Orlando Real Estate Careers and Training Podcast with Tom Nickley

If you would like to take your business to the next level, you will need to do listing lead generation. Inventory is at an all-time low and buyers are coming out of the woodwork, which means getting listings is more important than ever.  But this is easier said than done, as obtaining listings today is a much more challenging pursuit than it was in the past. The good news is that there are several low-cost lead generation opportunities that, with patience and daily focus, will be sure to help take your business to the next level. Today I will be highlighting three of these lead generation options.  1. Outbound dialing. This is an absolute no-brainer and something our team has focused on since day one. Expired listings, FSBO listings, just-listed properties, and just-sold properties all make for great prospecting opportunities. With consistent calling and effort, you are guaranteed to generate listing leads from these sources. Best of all, there are a number of software programs available that can make outbound dialing extremely simple.  “Homeowners who see the kind of work you put into your business will view this as a preview for what you could do for their listing in the future.” 2. Database and sphere of influence referrals. As you likely already know, your past clients and sphere of influence are some of the best sources for listing business. I recommend trying a script similar to the following when asking for referrals: “Hello Mr./Mrs. Past Client, this is Tom from the Nickley Group and I’m really glad I got ahold of you. I have a really, really aggressive goal of helping 30 families buy or sell a home this year, but the problem is that the market’s very challenging. There’s just not enough inventory. So I was just calling to see who you know or have talked to that’s thinking about listing their home in the near future.” This is the exact script my team has used over and over again, and we consistently take listings and get referrals by using it.  3. Open houses. People tend to associate open houses with buyer leads, but they can actually be a great source of listing leads, as well. Throwing a neighbors-only preview prior to the actual open house, for example, can connect you with homeowners who may be thinking of selling in the future and gives you the chance to meet future sellers. When you go the extra mile, people will notice. Doing a lot of door knocking is another great way to find leads. Homeowners who see the kind of work you put into your business will view this as a preview for what you could do for their listing in the future.  If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

As a real estate professional, your education doesn’t end with getting your license. This step is just the beginning.  I strongly believe that as real estate professionals and business owners, we should be on a constant journey of furthering our skills and knowledge. We should be consistently focused on the habits, ideas, and tactics that will take our careers to the next level.  This not only benefits our clients, but will also help us create the kind of business that will be sufficient in supporting our families, ourselves, and our goals. I think it’s extremely important for real estate professionals to always be on the lookout for classes and training opportunities that will help us improve, especially on issues we’re facing at any given moment. For example, if you want to get better at lead generation, you should seek out resources that will help you do that. You must focus on the areas you want to grow and improve in. “By continuously honing your skills, you will become wildly successful.” Also, not every class or training opportunity will provide enough content, or be clear enough to help you truly grow. Many just scratch the surface on what you need to know. Something I personally did to combat this was to take my learning into my own hands. I got involved in online circles like Facebook and YouTube, where I sought out information for myself. I searched for agents, groups, and people who were already at the level I had set my sights on.  Part of your daily routine should be to spend an hour each morning educating yourself. This will make a massive difference in your career.  Here at the Nickley Group, our culture is centered around growth. One of our core values is to learn like there’s no tomorrow. We believe agents should be students for life. From the first day someone starts on our team, we set them on a 30-day intensive training course. We have a full video library of over 30 training topics specific to our team, we have twice-weekly training sessions for our team, and we roleplay every single day.  I encourage you to get involved in these same kinds of activities. By continuously honing your skills, you will become wildly successful.  If you have any other questions, would like more information, or are curious about taking your career to the next level, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

