One of my pet peeves are poor quality photos of real estate listings. It drives my crazy! I get it that not all properties are “photogenic” but there are some basic things you can do to make sure the photos of your listing look good. Do me AND your client a favor and check out my Do’s & Don’ts of Real Estate Photography.
About the author: Suzy Lins is the Communications Director for CENTURY 21 Discovery. For more information about CENTURY 21 Discovery you may call (714) 626-2000.
By Guest Blogger
August 13, 2017 *This was originally published on the official blog of Century 21® on August 11, 2017
As the real estate industry continues to further embrace social media and technology in general, LinkedIn is quickly becoming one of the most valuable digital tools in an agent’s arsenal. LinkedIn is built for networking, and luckily for us, that’s one of the things we, as agents, do best. Here are a few “pro tips” that will help you become a LinkedIn expert in no time.
Choose the right photos.
When you are choosing a profile photo or an image to post with your content, make sure it is clear, professional, and consistent with your brand and your business.
Optimize your bio for real estate.
Once you upload your professional profile picture, it’s time to tackle your bio. Make sure this section lets prospects know who you (a real estate professional) are and what you will be sharing on LinkedIn. The bio is also a great place to let your personality shine through the screen.
Include your awards and accolades.
Don’t be afraid to exercise your bragging rights. In fact, LinkedIn has an entire profile section devoted to accomplishments. This section is where you share your awards, your brokerage’s awards, certifications, and courses.
Use media files efficiently.
When editing your profile, you can add media files as part of your page. These media files show up as actionable thumbnails which are great for displaying assets like your website. For the most clicks, put these files right below your summary section.
Publish content to generate leads.
One of the most important pieces of your LinkedIn profile is the content that you are sharing on it. Instead of going too heavy on listings, try to share articles that offer valuable real estate tips and advice from you or another reputable source.
Build your network.
Start by connecting with your network of realtors and brokers, then connect with their connections and so on. Your email contact list is also a great place to establish LinkedIn connections. If you would like to identify some more quality connections, use LinkedIn’s “Advanced Search” feature. It allows you to specify keywords and the location of where you would like to search for connections.
Implement these tips and techniques to establish connections and generate leads for your business through LinkedIn!
*Article reprinted with permission of Century 21 Real Estate LLC.
Real estate agents wear a lot of different hats and manage multiple things throughout each real estate transaction. They’re kind of like a Super Hero. Successful real estate agents have a team of professionals behind them that they rely on to assist with the process. For a smooth transaction to occur a lot of behind-the-scenes activity takes place. Agents must interact with and coordinate everything from the escrow company, lender, and transaction coordinator to the termite company, painter and home inspectors to name just a few. And if a transaction runs into a snag, the agent should be able to turn to their broker or manager for guidance. Many clients are unaware of all the work that takes place on their behalf.
Our CENTURY 21 Discovery agents are fortunate to have an on-site team that they can depend on. They have full access to this team without going through a gate-keeper or being left on hold or waiting for someone to return an email. We call them our #SuperSquad. Our agents know that at every step of the transaction we’ve got their back. Every great real estate agent needs a #SuperSquad like this. Who’s yours?
About the author: Joe Lins is President and Co-owner of CENTURY 21 Discovery. If you are interested in becoming part of the CENTURY 21 Discovery team or would like more information about our services or training we provide contact Joe at 714.626.2069.
This is video number four in our series “When Preparation Meets Opportunity.” This one covers what really IS our job as REALTORS®. A lot of people get this a little bit confused and find themselves wandering in this crazy game but I have a couple of tips to keep you on track. First remember, mornings are for creating business and afternoons are for doing business.
When you get into what your job actually is there are five items that you should spend 80% of your time focusing on and learn to master.
Prospecting and Lead Follow Up: The first one is prospecting and lead follow-up. What category does that fall under? Easy, creating business. If you’re not doing this crucial part of your business in the morning, you won’t have any business to do in the afternoon. So make sure this is your number one priority each and every day. You wake up every day at 0…unemployed. What are you going to do every single day to get that job?
Presenting: The second part of our job is presenting, going on those appointments. Guess what? We can’t do that without prospecting. Practice your presentation skills.
Negotiate Contracts: The third part of our job is to negotiate contracts. Once you find yourself prospecting, you’re getting more appointments and you’ll start to negotiate more and more so that is something you definitely want to master.
Conversations with Sellers: Number four is being able to ask for price reductions. Sometimes that’s a difficult conversation to have with our sellers but that is a part of our job that we do need to master as well.
Qualify your Buyers: Number five is to work with highly qualified buyers. This is something that is so important to our business. By highly qualified I mean you’ve taken the time to ask the right questions and not just pre-qualify with your lender but pre-qualified them as far as knowing what they want, their time frames, and make sure all the decision-makers are there so you don’t find yourself spinning your wheels for months at a time.
