100Mph Marketing for Real Estate: Internet Lead Generation and Sales Success

By Mitch Ribak

Do you wonder how some real estate companies generate hundreds of Internet sales every year? 100MPH Marketing for Real Estate provides the Internet-marketing methods broker Mitch Ribak has used to prosper in one of the toughest housing markets: Brevard County, Florida. It gives step-by-step solutions to grow Internet programs, to generate hundreds of leads and to systematically convert them to home sales. It also offers the powerful life story of the entrepreneurial author, honed by successes and failures over his 30 years of owning 14 companies. Let Mitch show you the way to profit in your market!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 8, 2010
• ISBN: 9781450011242

Mitch Ribak

Author Mitch Ribak was founder and president of Internet Community Concepts, a content and commerce company working in radio and TV. In 2001, he started his real estate career and realized the industry had no idea how to use the Internet. Soon MitchRealty.com was launched – in addition to extensive Internet marketing and lead-conversion testing. 100MPH Marketing for Real Estate reveals the secrets to the marketing systems leading Tropical Realty of Suntree, Mitch’s company, to be the #1 buyer brokerage in Brevard County, Florida – one of the toughest markets in the country. Let 100MPH Marketing for Real Estate show you the way to success in your market!

Book preview

100MPH Marketing

for Real Estate

Internet Lead Generation and Sales Success

A winning formula for success in any market—From a broker who survived in the eye of the real estate downturn

Mitch Ribak

Edited by C.J. Yeoman

Copyright © 2010 by Mitch Ribak.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2009913288

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4500-1123-5

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4500-1122-8

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4500-1124-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

REALTOR® is a trademark of the National Association of REALTORS®

and refers to a member of the National Association of REALTORS®.

All other marks are property of their respective owners.

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

73175

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1

A Great Salesperson Never Sells Anything

Lessons from Business Successes—and Failures

Control Your Own Destiny—You Have the Power

Honesty + Ethics + Desire to Help = Success

Getting Started—Go for it!

Chapter 2

Internet Marketing and Lead Generation

The Truth About Internet Marketing

The Best Website Format

Three Crucial Letters: IDX

Internet Marketing Is Imperative

Keyword Marketing

Pay Per Click

Lead-Sales Companies and Third-Party Traffic

A Successful Landing… Page!

Convert Clicks to Leads—And Capture Them!

What About SEO Marketing?

Three More Crucial Letters: CRM

Partnerships to Drive Traffic

If It Was Easy…

Chapter 3

Lead Conversion

Classifying Leads

Quick Response Leads

Long-Term Leads

Follow Up, Follow Up, Follow Up!

The 40 Percent Rule

Listening to and Evaluating Your Customer

Understanding Your Leads

Tips for Evaluating Your Customer

A Caveat for Prioritizing

Success by the Numbers

Chapter 4

Basic Training: Selling with a Helping Hand!

There Is No Selling in Real Estate

Listening is Key

The Next Step: Refine

Help your Customer

Accurate Answers

Educating Your Customers

Making Floor Time Pay

Follow Up

The Mirror to Your Success

Chapter 5

Take It to the Next Level

Work Ethic

Time Management—A Crucial Skill

Referrals—Don’t Leave Money on the Table

Manage and Guide your Customer

What Can You Do Right Now?

Buying New Construction

A Winning Personality

Follow Up—More Specific Tips

A Soft Close that Works

Building Your Business

Building a Database

Benefit from an Ancillary Business

Harness the Power of Free

Building Long-Term Relationships

Have Fun and Keep It Exciting!

Help As Many People As Possible

Following Your Dreams in Business—And Life

Special Offer from The eHomes Realty Network

Foreword

The book you are holding in your hands is a treasure, written by a Master Real Estate Professional, Mitch Ribak.

100MPH Marketing for Real Estate is not a get-rich-quick book. Indeed, the author is fond of saying, I don’t believe in the cliché, ‘work smarter, not harder’—success comes from hard work. This book is brimming with practical advice and methodologies designed to make your Internet efforts successful. If you are not willing to work to achieve success, put this book down now.

The advice contained herein is not based on the fad ideas that fill the best seller lists, or what Mitch thinks must be true based on his gut, or what he heard was true, but what he knows to be true.

The methodologies contained herein are the same ones Mitch’s real estate brokerage, Tropical Realty of Suntree, has employed over the past three years, in order to help buyers and sellers close nearly 1,000 transactions in one of the worst real estate markets in history.

The achievements of Tropical Realty of Suntree were accomplished by NOT following trendy inane advice like going on Twitter, making real connections and following the 80-20 social media rule—talk about your dog and your family 80% of the time/business only 20% of the time. Mitch has not fallen prey to the enticing ideas about building your brand or to arcane statistics bandied about by conference organizers and other industry pundits about how many trillions of Twitter and Facebook users there are in his neighborhood. If following the crowd worked, Mitch would do it.

