Gabriel Duque's Blog

Most real estate home pages will allow visitors to perform a property search, obtain school and town information, so what makes your brand different has to be in the quality of your customer service.

Try to make a little survey about the value of your brand in the community you can even video tape it and I publish their answers.

Despite there are multiple applications that can help your associates the most important asset you can teach them through your leadership is the importance of hard work and discipline to serve the needs of our clients and customers.

There are multiple applications out there but most of them will not help the associate as much as a virtual tour (that gives them a real statistic information on how many times it is visited and from where) to be able to have realistic price conversations with their sellers.

Your agents should deploy a real price strategy, they need to be able to do a very well substantiated mortgage portability and a good client risk mitigation protocol.

Reference: Einbinder, Scott; "The Courage of Leadership - What Real Estate Requires"; retrieved from the Internet at: http://rismedia.com/wp/2008-07-30/the-courage-of-leadership-what-real-estate-requires/

Once you review all the recomendations of different realtor coaches and especially those of bob Corcoran you will realize that if you want to succed in a slow market you will need to do some adjustments.

1. you need to make your prospect understand that you are way ahead of those that only work on real estate when things are going well. Make emphasis on your experience and quality of your service. For example all the information from the national real estate association let you know that around 87% of the new buyers start their search for a new home on the Internet. So you need to address the current marketing conditions offering your sellers a virtual tour of their home, you could include a panorider that show a panoramic view of the interior of the house and is associated with a webpage that uses the address of the house as its URL (this will increase dramatically the number of hits to your virtual tour).
2. By showing your prospects that you are totally committed to your profession and that your personal goal is to sell their house.
3. You need to explain your client the market conditions and why setting the right price is the only way to generate the interest of the buyers and therefore you will receive more offers allowing you to sell at a better price. 
4. Since the market is slow you need to look for houses that are in top notch shape since those are the ones that will sell faster.
5. Use your time wisely. Do not run around without a specific task.

Reference: Corcoran, Bob; "How to Flourish in a Slow Market"; retrieved from the Internet at: http://brokeragentpro.com/viewArticle.html?ArticleID=1465

I was reading an article from Maya Bailey and she recommends 5 steps of the law of attraction to make marketing an agreeable and profitable activity.

1. Remember you are giving a valuable service when you market yourself.

2. Since there is no one else like you. You need to start viewing what are your strengths and for that you can ask for testimonials from satisfied clients. The more you see why these clients like the easier it will be for you to irradiate out a positive attitude.

3. If the possible customers do not know who you are or where to reach you? Your real estate business is going down the drains. You need to increase your visibility as much as you can especially in a slow market.

4. You always must offer something to your clients. You need to be exited about the quality of the service you are providing. Then people will like to hear from you. According to Dr. Maya whatever you give comes back to you multiplied.

5. In stead of presenting yourself with your name and company name start with a question asking the person about the stress most people have when buying and selling... Wait for the answer of your customer and then. Explain to hem that you are a specialist on handling all the aspects of the deals related on how to sell and buy houses since you are a realtor® with X_ Real Estate Company.

Now you got them involved so it is your time to explain how you can help them include all you do that differentiate you from the different competitors: you make interactive virtual tours of their homes that will be placed in the most visited portals of the Internet and you create a webpage for their home with a panorider that will reduce the number of prospects visiting their house since only those that really like it will be visiting the house, etc.

Reference: Bailey, Maya: "5 Easy Steps to Real Estate Marketing" retrieved from the Internet at:

http://brokeragentpro.com/viewArticle.html?ArticleID=1464

When organizations want to measure their success they have to rely on their return on investment (ROI). A successful organization is capable of measure the leverage and demonstrates the contribution of their marketing strategies and how they affect the bottom line of the company.

You need to measure:

•1.    What is the amount invested in the specific marketing campaign?

•2.    What amount is the return?

•3.    How many customers were gained?

•4.    What share and penetration does the company has on the market?

•5.    Which points of the marketing campaign worked and which didn't?

Any marketing plan needs to be balanced to help your organization measuring the contributions of the marketing plan. When you are able to place the plan into a larger context and link it to the asset growth of your company you can validate if the plan is a valuable or profitable opportunity for your business.

If you are not able to show if the marketing's plan ROI is positive you can be repeating systematically the same mistake again and again until you go bankruptcy. This has to be done with all your marketing as advertisement.

