5 Tips for Insurance Client Retention [VIDEO]

To learn more about LarsonEd's Florida real estate and Florida insurance courses, visit LarsonEd.com or give us a call at 239-344-7510. 

About Larson Educational Services:

Utilizing 40 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online. We are an approved Florida Real Estate School (License #ZH1002299), Florida CAM School (License #PRE31), Florida Insurance School (License # 370501) and NMLS Approved Course Provider.

Larson Educational Services

1400 Colonial Blvd. #44,

Fort Myers, Florida

33907

239-344-7510

LarsonEd.com

Are you creating value online?

Sometimes, the best move is to stop producing and contemplate.

Real estate is a notoriously fast-paced industry that requires a hustler’s mindset.

Similarly, the internet is a fast-paced medium that creates the illusion that you must constantly produce content.

When you add these two factors together, you get a lot of white noise—people producing online content just for the sake of producing online content.

But how often do we stop to ask ourselves:

“Is my content adding value to anyone’s life?”

I'll admit it: we’ve been guilty of producing white noise in the past. Look back in our archives and you'll see “press releases” that were little more than thinly-veiled advertisements.

Or we'd post surface-level advice articles that did little more than repeat what already existed elsewhere online.

At one point or another, we've all produced spam-y online writing material.

Sure, there was a time when pumping out a keyword-heavy blog post every day would improve your search ranking.

Nowadays, this technique of jamming keywords into blog posts or YouTube videos in the hopes of boosting your SEO is no longer viable. 

Google won’t reward this kind of writing in the search results and potential readers will quickly move on to something more interesting online.

Do you really think you can compete with 10 hours of cat fails!?

Content is King

Google is constantly trying to improve its search algorithm to provide the best content for its users. You can read more about one of its latest major updates here: Google Webmaster Blog* (see footnote for more info).

Marketing used to be focused on the products we sell. Now, marketing is all about the stories we tell.

An easy way to get started telling stories is to provide your prospects with insight into your business. People love the idea of having a behind-the-scenes glimpse into an industry.

Share part of your sales process or a personal success story from your business. Or write a blog post about the time you failed miserably and what you learned from it.

By telling these stories, you provide value to your sphere of influence.

Thought Leaders

You need to read more.

We all do. Reading is how we make sense of the chaos in the world—reading is how we get new ideas, whether professionally or personally.

Don't know where to start?

I would begin by finding 5 to 10 SuperStar Agents that I admire and reading the content they're producing online if I don't already: their personal blog, their ActiveRain account, etc.

Don't stop there—get in contact with them.

Find out what books they're reading. 

Ask them what books have had the greatest influence on them. The answers to these questions will provide you with a ready-to-go reading list.

Because successful people, in all industries, are molded by the books they read.

 

Hiding in Infinity

It’s easy to think about dominating an entire state or region. You tell yourself you’ll be the best real estate agent in Florida. Or the best in the southeast. Or the best in the world!

But can you be the best real estate agent in your own neighborhood?

Seth Godin, the author of 18 bestsellers about marketing and leadership, calls this tendency to think big as opposed to thinking small “hiding in infinity.”

He says:

“Whenever possible, ask yourself… ‘what’s the smallest group of people I could make a difference for?’ Smallest feels risky. Because if you pick smallest and you fail, now you’ve really screwed up. We want to pick big because infinity is our friend. Infinity is safe. Infinity gives us a place to hide.”

(For more on this, check out Godin's book Purple Cow. This quote comes at the 12:20 mark of his podcast “How to Think Small to Go Big” with Tim Ferriss.)

So find your niche—whether it's selling waterfront properties in Naples, Florida, or selling chocolate-covered frozen bananas (I'm just spit-balling here)—and become a thought leader for everyone who's interested in your little sliver of the world.

Larson Educational Services

13040 Livingston Rd. #12

Naples, Florida 34105

239-344-7510

LarsonEd.com

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*Footnote: Anyone who's interested in SEO should follow Google’s Webmaster Blog. For the longest time, I could never find a primary source for Google’s algorithm updates. Any website or article you read about Google’s updates are using this blog as their source material. Rather than rechecking this site every few weeks, I would suggest signing up for their email feed—they’re quite infrequent, so they won’t clutter your inbox. Just click on “Feed” on the right side of webmasters.googleblog.com then click on “Get Google Webmaster Central Blog delivered by email” as seen in the pictures below.

