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Transform Issue 1 - THE MAGAZINE FOR REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS

BEAT THE ODDS, OVERCOME RESISTANCE AND CONQUER REAL ESTATE!

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Ph 469-449-9818<br />

www.YourLoanPro.net<br />

1


Editor’s Note<br />

Generating property sales and listings using online marketing is<br />

nothing new.<br />

Tristan Sherrill<br />

469-449-9818<br />

Tristan@YourLoanPro.net<br />

NMLS 299820<br />

According to the National Association of Realtors, 12 percent of<br />

its member agents surveyed said they got from 11 percent to 25<br />

percent of their business from online marketing. Eight percent said<br />

they got from 26 percent to 50 percent of their business from online<br />

marketing, while 4 percent of the agents said they generated more<br />

than 50 percent of their business directly from online prospecting.<br />

Tools and Methods for Online Marketing Multiplying<br />

Although these statistics seem pretty incredible, the agents surveyed<br />

were only talking about marketing online through their individual Web<br />

sites. They were not talking about additional business that will come<br />

as a result of social networking and video marketing! The fact is that<br />

these methods of generating online sales are in their embryonic stage.<br />

Most agents simply don’t understand them -- never mind actually use<br />

them.<br />

Latest Online Marketing Trends Reviewed<br />

It is our goal to crack open the door to the mysterious subjects of<br />

using social media to grow your business and brand. We will examine<br />

how you can use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to differentiate<br />

yourself from your competitors. We will also take a closer look at<br />

video marketing and how the YouTube video portal can get your<br />

properties indexed pronto into Google’s search engine.<br />

Finally, we will examine some effective and inexpensive ways even<br />

a novice real estate agent can use to produce professional video<br />

property tours, even if he or she has very little technical acumen. We<br />

hope you find this edition helpful and informative. Please email us any<br />

suggestions, comments or questions you may have.<br />

Contact Me!<br />

Feel free to contact me if<br />

you have questions or would<br />

like your peers added to the<br />

distribution list.<br />

2


CONTENTS<br />

4. 3 Everyday Tech Tools that<br />

Can Grow Your Real<br />

Estate Brand<br />

6. How Real Estate Agents<br />

Use Facebook, Twitter<br />

and LinkedIn to Network<br />

10. Launch Your Own<br />

YouTube Channel to Promote<br />

Your Listings<br />

12. Tools You Can Use to<br />

Create Professional Video<br />

Tours<br />

14. Video Marketing Under<br />

Utilized in Selling Real Estate<br />

16. A Quick Start Guide to<br />

Social Media<br />

This magazine is published monthly. Entire contents are protected under copyright law where applicable. All Rights Reserved.<br />

Reproduction or use of content in any manner without permission is strictly prohibited. All images are copyright protection of<br />

