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Will You Let Tech Put You Out of Biz?

2/19/2025

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You Say You Have a Great Business Idea!

1/22/2025

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What is a Business?

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When exactly does a biz idea become an actual business, company or brand?
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New Real Estate Agents Need to List Houses for Sale

6/29/2019

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How Realtors Generate Leads and Find New Clients
​By Gerri Leventhal – Broker/author/agent trainer - findnjhouse.com

The first thing a rookie agent realizes is that it takes a lot more work to please a person looking to buy a home or business property than it does to sell real estate property for a client. This is because a realtor has to show lots of homes to a person looking for a house (the buyer client). It takes time to set up the appointments and to travel to a bunch of houses.


Generally you can add a seller client’s home to the multi-list rather quickly and then all the other realtors have access to the sale details; asking price, number of rooms, acres, square footage, special features, photos… All the other realtors can pitch your listing to their clients. One of them is bound to sell the home for you. Yes, you could have an open house, and I recommend that you do. You can also advertise in the newspaper and online, perhaps on social media sites too. The truth though is that usually another realtor will find you a buyer for your listing.


The thing is your job is kind of complete fast, that seller client, fast. Price the home correctly and you just have to let the vast real estate industry machine do its work and get you some offers. But for a buyer client, you have to do all the leg work yourself, which takes time. You need to find homes that are attractive to your buyer and in their price range. Then you take them to see the homes and you get feedback on what they liked and did not like. Next you find more homes to show your client based on the feedback they gave you on the previous homes you showed to them.


You keep refining the buyer client’s search getting closer and closer to the ideal home they are searching for. There are also lots of problems like zoning; can the client do what they wish to do at the property they like? Does the client have the credit score to get a loan and the down payment money for the price range they have you looking for them?


Yes, buyers are more work so you must concentrate on finding listing clients or you could quickly burn yourself out. You have to pay for fuel to drive clients all over the country side. Thus, you want home sellers!


But how do you start attracting home sellers when you are an unknown new realtor?
  • You have to do local promotion – You have a limited sales territory so market to that particular territory and its citizens. Global marketing won’t get you many clients. Social media platforms are set up for global talk and you need to narrow down your focus to local conversations.
  • Your SEO, search engine optimization has to be very specific to the region in which you are a realtor. When you blog or social post mention local landmarks and local visitor tourist attractions, popular restaurants, clubs, parks... Use slang names and nicknames that the people in the neighborhoods you represent use when they speak about their own town. You have to identify community places that are not big enough to have their names included on the normal maps.
  • Get emotional when you speak about your sales territory. You have to sell your towns and pitch the available lifestyles. Become a community spokesperson, always bragging about your county and the people living there. “We’re doing great things here!” and “This is a fantastic place to raise a family.” And “The neighbors stick together. We help each other. Friendly, friendly, friendly…”
  • Get your biz card out there and drop off brochures about your services…everywhere and to everyone!
  • For-Sale-By-Owners: Obviously if a realtor has zero listings then they should be calling on people who are desperately trying to sell their homes on their own, by themselves. There are websites full of potential clients attempting to sell their homes without realtors. You are a pro and so you need to be able to convince these go-it-alone sellers that you can do a better job for them than they can by themselves. It should be an easy pitch for you because you have a realtor license, you passed the realtor test! That license gives you credibility.
 
You are the real deal and you know how to sell homes. Of course you are dealing with folks that just want to not pay a commission, so you must appeal to their greedy side to win them over. “I can get you a better offer, at a higher price.” This usually works best. Just explain that even with paying your commission they will still make more money on their sale since you will be bringing them better buyers… Then there is no reason for them not to hire you.
 
Convincing For-Sale-By-Owners to sign with you requires following up after they say no. All you have to do is come back in a week or two and say, “So how has the selling of your home been going? Got any offers yet?” It may take a few uncomfortable visits by you but eventually they will give in, admit that they cannot do it without help and hire you. The longer their home does not sell and the more bad experiences they have with buyers, the better your chances grow of getting hired by them…eventually. Just remember you have to stick with them. Sure they are annoyed every time you stop to ask how the sale is going. Yes, they are mad that they have not sold the house without your help. But, as they see how persistent you are, they will realize the value of having someone like you, who does not give up, on their side. One day they will say, “Okay, you’re hired! Now go sell my home!”
  • Expired Listings: Here is another treasure trove of potential clients for new realtors. Just know that these clients did not sell their house the first time around. They are skeptical of realtors because their last realtor failed them. You have to come prepared to convince a home seller that has already waited for months for a bad realtor to sell their home that you are not like their last realtor. You are confident that you can sell their home!
 
