Marketing

Last week, I had the pleasure of welcoming Gloor Realty Company to the Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate network. Located in Oak Park, Illinois, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Gloor Realty Company is a shining example of everything you hope for in a partner when building a real estate franchise network.

Announcement day is always a mix of anticipation and nervousness. The Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate team waited in a separate room as Rich Gloor Jr. announced to his team that he had made the decision to franchise with our brand. Then he welcomed those of us from the brand to join the group. For me, this moment is always a little unsettling. You can’t help but wonder how the agents at Gloor Realty Company are feeling about the sudden news that they are now a part of a franchise system. You can imagine my relief when I was greeted by a room full of smiling faces.

Rich continued with his presentation explaining why he and his leadership team made the decision to franchise with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. He discussed the marketing advantages that the relationship offered to the local agents, the tools that would allow them to become even more competitive in their market, and the value of the Better Homes and Gardens brand name.

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The entire election process has fascinated me. When you think about it, a long time has passed since it all started. I remember being at an early fundraiser in The Hamptons almost a year and a half ago.  There are a lot of firsts in this election. Of course there are the obvious ones: the potential first African American president, the potential first female vice president, and the potentially oldest president to take office.

There are some humorous firsts – this is the first election where the Saturday Night Live actors looked so incredibly like several of the candidates. This is the first election where a vice presidential candidate was punked by a Canadian radio station.

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It’s always amazing to me to read quotes, like the one below, from ancient geniuses like Aristotle and to realize how many ideas remain true throughout all of time. Over 2,000 years ago, Aristotle already understood that systems inherently help groups of people to reach their goals more quickly, more easily and with less stress. He wrote:

“Systems are inherently more efficient than non systems” – Aristotle

As a real estate leader, think about all of the systems that you employ on a daily basis.

a.    Recruiting
b.    Interviewing
c.    Retention
d.    Marketing
e.    Finance
f.     Online services
g.    Lead generation
h.    Referrals
i.     Legal
j.     Advertising
k.    Communications
l.     Public relations
m.   Seller services
n.    Buyer services
o.    Coaching

This list goes on forever, so complete it for yourself as it relates to your specific situation.

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This week we launched our Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate Planning for Profit program. This program is focused on providing our agents with a system to develop their personal written real estate business plan — something the majority of agents desperately need, but don’t have.

Keeping in line with the Better Homes and Gardens magazine formula, we’ve created our Planning for Profit: Getting Started program like a recipe. When you are cooking from a recipe, the first thing you do is gather all the necessary ingredients. Then you begin mixing them together in just the right amounts. Along the way, you make adjustments to get your preferred outcome.

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Posted by Bob Albanese

In my last blog I wrote about “loss connected with a low listing absorption rate” and the clear upside in maintaining strong performance in this area. The question now revolves around how brokers can improve listing absorption rate, and the types of tools and measurement devices that are required to accomplish this.

Listing Standards

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Posted by Kevin Doell

This morning I was listening to the August 18^th “For Immediate Release” podcast and heard about an interesting UMASS Dartmouth study on the uptake of social media. I thought it was pretty timely considering Sherry’s recent post on “Building a Brand Using the Power of Social Media.”

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First thing this morning we issued a media advisory announcing the press conference and webcast of our formal launch, which will take place on July 23, 2008 at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco! 

To get all the details click here.

See you in San Francisco!

Whether speaking about a sales person, a manager or a company leader, the ability to embrace change is the primary personality trait for those individuals who maintain a ‘hip’ and progressive persona in our business. This is not a new idea by any stretch of the imagination, but remains something that is easier said than done.  The successful agent understands that as customer needs and wants evolve, so must our business vocabulary. Even more, the most successful agents that I have met actually learn to enjoy the changing business environment.

Just take a moment and consider all of the changes that have occurred over the past 10 years alone. In 1998, many agents did not have presentable Web sites or even effectively used e-mail as a communication tool. As time passed however, sales professionals learned to use technology in building and managing their businesses and navigated the advent of VOWs and IDX solutions. Brokers and agents have witnessed the transformation of marketing and advertising from sole focus on newspapers to a primary focus on Internet environments, as well as countless other key changes too numerous to mention here. Now, prospecting and social networking are coming together as building blocks to enlarge an agent’s sphere of influence.

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With numbers like these, is it any wonder that agents are trying to promote themselves and their listings on these social media sites? We learned recently that some of these sites may not be as open to the advances of today’s modern Realtors as we once assumed (see Inman News-Future of Real Estate Blog). Well, to be fair Facebook will gladly let you advertise your listings as long as you pay!

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