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Seven marketing and business strategies for real estate agents

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Seven marketing and business strategies for real estate agents

Being a real estate agent is no different to working within any other industry: you’ll need to market yourself and your brand so you can be successful. There are a number of different ways that you can do this – however, what will work for a person in one industry won’t necessarily be the best for someone else in another role.

So what should you add to your marketing and business strategies to be a good real estate agent? Your aim is to make sure you can sell properties for the best price you can on behalf of the seller, and to attract buyers to gain interest in your portfolio. There are different methods and materials you could use to your advantage, so think about what could be the best strategy to use for your real estate brand.

These are only some of the items you could include in your plans.Try implementing some of them, and see what could be excellent additions to your business.

Use video

Using technology as a device for your real estate business will show your clients that you have a fresh perspective on selling homes. You could use video streaming for live auctions, for example, or use social media tools for quick home walk-throughs. Buyers want to have their agent to liven up what’s added to social media.

Try out VR

Tech-savvy real estate agents are looking to include virtual reality, or VR, for walkthroughs. Many people will want to view a property in the comfort of their current home and, by using VR, you can offer a comprehensive preview of that place. If you want to be competitive in real estate, then technology is one area that can give you an edge.

Put some effort into your online profile

You need to have an effective online profile so you can attract future business and get previous client referrals – so is an important part of your marketing by using websites for real estate brokers. Your profile should be compatible for all mobile devices as well as different computer screens; people are more mobile-centric, so you need to meet the demands of the smartphone market to make sure they will check you out.

Learn about your local property market

The valuation of a potential property is most likely to be based on other properties within the local area. So if the prices of property within one town are in the $220,000 range, for example, there might be an area where there are places that won’t sell for more than $178,000.

So do a bit of research into what properties sell for, so you can have information that you can present to a potential client. There are portals available that can give you details of recent sale agreed prices.

The area that you look at should be based on the number of properties that are in it. So if there aren’t that many homes in that place, then you will need to widen your search.

Develop your skills

Once you’ve learnt the basics, you should put them into practice. What would you do if a seller asks you to reduce your commission, or how would you explain what happens with inspection contingency?

The more people you engage with, the more practice you will have when it comes to tackling important topics. So have as many real estate conversations that you can, and practice any scripts.

It’s also crucial that you run your real estate career as a business, and develop your entrepreneurial skills. Make sure you carry out some research using a range of sources that will give you inspiration and ideas that you could put into action, as well as give you valuable insights. There’s a lot of real estate information online, including on YouTube, and there are numerous books you can also read.

Engage with your audience on social media

One of the most efficient ways of engaging with your audience on social media is to optimize your content, so it is easy to find and is something other than just promotional. You can also post direct questions to your followers – such as on polls and on Instagram stories, for example.

Use testimonials and quotes

Real estate isn’t the best material for you to create interesting and engaging content. So if you’re struggling with this, you can try using customer testimonials and interesting quotes. You will then have a steady amount of quality content if you turn these blocks of text into beautiful pictures.

Ways To make Your Business More Efficient

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A business needs to work and keep working for both the owners and the consumers. Inefficiency can be a real problem for businesses, which can end up costing your business a lot of revenue. There are some tricks you can use to make your business more efficient and improve your earning power and productivity.

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | Ways To make Your Business More Efficient | Entrepreneurship | Business Efficiency

What Isn’t Working?

Before you make any changes, you need to identify the areas of your process that are currently inefficient. When you know where the problem areas are, you can start working out what is causing it. From here, you can create a solution. For example, if your IT team is overworked and stressed, you’ll get more IT downtime, slowing down work. You can fix this by using IT services to tackle business inefficiency caused by technology. Inefficiency can occur in lots of different places. It might be redundant processes, important information that is hard to find and procedures that have been allowed to get out of date. Overcomplicated procedures are also a common problem.

Democratize The Market

Find a way to make the market you work in more democratic, which makes processes faster for staff and consumers, and frees up your team to deal with other parts of their job. Making the process of working with you much smoother and simpler, you can serve more customers and retain them afterward. The easier it is for customers and staff to access technology and information, the smoother and faster your business can operate.

Explore Digital Integration

Digital integration that is inefficient can be a big problem, causing you to be less competitive in your industry. Instead, use digital integration that can streamline your work, cutting down on the time that is wasted. Digital solutions that are properly integrated can improve efficiency in lots of ways. Technology can be used to automate tasks that are time-consuming, which then allows your employees to focus on tasks that need attention from a human being. Communication is made faster and easier. Reports can be generated and shared with key stakeholders much more quickly. Problems can be found and handled sooner, and employees can communicate with each other much more easily. Proper, thorough digital integration is a must-do solution to inefficiency in a business.

Build An End-To-End Solution

You need to think about the entire system, and consider how your business and product fits into the larger picture. Full integration can help you find more ways to improve your efficiency. If all the parts of your machine work together, things will operate in a more efficient way, allowing you to work on the things that matter.