It shocks me how often I get into a conversation with agents, even those with a lot of experience, who tell me that they have no clue where their leads are coming from, how many they have, or what their conversion rates look like.  Part of the reason this is so surprising to me is that we real estate professionals are business owners, and business owners must be informed as they make decisions within their daily tasks and their careers. One particularly crucial point all agents and business owners must understand is where they’re seeing the biggest return on investment (or ROI).  For Realtors, tracking your leads is a key strategy for determining this. You must know which lead sources are working, and which are not. If you find that open house leads are working better than internet leads, for example, it makes sense to allocate more money and time into your open houses. “Tracking leads will greatly improve your success as an agent.” But what’s the best way to track leads?  My recommendation is that you use an intake form. On our team, our intake form doubles up on a client information sheet.  Your intake form should contain all relevant information about your clients, including their name, contact information, and where they heard about you. 99% of the time, clients will be happy to tell you where they first heard about your business. It’s really as simple as asking them when you meet up for the first time.  Beyond just tracking where your leads come from, though, you must also track conversion. The easiest way to do this is by using a spreadsheet.  Tracking this data on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis will show you trends over time, and being able to predict, adjust, and use these trends to your advantage will greatly improve your success as an agent.  I know that the prospect of tracking leads may sound daunting, but it is actually quite simple and will have a major positive impact on your business.  If you have any other questions, would like more information, or would like more advice on tracking leads, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Buyer lead generation is one of the most effective ways to build a real estate business quickly. It is the cornerstone of many real estate businesses. My team started off focusing solely on buyer lead generation and conversion, and we have built our team on that concept. We sell to a ton of buyers and turn them into lifetime clients who will ultimately become listings. There are many options for buyer lead generation, but I have found that internet leads are the best source for our team. They have really helped us build quite the business. There are also platforms for purchase, including Real Geeks, BoomTown, and Commissions, Inc., which we use. All the options can be overwhelming, but keep in mind that no matter where you get your buyer leads, you have to have a system in place to be successful. You need to have a good tracking system to ensure you are getting a return on investment as well as have a good system for follow-up and that you are nurturing and creating a long-term conversion. “Our team has a 21-day follow up system because we understand that internet leads are forced registrations.” Our team has a 21-day follow-up system because we understand that internet leads are forced registrations. People go online searching homes for sale and these websites require them to enter their information to see the homes. At that point, they become leads because now we have their contact information. These leads are not looking for a Realtor to call them. In fact, many are not ready to buy a house at all. They simply went to the website because they wanted to see properties. So, we have to bring a superior level of service, bring a lot of value, and become a great resource for you. We have to understand that they are looking at multiple websites at any one time, so having great service that will help build a good rapport and trust is crucial. It may seem like a lot when we send out 10 different phone calls, five text messages, and five emails to each and every lead, but this ensures that everyone who registers on our website is getting the highest level of service. We are communicating with them at the highest level. And, then they will feel like we are bringing them a lot of value. With internet leads, you have to understand that this is the long game. Like I mentioned before, they are usually not ready to purchase. Our team sold over 100 internet leads last year, and the average lead spent 234 days on our website before they closed. The fastest was 28 days while the longest was 839. This is a nurturing process, so understanding that you have a follow-up process in place will assure your success. Luckily, many other companies are in for a quick deal, so when they get a lead from registration, they do not think they are good leads since they are not ready to transact now. This gives us an advantage because we understand that an average lead is 12 to 24 months away from purchasing.  We did over 100 internet deals last year because of this. And, this year, we may do closer to 150 or even 175. If you are interested in possibly starting to generate buyer leads via the internet or you already use the internet and you are not seeing the success you would like, please feel free to reach out to me. I would be happy to share some of the tips and tricks that we use.

Being average in today’s world will not cut it. To be competitive you have to deliver exceptional service with unbelievable value. Your clients have got to understand how important and valuable you are to them. So, I want to talk about how you can differentiate yourself from all the competition out there by delivering a quality experience with each client you work with. The reason that it is important to be above average is clients have all the information they need at their fingertips. YouTube, Zillow, and Realtor.com provide clients with the knowledge to be educated resulting in many clients believing that they know more than you. This is why the experience is crucial. You need to know what kind of experience and service to offer your clients that you want to be known for. You then must be able to duplicate that, so you can deliver it to every single person you come in contact with, so they know that you will have consistent, exceptional service. After you know what type of service you want to provide you need to create a loyal client base with fans of you for life. I utilize a “100-Touch Past Client Program” to let my clients know that I want to work with them forever. You can do calls, text messages, handwritten notes, special calls or cards for birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries, postcards, newsletters, etc. to keep you in their minds. Whatever you do, create a system that once you serve them at the highest level, you are staying in touch with them for life. “YouTube, Zillow, and Realtor.com provide clients with the knowledge to be educated resulting in many clients believing that they know more than you.” To create a great initial experience with buyers, you need to do some very important things. 1. Have a buyer consultation. Meet one-on-one and educate your clients about the market, neighborhoods, how to be successful, and the different steps and what to expect in the home buying process. This shows them that you have value for them. 2. Create a buyer packet. Go into appointments organized with a folder of color printed MLS sheets that show you are professional and prepared. 3. Talk to your clients after showings. See what they liked and what they did not like because it shows you care about their wants and needs. If they do not want to make an offer, you will know what to show them and what to avoid showing them next time. 4. Give your clients permission to make an offer on a home. Educate your client that they do not have to see more homes if they like the home. This gives them confidence in their choice and helps them to not miss out on the home that they fall in love with. 5. Communicate with your clients in a timely manner. Stay in touch with them so they have peace of mind that they need you working with them. This will differentiate you from 95% of the agents in the market and will earn you the business, respect, and loyalty of your clients. If you are interested in finding out more about this process or what we do during our buyer consultation, I would be happy to share more with you. I look forward to your calls and emails.

