Archives for July 2018

July 27, 2018 By Kim Hughes Leave a Comment

Tips on How to Incorporate Video into Your Marketing Plan

With easy access to technology in the marketplace today, there is no need to be intimidated by video. Using video in your marketing doesn’t mean you have to hire a professional. There is room for all different levels of video in your marketing, and while you may occasionally have the need for something professional, most of your video needs can be done with your smartphone or simple online software.

For starters, grab your phone and practice shooting some video. It doesn’t have to be professional, but you do want it to look nice. Start with short videos and don’t get too long and involved. Share a quick walk-through of a new listing, a preview of the backyard at one of your listings on a nice day or a short clip of a local event you are attending. If you share your videos on social media, they will get great exposure because even if someone doesn’t watch the whole thing, they are likely to see a few seconds of it (hopefully just enough to intrigue your followers) and even those few seconds are good exposure. The quality of video you can shoot with your smartphone is more than enough for most things you will do so don’t think you need an expensive video camera before you can start making videos.

Click here to watch the video: Tips on How to Incorporate Video into Your Marketing Plan

What are some other things you can share videos of to garner some attention? Talk to your clients in your videos. One way to try and build your business is to let people get to know you. Don’t overshare but offer interesting snippets of your life that people will find interesting. You could share a review of a favorite restaurant, information about a local park that you frequent, a little bit about yourself, a monthly update on your local real estate market, a sneak peek of a coming soon listing or a few ideas about how to improve their curb appeal.

It’s a good idea to think about what you want to say before you start recording. Don’t be too rehearsed so that it sounds like you are reading a script but if you make a list of bullet points before you start recording, it will be much easier to stay on track and cover the things you want to share.

Keep your videos short and to the point. People are bombarded with so much information today that you have to fight for their attention and you will have to give them something they are interested in or they will move on after the first few seconds. Instagram allows videos up to 1 minute in length so that might be a good place to start if you are planning to use Instagram as one of your platforms and that doesn’t mean you can’t have shorter videos too. For many topics, 20-30 seconds is all you will need to convey your message.

There are many options you can use to create slideshow style videos to share in your marketing. Animoto is one program that is easy to use while still creating professional quality videos at an affordable price. This will allow you to drop pictures in, add text, background music and transitions, and have a video very quickly without having to invest too much time in learning a complicated program.

Before you post a video anywhere, always watch the whole thing to make sure it is okay so you don’t post something with too much background noise, that shows something personal or with quality issues like too much movement or poor focus. Using video doesn’t have to be time consuming or scary. Trial and error will teach you a lot so be open-minded and get started soon.

You can read my other real estate business blogs and get free downloads by visiting https://www.kimhughes.com/resources/real-estate-blog/

COMING SOON!

The Ultimate Expired Listing System Webinar

Are you ready to get serious about working the Expired’s in your market? Are you ready to start building your inventory and put more money in the bank? I bet you are! I have been asked many of times to do a webinar for agents who struggle with the Expired Listing process, so coming in August I will be hosting a Workshop to take you through my Expired Listing System that has been a huge success for many top agents. If you would like to be the first notified just click on the link below and you will automatically go into my private list to receive the first announcement.

YES! I WANT TO BE THE FIRST TO KNOW – SIGN ME UP!

Ready and motivated to organize your life? The 90 Day Real Estate Planner is a must for any agent, broker, team leader to implement into their daily lives as it will help you become more productive, find more time and be better organized. Get it today by visiting the 90 Day Real Estate Action Planner – use the COUPON CODE: PLAN18 to get your discount. This special code is for a limited time only, so take advantage of this discount today and get excited about your life becoming more organized and structured.

Are you realizing you need to tighten up your business strategies? Here at Kim Hughes & Company we are the experts when it comes to working real estate agents with start-ups, re-organizing, marketing, transaction management and so much more. Visit us at Kim Hughes and Company to download our free Real Estate Checklist. We will show you how to become a powerhouse agent so schedule a 20 minute complimentary call with Kim today and let’s get you organized and create some amazing strategies for your business.

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July 19, 2018 By Kim Hughes Leave a Comment

How to Prepare for an Amazing Vacation

It’s summer, and you need a vacation. As a real estate agent, you work crazy hours, always taking care of everyone else and putting yourself last. Well, let’s change that up for a week. Get your planner out and let’s pick a week for you to get some well-deserved downtime. After all, the goal of a vacation is to relax, spend time with family and friends, sleep late and soak up the sun, right? Get that beach bag, sunglasses and sunscreen ready because you are on your way to a truly relaxing vacation.

How to prepare for your time away from work is to get organized before you even leave. You have planned your week, your destination and who is going. Remember, just taking a week to stay home, read a book, work on some home projects, cook on the grill, binge watch your shows can also be a vacation and sometimes the best ones. So, don’t feel like you have to take off to a destination. But, do plan to take some time off! You deserve it!

Watch my video – How to Prepare for an Amazing Vacation

The first thing to do is review your inventory, closings, any new business you need to organize before you leave?

Find the best agent to step in while you are gone. If you are on a team talk to the team manager about this and if you’re a single agent decide who is the best agent to help you or talk to your broker to help you out.

Once you have that agent to cover you take them to lunch and discuss specifics on what you have going on, how to manage it, anything you see that might come up while you’re gone and then discuss compensation and any other particulars to make sure there is no miss understanding in the role they will play with your business.

If you have an assistant, talk to them about how they can help you while you are gone. Do you need them to manage your email, voicemail, etc.? Introduce your assistant to the agent in charge while you are gone and make sure they have each other’s contact information.

