Krisstina Wise is a highly regarded leader, entrepreneur, visionary, national master trainer, business coach, mentor, advisor, athlete, wife and mother. An accomplished business woman, her “uncommon” real estate practice in
Email Krisstina
Our team generates between 35 and 40 percent of all our business on the Web. We are using the Web as a tool to sustain and scale our business, for example using social media including Facebook and Twitter to deepen and expand our relationships.
Real estate has a referral-based philosophy going back to great trainers like Brian Buffini. But we’re finding that building a trust relationship is different now, in that buyers go to the Web BEFORE a referral can be made. They look for a well-designed Web site with good content; they make a request for the information they need. Then if you respond in a timely manner (our standard is 15 minutes), send the requested information and share valuable knowledge, you build that trust online. We still get between 30 and 40 percent of our business from referrals, but the referral model alone will not sustain the real estate industry in the future.
Because the traditional brokerage mentality is still selling bricks and mortar franchises, it is most likely not investing in the kinds of technologies and systems that enable agents to compete effectively. The individual agents don’t have the technology; but even if they learned it, they wouldn’t have the resources (time, energy and money) to implement it. Basically we’re in a new space – that of a technology-based microbrokerage. We’re producing a single identity and generating the business, with a Web-savvy lead-generation and conversion strategy.
Agents and brokers are desperate for this competitive advantage! It helps all of us – the real estate industry HAS to change because consumers will go elsewhere if we’re not giving them what they want. We have to be “techknowledgeable.” We have to understand that while Twitter, Facebook and blogging are new, fun and exciting, the fundamentals of building your brand and identity are the same. You have to market, prospect and build relationships – these tools just enable you to do it more effectively with much bigger audiences. (See blog chart.) But, the important thing to note is that although the fundamentals are the same, the culture, tools and communication methods are not. Today’s Web-savvy consumer has different expectations. The agent of today must know today’s tools in order to generate a lead from this type of consumer and meet their communication expectations.
Absolutely. We’ve already received several referrals from Twitter and Facebook, our Internet traffic has more than doubled in the past 12 months and we’ve gone from the third page of Google to the #1 spot for terms like Austin Condos. The number of leads we receive each month has doubled compared to the same time last year. As for ROI, just recently we had a house value request from our Web site that turned into an $800,000 listing. We had it under contract within 60 days and closed in 98. That compares to an average days on market of 426 for that price range in
At the end of the day, that’s what the client is going to remember – did you know what you were doing and did you take care of their needs. The seller of the $800,000 home was impressed with our technology, and probably wouldn’t have called us without that background of expertise, but what stood out for her: “the completeness of our entire process, our attention to details, our follow-up and status reporting, the fact that we always presented hard facts … a truly complete package deal.” If you can’t turn a client into a raving fan, then you haven’t done your job and no amount of technology and leads will matter.
Email Krisstina
