Guerilla Training Blog by Matt Jones

Advertising 101 (Part 4)

Okay, so now that we know who our customers are, what they are looking for, and what motivates them to respond to our advertisements, we’re almost ready to talk about the advertisements themselves. But first we need to cover developing our advertising budget, and put in place some “rules” that make sure that we stay within our advertising budget. Budgeting for advertising is probably one of the places where I see most agents go horribly wrong. Either they spend way too much money on largely ineffective marketing or else, they ... Read More »

Working Internet Leads (Revisited)…

The following article written by Matt Jones was originally published in Broker Agent News on May 22, 2006. It is presented here in its entirety as it was originally published. While non-commercial use of this copyrighted material is encouraged, unauthorized, commercial use is strictly prohibited. During the past four years our industry has been going through a tremendous revolution – a major upheaval in the way business is done, in the way customers search for properties, and in the way that we as Real Estate Professionals attract and capture those ... Read More »

How Many Homebuyers Are In Your Market?

Ever wonder how many people are buying and selling homes in your market today? Take a wild guess! Wilder. Now double it. You’re probably still low. I’ll show you exactly how to find your own accurate number. First you need to log into your MLS and find out how many transactions closed in the last twelve months. Write that number down. In my MLS, the total number of closed sales in the last twelve months was 5,425. For each closed transaction, there was, by definition, one buyer and one seller. ... Read More »

The New Ultimate Listing Presentation (Part 14)

A Lethal Listing Presentation Now let’s take the pieces and put them together into a “lethal” listing presentation. For quick review, what are the pieces? The first piece is knowing your market statistics so that you’re truly the best agent for the job. Becoming the market authority. Then the next piece is knowing the value of the subject property so that you can get the top dollar for your seller client. By knowing how to prepare the ultimate CMA, your foundation is complete. Beginning the process without laying this foundation ... Read More »

Becoming a Mega-Producer (Mastermind Call)

The following is the live audio from a FavoriteAgent.com Success Team training call held on November 15, 2011. Continuing on the previous sessions, Becoming a Mega-Producer first covers building your own “money machine” and then moves into leveraging that machine into an empire. I also discuss how to expand beyond your own personal production and how-to and how-not-to build a team. Listen in and learn how to take your business to the next level, or maybe the next two or three levels. And after you’ve had an opportunity to listen, ... Read More »

Learning from Failure: Lesson Three.

Ok. I closed the restaurant– well, it’s more like I am in the seemingly eternal process of closing the restaurant. I can tell you one lesson: It’s a lot easier to start something than it is to stop it. Buying a point of sale system takes a morning. Selling one takes weeks. Buying inventory is a quick and steady process involving a few minutes a day. Disposing of inventory takes forever. The same with everything, from leases, to advertising, to accounting, to tax returns. So what’s the lesson? Take the ... Read More »

Get Ready for the Next Big Housing Boom!

What if I told you the next five years in real estate could set you up for a massive retirement — much bigger than you probably ever considered? Why? Because real estate is coming back and it’s coming back huge! Every day there’s another news report that real estate is finally beginning to make a huge comeback. Many believe that the current recovery will be just as big as the crash — bigger than any real estate boom in history. Like most booms, though, it will happen fast, and many ... Read More »

Quick Answer Series: What Do You Think about Social Media?

In answering this question, I realize that many of you who read it will likely never read another thing I write. Nevertheless, I think it’s important that somebody tell the emperor about his new clothes, and I guess I will have to be “that guy”. I believe that the social media fad, as a marketing tool, is “the great distraction”. What do I mean by that? I mean today agents are spending — no wasting — far more time playing on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, all the while telling themselves ... Read More »

He’s Ba-ack!

Wow! That was quite a gap! Six weeks since my last article! Some of you have emailed me and asked where I went. Well for those of you who follow this blog, my apologies for the delay, but we had no choice. We’ve been moving to brand new offices. And with that move, we took the down time to do a complete site redesign. Hope you like it. As someone who’s been a pioneer on the Virtual Office frontier, and yet still operating to some degree in the brick-and-mortar world, ... Read More »

Become the Resident Genius!

I visited the Apple store in Durham yesterday to try out an i-Pad. While I was there I talked to the kid who helped me, and he was probably 23. Maybe. He’s shaving at least once a week, I’m certain of it. Funny thing was, he knew more about what he was selling than almost any REALTOR® I’ve ever talked to. What a shame. It made me reflect back to another time — a time when we would go to a store, and the sales clerk would actually know what ... Read More »