How can you make every listing appointment a resounding success? Follow these seven steps which our own team uses to sell over 300 homes a year:  1. Establish authority. From the very first phone call, you must establish yourself as the market expert. You have to know your market, know your stats, be an authority, and come from a place of confidence. Without these things, there’s no way you’ll be able to set the appointment off on the right foot.  2. Pre-sell your clients. Before you attend a listing appointment, it’s a great idea to sell your clients in advance. Send out an email in advance that explains what to expect of you—your stats, marketing plan, history, etc. Our team sends out all of our pre-marketing materials to potential clients before we meet with them. Before we even walk in the door, we take care to set ourselves up on a pedestal and present ourselves as professionals.  3. Build a rapport. You have to build a rapport with a client if you expect them to trust you and pick you as the person to sell their home. One of the easiest ways to do this is through finding commonalities, building a connection, and taking the time to get to know them on a personal level so you can build that trust up front. “By following these steps, you’ll establish yourself as an authority with every client you meet.” 4. Establish expertise. Go through the marketing steps, what the competition is, and have your comps in line. Know your statistics, know your market, know their home, and come from a place of professionalism.  5. Have a killer listing presentation. One of the easiest ways to do this is by putting together a PowerPoint presentation. If you can’t put one together on your own, we’d be happy to help you and share our material with you. There are other systems you can use, but creating a PowerPoint presentation will help you stay on task and deliver a consistent presentation every single time.  6. Have the paperwork ready. Leave the terms blank, but have everything else filled out and ready. This way when you finish your presentation, you’ll be able to open up your folder and have them sign on the dotted line. Going into an appointment without your paperwork ready is very unprofessional, and it can cause potential clients to lose confidence in you.  7. Ask for referrals. After all the previous steps on this list are done, it’s a great time to ask for referrals.  By following these steps, you’ll establish yourself as an authority with every client you meet. This process is both repeatable and duplicatable—the key is to spend enough time in advance to establish it and practice it so you can deliver it like a pro. From there, you’ll be able to give every appointment the authority it deserves and establish yourself as a true professional.  If you have any questions or you need help taking your listing appointments to the next level, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. My team and I would be happy to help you.

Today I want to talk about one simple thing that you can do to triple your business. We’re constantly inundated with new tools, marketing products, and other shiny objects that guarantee to take your business to the next level. I’m not going to talk about those things today.  As a matter of fact, I want to talk about a free tool that you already have in your possession. I’m talking about your database. You probably have a database full of people, from friends and family members to past clients, that simply gets ignored unless they reach out to you. It’s important to stay in front of these people, but it can feel like you don’t have any time at all to do it. Instead of chasing shiny objects with your time, I recommend staying in touch with that database. Those people are not only potential business sources themselves, but they are also a huge, untapped referral source. Having a strategy for consistently staying in touch with these people is very important. You want to let them know that you’re in the business and you want to stay top of mind when it comes time for them to buy or sell a home. “Our agents truly reap the benefits of staying in touch with their databases.” The Nickley Group uses a 100-touch program in order to stay in touch with our past clients. It might sound a little crazy to be reaching out 100 times over the year, but it makes sure we stay in front of these people at all times. The touchers are a combination of postcards, market snapshot emails, contests, client events, and much more. You don’t need a 100-touch program to succeed in getting more business from your database. Any consistent follow-up process that keeps you in constant communication will do the job. Here are a few additional ways to get business out of your database: 1. Simply ask for a referral. The people in your database already know, like, and trust you, and most of them would be happy to refer you if simply prompted to do so. The average person lives in 11 different homes from the time they turn 18 until they die. That means the average person moves every 4.2 years. Looking at those numbers, it’s clear that the people in your database know somebody who is thinking about buying or selling a home right now.  How do you get these referrals? It’s simple. Constant communication. Stay in touch with this group of people through email, social media, postcards, etc., and ask them this simple question: “Who can you introduce me to who is thinking about buying or selling real estate that I can help?” By constantly asking this question, you will be shocked at how often your database will produce leads for you. 2. Use social media to connect. Social media is such an awesome way to essentially stay in touch with your database passively. By posting about the real estate market, giving tips, and showing success stories, you’ll show your database that you’re a professional, knowledgeable real estate professional. It’s a great way to supplement the texts, phone calls, and emails that you’re already making. If you post on social media three to five times a week, you’ll be shocked at how well it works. Our agents absolutely reap the benefits of staying in touch with their past clients. Almost 40% of our team’s business comes from our sphere of influence and past client deals. If you’re ready to step up your game and add some more strategies to your past client and referral business, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