123RF.com and its photographers.<br />

3


3 Everyday Tech Tools<br />

That Can Grow Your<br />

Real Estate Brand<br />

Selling real estate has always been<br />

a highly competitive game, but in<br />

today’s slowly recovering economy<br />

- novice and veteran agents alike<br />

need an edge.<br />

That’s where standing out from the<br />

rest, or branding, comes into play.<br />

I know that branding may sound<br />

like a daunting and expensive<br />

task, involving a formidable<br />

advertising budget and time, but<br />

I’ll show you how by investing<br />

a few dollars, using everyday<br />

technology and dedicating a few<br />

hours of work a week, you can<br />

launch and build your own brand<br />

– quickly differentiating from your<br />

competitors.<br />

Smart Phone<br />

If you haven’t done so already,<br />

you should consider purchasing<br />

a “smart phone.” A smart phone<br />

is a phone that for all practical<br />

purposes is a mini computer that is<br />

connected to the Internet and can<br />

be used as a virtual office.<br />

They are either made by Apple or<br />

other manufacturers like Samsung<br />

or HTC. Telephone service<br />

providers such as Verizon and<br />

AT&T often run promos where you<br />

can pick one up for under $100, if<br />

you commit to a cellphone service<br />

contact.<br />

Why a smart phone? The savvy real<br />

estate agent uses a smartphone<br />

as her direct phone line and sets<br />

it up so all business emails are<br />

automatically forwarded from<br />

the office to this dedicated tool.<br />

This gives you instant access to<br />

your clients, or potential clients,<br />

and ensures that no matter where<br />

you are or what you’re doing -<br />

you’ll never miss a listing or sales<br />

opportunity.<br />

Web Site<br />

While you will certainly get leads<br />

from your office’s website when<br />

it’s your turn, there is no substitute<br />

for launching your own site, where<br />

you can tout your experience,<br />

listings and contact info. This<br />

is true whether you are just<br />

beginning or are an established<br />

agent.<br />

If you are tech savvy, you can<br />

launch your own site with a<br />

hosting company such as Bluehost<br />

or Hostgater for as little as $100<br />

a year. Or, if technology isn’t your<br />

strong suit, then consider using a<br />

service such as Point2, where you<br />

can launch an individually-branded<br />

real estate agent site with pointand-click<br />

templates for as little as<br />

$199 per year. The company also<br />

offers a free, two-week trial.<br />

No matter which method you use<br />

to create your own branded site, it<br />

is a necessity in today’s real estate<br />

marketplace. It is the first place<br />

you have the opportunity to show<br />

the world you are the agent they<br />

should choose to use.<br />

4


Blog<br />

Even marketers sometimes<br />

confuse the difference between a<br />

real estate agent’s website and a<br />

real estate agent’s blog. They are<br />

not the same.<br />

For example, your website is<br />

more formal and is focused on<br />

presenting your credentials and<br />

your listings, while a blog, which<br />

stands for Web log, is really a<br />

personal platform where you<br />

let potential clients get to know<br />

you and your sales and business<br />

philosophies.<br />

to say this is that the formal real<br />

estate website is more a hard sell,<br />

where a real estate blog is a soft<br />

sell. On your blog you can post real<br />

estate advice, talk about different<br />

market trends and financing<br />

options in a warm, neighborly<br />

fashion.<br />

If this all sound complicated and<br />

over your head, don’t worry. The<br />

goal is to just get you thinking<br />

about how you can use everyday<br />

technology to build, enhance and<br />

grow your brand, which is you, in<br />

the real estate marketplace.<br />

In subsequent issues, I will give<br />

you specific blueprints for building<br />

your blog and keeping it filled with<br />

quality content. However, in this<br />

issue we will explore how you can<br />

use social media such as Facebook,<br />

Twitter and LinkedIn to build your<br />

brand. In addition, we’ll talk about<br />

the technology and developing<br />

the skills needed to build the most<br />

effective virtual tours for your<br />

listings. Finally, we’ll touch on how<br />

to use YouTube and other video<br />

marketing platforms to promote<br />

the virtual tours of the listings you<br />

created.<br />

You can do this in a more informal<br />

and friendly manner. Another way<br />

5


How Real Estate Agents Use<br />

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn<br />

to Network<br />

Social media has become a<br />

buzzword in real estate selling<br />

circles and for a good reason.<br />

The concept of finding a way<br />

to multiply an agent’s ability to<br />

network to an unlimited number of<br />

prospects with little or no upfront<br />

outlay by just investing a few hours<br />

a week on Facebook, Twitter or<br />

LinkedIn is a dream come true.<br />

That’s because even if you have<br />

a modest hard-copy networking<br />

plan in place that consists of<br />

mailing a few hundred brochures,<br />

business cards or promotional gifts<br />

to potential clients, the cost can<br />

quickly add up to several hundred<br />

dollars a month.<br />

However, before your prospecting<br />

expectations exceed the reality<br />

of what social-media marketing<br />

can do for you and your brand, it’s<br />

important to first examine how<br />

these three mighty platforms work<br />

and how you can incorporate them<br />

into your long-term sales strategy.<br />

Agents Quickly Adopting<br />

Social Media<br />

According to a recent analysis<br />

