Montgomery Counties, PA

Let's Start at the Beginning

Right from the very beginning, Brokers have traditionally accepted new bodies to fill space in their offices. The training generally consisted of pointing out their influence of friends, family, friends families, and so forth...then simply told "go get 'em". 

Agents are not taught how to be in business for themselves.  Now don't misunderstand, I am not dissing all Brokers, but it's the Broker who sets the tone and level of quality of the agents he or she have in their office. Teaching their agents to survive in business is equally important as teaching them the rules and regulation of real estate. It is as important for the Broker to educate themselves as to the most effective ways their agents can succeed in order to know what they should be passing along to their agents. And being good in business is as important as knowing the rules and regulations of real estate.

As an Agent or Realtor, being in business for yourself means setting goals, creating a budget, developing a 'plan' and being disciplined enough to follow it though, yet flexible enough to change with the times.

OK, I know this is easier said than done, but this is where your Broker should be helping you, and you have the resources of those around you who have been in business successfully for quite some time...whether it be another Realtor or a local business owner.

Business is the same whether you're making widgets, selling real estate, building a 747 jet, or designing a 100 story skyscraper...there are three fundamental things you have to address:

     1.  Getting new business

     2. Converting that business to sales, and

     3. Servicing that business to create 'raving' fans'.

...I will address these issues one by one starting next week.


Another great source for marketing is Larry Easto, a best-selling business writer, syndicated columnist and author of 4 e-books about real estate marketing. Larry offers valuable tips on how to work smarter, not harder.

May 7, 2009 5:39 PM

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Are you (the agent) ready to change your way of thinking?

Whether you want to believe it since it spells "expense", print magazines will not wither away. They are still too much in demand from consumers and print still drives the internet. Yet the transition from the old MLS books to 4-color glossy real estate magazines to show listing photos, logos and personal agent photos was not a very creative one. Without professional guidance from trained advertising & marketing advisors, most of you simply settled for whatever publishers created for you, spending little or no time thinking about what you're doing, and you still base the value of your print advertising by the number of phone calls you received.

Herein lies only one of many problems. Most of you don't spend the time thinking about what you need to do because many agents don't fully understand the value and effective use of print advertising. And by doing so, you not only waste your money on ineffective advertising, you then turn and blame it on your print ads for not providing the results you wanted.

Would you expect a home owner to know everything there is to sell their home without using a professional Realtor? Of course not.  You can help them value their home, find and/or qualify buyers, an use resources not at the disposal of most home consumers. You often save them thousands of dollars and court appearances by avoiding common mistakes and pitfalls, and often sell their home faster than they could on their own...and for more money! Follow your own advice by seeking the help of an advertising/marketing professional who could save YOU thousands of dollars in ineffective ads? (not to mention resulting in more listings and more sales)

Rather than play the traditional Publisher who is happy to take you money and print whatever you want, regardless of whether it make sense or not, it is my goal to become a resource to help you become effective advertisers.  Over the next couple weeks I will gladly share not only my knowledge and experience, but from well known marketing experts.  Allow us to show you how to more effectively advertise and market yourself to achieve the success that many others have reached.

Subscribe to this blog and have this brought to your home page automatically, or come back next week and we'll start from the top.

Apr 9, 2009 10:35 PM

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Copyright April 2009 Homes & Land of Bucks/Montgomery Counties, PA • Office: 717-644-3878