The BIG Kahuna

You?ve just swung the noose over the shower curtain. As you stand on the wobbly chair ask yourself this? What can I do in this disgusting real estate market? How can I win??

Climb down, I have all the answers you?ll need. Right here in this awesomely amazing branding blog?.free of charge!?

Two steps backwards to go forward?

That?s what you need to realize first. In the 15 years you real estate people had it good some funny things happened. First you made oodles of cash for doing little to no work. Houses were selling themselves and in record numbers. I sold an investment condo in 2003 in 1 day. And I had people fighting over it. It sold for $20,000 over list price. Ah, those were the days huh??

Secondly you created the hated order takers. Because the market was so good you real estate owners went out and hired any housewife willing to drive customers around. They made piles of cash and so did you. But those order takers aren?t working out to well now are they??

It may be 10 years before you get to that happy zone again. Now you have to really sell and market. ?

Here are some tips that will propel you past the competition and ensure your success.?

1. Develop a brand identity: Be known for something. Don?t just blend in with the crowd. Be a risk taker and understand you can?t be everything to everyone. Maybe now is a good time to become a ?Buyer?s Agency? office. Sure you?ll lose out on listings but think of all those buyers who need your help (isn?t it a buyer?s market?). If you became the big bad buyers agency you could dominate your market and be focused on one thing?.buyers.

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Or you can just be the standard agency that does all the same things as everyone else?you choose.?

2. Start marketing to the right channels. Stop wasting your money on old school advertising methods, ie yellow pages, newspapers, billboards, radio?blah, blah.

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Start having conversations with your customers instead of selling to them. Develop a blog and target it to your selling area. Then give people advice on buying a home (if you go with my buyer?s agency idea). Once you become the expert you get the sales. ?

3. Start becoming active in Social Media. Join Facebook and then start a Buyers Only Real Estate Group. I have one for branding (Branding Group). It takes about 5 minutes to set one up and then people join. Imagine all those hungry buyers looking for information, tips and tricks. And you could be the one giving it to them. On top of that you could then drive them to your blog. That?s what I do.

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4. Host Buyer only events at your office (or another location if your office is too small). Bring in buyers for an informative get together. Buyers get to interact with people they have things in common with. It will be a big hit.

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Those are 4 tips for you real estate mogul?s to get started. I know most of you are set in your ways and will want to take any listing or sale because money is money. That?s cool, eventually the smart guys will catch you and pass you.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 24th, 2008 at 9:59 am and is filed under Branding Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.