Gary Carpenter

"Are you generating at least 2 to 5 Leads per day, Yes per day from your current website?"

One of my jobs as the CEO of Keller Williams Greater Omaha is to interview agents in our market place and the one question  I always ask all agents is "Do you have your own website?"  In this day and age, they reply, "Yes, of course, certainly!" Where most are stumped is when I ask,  "How many leads are you currently generating on a daily, yes, daily basis?"   You would be surprised how many agents just look at me with a blank stare or say, " I get leads from my website but most of them are a dead end and it just doesn't work." 

The whole purpose of any advertising in any business is to allicate a response and the response that you want from your "Lead Generating Website" is  the consumer's correct information (name, number, and email).  The only way they will give you something of value is if they receive something of value from  your website.  The value today in a real estate website is the ease in which they can search for the home of their dreams.  That brings up the subject of IDX ... either you have it or you don't.   If you do not have it then your website is just a fancy business card!

Web Information Exchange is the most effective way to reach out to all those people interested in properties and are scanning the Internet for them. There was a time when property advertisements were published in newspapers and magazines and those on the hunt could pick them up weekly or monthly to aid in their search. While you can still find 'advertisements', they are now on the web.  In fact, the internet is the #1 way buyers are searching for real estate, over 90% of all buyers are starting there search online and 8 out of 10 home buyers who used the Internet to search for a home purchased through a real estate agent, in contrast with 63 percent of non-Internet users who were more likely to purchase directly from a builder or from an owner they already knew in a private transaction.

IDX listings makes it possible for a web site to list all the properties available - very much like the newspapers and magazines.

If you are in the real estate business and want to generate online leads, your first job is to give prospects what they desire - information about the properties. Now the problem is as an agent or a broker, how many properties are you able to get hold of and screen?  

All  listing agents and brokers who are members of the network agree on the details and features each other's websites will show. This is often referred to as IDX broker reciprocity.  IDX listings will also help your visitors to perform map-based searches which means that they can zoom in to the address level. 

These are some of the characteristics of an IDX Listing website

• IDX list integration into your system is completely smooth and fast. 

• You can list your broker IDX website to go with your layout and colors.

• You have the freedom to choose what real estate ads you want and what you want to omit. 

• For complex developers there are custom CSS / HTML controls.

• The IDX listings system is super easy for your prospects to view. 

• There are client automated email updates that allow you to update your prospects. 

• There are unlimited customized slideshows and showcases.

 

If you want to show them all the listings, you can. And because the system is constantly updated, you can be sure new listings appear and solds disappear. 

Needless to say, IDX listings can greatly help you extend the leads from your real estate site. Since there are so many proprietary options, you can be sure that your prospects will stay longer on your site!

 

If you have any other questions about IDX websites please do not hesitate to call Gary Carpenter 402-680-7000 or email at [email protected]

 

Four Simple Steps At Increasing Market Share So You Can Shift Gears and Head Straight Into Success!

If you’re a smart Realtor, you want to ramp up your business, get noticed and do it with a bang that makes your name pop out and stay in the memories of anyone looking to buy or sell a home or property. With a plethora of Realtors out there, all looking to do the same thing, how do you stand out and shine on your own? We’ve got a solution neatly lined up in four amazingly simple steps that will steer you toward achieving success – by shifting gears and driving business directly into your hands! Here’s how to narrow your focus:

When you zoom in on the specific focus points, you’ll find it easier and your goals more realistic to accomplish. By following these four strategies you can and will employ almost instant change in your business.

Decide What You Want

Knowing exactly what you want is a key factor in being able to achieve success. And the more specific you are, the better your chances of achieving your goals. By staying within reason of your specific goals, you don’t end up trying to be all things to all people – leaving you to focus on the important aspects of your career, and allocating a good amount of time to those things exclusively.

Whether it is wanting to sell a set number of homes per week, working a 20-hour workweek, controlling your volume and traffic or creating a certain quality of life – the idea is that when you know what you want, you will know what you need to achieve what you want, and you’ll also have a clear idea of the people you will need to be working with to be successful.

Decide Who To Target

If you attempt to reach too many people in too vast an audience, the ability to home in on a specific niche is taken away from you. By focusing on a group that you know you want to work with, you solidify your chances of greater success within that niche. An example of a targeted audience is move up buyers. This may be the ideal potential clientele for you to seek out, since they increase your sales price averages, take considerable less work and are a great source of long-term business leads because they are usually established homeowners with many contacts and potential leads. Regardless of which niche you select, the importance of honing on a target audience is paramount, as it will clear up the focus and allow you to concentrate on increasing your success.

