To learn more about LarsonEd’s Florida real estate and Florida insurance courses, visit LarsonEd.com or give us a call at 239-344-7510.
About Larson Educational Services:
Utilizing 40 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online. We are an approved Florida Real Estate School (License #ZH1002299), Florida CAM School (License #PRE31), Florida Insurance School (License # 370501) and NMLS Approved Course Provider.
We love to golf, but we’re starting to realize that the danger isn’t worth it.
Florida is basically the Australia of America.
About Larson Educational Services:
Utilizing 40 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online. We are an approved Florida Real Estate School (License #ZH1002299), Florida CAM School (License #PRE31), Florida Insurance School (License # 370501) and NMLS Approved Course Provider.
And as a real estate professional, many of your clients and prospects may come to you through word-of-mouth referrals.
If you’re constantly prospecting like you should be, you’ll be interacting with strangers on a regular basis.
Although it’s unlikely that any of these stranger interactions will put you into danger, you still have to prepare yourself against the worst.
1.Protect your private information
Just because Facebook has an option of providing your address doesn’t mean you should give it. With the constant sharing inherent to social media, it’s easy to accidentally give away enough information to locate your home, your family, and when you go on vacation.
Best practice is to keep vacation photos off of social media until you return home and, in general, keep private identifying information off the internet.
Likewise, as a real estate professional, you may want to consider using a separate camera for business.
2. Use teamwork
Ask a fellow agent from your brokerage to join you on private showings.
If a certain prospect or client is considering doing something that might put your safety at risk, you’ll be more likely to deter their behavior with both you and your colleague rather than going by yourself.
3. Announce your showing schedule
Sometimes it’s not feasible to bring a colleague along for a showing, but at least let a coworker know your scheduled location. No, you don’t have to sing your schedule from the rooftops (you’d look a little goofy hollering out “I HAVE A SHOWWINNGGG!” in your brokerage office like Marlon Brando yelling “STELLAAA!” at the end of A Streetcar Named Desire), but at least let someone know your anticipated return time from a showing.
4. Verify customer info
If you’re hosting an open house, make sure you get a signature and phone number (or e-mail) from every attendee who stops by.
This not only protects you by deterring some unsavory person from getting too close for comfort in a somewhat confined space, but it also protects your client’s property from being stolen. (Who wants to steal from someone who knows their face, name, and contact information?)
And if you’re doing an individual showing, make sure to obtain some form of ID and an address from the potential client.
This system provides you with a nice ready-made contact list as well.
5. Scope out the location before-hand
A big part of staying safe (in any situation) is having situational awareness.
This is true whether you’re hiking or showing a new home for the first time.
Get a feeling for your surroundings by taking the time to familiarize yourself with the neighborhood.
(Heck, while you’re at it you might stumble upon some hidden gems in the neighborhood that you didn’t know about before. Win-win!)
Check back next time for part 2.
About Larson Educational Services:
Utilizing 40 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online. We are an approved Florida Real Estate School (License #ZH1002299), Florida CAM School (License #PRE31), Florida Insurance School (License # 370501) and NMLS Approved Course Provider.
As your client list expands, so will your options–including your option to say ‘no’ to potential clients.
To learn more about LarsonEd’s Florida real estate and Florida insurance courses, visit LarsonEd.com or give us a call at 239-344-7510.
About Larson Educational Services:
Utilizing 40 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online. We are an approved Florida Real Estate School (License #ZH1002299), Florida CAM School (License #PRE31), Florida Insurance School (License # 370501) and NMLS Approved Course Provider.
It’s easy to think that you’ll be okay at any broker or brokerage firm.
You’re so excited to start your real estate career that you might be willing to go with the first broker to offer you a position on their team.
But if you want your real estate career to start off on the right foot, you’ll need to find the right broker.
Not all brokers are created equal.
Some may be very mentorship-focused, taking pride in helping new agents start their new career.
Others may not be interested in nurturing a new recruit at all, leaving you to fend for yourself until you learn on your own.
