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RISMEDIA, October 27, 2009—Like many truly outstanding real estate professionals, Richard Beckman faced the monster of 2008 without really understanding why things went so universally bad, so quickly. It took a while for most of us to realize that a combination of factors had produced a “Perfect Storm” of disaster for much of the residential real estate business and that only those capable of adjusting and adapting to the new reality would survive and prosper in the future. Unlike many, Beckman did adapt and he has survived (with his West Realty Shelton in suburban Seattle) and now he is back to prospering. He closed 11 transactions in September and is on track to close 40+ this year. “When the market was roaring along, I personally used to close over 52 sales a year—now our team will do 40 and we consider ourselves fortunate to do so. The Seattle market is coming back now, and we are looking forward to a solid 2010.”
A personal pattern of Innovation
Beckman has always been known as an innovator and an aggressive marketer of his client’s properties. For example, he combined direct mail and Internet presence to positively dominate an affluent section of suburban Seattle for many years—home to many prominent Seattle families—listing about 80% of all homes sold there. Today, on what many would call a truly basic website, prospects can sign up for his daily “Just listed” e-mail, for foreclosure listings bulletins, for first-time home buyers classes and much more. His website produces 75% of his leads for his team and, in September, originated 7 of the 11 closes his team had.
He has diversified into Property Management in order to have a core business immune from real estate slowdowns and he uses his base of renters to supply his first-time homebuyer classes with folks eager to learn the “8,000 reasons you should buy your first home now.” Beckman has practically owned the first pages of the search engines for years for his specialties and was one of the first agents to realize the tremendous benefits associated with being found on the first pages of every search engine. In sum, he is not a “rest on your laurels” kind of agent—he’s always looking to stay ahead of what is moving the market.
His innovation in 2006 helped save him in 2008
“When I realized I needed to increase my property management business (in early 2008) we had about 20 properties under management. Today, we have over 80 properties under management. It was a great help that when one enters Mason County Property Management on Google, our company comes up number one—even though I never subscribed nor optimized my site for that phrase. My CompassSearch subscription made it possible for Google to bring me people looking for property management. Lots of companies can manage properties, but we can fill them with renters because we attract renters from all over the United States online. That same subscription has me on page one of Google for Mason County Rental Properties, too, so I have plenty of renters looking for a home contact me, too. Of course, I am also on page one of every major search engine for Mason County Real Estate, one of my key phrases I chose back in 2006. The people at Compass tell me that this is what is meant by “long tail search;” evidently, a properly optimized website is found under many different searches relating to the geographic target an agent chooses. Whatever it is, I am grateful that my Internet power enabled me to expand a facet of my business I hadn’t even really thought about in 2006, but that helped save me in 2008. Without a doubt, if I had not made the $3,400 investment in 2006 to be found in organic search placement through Compass, I could not have expanded my business online in these new areas in time to avert potential catastrophe. I am extremely glad that I made the decision to move to the Internet then and that I am so dominant there, now.”
Would you like to have a whole new source of business?
Beckman mentioned being on page one of Google for the above phrases; fact is, he is found on the first pages of the search engines on over 1,000 different search phrases. Since he subscribed to CompassSearch, over 62,000 people have come to his website because of his subscription. About 20,000 Web visitors annually go to Beckman’s website, a solid base of traffic that enabled him to branch into property management and rental properties without missing a beat. Chances are, if Beckman wanted to start selling boats, cars, airplanes or widgets, he would dominate the search engines for those, too. Once you dominate your geographic identifier—your hometown marketplace or any marketplace you choose—you are found under so many different iterations that it almost defies belief. Being found will not sell homes all by itself, however. There are two other major steps to be taken, but if you cannot be found on page one of Google, Yahoo and bing! for your marketplace, you don’t need to worry about those other steps because no one will contact you. If you are waiting for the big time corporate site to bail you out, it’s been nice knowing you. You must take your Internet destiny into your own hands. Take control of your marketplace and take control of your own income and success, for good.
His sure fire method of closing all listing presentations
“I always ask them if their home could be found on the first page of Google when a homebuyer types in Mason County Real Estate, do they think their home would sell faster? They always answer ‘Yes.’ I then pop open my position report from Compass, show them my search engine positions and guarantee them that they will be on the first page of Google when they list with me, because I am on the first page of Google, Yahoo, MSN and all the rest, too. If there are any doubters at this stage, I turn my laptop around and say “go ahead. Go to Google and enter Mason County Real Estate (or any of the other terms I dominate). When I pop up, they are amazed and impressed. Every consumer today recognizes the selling power of the Internet and the advantage of being on the first page of the search engines. They get it. Once I prove to them that they can have that tremendous advantage, they are sold on listing with me and with West Realty Shelton.”
Richard’s lesson is just as vital today as it was then
There will be lots of closings in November, due to the First-time Homebuyer program (odds are it will be continued in some form) deadline. Many agents will make lots of commissions. There won’t ever be a better time to do now what Beckman did then: Establish yourself online. Maybe it won’t “save you” if another monster comes to our doors, but it certainly will broaden your client base, bring new prospects to you and enable you to earn a good living, regardless of what the markets are doing. Take a few of those commission dollars that flow now and get established where people can find you- online.
“2008 was a tough year,” Beckman told me. “Ninety percent of my property management marketing and expansion was done online. Had I not shown up on the first page of Google under Mason County property management I don’t believe I would be here today. Now that we made it through the bad times, it feels really good to get back to our real business—helping people buy and sell real estate. Also, I must say that I can’t speak highly enough about the CompassSearch service. Not only are they responsible for the internet buyers we’ve picked up, but they are also responsible for the listings, property management, and rentals. That’s a pretty remarkable return on a $3,400 investment and that’s one reason that I love the service.
Mike Parker has written more than 200 published articles about online marketing services for realtors. For help in making your Internet marketing as successful as Richard Beckman’s or to you or to request a free review of your website to determine if it can be found by internet buyers and if it is set up to be effective for you, click here and we’ll review it for you at no cost or obligation.
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