Real estate agents are competitors, but affiliates can be team members. An affiliate is a service provider who affiliates with your business to earn a piece of the transaction. They can be lenders, home warranty providers, title representatives, inspectors, etc. For our purposes here, we’re going to use lenders but really the same principles apply to all.

First, your broker or firm might warn you about suggesting affiliates for your clients to use. I understand this warning because if the affiliate messes up, there might be liability attached to the referring party. Maybe. In my affiliate relationships, I took care of that concern with a removal of liability clause in my listing and buyer brokerage agreements.

Furthermore, I always did what was right for my client. The client’s best choice was always an affiliate who was afraid to lose my business, if they did not meet expectations. It’s simple: if you are loyal to a great affiliate, they will devote the resources to make your life easier as a REALTOR®.

I had a favorite one to four unit lender. Look for a hard-working, smart individual who understands that top producing REALTORS® are his/her preferred client. He/she always under-promises and over-delivers. My lender would tell me when I had a client in a low-closing proposition. My lender stayed out of my office and did not tie up my assistant in gossip. 

Rates are competitive. My lender knew how to get in touch with the underwriter to “explain” things when needed. My goal was to go to the top of the list for service, follow-up, and favors.

These are the steps I followed in getting my top lender’s attention:

1. Asked for his picture and résumé to put on my “meet the team” section of my website used to promote my one-stop service for clients.  
2. Sold his services to my seller at the listing presentation by mentioning that the only way I could guarantee my service completely is if I worked with the team members who best know the process.
3. Sold his services to my buyers by not wanting to work with lenders with whom I wasn’t familiar.  It is hard to orchestrate a closing with lenders who are servicing a new account where their prospects of future loans are bleak.      
4. All offers that come in with a non-team member lender are automatically countered by a pre-counseled seller who now believes that a non-team lender may be a hindrance to close.  Counter is written: “Buyer to pre-approved by (lender) at (company).  After pre-approval, buyer is free to use any lender of their choice.”

Loyalty can bring many benefits:

1. I liked to time-block my weekly follow-up on pendings for Wednesday at 1PM. My lender was always ready with a report.
2. My lender looked for referral business for me.
3. My lender participated in lead generation systems where it benefitted him. For instance, I did all the FSBO research and mention in my advertising to them that I had a lender who could help them. I would then have the lender call the FSBO to offer value. My lender ended up with many loans on FSBO sold real estate.
4. My lender ceased coming in with rate sheets. Who cares about rates where the yields between lenders are almost the same? Fewer interruptions from all affiliates allowed me to work on filling the pipeline.
5. I was on the top to the list for challenges to be satisfied. 

Try a little loyalty to a hard-working affiliate and see how you can work together as a team for mutual benefit.

For great affiliate systems, check out Teaming Up or call our office at 800.792.5837 for special pricing. 

Walter Sanford has been designing and implementing real estate systems for 30 years. One of the most successful REALTORS® and now wealthy from his systems, Sanford teaches his systems and strategies through his products, seminars, and personal coaching producing the best results in the industry. Do what works, do what is proven. Hire Walter Sanford. Call our office at 800.792.5837, email walter@waltersanford.com, or chat with us online at www.waltersanford.com.

You could have a seminar in your town where I could train you and your assistants! In addition to yourself, another who would benefit from such a seminar would be your lender. 

For years, I teamed up with my lender and suggested activities for him to make more money. One of those ideas was to bring in top real estate training talent. Each time, the lender received kudos from the attendees and earned more potential clients. You, the agent benefits from attending a seminar in his/her hometown rather than traveling across the continent. 

Below is a great action plan to share with your favorite lender so he or she can plan a great real estate event. 

Here is an action plan to help a lender form a “things to do list,” while planning a real estate seminar. Our goal is not only to have the most successful real estate seminar your area has ever seen but also to produce more business for you! Top real estate agents love Sanford Systems seminars. This is the action plan that we recommend and has proven to be successful for others across North America.

1.       Call executive officers of all real estate boards involved in the area. Let the officers know your plans to hold an exclusive seminar. Let them know that you will be bringing in a well-known speaker. Ask for their participation and feedback on the date, location, and marketing techniques. They love helping to bring even more value to their REALTOR® members.

a.      Real estate boards may market a seminar for free, if they get credit as a service provider to their members. The marketing techniques used by most real estate boards to promote a seminar are as follows:

1)       Broadcast email

2)       Inclusion on board’s website

3)       Direct mail

4)       Inclusion on various social media outlets

5)       Announcements at all board meetings

6)       Announcements at all board functions

7)       Stage time for you at board event

b.      They may also provide a short list of all top producers, brokers, and managers in that board so a special promotion program can be aimed at those “high yield” agents through your company. This special promotion may include:

1)       VIP mailings (invitations)

2)       VIP seating

3)       Direct phone calls and visits from your individual loan officers (great for business building)

4)       Direct phone calls and visits from your management (also great for business)

5)       Email drip system

6)       Social media effort

2.       Solidify a date with a local hotel or another reputable meeting facility.   

3.       Solidify the date and time with Sanford Systems. Ask to make an appointment with Walter to discuss a custom-designed topic for the area, market, and demographic. 

4.       Prepare marketing materials that include a great promotion for the real estate boards to use, flyers for loan officers, and other sponsors to hand out and mail. A one-page information sheet is great. Personal invitations are wonderful touch, too. Don’t forget tickets with a value on them! Can you be a 5-minute speaker at a few of the top offices? I can provide the high-value talking points for you. 