Establish a Brand

Many Realtors make the common mistake of relying on their broker’s brand. To a consumer, everyone looks the same in the real estate business so it is essential that you create your own brand, unique to even your broker. This way the consumer, especially the ones who fall into your targeted audience bracket, can distinguish you from the rest of the lot, and recognize you for the services you can provide them unique to their needs. When you have established your brand presence within the niche you’ve selected for yourself, not only will consumers appreciate your services but they will also understand and value those services – resulting in them understanding that you are worth what you charge for your time.

Create a Specific Message

Once you’ve established your wants and needs, you have selected a target audience to achieve those needs and your niche has its own unique branding – it’s time to create a very specific message geared toward your potential clientele. The idea, again, is to stand out from the rest. By creating a clearly defined message, you are leaving no room for mistaking what exactly you have to offer; whether sharing your value proposition to potential clients, highlighting your experience levels or previous successes, the message is one that will drive traffic to your door and help you to reach the pinnacle of success, as you’ve defined it.

~

Following just a few simple, yet essential steps is key in establishing your goals; knowing who you need to pursue to achieve those goals and setting up the framework to do so in a way that is optimal for business – you can and will shift gears and increase your market share!

 

"It's Never Too Late"

It is November 20th and I am working on setting my 2011 Goals and as usual one of my greatest mentors of all time is reinventing himself! Floyd has been a friend, father, mentor, advisor, and inspiration to me for most of my adult life! Knowing that at the age of 69 he still setting BIG GOALS inspires me to do the same! I am currently the CEO/TL of Keller Williams Realty in Omaha NE and my BIG GOAL for 2011 is to help change the lives of 100 real estate agents the same way that Floyd has changed mine! Enjoy this inspiring blog post from Floyd Wickman below!

I just set a new 5 year goal for myself.  Some may think it silly to be setting a 5 year goal at age 69.  What might be even sillier is that I have no doubt but that I will achieve it. 

On one hand I am humbled and blessed to think of all that I have achieved, and overcome, throughout my life. On the other hand, I believe there are some very specific ingredients that worked for me and will continue to work as I strive to achieve my next goal.  I share them with the hope that someone reading this can use these ingredients to achieve his or her goal, regardless of age.

1.  WORK HARD.  Nothing will ever replace hard work as a major force in taking one toward the goal.  Asking ones self "what can I accomplish during my workday?" rather than "what can I get out of doing during my workday?" is one noticeable difference between an achiever and a wanna-be.  Remember, if you wish to leave your footprints on the sands of time...wear work-shoes!

2. STRONG CORE VALUES.  Those traits that best describe a person and his or her ethics, guidelines or promises can often predict the outcome of ones efforts toward achieving the goal can be reduced to concise and clear core values.  A person needs only to look back upon a successful period of his life to discover his core values.  What traits obviously contributed to the successful outcome?  How would others describe the 'work ethics' or conspicuous characteristics he demonstrated. 

To help the reader understand what I mean by Core Values, I give you mine.  To Always...

...Live by the Get-by-Giving Philosophy.

...Make my clients number one goal, my number one goal.

...Live up to my standards despite temptations to lower them.

...Be willing to work toward a common good.

...Do what I say I will do.  Sometimes more, just never less.

Each person should ask themselves this question.  "Are my core values such that, if I adhere to them, I have the best chance to achieve my goal?

3. HOME-COURT ADVANTAGE.  This is a term my 'big brother' Zig has reminded me often of throughout the years.  Simply put, he says we cannot succeed to our full potential without the people in our life rooting for us.  Encouraging us to be our best.  Whether its our spouses, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers or just our closest friends, our odds of success soar when they are cheering us on and giving us our space to grow.  How do you get this?  You get by giving.  By encouraging the people closest to us; giving to our families the love and attention they want and need; and, putting their needs high on our 'to do' lists, we dramatically increase our odds of having that 'home court advantage". 

 Linda and I have been married for 46 years and I can tell you,  beyond the shadow of a doubt, without her encouragement, belief and support, I could never have achieved the success I have.  No one does it alone.  In my book "letters to Linda" www.floydwickman.com we share the 15 principles that has given each of us the 'Home Court Advantage'.

4.  TRUST GOD.  Believe that God wants the best for you.  Believe that He has a purpose for you to fulfill.  Believe that He is there in the toughest of times.  Believe that He wouldn't have given you the dreams you have if you weren't able to accomplish them.

Hope this helps.  Oh, by the way, my 5 year goal is to Speak to 100 separate 'general' audiences (other than real estate groups) on or before October 20th 2015.  Wish me success.

Love,

Floyd

The rise of Craigslist and how you can use it to generate leads

By Laura Price, Marketing and Communications Coordinator, Keller Williams Realty

“I’m persistent until prospects tell me to take a hike,” explained Bob Cenk, mega agent and Craigslist aficionado. “And I’m good at taking a hike,” the former mountain climber joked while on a panel discussing the best Internet strategies during Mega Agent Camp Wednesday morning. Just last year he made $700,000 off Craigslist alone and isn’t showing signs of slowing down – this year he’s projected to crest nearly $1 million in GCI.

