Hello everyone!

I am looking to expand and get my name out there and was wondering what you more seasoned agents though about telemarketing as a marketing tool now-a-days with social networking being so fast, cheap and effective.

By telemarketing, I am talking basic marketing in terms of going through the yellow pages and just calling people up to, at the very least, introduce myself.

Do any of you use telemarketing?
Do you have one basic script that you work off of?
Does it produce strong enough results to dedicate daily time to it?
What kind of goals for telemarketing (if you do it) do you generally aim for weekly?

Thank you all in advance for any insight!
Megan Brooks
Re/Max Alliance
Arvada, Colorado

Depends on your nitch and what leads you are going to be calling.

Are you calling sellers?
Are you calling buyers?
what's the specifics?

If your new I would set up answer all the questions you can in Trulia not seo benefit but it starts a conversation. I sold 6 by talking my first year, I don't do it much anymore but when I had no money it worked.

Yes telemarketing will work but do you know 90% of the answers to the questions your going to be asked. If you new I guess not, but with the question and answer section you can research and give a good answer.

[quote=Alabama Homes]Depends on your nitch and what leads you are going to be calling.

Are you calling sellers?
Are you calling buyers?
what's the specifics?

If your new I would set up answer all the questions you can in Trulia not seo benefit but it starts a conversation. I sold 6 by talking my first year, I don't do it much anymore but when I had no money it worked.

Yes telemarketing will work but do you know 90% of the answers to the questions your going to be asked. If you new I guess not, but with the question and answer section you can research and give a good answer. [/quote]

That's the main reason I was kind of veering away from telemarketing. At least at this point. It would just be pretty much a shot in the dark because I don't have an actual list to call, it would just be numbers out of a phone book.

I mean, I am an excellent talker, but I feel like making calls in that fashion turns it too much into a business approach as opposed to the more personal relationship that I would prefer to shoot for.

hey im trying to guide you in the right direction..

comment and ask questions..in the i make 100 calls a day forum..

thats pretty much the only place that you will get anbswers direct relating to calling..

we are an active group..

and we all call....


fsbo expireds..cold calls etc...

99 percent of the agents on here will discourage you..trust me...

http://www.agentsonline.net/forums/ubbth...html#Post319229

i will answer a few on here for you megan,..

does telemarketing work?
yes

all of the top agents..doing over 100 deals a year..

telemarket....


its the best way to build your business in the beginning while you wait on seo,..advertising..all that stuff..
you should also using targeted list..

call fsbo, expireds, withdrawns..

we have massive scripts of course never wing it...

i just gave you the posting where we discuss this in detail..

lucky the guy who started the thread makes 500k a year...

Totally untrue! Lindenmoe, There is no question that telemarketing works very well for some but most of the top agents selling over 300 homes a year in our area are REO specialists who don't do any telemarketing at all.

Why is it so difficult for you to promote what you believe in without saying its the only way that works?

Both you and Hunter continuously talk about everyone on the forum trying to discourage you. Nobody (besides possibly Navarac) has put you down, most just want to point out that before a struggling agent signs up for $1000 per month coaching, they ought to make sure it works for them. It is not a magic pill that works for everyone.

I hope you also understand that if they sign up for coaching they can't cancel it without ruining their credit.

i dont promote or belong to any 1000 a month programs

you can go on mike ferry site and download all the scripts and mindset stuff for free

and nobody ever says its the only way that works...

in my market the top 5 agents are all prospector/mike ferry guys..

im not in an reo market..less than 10 percent of my market is reo's

there is not 1 high volume reo broker in my county..period...

and what would you have a new agent do then?

floor time?
open houses?
beg the sphere?
expensive marketing and advertising?

blogging
bulding a sphere
seo

and all that stuff could take months..nobody says that..
and what if you dont have a marketing budget as a newer agent?

then your stuck with
blogging
social media
seo
floor time
open houses

all very very passive stuff that works..
but what if you dont want to be passive and wait for business

then ya pick up the phones!

Linden, can you post or PM me the names of the scripts that you got from the MFO site? did you buy any? if so, what was the name of the products (there's lots of stuff there, but no explanation about what any of those products are)

It's not for me but I focus on the commercial sector. I do very well.

Many ways to prospect.Find a way that you can get behind and build momentum.

If you hate it but it makes you money you won't stick with it for too long and it will seep over into other parts of your life.

its free under free downloads...
mikeferry.com on the home page look for downloads..

super realtor,..

find a way..

thats not very helpful..lol

in commercial, how long does an average commission take to materialize (from contact to pay)?

thanks, that's all you use, the free stuff?

remind me to never ask you for directions..
which way? find a way and build momentum..lol

that is all i use

then i joined mike ferry facebook page
and mike ferry linked in group
got some role play partners..

The point was experiment with different kinds of lead generating activities and see which ones you feel comfortable doing more of.

This agent isn't my agent and I won't lay out my business activities on this forum.

As far as time to close 2 to 3 months for the smaller ones and the bigger ones can take up to a year.My average checks are five to six figures.

Have to have a full pipeline so as some deals are ending with a check others are beginning and others are in the middle heading to close.

Of course, a full pipeline is critical... is it more common to go to residential real estate first, and then transition to commercial, or to go straight to commercial?

When it comes to ways you find leads everyone has a way that works for them. Not everyone has money for marketing and not everyone is willing to make phone calls all day. Find a way that works for you and stick to it.

I think a brand new agent would probably not do well just cold calling sellers. They wouldn't know what to say if they got an appointment. But if you know what to do in a listing presentation and don't mind the grind of calling, then why not?

But contacting your sphere of influence, why not? if you are going to call strangers then why not contact your friends? Maybe throw a new job party and get the word out. You might find a client there that would lead to a closing. Send out an E-newsletter and keep your friends abreast of your progress.

Open houses? It's just 3 hours on a Sunday and buyers and curious sellers come to you. Every single one of them is a so called "lead". Research the less expensive homes in the area first and sit there. I sold 8 homes in my first year in other agent's open houses. Bring your laptop and catch up on email etc while you wait. Multi-task.

Build a website, hell yes. Its like planting a hedge, to block the road noise. You do it at the beginning and reap the rewards later.

Mailing just listed and just sold cards. why not? There are companies that will do it for a fairly low cost. When you have a closing, you invest a little back in some less labor intensive lead generating activity.

Telemarketing? Of course! Do some of that too. I think door knocking and cold calling is perfect for an experienced agent who has hit a slump. Once new agents have mastered the listing presentation, understand how to figure out how much a house is worth, have the funds to provide signs, flyers. lockboxes and high quality photos, and have enough confidence to handle themselves professionally in a Seller's home, then go for it... cold call until you can't stand it anymore.

doing just listed just sold calls is not all about sellers...

you are going to pick up buyers as well...

2. comments like..find a way..generate leads..

are too non specific to give any value at all,..

deepsea at least you are giving specific action steps BUT..

thats why i told her to go on the other forum..

she asked about telemarketing..

yet everybody talking about everything but...

she didnt ask about...

seo
open houses
floor time
direct mail

she asked about telemarketing...

yet everytime an agent does..

they get immediately discouraged and told..

find another way...
do this.. do that...

the agents on here giving advice to not do it..

on what basis?

because you dont like telemarketing?

and some of the worst ad vice is...

dont call..
dont get a coach..

so what should i do?

im not telling you on this forum..

just dont get a coach..
and dont call people...


scary stuf..

i was always taught..never shoot down an idea unless you have a better one..

at least in the other forum we give specific action steps..

ok heres who to call...when to call them...

here is what to say..how to say it...

thats specific action steps...

I am friends with some of the best marketers in the world in real estate.

Words are just words. To see if something works WHATEVER it is you test and track it.Opinions give way to actual data that will tell you if it is working or not.

As far as getting into commercial it is night and day from residential real estate.You can go straight into commercial real estate once licensed.

I have owned other businesses in the past and sold them off.Took a few years off and a friend told me they loved real estate.I dove in back around 2004 and became licensed.

Started out in residential and the business turned into exactly what I was trying to get away from in my other businesses.Residential everyone wants to meet at weird hours,buyers are flaky,showings on the weekend,showings at night.
Sales price points are generally smaller and on and on.

For all these reasons I can't stand residential.I only do it for family and friends that are past clients.


Commercial I set the hours.Most buyers and sellers operate Monday thru Friday 9 to 5 and take off weekends.

There is a difference between mainly a residential brokerage that handles an occasional small land listing or a mom and pop gas station and a full service commercial only brokerage.

The commercial brokerage usually handles mid cap to large cap properties for investors and corporate clients.

the best marketers in the world in real estate give specific advice

and controls to test and track..

they are very specific..

run this ad...
with this offer to this website url..

send this postcard to this targeted list
with this specific offer...

call these people with this targeted script and say these words

my opinion is the best marketers in real estate niche specifically

dean jackson
craig proctor
jay kinder and kinderreese
by referrals only guy..
brian buffini

they all give specific things to send or ads to run..or urls
or who to call and what to say..

if it doesnt give specific action steps..its useless..totally useless advice

to say figure it out..is absolutely useless advice..
any advice that doesnt give specific advice is total waste of time..period.

dan kennedy or jay abraham..

arguably the best marketers in the world would never say..
figure it out..

even in they free resources they tell you specifically what to do..

and since she did ask about telemarketing..

mike ferry for free tells you..

who to call
when to call
what exactly to say when you call
how to say it

vague generic advice doesnt hold any value whatsoever...

Sure and I am not getting into all that on this forum.If someone wants that they can spend money and buy a system.

As I said I am not putting my business plan out here and how I close sales.I reserve that for my agents I train at my company where I make a 50/50 split off of them.

Have a great day.

yes thats my point use a system..

its why the most successful businesses in the worls are...
franchises..

resturants have a high failure rate..i believe..80% in first 5 years..
real estate is 80% or so too..

compare to a mcdonalds..
the failure rate is almost non existent..

because they are very very specific..

So from what I am gathering thus far, it seems that the opinions vary quite a bit, but the general vote is what one should expect from a public forum; do what you feel comfortable doing.

I AM still pretty new, so a lot of what I am doing is pretty much in beta phase. I'll probably give telemarketing a go, but start lightly.

That along with fliers, open houses, and general public business cards is where I am starting coupled with the social networking side of things, going to public events and just trying to get my name out there.

Thanks for all the insight, everyone! Some interesting points brought up for sure.

I never said active prospecting was the only way to go.

The most attacked thread on this forum has been "Lucky's".

The moderators on this forum did very little moderating
on Lucky's thread and in some cases encouraged attacks.
Navarat the "Chosen One" is a good example. Rude,
condescending and saddled with a grandiosity complex of
major proportions. The sweet thing in life is that
nature has it's own way of dealing with those who
mess with the "Golden Rule" and she never fails.

And you wonder why we are overly sensitive.

What is interesting is the number of people who visit Lucky's
thread considering how "most agents" feel about his chosen
lead generating mode.

[/quote]


Why is it so difficult for you to promote what you believe in without saying its the only way that works?

Both you and Hunter continuously talk about everyone on the forum trying to discourage you. Nobody (besides possibly Navarac) has put you down.

[/quote]

In a dramatic turn of events, the door knocking thread has just stunned the public with an admission by its patriarch that he is engaging in snail mail marketing. Stay tuned, this is a developing story.

anything is better than some silly generic advice...

if your not going to be helpful..and say..

who to call when to call and what to say..
or mail this..to these people and follow up..
or here is the website i use and here is how i generate traffic..

then dont waste everyone time with non helpful generic advice..

i mean cmon enough already...

Navarection,

I don't understand a word of French but the French people
here always refer to people like yourself as
"Realtor Retardo".

We have a ugly women in our office who has a monkey face.
She plays 300 rounds of golf each Summer and has the odd good
run in real estate. The number of deals she does probably
just covers her green fee's. Her secret is she married a guy
who buys her everything she wants. Each time I see her this
is her Mike Ferry script, "Look what my husband just bought
me" New Car, Holiday with girlfriends, plastice surgery Dr Spok diet plan $400 bucks a month..... The weird thing with her is she is friggen ugly and weird looking but in her minds eye she is stunning.

So my point is you are right you don't have to actively prospect given certain parameters.

And yes I just wrote a fair sized check for my new newsletters that I have been sending out for over a decade to a few hundred people that think the world of me. No grandiosity complex here just the wonderful truth..

dont get a mentor or coach...
dont learn scripts and dialogues..
dont use canned presentations?

this is the worst advice forum i ever been on..

this should be named the how to go broke in real estate advice..from..the ghost..