In this week’s real estate sales and technology news we look at What Luxury Real Estate Sellers Look for in a Realtor, How to Create the a Fail Proof Luxury Real Estate Marketing Plan for 2015, Claiming your .REALTOR Domains Before They’re Gone and Googles New Email Program “Inbox”.

What Luxury Real Estate Clients Look for in a Realtor – Do You Have What It Takes?

At Inman’s Luxury Connect, one of the hot topics was how exactly to best serve the world’s leading luxury markets. The finest agents have always understood that one must be impeccable in their field as that is exactly what this elite clientele is looking for. They are willing to pay for the absolute best of the best in the industry and want someone of their own caliber representing them on their sale or purchase. 

In Inman’s latest article on the luxury market, Zillow shared an interesting statistic. When surveying “ultra high net worth individuals” 72 percent said that real estate was their “safe haven” for investment rather than the stock market. That is a 30 percent increase from five years ago.

Josh Altman from the Reality TV show “Million Dollar Listing” says “Today’s sellers expect it all. The opening event has to be something extraordinary. At my most recent opening event, we unveiled the newest Porsche.”

So if you want to break into the Luxury Market or just step up your game into another echelon of luxury clientele, consider how you can stand out within your market. For more tips on how to distinguish yourself from other luxury realtors, read more at Inman. 

How to Create a Fail Proof Luxury Real Estate Marketing Plan for 2015 (starting today)

 

 

2015 is quickly approaching! With Thanksgiving only weeks away, we’ll soon be lost in the black hole of productivity called the holiday season. This gives you less than 10 weeks left for 2014. Now is a perfect time to assess what went wrong and what can be done differently in 2015.

BiggerPockets just posted a great article that walks you through the steps needed to formulate a successful real estate marketing plan. Here are some tips that you can use to create a Fail Proof Luxury Real Estate Marketing Plan for 2015. 

First Steps – Do an honest (no really, I mean HONEST) assessment of 2014. Compare the results to your marketing plan the year before (you did create one, right)?  Did you meet or exceed income goals? Where did your plan fall short? Identify each problem so you can create innovative solutions for 2015. Did you have solid strategies or need more tactics for implementation? For 2015 consider diversifying your strategies, don’t just count on one strategy for leads that has worked for years. Generated enough leads but didn’t close enough deals this year? Look at your Lead Response System. Do you have one set up yet? What would it take to implement better lead response times?

Create a 12 week plan – Every productivity site out there says the same thing: If you don’t have goals, you’ll never reach them. And if you don’t have them in writing, then they just don’t exist. Let 2015 be the year that you create a detailed marketing strategy. Map it out on a calendar, create weekly action steps. Write down at least 2-3 new strategies you can implement for lead generation or lead response that you are currently not doing that you can start implementing before January 1^st. 

Think of these next 12 weeks as the time to plan and practice your new strategies. Take these strategies and break them down into weekly or monthly steps then commit to them by putting them in a calendar. For more tips on creating a 12 week plan to jumpstart your 2015 Real Estate Marketing, check out the original article at BiggerPockets.

Have you Claimed your .REALTOR Domains yet?

Last week tens of thousands of Realtors across the country claimed their .REALTOR domains. Here is how you can integrate .REALTOR into your marketing plan.

1.)   Redirect your .REALTOR domains to an existing website. This is an easy way to claim your site and redirect to your established web presence. All you need is the URL of your current website. Don’t have an online presence yet? Then you can use the FREE Realtor.com profile website to customize your domain to include listings, social media posts and client recommendations. You don’t have to pay a website designer just type in the information that will matter most to your clients.

2.)   Create a .REALTOR email address and have it forwarded to an existing account. This will promote your .REALTOR status and add more credibility to your brand. Read the original article at RIS Media. Or go directly to the NAR site here where they are still giving away FREE .REALTOR domains for one year to the first 500,000 members who register. Now is your chance to start of 2015 with a strong online presence.

Clearview’s Tuesday Tech Tip: Google’s Brand New Email Program – Inbox

I can’t tell you how many email clients I have tried over the last few years. From the basics, like Apple Mail, Outlook, Gmail and even systems like Boomerang, Mailbox & Unroll.me to organize all the email clutter and better prioritize my emails, tasks and calendars. Well, Gmail has just released the beta of their brand new “Inbox”. This apparently is a very different version of their inbox that we are all used to. They are already providing a mobile AND desktop app which includes all areas of productivity including adding To Dos, creating actionable steps, email groups, categorizations of order updates, flight statuses, reservation details and pictures without having to open the message. The folks at TechSavvyAgent give an in depth walk through of this great new tool in the video below.