But what about after the sale is all said and done?  Are you just so thankful that you got the transaction to close that you pretty much just succumb to the emotional roller coaster you’ve been riding and slump into a big messy heap, recover and move on to the next ride?

What percentage of Realtors® do you think have an after sale plan in place and using consistently?  50%?  40%?  30%?  Nope.  How about less than 10%?   Now, the question is, are you included in that 10%?

Referrals should be the root of your growing tree.

Here’s some savvy ways to continue to be at the top of your past client’s minds when it comes to referrals:

1.  (This first one may seem really elementary, but you’d be surprised how many don’t do this!)  Get a testimonial! It always has and it always will be not what you say you can do, but what other have said you have done.  The easiest way to gain testimonials is to request it within a week of closing and via an email.  Get it while your successful closing is still fresh in everyone’s minds and get it quick!  These can be used in your listing presentations, your blogsite your LinkedIN account, pretty much everywhere.

2.  Send some type of communication to them on a REGULAR basis.  Since 80% of sales happen after the 5th means of communication,  consistent contact is truly a must in this scenario too.  A simple email saying hello, a quick call to see how they are doing… this is also an excellent example of how to use the social networking aspect of Top Producer’s 8i system where you can see what your previous clients have been doing via their Facebook updates – pick up the phone and talk to them about it.  Instant connection!

3.  Remember the dates.   Not just their closing date, but their birthdays too.   I’m still a huge fan of SendOutCards (no affiliation here) or handwritten notes.  They just exuberate emotion.

4.  Be social.  Get out to where your previous clients socialize.  Not in a stalking way, but in a relationship sustaining way!

With just one of these suggestions in place and made part of your business building routine, it’s practically a given that your referrals will grow in numbers and your sales will too.

Have other suggestions that work too?  Share with us in the comments below.

So what are all the other companies doing at this time of year?  The exact same thing!  They are bringing their Black Friday’s to the social media platforms and providing an additional opportunity for their loyal fans/customers/clients to thank them (and in doing so, gain more business).

Take a look at a few of the Black Friday offers some of the big name brands are offering this year and think about how you can not only put something like these together for your own Real Estate Facebook Business Page this Black Friday, but any day of the year:

Remember, the more “Likes” you get the more eyeballs you receive!  Numbers is still huge player in gaining more business, so the larger the number of “Likes” you get the better the opportunity there is to gain business.

Here’s an opportunity to use two of your social media platforms to save some cash – check in with Foursquare, post your check in on Twitter and listen for your name to win!  All the while, Sports Authority is getting mad eyeballs!

Another multiple social media extravaganza in the making!  Let’s see how long it takes for Toys R Us to get 3,000 check ins after 9:30 pm tomorrow!  I’ll give it 7 minutes!

At the very least, I hope that this will give you some ideas for your own use of promoting the opportunity for your potential clients to thank you and at the same time gain more exposure to you and your offerings, and to save a buck or two on Friday!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone From The Tech Savvy Agent Crew!

First and foremost, you are a Realtor, and in being such, you are in business to sell property, not to be sitting behind your desk downloading your newly found, can’t live without, plugin for your wordpress blog. There is no fine line between selling and being a computer geek – there is a time and a place for both. With that said, while you are out prospecting, showing homes and selling, your time away from the desk can be utilized by a professional Real Estate Virtual Assistant.

Being a Tech Savvy Agent doesn’t mean that you still have to go it alone – far from it. Real Estate Virtual Assistants bridge the gap between you and your ever-increasing online presence and social media needs. As a Tech Savvy Agent, you probably have heard of the profession V.A..  Do you know just how essential and beneficial they can be to your productivity and sales production, especially, when you know what to ask of them and best utilize their time “on the clock”?

Here are 8 ways the team at Tech Savvy Agent thinks you should be using(or at least considering) a Real Estate Virtual Assistant:

With social networking taking such a strong hold on the real estate industry, it could (and undoubtedly would) take all your waking (and working) hours to cash in on the amazing tools you must incorporate in to your online presence. To be honest, most agents are “social notworking”. A real estate virtual assistant can keep your presence strong within the social networks by integrating them all together – making them work simultaneously as one well-oiled machine.  The key is that they won’t get too busy the way that you do because it is their job to keep it all running, focused on specific goals at that!

In a perfect world by now you should have at least one blog in place that is making an undeniably great impact on your website traffic. However, if it is not a self-hosted wordpress blog (through GoDaddy for example), then you are probably missing out on the true potential it can have on your business(see Tech Savvy Agent for example!). (If you haven’t yet viewed our “Blogging For Realtors Using WordPress” video, we will post it soon. It will define the differences between a wordpress hosted and a self-hosted blog.) Your real estate virtual assistant will be able to get this in place for you, customize it to match your existing website design and add the essential plugins and widgets you must have.  Do you cringe when someone asks what your website is?  You won’t with a WordPress Blog set up properly by a V.A..

A tech savvy real estate virtual assistant should be highly versed in creating strong SEO content blogs both for their own blogs and yours too. Creating content with your SEO keywords used within your website, using H1 and H2 tags, titles, backlinks, videos and photos with SEO configured alt titles and descriptions are all part of making your blogs impact your traffic, leads and sales. If any of that last sentence confused you don’t fret you are not alone.

Having a real estate virtual assistant create your weekly blogs is one thing, you may even want to write your own if you are feeling a bit Twain, but bookmarking them is a step in the blog process that cannot be missed or denied and that a real estate agent should NOT BE SPENDING TIME ON. A blog that is written and bookmarked correctly will gain ten times the amount of traffic to your website than a blog that is just simply written. Posting links to your blogs on bookmarking sites such as StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit and Delicious are a must and something that your real estate virtual assistant can and should be doing for you if you choose to pursue one.

What’s a website or blog without an RSS feed(check out our cool new icons on either side of this post)? If you don’t have any opt-ins, (other than your IDX solution forms, of course) then you are missing out on gaining dozens of leads each month.  I mean honestly if someone isn’t looking to buy or sell in the next year is there really anything of value on your JoeAgent.com website for them. Your RSS feed on your blog can be created to give your viewers the option to get your new posts emailed directly to them versus having them bookmark your site and checking it (maybe) in the future. This is just one more “touch”(like that one KW agents?) that can be gained by your prospects without you having to do anything, the more relevant the content to the communities you work in the better.  Lot’s of topics are being talked about daily, not all of them involve real estate, widen your voice!

Being a tech savvy agent, you should know the difference between a Facebook fan page and profile page – the most important part of this difference is that anyone can find and read your fan page through the internet organically using a search engine like Google(here is an example of a search in Google that returns a Fan Page on the front page “tech savvy agent”). Only your invited friends can view your personal profile – your fan page is for your business and your profile is for your personal life. A real estate virtual assistant can create as many fan pages as you want and integrate it into your social networking; installation of must have applications, integration of your blog sites and custom tab content creation are just some of the aspects your facebook fan page should include.

Having your listings promoted online has been, and continues to be, an essential part of marketing your seller’s homes. A real estate virtual assistant lives online and should have this part of your marketing down to a fine art.

Having them create a virtual tour using your photos will save you thousands of dollars each year, by using such online tools as RealEstateShows, and will enable them to promote your property on YouTube, your blog, and all of your social bookmarking and social networking sites. Posting your properties on prominent sites such as Craigslist on a regular basis for you while you are showing your newest website lead homes will benefit you greatly too.

I’m guessing that the majority of our Tech Savvy Agents are using CRM programs (such as Top Producer 8i or Daylite) and not working off of AOL or even worse,  index cards in a shoe box! Having leads being automatically pulled into your database and then set up to be placed on an action plan is excellent, however, what about all those other leads, prospects and past clients that are sitting idle in your database not receiving anything from you? Putting your real estate virtual assistant to work for you in creating groups (hot, warm, cold, for instance), creating group specific action plans and applying them to your contacts takes time and know-how and again falls into the area of things you may not be focusing on or even enjoy.

There are dozens of other ways you could be using a real estate virtual assistant in your daily business – from basic data entry to highly technical Facebook fbml writing. Virtual assistants vary in rate schedules, depending on the depth of work required.   It is our opinion that it will be something every agent at least explores because you can save time and make more money by taking advantage of what they have to offer.

Take a look at what this real estate virtual assistant has to offer, she has our Tech Savvy Seal of Approval and has even answered a question and downloaded a plug in or 2 for us!  If you know of any other V.A.’s that are worthy feel free to post their info as this is an open community and leave any comments or questions you may have below.

All agents selected will be featured on our Tech Savvy Agent Blog, Facebook fan page, Twitter page, ActiveRain Blog and You Tube Video Channel.

To receive the full application and to be considered simply leave a short comment below and we will send you the full questionnaire, good luck!