October 2017 - iDashboard Blog

Did you know about the contact added Welcome Email?

With iDashboard you can setup an automatic Welcome Email, so that when you add a contact into the system, an email is sent to that contact.

This is great for when you have people coming through Open Homes or Private Inspections and want to sent them a friendly email letting them know they have been added to your database, so that you can best attend to their property requirements.

This is a tick option when you add the contact, so you users can nominate if this email should go to the contact that they are adding into their database.

As we understand that how you communicate to your clientele is unique to your company, these emails are setup to be completely custom to your office.

For more information on setting up these Contact Added Welcome Emails, please view the below help article:
Set Up Contact Added Email Aka Welcome Email

8 Real Estate Video Marketing Ideas to Action Right Now

A picture may well be worth a thousand words, but would you believe videos are worth a whole lot more? And by a whole lot more, studies have shown that videos would be worth the equivalent of 1.8 million words, generating four times the listing enquiries that their text-based counterparts do.

It goes without saying that using video in your real estate marketing strategy is crucial. Knowing how to incorporate it, however, is another task altogether. To give you a leg-up on the competition, we’ve compiled a list of the top 8 real estate marketing ideas that you should be using.

1) List and How-to Style Videos

They’re incredibly popular, and for a good reason, too. List videos have taken the world by storm, capitalising on our human urge to categorise information.

If you want to create great list-style videos, you need to deliver actionable insights to your audience. Doing so will leave them far more likely to engage with you, as well as view your brand as a subject authority.

2) Listing Videos

You’ve no doubt got some gorgeous properties on at the moment, so why not show them off a little? Get them in front of the market you’re trying to sell them to in an engaging, visually-stunning format with property listing videos. Not only do they sell the lifestyle the owner or tenant could experience, but they’re also incredibly memorable.

These videos can be uploaded to social media profiles and broadcast to your whole network, so they’re definitely worth the effort you’ll put into creating them.

3) Agent Profile Videos

When people are looking for property managers or real estate agents, they’re well aware that these are people they’ll have to spend a significant amount of time speaking with. That means they add value to finding someone who they think they can get along with.

Agent profile videos make that job a lot easier for them. It’s your chance to show off a little bit about who you and your team are, as well as your interests and hobbies. Your video should feature a quick, personable introduction about who you are, followed by some information on what sets you apart, as well as how you can help.

4) Behind the Scenes Sneak-Peek Videos

These are absolute goldmines for audience engagement. People use social media as a means of getting to know the businesses they’re considering working with, and an important part of that buying process is understanding their brand.

You can use video marketing as a way of giving your audience the insight they want. These can be pre-recorded or captured in the moment using a platform such as Facebook Live or Snapchat.

They don’t have to be long. They just need to serve the purpose of giving them a look at the side of your business people don’t usually see, such as setting up for an open home or getting involved in community events.

5) Suburb Synopsis Videos

What better way to sell a suburb than to show off its best parts? With a suburb overview video, you can do just that. Include footage of any areas that are relevant to a typical buyer’s decision-making process, such as schools, restaurants and transportation. You might also want to consider discussing local landmarks.

Suburb overview videos are great because they appeal not only to locals but to individuals from other areas looking to relocate. Be sure to get these videos on platforms such as YouTube to maximise your online reach.

6) Market Update Videos

If you’re already putting out blog posts and articles updating your audience on market trends, you’re half-way there! Now it’s time to repurpose those into a more engaging format.

You can use these videos to grow your email list, offering free market information in return for them subscribing.

7) Company Profile Videos

These are a no-brainer. They’re great for marketing your real estate agency and don’t take a whole lot of effort, either. They add social proof to your offering, convincing future customers that you’re worth their time, and they present you with an opportunity to showcase who your business is, what your mission is, and what you do best.

As an alternative to this, you can use this video as a way of exploring how your real estate agency came about, covering your story from the ground up to where you are today.

8) Q&A Videos

These go down a storm with audiences because it gives them the chance to ask you questions they care about and maybe can’t find the answers to online. They’re also great for social proof because they don’t let you hide behind a script. If you’re running a live Q&A via Twitter or Facebook Live, for example, you’ve got to answer the questions as they come. No chance to research, no option to skip – just you, proving you know your stuff.