1. Does your investment in magazine adds bring you back the return you are expecting?
2. Is your webpage PRS at least a 2?
3. Can customers find you without typing the URL of your company?
4. Are you using Virtual Tours and placing them in the major Internet portals?

You need to be able to do this or you will be throwing away your money.

Reference: The Gonzalez Group; "What's Your MROI? 5 Ways to Find Out"; http://rismedia.com/wp/2008-07-16/whats-your-mroi-5-ways-to-find-out/

In order to excel in customer satisfaction you need to be able to solve little nuances. Once a customer of Virtual Florida Tours wanted to have an unified reference link (URL) attached to the virtual tour of his listing. He selected the full address of his listing for the URL but after that he decided that when he was giving it through the telephone it was extremely long. So he called our customer service and we provided the new URL at no cost for him. The next day we had a very nice referral letter of his experience with our services.

Whenever a problem occurs you need to have a set of policies that are able to solve these difficulties this will bring new customers to your business since a satisfied customer will tell an average of 5 people about the good experience. On the other hand if you mishandle a problem the dissatisfied customer cannot stop telling how bad was their experience and based on statistics of customer service satisfaction between 10 - and 13% will inform up to 20 people about their bad experience!

When you are able to have the policies that solve those little difficulties that will always occur due to our work with imperfect human beings you gain the loyalty of that customer and they become 8 times more loyal to your company than customers that never have had a problem.

Customers expect that everything will go smoothly. But when there is any difficulty the customer emotions are being hit and the worse they go the more people they tell.

Whenever you find a problem you need to establish the guidelines and policies to guide the actions of all your employees all the way through the transaction and make your business to excel wining their loyalty. Remember we are in a business that requires our customers repeated business and also their referrals...

When shopping for virtual tours in Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Miami City, and all of Miami Dade and Broward counties do not hesitate to call your local virtual tour provider at (305) 331 8960 or contact us through the Internet at: http://www.virtualfloridarealtours.com

Reference: Geroux, Sandy; "Creating the WOW for Customers " retrieved from the Internet at: http://brokeragentpro.com/viewArticle.html?ArticleID=1444

I was reading an article of Mr. Verl Workman he is a very respected Real Estate coach, and he was making emphasis on the importance of including virtual tours in all of their listings. He admitted that virtual tours have evolved and now they are faster and clearer, and that the statistics prove that they decrease the days that the listings stay on the market.

In the first place you will list more properties when you demonstrate your online marketing strategy in the listing presentation, you should  include that you use professional photography and that your virtual tours are distributed on a wide array of the nation's top search sites for real estate.

From a buyers stand point the realtor association of real estate admits that between 70-80% of all customers are going online and a huge number will not see your listings because they are lacking a professional virtual tour. The studies are showing that those listings with more visual content are viewed more than twice as often and tend to sell quicker than properties that do not have them.

He emphatically recommends professional virtual tours of every house no matter how good or bad it looks. You need to get the word out that the property is on the market and for that you will need the help of a professional virtual tour provider

If you are thinking that the property does not photograph well it is time to ask yourself will you show the property offline? If you answer yes to that question it is obvious that you should show it online, and the best way to do so is by using a professional virtual tour provider.

He recommended  to use a professional virtual tour in all the listings, and after some of his realtors following this recommendation have come to the conclusion that customers that request to visit these less than perfect homes are already aware of the imperfections so they are more qualified to become buyers.

You will be saving your valuable time to show a home that the customer has not visually prequalified. You will also pick more clients in this slow market since the clients will recognize that you go the extra mile to help them sell their properties. Since you can show the statistics of the online viewers it will be easier when you need to negotiate a price reduction or a less than full price offers.

He recommends that every property should have a virtual tour, since it is a small investment that will help you gain more listings and sell more properties. This  will also help you in the marketing process since your virtual tour provider can help you increase your presence on the Internet.

Remember for all your virtual tours needs at Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Miami, and all of Miami Dade and Broward Counties contact Virtual Florida Tours at (305) 331 8960 or through the Internet at http://www.virtualfloridarealtours.com

Reference: Workman Verl; ‘Which Properties Need Virtual Tours?" retrieved from the Internet at: http://brokeragentpro.com/viewArticle.html?ArticleID=1447

I recently read an article from Lois Geller in Lore magazine related to mail marketing.  Mial marketing is a rather expensive way of attracting possible prospects so i decided to share some of her recommendations with my readres.

