There are so many ways to communicate with our clients and prospects.

You can pick up the phone, send a snail mail letter, send an e-mail or stop by their home. Now with the latest in technology, there’s another way to communicate valuable information.

It’s called Blogging.

Oh, Dan, I’ve heard of that, but it seems like a waste of time…

or, Dan, I’m not a computer techie.

Well, both of those statements are costing you and your clients and prospects ALOT!

By not blogging, you are denying your clients the important information that you know and have learned with your years of experience. Buyers and sellers today need a lot of help. They need us more than ever. The real estate transaction is getting more and more complex. Now, they may have access to more information, but they don’t know how to decipher it. They’re on OVERLOAD! They need someone they can trust to help them.

That’s where blogging can be your vehicle to helping your clients.

Dan, what is a blog and how do I get one started?

A blog is really an online journal. Millions of people use them for personal reasons to keep in touch with their family and friends. Others use them for business purposes, to keep people informed. What you’re reading here is my real estate coaching blog. I also have a blog for my clients.

To start your own blog, you can go to: http://www.blogger.com and follow the simple instructions. If I can do it, anyone can. Now this type of blog needs to be promoted to your database, so that they know about it. Advertise your blog web site address on your business cards, voice mail message, email signature, etc.

Another type of blog is ActiveRain Real Estate Network. It’s a place where you can blog to other Realtors, lenders and others, BUT more importantly, it’s often found by consumers in your area.

I have received several direct referrals and leads from consumers, who didn’t go through an agent to find me. So consumers are reading blogs.

What you have to remember when writing a blog is 2 things: 1) you need to be yourself in your writings - opinions are okay - don’t be all stiff - have fun when blogging, 2) what you’re blogging about needs to provide value to your readers. In order for people to keep coming back, you have to give them information that’s interesting to them…write about activities happening in your community, changes in the real estate and mortgage markets, etc.

How often should you post things on your blog? It’s recommended that anywhere from daily to a few times a week is good. Once a week is probably the bare minumum. There is a time commitment for blogging, but it’s easy to do once you get on a roll.

With our society becoming more integrated with technology, blogging is another way to get your name and brand out to the public.

Yes, there were hundreds and hundreds of real estate agents and mortgage loan officers on the private, Realtor/Lender LIVE teleconference call today.

With tens of thousands of mortgage lenders and staff losing their jobs and many real estate agents not able to find enough business to survive in this real estate slowdown, I’ll bet many of them were on the phone call today.

So many in fact that they had to shut out some people. They’re doing a live, bonus call tonight at 9:00pm for all of those Realtors and lenders, who couldn’t get into the 3pm call today.

The number again is 1-712-432-7608 PIN 68851#

If you can’t make it on the call, but would still like more information, I’m going to have a special, 10+ minute, recorded message available to you. It’s a 24-hour, toll-free number: 1-888-893-9961 that you can listen to, but you need to find a quiet spot.

You can share these value-added services with your clients and friends. If you’re not doing this, you’re leaving money on the table and hurting your family’s financial future by not using this passive, residual income strategy in your real estate or mortgage business.

Then if you’d like more information or have questions, please contact by e-mail at:

dan@danweis.com or call me at 513-615-1890.

Are You Being All You Can Be…For Your Clients?

With all of the financial turmoil in the real estate and mortgage industries, now is a great time to stand out in the eyes of your active and inactive clients.

(BTW, don’t use the term - past client. Are they dead? If they are someone you keep in touch with, but they aren’t currently buying or selling, then they are still ‘a client’. If a doctor said that ’so & so’ was a ‘past patient’, would you think they’re still alive?

How many of your clients have an adjustable rate mortgage?

Dan, I don’t know.

Why not? You need to keep track of these things when you close on a transaction.

Well, their lender is probably keeping in touch with them.

Oh, really? I doubt it.

Why don’t you “WOW” them!

Have you recently contacted all of your inactive clients to see what assistance you can offer them?

You are a GREAT resource of information and contacts. You have clients out there, who need your help and they don’t even know that you can help them.