Not only will this build brand trust, but it’ll also position you as an authority on a subject with your viewers. The next time they’re in the market for real estate services, they’ll be that much more likely to contact you over your competition.

4 Ways To Build Relationships In A New Market

Real estate is an industry built upon the trust between agent and client. It’s unfortunate then, that agents gain a bad reputation sometimes – causing consumers to actively be on the lookout for genuine companies who will operate in their best interests – and rightly so.

If you’ve just set up your own agency, you might be thinking about how you can make your mark upon clients – building trust, despite a very limited background in the industry. It may be that you’re an experienced agent who’s just relocated to a new area – getting to know your new neighbourhood.

1) Always Keep A Promise

The golden rule is – make good on your promises, or don’t make any at all. Disgruntled customers of less than reputable agents will tell you that they have a bugbear for broken promises.

If you tell your client that you’ll do something for them as a matter of urgency, make sure that you do. By not doing so, you demonstrate to the client (intentionally or not) that their issue isn’t big enough for you to pay attention to.

Pay attention to the promises you make, even unspoken ones – as the attention to detail will be noticed by the clients. This will help to solidify your relationship with them in the long-term.

2) Be Competitive – Not Cutthroat

In order to win customers, you need to think about how you can be competitive – not cutthroat. Even if everyone around you is slashing their prices, that doesn’t mean you need to as well.

You need to remember that a quality service has a set price for a reason. Think about it in terms of building work. If you hired a contractor who charged half as much as the going rate, you’re probably going to get a substandard piece of building work.

When you communicate your values to the client in an effective manner, the price you charge should not be an issue – they’re well aware that they’re paying for quality.

3) Be Visible In The Community

Having a visual presence in the community is essential – especially when everyone around you is cracking on and making connections. You’ll want potential clients to feel that you’re approachable – as this will provide a basis upon which you can get to know them.

Having a vested interest in the community and it’s matters, will come across as authentic to potential clients. This is key when it comes to making relationships in an unfamiliar market.

Visibility is the key to sustained success – as you will remain in the front of potential clients’ minds. Being out in the community will also show that you’re a transparent agent with nothing to hide – building credibility and trust in the process.

4) Build Up Some Testimonials

Word-of-mouth is a powerful tool to utilise – even in this world of digital media. In fact, the fact that everything is online has never made word-of-mouth easier to spread. Glowing reviews from your previous customers will make you more attractive to potential future customers.

As a real estate agent, you can’t exclusively rely on word-of-mouth however. You’ll need references and reviews for potential clients to refer to, as many agents will find that they lose out to competition who’ve taken the time to collect testimonials.

Follow up with clients once you’ve provided the service, to ensure that they leave a review online, or can provide a testimonial letter in the post. This is just good practice and will give your reputation a huge boost.

Top 5 Marketing Strategy Makeover Tips

Have you taken the time to ask yourself if your real estate agency needs to redo it’s marketing strategy? Perhaps you don’t even have one and are looking to build a watertight marketing strategy for your agency.

Don’t worry, all you’ll need to get started is some basic business acumen – so throw all that “expert” knowledge out the window, because you won’t need it.

If this is you, then look no further than this page – we’ve got the top 5 tips for marketing strategy makeover. Follow these tips to find out how to reach clients through online campaigns, social media marketing and high-converting web pages.

1) Getting To Grips With The Market

When you decide to invest in a property, the chances are that you’ll already know the kind of buyers who are likely to be in the market for said piece of real estate. It’s crucially important that you get to grips with the market though, as they will be your potential sellers.

You need to look past obvious traits to find out how the customer might think, feel and act. You can do this by figuring out their potential desires, their hopes and fears, as well as what they dream of.

Get out there onto forums and comment sections to find out what the potential clients are into – this will form the basis of how you’ll target the ideal client. It’ll also help you to identify the gaps and pitfalls to your agency service.

2) Added Value

Many agents will do what we like to call “selfish” marketing – this makes it all about them and not the customer. Advertising material tends to talk about themselves and not the client – aiming to meet their own needs and goals.

