Whats the Purpose of Advertising

Sometimes I have been called “ The King of Cheap Advertising “. My competitors often remark how Spartan my ads seem. (They are normally not more than 3 or 5 lines in length.)  In fact a Large ad for me would be a whole 6 lines. I have even written many ads that were only 2 lines long. How do you keep your Seller’s happy with ads like that, they ask?. If only they new. Do you know?

                                            What’s the Purpose of Advertising ?

The Old man had worked for the OREGONIAN Newspaper in the real estate advertising department for most of his life. He went on to say “ I recognize many of you who have signed up for this class in advance by the poor examples you have submitted to the paper for us to publish. You guys and gals just don’t get it. ” That was soon to change.

The Old man went on to explain how we should look at advertising as if we were looking through the eyes of an unemployed worker who half heartedly is searching through the help wanted section.

You first must thing like the consumer. Contrary to popular belief they are not there to find anything. In fact just the opposite is true. Let me demonstrate how the average consumer reads the classifieds. ” Nope I aint no brain Surgeon so I cant do that, I don’t have a college degree so I cant do that, I sure don’t have over 10 years of experience so that wont work for me either. ” And so it goes with those many Buyers who are afraid of finding the right house as well. ” Nope not enough bedrooms, Nope to small of garage. Nope not my kind of neighborhood.”

You need to stop giving your Buyers the ammunition to shoot your AD down. “So what kind of ad will work you say?” I’m glad you asked he answered before anyone could say a thing. Try something like this.

Caption :  ” Owners Sad.”

Body : Their Loss can be your gain. Be sure to call Herb today for this Charming home with Spacious rooms and a Great yard. ( Add the Price and Contact info and your done.

Here are some additional Captions ;

• Big Ugly House   ( for fixers )
• Call Now or Kick Yourself In the Morning
• Anthony Renaldo Smithe once Slept Here ( use any name of a previous owner )

“Obviously”, the Old man said “ the Caption is there to draw attention.“ You cant sell anyone anything who wont stop long enough to hear your message.

When it comes to the Body be a little vague. Build a story or emotion. Stop telling all of the details. Use descriptive phrases to make your point. Let’s say your listing is a Bungalow home with hardwood floors and French Doors  etc.

Here is an example for the body :

The moment you step into the sun-filled room you can feel the warmth sweep over you. Your pace quickens as you pass over gleaming hardwood floors, past the shimmering glass panels of the French doors until your standing on the edge of a SECRET GARDEN.

I left the seminar Full of ideas. I couldn’t wait to get back and employ my new found techniques. That weekend my first ad debuted. I went with the Owner’s Sad headline.  I had tried on multiple occasions to sell this house without success. My previous ad attempts had pulled in about the normal response rate, 3-5 calls.

The ad was set for Sunday. I received my first call on Friday afternoon from the Typesetter at the Newspaper who was placing my ad. By Monday Morning I had received over 75 calls. By Wednesday I had a backlog of 125 Buyer’s who had responded to the Owners Sad ad.

What truly amazed me then and still amazes me today is that People will make up the Story if you don’t tell them. In my Owners Sad ad people were sharing there sympathy’s with the Seller for their Catastrophic Illness, or loss of a Loved one. Some people even were wondering about the Divorce. How they ever come up with those ideas from my little ad I will never know. What I do know is, What’s The Purpose of Advertising!

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10 Top Winning Stratagies of Top Producers

Ever wonder how The Top Producers stay on Top? We all struggle from time to time but one thing that Keeps Top Producers on Top is a consistent strategy. Although from Agent to Agent techniques very, you will find at the very heart of each and every Top Producer these core group of simple strategies that YOU can apply.

www.portlandrealproperty.com Portland Oregon information.

www.househuntportland.com Let your next home find you.