Create a vacation auto-respond email stating the dates you will be gone, who to contact in case of emergency, their email, and phone number. Mention you will respond to email once a day if you want, but don’t feel it necessary. Just be clear about what they can expect while you are gone.

Keep in mind your #1 priority is your current client. You want to make sure you call and discuss the latest activity on their property, talk about what they can expect while you are on vacation, who to contact in case of emergency and any other important notes that they may need then follow that up with an email.

Then allow yourself a day before you leave to organize your business, get all the little things handled, pack your bags, etc. You really should not work the day before vacation so you can get organized and get your brain acclimated.

Now it’s vacation time. Enjoy your vacation, shut your brain off, and your body will thank you for taking this time off.

While on vacation make sure to stay off your phone and make sure those that are with you stay off their phone. Organize your time wisely if you must work while on vacation by getting up an hour before everyone else or taking an hour after everyone is settled in for the night to perform necessary work tasks. Do not work while your with family and friends. Promise yourself you will shut down and take the time to reconnect with yourself.

One thing I do recommend is to give yourself some time alone to think about your life and where you are and what you might want to change. Take a journal and write it down and allow yourself to think about your goals both personal and business – write them down, do some brain dumping, come up with some new ideas, etc. You can and should take this time to reflect and plan. It is good for the soul!

And once last tip…. allow yourself a day or two to get back on track once you return. Allow one day to unpack, do laundry, pick up the pets, pay bills, sort through your mail, return emails, phone calls, etc. When you plan before your vacation, prepare a little at a time so you are not stressed when you leave and to take a day to get back on track you will find your vacation did what it was supposed to do…. rejuvenate, clear your mind, enjoy your personal life and get excited about your business again.

Now get excited for some great time off from your busy work life, and I hope these tips help you truly relax and reconnect with life.

You can read my other real estate business blogs and get free downloads by visiting https://www.kimhughes.com/resources/real-estate-blog/

COMING SOON!

The Ultimate Expired Listing System Webinar

Are you ready to get serious about working the Expired’s in your market? Are you ready to start building your inventory and put more money in the bank? I bet you are! I have been asked many of times to do a webinar for agents who struggle with the Expired Listing process, so coming in May I will be hosting a Workshop to take you through my Expired Listing System that has been a huge success for many top agents. If you would like to be the first notified just click on the link below and you will automatically go into my private list to receive the first announcement.

YES! I WANT TO BE THE FIRST TO KNOW – SIGN ME UP!

90 Day Real Estate Planner

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July 11, 2018 By Kim Hughes Leave a Comment

Is It Time You Bring On An Assistant?

Your day started at 8:00 a.m. and 12 hours later, there is no end in sight. While many people immediately say they need to hire some help, it is important to think through that decision and make sure that is the direction you should move. Having an assistant is a big responsibility and will require an investment on your part for your assistant to be successful so make sure you are prepared for everything that comes with it.

If you are tired of feeling like you never have enough time, make it a habit at the end of every day to reflect on what you did that day. Make a quick list of the tasks you accomplished then think about what could have been done by someone else if you chose to delegate those tasks to a different person. Also, think about what else you could accomplish if you didn’t have to do some of the things you spend time on each day. You will find that some tasks require your attention but there are likely many others that could be done by anyone.

Tired of Doing It All? Maybe You Now Need An Assistant

Here are some items you are probably doing every week or maybe even every day that could be assigned to someone else.

Scheduling showing appointments
Returning phone calls
Maintaining your database
Assigning leads to drip campaigns
Collecting showing feedback
Providing showing feedback to your sellers
Keeping sellers informed of activity on their property
Marketing your listings
Website maintenance
Blogging
Coordinating details of a transaction once a property goes under contract
Bookkeeping
Maintaining your files and records
Implementing your social media strategy
Maintaining your daily schedule

This is just a partial list of things the right assistant can help you with. If you go a step further and hire a licensed assistant, the list can continue indefinitely with tasks they can help you with.

Before you make a decision to hire someone, make sure to think about the big picture when it comes to hiring someone. Your assistant will need to be paid regularly and consistently even if you haven’t had a closing that month so you will need to have reserves you can use to make sure that happens. You will need to provide them a place to work and the tools and equipment they need to work with so they can help you. Most importantly, even if they are experienced, you can’t expect them to guess at your expectations so you will need to be ready to teach them and help them learn your systems so they can be successful and make you even more successful.

If you don’t have enough work for an assistant on your own, you may consider sharing an assistant with another agent in your office, hiring someone part time or hiring a real estate virtual assistant to give you the help that you need. Hiring an assistant isn’t just about getting more done. It should allow you to focus your time on dollar-producing activities without letting other things slip through the cracks at the same time.

Download my complimentary Complete Checklist: 72 Tasks to Dominate Success

You can read my other real estate business blogs and get free downloads by visiting https://www.kimhughes.com/resources/real-estate-blog/

COMING SOON!

The Ultimate Expired Listing System Webinar

Are you ready to get serious about working the Expired’s in your market? Are you ready to start building your inventory and put more money in the bank? I bet you are! I have been asked many of times to do a webinar for agents who struggle with the Expired Listing process, so coming in May I will be hosting a Workshop to take you through my Expired Listing System that has been a huge success for many top agents. If you would like to be the first notified just click on the link below and you will automatically go into my private list to receive the first announcement.

YES! I WANT TO BE THE FIRST TO KNOW – SIGN ME UP!

90 Day Real Estate Planner

*****

Are we connected: