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3 Ways to use affirmations to build a profitable real estate business

January 26, 2011 By VangileMakwakwa Leave a Comment

I have always been a big fan of the power of positive thinking and I am a great believer in the law of attraction. If thoughts are things then every time you think a thought you create a reality which means that your bad thoughts about your real estate business are affecting your success. If you are walking around with the notion that this is a bad market or that things are hard then this is the silent underlying message that you are sending to your clients. Why would homesellers use you as a listing agent if they can sense that you are not confident?

It is often hard to fight limiting beliefs because we see them as facts supported by our reality. Take some time to imagine for a second that we are all creating our reality with our limiting beliefs, which are deeply ingrained into our subconscious. The best way to fight these beliefs is by simply reprogramming our subconscious and the best way to do this is to use affirmations, which are positive statements repeated consistently over a period of time (at least 30 days).

Repetition is the key to success with affirmations. If you repeat something long enough, you will begin to believe it. How can you use affirmations to build a profitable real estate business?

1) Use affirmations to break bad habits holding you back

What bad habits are holding you back from listing more homes or selling more homes or just doing more in your life? It could be a bad habit of procrastinating or mismanaging your time.

2) Tie your affirmations to your business goals and objectives

Start using affirmations to help you reach your goals and meet your objectives and to make the impossible possible. If your goal is to do one listing presentation a week, you can affirm this.

3) Use affirmations to improve your skill sets

What are the skills that you need to improve your business? What skills do you believe you lack as a listing agent? It could an underlying belief that you are not good at negotiating or maybe you don’t think you are good at business. Once you have this figured out you can create affirmations to counter it.

Examples of affirmations to use in your real estate business:

  • I now achieve my goals in an easy and relaxed manner
  • I am a successful entrepreneur and am enjoying a _______income a year
  • Money flows to me easily and freely
  • I manage my money wisely

Please share your thoughts on affirmations in the comment section below:

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5 tips for consistent real estate blogging

January 19, 2011 By VangileMakwakwa Leave a Comment

Most real estate agents say that blogging takes a lot of time and like most bloggers, they lose steam halfway through the process. Like most things, when it comes to blogging it is best to have a strategy in place on how to keep blogging consistently:

1) Decide how often you want to post

There are some bloggers that can post a great article everyday day and even others that can post 3 times a day but let’s be realistic, if you are a really busy real estate agent posting an article a week may be the most you can do and that is fine. You want to have fun blogging and do not want to burn out.

2) Take a day to relax where you do not think about the blog

I am not only a business coach and entrepreneur but also a writer and when I started blogging I went to town and blogged everyday for a whole year. When I was not writing, I was thinking about the blog. A year later I was burned out and it took me 6 months to recover and another 6 months to get to where I was writing consistently. My point is real estate blogging is important to show your knowledge and expertise and also market yourself but it is also a small part of your business as an agent.

3) Have a content strategy in mind

Decide beforehand what you are going to write about, who you are going to link to and what keywords you would like to be known for – keep a list of potential blog posts that you like so that you do not always have to sit there racking your brains figuring out what next.

4) Have an “ask Suzie” section to your blog and blog about your area of expertise

Sometimes it helps to have correspondence with your readers so if you have an ask Suzie section where you answer a real estate question every other week. This also helps you understand what it is that homebuyers and homesellers are interested in finding out and it will also keep you consistent because your readers and those questions hold you accountable to deliver a blog post.

5) Video blog

Sometimes I prefer doing videos to writing because I can express my thoughts better when I speak than when I write. Videos do not have to take that long or be super professional for people to connect with you. A camera or a phone will do. You could also do video interviews of people in the towns you deal in and ask them questions about the town.

Please share your tips on blogging consistently with use in the comments

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Top 3 content ideas for realty websites

January 17, 2011 By VangileMakwakwa Leave a Comment

A part of me wants to say this is so totally obvious and that it should not even be mentioned but I recently learned that a top real estate agent, who is also a friend of mine, did not even have a website.

As someone who googles everything before asking friends, I was mortified, so I decided to put together top 3 content ideas for real estate websites:

1) Real time information

Online content is king and you do need a content marketing strategy. Anything that is happening right now and is related to the towns that you deal in should be on your website. Any events happening, new listings and homes recently sold should all be on your website for people to see. Anytime you schedule an open house, all this should be on your website. The reason for this is simple: you want homebuyers and homesellers to know what you are currently doing for others that are in the same shoes as them. Having an archive of events that are happening in town gives homebuyers a feel for the town and what they can expect if the live there; it is also a great way to keep them coming to your website every week to see what is happening in town.

Tip: Consider creating a blog and blogging consistently.

2) Testimonials

Whether you are a buyers agent or listing agent you should have testimonials on yuor website. Homeowners and homebuyers are going to be working with you, so it makes sense that they should know a little about you and what others say about you. Testimonials are the tried and tested word of mouth marketing tool because they say: if someone worked with you and got great results, chances are the next person will get results too. Having video testimonials on your website is a great thing because website visitors will be able to see real people talking and most people love videos. If you have done a great job most people will not mind giving you a 1 minute video testimonial.

Tip: Create a testimonial template for people to use when giving you feedback.

3) Information request form

You should have a contact or e-newsletter form on your website for serious leads to get information on new listings and just sold listings you have. You should make it as easy as possible for homeowners and homebuyers to get in touch with you and also keep in touch with you. Having an email newsletter would also help you keep in touch with former clients and show new clients your expertise.

Please share with in the comment section what other content ideas, you think real estate websites should have:

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What is your real estate business strategy for 2011?

January 4, 2011 By VangileMakwakwa Leave a Comment

What is income goal for the year? Do you know how many houses you have to list or sell to reach this goal? Do you have a strategic plan in place to make this goal a reality? We all know the proverb that states that “those who fail to plan. plan to fail.” This is as true in business as it is in life. Real Estate agents who approach their business without a plan in place are courting failure.

Business planning for real estate agents 101: A business plan does not need to be a long winded document. I am in favor of the 5 page business plan where you:

  • decide what your annual income for the year will be
  • how many houses you have to sell or list a month and a week to reach that income
  • what strategies you can employ to list these houses and sell them.

For example:

If you want to earn $150,000 this year and you make an average commission of $10,000  per sale (you have to sit down and determine the average commission of homes in your neighborhood):

1) You will  have to sell 15 homes to reach that income.

2) This is works out to 1 home a month and 2 homes for 3 months of the year.

3) To reach this goal you may have to send out emails to past customers, call your database, cold call and mail expired listings etc

Please share your income goal with us in the comments section below

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