Why secret agents starve and you won’t

Ken Brand 832-‐797-‐1779 [email protected] BrandCandid.com Facebook.com/KenBrand

Why Secret Agents Starve And You Won’t. If nobody knows you as a trustworthy, knowledgeable and remarkable real estate agent, you don’t have a chance. You’ll starve. Here’s Why. The internal tracking of thousands of transactions + performing agent testimonials + observation + thirty-two years of experience + professional research, confirms; on average, over 70% homebuyers and sellers choose a real estate agent they know and trust, or who was referred by a trusted friend. Let’s begin by reviewing these startling revelations from an official source. After we review these survey results, we’ll dive into what the survey results tell us about what we should and shouldn’t be doing, and how we can catapult our business success from starving to well fed. 2009 National Association of REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. CHAPTER 7: HOME SELLING AND REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS (Pg. 91) Referrals from friends and family continue to be among the most important factors when home sellers choose a real estate agent. Home sellers look to agents with a strong reputation, evidence of honesty and integrity, and knowledge of the neighborhood. Given that most sellers find their agent through a referral, two-thirds contacted only one agent to assist with their home sale, and one-half who used an agent to sell their home used the same agent to buy a new home. Most sellers still choose agents who provide a broad range of services rather than agents who offer a limited set of services. Buyers are overwhelmingly satisfied with their agents, and 81 percent of buyers indicated that they would recommend their agent or use the agent’s services in the future.


Exhibit 7-1 (Pg. 94) - Method Used To Find Real Estate Agent:

Exhibit 4 – 15 (Pg. 65) Most Important Factor In Choosing An Agent.


Exhibit 7-2 (Pg. 94) Number of Agents Contacted Before Selecting One To Assist With Sale Of Home

What Can We Learn From Buyer and Seller Behavior. Three things are brilliantly clear.

1. Over 70% choose an agent they know, or an agent referred to them.

2. 70% choose their agent based on reputation, trustworthiness, and market knowledge.

3. 64% only talk to one agent. 84% don’t talk to more than two agents.

Let’s think about each point. Over 70% of homebuyers and sellers, choose an agent they know, or an agent referred to them. Wow right? This is why having a larger network of past and present clients,


friends, and acquaintances is not optional; it’s mandatory. If we behave wisely, the quality and size of our network will absolutely determine the size and quality of our success. Now that we know that 70% of the homebuyers and sellers choose someone they know, we can behave in ways that will assure our success (FYI, this book is filled to the brim with ideas and strategies that will do just this). How we behave is directly related to the next point. The people we know, they know more than one real agent. For example, my market is a suburb of Houston, a master planned community called The Woodlands. We have a civilian population of around ninety thousand people, and a local real estate agent population of around one thousand. That’s one real estate agent for every ten people. This doesn’t include the somewhere around twenty-four thousand Houston Association Of REALTORS® who would crawl across cut class to list or sale a property in The Woodlands. No doubt, most civilians know more than one real estate agent, agreed? It’s likely the same in your market, and others, people know of more than one real estate agent. Because we know homebuyers and sellers choose real estate agents they know; and we know that besides us, they most likely know a few other real estate agents, it would be super smart of us to understand how homebuyers and sellers decide which real estate agent to choose. Let’s take a closer look at what the NAR survey said. 70% choose their agent based on reputation, trustworthiness, and market knowledge. This makes total sense, right? The thing is, secret agents, agents who keep a low profile, they’re invisible. If an agent is invisible, then there is simply no way that the people they know, will know anything about their reputation, if they’re trustworthy, whether they’re a mega-watt marketing savant, or a village idiot. Does this make sense? If your beginning to get a funny feeling, like maybe you’re a secret agent, and people don’t know how great you are, don’t worry. We’ll cover how go from secret agent to out loud positive, attractive, choosable and referable. 64% only talk to one agent. 20% talk to two agents.


Gulp! We’re not competing with a handful of agents, we’re competing with hundreds, or maybe even thousands. Homebuyers and sellers have an army to choose from. But guess what, they don’t choose to consider, or interview an army, or even a few, when choosing who to call, two out of three only choose only one lucky agent to talk to. That’s wild right? When civilians have a real estate need, or they’re asked to recommend a reliable real estate agent, out of all the agents they can choose from, they choose to engage with only one or two. If we aren’t the first or second agent they think of, we are completely and utterly screwed. This is why secret agents are starving, stressed and struggling. They’re not getting called on or recommend because secret agents are invisible, and therefore not called on, or referred. Now that we know how civilians behave, what can we do so that when someone we know has a real estate need, shazam, the beautiful you magically pops into their conscious thought? Actually, becoming the first or second person they choose to call on isn’t magic at all. It’s really a combination of science and art called Top Of Mind Awareness. Here’s what and how Top Of Mind Awareness works. May I ask five semi-personal questions? If you said yes, thanks. Read each question below, when you’re finished with number one, answer out loud. Then move to question two, and so on, till you’re through.