Try to encourage clients into buying mode, by meeting their need for information. If you can reach a broad market with concise and engaging media content, you’ll inspire them onto your side. You can do this through free reports, cheat sheets, seminars and videos, as well as many more.

Giving a potential client this kind of information will add value to you reputation and more likely bring them on side.

3) Working Across Channels

The most successful agents will work across different sources when it comes to generating leads. The reason for this being that if one channel fails, you’ll have a contingency that will prevent your business from suffering the consequences of an error of judgement.

The easiest way to do this is to begin with one channel such as Google AdWords, and then build it up to include more such as Facebook Ads, LinkedIn etc. you’ll want to have a clear idea of what your cost per lead (CPL) and cost per acquisition (CPA) are however.

4) Using Unit Economics

Many business owners will make calculations based on incorrect metrics. It’s super important to know the difference between CPL and CPA – as well as lifetime value (LTV). The need to make this distinction is so that you are able to make accurate calls on what is working and what might not be.

The best thing you can do is to look at revenue per client, and then revenue over a time period – then divide this number by the number of clients that you had during the same period.

5) Calculating Lifetime Values

When it’s time to start thinking about increasing your investments, you should identify services that you can add to a client’s sale. You can do this now, or offer it to them for the future.

By doing this, you can justify the amount that you’re spending on new client acquisition, because you’re making more money from a single client in the long term.

How to Give Your LinkedIn Profile a Spring Clean

If you’re looking for the most efficient and efficient marketing strategies available today, you should definitely be turning your sights towards social media.

With a myriad of platforms providing a plethora of nooks, crannies and avenues to pursue your digital lead generation with, however, it’s tricky to know what you should be doing, as well as how you should be doing it.

LinkedIn is one such network where this problem arises. It’s the leading platform for professionals around the world, used to stay updated on industry news and in the loop with job opportunities.

Regardless, it simply doesn’t have the same reach in Australia it does around the rest of the world. In fact, a recent survey found that 2017’s usage in the country sunk by 6% to 18%, down from 24% the previous year.

Still, the number of users LinkedIn gets on a monthly basis is in the millions. So, how can you best utilise it? Take these tips for a test drive and watch your business development boom.

Invest in a Decent Profile Photo

If you’ve ever been invited to connect with someone who has a profile photo that looks like it was taken in a club, you’ll know how off-putting it can be. As a result, a professional headshot can go a long way to convincing your audience you’re worth their time.

Your photo will be the first thing they see, and it needs to convey your brand message as best it can. Why? Because people on LinkedIn have very short attention spans and when they see your profile photo, they’re going to make a judgement call on your business reputation.

It’s not going to break the bank. Hire a professional photographer for an hour to get some decent headshots, get in some outfits related to your industry and make the most of the time!

Cut to the Chase

Your profile summary section — it’s the place where you get to detail all the benefits you offer your customers and clients and can share your passion about the industry. The golden rule for this space? Cut to the chase.

If you offer niche services that could give you a leg-up on your competitors, you need to explain them here. The best way to do this is to pretend you’re speaking one-on-one with your ideal connection, so you can include relevant points when you’re creating your summary.

Get Connected

By spending a few minutes each day on strategic engagement, you’ll be able to effectively boost your connections. Just remember – don’t be bland. Aim to impress your new connections by targeting people who are potentially in need of the niche skills you have.

Remember – don’t be pushy. The key to successfully LinkedIn selling is subtlety, selling the benefits the end consumer will see, as opposed to the features.

Add Images and Videos to Your Profile

Your audience won’t want to speak with you if you’re boring. And if you don’t have images and a couple of videos on your profile, that’s how you’re going to come across. Sharing videos and images of your brand (as well as the occasional personal post) will help you develop a picture of who you are and how you conduct business.

Endorse People and Give Recommendations

When was the last time you gave a testimonial for a service you’ve really enjoyed? Heads-up – it’s a great way to drum up new business.

By providing a testimonial, you’ll both make an individual go and help their business to grow. Not only is it a nice thing to do, it’ll also lead them thinking about you in a positive way. Additionally, when they make your recommendation public on their profile, you’ll hopefully be able to gain a bit of extra business.