When it comes to maximizing our potential as real estate agents and business owners, time blocking is absolutely essential, and I can’t think of any other way to perform at the highest level and get the most out of your business. Time blocking means having scheduled times throughout the day for all of your most important tasks. When I say “scheduled times,” I mean uninterrupted times that allow you to have a laser-like focus on the task at hand. When time blocking is executed at the highest level, it allows you to get the most done and take your business to the next level. Most importantly, it allows you to achieve a work/life balance.  Multitasking, on the other hand, is a myth. Study after study has proven it to be the most ineffective way to get things done. As a matter of fact, multitasking causes you to work at the lowest level. Our mind and body are trained to focus on one thing at a time, and you can’t focus on one thing at a time and work at a high level if you’re trying to juggle multiple things or projects at once. That’s distraction at its finest, and it will cause you to leave a lot of money, work, and energy on the table.  When time blocking, you must time block for one specific task—whether that’s prospecting, returning emails, etc. That’s the only way to do each and every task at the highest level.  “Our team time blocks every day, and it allows us to work at the highest level.” You also have to be at your very best when time blocking. Again, our mind and body are designed to focus on the task at hand for a certain amount of time. After that time, we need to rejuvenate ourselves. This means we have to time block strategically. You can’t just have a three-hour time blocking session for prospecting and expect to sit down and prospect for three hours straight. You need to have intervals of extreme focus followed by small breaks so you can reset your mind and get back to the task at hand.  For instance, my team prospects by breaking each hour down. We prospect for 50 minutes straight and then do a 10-minute break. After that 10-minute break, we resume prospecting for another 50 minutes. Lastly, get rid of all distractions when time blocking. This means no Facebook, email, TV, cell phones, etc. The task at hand should be the only thing you focus on. Distractions are our No. 1 time-killer. When you get distracted, it takes your focus off of time blocking and undermines everything you’re trying to accomplish. The task our team focuses on the most is prospecting, so when we’re doing that, it’s our singular focus. Everyone is standing, and the only thing open on their computer is their CRM so they can look at and talk to their leads. This allows everyone to script at a higher level, have conversations at a higher level, tune into each and every client, and make sure they’re not missing any opportunities.  If you have any questions about time blocking or you’d like some more tips and tricks on how to time block at the highest level, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to speak with you and help you in any way I can. 

Today, I want to spend a few minutes talking about something that I am very passionate about. It’s also one of the most important things that we as agents and business owners need to focus our time and energy on. That’s right—we’re talking about lead generation. If you don’t have the right strategies, tactics, and habits in place, you are not going to survive in the real estate industry.  You can watch the full video above to get a complete breakdown of different lead generation tactics, sources, and strategies. Here are a few highlights so that you can forward to the topics you are most interested in: “If you aren’t generating enough leads, then you won’t make it in the real estate industry.” (1:00) Utilizing your sphere of influence as a lead generation source.   (3:00) Open houses.  (4:00) Good old-fashioned prospecting.  (5:00) Paying for internet leads and creating a consistent follow-up system.  (7:00) How to avoid common mistakes agents make with lead generation.  If you’re interested in learning more about some of the lead sources that are best for us, we are happy to share any of the scripts, processes, and systems that we use. Just give us a call or send us an email. My team and I would be happy to help you!

