Being in the midst of the prime-time, real estate selling season, it's easy to get caught up putting out the fires in the day-to-day, fast-moving activities of your business.
But beware!
This can be one of the times when you are most likely to spend a lot of extra money on unnecessary marketing and advertising expenses.
I got a call recently from a fast-talking, pen-selling salesman from San Diego. ( I actually can't believe he spent almost10 minutes schmoozing me on the phone without really qualifying me first to see if I had any interest in buying 100 ink pens for $239. I had no interest!
For 5 minutes, he had me wondering if he was an old friend or client, who's voice I couldn't recall, because he never said his name. BIG MISTAKE!)
Look at your advertising and see which real estate magazines are really helping you get more clients. Are you easily reachable for prospects to call? How many calls do you get on each magazine ad?
If you advertise in your local newspaper, are you getting any calls on those ads? I often notice that some agents list several phone numbers on their ads.
WHY are they confusing the consumer???? Give them one number to call and then pick up your phone when it rings. (Unless you're on an appt.)
Consumers want to hear a live person.
Make sure that your advertising is really being effective. Are you getting calls from your ads? Test different ways of writing your ads. Don't just do it to appease the seller.
Also, in your marketing plan, are you over-promising that you'll do everything under the sun for the seller, but then they don't even want to price their home properly or they won't prepare it so you can help them get top dollar for their home?
If you have a seller, who's NOT willing to give 100% to prepare their home while you're spending your hard-earned money marketing it, then you may need to determine on a case-by-case basis, what you're willing to do for each seller and maybe stretch out your marketing plan over several weeks instead of doing everything in the first 7 - 10 days.
Remember, when the sales are HOT and the commissions are coming in FAST, it's easy to NOT think about where the expenses are going, because money is flowing right now.
Step back and track your expenses and I'll bet that you'll have more money at the end of the year.
To your success,
Dan
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