of its customers by Postling,<br />

a company that offers social<br />

networking management services,<br />

84 percent of its 7,000 real estate<br />

professionals are using social<br />

media as part of their marketing<br />

strategy.<br />

6


The 900-Pound Marketing<br />

Gorilla<br />

It goes without saying that if you<br />

haven’t already created a Facebook<br />

account, now is the time. We will<br />

touch on whether you should<br />

create a personal account and a<br />

business account later.<br />

The first thing you need to do after<br />

you create your Facebook account<br />

is to connect with your existing<br />

clients, potential clients and<br />

friends, which can be contacted<br />

instantly from your email account<br />

in one click as you sign up.<br />

Some agents say they find<br />

approaching people this way is<br />

less aggressive and more socially<br />

acceptable than contacting them<br />

by email or by phone. No one can<br />

argue that it is easier, but whether<br />

this method is more effective than<br />

direct contact remains to be seen.<br />

Personal or Business Page?<br />

Some agents prefer creating a<br />

personal and a separate business<br />

page on Facebook. It’s free and<br />

some feel by launching a second<br />

business page they can more<br />

effectively target their particular<br />

real estate niche. Or course, the<br />

downside to this strategy is that<br />

you must develop a fan base in<br />

order to generate any traffic to<br />

such pages.<br />

This means you will have to invite<br />

all of your contacts to become<br />

a fan at least twice a year. Some<br />

agents make such invitations<br />

quarterly. In addition, it takes more<br />

time to run two pages.<br />

If you find that the majority of<br />

material you post to Facebook<br />

is business related then it might<br />

make more sense to create a<br />

business page and spend most of<br />

your time using it to promote your<br />

real estate business. But if you<br />

discover that most of your sales<br />

are generated by your friends or<br />

relatives -- then you might forget<br />

about creating a business page<br />

altogether and simply concentrate<br />

on marketing via your personal<br />

page.<br />

Agents’ Actual Usage by<br />

Network<br />

29%<br />

LinkedIn<br />

48%<br />

Twitter<br />

79%<br />

Facebook<br />

7


Integrate Your Efforts<br />

If you have real estate blog, it’s a<br />

good move to add a plug-in that<br />

allows your readers to follow you<br />

on Facebook and add another<br />

plug-in that allows them to like or<br />

share your posts with their friends.<br />

You should post a link to all of<br />

your blog entries on Facebook and<br />

commit to posting tidbits either<br />

written by you or someone else at<br />

least twice a week.<br />

Also, if you use an email marketing<br />

program such as Constant Contact<br />

or MailChimp and you send out<br />

a monthly newsletter, you can<br />

post the newsletter on Facebook<br />

by using specific Facebook<br />

distribution apps designed and<br />

made freely available by these<br />

companies. This way you avoid<br />

your clients’ and prospects’ spam<br />

filters and increase the likelihood<br />

they will read your newsletter.<br />

Experiment with Facebook Ads<br />

Protect Your Image<br />

Finally, it is critical that you never<br />

let your guard down when you<br />

are posting, communicating or<br />

commenting on Facebook. A<br />

seemingly innocent opinion or joke<br />

can hurt your image and therefore<br />

your brand. While I firmly believe<br />

in the freedom of expression<br />

and speech, it never makes good<br />

business sense to alienate a<br />

potential client. As difficult as it<br />

may be, it is always best to adhere<br />

to the adage taught to many of<br />

us by our parents when we were<br />

children: “When in public, don’t<br />

discuss religion or politics.”<br />

This is especially true when it<br />

comes to Facebook or any social<br />

media. You must remember that<br />

Google indexes Facebook faithfully<br />

into its search engine. The worst<br />

thing that can happen to you is<br />

to lose a potential client who is<br />

searching for your name online,<br />

only to find a comment or opinion<br />

that offends them.<br />

In addition, it’s important to be<br />

just as vigilant, maybe even more<br />

vigilant, when it comes to posting<br />

photos of yourself, others or<br />

objects. Be careful to only present<br />

yourself in the most positive and<br />

non-offending images. Images of<br />

clowning around, or worse, can<br />

only diminish your professional<br />

persona. If you have already posted<br />

what might be considered by some<br />

as offensive comments or images,<br />

why not remove them? Save your<br />

personal thoughts and images for<br />

those close to you. Again, it’s good<br />

business to keep them offline.<br />

Now, let’s take a look at Twitter.<br />

Increase Your Web Traffic and<br />

Brand with Twitter<br />

The main difference between<br />

Twitter and Facebook is that<br />

Twitter is less a place to schmooze,<br />

and more a place to champion<br />

your interests, causes, opinions –<br />

or promote your business. That’s<br />

If you happen to have some<br />

money in your marketing<br />

budget, you should also consider<br />

experimenting by running a<br />

Facebook ad. The advantage of<br />

doing so, instead of using other<br />

media, is that you can work with a<br />

small budget and really hone in on<br />

a specific demographic you want<br />

to market to.<br />

Advertising experts advise that<br />

rather than running a general ad on<br />

Facebook showcasing yourself as<br />

a real estate agent with a glamor<br />