This time is not about how to earn a commission. It’s about helping one of your clients. Someone, who relied on you for their real estate transaction in the past and you did a great job for them.

Offer your help without expecting anything in return.

Your clients may need to re-finance their mortgage (if they can qualify).

They may need a contractor to do some needed repairs or improvements to their home and they don’t know who to call. Please don’t have them think the “Yellow Pages” are the best place to look. You have resources and contacts available to help them.

Tell them that you’re here to help them.

You can keep them updated about the listings and sales happening in their neighborhood. Many MLS’s allow you to set up an email program that can send listings and sales within a certain radius around a property. See if you can do that. If it’s not available, then see how many of your clients would like that service and do it yourself for them or hire someone else to do it for you at least every quarter.

Something else you could do is write a short report on how to keep their credit score high, so that they aren’t penalized when they shop for a home, a car, any type of insurance, etc. A good credit score makes all of the difference today in how much one pays for things.

Most of our clients don’t call us, because they think they’re bothering us. You have to set them straight.

We can help them save hundreds to thousands of dollars by reviewing their options with them and then making recommendations that will be in their best interest.

You just assume that your clients can handle important decisions when it comes to real estate and mortgage situations.

They may be sitting home in pain over something that’s happening to them right now. You may be able to help them, but you’ll never know unless you call them to “see how they’re doing”.

When someone sees that you care more about them than your wallet, they’ll remember that and you may be rewarded in the future with referrals.

Now go out and re-connect with your clients.

To your success,

Dan

A long time ago, there was a man, who was born in Holland. When he was young, his family brought him to America, where he grew up and later had a family of his own. During his journey through life, he bought a lot of land in the Kenwood area, which became very valuable.

Then one day, he was scammed by a person, who traded him some worthless apartment buildings for his valuable land. His later years in life were tough as he lived in places where he could find a relative to help him out.

After he passed away, the only belongings he had that were of any value were 6 Planters Creamy Peanut Butter jars that were each full of pennies. They were given to his 6 grandchildren as a remembrance of him.

By now you may be wondering, this is a sad story, but what in the world does this have to do with building my real estate business?

There is a lesson to be learned here. It has to do with your legacy. When your time is up, what do you want to pass on to your family and grandchildren and those in society?

Are you spending enough time with those people close to you? Do you have a business plan that will help you achieve the goals you want in life? It’s never too late in life to start something new! It’s so easy to have each day go by without having made a difference that one day. We’ve all gotten upset about a deal that’s hanging on by a thread and we’re on the phone all day. Or we’re dealing with a customer, who’s a constant complainer and who won’t do what we recommend.

Well, life is too short! If you have clients that won’t listen to your recommendations or aren’t really in a position to buy or sell right now, decide if you can really help them or let them loose.

You need to look at your plan for your business and your life and stay focused on what’s important to you. Only then can you help others by staying committed to completing your actions.

By the way, I was one of the six grandchildren to receive one of those peanut butter jars and it has made an impact on my life. Every morning when I wake up and see the jar on my dresser, I think about what can I do today to make my world - my family and others, whose lives I can affect - better.

Today is just the beginning! Even if you only do one small thing today that you didn’t do yesterday, you’re a step closer to your goals. We all have setbacks from time to time in life, so pick yourself back up and start again.

We all have prospects at different levels of readiness to buying or selling.

We’ve all met prospects at open houses and written down what they’re looking for in a property and expected to follow up with them later.

We all have clients, who have bought or sold from us in the past and have recently talked about making another move or buying an investment property.

The question is: Are all of these leads in your head or organized in a database that you actively use?

There’s really 3 groups that you should continually focus on to keep your business moving:

If you’ve been in the real estate business for at least 2 - 3 years or more, you’ve definitely left money on the table. If you really thought about different names from the past, you probably could have closed at least another 2 -3 transactions per year, if you had a better system for following up with prospects. That’s not to criticize you, but to move you into action, so that it doesn’t happen to you again this year and into the future.