HAPPY GLENNDA’S BIRTHDAY MONTH!

Your Presence Here Is My Present

It’s December, y’all, so it’s officially my birthday month. For me, that just makes a holly-jolly season even more merry! Whatever you celebrate this month, my gift is to help you go into 2024 just as strong and ready as can be. So today we’re going to discuss:

• Strategically positioning the new conforming loan limits

• Five easy, feel-good steps to start your year off with a bang

• Gift ideas for Glennda (okay, maybe not)

Because I’m not getting any younger here (or am I?), let’s get to it!

THE REALITY OF REAL ESTATE

They Don’t Know What They Don’t Know

Like me, I assume every one of y’all got 54 emails recently about the changes in conforming loan limits. Talk about overkill!

Now, it’s second nature for us agents to assume the consumer is as well-versed as we are on what it takes to buy a home.

But what if they aren’t?

What if Bobby and Susie are cooling their heels in a rental they hate because they’ve been struggling to save that 20% downpayment? What if they’re clueless about options like an FHA or a VA loan? Oh, my stars and stripes, what a missed opportunity!

Now, like many of you, my team and I have preferred lenders, title companies, and insurance providers. We keep the buying process compartmentalized from the financing process because we want to stay in our lane of genius. Also, as a buyer, do you really want your best friend (meaning your agent) knowing all the details of your short sale in 2014?

That said, this is the perfect opportunity for you to speak to your audience at a macro level. Hop onto an IG Live and educate your followers about the new rules. Post an interview with your favorite lender on Facebook, walking potential clients through the options they might not know they have. The only outcome is a better educated buyer—and they’ll remember you for that!

Let’s stop assuming buyers know everything that we know… and instead use our platforms to teach them.

@glenndabaker

A good buyers agent is worth their weight in Gold! So many buyers missed out on this deal of the day opportunity because many agents advis… See more

STORYTIME WITH GLENNDA

Minimize Friction, Maximize Outcomes

What’s the key to Amazon’s success? They make everything so easy. They eliminate the barriers to making a purchase. They get rid of the friction. That lack of friction means I will happily pay an extra $2 for a roll of double-stick tape that arrives at my house, instead of fighting traffic to get to the office supply store only to find out they don’t have it. Companies like Amazon know I have only so much time, and they’re set up to help us maximize it. They’re customer-centric.

You know how banks will give away a free toaster for a new customer? That always makes me angry. How is that customer-centric? Why don’t loyal patrons get the free toasters? As agents, we can be so busy looking for new business that we forget the clients who helped get us here in the first place. With this in mind, and because this time of the year is always slow, here are five fun, frictionless, and functional things you can do now to build your business for 2024.

I mean, why desperately search for that shiny new penny when y’all already have a whole piggybank full of them?

1) Reach out to your sphere of influence. Right now my teammate Elizabeth is busy touching base with every one of her past clients. She’s sending them a note or a text and each one is personal. Maybe she’s mentioning how that client painted their front door red, just like they said they’d do the first time they saw the house. She’s reaching out to everyone, recounting happy memories with them, because you never know. (Actually, she does know because since she started, she’s gotten three referrals!)

2) Go through your Google reviews. If Danny and Esperanza wrote you a glowing review, give them a call and thank them for putting their trust in you. Their kind words mean a lot and they should know how much that means to you. ‘Tis the damn season… to say thank you. If you really want to get fancy, put all your reviews into ChatGPT and have it pull the five most common words to describe you, and use all that in your marketing.

3) Screenshot your old clients’ Zestimates and reach out to those buyers. If Bobby and Susie bought 123 Banana Street for $400K a few years ago and now Zillow says their place is worth $1.2M, get a hold of them and see what they think about that crazy appreciation! That number could be wildly above (or below) the actual value. Ask them if they’d like a custom analysis to discover what the true value of their home is now. (Spoiler alert: they almost always say yes.)

4) Do a pop-by. This time of year, everyone on my team does pop-bys with cookies, thanking their clients for their business. This comes full circle with my whole toaster analogy. Instead of putting all your energy into finding new customers, remember to show your raving fans how much you appreciated working with them. New babies, transfers to another city, in-laws moving in—you won’t know if your old clients might need you again if you’re not on their radar.

5) Get your financial house in order. At the end of every quarter, I do a review of all my team’s spending. I promise you, right now every one of you are getting $19.99ed to death and you don’t even know it. Y’all signed up for this little thing or that little thing and you forgot to cancel, or it’s something you never use. The last time I did a full accounting, I eliminated so many of those $19.99s that I saved us $10K/month. I know everybody could so the same.

Now, go reach out and make it easy for your old clients to do business with you again.

GLENNDAISM

My Mantra