Ben Kinney sells 1 and 1/2 houses a day. He just started selling real estate 6 years ago. Before that, he was a cable guy. Ben says, “Selling real estate isn’t rocket science, its about knowing the math and sticking to it.”
Ben’s 7 Rules for Success
Rule #1 – Every time someone calls about one of Ben Kinney’s listings he calls them back 3 times in 5 minutes until they answer – after 3 unanswered calls he leaves a message. Then he calls them once a day for 7 days, after that, he calls them once a week until they buy, sell or die. Follow up is everything.
Rule #2 – Ben Posts 80 Properties a day on Craigslist – If he doesn’t have his own properties to post, he posts HUD properties and properties from other agents that he has called and asked if they could market their properties to buyers. Ben posts his own properties every 48hours. (He generates about 1,000 leads each month from Craigslist. He pays someone $800 a month to do these postings – that $0.80 a lead.)
Tip- your Craigslist postings should be ugly – they should include a paragraph, one pic and a link to your site – you don’t want to sell a house on Craigslist – you want to turn someone who is browsing into a lead.
Rule #3 – A single buyers agent can only handle 30 to 40 leads a month. When you hire your first buyers agent – hire 2. Competition helps you understand who is doing well, motivates people, and gives you benchmarks. From 30 to 40 leads a month, a buyers agent should bring in 2 closings.
Rule #4 – You need listings. Listings are the inventory of your business. To get listings Ben calls FSBO’s and expireds. Ben doesn’t make these calls himself, he users a telemarketer.
Rule #5 – Ben has a marketing manager that handles all of his listings. This person takes pictures, makes fliers and syndicates the listing where it needs to go. Ben only spends $200 in the marketing of each listing.
Rule #6 – Don’t advertise in the newspaper. If you have a seller who won’t stop asking you to advertise in the newspaper use this script: “I’ll tell you what, I’ll put an ad in the newspaper for you and I’ll send you the bill. If we sell your home through a lead that comes from the newspaper, I’ll refund the money you spent on it. In marketing other homes, I’ve found that internet marketing is a far more effective route to getting your home sold. That is what I focus my attention on.”
Rule #7 – Call you sphere, ask them for referrals. If you don’t feel comfortable calling your sphere and asking them for referrals – get a buddy and you call their sphere while they call yours — or you can try Happy Grasshopper – they will contact your sphere for you.
You can learn more about Ben’s system at IMSD.net.