Though each style may fit some agents and not others, you need to articulate to yourself what exactly you’re looking for in a broker so you’ll be more ready to disqualify the ones who don’t fit your needs.
Consider these 5 things when looking for a broker.
1. Are they making deals?
Before you choose a brokerage, try to find out how business is going. Talk to other agents in the brokerage.
Are they making sales?
Could you see any of them as mentors?
You may be doing a lot of work on your own as an agent, but your brokerage is meant to be a support system.
If you don’t see yourself fitting in with the culture of the office, then you may want to keep looking.
2. What’s their reputation?
Like any other business that operates on word of mouth—like dentists, lawyers, and doctors—a brokerage firm will have a reputation that they need to cultivate and protect.
Snoop around online to see what other people are saying about the brokerage. Find their negative reviews on Google, see if they have any issues on the Better Business Bureau—if any red flags stick out, trust your gut.
But remember that some online complaints are anomalies and may have more to do with the complainer than the company.
3. Go with your instincts
Disqualifying a broker may be as simple as not getting the right vibe from the people you meet. Trust this feeling. You are under no obligation to stick it out with the first brokerage you find and keep the following in mind:
You are the one interviewing the brokerages for a good fit, not the other way around.
4. Location, location, location
Not all brokerages deal in selling the same kind of properties.
If, for example, the prospective brokerage deals a lot in expensive waterside properties, you may get some big commission checks. However, the opportunities to sell such homes may be few and far between.
And those luxury properties may not go to the “runt of the litter” like you—the newbie at the brokerage.
Consider whether or not the brokerage is in a luxury area and if selling more expensive homes is the particular kind of challenge you’re looking for, rather than selling more homes at a lower price.
5. Listen through the grapevine
Asking other agents about a broker is one of the best ways to get the inside scoop on a brokerage and how they do business.
Does the brokerage provide good leads?
What are their fees like?
How do they split their sales between agents?
The best fit for the people you talk to may not be the best fit for you.
Brokerages that provide offices, advertising and excellent training may take higher fees.
If you’re an agent who prefers to do more on your own, you may want a more hands off brokerage. It’s all up to your particular disposition as an agent.
If you’re looking to get your Florida broker or agent license (or if you just need continuing education), then visit our website, Larsoned.com, or give us a call at 239-344-7510.
About Larson Educational Services:
Utilizing 40 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online. We are an approved Florida Real Estate School (License #ZH1002299), Florida CAM School (License #PRE31), Florida Insurance School (License # 370501) and NMLS Approved Course Provider.
Utilizing 40 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online. We are an approved Florida Real Estate School (License #ZH1002299), Florida CAM School (License #PRE31), Florida Insurance School (License # 370501) and NMLS Approved Course Provider.
To learn more about LarsonEd’s Florida real estate and Florida insurance courses, visit LarsonEd.com or give us a call at 239-344-7510.
About Larson Educational Services:
Utilizing 40 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online. We are an approved Florida Real Estate School (License #ZH1002299), Florida CAM School (License #PRE31), Florida Insurance School (License # 370501) and NMLS Approved Course Provider.
Do you look at the spotless floors of a supermarket and think, “Wow, the cleaning crew here is amazing”?
Not likely.
Odds are, you notice when a place is dirty and pay no mind when it’s clean.
Same goes for mailmen: we don’t thank the mailman for giving us all of our mail on time, we only curse him when he fails to do so.
These are often thankless jobs that are being accomplished to their utmost potential when the people carrying them out are unnoticed.
Is it possible that real estate agents are in this category?
About Larson Educational Services:
Utilizing 40 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online. We are an approved Florida Real Estate School (License #ZH1002299), Florida CAM School (License #PRE31), Florida Insurance School (License # 370501) and NMLS Approved Course Provider.
No matter how far along you are in your career—whether you’re a real estate newbie or a seasoned veteran—you won’t succeed without a well thought out plan.
And when we talk about a marketing plan, we’re not talking about your ideas to write a blog whenever inspiration hits, or to create videos when you have time (if your plans are only in your head, they are little more than pipe dreams).
