News Flash: Real Estate success is a long game

Last year, Gary Vaynerchuck came to my town (the National Achievers Congress) and he wanted about $700 for a ticket.

Yes, seriously.

As a long-time Vegas resident, for that amount of money, I was assuming he’d be appearing at one of the more trendy, premier venues. In fact, I assumed they would send out gorgeous show girls to feed us grapes and high-end champagne while we listened to his oratory.

But, alas, that isn’t the case.

He appeared at the Orleans Arena, a budget hotel, in a budget conference room, located one mile south of the Strip. It cost him (and Tony Robbins and Robert Herjavec who also appeared), pennies on the dollar to rent the facility.

Needless to say, as much as I adore Robbins, I like money too much to spend that much to hear him speak. DVDs and podcasts are much cheaper.

In fact, this post is actually inspired by a Vaynerchuck video I came across on LinkedIn. It’s hard to wrap my brain around his thinking in this video, and, hopefully you can, but what I do agree with him is that:

“99% of the real estate market is short-term. And the 1% that isn’t, and has the talent, wins every time.”

Vaynerchuk talks about the importance of playing the “long game,” how to develop a long-term thinking mentality and how it will help you achieve genuine success and happiness in the real estate market.

He calls the process “eat Ramen noodles longer.”

Let’s take a look at some of the long-term strategies that agents can and should be using to be successful.

Reach out, over and over and over and . . .

It’s the real estate agent with a killer follow-up strategy that is a long-term thinker. Instead of constantly trying to drum up new business, he or she understands that the fortune is in the follow-up after the closing.

More important is the consistent follow-up. Not just for the first few months, but for the rest of your career in real estate.

Despite this being a basic tenet of sales in any industry, so few agents heed it that those who do gain a competitive edge.

All it takes is to find out that a former client (or, worse, a friend or relative) listed his home with another agent (because he “forgot” that you are in real estate) to understand the power of reaching out, consistently, to every person in your CRM.

I follow several real estate agents on Facebook and belong to a couple of Facebook real estate-related groups. To say that too many agents don’t have a clue about effective lead generation would be an understatement.

One real estate blogging group, for instance, insists that all their consumer-facing posts be about real estate.

Not only is that strategy alienating on social media, but it ignores past clients in their real estate market. It misses a perfect opportunity to reach out to them with pertinent content about home ownership.

Make 2020 the year that you commit to creating and following a touch program for your real estate market.

Leave no lead behind

Need a chuckle? Go to Google and type “Internet leads are” into the search bar. The list of results may make you laugh, but the sentiment is prevalent throughout the real estate industry.

That mentality, that internet leads “suck,” stems from the pathetic drive to obtain the instant deal.

Do yourself a favor and ask the champion cold caller in your office how many calls result in instant deals.

The truth is, she cold calls for leads. When she gets one, the long game begins.

In reality, online leads may be the best you’ll ever lay your hands on. These are people who are actively looking at properties online. And, because looking online for a home is the first step most take (according to NAR studies), they most likely don’t have an agent.

Which is why these leads are quite valuable. After all, “your number-one job is to tell your story to the consumer wherever they are, and preferably at the moment they are deciding to make a purchase,” according to Gary Vee (“Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy World”)

Agents who get leads, don’t work them and then complain that the leads are weak are akin to folks who pay monthly for a gym membership, don’t use it and then gripe about being fat and/or out of shape.

The agent who won’t take the time to properly convert these motivated leads is an agent who should probably find another gig.

Real estate marketing plans should give a nod to online lead conversion. How you’ll follow up, how often you’ll reach out and consistent reminders to do so.

Real estate is a looooong game, my friend. “Unless you’re going to die, you should always play long,” Vee suggests.

Create the systems you’ll need to turn your game into success and you’ll slay the 2020 real estate market and beyond.

Need to generate more leads? Here are some of the best ways to get those leads in your funnel.

 

Generate 28 leads a week with this marketing tactic: