MARSHALL REDDER PRODUCTIONS - ***** FREE REPORT ***** - 13 STRATEGIES FOR EARNING A SIX FIGURE INCOME

by Marshall H. Redder, President of: Marshall Redder Productions, Marshall Redder & Associates Realty, Marshall Redder Home Mortgage Corporation, Founder of Weekend Real Estate Bootcamp.

Considered one of the top real estate sales agents in the U.S., Marshall Redder has closed over 7000 real estate transactions in the last 20 years.

“I was recently at one of my seller's properties doing a listing. I happened to look in the corner of the room and saw a fly beating its wings against a window.” At the bottom of the window sill there were 15 dead flies - all lying there upside. I asked myself, “Why does that fly think that window is the only way to get out of this room? Why does it keep beating its wings against the window payne thinking that trying harder is the answer? What if it did a 180 degree turn? It could fly out through an open door, to freedom."

Sometimes we, as Realtors, do the same thing. We are so stuck in a particular mind-set that we can’t change our thought processes. Following are 13 strategies which, if you implement them properly, will help lead you to a higher income.

1) BUSINESS PLAN

The first strategy is: You must have a business plan. Where do you want to go? How big do you want to get? And how are you going to get there?
Many times I’ll ask agents, “Do you have a business plan?”
“Oh, yeah, we have a plan.”
“All right, in you plan how many listings do you need to take to have one sell? And how many buyers do you need to sign contracts to get one to buy?” Just as a professional athlete who plays a baseball knows what pitches he hits and what his batting average is, you need to know what your batting average is based upon your own statistics and those of your Read Estate Marketplace.

2) LEVERAGE

You should only do things that give you leverage. Let me give you an example. Let’s say you have an opportunity to show Mr. and Mrs. Smith houses all weekend long. You take them out; you show them houses all day Friday; you show them houses all day Saturday; and you show them houses all day Sunday. And they buy one. What do you get out of that? Usually one paycheck.
But what if you had the opportunity to meet with 4 or 5 private investors and spend time with them for three days? What’s the chance of getting a listing from them, and what’s the chance of getting multiple listings from them?
That’s called leverage. Always try to restrict yourself to those things which will give you more than one paycheck.

3) DIRECT PHONE LINE

You must get a direct line into your office so you can measure your responses from all of your advertising. Now, you might say, “I can’t get a direct line. My broker won’t let me have one.” Then how can you measure your advertising?
You might ask, “What if I’m out of the office?” There’s a simple solution: Get an answering machine and put it on or have the call forwarded to your cell phone. It’s better to have sellers or buyers leave their name and number on an answering machine than it is to have their call go to the front desk where somebody else takes the lead (and the paycheck) that you’ve spent all this time, energy, and effort generating. If you’re averaging a $4,000 commission per sale, how many of those leads can you actually afford to lose?

4) DIRECT RESPONSE MARKETING

You have to do direct-response marketing. I’m tired of all this institutional advertising, all of these things that don’t make the phone ring. Let me ask you a question. Is your advertising so compelling that someone would look at your ad and say, “Man, I want to call this person to list my home”? If the answer is no, you’d better change your ad. And, if you run the same ad over and over and nobody calls, why would you keep running that same ad?

5) PERSONAL ASSISTANT

You also need to have a personal assistant to push yourself into a higher income. If you’re going to make $100 an hour, how can you afford to do mailings, work on your computer and do MLS searches? That doesn’t pay $100 an hour. That pays between $9-$12 an hour. So, if you want to make $100 an hour and you don’t want to be a slave to your business, and you don’t want to work more than 50 hours a week, someone has to do that for you.
When I conduct my boot camps, I ask Realtors, “What is the biggest mistake you have made in your business?” Eighty percent of them say, “It took me too long to hire a personal assistant or my salaried assistant.” If that’s what they’re all saying, then you should get one right now.
You might ask, “Well, how can I afford it?”
My question is, “How can you not afford it?”

6) PROSPECT 90 MINUTES A DAY

Next, you need to prospect at least ninety minutes a day. But don’t spend your time cold calling and door knocking. Spend it calling expired listings and calling back buyers.

7) COMPUTERIZE YOUR DATABASES

Computerize your databases and mail to them monthly. You must have a database system where you can basically pigeonhole everybody you meet. Are they future buyers? Are they future sellers? Are they current sellers? Are they current buyers? Do they want to buy right now? Do they want to buy in 6 months?

8) PRE-QUALIFY YOUR BUYERS

You must also pre-qualify all of your buyers yourself. You should be spending your valuable time listing and selling, so find a way to use your phone to generate leads. As I said before, let your answering machine take the names and numbers of your callers. When you call them back, pre-qualify them, then and there. Here are 5 questions to ask in this sequence:
QUESTION #1: Are you working with a Realtor? (If they have a Realtor already, and they’re signed to a buyers contract, you probably can’t help them.)
QUESTION #2: Do you have a down payment?
QUESTION #3 How is your credit?
QUESTION #4: What is your income?
QUESTION #5 What do you have right now for long-term debt?
Then do a simple analysis and based upon FHA ratio or a conventional ratio, know whether or not they qualify. If they don’t, you must tell the callers that you can’t work with them on this particular house. Think of it this way: If you went to the doctor today and you had a pain in your chest, wouldn’t you tell him or her about the pain you had? Well, when the buyer calls you and want to look at a house, why would you spend your time telling them about a home if they don’t qualify?

9) MASTER SCRIPTS AND DIALOGUES

You must become a master at scripts and dialogues, and you must have the best presentation in town. And don’t-leave-your-prospects-until-they-have-signed-the-contract! That has to be your attitude.
Last year, I listed hundreds of properties. And, believe, me, I’m very tough on my presentations. I go over the listing presentation, review pricing with the prospects, and then I do a net sheet. I ask them directly to sign a contract. If they’re not going to sign, I want to know why. If they’re saying they are interviewing other Realtors, then I basically do the other Realtor’s presentation. I always have my local newspaper and my local MLS book with me. I know how much business the other Realtors in town are actually doing - and convince them to list with me. You must learn to role play to be successful.

10) GIVE YOURSELF TIME

And remember, sign up all of your listings for 6 months if at all possible, or for as long as you are able. And get price reductions every 30 days.

11) CALL YOUR CLIENTS WEEKLY

You need to contact your databases often - by phone or mail. Call every buyer you have under contract every week. Contact every listing you have under contract every week. Contact all of your “pendings” every week.
You must constantly keep in touch with them to make sure they are happy with you and that they know you haven’t forgotten them.

12) MAKE YOURSELF A CELEBRITY

Make yourself a local celebrity. Do that through advertising your face on everything. Put your face on yard signs. Get your face on TV. There’s nothing better than someone walking up to you and saying, “Aren’t you that real estate person?”
People should recognize you. They should come and talk to you about buying and selling real estate, rather than you spending all your time knocking on doors and cold calling, and hoping they want to do business with you.
Make yourself a local celebrity. Also, have some fun with it!

13) EDUCATE YOURSELF

Spend your time educating and training yourself. Join a mastermind group where you will be talking to agents from all over the Country at least once a month. You will talk about what’s working for you and for them. It’s very possible that someone in another marketplace has a great idea you could implement. What a jackpot that could be for you in your local area.

Now, regarding that fly I told you about. . .it, too, died at the window sill, trying the old strategy of flying through the window pane. Remember “if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.” If, however, you implement these 13 strategies into your business life, I guarantee you your business will grow at an astonishing rate.