Now is absolutely a great time to consider a career in the real estate industry here in Orlando.  There are a variety of reasons why, but most of them boil down to the fact that our market is sizzling hot. It’s actually been hot for quite some time now, and it’s expected to continue to be for the near future. Interest rates are low, consumer confidence is high, and housing is still affordable in Central Florida. There are a lot of buyers and a lot of sellers out there.  In addition to that, Orlando is considered one of the top real estate markets in the country—not only for homebuyers, but for investors and rental properties as well. Most experts predict this trend to continue for a minimum of the next two or three years. We have lots of job growth and lots of people moving into our area, which makes for a very strong market. Overall, consumer confidence is high everywhere around the country. The stock market keeps increasing, and people keep spending money. “At the Nickley Group, we focus on the daily habits it takes to be successful in this business.” Here at the Nickley Group, we do things slightly differently in order to create stable careers for our agents. One way is by teaching them how to treat their business like a business, and not just a job in the real estate industry.  We focus on the daily habits it takes to be successful in this business. We coach, train, and hold our agents accountable, and we also focus daily on new business development, time management, database management, and other factors that make for a healthy, successful career.  If you are considering a career in the real estate industry or you’re not happy where you’re at and you want to produce at a higher level, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. I’d love to speak with you and figure out how we can help you grow your real estate career.

As real estate professionals, our databases and spheres of influence are a gold mine for future business, but only if you are working them correctly.  When you’re first getting started, it can be difficult to know how to compile this database. However, your database and sphere of influence is especially important during the first few years of your career as a real estate professional. Earning the business of people who already know and trust you will provide a critical starting point for your career. “Earning the business of people who already know and trust you will provide a critical starting point for your career.” As agents, we have to get over the fear of talking to your sphere. Today, I’d like to go over a three-step process for building and communicating with a database.  Create a spreadsheet of everyone who knows, likes, and trusts you. The best place to start is by extracting the names, phone numbers, and addresses of everyone in your cell phone. Plug in this information into a spreadsheet. Start calling that list.Use a simple script that you can use every time to let them know how excited you are to be in the industry. Let them know you would love the opportunity to talk to them or anyone they know about their real estate needs. Most people you speak to will be happy to have this conversation.  Put forth a follow-up process. People may not have referrals or an interest in doing business right away, so you need to stay consistently in front of your database to make sure you’re able to capture their business once they’re ready. On our team, we have a rule that agents must communicate with their sphere of influence every 30 days at a minimum. You can alternate between methods of communication, which is what we do on our team.  Here at the Nickley Group, we’re proud to say that 40% of our business comes from referrals and our sphere of influence. It all comes down to consistently communicating with and building your database.  If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

I wanted to take a moment today to answer a question that I’m asked frequently by new agents: “Should I become a buyer’s agent or a listing agent?” I don’t think there’s a specific, correct answer to that question. As a new agent, I think it’s important that you learn the buying and the listing side of the business so you can become more of a well-rounded professional. The psychology behind a seller is much different than the psychology behind a buyer. I also think that the easiest way to see scale and see early success in your business is through focusing on both sides of the transaction. “After you’ve learned both sides, then you can decide what you want your business to be.” I know that when you get into the industry, everybody’s always talking about listings. Listings, listings, listings. You’ve got to list to last, etc. While I don’t disagree with that, I will say that focusing on buyers and sellers allows you to learn both sides of the business. That’s really important as a new agent. After you’ve learned both sides, you can decide for yourself what you want your business to be about. I actually find that the top agents on our team end up working a 50/50 split between buyer and seller transactions each year. If you are thinking about making a change in your career or want to advance your real estate career further, I would love to sit down and have coffee sometime and discuss your career and where you want it to be. Just give me a call or send me an email. I would love to hear from you soon.  

As real estate professionals and business professionals, it’s imperative that we have one central place where we can manage and keep records of our business relationships over time. This will allow us to create even more business in the future. That’s where the term “CRM” comes from. CRM stands for “customer relationship management,” and that’s exactly what these systems do. They allow you to manage and follow up with your clients over the course of time. There are many different CRMs out there, but they all share a basic premise. CRMs give you a centralized place to manage communications, future follow-ups, and records and notes. Using this kind of system will allow you to grow a bigger and more abundant business. However, there is a lot of confusion out there about how to segment one’s database. Ultimately, the most important thing when it comes to database management is to develop a plan and stick to it. “The most important thing when it comes to database management is to develop a plan and stick to it.” At the very least, I recommend that you take every single lead that you have and segment them in your database by label or grade. The easiest way to do this is by dividing leads into A, B, and C opportunities. The A list should be made up of people you have worked with and referred you to others. Your B clients are people you may or may not have worked with. These people may not have yet referred business to you but are good prospects for future referrals. C clients are people who you don’t think will likely refer you business in the future. You should be dividing your database into these A, B, and C categories at the very minimum. Once you’ve segmented your clients, it’s key to have a follow-up plan.One of the great things about CRMs is that they not only help you manage past relationships, they are also set up to give you reminders for when you need to follow up with clients. Here at the Nickley Group, we utilize two different CRMs. Our entire back-end business is run out of Top Producer and our sales team uses Commissions Inc. If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