Advice for New Real Estate Agents

Advice For New Real Estate Agents

A lot of new agents ask themselves and their mentors how to get clients. New agents often see a large client base as a source of money, and why wouldn’t you? It only seems logical.

But consider thinking about it like this: don’t worry so much about getting clients—focus on keeping clients.

Sure, it takes skill to go out and prospect for new clients, but that’s not going to set you apart from other agents—most real estate agents are comfortable talking to people and making connections.

Establishing relationships with people is going to set you apart. 

So often, people want an easy solution to their problems: “What’s the magic bullet that won’t require a lot of work?”

Sorry, my friend, but the real estate industry is not going to work like that.

Instead, your success will depend on your drive, work ethic, and attention to detail. Do you think SEO will be the trick? What about Social Media prowess? Maybe you want to hit the pavement or cold call people. More power to you. But these are just tools and techniques.

The same way a football offense must choose a run play, pass play, kick, or punt, you must choose between your own tools, each one chosen based on specific circumstances. If all you can do is pass the ball, you may not last. Likewise, if all you do is wait for potential clients to contact you, you won’t make it in this industry.

Don’t hide from the SuperStar agents in your area, call them up and take them out to coffee (your treat). Ask them about the area, let them share their wisdom and listen closely. If you have a good rapport, meet up again and you might have a mentor.

Find your niche. You might think this business is all about transactions, but really it’s all about relationships. And the beautiful thing is that the better relationships you have the more homes you’ll sell.

So work hard. Leave the office. Have some fun. Get out there and sell some homes. And, in the process, make some friends.

About Larson Educational Services:

Utilizing 30 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online.

Brad Larson

Larson Educational Services

1400 Colonial Blvd. Suite 44

Fort Myers, FL 33907

info@LarsonEd.com

239-344-7510

www.LarsonEd.com

Real Estate Job Interview Tips Part 2

Whether you’re a new real estate professional or a broker, you can learn from the brokerage employment process. As a new agent, it helps to know what you can expect from the recruitment and hiring process to better prepare yourself. As a broker, you can improve your recruiting and hiring process to find the best new agents.

Read Part 1 Here!

In our last post, we started to outline some of the common elements of a good job interview. Let's continue with that list.

Professional Assets

Take time to explain the job in detail and give the candidate the opportunity to sell himself or herself. Questions might include:

“What do you think are your major assets as an employee?”
“What strengths do others see in you?”
“What are your areas that need development?”

Closing

Conclude the interview with a summary and ask, “Do you have any further questions about the job, our company, or anything else we’ve discussed?” A good candidate will have questions prepared for the interviewer, which will allow the candidate to listen to the interviewer sell themselves to him or her.

Selecting a Candidate

Once the interview process is finished, the next step is choosing who to hire. The right person is the one whose knowledge, skills, abilities, goals, values, and expectations fit the job. The right fit for the organization is the one who is motivated, creative, flexible, and will work well in the company’s culture.

Converting all of this to an employment decision requires a quantifiable assessment according to certain established selection criteria. Criteria related to the job and the organization must be established and become the platform for evaluating and selecting a candidate.

Hiring

The person who hires is also the person who fires. The hiring person should be completely committed to the person who is finally selected. The hiring process generally consists of two steps:

1. The offer and acceptance
2. The formal employment paperwork.

Once you have followed through on these job interview guidelines, the company and candidate will have both found the right fit for the job. Follow these hiring guidelines to better prepare for your upcoming real estate job interview, no matter which side of the table you’ll be sitting on.

Read Part 1 Here!

To sign up for classes, give us a call at 239-344-7510 or visit our website, www.LarsonEd.com.

About Larson Educational Services:

Utilizing 30 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online.

Brad Larson
Larson Educational Services
13040 Livingston Road #12
Naples, Florida
34105
239-344-7510
info@larsoned.com
www.LarsonEd.com

Listing Presentation Tips For Real Estate Agents Part 1

Listing Presentation Tips Part 1

You've got a listing presentation scheduled with a potential client. Fantastic. Now think of your upcoming presentation as a job interview: you are trying to convince your potential client that you can sell their home faster, for more money, and with more care than any other agent. Therefore, your first impression should let your potential clients know that you are trustworthy, knowledgable, and prepared. Because if you don’t they may be inclined to go with another agent.