Rather Mitch makes it his business to do business online. Much of what you will read here is common sense. But as the cliché goes, common sense is not too common. Good ideas are a dime a dozen, but execution is priceless. As you read 100MPHMarketing you will find yourself nodding in affirmation as what is contained in these pages makes eminent sense. The blueprint for online real estate success is here but the work is up

to you.

Louis Cammarosano

General Manager, HomeGain

Introduction

One of the mysteries of real estate marketing is the Internet. I have been involved with marketing on the Internet since 1996, and in real estate marketing on the Internet since 2001.

This book consolidates information from training manuals I developed on the methods I have used to be successful in one of the nation’s worst housing markets. It gives solutions to help you understand and grow your Internet program, to generate hundreds of leads as well as to convert them to sales:

•   Internet marketing—What is the best means of generating consistent traffic to your Website? We are an advocate of Pay Per Click marketing as it gives you complete control as well as predictability. However, PPC marketing can be extremely expensive and useless if you don’t know how to use it properly.

•   Keywords—Certain keywords and URLs will eventually result in higher rankings in the search engines. We help you find the best-possible keywords at the best-possible pricing. For instance, Cocoa Beach Real Estate is an effective yet expensive keyword to use as a search term. However, Coco Beach Real Estate is inexpensive and gives you similar results.

•   Lead capture and landing pages—Most real estate agents do not understand the importance or procedure of capturing leads off the Internet. Most agents use their home page as the landing page when marketing on Internet. This is the worst strategy possible for lead conversion. We show you how the proper landing page converts more traffic to leads.

•   Lead Conversion—How many times have you heard that Internet leads are horrible and a waste of time? Many companies are creating a ton of transactions from the Internet and you can, too. We give you the step-by-step system (including our very own 40 Percent Rule to take your lead conversion to the next level!

My goal in this book is to help real estate professionals understand lead capture and conversion. However, no matter how good your systems are built, if you don’t become a great agent too, you won’t be a success.

In this book, I also explain my philosophies on life in the business world. While much of this book relates to starting a business or to sales, it also relates to everyday life. It is written with 30 years of hard work with virtually no education except what I learned on my own. As you read this book, remember it comes from my heart and soul. It’s about how I choose to live my life and how I teach my children, my staff and anyone else who will listen to me.

I have worked for 30 years and owned 14 companies. Sometimes I question why I don’t just get a regular job like most people. I know I can earn a better-than-average income working for a company. But it’s something I just can’t do. My need to succeed keeps me driven at all times. Success has nothing to do with money; it has to do with accomplishing what I set out to do. With luck, accomplishing my goals usually means I earn a good living. I always figure money would come with accomplishment… and it does.

I have made many mistakes that have cost me probably millions of dollars. I never looked at those mistakes except as learning experiences. OK, it did take me some time to get over the failures before I appreciated their education benefit. In the end, however, I learned as much from my two failures as I did from my successes.

I learned you have the power to succeed at whatever you desire. Go for it!

Mitch Ribak, Broker

Tropical Realty of Suntree, Inc.

The Mitch Ribak Real Estate Team

and 100MPH Marketing Software and Consulting

Chapter 1

A Great Salesperson Never Sells Anything

Helping people while being honest and working hard will always prove successful. Never go for the quick sale. Build a relationship that will last a lifetime and you will have a lifetime of rewards.

My sales career started when I was very young. I was pretty much born with the ability to persuade—it’s my best trait. My first business was convincing kids in my neighborhood to ride on my dog’s back. I charged 10 cents for a ride and had no problem getting many takers. At 6 years of age, I realized making money was fun. This business probably lasted a couple of weeks at best, but it was the beginning of it all.

I never received any formal sales training. I did go to a seminar when I was in my early 20s, but I wasn’t impressed. As I sat through several hours of a man trying to sell me his training material, I realized this was not the salesperson I wanted to be. I knew there must be a better way to sell something and to make people happy about their purchases. This book shares my philosophy for becoming a top salesperson.

Recently I was going through some old papers and found my high school diploma and a letter that was the catalyst for changing my entire life. The simple letter contained something I have taught hundreds and hundreds of people over the years. It said to use the mirror to analyze yourself.

The truth of the matter is, you can’t lie to yourself if you are looking deep into your own eyes in a mirror. It’s easy to rationalize, but as soon as you look into your eyes, the truth comes out. Looking in the mirror—usually my bathroom mirror—has shaped who I am as a salesman and more importantly, who I am as a person. I am always honest because I don’t want to face my own wrath when I look in the mirror. If I do anything wrong, believe me, I am going to scold myself!

Lessons from Business Successes—and Failures

You have to believe in what you are selling and you must have confidence in your knowledge of what you are selling. You have to believe!

I find selling very easy. I have sold so many things in my life, from corporate paintball programs to flowers in convenience stores. I have sold dating service memberships, lawn care, long distance, Internet programs, marketing ideas