After leaving mountain climbing to spend more time with his family, Cenk got into real estate and quickly realized he needed a free method to generate leads. So he jumped on Craigslist and started posting. Here are the lessons he’s learned and the strategies he’s currently implementing to stay on top of his game.

1. Capture their attention. Traditional thinking might tell you to describe the home, its price and the neighborhood in the title. Through trial and error, Cenk has found that those headlines actually send people away from your post. “Consumers usually go onto Craigslist only once, and they are automatically looking for ways to disqualify the home,” he says. The best headlines, he explains, are the non-traditional ones. Here are three that are proven to pull in leads. 

!!!! START PACKING … LET’S MAKE A DEAL!!!!

***** WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE ABOUT THIS JEM******

!!!! PINCH ME I MUST BE DREAMING!!!!

2. Simple is better. A lot of agents make the mistake of writing too much about a home. “That just gives the consumer another way to disqualify the home – which loses you a lead.” Cenk has found that the simple posts which merely describe his service are the ones that get the most attention. For a full explanation on how to post simple ads, watch the video below.

3. Consistency and persistency with marketing and messaging: “We’ve found that people typically don’t click to the second page.” The strategy: “continue to post throughout the day to stay at the top of the first page. As redundant as it seems, posting the same message over and over is effective.” Cenk was quick to remind the audience that once leads (hundreds a day in his case) start coming in, it’s important to leverage your time and add someone to your team to handle your posting, and follow-up for you.

4. Adapt. Through trial and error Cenk has successfully found his way to success on the site. Liking his adaptation to climbing a mountain, he said “when you climb and come to a rough patch, you go back down; train and then head back up a new way.”

““I just kept making those 200 phone calls every day!””

By Lisa Wahlgren, Communications Manager, KWRI

Recounting a deeply personal saga of growing up not knowing his father, and then holding to an undying commitment to be a daily presence in his son’s life despite a bitter divorce, a year of homelessness, 10 days in a maximum security prison for unpaid parking tickets, and an arduous upward climb to make it as a stock broker, Chris Gardner held Mega Camp attendees in rapt attention Tuesday morning. 

Gardner’s determination to hold onto his son despite all odds was every bit matched by his professional ambition. Starting out as an unpaid intern for a stock brokerage firm, and working his way into a commission plus a small base sales position, he said he had made a determination early on to “be world class at something.”  It was a determination that kept him focused on the one thing that he needed to do every day: “make 200 phone calls.” His focus and hard work led him to the highest ranks of his profession.

Gardner’s story caught the attention of the national news media and Hollywood movie producers who convinced him to participate in a major motion picture based on his life.  Starring Will Smith, “The Pursuit of Happyness” ended up grossing more than $400 million. His book with the same title was a New York Times Bestseller for 25 weeks – three of them as No. 1 – and has been translated into 40 languages. 

“When one of the biggest movie stars in the world decides to do a movie based on your life, your life changes,” Gardner says, adding, “it took the movie producers $70 million to accomplish what I was able to do for nothing.”

Despite the international notoriety and financial success that he has achieved, he claims without question that the most important accomplishment of his life was “breaking the cycle of fathers not being there for his children.”

"Show me the money!"

If your spouse is saying "Show me the money"...KW University would love to invite you to come to our lead generation class on Thursday from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm for some great training and a FREE breakfast and lunch! In Fremont Ne. call Laurie at 727-1111 for more details....We have 4 spots left!

"Excuses are for Knuckleheads"

  
I could not have written this any better! Pattie Siebold is a good friend and mentor. She is the OP of one of the most successful Keller Williams market centers in the country.   When she talks, her associates in Vancouver, WA listen. July is a great time to re-evaluate your 2010 goals and if you are currently behind this article is a must read. You must not just read but implement as well because "Education without applications is worth less than worthless". Make it a great rest of the year! If you find yourself continually making excuses and need some accountability, please do not hesitate to give me a call. Gary Carpenter 402-680-7000 or [email protected]. 

Accountability Creates Results!

One of the things I love most about the Floyd Wickman program is the accountability that is built into each program. Agents that go through the program have a core set of activities they must complete each week: 

1. Actively prospect for 4 hours a week by phone in their office
2. Attend 2 For Sale By Owner appointments
3. Attend 2 listing presentations
4. Work thorough their week in an organized fashion - Floyd calls that a SMART Week
5. Show up on time, and don't leave early

If one of these things is not completed the student gets a strike (Accountability) and if they get 3 strikes they are asked to leave the program with no reimbursement! I know that sounds tough and I also know it's one of the main reasons our students produce like crazy.  Floyd has had a long-held opinion that many don't cut it in real estate because once you get that license, everything is optional.  EVERYTHING.  So when we work with our students, we not only teach, we hold them highly accountable and remove their option to fail.  And in so doing, this is what happens:

Keller Williams of Omaha just completed a Floyd Wickman Program with the following results:  

• 30 Agents generated 
• 130 listings
• 118 Sales
• 248 total transactions or 
• 1.37 transactions per agent per week
• 613 referral leads or an average of 3.40 per agent

Take a look at this video to get a peak inside the classroom!

