Hello everyone! This is another new blog article that I’ve written in ages! The last blog that I’ve written was on 6th June, and just in case people are wondering what had happened from then till now, I was pretty busy with real estate work and had less time on writing.
I do not have any objective for this blog post and am just going to type whatever comes to mind. If you’re more interested in the serious material that I usually write, this is not for you.
Going back on topic, I’m still largely a one-man show for all my real estate activities, including my blogging! From time to time there will be sponsored posts on my website, but this is solely just to test for viewership interest outside of my usual material.
As I’m writing this blog (10th August 2021), I will be reaching my 2nd anniversary (30th August 2021) as a real estate agent!
Yay me!
Being a real estate agent is such an enthralling experience that, it satisfies my curious need to explore different system flows in acquiring your target client. This is something that bigger companies don’t necessarily teach, and when you are self-employed you better learn it, and fast!
How Is It Different?
From my previous blogs, you probably remembered that I am from a sales background. I’ve done sales for a wide variety of industries ranging from Tourism to Pharmaceuticals. One drastic difference working as a self-employed individual is that I’ve come to realize bigger companies have all these different business functions separate.
Being involved in sales, I’m just required to convert prospects into paying customers. Conversion ultimately depends on two points. The strength/offer of the marketing campaign, and my capabilities in selling the said product.
Example
Here’s where it gets interesting as a real estate agent. Your marketing campaign is up to your design! The usual marketing channel that agents will employ is just uploading their current stock on listing websites and calling it a day. In today’s context, this is not enough!
There needs to be a distinguishing factor for your product. Listing websites are great in how they can pull in huge traffic due to their strong branding, but that’s about it.
This is where agents do get creative by uploading videos of properties that they are marketing while narrating a script. These are awesome, and I wish to get started on those soon!
However, my flavour for marketing is by creating reviews on properties. You might have seen real estate agents writing reviews for new launch properties. I do that too, and on top of that, I do write reviews on resale properties. From my works, I’ve seen great responses from the people that are interested in the properties that I’m marketing.
My readers/clients are sophisticated people that enjoy having thorough information on a property, which a listing or video cannot provide. It’s not about using difficult vocabulary either. As you can see, most of my blogs can be easily read by many.
Writing works great because, in this segment of the market that is largely untouched, I can have increased exposure to the property that I’m marketing. Furthermore, I can easily list all the benefits and disadvantages of the property, so only serious buyers will contact me.
What Am I Doing Now?
Well, I’m still largely doing the same things like writing reviews, and the usual real estate agent duties. I’m not going to lie; my journey is still a struggle. There is always a constant worry in acquiring new clients. However, I’m thankful to everyone that has supported me through this time, and was recently promoted!
So recently I’ve attended a sales/marketing workshop that had delivered extraordinary value. I’ve learnt many things that were an eye-opener.
Overall, this led to the creation of my first marketing funnel. I’ve previously tried different forms of paid advertising through Facebook and Google ads. However, the costs of paid marketing are high and as of late I’ve preferred to go with the tried and tested way of organic marketing.
If you are reading this, thank you for being a part of my journey, and I hope to be able to one day serve your property requirements.
There is still a need to reach clients who require my services immediately, as organic marketing usually takes years before they become a sustainable channel for leads. Hence, this is my second venture into testing paid advertising, with my very own Estate Magnates’ twist 😊.
Tough Clients
There are some unfortunate cases where it pains me to reject clients. I had a recent encounter where I had to reject a landed property seller for his business. This is because he already had more than 6 agents marketing the property for him. The asking price of the property was more than eight figures, and all that he was willing to pay for commissions was ~$60,000-$70,000.
This was below the market rate of 1%!
What I was requesting from him was 2%. This is the advised rate to charge for commissions by my agency. You might be thinking, “wow $60k is still a lot of money, why did you not accept the job?”
Firstly, he already had a large number of agents working for him, so the probability of me being able to find the right buyer first drops significantly. This is a simple probability, why would anyone invest so much of their time and resources without guaranteed returns? Also, there is no exclusive given.
Furthermore, deals like these do not come often. Ask any self-employed persons and they will tell you that this amount runs out quickly. On top of spending for their marketing campaigns and keeping some money for savings, most of their commissions will only last for a few months.
In addition, without knowing me personally, he criticized my morals and questioned my ability to sell at the price he wants. That was uncalled for. If you are unhappy about the service that I provide and don’t see the value, just walk away.
I still maintained my professionalism and addressed all his questions. Before all that had happened, I was still considering taking the job at a 1% commission. However, after all that had transpired, I will rather work with more cooperative and respectful clients.
Did it occur to him that if I’m able to attract a cold lead with such a high price quantum listing like him, I’m also able to find high net worth buyers? I guess not!
Ending On a Lighter Note
There are other pleasant clients out there that I have previously served. One good example is in regards to a tenant that I’ve served when I was marketing a commercial unit. Despite tough negotiations on both parties, this tenant ultimately saw the value that I was able to bring and had hence referred me to many other clients.
There were also cases in which I had served residential clients, and they had referred me to their friends. Although I was unable to get the property sold before his other agent did, he saw the value that I was able to bring to him and therefore entrusted his friends to my care.
It’s probably bad for businesses to air dirty laundry online, but I feel that it is perfectly fine as long as no identifiers. Besides, doing this will naturally filter out the toxic clients from my dream clients. I will rather be in a fulfilling career where clients are happy with my services rather than taking on unsatisfying deals.
Exercising Plenty
Life is more than just earning good money. I try to always set some time aside for exercise such as jogging and swimming every day in the morning. This has done wonders for my physical and mental health. It adds variety to the day and it gives me plenty of time on how I can explore different verticals in my marketing efforts.
Conclusion
Thanks for reading yet another one of my blogs. It has been an extremely challenging time during the past few years due to all the restrictions set in place. Without the support of my family, friends, clients and readers, I will have long thrown in the towel.
All this support restores my energy daily to do the best I can for everyone who are trusting my advice in making perhaps one of the costliest decisions in life, and I do not take that responsibility lightly.
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee, or other group or individual. The author does not accept any responsibility whatsoever for any harm or loss arising from accessing or relying on information contained in this blog post.