I see many agents out there who try to do open houses by putting up a few signs, neglect to follow-up on any leads they get, and then claim that open houses don’t work. The reality is, open houses are a great opportunity to attract business from people who are out and about looking for homes. The quality of your open house and the results you get from it are a direct result of what you put into it. Additionally, many people assume open houses are only a good source for buyer business. The truth is that they’re also a great source to attract seller business. If you market that open house, talk to the neighbors, and put out a lot of signs, those same neighbors will think about you when it’s time for them to sell their home. There are four strategies you can use to take your open house to the next level and reap the all the benefits from it. First, use signs, signs, and more signs.Way too often I see agents only putting out only two, three, or four signs. On our team, we encourage our agents to put up anywhere from 25 to 50 signs. Every single time we do an open house, the No. 1 source of all the attendees is our signs. Second, advertise the open house on social media.Social media, particularly Facebook, allows you to target certain audiences so you can take that open house and create an audience within one mile of it for a cheap price. In addition to that, there are some really cool tools like Mojo Dialer and Cole Realty Resource that allow you to pull the phone numbers of all the neighbors in the area. We encourage our agents to create a list of 200 to 300 of the closest neighbors and invite them or leave them a voicemail 24 to 48 hours before the open house. Again, this shows them that you’re willing to put in the time, energy, and focus to market that open house at the highest level. “The quality of your open house and the results you get from it are a direct result of what you put into them.” While people are coming to your open house, make sure you’re offering a tremendous amount of value. One of the things we see the most success from is finding out exactly what the people coming into the house are looking for in a home—the schools, price points, neighborhoods, etc. Offer to set them up on a custom search either on your website, your company’s provided website, or the MLS for the exact types of properties they’re looking for that will update every single day, keep properties in front of them, and keep them engaged. This is a goldmine if you do it correctly because consumers don’t always realize we have the ability to do this. Lastly, make sure you have a follow-up plan in place and start following up with those leads consistently and systematically the Monday after the open house. Keep following up until you know there’s no more opportunity there. Our team has a 21-day follow-up process we use with every open house lead that starts the Monday after with texts, emails, phone calls, and videos. This process enables us to reach out and convert those leads after the open house. The open house doesn’t stop that day—most of the conversion happens after it’s over. If you have any more questions about how to market open houses or you’d like to talk about taking your career to the next level, give us a call or shoot us an email. I’d love to help.

You can get some great leads by purchasing them from Zillow and Realtor.com. But are they worth the money? From our experience, it depends on a few things. Chief among these are your conversion and follow-up processes. In case you don’t know already, both of these websites are very expensive lead sources. On average, you’re paying $100 per lead for a zip code that’s in a $300,000 price point. I’ve heard that less than 5% of agents who purchase these leads are actually turning a profit on them. The rest are losing money. With both of these lead sources, consumers come to you. On Zillow, when one visits the site to look at a specific home and wants to get more information or request a showing, your name will appear on the right-hand side with two other agents. Your Zillow profile and recent sales will be listed underneath. In order to increase your chances of being chosen, you need to have a lot of positive reviews and a good sales record. Typically, the agent with the most reviews and the most sales is the one that gets chosen. On Realtor.com, it’s a similar process. However, they actually sell each lead to multiple agents at the same time. “Our team follows a very strict 21-day follow-up process.” Not only are these leads expensive, but there is also a lot of direct competition for them.Whether or not you find success with this type of lead depends entirely on how you handle the lead after you receive it. Our team follows a very strict 21-day follow-up process. We send 15 different texts, videos, and emails over those 21 days in order to convert your leads. These lead sources can be lucrative, but they aren’t for the faint of heart. If you think it’s going to be easy to make a quick buck on these leads, you shouldn’t even consider purchasing them. If you have any questions for me about these leads or want any tips to help convert them, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