                                  Top Producers Ten Techniques to Greatness

1. Attitude: Attitude is key to having a successful day. Routine will help establish a great day. A good breakfast, Positive affirmations, A daily planner filled with scheduled activities and events, A mirror to reflect in while on the telephone. A positive attitude it will help you excel. A negative one will tear you down. Avoid meetings and conversations with negative people. Work only with People you Like.
2. Transaction Goals : Sit down and create a goal for number of transactions you would like to do for the year. Break it down by month and week and day. Create a plan on how to achieve your goals. What is your success ratio of each technique you hope to employ. Example : If it takes you 5 open house to get three Buyer leads resulting in 1 contract, then you know what your success ratio is. Plan it and it will happen.
3. Prospecting Goals : The mark of a great prospector is one that can show you in his day planner a flow sheet designed to meet the transaction goals. Every method of prospecting should be flow charted and worked into a day planner. A Time Management Plan is essential. Plan it and it will work.
4. Know your Market : There are many neighborhoods in my market area if you were to give me the street cross streets and describe the property I could tell you what color the house is. I could also recite how many times it had been on the market over the last 10 or so years. I know exactly what each home should sell for and why. Take time to go back through your neighborhoods from time to time and dump out what you used to know yesterday. Agents fail when the start thinking about what homes used to sell for instead of knowing what they will sell for.
5. Ask for the Business : All the prospecting in the world wont pay off at all if you cant ask for the business. Look for new ways to ask for business. Give everyone in the world a business card. Don’t be afraid to give them one every day. If they say I already have one, smile and ask them to pass it on. Prospect regularly for referral business. Put a not in your bills that you send out each month, people look at them you know. Write down a list of 10 new opportunities for referral business each month and act on it.
6. Communicate the Results : Communicate the results of your activities to virtually everyone. Listings, Buyers, Sellers, Referral partners, Lenders, Title Companies, Spere of influence, virtually everyone. You will be surprised how many people that know you would love to live vicariously through your achievements. How many people do you know that have said ” I used to know him when… ” Allow people to support and champion your achievements.
7. Hire an Assistant : Each and every state has there own rules for assistants. Follow them and quit complaining about the dollars. An assistant worth there salt should double or triple at minimum what they cost you. What should an assistant Do? Your Job is to be in front of Buyer’s and Seller’s all day long. The Assistants job is everything else.
8. Education : Devote time to educating your self. Be it Continuing education classes, Cd’s or tapes of other top producers, books, Blogging and commenting, Peer Group meetings or Conventions and trade shows.
9. Exercise : A Physical and mental exercises strategy should hold a prominent position in your daily planner. Good mental and Physical conditioning will keep you tuned and ready. A sloppy body or mental attitude can present a poor impression to a new client.
10. You Get by Giving : Give of your time and money. Give back to the community. Get involved with charities of your liking. Get behind a cause. It will enrich you in many more ways than money could ever hope to.

So you Think you are Prepared Are You?

How Prepared are You as a Real Estate Agent? Do you carry with you the necessary tools do you your job? You never know in this business when the need may arise and an opportunity may be lost. I will give you an example.

On a damp Tuesday Morning a group of us were looking at all the new vacant land properties just outside of the city limits offered by a local Real Estate Brokerage. Most of the parcels were fairly small and easy to get to.

As we made our way up the single car road towards the 1/2 acre of ground the caravan came to a sudden stop. Being the 5th or so car back it took me a while to make my way up the rain soaked slippery cart path.

When I got to where the first car had stopped the group had formed and were looking across a small land bridge at the head of a small gully. On the other side stood the listing agent. Hurry up he was calling out to the stragglers still making there way up the slippery road.

Okay Okay he called out as the drizzle began to pick up a little steam. Now as a true Oregonian we would’t call that a Rain. We might call it a Driven Mist, as it began to pelt down on us while while huddled together listening to the agent regale the attributes of the listing.

The crowd was indeed getting restless and seemed as if they wanted to bolt but did not want to offend the agent. I called out and asked to him, What is the Price? He quickly answered back beaming from ear to ear. And the term’s I asked what are they? Still beaming he quickly satisfied my questions and asked in a booming voice ” Do you have some one for this ?”

To which I answered Holding up the Earnest money contract that I had extricated from the inner pocket of my Blazer ” Yes! Here is the Offer! How soon can you present? It is full price cash with a 10 day closing! ” The crowd assembled was in the murmur state and only the owner of the Real Estate office who was present made the following comment.

Dang , Herb !  I was going to do that but did not have an offer sheet with me. I thought I would have enough time to do it when we got back to the office. Good for you. He went on to say ” Folks that is what being prepared is all about “.

Herb Hamilton is a Real Estate Broker with RE/MAX Preferred Inc. Realtors working in Portland Oregon

Doom Gloom or Boom

What Kind of Real Estate Market are we in ? Say it loud this is a NORMAL MARKET!

If you can’t here the screams for help, perhaps it’s because of all the complaining you’ve been doing. The Real Estate Market that we are experiencing is a natural part of Business.