Build Communities And Resources

A great way to be more efficient in your business is to create communities. The people you meet will help you to open up more opportunities in a natural way. Foster community development with tings like public forums for discussion, networking options and sharing resources. This can generate new ideas, invaluable feedback, and new concepts for you and the other businesses involved.

Handling Negative Business Reviews

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Handling Negative Business Reviews

It happens to all of us at some point. No matter how hard you work and no matter how much you try to do your best, a customer eventually has a negative experience. Unfortunately, when a customer has a negative experience no matter the fault, you can get hit with a negative review. While it surely stings, it’s not the end of the world. Luckily, you can actually take steps towards turning the negative review into a positive experience for both your business and the customer if you handle the situation the right way. Below, we will be going over some tips for handling negative reviews with the help of Cormac Reynolds from VelSEOity.

1. Don’t React

One of the main things that you want to do is avoid having a knee jerk reaction to the customer who is upset. By responding with negativity, you can guarantee that you will encounter even more negativity which can spiral out of control. Avoid reacting negatively and slapping back to the negative review for the entire world to see. While you want to respond swiftly, you need to do so in a calm and collected manner. If necessary, vent your frustration offline by doing some exercise or by conducting deep breathing exercises. It’s important to understand that a negative review can be a good opportunity to showcase your customer service.

2. Respond Quickly

As mentioned, you don’t want to delay when you are dealing with a negative review. Take quick action and don’t let the negative review fester. Ignoring a negative review is one of the worst things you can do. You want to deal with the negative review as soon as you calm down and can approach the situation with a calm mind. You should take steps towards acknowledging the customer’s pain points and let them know that you are there to remedy any situation they feel they’ve been wronged in.

3. Don’t Make Any Excuses

Even if you feel as though you did nothing wrong in the situation, it is important to avoid making excuses. You want to accept responsibility no matter what because “the customer is always right.” By showing the customer you understand they had a bad experience and you want to make it right, you will be able to showcase that you care about your customers for the world to see.

4. Make It Better

Once you have established communication, you will want to take steps towards actively resolving the problem. When you showcase that you are able and willing to take responsibility for the situation and that you are willing and able to make it right, you have a good chance of convincing the customer that it was a one-time mistake that didn’t warrant such a harsh review.] A lot of times, you will even be able to convince them to change their review and showcase the steps you took to remedy the situation which can turn it into a positive for your business.

One way to do so is to hire an online reputation management agency that can help you suppress and repair comments, all while monitoring your online presence. Make it better by taking control of what information is out there about you and your business and what consumers see. You can not only suppress negative Google results but can work to impress everyone who comes across your business online and create a long-lasting and positive impression. The experts can ensure your reputation is a good one and that you’re able to rebuild and regain trust with your customers and potential clients. Let today be the day you work to improve your business reputation and get off on a better foot.

5. Ask For Positive Reviews

When you are dealing with customers that just want to be angry or even trolls that haven’t frequented your business, you simply have to showcase your motivation for resolving the problem. Another good way to minimize the negative impact a bad review can have on your business is by asking for positive reviews from satisfied customers – this helps you pre-empt such issues and helps protect your reputation. This will help you drown out of the negative feedback with positive feedback. A lot of customers are ready and willing to help out their favorite businesses by writing positive reviews. All you have to do is ask! It is very important to encourage feedback across all review channels for various reasons:

72 percent of customers look towards online reviews when they are attempting to make purchasing decisions. There are search engines like Google who even include online reviews when they are ranking query results. Therefore, the more positive feedback you are able to accumulate, the higher you will likely get your rankings. The more positive feedback you are able to get, the better your chances of converting a prospective customer into an actual customer since they will be much more inclined to frequent your business due to having a high customer satisfaction rating.

Top Investment Strategies for 2020

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article | Top Investment Strategies for 2020In 2020, there are hundreds of investment strategies out there. When it comes to the stock market, people have a wide range of strategies that work for them, especially if they want to earn a large amount of money. For property investment, there are two main strategies you should consider, and these are geared towards buy to let opportunities. As a potential investor looking to learn more about how to invest in property and the best strategies to take, you may want to keep reading to learn more about the property market and investment strategies that have proved successful in the past.

Understandably, you will need to choose an investment strategy according to what suits your lifestyle and financial situation at the time of investment. Do your research and keep in mind that if you’re knowledgeable in the area you want to invest in, you’re sure to reach your goal within no time. Before investing, remember that property investment is a lucrative opportunity. Still, it does come with risks (as does every investment), which means you should consider what you’re doing with your extra cash before purchasing a property.

Hands-off investment

Any investor out there who is looking for an investment which can continue making money without the added hassle of managing and organising a property, a hands-off investment may be the perfect strategy for you. A hands-off investment involves purchasing the property but allowing it to be a passive, side income which doesn’t interfere with your daily life.

Those who invest using this type of strategy often have a full-time job or a business they focus on during the day, and every so often has to consider their investment when they need to get something fixed. If you choose this strategy, you will most likely need to hire a property management company who will take care of tenanting, dealing with issues and anything else related to your property.

