It’s no secret within ERA Real Estate that our brand’s strength is knowledge sharing, with our clients and with one another. So at this year’s International Business Conference, brokers Steve Doty, Jeremy Raby and Michael Gonzalez offered up some of their best practices to their fellow network. Here are there top tips for broker success.

  1. Develop a value proposition and act on it. Using tips garnered from the 2012 President’s Circle conference, Steve Doty and his team at ERA Doty Real Estate thought about their value and what they offered to their clients. They backed into their value proposition by asking themselves, “Would you hire yourself if you had 90 days to sell your house?” From there, they came up with the reasons to support the answer, “yes.” The affirmation included accountability, trust, great service, etc. The end result was: “Experienced. Resourceful. Accountable – relationships built on service, results and trust.” Realizing that the statement means nothing ifs all stakeholders do not believe it, they have displayed their vision statement all over the office, including on screen savers, and have developed Wildly Important Goals (WIGs) to align with it. WIGs are things you hope to achieve in a given time, and nothing is more important that fulfilling them. This ensures the entire team is aligned to the company’s definition of success and empowers everyone to work towards the same goals.
  2. Embrace technology, especially brand technology. The ERA Mobile app is a favorite of Jeremy Raby, broker of ERA Real Solutions Realty. His team uses it to drive traffic to their single property websites, which are also advertised on sign riders so prospective clients can quickly glean additional information about the home. In addition, ERA Real Solutions uses Facebook to spotlight one single property website a week and also posts the site to the seller’s wall if they are on Facebook so they can help promote it and feel proud of the home they have on the market. Another tip is to post listings to Craigslist, which Raby said is consistently one of their top three lead generators each month. They post ten listings in the morning and ten more at the end of the day and use symbols such as hash tags and dollar signs to draw attention to their headings. And very important, educates Raby, is to pay particular care to your web links. Use phrases such as homes close to work, homes close to schools, etc. The more relevant your content is to a consumer, the more likely you are to capture their business.
  3. Live in the clouds. Although his feet are firmly planted on the ground, broker Michael Gonzalez of ERA Evergreen Real Estate Company recently went paperless, relying on applications such as Dropbox and Bit Casa to host his files in the cloud. This allows for more mobility, secure back-up of files and greater efficiency, not to mention the cost savings associated with going green. To house company documents, Gonzalez uses teamERA.com, which he raved was free and very accessible. In terms of the cloud, they use Cartavi, a system that enables them to share documents with buyers, sellers, agents, attorneys, etc. on the fly. They just put the information into a cloud file called a transaction room and then share with stakeholders via online invitations. It’s that simple. Everyone on the team is encouraged to use iPads and iPhones to further increase mobility and they employ an app called Evernote to record client feedback and data so it is quickly accessible. Living in the clouds has enabled the team to be more timely, efficient and readily available – a clear differentiator versus the competition.

For additional tips from successful ERA Real Estate agents, check out our recent blog post from Five Star Agents.