Seven Steps to Create Awesome REALTOR® Seminars
by Geoff Zimpfer, courtesy of Loan Officer Magazine
How would you like to own six, seven or even ten oil wells that consistently spew rivers of "black gold" from the ground and all you have to do is hold your bucket out to catch enough oil - you could follow in the footsteps of the Beverly Hillbillies and "move to the land of swimming pools and movie stars!"
Maybe you don't want to be wealthy - maybe you just want enough money to have food with your meals!
So what's an "oil well" in our business? An oil well is any source of business that once located, drilled and tapped, continues to produce business without significant, continual effort on our part.
Two thousand eight is almost here. If part of your business plan next year is to grow your purchase business and no longer live and die by the refi, then you may want one of your oil wells to be working with REALTORs®. I know what you're thinking; "REALTORs® are ____________," just fill in the blank because I've heard it all before.
According to the National Association of REALTORs®, up to 40% of homebuyers get their mortgage from whoever their agent recommends and 28% of homebuyers already have a mortgage person they know or have worked with before. That means if you're counting on advertising or prospecting to fill your pipeline with purchase money loans, 68% of the market is already gone. So all of your advertising is chasing just 32% of the market! Even worse, for every $100 you spend on advertising to attract homebuyers, you're immediately down to just $32.00 because 68% of every dollar is skimmed off the top, already "spoken for" in the marketplace. Would you put your money in an investment that took 68% of your money right off the top?
Most of the frustration in working with REALTORs® comes from originators lacking a proven "system" for finding, drilling and tapping those agents who will become referral producing "oil wells" in your business. If you're going to drill for oil, would it make sense to have a plan?
First you have to find the oil.
Let's quickly look at how we locate and dig for oil wells in our business. First we have to locate where the oil is among the local REALTOR® population. One of the biggest mistakes originators make trying to find agent relationships is to simply PUSH information about their services and themselves out to agents and hope that this will result in attracting referrals. Doing open houses, dropping by offices without an invitation, cold-calling, running "me too" advertising is about as effective as drilling for oil by throwing darts at a map.
An alternative to what I call the "push and pray" approach is to PULL agents in by providing useful information that helps them overcome their nagging business issues. One way to do this is by hosting WOW seminars that add value to the agent's business while positioning you as their teacher/mentor and a valuable resource for their business. Only then do you begin to earn the right to pursue a relationship with them.
I call it "reverse prospecting" by having agents seek you out. Of course, some oil wells produce better than others. By hosting seminars, you expedite the process of locating the oil more quickly, because you're now sifting through hundreds of agents at a time vs. onesy-twosey.
Just what are WOW factor seminars?
Here's a sample of proven topics that put agents butts in the seats and loans in your pipeline:
• Instant Tax Relief™ for REALTORs® - Gain the Inside Edge - Secrets of America's Top Producing REALTORs®
• The Power of Focus - How to Hit Your Personal and Financial Targets with Absolute Certainty
• Survival of the Fittest - How to Thrive and Profit in Today's Real Estate Market
Hosting these types of events for your local agents is the first step to quickly finding lots of potential "oil wells" that you can then move to the next step, which is drilling for the oil or in your case - getting loan referrals!
It's true! You'll have a mixed bag of duds and studs among your oil wells and some that just take a little longer to produce than others. Don't get discouraged or stop drilling before that well pays-off. It's a lot easier and quicker finding those referral producing oil wells when your first appointment is with 30, 40, 50 or more agents at once vs. the slow death of open houses, board meetings or any other method you've tried with little results.
The seven steps you should consider are:
- Marketing/Promotions (Filling the Room)
Will they have to pay or will the seminar be free? Should you offer VIP tickets with the chance to have lunch with the speaker? Do you send the invite to everyone or should you target certain agents? (Watch out for RESPA here if you are offering only to your referral partners free.)
- Speaker Selection/Hot Topics
Hold seminars quarterly. Book a well-known speaker at least once a year and for the other 3 events, research speakers in your area. Ask the mayor to make a presentation on the state of the city; do a Google search for speakers in your area. Most will speak for free or nominal expense, especially if they live near you.
- Venue Location
Depending upon the number of people you plan to invite, minimize your expenses by using the Board of Realtors® office, a local title company, your local community theater building, or local country club.
- Reservations/Confirmations
Provide a pre-recorded toll-free number, an email address or designate a special person in your office for attendees to call. Email several confirmation notices and build-up excitement prior to the event by giving clues on what they can expect to learn when they attend.
- Co-Sponsor Selection/Support
To reduce your expenses, ask for sponsorship from your title company, appraisers, home inspections companies, an insurance agent and give each 2-3 minutes to pitch themselves.
- Database/List Management
Add all attendees to your database, the date of the seminar, the name of the speaker they saw and their survey comments.
- Post Event Marketing/Follow-Up
All of your efforts are worthless unless you have follow-up and marketing plans in place to keep in touch and provide more valuable resources to your Realtor® databse. Methods of contact should include email, direct mail and personal contact.
Once you've experienced the feeling of seeing a room full of 50, 100, 200 or more agents eager to listen to you, heard the positive feedback, booked appointments, closed loans and cashed your commission checks, you too will become a true believer in the power of hosting.
Better yet, you'll have more fun working with agents because you now have a "system" you use to dig for oil wells that will continue to produce a steady, reliable source of purchase business. It's really just a matter of how many oil wells you want and how fast can you find them.
Now go get yourself some oil wells ya'll hear!
Copyright - 2007 - LoanOfficerMagazine.com - used with permission