headshot, you would get far more<br />

bang for your buck by running an<br />

ad showcasing a specific property<br />

with an accompanying quality<br />

image.<br />

8


ecause tweets from Twitter are<br />

picked up often in real time by<br />

Google, Bing and Yahoo. Many<br />

real estate agents who generate<br />

substantial leads from their own<br />

websites credit their tweets with<br />

generating as much as half of<br />

their new traffic! With such stats,<br />

you can easily see why Twitter<br />

stock prices shot through the roof<br />

the day its initial public offering<br />

debuted.<br />

But before you get delirious about<br />

Twitter, successful agents who<br />

have used it to generate quality<br />

prospects caution that it will take<br />

some patience and perseverance<br />

for your tweets to turn into gold.<br />

Watch Your Mix of Tweets<br />

It’s free and easy to create a<br />

Twitter account. Marketing experts<br />

say to stand out from the pack<br />

of other real estate agents you<br />

should invest in a quality logo<br />

and a polished and grammatically<br />

flawless description of you and<br />

your business. Also take the time<br />

to design your page and make sure<br />

its colors and images are pleasing,<br />

professional and make visitors<br />

want to stay and return.<br />

Finally, it’s important not to overdo<br />

the selling of yourself and your<br />

services on Twitter or any socialmedia<br />

platform. Most successful<br />

agents tweet links to interesting<br />

real estate related articles 80<br />

percent of the time, and salesrelated<br />

tweets 20 percent of the<br />

time. The danger is that potential<br />

clients will be turned off and<br />

stop reading your tweets if they<br />

perceive you are only interested<br />

in hawking real estate and not<br />

providing much useful information<br />

to the Twitter community.<br />

LinkedIn Used Less but<br />

Potentially the Best<br />

As I mentioned earlier in this<br />

article, only 29 percent of real<br />

estate agents use LinkedIn. While<br />

this is understandable considering<br />

the popularity of Facebook and<br />

Twitter, it might one day be<br />

considered a serious oversight for<br />

agents who<br />

didn’t get in on LinkedIn’s ground<br />

floor.<br />

That’s because out of the three<br />

social networks we explored in this<br />

article, LinkedIn is by far the one<br />

with the highest demographics<br />

of professionals from various<br />

industries. What differentiates<br />

LinkedIn from Facebook and<br />

Twitter is that members of LinkedIn<br />

join to improve and grow their<br />

careers and businesses. While this<br />

means that LinkedIn is treasure<br />

chest of quality prospects, it also<br />

means you’re apt to face some stiff<br />

competition to earn their business.<br />

Opening an account with<br />

LinkedIn is free, but there is also<br />

a paid professional account that<br />

costs $39.95 a month, if you pay<br />

annually. Many real estate agents<br />

end up utilizing this account<br />

because it gives them a much<br />

wider search range of profiles,<br />

allows them to email any of the<br />

members directly and shows<br />

them who is visiting their profile,<br />

including all of the visitors’<br />

demographics. I suggest you start<br />

with the free account, carefully<br />

complete your profile, join some<br />

groups and then monitor them for<br />

a while before signing up for the<br />

paid membership.<br />

Grab Your<br />

Free Copy!<br />

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FREE Leads from<br />

LinkedIn?<br />

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Ideas and Explode<br />

Your Growth!<br />

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9


Launch Your Own YouTube Channel<br />

to Promote Your Listings<br />

In previous articles, we pointed<br />

out that although 90 percent of<br />

consumers seek videos of real<br />

estate listings when they are<br />

searching online for properties,<br />

we found that only 4 percent of<br />

real estate agents actually post<br />

videos of their properties on their<br />

websites.<br />

The reason for this is probably that<br />

most agents fear that producing<br />

videos of their listings is way<br />

beyond their technical expertise<br />

and many of them are not ready to<br />

invest the time, money and effort<br />

they believe it will take to build a<br />

video presence.<br />

However, they might want to<br />

reconsider.<br />

Minimal Investment in<br />

Equipment and Time<br />

Today, you can purchase a stateof-the-art<br />

Digital Single Lens<br />

Reflex (DSLR) Camera for as<br />

little as $380, or a quality pointand-shoot<br />

model for under<br />

$100. In addition, Smart Phone<br />

cameras on the latest Android and<br />

iPhone models keep improving<br />

exponentially. So getting<br />

your hands on the necessary<br />

technology to take good stills or<br />

videos is no longer the financial<br />

hurdle it once was.<br />

10


Still, the fear of new technology<br />

isn’t easily overcome. Many agents<br />

know how to take photos and<br />

video and download them to their<br />

computers, but when it comes to<br />

uploading them to their website or<br />

blog, they are mystified.<br />

Create a YouTube Channel<br />

That’s where YouTube comes in.<br />

Not only does opening an account<br />

on YouTube make it possible for<br />

you to upload and host as many<br />

videos as you can create for free,<br />

it also gives you the opportunity<br />

to brand yourself by creating a<br />

YouTube Channel, which is also<br />

free of charge.<br />

It only takes a few minutes to<br />

create your own channel after you<br />

open your account. Just go to<br />

the top right hand corner of your<br />

panel and follow the instructions,<br />

using the provided links. This is<br />

the first step in branding yourself<br />

via videos. It is also a smart move<br />

in promoting yourself online<br />

because Google quickly indexes<br />

new content on YouTube – which<br />

it owns – into its search engine.<br />

And once Google indexes a video,<br />

it isn’t long before Yahoo and Bing<br />

search engines do the same. So,<br />

besides getting your brand and<br />

listings hosted and broadcasted<br />

on YouTube for all to view, you<br />

have also ensured that your<br />

name and brand will show up<br />

more frequently in regular online<br />

searches for real estate agents.<br />

Moreover, you can now easily cut<br />

and paste the code at the bottom<br />

of your YouTube videos where it<br />

says share, and embed them on<br />

your own Website. You should<br />

also post a link to the videos you<br />

created on Facebook, Twitter,<br />

LinkedIn and any other social<br />

media you use for promoting your<br />

brand. At this point, you may have<br />

all of the necessary equipment to<br />

create a video and have opened<br />

your own YouTube channel, but<br />

you are still not a technical wiz.<br />

You may know how to take fairly<br />

good photos and videos, but you<br />

have no idea on how to take these<br />

disparate pieces of media and craft<br />

them into an entertaining and<br />

informative presentation about real<br />

estate trends or listings.<br />

Tips for YouTube Newbies<br />

Here are some tips for optimizing<br />

the real estate videos you upload<br />

to YouTube:<br />

Make sure you prime Google’s<br />

search engines by adding<br />

keywords in your video file that<br />

include your name, your location<br />

and your company.<br />

Create a catchy title for each<br />

of your videos, making sure<br />

you include relevant keywords,<br />

but don’t overdo it by keyword<br />

stuffing.<br />

Include a link to your website<br />

or blog at the beginning of the<br />

description of each video you add<br />

to your channel.<br />

Become active in the YouTube<br />

community by subscribing to<br />

channels that interest you and<br />

adding comments when you feel<br />

moved to do so.<br />

Answer comments made regarding<br />

your own videos promptly and<br />

politely.<br />

11


Tools To Create Professional<br />

Video Tours<br />

If you’re a real estate agent that<br />

has decided to commit some time<br />

and effort to video marketing using<br />

YouTube, your own website and<br />

social networks, then you have<br />

already begun taking photos and<br />

videos of your property listings.<br />

Getting them organized on your<br />

computer is the next step. But<br />

unless you went to film-making<br />

school, chances are you have<br />

no idea how to transform this<br />

hodgepodge of video clips and<br />

photos into a professional-looking<br />

video tour.<br />

Easy-To-Use Video Editors<br />

You could post to the Craigslist<br />

classifieds and hope to find a<br />

professional videographer that<br />

doesn’t charge higher fees than<br />

you can handle at this stage of<br />

your real estate career, which<br />

might be difficult. Or you could<br />

take advantage of an out-of-the<br />

box and easy-to-use video editor<br />

such as Sony’s Movie Studio, which<br />

you can try by downloading a free<br />

trial version. If you like it, you<br />

can purchase for just $49.95. I<br />

recommend this product because<br />

hundreds of customers have<br />

given an overall 4.9 stars out of a<br />

possible 5-star rating.<br />

The other reason is that if you<br />

find you have a knack for creating<br />

these videos, you will have many<br />

more options using a video editor<br />

program like Movie Studio than<br />

you will have using one of the<br />

automatic, self-service editing sites<br />

such as Animoto.<br />

Animoto for Those Who Want<br />

Editing On Automatic Pilot<br />

However, if you haven’t the time,<br />

interest or technological savvy to<br />

sit down and edit your own video<br />

tours using a video editor, then<br />

Animoto is the way to go. This<br />

service is extremely easy to use.<br />

In fact, with a few clicks of your<br />

mouse you can take the photos<br />

you’ve shot of a property and<br />

transform them into a professional<br />

video presentation with special<br />

effects and even with royalty-free<br />

musical background.<br />

But this comes at a price of about<br />

$20 a month, which is well worth<br />

the investment considering how<br />

it can elevate you and your brand.<br />

Animoto also offers instructive<br />

examples of how real estate agents<br />

use its product by showcasing<br />

the following type of promotional<br />

videos:<br />

An Agent Video Selfie<br />

This is a short but cogent video<br />

where the agent briefly introduces<br />

herself and mentions her awards,<br />

includes customer testimonials<br />

and ends by giving her contact<br />

information.<br />

Tours of Properties<br />

The hook in this video is the mixing<br />

of quality video and photos with<br />

upbeat music and special effects<br />

provided by Animoto. It is designed<br />

to whet the appetites of potential<br />

homebuyers and make them want<br />

to see more.<br />

12


Neighborhood Tours<br />

In this video the agent, who<br />

represents a number of properties<br />

in the same neighborhood,<br />

highlights some of the parks,<br />

businesses, schools and listings in<br />

the area intertwining all of this with<br />

the latest relevant statistics about<br />

the area.<br />

How-To Home Buying And<br />

Selling Basics<br />

The agent uses this video to cover<br />

some of the basics of buying<br />