Think you can go into this or any other presentation and wing it? Failing to plan is another way of planning to fail. The true difference between rookie agents and the superstars is a preparedness. Your listing presentation is won or lost, in large part, before you even meet with the potential client. Follow these tips to better serve your potential clients' needs.

1. Research

Yes, of course you should look up tax records for details on the property and look at similar listings in the area. But don’t overlook the value of looking up your potential clients on social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. Get a sense of where they’ve been and where they’re going in their careers and lives by looking at job and personal information publicly available on their social media profiles.

If you think looking up your potential clients online is creepy, then consider this: What do you think people do every time they consider using your services? That’s right, they type your name into Google. This is interpersonal research in the 21st century.

2. Prepare materials

Your potential clients will want to hold hard copies of documents in their hands at a listing presentation—having tangible evidence of your work adds to your credibility as well as the credibility of the information you are presenting.

Prepare a CMA and have a full-color market analysis on hand, along with some of your personal marketing materials. Also, consider bringing along some of your photographer's work as a sample, but remember: only do this if you get nice glossy photo paper. It’s better to present an electronic version of an image than a poorly printed hard copy.

3. Competition is your friend

What would you think of a doctor who discouraged you from getting a second opinion? They might come off as insecure and, perhaps worse, it'll mean they're more concerned with their own image rather than your well-being. This is how you make a potential client feel when you discourage them from interviewing multiple agents. Encourage your potential clients to talk to your competition—this displays confidence in every way.

And, if you have prepared like you should, you will stand out from your competition anyway.

Most importantly, do not speak ill of your competition or put undue pressure on your potential clients. Inform them, be honest, and speak with confidence and you will already be ahead of the game.

Follow these tips to better improve your listing presentations. To sign up for classes, including real estate post-licensing, visit our website, www.LarsonEd.com, or give us a call at 239-344-7510.

About Larson Educational Services:

Utilizing 30 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Naples real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online.

Brad Larson

Larson Educational Services

1400 Colonial Blvd. Suite 44

Fort Myers, FL 33907

239-344-7510

www.LarsonEd.com

Social Media Tips for Real Estate Agents

4 Social Media Tips for Real Estate Agents

Depending on word-of-mouth recommendations is still the way to get business in real estate. However, sometimes word-of-mouth isn't shared in person anymore. Nowadays business recommendations happen online. As real estate agents, you are likely one of the best offline person-to-person salesmen in the country. But there’s a chance you may not know how to apply this showmanship onto social media platforms. Here are your tips for giving you the edge in social media marketing.

1. Focus on your local area

In 2015, for the first time ever, 1 billion people signed onto Facebook. That means that social media could be used to reach literally a billion people around the world—in theory. But trying to reach a lot of people may take more effort than it’s worth. Why? Because you’ll be putting in work to reach people who will never use your services. Think locally—mold your content to your local leadership. When you talk about news and trends, focus on local trends, rather than national trends. Consider tagging and mentioning your local followers as well.

2. Create or curate

Few things improve your social media presence more than creating relevant, helpful content such as blog posts and articles that people can use to improve their daily lives. However, you may not be comfortable with writing your own articles—that’s okay. Finding information from other sources that might be relevant to your sphere of influence can be just as good as creating your own content. Websites such as inman.com, activerain.com, and realtor.com are never short on advice for homeowners and real estate agents alike.

3. Keep it simple

Spreading yourself thin on social media can be more time consuming and stressful than necessary. Pick a couple of platforms and dedicate your time focusing on those. You don’t need to hire an outside media specialist, just spend 30 minutes a day on this stuff. Post your articles and blog posts on  Facebook, for example, and share beautiful listing photos on Instagram.

4. Personalize it

You shouldn’t use your social media sites as a way to consistently brag about your business, but you can use it to give your clients and prospects an insight into your life, both inside and outside of work. Share a photo of you and some colleagues out on the golf course or at a networking event. If they’re up for it, share a photo of a couple who just closed on a home with you.

No matter how you choose to go about your social media posting, consider the 80/20 breakdown of social media: post 80 percent about interesting content (like relevant blogs), and 20 percent promoting your brand (like sharing photos of sales and listings).

Follow these 4 rules of social media and you’ll have more followers and more customers in no time.

About Larson Educational Services:

Utilizing 30 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online. To sign up for real estate education from Larson Educational Services, give us a call at 239-344-7510 or visit our website, LarsonEd.com. 

Brad Larson

Larson Educational Services

1400 Colonial Blvd. #44,

Fort Myers, Florida

33907