Real estate agents looking to build a career in today’s market are finding that they need a complete combination of marketing tools, training, and support to ensure their success. Getting the tools and support you need is crucial.
Often agents are looking to their brokerages to supply ALL of these tools along with the support so that they can implement them effectively. Below are some of the tools, training and support that you should have, along with some questions to ask yourself as you gear up for 2024.
Tools
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Software: This is the basic traditional software for managing contacts, leads, and clients. Helps in organizing and automating tasks and follow-ups. If you are not currently using CRM software, do you have a system for managing this? Curious about taking this to a whole new level? See Past Client and Sphere Nurturing Systems below.
Question: Are you currently paying for CRM software or does your brokerage provide it to you?
Website: A professional website to showcase listings, share testimonials, and offer resources to potential buyers and sellers. In the past, often brokerages used a simple page for each agent with a picture and a bio and maybe even links to current listings. In today’s market, you need to have a website that professionally promotes YOUR brand alongside the brokerage. You also need the ability to attact and convert leads from Social Media, Google, and many other sources. Your Google Business Profile needs to work for you in bringing people to your site.
Question: Are you currently paying for CRM software or does your brokerage provide it to you?
Social Media Tools and Content: It is more than simply having scheduling options for posts. Do you have multiple sources of EASY content to post, ready to go and waiting for you? If you are driving traffic via your social media channels, you need a full set of “ready to post” or “ready to edit and post” ideas that may or may not be about real estate. Social media savvy agents are currently creating and posting (or scheduling to post) their content in minutes rather than hours.
Often, agents spent hours trying to think up good content when they can either copy it and paste it OR select from several subjects that are current and appropriate, make a few edits to personalize the content to them and then post it!
Want to see some examples of the types of content systems, newsletters, links to articles, that The Real Estate Group is providing their agents? (yes, they have more than one!) Reach out to them and ask for a tour of the resources that they provide!
Question: Is your social media marketing taking too long for you to produce?
Question: Do you get frustrated with trying to come up with good social media hooks and conversation starters?
Instant Graphics For Your Listings: This is a best practice tool that you might not even know about! Savvy brokerages have been providing their agents with graphics for the entire life-cycle of the listing, all done quickly and easily via text or email!
This is a huge time savings over having to create them by hand every time, saving agents time and money. (Not to mention frustration!)
Past Client and Sphere Nurturing Systems: What if you could take each relationship in your sphere and nurture it with gentle messaging and content that would start conversations using email, text, social media and even Voice Mail drops? This is the objective of a new type of marketing tool that can help agents have more comfortable conversations with potential clients more often and at times that are likely to lead to business! What if it could take what you are already doing with your CRM solution to the next level?
The Real Estate Group is rolling out this type of solution this fall with TREG Connect, a past client and sphere nurturing solution that provides several dozen touches with clients that are customizable to YOUR specifications. You connect with people who already know and trust you at the right time and in the right way. Many of the contacts you will make, will generate a simple conversation where agents can NATURALLY check in and provide solutions when and where they are needed.
If you are curious about how the system works and what it is capable of, please feel free to reach out using this link and mention that you want to know more about TREG Connect and how it can help your business.
Virtual Tour Software: To create interactive and immersive property tours.
Graphic Design Tools: There are many tools out there (such as Canva, etc) that offer a LOT of options for agents for FREE (some features do require payment. Many of these tools are created for use across all industries as opposed to being real estate specific.
The key to these tools is getting the support you need to turn them into assets for REAL ESTATE businesses. (see training and support below.)
Question: Do you get the training and support you need on how to use the current graphic design tools effectively?
Training and Support
Training and support have become critical to agent success in markets such as this one, where each potential sale is precious and competition for sales is incresing. Often, agents are trying to do more marketing to generate business, using tools that they have not worked with in quite a while.
Crucial Best Practices Questions to ask yourself:
Do you have access to training on your ENTIRE stack of marketing tools and platforms?
Is there video training available that is EASY to follow and step by step simple?
Can you reach out to someone to help you if you get “stuck”?
Do they respond quickly?
Can they help just when something is WRONG with the software that they support? Or are they comfortable helping you with software that you are using even if it may not be what the brokerage is currently using?
When was the last time you had a question and were frustrated because you could not find an answer?
The Best Practices Bottom Line
The truth is that in today’s real estate market, you simply cannot afford to be frustrated by ANY of the answers to the questions above. You simply need the best tools in your tool belt. And you need the best support and training in using them. If your brokerage is not providing these tools to you has part of being there, then you are having to spend money each month along with the time and expense hassle of trying things only to find out that they do not work.