or selling a home in easy-tounderstand<br />

terms. It’s the classic<br />

educate-to-sell strategy.<br />

While we have only skimmed the<br />

surface of options a real estate<br />

agent can exercise to create<br />

a strong video presence, the<br />

purpose of this article is to get you<br />

motivated enough to explore and<br />

put into place your own videomarketing<br />

plan.<br />

Here are some of Movie<br />

Studio’s features:<br />

You can add special effects like<br />

slow motion, and the program<br />

even has a green screen for<br />

superimposing yourself or your<br />

properties on various backgrounds,<br />

such as your logo.<br />

The editor also allows you to<br />

manipulate images such as rotating<br />

them, or panning still images.<br />

In addition, Movie Studio lets you<br />

easily drag and drop photos and<br />

videos across timelines, allowing<br />

you to arrange your presentation<br />

in the most effective and appealing<br />

manner.<br />

In future issues, we will cover more<br />

options and trends of this growing<br />

method of transforming prospects<br />

into clients.<br />

13


Video Marketing Under Utilized<br />

in Selling Homes<br />

Every real estate agent I know<br />

is looking for an edge over the<br />

competition and a way to multiply<br />

her presence, so she can show<br />

more prospects the latest listings<br />

in the most favorable light.<br />

Video marketing is that edge.<br />

But using video, which offers much<br />

more functionality and depth than<br />

many other strategies, surprisingly,<br />

has not gained much traction<br />

among agents.<br />

According to the latest survey<br />

by the National Association of<br />

Realtors (NAR), while about 66<br />

percent of the agents surveyed<br />

have a personal website to<br />

promote their listings, only 4<br />

percent of agents post videos<br />

of their listings on their sites<br />

and major video portals such as<br />

YouTube.<br />

Even on official listing or company<br />

sites, only 14 percent of agents are<br />

using video to sell their properties.<br />

Yet, 90 percent of the buyers who<br />

are searching for a home online<br />

say they seek out video listings<br />

first, a spokesman for the NAR told<br />

the Chicago Tribune.<br />

Ground-Floor Opportunity for<br />

Video-Savvy Agents<br />

You don’t have to be a genius<br />

to see that these statistics<br />

have uncovered a great selling<br />

14


opportunity for any real estate<br />

agent that makes a commitment to<br />

learn how to use video to promote<br />

his or her listings and brand!<br />

Let’s talk a little bit about what<br />

type of video themes successful<br />

agents are creating to market<br />

themselves and their listings.<br />

Here are three themes that have<br />

yielded great results for innovative<br />

agents, according to various real<br />

estate experts.<br />

1. The Informational Video<br />

When you think of this model,<br />

think of an info commercial you<br />

see running late at night or on a<br />

Sunday morning. It’s a soft sell all<br />

the way. But it offers the real estate<br />

prospect tons of basic information<br />

about buying or selling a house<br />

in simple English, which helps<br />

the prospect trust the agent. The<br />

narrator is the agent and the length<br />

of the video usually runs from<br />

three to four minutes. This is long<br />

for a video. Most of the themes are<br />

shorter.<br />

2. The Testimonial Video<br />

This is a very popular and effective<br />

video marketing theme. It is easy to<br />

put together and can be naturally<br />

scripted with a few notes. It<br />

comprises of an agent introducing<br />

one of her satisfied clients inside<br />

or in front of their new home.<br />

The focus then goes to the happy<br />

buyer who tells about his buying<br />

experience and often recounts the<br />

entire process - praising the agent<br />

along the way. You may think that<br />

such unabashed cheerleading is a<br />

bit too much, but some agents say<br />

that such video testimonials are<br />

golden! The length should be no<br />

longer than three minutes.<br />

3. The Data-Driven Video<br />

On the face of it, this video may<br />

seem a little dry. But when done<br />

properly, it is very effective. In<br />

the video, the agent focuses on<br />

recent property sales in the area<br />

and neighborhoods where she<br />

operates. An agent can also use it<br />

to showcase current interest-rate<br />

lending trends, using this data for<br />

a strong call to action. Real estate<br />

jargon should be avoided at all<br />

costs in such video presentations,<br />

and if you must use it, be sure to<br />

translate it into plain English your<br />

prospect can easily understand.<br />

15


A Quick Start Guide to Social Media<br />

Unless you’ve been in suspended<br />

animation for the last decade,<br />

you’ve heard a lot of buzz about<br />

Tweets, friending, Facebook,<br />

Linkedin, Twitter and likes.<br />

As a real estate agent, you are also<br />

hearing that unless you become an<br />

active user of social media you’re<br />

missing out on a huge opportunity<br />

to automatically produce a large<br />

number of referrals for your<br />

business. Still, if you are like<br />

most of us, you’re somewhat<br />

overwhelmed with the sheer<br />

volume of information out there<br />

about these tools, and you’re not<br />

quite sure where or how to start<br />

building your very own socialmedia<br />

machine.<br />

This quick-start guide is for the<br />

top-three social-media tools --<br />

LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.<br />

The goal is to make it easy for you<br />

to find a starting point so you can<br />

take action now!<br />

16<br />

LinkedIn: Most Effective for<br />

