What Makes Real Estate Companies Grow

When you get to the bottom of it all, real estate companies can grow one of two ways.

First, they can raise their head count. If we assume an average number of deals/agents - then the more real estate agents on your roster, the more real estate sales your real estate company will be a part of and the more commissions the company will receive. You can raise your head count by hiring more real estate agents or by buying other real estate companies. Sounds simple enough. Revenue is pegged to headcount.

Alternatively, a company can work to make ALL of their agents more effective. Remember that average number of deals per agent. Well, let's assume that the company doesn't want to hire more agents, just have their agents do more deals. The goal would be to raise that average. If your agents are doing 10 deals/year, on average, and you raise the average to 12, all else being equal, the office will make more money. By the way, so will the agents!

This somewhat assumes that the office is working on a classic split model - or does it?

Let me propose something radical. The best way to hire more agents is to have successful agents at your office. If your company has a reputation of making agents successful, then agents will want to work for you! Then it doesn't matter if you're on a desk fee model or a split.

Broker/owners, just imagine - instead of having 25 agents who do $50MM in transactions/year. You only have 10 - and they do the same sales volume! Sounds easier to manage, doesn't it. Or even better. Imaging you had 25 agents, 10 of them did $50MM and get a better split, the other 15 do another $50MM. You win either way.

So, how do you get your agents to produce more. Well, this isn't rocket science. First, they need leads. They need buyers and sellers reaching out to them. The office needs to be noticed. You have to stand out from the other guys in town. Next, you need to give your agents the tools they need to close deals with those leads. I'm talking about lead management, I'm talking about online marketing, I'm talking about social media and a great real estate website to serve as the foundation for it all.

If all you do is work on hiring agents and you don't give them the tools to succeed, they will come and go. They will under perform. Agents thirst for support, they want leads, and they want a company that gives them both. Real Estate agents will stand by a company that helps them succeed. If the agent was making $50,000/year at their last company and is making $60,000/year at your company, they're likely to stick around.

Also, the agents in town will take notice. They'll see your brand and your agents involved in lots of sales, on dozens and hundreds of yard signs. The agents will want to work for your company because you have the best website and your site has the best search engine placement.

Our clients see it all the time. Agents today want to work with a company that gives them what they need. They want a brokerage that provides leads and promotes their services.

The result is simple. The broker wins, the agents win, everybody wins.

by David

Posted on July 21, 2010 Filed Under Real Esate Marketing, Real Estate SEO, Real Estate Software, Real Estate Web Design, Real Estate Website, Real Estate Website Design, Real Estate lead generation, Strategy, Wordpress, agent recruiting, lead generation, leads, real estate, real estate internet marketing | Leave a Comment

JPA Management, L.L.C. launches new site designed by Boston Logic

JPA Management leveraged Boston Logic's expertise with Wordpress customization and design to build their new site. The Wordpress platform allows for superior search engine optimization and allows system users to easily add and edit content using a content management system.

The Boston Logic design team created a well-organized website template for JPA Management that focuses on the three key areas of their business: Hospitality, Retail, and Residential. JPA specializes in the development and management of commercial and hotel projects. They have developed more than 25 shopping centers and three hotels.

by Aurora

Posted on January 13, 2010 Filed Under New Website Launches, Real Estate Website Design, What's New, Wordpress, real estate | Leave a Comment

MAR Webinar Questions Answered- Online Marketing and Lead Generation for Real Estate

A couple of weeks ago, I did a webinar of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. At the end of the talk, there were several questions from the remote attendees. I figured I'd type up some answers.

What is the Best Free Web Stat Tracker?

Google Analytics is the standard. We use it for our clients and thoroughly.

How to move an existing wordpress blog but wants to new domain name?

Wordpress has some pretty simple export/import tools that make it easier to grab your content from one blog, shut down that old blog, and import the posts into the new wordpress deploy. It very important that you take down the old blog. So, if you had a blog at realestate.wordpress.com and you moved it to yoursite.com/wordpress, make sure that they old site at wordpress.com is completely gone. Otherwise, the search engines will think that you're posting duplicate content and this will hurt your ranking potential

How can I get people to become fans of my Facebook Business Page?

Start with the people you know. Send them a suggestion to become a fan of your business on Facebook. Next, make sure you have a link on every page of you website to become your fan on Facebook. Also, don't overlook your email signature. Put a link at the bottom of your emails for recipients to click in order to become your fan. Also, include the link in your newsletters or drip emails. As a rule of thumb, when someone is consuming content that you produced, you should present them with an opportunity to follow, friend, become your fan, etc.

With so much information out there, do you find people get turned away when you ask them to register?

This is an age old question. I'll probably write a longer blog post on this soon. Basically, it works like this. If you want the maximum number of leads, then you need to ask them to register before giving them access to the data. If you want to only speak with people who have clicked on a contact form and indicated interest or picked up the phone, then you can leave the doors wide open. We argue that having more leads gives you a greater opportunity to market over time and convert. So, we generally suggest to require sign-ups to view search results.

Can you explain the One System?

The ONE System is Boston Logic's proprietary real estate website platform. It integrates Content Management, Property search, user management, lead management, blogging, neighborhoods pages, live chat, development profiles, deal tracking, and a whole lot more into one platform for Brokers and agents. Click here for more information on the ONE System.

What are some Free or Cheap Mass Email services?

Boston Logic is partnered with both Constant Contact and iContact. We recommend both. Also, our ONE System can be integrated with either platform. Since we're here in MA, and so is Constant Contact, I can tell you that I've met with their CEO and VP and that they are a well run and managed organization. They are also the industry leader with well over 100,000 businesses using them for email marketing.

Do you create Facebook Fan Pages for clients?

We certainly do! Give us a call for more information! 617.266.9166

by David

Posted on December 29, 2009 Filed Under Email Marketing, Facebook, Personal Branding, Real Esate Marketing, Real Estate SEO, Real Estate Software, Real Estate Web Design, Real Estate Website, Real Estate Website Design, Real Estate lead generation, Sequoia Real Estate Solutions, Strategy, Wordpress, lead generation, leads, real estate, real estate internet marketing, social media | Leave a Comment

LogicClassroom Session 2 – Learning How to Blog Effectively For Your Company

Once again we had a number of attendees both on the phone and in our office for our second session of LogicClassroom. This session was a focus on how to turn a blog into a traffic and lead generation tool for your company. We explored how blogs work, how to start conversations with your readers, and how blog content can be syndicated to social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Don't worry if you missed the second session. We'll make sure that you're not left behind. When we start each LogicClassroom, we'll be careful to start with the basics and then get to the good stuff.

Please view the presentation on effective blogging below. Enjoy!

Our next LogicClassroom will be on 1/12/10. Learn how agents and brokers can leverage free social media to generate leads and a loyal client following.

by Aurora

Posted on December 9, 2009 Filed Under LogicClassroom, Personal Branding, Real Esate Marketing, Real Estate SEO, Real Estate Software, Real Estate Web Design, Real Estate Website, Real Estate Website Design, Real Estate lead generation, Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Sequoia Real Estate Solutions, Strategy, Wordpress, lead generation, leads, real estate, real estate internet marketing, social media, twitter | 1 Comment