Speak enthusiastically about their house. Show how excited you are for the chance to be able to tell people about their home. Get the listing! Get your sign up in their yard! Next take some great photos and sell, sell, SELL! When a new realtor sells a home that another realtor has failed to sell… Your name and the work you do, gets spread around the whole neighborhood! Selling a home that a competitor could not sell, is the best damn marketing you can have. Make a habit of it and you will become a legend in that neighborhood!
 
P.S. Just remember that there could be a very real reason that their house did not sell during the first round, so do your homework and research. Was the house overpriced or was the description on the MLS just written poorly? Are there things the seller can do to up the chances of selling quicker?
  • Throw open houses and get real good at it… I know many realtors will tell you that open houses do not work. They may not sell the home but open houses, done right, will get you plenty of buyer clients even if you need to show them other houses. They also get you listings clients. But you have to throw an impressive open house! To make visiting homeowners remember that they want you and only you as their realtor, when they decide to sell their home too; your open house has to be very special. Yes, neighbors who are thinking about selling soon do visit open houses to see if they like the realtor hosting them. If you show each visitor how prepared and knowledgeable and competent you are as a local realtor then they will hire you or recommend you to their friends. But again, you have to put on a great open house that makes each visitor say, “Wow! This realtor really knows what they are doing.”
  • Develop your website and blog and social media accounts… But know that to get listings your site will have to be really great! Property sellers want to list with a realtor that has a great website. They know their realtor’s website attracts buyers. They want to sell their house and they know the buyers are on line now-a-days. If sellers are impressed by your online presence they will hire you over a realtor with an average to poor web presence. But know that you have to really make your web stuff really stand out. The idea is that you force sellers to have to sign with you because you are all over the web. When your name keeps popping up every time they search for realtors in your territory their decision to hire you becomes simple. When they search any real estate related topics and search engines like Google keep recommending you and your website then naturally you are the realtor they want to hire.
  • Pick something to become great at! If you are the best house and property photographer in the area then your unique photos will sell more home than average photos will. If you can become good at making promotional videos then YouTube can be your mode of expertise for your realtor marketing to get you listings as well as for selling those homes quicker than other realtors do. If you are very personable then by all means walk and talk and greet and meet. Choose a small, just a few city blocks area, and get to know everyone there. Become that small niche neighborhood property specialist. Expand out slowly, but never expand so fast that you become not special anymore.
  • Network, network, network… It takes a while but other professionals will start to refer business to you. You have to refer business to them too! Networking is reciprocal, you have to give to get. You also have to do a great job for any client that is referred to you or you will not get any more referrals. Word gets around in professional circles so if you get a reputation as being willing to help other pros get business then the pros in your area will all wish to work with you.
 
Realtor’s business Reference Section:
  1. Need more tips for starting or growing your realtor business? Go to my book page on my website to find plenty of marketing ideas for realtors:
  2. Check out my 90 day Business and Marketing Starter Kit for New Realtors!
***Order My Books on GerriLeventhal/Smashwords:
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Biz Startup

8/14/2018

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Getting Entrepreneurial
By Stu Leventhal – Guru Marketing Tips Editor

Do you have a great business idea? But, truly you know that you do not have enough experience with bringing a new product or service to the market place?
 
Many people have the imagination to come up with smart new gadgets but they do not have any idea how to get the product actually made. A great idea can make you famous and wealthy but you often need to be able to launch a real company or a small business to turn your idea into profit.
 
Launching a company from scratch takes  lots of biz skill sets plus a large variety of experiences, if you are going to be successful!
 
Usually idea people are not experienced with running and managing a company by themselves yet they are afraid to take on partners because they do not want to have their idea stolen from them. Those concerns are very valid because ideas do get stolen. But that is where patents come into play.
 
The thing about patents is that they are meant to protect the inventor from competitors copying your idea and not having to pay you for coming up with the great idea. You thought up and designed a new gadget or developed a better more efficient way of getting something done so most of us agree that you should get full credit for your smarts and you should also profit from what you invented or discovered or puzzled out. So you file a patent to show you were the first to come up with your idea.

But hey, obviously not everyone that discovers something or develops a great new idea has the salesmanship to sell it too. You are ideally going to have to partner up with sales gurus who can sell, sell, SELL!
 
Now many imaginative people will simply sell their patent to another entity thus cashing in quickly. Now it is the patent buyer’s problem to manufacture, market, promote and sell the new invention to the public. The inventor has been paid in full for their idea and the company now owns the rights to do what they will with the invention.
 