Business Referrals<br />

Unlike the other two social<br />

networks we are going to explore,<br />

LinkedIn is a bit more formal and<br />

focuses on creating business-tobusiness<br />

relationships. It’s free and<br />

easy to sign up for an account and<br />

the first step is to upload a profile,<br />

i.e., resume. This, in my opinion, is<br />

the most important step of utilizing<br />

Linkedin’s powerful set of tools.<br />

It’s important to take your time,<br />

use a professional photo and/or a<br />

company logo and upload a wellwritten,<br />

interesting profile that<br />

highlights both your professional<br />

skills and accomplishments.<br />

Important: Make sure there are no<br />

misspellings or grammatical errors<br />

in your profile, even if you have<br />

to hire a professional copyeditor<br />

to proof read it. Remember, first<br />

impressions are lasting, especially<br />

on LinkedIn.<br />

Once your profile is completed,<br />

you are ready to take the second<br />

step that will immediately set you<br />

on a road to unlimited referrals<br />

by authorizing the social network<br />

to scan your email contacts. This<br />

automated process will link you<br />

to the profiles of everyone you<br />

know or have done business with.<br />

But here’s the added benefit that<br />

could eventually grow your base<br />

of qualified referrals: When you<br />

visit the connection pages of your<br />

contacts, you are allowed to see<br />

everyone they know! You can then<br />

carefully cull through them and<br />

send requests to connect with<br />

the ones you’ve chosen. This is<br />

an important step in developing<br />

new business relationships and the<br />

key to building a treasure chest of<br />

quality referrals.


Twitter : Tool for Building<br />

Credibility and Attracting New<br />

Clients<br />

Think of Twitter as a way to blog to<br />

a targeted audience without all the<br />

heavy lifting. In geek speak: Twitter<br />

is really what’s known as a microblog,<br />

because it lets you send<br />

short messages to your network of<br />

“followers.” Followers are earned<br />

by posting pithy, informative and<br />

relevant “tweets” that engage<br />

fellow members on a specific<br />

subject, such as politics, music or<br />

real estate. When someone likes<br />

your tweet, they give it a “like,”<br />

which means more people will<br />

read it.<br />

It’s easy and free to sign-up for<br />

Twitter and the whole point of<br />

doing so for a real estate agent is<br />

to share some of your local listings<br />

and insights about real estate to<br />

potential clients, who will find you<br />

because they are searching the<br />

Internet looking for properties in<br />

your area.<br />

Avoid Being Labeled a<br />

Spammer<br />

However, it’s really important<br />

to mention that some new<br />

members of Twitter kill their<br />

chances of developing a following<br />

by immediately posting every<br />

property they have listed. If you do<br />

this, you risk turning off potential<br />

followers and being classified as<br />

a spammer. The penalty for this<br />

is that your tweets are ignored.<br />

Also, you shouldn’t use Twitter to<br />

constantly toot your own horn or<br />

beg for referrals. This will ensure<br />

that members won’t want to follow<br />

you and those who do will stop.<br />

To avoid this from happening,<br />

pick and choose what you post.<br />

Tweeting about a true real estate<br />

bargain is good, just as tweeting<br />

about some local real estate<br />

statistics will be well received.<br />

Facebook: Informal<br />

Networking with Friends,<br />

Relatives and Clients<br />

Since 2004, Facebook has been<br />

a universal online community<br />

that allows more than a billion<br />

human beings to share personal<br />

information with their friends,<br />

relatives and people they haven’t<br />

yet met. It is a must for any real<br />

estate agent, but it’s a less formal<br />

venue where you can relax a little,<br />

but always remember to do so<br />

without putting your professional<br />

standing in jeopardy. It’s a great<br />

place to keep in contact with your<br />

past, present and potential clients<br />

– and it’s free.<br />

Again, it is an ideal place to<br />

promote your best properties and<br />

to obtain referrals as long as you<br />

don’t begin spamming. If you do,<br />

expect to lose friends. Case in<br />

point, I had a friend on Facebook<br />

that began sending me emails<br />

every day about different shows<br />

he was promoting. Needless to<br />

say, I soon blocked him and his<br />

messages.<br />

Follow this rule of thumb and<br />

you’ll never have a problem on any<br />

social media network: Only tweet<br />

and post the kind of items that<br />

you would want read if you were<br />

searching for a property.<br />

17


Relationships Matter!<br />

What You Can Expect from Working with Me<br />

…A Better Quality of Life<br />

Imagine working with a Mortgage Specialist, who returns your calls promptly, provides 24/7 loan status reports,<br />

closes loans on time, and most importantly, is concerned about your future success.<br />

…A Profitable Alliance<br />

Strength in your business comes from dependable relationships with key vendors. It takes teamwork to create<br />

wealth and success.<br />

…Quality Customer Care<br />

Working in concert assures a positive experience for the buyer and yourself. Repeated consistently, you’ll enjoy less<br />

stress with steady, predictable outcomes.<br />

Here’s the Best Part…<br />

How we work is by spending the appropriate time it takes to learn about your business. Unlike many loan officers<br />

who seem to only care about how many deals you’re sending them, I focus on how to help grow your business.<br />

