As agents, we rely heavily on marketing and advertising. After all, marketing is how we get the word out about the homes we have for sale. There are two types of advertising that come from agents. Both of those methods are used by every agent on the planet, but one of them exposes amateurs without them even knowing it.
The first type of advertising is the type you see from the pros. This advertising model can only be used by agents who are out there making moves, selling homes. Unfortunately, you see very few agents advertise in this manner. I’m talking about agents who advertise the properties they have for sale.
A sure way to spot a pro is by the listings they carry.
If an agent doesn’t have listings, they don’t have a business. The best agents advertise the listings they have. Top Agents know that listings generate all the leads and that’s exactly where they focus their advertising.
The other type of advertising is the exact opposite. Agents who have no listings, no clients and no business being in business follow this method. This method is the method of the 99 percent. You see this ad method running rampant on social media and via spam email blast. I’m talking about when agents advertise themselves.
Amateur agents talk about themselves.
They do so because they have no listings to promote. Broke agents love to talk about how awesome they are. Newsflash: No one wants a real estate agent. What they want is a house. The best agents know this; the broke agents ignore this.
We all know there are more broke agents than experts. It’s kind of a thing in our industry. No agent wants to admit they are failing so they’ve carefully constructed some fancy phrases that sounds like something special, but insiders know they are clueless. I’ve put together the top three phrases only amateur real estate agents use.
Million-Dollar Producer: While this sounds like a lot of money and sales, in real estate, in 2015, it isn’t. A million dollars in real estate is like four houses. If an agent sold a million dollars in real estate in 2015, that’s one home a quarter. That’s amateur level sales at best. Even better is when they announce they are a “capper” from their brokerage. To “cap out” means to make around $40,000 gross. That’s before taxes, fees and the like.
A million dollars in sales is $30,000 gross income before fees, brokerage split and taxes. You could work washing cars and make more money than an agent who sells a million dollars in real estate. They love to throw the phrase around, though. To the broke agent’s ego, it sounds good, but to the informed, it sounds like you need to get to work.
Years of Experience: Agents without any business love to tell you how long they’ve been in the business. They don’t talk about how many millions in production they have, or how many homes they’ve sold; they talk about how many years they’ve been an agent. It sounds good to say 10 years’ experience. It’s not, though, and most agents have one year of experience repeated 10 times, not 10 years of experience.
Pros talk about how many homes they’ve sold and their GCI. Amateurs talk about how long they’ve been in business. With the average agent selling three homes a year, 10 years of experience is 30 homes. I’ve got clients who sell that many or more every single month of the year. Once again, it sounds good to rookies, but we insiders know what’s really going on.
All out of Listings: Broke Agents love to drop this one on you. They love to act like they are so good that they sold all of their listings. All one of them. In the last four months. Professional agents never stop prospecting and never run out of inventory. Even if they do, they sure as hell don’t announce it to their marketplace.
Meanwhile, broke agents think that running out of work sounds like a good idea. They think the public will think they are a super fast seller and that’s why they are all sold out. Ha! You and I know that’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works.
Be on alert for a plethora of spin sayings from agents. Broke agents will stop at nothing to point the blame elsewhere and try and spin stories for their protection. You’ve got to keep your BS radar on high and keep your guard up at all times.
It’s getting easier and easier to spot the differences between pros and amateurs. All you have to do is pay attention to what they are marketing. Is it a property or is it them?
If you’d like to know more about my programs and products, in order to purchase the right one for you, simply head over to www.breakfreeacademy.com/entourage and we will be in touch. All I ask is that you come ready to invest and not waste our time. We have a lot of people to help and we want to help those who are ready, first.
