How many of you are using cold emails to reach out to neighborhoods or farm areas?

If you’re not doing it yet, it’s something you might want to add to your toolkit. You don’t need to send thousands of emails—maybe just 50 or 100 at a time. Keep it manageable.

You might be wondering, “Jim, where do I find these email addresses?”

There are plenty of places to find them. One of my favorites is REDX. They often have email addresses for homeowners in certain neighborhoods. They might not have them all, but they have a surprising number. Once you have those email addresses, you can send out emails to solicit listings or at least start a conversation about potential interest in selling.

Here’s an idea: use the same script you’d put on a postcard or mailing and adapt it for email. Then, take an integrated approach—send both the physical mail and the email. You can also add “layers” by sending a text and running a social media...

As we gear up for the bustling spring and summer real estate market, it's crucial to leverage our networks effectively.

How do we elegantly request referrals and direct business?

Enter the real estate resume strategy.

Just like crafting a resume for traditional employment, create a polished document highlighting your real estate expertise: experience, market performance, education, skills, testimonials, and office history.

Distribute this resume physically and via email to your entire database. Accompany it with a cover letter emphasizing your readiness for the busy season and encouraging recipients to share your resume with potential buyers or sellers. Keep it concise, yet professional.

This approach conveys authenticity and seriousness, distinguishing you from agents solely focused on humor or gimmicks.

By showcasing your dedication to your profession, you establish credibility and foster genuine connections. It's not just about being funny; it's about meaningful engagement. This...

Can you relate to this?

You meet someone at a party or an event, and you have an amazing conversation. You really connect and feel like you could become friends. But then they disappear, and you never hear from them again.

As REALTORS, we often miss the chance to expand our spheres of influence and grow our business by nurturing these relationships. Plus, we could gain some friends along the way.

But here's the secret sauce: The Ford Plus One technique.

You might be familiar with the Ford technique, which stands for Family, Occupation, Recreation, and Dreams and goals. Whenever you're talking to someone and struggling to keep the conversation flowing, think about these topics.

Ask about their family, their occupation, what they enjoy doing for fun, and their dreams and goals. But as good as that is, I want to add a plus one to this technique.

Why?

I want to find a way to add value to the conversation even after it...

If you want a fun (and impactful) message to put on through your marketing channels, try something like this:

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Hey guys, want a surprising real estate market statistic?

Here it is:

35.2% of sellers are receiving over full price when they close on a transaction.

Despite the talk of a real estate recession, it's a different kind of market. Low inventory due to sellers holding onto their homes with great interest rates has created strong demand. When a house hits the market, sellers are getting incredible activity and many are selling for over asking price.

So, if you or someone you know is thinking about selling, now is the time.

It's actually a great time to sell a home, contrary to what the news media may say. The market is unique and unlike anything we've seen before. Don't let the headlines mislead you.

I'm here to help you navigate this market and discuss any real estate questions or concerns you may have....

Quick question:

When was the last time you visited your own website? Not Zillow or your MLS, but your personal website?

Let's be honest, many agents forget about it after setting it up. They think it looks good and move on.

But here's the issue: your clients won't use your website unless you do and show them how. So, here's what you need to do. Pretend you're a buyer and go on your website, familiarize yourself with it again because it's been a while. I recommend using Loom (loom.com) to record a quick video tutorial on how to use your website.

In the video, you can say, "Hey guys, I'm thrilled to be working with you. I wanted to give you a quick tour of how to search the MLS on my website. It'll be simple and fun. In just two minutes, I'll show you how to get started."

Then, guide them through finding properties, creating searches, saving searches, and what to do when they find a property they like and want...

My guess is that you're somebody that gives back to the community. Now, you might do it in small, subtle ways that people may not notice. But what if you could give back to charity in a way that helped you, the charity, and also helped your business at the same time?

It's a true win-win situation.

How could you do that?

Well, one of the ways is to pick a charity that you really care about, that you're passionate about, and then secondly, tie that charity to closings in the new year.

So here's an example:

What if you sent out an email, a text, social media post, and you said something like this:

"Hey, in 2023, I've set a goal of selling 30 homes. And I want to help that number of families achieve their real estate goals. But I want to go bigger and also help my favorite charity achieve their goals. So for every closing I have between January and March of this year, I'm gonna donate [fill in the blank: $100, $200, $500] for every...

How are you incubating leads once you've captured them? One of the best strategies you can have is having an email marketing campaign.

What a lot of the top producers in the country do is they use Constant Contact or Mailchimp.com and these are systems that are super easy, point and click, that you can build an email newsletter and send out. Some people use BombBomb if they wanna do a video version of it.

But all of these are email related. Now, why wouldn't they just do social media where it seems like all the action is well?

Remember when you do a social media post, that's only gonna be in front of maybe 2 to 4% of your audience.

You're not gonna have a hundred percent of your audience receiving the message. But with the email marketing, literally a hundred percent of your audience receives your message.

So that's a huge advantage, right? And that's something that we can use.

Now not of 'em are gonna open it, but certainly they're gonna...

Have you ever heard of Dave Ramsey? A lot of us have heard of Dave Ramsey but he is someone that wasn't super popular like five years ago. But over the last few years, boy, he's really taken a leadership position even within the real estate industry.

So who's Dave Ramsey? Dave Ramsey is a financial author, consultant, and coach. He has a podcast and hosts a radio program, which is highly syndicated across the country in many different media outlets.

What Dave Ramsey is doing is interesting. Because a lot of people don't know that he's now earning upwards of $40 million a year just in real estate referrals.

What he's doing is he positions himself as someone that's the expert. And then people come and say, hey, who does Dave Ramsey trust in each of the markets to list my home? He then collects a referral fee by referring agents to his audiences.

What a brilliant idea.

But what's really interesting about this when we take a hard...