On top of this, leaving testimonials for people increases your chances of getting testimonials back. If a potential client sees you’ve got a number of recommendations on your profile, it’ll make them that much likely to get in touch with you.

6 Reasons You’re Handling Social Media the Wrong Way

Social media moves as fast as the data getting communicated over the network — what might be hot news on a Friday afternoon might leave your engagement dead in the water.

Here’s what you need to do to make sure you’re tackling your real estate agency’s social media presence the right way:

6 Tips for Staying Ahead in the Lightning-Fast World of Social

Handling this effectively is the key to being a social media hero or a digital marketing zero. Read on.

1) Hashtags, hashtags, hashtags

Just because hashtags make your content more easily discoverable, that doesn’t mean you should be throwing them at everything you do.

Excessive hashtag use is irritating to look at, and it’s only going to serve at making your business look desperate and spammy — especially if the ones you’re using aren’t even related to what you’re posting about.

You need to place your focus on using the right hashtags. A solid rule to rely on is to never use more hashtags than words. This will ensure your followers can focus on what you have to say, instead of an overabundance of hashtags.

2) Don’t jump on every trend that’s out there

It’s common for brands to jump straight on social trends to try and appear trendy. But honestly, it’s probably not worth your effort.

Just because something’s trending, it doesn’t mean your followers want to hear what you have to say about it. And if it isn’t at all related to what you do, then you might end up simply annoying your followers and shrinking your fanbase.

Instead of throwing yourself at these trends, take a step back and ask yourself whether what you’re sharing is relevant to your audience. If the answer is no, delete it from the post box and find something else.

3) Repeating the same message on different platforms

Let’s be honest — it’s the easy thing to do. And unsurprisingly, it’s why so many people do it. But, you guessed it — it’s a social media mistake that you don’t want to be making.

Pushing the same message out on all of your channels is a bad plan, because different channels are used for different things. For example, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram might work fine with hashtags, but LinkedIn doesn’t. And sharing a picture of a cute dog isn’t going to appeal to your professional audience.

You should instead focus on a distributed content strategy, where you publish different content that’s specific to each network and audience.

4) Ignoring your audience

If someone can be bothered to drop you message they definitely care about what you do. So, why ignore them? That’s not even close to what social media is about.

Social media shouldn’t just be used for you to shout a message at your audience. It’s a two-way street and you need to allow people to talk back.

When working on your social schedule, you should include time to chat with your audience. Reply to comments, ask your followers questions and invite them to share feedback on your posts.

5) Keeping your social presence private

This might have been a solid way to secure a username back in 2008, but we’re nearly 10 years on now. And locking down your social channels so your posts can only be seen by your followers is a bad call to make.

Why? Just because someone isn’t following you on social media, that doesn’t mean they aren’t interested in what you have to say, or googling your Facebook page to find out more about you. Social media is an invaluable tool for you to grow an audience, so you should use it to your advantage.

6) Utilising automated messages

Automated messages might have had. Place in the past, but that time has long gone. Where they may have previously made your audience feel special, you’re now just going to leave them disenfranchised.

People simply don’t like communicating with robots. If they did, you wouldn’t be reading this article — you’d have some form of robot handling your social for you. Spend a bit more time digging into who your followers are, and find personalised ways of approaching them.

How to Get Your Real Estate Campaigns on the Right Track

Getting a high clearance rate is a priority for many real estate agents in Australia, but getting it to a point where you’re happy is easier said than done. So, what’s the trick that the country’s most successful agents are keeping secret?

Sadly, there isn’t a secret. However, in tough market conditions where a vendor might have to accept a lower price than they would have liked, it all boils down to one thing — trust.

And this trust can be built by honest, frequent communication.

When auction day rolls around, if your buyers know that you’ve done everything within your power to get the highest price possible, they’ll be much more likely to sell their property instead of quit and head back to the drawing board.

To achieve this success, however, you need to get your campaign on the right track not 2 months down the line, but right from the very start.

How Can You Get a Campaign off to a Good Start?

Once you break it down into steps, it’s simple. Here’s what you need to do:

1) Work out the main point of contact

Who is your client’s preferred point and method of contact?