As a real estate professional and a business owner, I’m a firm believer that we have to make sure our time, energy, and focus are directly related to dollar-producing activities and we’re focusing daily on maximizing our effort and productivity to become the best professionals we can be. To ensure that you’re achieving your maximum productivity every day, here are four tips you can follow. First and foremost, focus on new business development consistently every single day.Whether that means prospecting calls, knocking on doors, hosting open houses, or contacting your SOI, make sure you focus time and energy on new business development on a daily basis. We’re in the sales business, and without developing new business, you won’t have any business. Make sure you’re setting, tracking, and hitting goals on a daily basis in terms of the number of calls, conversations, or people you’re adding to your database. “Become a student of this industry to become the best in this industry.” Second, make sure you time block for your most important duties of the day.New business development, database management, emails, and follow-ups should all happen within a specific time block every day to make sure they’re not lost, forgotten, or sacrificed, and to make sure you’re not making excuses not to do those things. Unless we’re time blocking during the day, the most important things don’t get done. Third, don’t spend your time on non dollar-producing activities until you’ve done your dollar-producing activities.Again, these activities include talking to people about real estate and adding them to your database. Lastly, become a student.Read, watch webinars, attend classes, and do whatever else you need to do to learn the skills and knowledge you need to become the best professional you can be in this industry. Here at the Nickley Group, our whole business model is built upon these exact points. We have daily role-playing and prospecting blocks that are required from our team. Every single day, we’re time blocking and coaching and training our agents because we’re not just interested in teaching them how to be real estate agents—we’re interested in teaching them how to build a business that will grow and become their own. If you’re thinking about making a change in your career and entering the real estate industry or you’re already in the industry and want to step up your game, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d love to speak with you.

As real estate agent and, more specifically, as a business owner, you are the boss. You make all of the rules and call all of the shots. As a business owner, you have to constantly analyze the things that will make you the most successful or stop you from being successful. That means you constantly have to analyze your work habits, mindset, and focus. One of the most important things to pay attention to is the environment you choose to work in every single day. Is your work environment conducive to achieving your goals? A lot of people get into real estate because they like the idea of being their own boss. People like the flexibility, being able to set your own hours, and working from home. It all sounds very appealing, but working from home only works for a small percentage of people. If you’re like me, it’s impossible for you to get into the right mindset and develop the right habits when working from home. There are just so many distractions at home: laundry, dishes in the sink, dogs barking, television—there are a million and one things that will get in the way. You won’t be as productive as you could be and you won’t be able to achieve your goals. “Does your work environment offer the training and resources you need?” How can you choose the right work environment that will set you up to smash your goals? I have a few questions you should ask yourself to make sure that you are putting yourself in the right situation every day. 1. Does your work environment allow you to surround yourself with like-minded and goal-driven individuals? It’s no secret that the people you surround yourself with are a direct reflection of your own mindsets, habits, and focus. By surrounding yourself with like-minded, hard-working people, you will elevate your own game because of them. 2. Is your environment supportive? Does your environment allow you to focus on new business development each and every day? It’s especially important for newer agents in the industry to develop new business. We have to make calls and prospect. Does your work environment support that or is prospecting a dirty word around your office? 3. Does your work environment offer the opportunity to have coaches, mentors, books, and other training resources?That’s what it will take for you to be successful. When you first get into this industry, it can be very overwhelming. There are so many things you have to do. After all, you are a business owner. Are you surrounded by people who will help you take your career to the next level? Or is your office a ghost town, with no one there to help you? You need to be surrounded by people who will help you get to where you want to go. 4. Does the work environment allow you to be accountable for what you do on a daily basis? If you have big goals and you are driven, you have to have people hold you accountable to that. Does your work environment offer that kind of support? At the Nickley Group, we are very proud of our work environment. We do everything we can to help our agents be as productive as possible and put it all on the line every day so that they can smash past their goals. Each day, we are role-playing together, prospecting together, and we have unlimited resources for training together. I am here every day to help train our agents. We also have a dedicated sales manager who works one-on-one with our agents. We offer accountability, new business development, coaching, and training to help our agents be successful. If you have any questions about making your work environment more conducive to your success or are interested in a change, just give me a call or send me an email. I would love to sit down and talk with you.