This weeks theme.
We want to provide you with four things that will make you stand out.
Now you're a brand new agent.
What's going to make you stand out?
What's going to get people to like you, and trust in you, and give you business?
What four things are going to make you special in the real estate world with a brand new
license?
Number one, I want to go through these quickly because I want to emphasize on the fourth
one.
First one is branding, branding being the colors you are going to be associating yourself
with, the brokerage you're going to be associating yourself with.
The brokerage is huge.
That's actually the biggest brand you can get, is the brokerage.
That's what you're going to tie yourself with, and that's where your colors, and your emblem,
and all that stuff is going to come in, is with your brokerage.
So, be careful.
Ask yourself, what kind of reputation you want to be associated with?
A big large company that's reputable and huge, and knowing for it's colors, and it's branding,
and it's reputation, or a small one that nobody really knows about?
That's huge.
You want to play with the Dogers, which is huge, or a small baseball team that nobody
knows about?
You might want to consider being with the best and the biggest, that usually helps you.
Branding, huge.
Number two, marketing.
Now marketing we're talking about free marketing like social media.
We're talking Facebook and all that other stuff, Instagram.
Marketing.
All that stuff is free.
Get familiar with it, put yourself on it.
Let people know what you're doing.
Another thing with marketing is word of mouth.
Word of mouth, that's actually huge.
Once you close one deal it starts to trickle out.
Everybody starts telling each other, and their friends, and their families what you did for
them.
So marketing, word of mouth.
You get referrals that way.
Referrals are nice.
Number three, advertising.
Are you kidding me?
This is the deal with advertising, be very, very careful with advertising.
It can get very, very expensive.
It can.
All right?
Now, you're going to be brand new, and most of the time ... Listen to this.
Most of the time there's three ways to make money.
You can wait for it, you can get paid for it, or you can go out and get it.
So, my recommendation to you when you're first getting started with your low-budget just
go out and get it, which means physically get in your car, go out, do open houses, go
out and do research.
Just do it.
It's called being physically aggressive and going out and making things happen.
Got it?
Good.
Last but not least, the fourth, your presentation.
Now this is the one I want to spend a little bit of time on.
Is presentation important to you?
Listen, let me remind you of something.
There was a time where I'd be showing houses, I'd be representing buyers, and I would be
showing houses, and we're in the car, we're driving, and I got the client in the car with
me, and we pull up to the listing, the house that they were going to want to see, and the
front yard is just completely thrashed.
The front yard is just very unattractive, and the buyer looks at me and says, "You know
what?
Keep going.
I don't want to get out of the car.
I don't want to see this house because if it's ..." What?
It's poor curb appeal.
I'm here to tell you that your presentation is your curb appeal.
What you look like, what you smell like, these are the things that people are going to perceive
of you.
The way you look is important.
Now, this goes a little bit deeper on this, and I hope not to offend anybody but this
is just the way it is.
Many people believe that you should dress the way your clients are dressing, the way
your clients are living.
It's call the mirror image.
I don't quite agree with that.
All right.
I'm thinking there's a minimum.
Here's the deal, many of times you're going to hear people tell you this.
Ready?
It's actually kind of funny.
They're going to tell you, "Dress business casual."
So let's ask ourselves, what the hell is business casual?
Better yet, what is considered casual, and what is considered sloppy?
There's a difference.
Casual, sloppy, casual ... Hey, be careful.
If I was you, I would play it safe.
Now, look how I'm dressed today.
I've got a tie and I've got a nice shirt on.
I don't know what you call it.
It's a suit, not a suit.
A suit jacket.
Nothing wrong with this, but hold on a minute.
Doesn't mean you always have to wear a tie because even if you take a tie off, it still
looks pretty fine.
You still look fine.
It's still presentable.
There is a minimum, and this should, in my opinion, be the minimum.
There's a difference between business casual and business, if it even exists, sloppy, and
you don't want to be the sloppy one.
You got it?
People are going to ... Especially the people who are new in this real estate career, you're
going to encounter your first clients or possibly your first clients, and if they have to choose
between you and realtor B, and realtor C, if you're all the same most of the time, from
my brief research, over 50% of the time they are going to consider your appearance, your
presentation, how you look, how you smell.
It's not just what you bring to the table as far as your knowledge, but the first impression
is so important.
That's how they're going to evaluate you and whether they select you or not.
It's going to be on your presentation.
It doesn't mean you have to be in a three piece suit all the time, but it also doesn't
mean you can show up in flip flops and shorts all the time either.
You got to have a minimum, and if I were you I'd play it safe, and how would I play it
safe?
Business casual.
What is business casual?
For me, in my opinion, a nice coat, jeans if you want, no tennis shoes.
Are you kidding me?
Tennis shoes?
No.
For gals, you might want to put a nice long dress on.
No mini skirts.
No that kind of stuff.
You want to be presentable, and I think you know what presentable is.
Huh?
Remind yourself, your first appearance is your curb appeal.
You want to make sure your curb appeal is beautiful.
You want it to be attractive.
It doesn't mean you have to be the best looking, doesn't have to be ... you have to be the
tallest, doesn't have to be the smartest, just know that for you to get into that door
of these people, for you to be considered as their realtor, there's got to be a bond.
Something where they say, "Hey honey, let's talk to this person.
They look okay.
They look nice.
They look fine.
They look ..." Ready?