My philosophy is built around guiding principles:<br />

1. Customers Are Serviced For a Lifetime<br />

Does your daily routine make it difficult to stay in touch with your customers? If you work long hours, which is<br />

common for many career-oriented agents, chances are you’re not keeping a message in front of your customers to<br />

create a stream of new and repeat business.<br />

18


If so, how much is this costing you<br />

annually? Not only do satisfied<br />

customers provide a valuable<br />

source of repeat business, they are<br />

your best source of referrals. They<br />

have relationships with family,<br />

friends, co-workers and business<br />

professionals that could one day<br />

be your customer. However, this<br />

can only happen if you are able to<br />

cultivate the relationship over time.<br />

Service is the backbone of my<br />

business. I enjoy a strong referral<br />

base of customers because of the<br />

commitment I’ve made to servicing<br />

and keeping in touch with my<br />

clients.<br />

I can help you cultivate<br />

relationships by keeping you in<br />

the forefront. I execute timely and<br />

predictable campaigns that help<br />

you cultivate relationships with<br />

little effort and can add to your<br />

income annually.<br />

2. Both Parties need to be<br />

Trustworthy & Accountable<br />

Example: Loan Officer who isn’t<br />

accountable<br />

You’ve been told that the status<br />

of your customer’s loan will be<br />

approved. Then in the eleventh<br />

hour, lender conditions pop-up<br />

and cause you and your client<br />

to scramble to provide what’s<br />

needed. As the Close of Escrow<br />

date fast approaches, the loan<br />

documents are not delivered to the<br />

Title Company as promised. The<br />

entire experience causes stress for<br />

your client and embarrassment for<br />

you. No matter how well you try to<br />

explain things, it’s quite painfully<br />

obvious not to expect any future<br />

referrals from the customer. Can<br />

you see how much income this is<br />

costing you?<br />

What if you could work with a<br />

Mortgage Specialist, who was<br />

trustworthy and accountable?<br />

What if you could work with<br />

someone who communicates<br />

during the entire process and<br />

delivers what is expected? How<br />

much would that be worth to you?<br />

I believe in a united alliance in<br />

front of the client.<br />

3. Success Means Constant<br />

and Never-Ending<br />

Improvement<br />

In your industry, there is not a lot<br />

of extensive training provided.<br />

But let’s face it - most people<br />

who enter real estate sales<br />

ultimately leave it because of<br />

lack of success. You don’t earn a<br />

stable salary while you’re trying<br />

to figure out how to crack the<br />

code to success. Yet, here you are<br />

in a highly competitive industry<br />

and have found a way to survive.<br />

You see the kind of dollars the<br />

top agents earn, and you wonder<br />

how they do it. Because you are<br />

experiencing some success, you<br />

may not be afraid to change. You<br />

say to yourself, “Well, at least I’m<br />

generating some business, and<br />

doing some business is better<br />

than doing no business,” or, “I’m<br />

working so hard now that, gosh,<br />

I should see better results!” Still<br />

there is the fear factor.<br />

If you could learn to change for<br />

the sake of betterment and be<br />

confident that you’d see steady,<br />

predictable results, would you do<br />

it? How much more income would<br />

you gain from adding one, two<br />

or more customers each month?<br />

How many more referrals would<br />

you generate? What about the<br />

added income, how much would<br />

that impact your self-confidence?<br />

Top agents depend on predictable<br />

systems to produce results, and<br />

they don’t work any harder than<br />

you do - they just work smarter!<br />

Let me show you how we can work<br />

together to stay in touch with your<br />

customers to generate the referrals<br />

you deserve! Call me today!<br />

Tristan Sherrill NMLS 299820<br />

Senior Loan Officer<br />

office: (469) 449-9818<br />

Tristan@YourLoanPro.net<br />

Service First Mortgage Co.<br />

5072 W. Plano Pkwy, Ste. 200<br />

Plano, TX 75093<br />

19


Beat the Odds, Overcome Resistance and Conquer Real Estate!<br />

Build a Loyal<br />

Following,<br />

Attract Fame<br />

& Money<br />

Stop chasing prospects and wasting money on<br />

advertising. Get all the referrals you deserve today<br />

and start enjoying the real estate business!<br />

- Become Recognized as a Leading Authority<br />

- Build Your Reputation So It Goes Viral<br />

- Create a Line of Prospects at Your Door<br />

It’s the perfect solution for new agents getting started<br />

or for experienced agents who need to differentiate<br />

over competitors and dominate their area.<br />

Contact me today for more details...act now before it’s too late!<br />

Tristan & Michelle Sherrill<br />

The team you can count on for your real estate business!<br />

www.YourLoanPro.net<br />

Tristan Sherrill-NMLS 299820 & Michelle Sherrill-NMLS 1096219 - Service First Mortgage-NMLS 166487 equal housing lender.

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