Your #1 Resource For Helping Real Estate Professionals Make Great Social Media Connections

Archive for March, 2012

What’s Your Back Up Plan?

Posted on: March 20th, 2012 by Beth Heilman

Two things have happened here recently that drives home the importance of having a back up plan in case of a business hiccup.

The first was an excellent audio by my Mentor and Coach, Sandi Krakowski where she gave examples of how to make sure you can do business under crazy circumstances like bad weather, power outages and dead phone lines.

The other is something I'm going through right now in my own business. I have a very sweet, very nervous first-time home buyer who is days away from closing on his home and because the mortgage company doesn't have their back up plan in place, the possibility exists that we'll miss our closing deadline losing him both his home AND his earnest deposit.

Here's what's going on.

The mortgage company we went with is well respected and the Loan Officer is someone I've worked with many times before.

She's good.

And if you know the Real Estate business, you know that a good loan officer is worth their weight in gold.

The issue isn't with my Loan Officer, who by the way just went on leave for a surgery.

The issue is with the company itself and the fact that with my trusted mortgage gal down for the count, the loan is being handled by some one else and a processor who never answers her phone. Aaaaack!!

OK, so we're three days away from our closing deadline. No loan documents at the title company. I'm calling the processor and leaving messages ALL day. The Listing agent is sending me emails in all caps (and we know what THAT means) and my buyer, God bless him, waited all day to call me before freaking out on the phone.

Can't blame him…I've been there.

When I finally get someone at the lender's to answer the phone I'm told by the other loan officer that she doesn't know what's going on with the file (but she'd find out) and that the processor had gone home early that day. Oh, and she hoped she'd be in the next day to take care of this.

She HOPED, that MAYBE she'd be in. Wrong answer…aaaaaa…you lose.

These guys have absolutely no back up plan for something critical like what's happening with my buyer. So, if one person goes home sick that entire block of business stops and no work gets done until they feel better? Nope, sorry, not buyin' it.

Maybe I'm just being a little sensitive, but when my buyer stands to lose a couple thousand dollars AND the contract on the house AFTER we had to do a 7 day extension for something that wasn't his fault, I get more than just a little miffed. And now because of poor planning on the lender's part, everyone has to jump through hoops to get this home closed.

That's just plain looney…and unacceptable.

The morale of the story. Plan for the unexpected…anticipate that things could go sideways for no good reason. Always make sure that someone can step in to take over in case of an emergency.

You may never need your back up plan, but won't it be nice to be ready if you do. I'll keep you posted on my Buyer. I'll be getting him a nice bottle of wine for a house warming gift. Think I'll get one for me, too.

After this I think I'll need it…

Ever had something unexpected happen and you were totally unprepared…or maybe the unexpected happened and you were ready and sailed through it. Please share in the comments below. You never know who it might save from pulling their hair out in a crazy situation.

Until then…

Sonrisas (smiles),
Beth

Beth Heilman is a 20 year Real Estate veteran and Owner/CEO of Red Leopard Marketing, a company specializing in using Social Media Marketing (and some other nifty cool things, too) to help Real Estate Professionals attract, engage and keep their ideal customers. After experiencing the devastating effects the housing market crash had on her and her fellow Real Estate peeps, she has made it her mission to get businesses back on track using innovative marketing strategies with an emphasis on Social Media. Business as usual just doesn't work anymore. Beth has lived in fabulous Las Vegas for 30 years. She's a mom of four great kiddos and a "gramita" to 10 amazing grandmunchkins. Her philosophy in business and in life is "when you do the right things for the right reasons, things will turn out just fine". Know what? She's right…
 

Share

What’s The Interest With Pinterest?

Posted on: March 5th, 2012 by Beth Heilman

What's the Interest with Pinterest?

There's a new kid in town on the Social Media landscape and it's taking the internet marketing world by storm. So what's all the interest with Pinterest? Pinterest, an image sharing site where fellow "pinterites" (I just thought of that one…cute, huh?) can visit your Pinterest page and "like" and repin photos you've posted on virtual bulletin boards you create within your account.

Folks are pinning things like motivational quotes, yummy recipes, cute critters and very cool clothes. Then there are those (like you and me) that see the enormous business potential this has.

Unlike sites like flickr where folks just go to look at lots of pretty pictures, Pinterest is proving to be a marketing powerhouse with incredible reach. In January 2012 alone, over 10 million visitors frequented Pinterest. Ten Million!! That's a lot of pinning!

For the average business owner Pinterest has enormous potential. For the Real Estate pro (that would be you) using this as one of your marketing channels could blow the doors off how you showcase your listings like nothing you've ever done before.

How, you ask? Let me tell ya…

Say for instance you get a really cool listing. I know, any listing is really cool, but follow me here. You upload photos of the house to the normal channels; your local MLS, Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow and you throw in Craigslist for good measure. Great job…you're cookin' with gas, and here's where the new kid on the block comes in.

You go to your Pinterest account and create a bulletin board JUST for this listing. You add the photos, put in some really catchy comments and hit the "save" button. The potential for what's next is enormous…

Say you have some fellow "pinterites" (heehee) stop by and repin your photos to their boards. Their friends stop by, people you may have never even met, like what they see and repin to THEIR boards. And so on and so on and…well, you get the picture (yes, pun intended).

But wait, it gets better. Every photo you pin to your board includes a link back to the original "pinner" (that would be you) so anyone interested in finding out more about that particular house can find you. and research shows that over 50% of people who repin, click through to the site the photo originally came from to find out more information. Are you happy dancing yet?

It's a backlink strategy made in heaven. (Note: for those not familiar with backlinks and other internet wizardry stuff, that's why I started Red Leopard Marketing in the first place, so you wouldn't have to try and figure it out. That's my job 🙂 )

Guys, Pinterest knocks most other kinds of ways to visually market your homes on their ear because of the HUGE potential to go viral. People all over the world will be able to check out your listings in a casual, fun way AND had direct access back to YOU!!

Are you excited yet? You should be…

Pinterest is still in the Beta phase as I write this, so you have to be invited to join (and yes, it's free). If you can see how awesome this can be for your business and want to learn more, shoot me a message along with your email and I'll send you an invitation. I look forward to meeting you and seeing what fun things you have to share. And please leave a comment below and let everyone know how you're using Pinterest (or would like to 🙂 ). Until then…

To Your Pinning Success,
Sonrisas(smiles),

Beth

 

Beth Heilman is a 20 year Real Estate veteran and Owner/CEO of Red Leopard Marketing, a company specializing in using Social Media Marketing (and some other nifty cool things, too) to help Real Estate Professionals attract, engage and keep their ideal customers. After experiencing the devastating effects the housing market crash had on her and her fellow Real Estate peeps, she has made it her mission to get businesses back on track using innovative marketing strategies with an emphasis on Social Media. Business as usual just doesn't work anymore. Beth has lived in fabulous Las Vegas for 30 years. She's a mom of four great kiddos and a "gramita" to 10 amazing grandmunchkins. Her philosophy in business and in life is "when you do the right things for the right reasons, things will turn out just fine". Believe it…

Share