And so it begins..... Last exam is over... aaaaaahh. But wait --!! So begins the task of building a clientele. I like to think hmm; I know people, lots of people, so I started with them. Easing my way into their lives with a nice warm tastefully written 'welcome to my new world friends' letter, at least they're aware of my new endeavour.
Next came in-house designed by me business cards. (viewed top is front; bottom is back). Brokerage logo a must and various other details which are necessary on your standard business card. This is version one, I'm having a professional photographer do a photo shoot so the next cards will have my mug on them. I might take everything downtown to a company I like to deal with and have them lay it out, decisions decisions.
My golden house logo. Purchased on line to be used on EVERYTHING I put out to the masses. I strongly recommend to everyone reading this to go out and hunt down something you like, something that makes you smile and buy and use it. Think of the golden arches; McDonalds. The black check mark; Nike. Etc. I want to be known as the golden house, it will take a while but hey Rome wasn't built in a day and the last time I checked I have nothing but time.
Above is a Feature Sheet, I'm lucky enough to have been asked to do a few Open Houses for my fellow Agents who have listings. This is a great way to get your feet wet, to meet people, talk real estate and show off a house for sale. I design my own using the Microsoft Office Publisher program. These are handed out at the Open House as a take-away and a way to get a hold of me if there are any questions from the Open House and it would be nice to have someone who took a Feature Sheet put in an offer to buy said house, that's the goal of these sheets.
Cold calling. Choose an area of the City, map it out street by street use an auto dialer and start TALK'N. This is an art-form and it's not easy but it gets easier. I call it: 'area surveying'. Last week I surveyed an area of the City and picked up a listing client and a buying client so I can tell you it's worth the two hours that day that I cold called. Always come sincerely from contribution. Give information only and see what happens. Be extremely courteous and respectful. I never had anyone yell at me or hang up on me, if you do the above mentioned things and do it with care and persistence you will see results over time.
One cool thing that many Brokerages have is a private and closed Facebook Group. What a wealth of information these are! If you're going through to become a Realtor and thinking 'how will I find out this or that' not to worry, the Facebook group will support you and freely give you a ton of information; at least my Brokerage does, I can't speak for any others. If you're one of the few people I know who isn't on Facebook you'll need to get an account or resurrect a dead one for sure even if you tell yourself it will only be used and viewed for business purposes.
The world of Social Media. Again, not everyone embraces all that is to this world. Do you want people to find you and know your business? Do you want to use the internet avenues that are free for you to travel down? Can you afford to forgo Social Media and use old out of date advertising methods? I jumped on this bandwagon early on with my own Social Media circles. To-date I use Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Blogger and my free wix.com website. Some of my Social Media is a bit messed up in my own personal likes that are completely unrelated to Real Estate which I tell myself it's ok as it keeps me human and not a machine of information relating only to Real Estate and boring a portion of people who view me on Social Media. Next I'm going to tackle my own YouTube channel so stay tuned for that!
Well folks, that's where I'm at to date. I'll leave you with a line from a course I took;
"Do you know anyone who wants to BUY a home, SELL a home, or INVEST in Real Estate?", give me a call!!
Madam E