For new agents I have a tip for you, if you spend two weeks on number one, prospecting and lead follow-up, I guarantee you numbers 2-5, the presenting, negotiating, price reductions and working with highly qualified buyers are going to fall into place. You will find yourself busy, productive and successful as well.
Those 5 things that I just mentioned, that’s really where you should spend 80% of your time as agents. The rest of your time, that 20%, should be spent on administrative parts of your job: your paperwork, working with your transaction coordinator, the other agents, etc. A lot of agents get that switched so they’ll spend 80% of time on their paperwork and let the other parts of our job fall by the wayside and then they start at Ground Zero again. Remember spend 80% of your time on the creating your business part and 20% of your time on the administrative and you will be very successful. So with that, thank you and I hope you picked up some great tips.
About the author: Stephanie Goedl is the Chief Operating Officer of CENTURY 21 Discovery. For more information about CENTURY 21 Discovery you may call (714) 626-2000.
Let’s talk about the value of a CRM (Client Relation Management System) and how you can utilize it to help you have a successful real estate career. Check out this short video from our Preparation Meets Opportunity series.
About the author: Joe Lins is President and Co-owner of CENTURY 21 Discovery. If you are interested in becoming part of the CENTURY 21 Discovery team or would like more information about our services or training we provide contact Joe at 714.626.2069.
Whether or not your team won the Super Bowl yesterday, today is one of “those days” in residential real estate. It’s a day that historically the real estate market just “picks up” for the new year. Inquiries become appointments, Sellers are ready, open houses have more traffic and Buyers are just more interested!
Other examples of these kind of eventful days are tax day [April 15], the day kids start summer vacation, the 4th of July and Memorial Day to name a few. Hopefully, you have been diligently working and are already on your way to accomplishing your 2017 goals. At CENTURY 21 Discovery we are focused on a positive attitude, accountability, listening to our Clients and understanding their goals, and continuing our education through Coaching and Learning Sessions.
As of today there are 32 NFL Teams whose goal is to win the Super Bowl in 2018 and only one will hold the trophy at the end of the game. They have already begun the preparation. Are you prepared? I invite you to take a closer look at what we are all about at CENTURY 21 Discovery and how we can assist you in achieving your goals in 2017.
About the author: Joe Lins is President and Co-owner of CENTURY 21 Discovery. If you are interested in becoming part of the CENTURY 21 Discovery team or would like more information about our services contact Joe at 714.626.2069.
A hot topic of discussion in real estate circles is what will be the next big disruptor in the industry. Will it be some new technology we can’t even imagine yet or a new company we’ve never heard of before?
I believe the disruptor needs to come from within the industry. The disruptor should be something that the industry has failed to do. It needs to be the self-regulation of ourselves to create higher standards that will make us relevant to the client.
What I mean by that is the industry needs to step it up. We all know the licensing requirements to become an agent are minimal and don’t provide the additional skills sets needed to do the best job for the client.
This topic came to the forefront of the conversation when the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) released the D.A.N.G.E.R. Report back in May 2015. One of my earlier blog posts discussed this topic and how the #1 threat to real estate professionals comes from within the industry.
As REALTORS®, we have to do a better job of taking care of problems within the industry. That means REALTOR® association grievance committees and pro-standards committees have to do a better job. It also means individual REALTORS® have to do a much better job of reporting violations and not letting the violators get by. If we don’t do this then they will continue to be violators and they won’t be motivated to get any better. Not good for the industry and not good for the client. If we don’t do this, we run the risk of the government stepping in and attempting to regulate us. Check out the interview with PWR Director Al Ricci and real estate blogger and analyst Rob Hahn on this topic.
My goal is that CENTURY 21 Discovery will be the big disruptor in the industry in Orange County by providing the additional training and coaching agents need to succeed in this competitive industry. I’m not talking about the latest technology or tool. Everyone should have that by now. I’m talking about the skill sets needed to work in the client’s best interest. What does that mean? It means communication and negotiating skills, knowledge of industry requirements and most important, adherence to the REALTOR® Code of Ethics.
Only then will professional REALTORS® have the knowledge, skills, morals and ethics needed to give the customer the right information they need to make the decisions that are right for them. The disruption needs to come from within.
About the author: Joe Lins is President and Co-owner ofCENTURY 21 Discovery. If you are interested in becoming part of the CENTURY 21 Discovery team contact Joe at 714.626.2069.
Mobile Apps….what would we do without ‘em? As REALTORS® we have a multitude of apps to help us in our business. Here are some of my favorites that I recommend to the agents in our office:
Open Home Pro This app that you download to your tablet device allows you to capture contact info of the visitors that come into your Open House. After you upload photos of the home into the app it provides a slide show of the property for your open house visitors to view. It also has a feature that allows you to automatically send a thank you email to that lead after they leave the Open House. I suggest you place the tablet with slide show running on the counter or dining table near the entrance so visitors can sign in.