Hands-off investment gives you the freedom to make money from an investment without having to play an active part in the show – instead, you simply reap the rewards through rental repayments and capital appreciation of your property/unit. RWinvest specialises in the hands-off investment strategy and encourages investors to take this approach so that their investment doesn’t impact their life overall and leave them feeling stressed. Rather than worrying about your property and anything that could potentially go wrong with it, you can pay a monthly fee for someone else to sort this out for you.

Hands-on investment

The opposite of hands-off investment, hands-on investment involves playing an active role within the investment purchase and afterwards, too. Hands-on investment is when an investor becomes a property manager, landlord and everything in between. Those investors who work full-time or find themselves struggling for time to relax may want to avoid this investment strategy since it can be time-consuming. This is a popular strategy for investors who have multiple properties and make a large amount of capital from these properties. In doing so, you’re essentially starting your own property portfolio business, and leading the team! This strategy is efficient and works well for many but doesn’t always appeal to everyone, which is why you should consider what will fit in with your life the best.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Olivia HanlonOlivia is a content writer for leading property investment company, RWinvest.

3 Lowest Cost States to Start an LLC

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article | 3 Lowest Cost States to Start an LLC | Incorporation

When you are starting a business, you have to make every dollar count. You may have no idea how much revenue you will bring in at first – and you know you are going to have to work out some kinks before your business becomes more stable. So, it makes sense to try to find the lowest cost state to form your LLC. Of course, there are multiple ways to measure “lowest cost” when it comes to forming a business. Are we talking about which state has the lowest LLC formation fees, or are we talking about which state is the most affordable to do business in?

There are many states that try to make doing business affordable, from Texas to Florida and throughout the country. But there are some that try to go the extra mile, either by making taxes extremely low, licenses and filing fees low, or both. Since you may have your own idea of what “affordable” means, we will examine this question from two angles. First, we can look at which three states are best for overall affordability for business, then we will take a quick look at which three states have the lowest LLC formation fees.

3 Most Affordable States to Form an LLC

1. Wyoming

The state of Wyoming does a lot to make starting a business as easy and attractive as possible. For one thing, it has a 0 percent corporate tax rate and a 0 percent individual income tax rate. That’s right, you don’t have to worry about paying either corporate state tax or individual state income tax. You will still be hit with federal taxes, but Wyoming is easy on businesses as far as taxes go. The effective property tax rate is also extremely low – at .61 percent. When you consider that the average property tax rate in the country is 1.19 percent, the affordability of the Wyoming tax system is readily apparent.

The sales tax rate in Wyoming is also quite low at 4 percent. That means your customers will not be as likely to experience sticker shock when they buy products from you since the sales tax they see will not be too high.

2. Nevada

Nevada is another one of the most popular states to form an LLC because it offers multiple tax advantages to businesses that make the state home. Just like Wyoming, Nevada has a 0 percent corporate tax rate and a 0 percent individual income tax rate. Your business won’t have to pay corporate state taxes and you won’t have to pay state income taxes. Again, you will still face federal taxes, but every little bit helps. The effective property tax rate in Nevada is also extremely low at .77 percent.

The sales tax rate in Nevada is higher than Wyoming at 6.85 percent.

3. South Dakota

South Dakota also strives to set itself apart as a business haven by making its taxes quite low. You will find a 0 percent corporate tax rate and a 0 percent individual income tax rate in the state and an effective property tax rate of 1.32 percent. So, it can be more expensive to own property – like your brick and mortar store – in South Dakota than Wyoming or Nevada – but if you don’t own property in the state then the property taxes are less of a concern for your business.

The sales tax rate in South Dakota is 4.50 percent.

Cheapest LLC Formation Fees

If you are just looking for states with the lowest fees for forming an LLC, you should consider the following locations:

  • Arizona. You only have to pay $50 to file your LLC formation documents in Arizona. Even better, there is no annual fee and no report due each year.
  • Missouri. The fee for filing in Missouri is higher than some other states at $105, but you don’t have to pay an annual fee each year nor do you have to file a report. That makes Missouri quite low to form an LLC in over the long-term.
  • New Mexico. The fee for filing an LLC in New Mexico is only $50 and there is no annual fee and no report due. That makes New Mexico just as affordable as Arizona.
  • Kentucky. The state of Kentucky has the lowest filing fee of any state in the country. They only charge $40 for you to file. However, they do expect you to pay $15 every year to keep your LLC official with the state.

Where Should You File Your LLC?

When you start looking more closely at your options for forming an LLC, you realize that there are plenty of different states that offer attractive deals. Some are extremely affordable to do business in and others make it very cheap to file your LLC. So, what should your main priority be?

The answer is, “It depends.” Deciding where to form your LLC is a personal decision that needs to be made based on what is most important to you. For absolute convenience, there is probably nothing better than forming your LLC in your home state. That’s because it is often simpler to handle paperwork and deal with government entities when you can go down the street to do so. But if you want to save money on filing fees or gain tax advantages, you may want to consider forming an LLC in a state that offers you the most of what you want for your business.

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