Motivation Monday 3-29-2010

I had a student come up to me the other day and ask how I was doing.  I said "I AM FANTASTIC" and with irritation he looked at me and asked, "Why are you always fantastic?".  I said  "Because I just am!"   You could tell that was not the answer he wanted to hear and as I thought about it I wondered why I was always FANTASTIC.   Then I remembered the time I was at a trainer meeting with Floyd and he asked me how I was doing.  I thought he really wanted to know the truth so I said "I'm okay".  With a stern look in his eye he said "Gary you are one of God's creatures and being one of God's creatures you are never just okay you are FANTASTIC!"  He suggested that I read As A Man Thinketh by James Allen  (click the link and download the book FREE) everyday for 30 days (the whole book everyday).   I did and ever since then I created a habit of reading, watching, or listening to something motivational daily.  I think that since developing that habit I have a hightened awareness and now spot positive material all over the place.  It's kind of like never noticing a certain car until you get a new one.  Then suddenly you notice the car you bought everywhere!

Now, when anyone asks me how I am doing I always reply with the same answer "I AM FANTASTIC"!  That tends to irritate a certain type of person I'll call the "Monday Moaner" but that's their problem not mine! I feel that when you wake up in the morning you have a choice to either be a Monday moaner (Tuesday, Wednesday, etc... doesn't matter the day) or you can be FANTASTIC! I choose FANTASTIC! Everyone knows the term "fake if till you make it" and thanks to Floyd I don't have to fake a positive attitude anymore - I always choose to look at the positive!

That leads me to something I'll call Motivational Monday and it's aimed squarely at the "Monday Moaners" and anyone else looking for resources to stay in a positive state of mind.  Each Monday I'll share something from my library of motivational material and give you my spin on it and maybe some insight into how I used it personally.   This week, it's obviously the book Floyd recommended to me, "As a Man Thinketh".  What do you do to stay positive?  Please leave your comments in the comments section and share this link with anyone around you who may need a pick-me-up!

Sam I Am

For the past few days my youngest son, Ben, has been watching the modern day Dr. Seuss classic Cat In The Hat with Mike Myers.   The way that he has been able to get his mom and dad to let him watch it night after night reminded me of the other Dr. Seuss classic, Green Eggs and Ham which teaches us a huge lesson about asking.  As kids, we intrinsically ask and ask and ask. Most kids like my Ben do eventually get more than they would if it was up to us parents. As adults, we tend to forget that the best sales people ask for the business, and follow up many times.

In the book, Sam asks for the “sale” at least 14 times! The sale, in this case, is getting him to eat green eggs and ham.  Unlike our clients who actually WANT to buy a house, this client HATES the product so its the toughest of sales.  But Sam believes in his product, and just knows that if he will try it,  he will like it.  How often do we get a call from a client, call back once, maybe twice, leaving messages and then forget about the client because we did not get immediate gratification?  Follow up is key to success.  The funniest part of the book to me is that after asking 11 times, and being told emphatically “NO” 11 times, Sam asks quizzically, “You do not like green eggs and ham?” as if this is news to him.  It is as if he does not even hear the objections but keeps on with the sale.  In the end, the individual tries it just to get Sam off his back, and discovers that he likes it and will eat them anywhere.

Now I am not suggesting we harass people to the point of annoyance.  But if you do not get the occasional “Leave me alone” then you are missing out on a lot of business.  80% of people need to hear something 5 times before they buy.  10% will never buy, and 10% will get annoyed at you by the 5th time.  So if you do not hear the occasional person complain, you miss out on 80% of your business because you did not take it out to 5 times.  This may be uncomfortable for you, but you need to break through this comfort zone or delegate the task of following up to someone that will do it for you.  I can help you in the pursuit of being able to break through the mindset of thinking you are bothering someone. Remember that you are a "Sales Person" and if your intent is to offer them something that you know in your heart will benefit them then you owe it to them to be persistent Sam I am!   And when people start wondering why you are closing twice as many deals as last year, just wink at them and tell them you learned the secret of Green Eggs and Ham…..

-To all 4 of our precious children

 

The best selling children's book written by Dr. Suess was published in 1960. We have heard and read the story, many, many times...

I would not, could not, in a box.
I could not, would not, with a fox.
I will not eat them in a house.
I will not eat them with a mouse.
I will not eat them here or there.
I will not eat them anywhere.
I do not eat green eggs and ham.
I do not like them, Sam-I-am.