Videolicious This app allows you to create and edit videos on your iPhone or iPad. You can email the video directly from the app or publish to Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. With this user-friendly app you can create agent profile videos, client testimonial videos and property or community videos. They have an amazing customer support team that responds quickly to email questions. It’s a great way to connect with your clients via video.
Dropbox This service allows you to take your documents, files, photos & videos anywhere and share them easily with other people. This service is available as a desktop and a mobile app so you can access it anywhere. The nice part about this app is that it lets you share files that would be too large to email. Dropbox offers 2 GB for free. You can purchase more storage space if needed. This is a must for professionals on the go.
Typic This app allows you to add filters, effects and text to photos. My favorite feature is the ability to add your logo to the photo for a small upgrade fee. This is great if you are using photos across multiple social media platforms. Your photos will have your logo embedded on them and will look like they were professionally done.
Below is a short video with an overview of 4 additional apps that will help you in your business.
About the author: Stephanie Goedl is the Chief Operating Officer of CENTURY 21 Discovery. For more information about CENTURY 21 Discovery you may call (714) 626-2000.
Recently, a group of our professional REALTORS® attended a webinar by Alan Haburchak of Videolicious. Videolicious is an app you can use to create on the spot videos. It’s a great marketing tool for real estate agents to use to create a Listing Video, a “Come Check out my Open House” video or even a Client Testimonial video. It’s all done on your iPhone or iPad. Within about 15 minutes you can create the video and send it out to your social media sites, email to clients or upload to YouTube.
I know most of us don’t like how we look in photos let alone in videos. It took me a bit to get over how I looked on screen. But then I realized…that’s how I look. It was a blow to my ego but I got over it. If you can’t get over it and still don’t want to be on screen you can do a voice over of video clips and photos to create a marketing video.
I put together this short Videolicious video to show our agents just how easy it is and to motivate them to give it a try.
Our CENTURY 21 Discovery agents have access to an upgraded version of the app because of a partnership with Century 21 and Videolicious. Right now it’s only available on IOS products but there are plans for an Android version soon. Once you give it a try you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to use!
About the author: Suzy Lins is the Communications Director for CENTURY 21 Discovery. For more information about CENTURY 21 Discovery you may call (714) 626-2000.
Our Leadership Team at CENTURY 21 Discovery recently held our annual strategic planning meeting for 2015. At that meeting we set aside a portion of the day to review and discuss our Value Package. We wanted to make sure every member of our team knew the value of what we provide to the agents at our firm as well as being associated with the Century 21® brand.
A few months before we presented it at our Strategic Planning Meeting, the owners and Chief Operating Officer sat down to review and update everything we provide to our agents when they come to work at CENTURY 21 Discovery.
I include this value package review process as part of my weekly coaching session with our agents. A Value Package should be a part of every REALTORS® arsenal that they bring out when they meet with a potential client or go on a listing presentation. It can be as simple as bullet points of the services provided to the client and how it will benefit them. Whatever format it is, it should be what sets you apart from the other guys.
I do this every time I recruit a new agent or counsel a current agent who is being wooed by another brokerage. I have to show them what we offer versus what they will get at another firm. Just like the agents who are competing for listings with other agents we are competing for good agents with other firms.
Along with all the training, office equipment and supplies we provide to every agent, I have to remind them about the 40 years of branding that Century 21 has. Aligning with the most recognized brand in the industry allows the agent instant recognition of what they do. Alignment with XYZ Company does not promote this sense of stability and longevity with today’s consumer. I also explain that being a part of our firm ensures a high level of support and knowledge they probably won’t get from a competing firm.
Here’s a story to highlight what I mean. In California, they rolled out a new Residential Purchase Agreement (RPA) in November of 2014. Months before it came out members of our leadership team attended seminars and classes to learn about the new RPA so we could train our agents. Over a period of weeks we held classes to ensure our agents were familiar with the new contract once it came out.
By the time the new RPA became a requirement our CENTURY 21 Discovery agents were well versed in it and ready to do business. Our agents encountered many, many agents on the other side of transactions who either had no clue that there WAS a new RPA or if they did, they had not been trained on it. Their brokerage had not prepared them for a major change in the industry. I even had one agent ask me if I would train the agent on the other side of her transaction. I said, “Of course!” I’d rather have our agents in a transaction with other agents who know what they are doing.
The value our firm provides to our agents encompasses the basics like office supplies and equipment along with the bigger things like training, knowledge and a pro-active involvement in industry changes. That’s our value. What’s yours?
About the author: Joe Lins is President and Co-owner ofCENTURY 21 Discovery. If you are interested in becoming part of the CENTURY 21 Discovery team contact Joe at 714.626.2069.
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