Four Ways to Stay Laser Focused in Today's Market

Four Ways to Stay Laser Focused in Today's Market
By Wendy Forsythe

Feeling a little tired lately? That’s no surprise. These last few years have been extremely demanding on the real estate industry and have required a level of discipline beyond our expectations.
The good news is we’ve made it through the downturn and the market is now showing signs of recovery on almost every front! The bad news is that – as tired as we may be – this is no time to relax or somehow stray off course. Instead, it’s the time to get laser focused, or as we say…get ReFUELed!
The Four Principals of FUEL
Principal No. 1: Fabulous Fundamentals
Today’s buyers and sellers are more sophisticated and have more information at their fingertips then ever before. In order to have any value to them we have to meet them where they are, and that is online. Approximately 60 percent of buyers and sellers today find their real estate agent online and 61 percent report Googling their agent.* Fabulous Fundamentals in today’s market require online profiles, listing distribution strategies, websites, blogs, social media and a host of other digital tools.
Principal No. 2: Unparalleled Service
Over 50 percent of consumers surveyed reported they were unhappy with their agents because of the agent’s poor response time and general lack of responsiveness.* Providing great service starts with consistently answering our phones, texts, emails and online inquiries.
Principal No. 3: Exceeding Expectations
Consumers pretty much think they know how to do our jobs. After all, how hard can it be to drive around taking pictures of properties and sitting at open houses all afternoon? What if we exceeded their expectations? Let’s look at taking photos as an example. Why do we insist on posting dark photos, pictures of toilets (with the lid up) and just generally unappealing images of our listings? Taking pictures is cheap these days – a smartphone and a few good photo apps can set you up to seriously over-deliver on the photography front. This is pretty important since buyers rank photos as the most important marketing tool in the promotion of a property.*
Principal No. 4: Leveraging Opportunities
Every contact, every listing, every inquiry has the opportunity to be leveraged into additional business. NAR research tells us that agents get 42 percent of their business** from repeat and referral sources, so leveraging your contacts is a key to success. Not maximizing your sphere of influence and contacts for additional opportunities is going to make business a whole lot harder.
Sources:
*California Association of Realtors
**2013 NAR Member Profile
Wendy Forsythe has leveraged her passion for real estate and technology to help build national real estate brands in both Canada and the United States. As Executive Vice President/Head of Global Operations at Carrington Real Estate Services, she is responsible for the operations and growth of the national brokerage with offices in 25 states and 1,200 agents. You can email her at wendy.forsythe@carringtonres.com.
For more information visit http://carringtonrealestate.com/.

Reprinted with permission from RISMedia. ©2013. All rights reserved.