The first step is get the peopole to read your letter so you will have to do one of the following after you consider which is oyur intended market.

1. YOu could tell a story of how difficult it has been to get something done
2. or make a letter showing them how they could improve they way of living by changing something in the way they live or work.
3. Trying to get the reader to ask you to contact them and give them more information on a specific topic.

Of course to do that they first have to open your letters and to achieve that you will need to do some if not all of the following:

• The use of real stamps on the envelope, helps to get the envelope opened..
• Signing each letter will help(use blue ink) once they open it that the letter gets read.
• Remember to give them an offer (maybe a dollar gift, maybe a product, like an iPod).

Of course I shall not end this little excerpt without recommending you to read the full article  

Lois Geller;" The Letter That Sold a Miami Beach Condo";

Just recall that when you are trying to sell a house a picture is a lot better than a thousand words and a virtual tour will make your listing shine in between the rest.

Virtual Florida Tours will be glad to help you with all your needs of Internet marketing of your listings. We serve the areas of Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Miami, and all of Miami Dade and Broward Counties. Simply contact us at (305) 331 8960

You will probably have figured out what your customers need or you will be out of business really soon. 

Remember that when your customers are really more interested in fulfilling their desires than the impact that fulfilling these desires will have on their wallet. In other words you need to impact your customers emotions, and when they visualize what your product or service can do for them the business will be yours

Now you could think that excelling in good customer service will make you stand out from your competition, but in reality that is offered by most companies. (therefore you must understand that focusing on the usual, the expected, or the simply good in the area of service it is no longer a good business practice), so how can you stand out of the crowd in the industry? The only real answer is to offer services that other companies are reluctant to give...

Let us think on an industry that we all use because of our needs but that most of us hate to do business with them. Yes, I am thinking in the insurance companies they have different ways to attract us toward them. Either "you are in good hands", "A real person is just a call away", "State Farm is there," and "Prudential is the rock"

These companies are selling towards their customer emotions more than to their wallets. So what will make your customer come towards you is no longer a good service by itself it has to be outstanding in as many ways as possible to be sure that your customer brings the business to you.

Most sellers know they need a realtor® to sell their homes, but if you really want your business to soar, you need to figure out not only what your customer needs, but what he/she wants since this is what will bring their business towards you.

So what makes you different from the competition in the digital age in which we are doing business, will be your presence in the Internet, the digital services you provide (all realtors can place the listing in the MLS or realtors.com, but most are reluctant to offer a professional quality virtual tour, and of course almost none can offer a panoramic picture of the house on a rider outside the house, or even a web address (URL) dedicated to hold this tour.

If you need any of these services in Miami Beach, Miami, Coral Gables, Miami Dade or Broward Counties do not hesitate to contact Virtual Florida Tours at (305) 331 8960 or through the internet at www.virtualfloirdarealtours.com  and you will receive the best quality service from your local provider.

Reference: Geroux,Sandy; "What They Need, What They Want... or Both?" retrieved from the Internet at: http://brokeragentpro.com/viewArticle.html?ArticleID=1427 

The improvements of realtor.com are reflecting the requirements of sellers that are requesting a better exposure of their homes in this digital era. The use of virtual tours is not only a good way of exposure of your listing it is a magnificent marketing tool since it allows you to gain the interest of new sellers that are able to see that you as an agent are willing to go the extra mile to sell their house.

Recently realtor.com  is announcing new changes to their webpage they continue to offer Showcase listings that is now allowing up to 25 photos and uploading of virtual tours, full motion videos and detailed descriptions. Showcase listings now displays images 120% larger than before, and up to three of your additional "recommended" listings can be displayed on each detailed listing page, and you can even schedule and promote open houses. By using the Company Showcase Listings^TM  can help to market your brand, and assist your agents with today's more informed  prospects.

They have now the agent/broker branding surrounding the listing, helping the realtor to become more visible to possible prospects. This new feature offers more points of contact.

Another of their features is the Featured Homes^TM Marketing System, that will give you  a competitive advantage since it generates  more interest in your listings and creates more exposure on every search results page.

With 84% of consumers starting their home search online, it's important to display your listings more prominently. With Featured Homes, your company's listings are seen first and up to 10 times more often, helping your company and your agents to differentiate themselves.