1. When I say, ”to-die for dessert”, what makes your mouth water, and face smile? What dessert do you think of?

2. When I say, ”greatest rock-n-roll band of all time”, who do your ears hear? Name the band or artist.

3. When I say, “favorite cocktail”, what drink do you think of? Let’s hear you say it out loud, like you would to the bartender.

4. When I say, ”romantic vacation destination”, where do you think of? Who’d you take? Speak the location and the name.

5. When I say, “top performing real estate agent”, other than yourself


who do you think of? The answers to these questions are examples of Top Of Mind Awareness in action; who or what occupies first recall position in a certain category is the definition of Top Of Mind Awareness. Your category is “real estate agent”. Within your network, when someone you know, has a real estate need, or they’re asked to refer a trustworthy real estate agent, do you have first or second place Top Of Mind Awareness? If you do, congratulations. But before we throw a party, let’s always remember, your competitors are trying to erase your Top Of Mind Awareness and replace it with themselves. Keep up the good work and stay Top Of Mind. If you need to amplify your Top Of Mind Awareness, no worries, we’re going to talk about how right now. The 3 R’s of Top Of Mind Awareness. Here’s the deal. I need to tell you this before we go any further. Creating Top Of Mind Awareness is simple in concept and formula, but the execution takes hard work, diligence and commitment. The good news is, if you’ll do it, you’ll change everything for the big time better. The 3 R’s Are: Relevance. Remarkable. Repetition To grove righteous recall, you’ll need to rain your network with these 3 R’s. Relevance: The most important thing to know about relevance is this. If it’s about you; your awards, how epic your are, how many homes you’ve sold, how you’re number one, and on and on, it’s not relevant. Nobody cares about you, everyone cares about himself, herself, and the important people in their lives. Sit and think! Watch and observe! Listen long and hard! Understand what people want, need, and desire. What questions need answering? What things make people smile, and nod? What problems do people need solved? What information do people value? What are they interested in? Once you know the answer to some of these questions, focus on them. Remarkable: You can’t walk, talk, chew gum, act, look, work, communicate or engage in ordinary or expected ways. You can’t because average and ordinary is forgettable. What’s memorable are remarkable things, which is why you have to behave remarkably. I find most people struggle with the


concept of “being remarkable” and most people feel it’s difficult, or near impossible to really be “remarkable” without being outlandish. Relax, you don’t have to be outlandish or a super human woman. Remarkable simply means worthy of remark. It’s easy to be worthy of remark if you do this sincerely: Show up. Listen. Deliver. Be consistent. Keep your promises. Don’t brag. Don’t push. Follow-up. Follow-through. Pay attention. Be generous. Show up on time. Have a sense of humor. Don’t complain. Don’t make excuses. Accept responsibility. Be patient.


Be passionate. Be thoughtful. Don’t blame. Don’t shame. Be positive. Be empathetic. Be thankful. Etc. See, being remarkable isn’t being outlandish, just show up, be a good Person, be sincere, and most of all behave trustworthily. Repetition: Consistent and remarkable contact, conversation, information, entertainment, education, sharing and engagement is what I mean by repetition. This book is full of old, and new school ideas that will work wonders in the respectful repetition category, read on. Here’s a handy list of old and new school mediums where you can rain your repetition: Advertising

Direct Mass Mail

Personal Mail

eMail

eNewsletter

Twitter.com


Facebook.com

LinkedIn.com

Video - Youtube.com

Blog

Blog comments

Email

Text

Chat

Twitter

Facebook

Phone

In Person What Have We Discovered? When homebuyers and sellers need real estate services, 84% only talk to one or two agents at the most. Most civilians either know more than one real estate and have access to hundreds, the one or two real estate agents they call on are contacted because they are known, familiar and trusted, or they were recommended by a trusted friend. When real estate services are needed, if we’re not the first or second remembered or thought of real estate agent, we’re sunk and before long, we’ll be starving. To succeed we must create Top Of Mind Awareness in the memories of everyone we know. We do this through relevant, remarkable and repetitious contact, engagement and marketing impressions. This book is full or ideas, strategies and actions that will do exactly what’s needed to succeed. Read forward, make your plan and work your plan. If you do this, your success is eminent, the faster you go, the faster you’ll get there. Go, go, go.


Ken Brand, Sales Manager Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors The Woodlands TX / 832-797-1779 Facebook Twitter BrandCandid Blog

Why secret agents starve and you won’t

Documents

Transcript of Why secret agents starve and you won’t