We’re talking about a detailed plan to jumpstart your business through specific actions.
A marketing plan is:
a document that details you or your company’s marketing goals for a specific timeline, including a detailed step-by-step framework for achieving those goals.
Think of it as the blueprint you’ll use to guide the construction of your real estate career—your process for promoting your services.
Some quick tips for getting started:
Allot a significant amount of time preparing the plan
All goals within the plan should be reachable (with specific steps for reaching them)
Keep it easily accessible for reference
Share with the necessary people who can help enact the plan
Refer to it regularly (say every quarter)
Be willing to adjust it
How to Create Your Marketing Plan
Without clearly defined goals, your time and money with both be spent inefficiently.
Whether you’re an agent, home inspector, mortgage loan originator, appraiser, or notary public, just joining a team or setting up your office is not enough to attract customers.
You need to find them through marketing.
Although the details of marketing plans may vary, there are still some universal elements that every plan needs.
1. Clearly define your goals
Every subsequent step is based on this one, so it must be right. Maybe you have one specific goal or several—whether it’s driving more traffic to your website, increasing your number of clients, or reaching a higher revenue point—you won’t accomplish any of it without writing it down first.
2. Find your niche
What separates you from your competitors?
The answer to this question will help guide you to discovering your niche in the market.
Once you discover your niche, that knowledge will drive the tone of your marketing plan.
3. Find your target market
You cannot reach everybody.
Trying to reach every person is the same as attempting to reach nobody. Because time and money and effort are finite resources, you must necessarily exclude some potential customers in your marketing plan in order to more directly reach your target clients. (This comment is called “Hiding in Infinity.” Read more about it here.)
4. What’s your message?
Here’s where you get to have a little more fun.
What do you want to say to your audience and how do you want to say it?
Are your marketing materials going to be playful, professional—maybe a little bit of both?
Without a game plan going into it, your tone will be inconsistent.
Take a mountaintop view of your marketing plan and imagine how your brand will appear across various mediums and social media platforms.
5. What’s your budget?
How much are you going to spend on your marketing plan every month, quarter, or year?
It’s possible that the amount you spend could be zero—it’s possible (at least as far as money is concerned). However…
Remember that your budget includes time, as well.
Defining a budget helps you cap expenditures before you get ahead of yourself trying to reach goals that may not be within reach yet given your revenue.
You may hate crunching the numbers, but it’s a necessary step, otherwise you may find yourself with a plan that has no financial backing.
What about traditional marketing like magazine and newspaper ads, direct mail, and perhaps even billboards?
You don’t necessarily need to be everywhere, but you do need to think of the best channels through which to reach your audience.
Where do your potential clients?
Where do they spend their time?
You need to be right there with them.
7. Cultivate a content expertise
Try adding a blog to your website to share and post original content. Contribute to other real estate websites. Stay consistent and, over time, if you are adding value to people’s lives, you will be seen as a market expert.
People will begin to trust you.
Google will begin to trust you.
Your website and related content will rise in Google’s search results.
More clients will come to you.
8. Delegate
Your team (if you have one) needs to know about your marketing plan in order for it to come to fruition.
Get their buy-in from the beginning and set the plan into motion.
To sign up for classes with Larson Educational Services, visit our website, LarsonEd.com, or give us a call at 239-344-7510.
About Larson Educational Services:
Utilizing 40 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online. We are an approved Florida Real Estate School (License #ZH1002299), Florida CAM School (License #PRE31), Florida Insurance School (License # 370501) and NMLS Approved Course Provider.
Found these dusty old bad boys in the archives today. You could probably trade both of these for a Babe Ruth rookie card. #TBT#ThrowbackThursday
About Larson Educational Services:
Utilizing 40 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online. We are an approved Florida Real Estate School (License #ZH1002299), Florida CAM School (License #PRE31), Florida Insurance School (License # 370501) and NMLS Approved Course Provider.
Naples Real Estate School 