5.       Think about additional sponsors who would not cause dilution of the sales message of your firm but would help defray costs and promote marketing to fill the room.

6.       Include me in a conference call with all loan officers. In this call, it would be good to discuss the marketing options, techniques to form alliances with top producing real estate agents, and follow-up procedures after the seminar to make it most profitable. I will also help your loan officers overcome any objections they may receive and propose methods for getting the top real estate agents’ assistants there, too!

7.       Sanford Systems will develop a pre-event email for the attendees to maximize attendance. We will provide ideas for follow-up so the lessons of the seminar are not quickly forgotten and relationships with your firm are built.

8.       I can record an audio promotion on your IVR system or a video for web and email that can utilized in various marketing efforts.

9.       Check and approve facilities…once again. The date of the seminar should be confirmed with the facility. The facility should easily handle the expected number of attendees figuring a 20% no-show rate. The facility should be clean, have plenty of parking, be air conditioned, and have audio-visual requirements that allow the attendees to see 10-point print from the back of the room via a projector. It would be very nice to have a house system CD player to play motivational music before and after the seminar.

10.     Prepare for a last minute telemarketing blitz. This will remind everyone of the seminar, ask everyone to recommit his/her attendance, and remind him/her to bring his/her assistant and/or friend to the seminar. If he/she cannot make it, ask for their ticket to be returned so that it may be given to someone else. This builds perceived value!

11.     Design your presence at the seminar. This could be a trade show booth or you could prepare handouts including items that differentiate your company and provide value. Also, provide note-taking material and even a possible discount certificate for their next loan. It would be great for you to have a short talk on the benefits of your company, to handle my introduction, and to give a short promotion of any other sponsors. I will promote your value proposition throughout my presentation as well.

12.     The best attended seminars are from 9AM to 12PM. The real estate agents are less likely to be “entrenched” in putting out fires in the morning.

You should expect 200 to 600 agents in metropolitan markets. I can get commitments from 60-70% of the room for a loan directed to you in the next 30 days. Your loan officer’s fear of approaching top producers will be diminished because I will clear the way. I will get the agent’s “OK” on each of those commitments to meet with you in writing on the back of their cards.

Let us help you arrange, coordinate, and plan this profitable, relationship-building event. Call us today at 1.800.792.5837.

Walter Sanford has been designing and implementing real estate systems for 30 years. One of the most successful REALTORS® and now wealthy from his systems, Sanford teaches his systems and strategies through his products, seminars, and personal coaching producing the best results in the industry. Do what works, do what is proven. Hire Walter Sanford. Call our office at 800.792.5837, email walter@waltersanford.com, or chat with us online at www.waltersanford.com.

As some trends die, others are born.  Short sales and REOs are in their last days, and we need some inventory!

Builders have been hurt.  They are being careful, and the banks are not backing them like the “old days.”  We are seeing the “stirrings” with small and medium-sized builders. 

The builders will need contact (call, letter, email, or personal visit) to remind them that you are their friend and colleague in this business.  It is always easier to talk to with a potential client when you are delivering value.  You feel better, and they listen better. 

The reason our clients are so successful is that they have the best value propositions to the best seller demographics.  Builders are no different.  Offer value that eliminates the competition and causes the builders to talk about you, their new agent, at the golf course, at business dinners, etc.

Begin putting together your local, small and medium builder list.  I would recommend starting with a letter explaining the value that your builder services offer and your promise of future contacts. 

Here are the value propositions that will separate you from other agents:

1.  Provide free evaluation of elevations and floor plans. Because after the last 8 years, you know what sells.

2.  Offer daily MLS reports of all newly-listed land, lots, and acreage listings. The builder will get the new listings at the same time as every agent in town to keep them ahead of the competition.

3.  Give guaranteed first notice of any new land that you (or your office) lists, prior to it hitting the MLS.

4.  Inclusion of builders in your secret property search. If the builder is able to tell you their needs, you can do the following:  

A.      Contact owners who match their request from the tax records (call and write).  

B.      Check all old expireds for matching property and contact the old sellers to see if there is interest in selling.  

C.      Post their needs anonymously on your site looking for land owners with properties that match their needs.  

D.      Contact agents known to deal in the type of land you are looking for and “put in an order.”  

E.       Research and contact any for sale by owner sellers who may hold what you are looking for.  

F.       Watch notice of defaults and foreclosures.

5.  Provide a 20% stipend.  When you sell your listing from an individual(s) who is purchasing a property from the builder, you provide a 20% stipend back to the builder when you complete both sides of the transaction.

6.  Take future limited partnerships.  When you list multiple properties from a builder, offer to take commissions earned in limited partnerships on future builds.  This preserves the cash flow of our builder clients.

7.  Feature the builder and their projects on your website along with a link to request a quote on a new home.

8.  Offer advance notice to your buyers of any projects the builder may contemplate with the goal of having the builder’s product sold prior to it being finished.  

Get your list together, and send the builder(s) a letter with the above values included.  Call to follow up on what they might like to receive.  The relationship will be started, and you will discover their goals/needs that they want to accomplish over the next few months.  Be the first to capture this evolving demographic!

Walter Sanford has been designing and implementing real estate systems for 30 years. One of the most successful REALTORS® and now wealthy from his systems, Sanford teaches his systems and strategies through his products, seminars, and personal coaching producing the best results in the industry. Do what works, do what is proven. Hire Walter Sanford. Call our office at 800.792.5837, email walter@waltersanford.com, or chat with us online at www.waltersanford.com.