How I Overcame Personal Struggles to Create Success in Title Sales-Part 1
If you are looking for another blog on real estate marketing or some tech secret to gain clients–this is not one of those posts. For over six years, I have spent hours and hours pumping content into this website to create an interested audience. If you are brand new to the site and reading for the first time, click around when you are done, you will find some good stuff to assist in your business needs. Now back to it–How I was able to create success in Title sales was not an easy one, in fact at one point I was completely unsure of my goals, and where my professional life would take me. I have received many questions over the years, about my background, how I built my business, and on and on. These people had no clue that someone who had smarts and talent was only an average student (at best). It started in middle school when my personal struggles with learning and development.
I recently had a top Realtor attend one of my classes. I followed up like a good Title Rep and she ignored my email, as she gets bombarded all the time (as any top producer does). I let it stir for a few days then gave her a phone call. During the conversation, she stated she liked my class and got a lot out of it…BUT she is loyal to another Title Company where there is a joint venture. I kept her on the phone asking her business questions about what she direction she was trying to go and how Stewart Title could assist. She agreed to meet. We met the next day and she was very happy with the services we offer and the relationship we bring. The JV Title Company didn’t help her with her business. As we spoke in a coffee shop about her business needs, she explained that in her third year in business, she had done 31 buyer deals and 8 listings (in the first 8 months of the year). Very impressive! Though she was happy with her business growth, she said that her largest fear in real estate was…
There are thousands and thousands of licensed Realtors in the US. Many are “solo agents,” meaning they are on their own. They show homes, market their business, lead generate, order signs, and work with buyers and sellers. Though I named several tasks they do, it is minor in comparison to ALL the responsibilities they truly have. Not that long ago, most Realtors went the way of the solo real estate agent. There was no Social Media, the Internet, YouTube and more to take into consideration when marketing your business. The ability to network, send out TONS of direct mail, door-knocking, and even have the largest advertisement in the local paper were some of the main marketing techniques. In today’s real estate climate, “Teams” seem to be taking over as the most efficient way to expand your real estate business to huge proportions. Does the solo real estate agent have a glass ceiling or are there ways to break the glass ceiling?
I can’t tell you how many times I hear that real estate online leads suck. With that said, I know many Realtors that spend big money each month on online leads. It’s like saying postcards get a very small return and are thrown in the trash, yet people send them out every month hoping to get that listing or buyer calls. The issue is real estate online leads don’t suck…it’s the kind of online leads they get AND the people trying to convert them to clients. Online leads are actually some of the best “leads” you can get, but the issue is where are your online leads coming from? In my opinion online leads get a bad wrap. There are many factors into WHY this is, and I want to discuss the reasons Realtors hate online leads, and what they can do to make sure the online leads they do receive are primed prospects ready to act!
Facebook has been in the news as of late regarding the amount of data they have collected on their users, and in turn given that data to an analytics company which was later used to possibly influence it’s users based on their affiliations and likes. In the real estate field, we know that the use of social media to interact, engage, and educate is super important. I decided to take the plunge, and here is what I found out by downloading my Facebook data.
Having been in the Title business since 2005, I have seen many things as it relates to methods used by Title Companies to generate business. When I was a Title sales rep in Phoenix, AZ most of the major Title Companies has sales teams. These salespeople would lead generate Realtors and lenders to create Title orders for their company. There were some companies that had joint ventures or MSA’s (market service agreements) but they were not prevalent. Mostly because of the many Title salespeople each company had that caused the “capture rate” of those agreements are pretty low. When I moved to the Washington DC area, I found the opposite is true. Most Title Companies had joint ventures or other agreements in place and very few employed salespeople who generated the organic business. Let’s discuss the two different Title Company business models, how they work and the major differences.
This is not a blog about how amazing Stewart Title is because we have the best service, escrow staff, etc. Everyone says that about their company. I want to talk about the REAL differences that influence and affect YOU…our clients. Settlement and Title Companies are everywhere in each market. Figuring out who to use to support your business can be tough, especially if they essentially all do the same things. Realtors are viewed the same way. If you don’t have at least one strong value proposition, you are in trouble as consumers will view you as the same as other Realtors.