Virtual Florida Tours is your place to solve all your online marketing needs, we service Miami Beach, Miami, Miami Dade and Broward Counties. Please contact us at (305) 331 8960 or through the internet at www.virtualfloridarealtours.com

In order to sell any product you need someone to sell it to. In the real estate business there is a situation where most agents are unable to find prospects to which sell their listings, but there is a minority of agents who are continuing to find prospects, to sell and list homes, and to make a good living-from that chronic disappointment.

These agents are using the Internet, and their new buyers are finding their website online. Of course your site has to be found by the search engines in order to make it profitable. Once your site is indexed and found by Internet buyers online, you will get a certain number of page views and unique visitors each month. Even a few hundred unique visitors can be a solid basis for a successful online presence. In online marketing, it is about converting a solid percentage (10-15%) of those unique visitors into sign-ins to your site, then farming those people regularly.

Your website provider has to place a sign-in box above the folds on your homepage if he cannot provide this feature it is about time to change your website provider; the whole point of having a website is the ability to register visitors? If it does not look good that is not so important as to have a sign in bow that allow the prospect to sign in, since this is the whole point of you having your webpage. Soft lead capture is one of the basic requirements of prospecting online.

If you cannot identify the people that visit your site how are you going to work with them and sell them your product? You need to identify people who are truly beginning (or completing) the process of sear coach them to close their business. To promote the interest of the possible customer using some kind of valuable information or an economic advantage to the customer that concludes a business transaction. This is a very nice way to entice them to register to be kept informed?

Some people may think this is unethical but in reality most companies offer products from which they are receiving profit participations. Then if your company is receiving benefits from companies they recommend why can't you offer incentives to people who do business with you? Why can't you allocate unearned dollars to an incentive to earn them? Nothing is due until the money is earned. 

Every time members buy "approved" things most likely, a portion of the sale price is rebated to the company sponsoring the product. In today's real estate business there are complete organizations "rebating" over half their commissions to buyers and realtors(R); Therefore you can legally offer a small portion of your to be earned money on a sale as an incentive to attract a customer to your business.

Once you have visitors signing in, you need to contact them as soon as possible; you can do this using an e-mail auto-responder. To be successful on line you need to personalize every response to an Internet lead: if the prospect gives you a phone number to contact them (careful it should not be required field of your sign-in box then you can call them, if not just send them an e-mail immediately. Saying something like, "Our product has many features that will satisfy your requirements or if you are a realtor(r) you can write that your listings will probably surprise you-since they're well priced and are conveniently priced. I look forward to discussing them with you!"

In a recent study done by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) they found that the odds of calling and successfully contacting a lead decrease by over 10 times in the first hour. So contacting time is of essence!

The odds of contacting your lead in the first 5 minutes are 100 times as favorable those you will get after just half an hour. After 20 hours each attempt you make to contact a lead actually hurts your chances of obtaining the business. According to this study the best time to call, is instantly.

According to this the importance of a timely answer is essential. Our prospects expect to receive information instantly. Every consumer is aware of how valuable they are as a buyer in the marketplace, and you can see why an immediate answer is important in online marketing.

Having a web platform that can be properly optimized and indexed is vital, for without that ability, even the best SEO work will not produce results equal to a site that is able to be indexed and optimized. This simply means that your website has to stand by itself and cannot be placed inside a sub domain sites since this sites don't work in Internet marketing as well as true domains.

If when you are looking for your line of business you need to type you own uniformed related link (URL) in its address, it can't be found by Internet prospects who don't know you. In online prospecting, there are certain rules, and one of them is that your site must be capable of being properly optimized in order to produce leads.

A sale has many "rules" as well, and one of them is that if you do not do your prospecting you won't be closing sales. The Internet is literally the best prospecting concept available for all lines of business including real estate professionals to develop as an adjunct to their practice. 

If you will like more information on this or other Internet related issues in the areas of Miami Beach, Miami, Miami Dade or Broward counties do not hesitate to contact Virtual Florida Tours at (305) 331 8960 or through the Internet at www.virtualfloridarealtours.com and you will find your solution to your online advertising.

Reference: Parker,Mike; "Online Marketing: How to Prospect Better Online"; retrieved from the Internet at:  http://rismedia.com/wp/2008-07-11/online-marketing-how-to-prospect-better-online/