• It is NOT NATURAL for Real Estate prices to escalate yearly in double digits.
• It is also NOT NATURAL for Seller’s and Agent’s to price properties at $25,000 TO $50,000 or more above market value.

If this was the kind of market you had been experiencing or even worse if this was the only kind of market you knew, I FEEL SORRY FOR YOU!

For you do not have a clue what the Real Estate Market is Like. So what is the Job of a Real Estate Agent then? And for that matter the Job of a Buyer or a Seller in a Normal Market?

It is a Business that requires the Agent to have and use :

• Education
• Negotiation skills
• Psychological skills
• Social skills
• Marketing skills
• Tenacity
• Perseverance
• Dedication
• And the list goes on and on

Buyer’s and Seller’s Must also possess skills :

• Social Skills
• Perseverance
• Tollerance
• Understanding
• Patience
• Trust
• Enthusiasm

So then just what is Real Estate? It is almost easier to define what Real Estate IS NOT!

Contrary to the last few years popular belief.

It is not a Real Estate Agent or Broker’s Job to :

• Tell Seller’s what they must sell there home for
• Tell Buyer’s what they must pay for a home

It is our Job to bring Motivated Buyer’s and Seller’s together where market conditions will determine the value of the asset.

***********

If you are not the busiest Agent you have ever been right now, it is because you do not know what it takes to be a Great Agent! For a Great Agent is Busy marketing, Prospecting, Showing and writing Contracts!

Being busy is not all about showing properties to the 40 or so people who drove by your new listing. That kind of thinking was developed in the recent hay days of the market. It is also the kind of thinking and mind set that will have you out of business before you even know it. I would venture to guess that there are allot of you this very moment who are out of the business, YOU JUST DON”T KNOW IT!

Some years ago a Real Estate Agent friend of mine was working in a small community that had lost most of it’s Jobs. People were terrified and I thought it must be a terrible market to be in.

                                    NO JOBS = NO MONEY= NO SALES

Without a job and money how would any one buy a Home I wondered. My friend pointed out : ” That my Friend is Defeatist Thinking! “ This is a time for opportunity he said. The Market will not stay like this forever. Those Agent’s that are sitting on their posterior proclaiming DOOM and GLOOM are my biggest asset. While Buyer’s who dont recognize what a great time it is to buy and Seller’s who feel they can over price thier homes are my biggest liabilty.

If you want to be successful and turn Buyer’s and Seller’s dreams into reality then it is time to get back to the basics . It is not about dressing up in the fanciest clothes or driving the Biggest Car. It is the fundamentals of Real Estate Sales.

Do you WANT TO BE NUMBER ONE ?   Do you WANT TO BE A SUCCESS ?

Then go to work. If you do not have the Skills then develop them. Or better yet just sit back and let the rest of us fly on by.

Are you looking to purchase some of the greatest real estate in the WORLD? Do you want to be notified of new properties coming on the Market in and instant. Stay ahead of the Competition. Get the Best Buys First.

Investor’s_Web_Site_for_Portland_Ore._Real_Estate  Investor’s are not the only one who can benefit from technology. Let_Your_Next_Home_Find_You  search here for you downtown Portland Oregon Home. This Fabulous web site will search for your next home 24/7 and alert you within minutes! www.househuntportland.com

For more Portland Oregon and Downtown information please come to www.portlandrealproperty.com

Of course you can always Search right here on The_Pickle using this fabulous IDX Search tool for Portland Oregon.

All Presented to you by your RE/MAX Broker Herb Hamilton of RE/MAX Preferred Inc. Realtors serving the greater Portland Metro area.

Buyer’s Agency and Seller’s Agency practiced here.

” A Real Estate Expierience with Herb is One YOU Will Profit From “

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Top Ten Signs it may be time to Buy a Portland Home

10. Entering and exiting bedrooms is done by crawling over the bed.

 9. The closest thing you have to a Master Bath is the Cats litter box.

 8. Family gatherings of more than 5 people have to be held on the Patio.

 7. Your outdoor recliner can not be extended to a full recline.

 6. Your friends would rather meet at the Bus Station than at your house.

 5. The Children bump their heads while climbing into their bunk beads at night.

 4. Your tired of walking the 6 blocks home from your parking spot.

 3. You owe less money on your current home than you do on your old car.

 2. Interest rates remain the lowest they have been in decades.

 1. Realtors(r) are buying everything they can.