2) Communication and vendor reports

You need to let your client know how often they’ll hear from you, as well as when they can expect to receive any key vendor reports. With iDashboard, you can provide them with their own unique Vendor Report URL, so they can access their Open Home & Private Inspection feedback 24/7, at their own convenience.

3) Marketing and open houses

Sit down and discuss how their property will be marketed, as well as any open house events that you’d like to book in. If possible, take dates that your client will be able to vacate their property for these to take place.

4) How you’ll manage buyers

You need to let your client know how you’ll be managing buyers. Will you be presenting offers straight away, or waiting for several to come in before getting back to any of them?

5) Why they’re selling

In case the buyer asks why they’re selling, you need to have an answer to give them. If you don’t, it can leave the prospective buyer feeling uneasy and lead them to believe your client is moving for negative reasons.

6) Discuss your levels of feedback

Typically, it’s best to start with a framework of three feedback levels. These should cover buyers that are interested, qualified buyers that aren’t interested, and neighbours and friends.

7) How offers are handled

It’s not unheard of for a client’s first offer to be their best, but you need to figure out and let them know how you’ll handle this.

8) Price adjustments

Inform your client about the potential need for price adjustments, as early as week 1 if feedback dictates a need for it.

9) Your auction strategy

If a client is considering auction as a method of sale, you need to discuss what the strategy is going to be. Leaving this to the last minute can be messy.

10) Answer any questions

If your client has any questions, now is the time to answer them. This will leave your relationship with a benchmark of honesty and openness that’ll lave them with greater confidence in you as an agent.

Taking the time to have this meeting with a client a couple of days before you take their property to market with keep everything above board, let them know what to expect, and give them an idea of the bigger picture. You need to walk them through the process, and by investing roughly 30 minutes of your time for this at the start, you’ll save hours of phone calls and meetings further down the line.

How You Should be Adapting Your Communication Tactics to the Digital Age

Landlords, tenants, vendors & buyers – it doesn’t matter. In 2017, you need to be able to communicate effectively with all of them, regardless of age, experience, or walk of life.

Doing this, however is easier said than done, because with all the wonders of the modern age also come all the tasks, and the majority of us spend our working lives juggling multiple tasks at once. So, how can you keep up with the demands of the digital revolution without having to sacrifice on client communication quality? There are a few tips you can keep tucked up your sleeve – read on to discover them.

1) Get the Right Tools for the Job

With access to a world wide web of information at their fingertips, buyers are smarter than ever before. And as a real estate agent, you need to tackle that. Buyers want their information and they want it fast, and you need to find a way of getting it to them.

Remember – all clients are different. Just because one of them likes text, it doesn’t mean all of them do. You need to use technology to your advantage and cater to your clients’ individual needs.

Tools like iDashboard, enable you to SMS & Email your clients right from the system, leaving a log of your digital correspondences. The Vendor Report functionality also enables agents to provide their vendors with online 24/7 access to how their sale is progressing.

2) Be proactive, not reactive

Don’t wait for your clients to ask you questions. Expectations are high, and if they’re chasing you, it’s already too late. In 2007 you could get away with being vague, but nowadays even local banks are offering free information on suburbs and neighbourhoods.

Don’t wait to be confronted – create a report template that’ll make it easy for you to share information with your clients before they ask you. It’ll save you time and win you brownie points – it’s a win-win.

3) Make honesty and conciseness one of your priorities

If there was ever a trait to annoy buyers, it’s an agent who says they’ll do one thing who actually ends up doing the opposite – or not doing it at all. It’s simple – do what you say you’re going to do.

On top of this, you need to be honest with clients. Even if you’re the bearer of bad news (which is very rarely a fun job), you need to cut to the chase and be honest. Although it may be hard at the start, tearing the bandaid off is almost always the best approach, and clients will appreciate your honesty in the long-run. Avoiding telling them the truth might be easier in the short-term, but if a client finds out you’ll spend years trying to regain their trust.

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For more information on setting up these Contact Added Welcome Emails, please view the below help article: Set Up Contact Added Email Aka Welcome Email