Marketing
The changes in technology can even be found on those same “For Sale” signs that Smith sometimes searches for. As Tere Shelton Bernace notes, her Shelton and Stewart’s property signs and ads come with printed with a QR code. Passersby capture the code with their Smartphone, and the code brings up a website about a given property.
Bernace, also a member of the Master Brokers Forum, works with a team of four partner brokers. The team generated $78.6 million in sales volume last year; Bernace was attributed about $25 million.
Like Smith, Bernace still believes in print marketing. Every Sunday, Bernace places ads for open houses in the Miami Herald. The Miami Herald is an effective tool for obtaining listings, too, Bernace says. Sellers can see who is advertising in the paper; they can see the type of properties being advertised, as well of the style of the ad, possibly persuading them to reach out to a specific firm.
Bernace sees value in QR codes and social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, but she says she keeps up with them primarily to show she is in-touch with today’s technology. The clients she works with don’t rely on those mediums, she says. However, a posting on Facebook or LinkedIn doesn’t sell a home; according to Bernace, hands-on personal service and follow-up does.
She operates her business with patience and persistence. Realtors shouldn’t just show a buyer one or two homes that fits their initial wish-list. Instead, Bernace says a great agent comes prepared with other options, if only to relieve clients of being rushed into a decision.
“I’m prepared to show them properties other than what might be in their immediate sphere of interest, just so they can compare and get a sense of what else is out there other than what they’re specifically looking at,” Bernace says. “It’s not uncommon for a buyer to end up with something completely different from what they thought they were looking for when they started their search. As Realtors we need to be open-minded and broaden the search.”
Like most Realtors, Bernace wants to make client follow-up as personal and unrelated to sales as possible. She’ll send out calendars and cakes during the holiday season. If she comes across an event that she thinks will interest clients, she’ll send an email about it. A full office staff monitors any changes of address or email with clients.
Despite the goal of being personal, Business-oriented emails are a successful follow-up, too. Bernace emails comparable analysis between a client’s recent sale and purchase and another sale or purchase in the same neighborhood. Essentially, she wants her clients to know how they did on a deal. Bernace believes effort like this is what convinces clients to call her in the future.
“One of the things that really drives my business is repeat client business,” she says. “I’ve had clients that I’ve done 6 transactions with during the past 10 or 15 years. I think customers need to feel that we’re not always trying to sell something. Sometimes we’re just providing information.”
Bernace says keeping an eye on the market is an important. Occasionally, she’ll send out an e-blast or a flyer that displays market trends. Likewise, Katrina Campins believes market analysis is important information that should be shared with clients; it’s not what buys or sells a home, however.
Campins, who recently closed a cash sale in five days for $8 million, says the market will be what it will be; great Realtors must be able to make a transaction happen.
“Ultimately, numbers are numbers – they don’t lie,” says Campins, who registered a total sales volume of $70 million in 2013. “At the end of the day the market is what it is: supply and demand. It’s not brain surgery. Being able to close a deal is what the agent can assist with, and that’s a gift.”
An industry professional since age 18, Campins says her key to closing deals is an aggressive, no-nonsense approach. When the time to close comes, Campins focuses on the goal and doesn’t tolerate any excuses, she says.