The disadvantage to the inventor or idea originator when they sell a patent is that they only get a onetime payout for their genius idea. The company that buys their patent can go on profiting from their idea for years and years and years. The inventor does not share in the spoils other than their one time payout. For this reason many inventors and idea people will attempt to keep ownership of the patent but license out the usage of their invention or patent idea to one or a host of independent companies.
 
A Creative can also license out the rights to manufacture and sell their invention while still retaining full ownership of the invention. You as owner and your lawyer would set limits in the contract as to what the licensee was allowed to do with your invention.
 
Bearing in mind that it certainly takes lots of varying abilities and plenty of money to bring a product from the drawing board all the way to the market place, usually the smart person with the invention or revolutionary new idea is going to need loads of help getting the finished product onto shelves in stores around the globe. You’ve got the winning idea, now you have to partner up with someone that has the marketing, a sales team, distribution angles covered, networking and connections already in place to turn your idea into a success story.  
 
Starting a startup company, even when you do have loads of money on-hand is very difficult; you are trying to break into a market and an industry that is well established and your competition is not going to be happy about sharing their pieces of the pie with you. Your competitors will fight back, HARD! Without money, an idea person is at a real distinct disadvantage!
 
It is of no wonder that the average person lacks the confidence and the means to start their own company, even when they are sure they have a great idea or unique concept for a different kind of company.
 
When an entrepreneur lacks funds to bring their products to market they can try selling their ideas; but, do you know how to sell a new product or new business idea? Do you know how much money to even ask for, when selling the rights to manufacture or sell your invention or idea?
 
Are you aware of the different kinds of patents? Getting a patent will protect your idea from being stolen but you have to craft the patent correctly and file it in the right way. Usually a patent lawyer is necessary to do the filing in a way that protects you as the inventor and originator of the idea. When you try to draft the patent paperwork yourself there is a good chance that you will not cover all of the basics and thus a wise team of lawyers working for a competitor with deep pockets, can find a way for their client to get around paying you for your patent. Idea people need to consult with proven, patent attorneys to protect their ideas from theft!
  
What is holding you back from bringing your product, service or idea for a new company to the market place? Are you sure forming a startup company is the best way for you to move forward with bring your idea to market? Have you thought about whom you might partner up with? Are you low on funds? Most importantly, do you love coming up with new ideas to fix old problems but the thought of running an actual company with loads of employees to manage scares the hell out of you?
 
Before you commit to starting a startup ask yourself these questions:
  • Where do I want to be professionally and personally with my life, five years from now?
  • Do I like punching the clock?
  • Am I a workaholic?
  • Do I want to be my own boss?
  • Is family more important to me than my career?
  • Do I actually have what it takes to run a company?
  • Do I have the nerve to find out if I have what it takes to create a startup company and see things thru until it turns into a success?
  • Do I have other ideas besides this one to bring to market or is this my only one big shot to fame and fortune?
  • Who do I know that I can go to for straight talk, business advice, when I need it?
  • Will the royalty checks that are estimated to come to me from licensing my product or idea out to other already more established companies, be enough for me to live on and be satisfied with?
  • Can I trust the company that wants to license my idea? What is their reputation?
  • Do I need a non-disclosure agreement signed before I even meet with potential investors to discuss my idea? (ask your attorney!)
  • Have you identified a list of companies that you would like to pitch your idea to?
  • Have you identified lots of potential partners or companies to partner up with?
  • Are there lots of investors specializing in funding your type of idea?
  • Are you looking for a fast, quick payout or long term, continual profits
  • If you do keep total control of your idea, how will you market it? Where will you advertise? Are there lots of annual trade shows where your idea could be showcased?
 
TIP: There are Idea Brokers and Idea Submission Companies who, for a fee, will present your entrepreneurial idea to established companies and investors. Usually you have to give them a percentage of the sales they create for you. The point is; there are alternatives to starting one’s own company for bringing one’s ideas to the market place. If you check the broker out with the Better Business Bureau and idea groups like the United Inventors Association, you can usually screen out the scam artists. Yes, the invention submission industry has a bad reputation for charging inventors and idea people money and then not getting them any results; so, do your research before you sign anything with anyone.
 
Launching a startup is a big commitment that the faint of heart should not undertake unless they are truly ready to dedicate everything they have towards making their business idea a winner. Always bear in mind that most startups fail, so the odds are against you… That being said; running one’s own company is a great achievement, well worth striving for!
 
Samuel Goldwyn said, “No person who is enthusiastic about his work has anything to fear from life.”
 
Donald Grant Mitchell said, “There is no genius in life like the genius of energy and industry.”
 
Thomas A Edison said, “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”
 
Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
 
If you are an idea person, a creator an inventor…you are in the best of company!
    
Now let’s get those new products, services and ideas…to market! 
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