Simply Junior

The best way to generate motivated seller leads is through the internet. Over 90 percent of people who need to sell their house turn to the internet to see their selling options. Over 90 percent! That is a very large number of people who are on the internet looking for the best way to sell their house fast, and the number is not going down.

So, what is the best way to get motivated seller leads? Have them contacting you to buy their house. If you can position yourself to be on the other end of the internet when they are researching the fastest way they can sell their house, you can not loose. Have your website targeted to your local area. If you do not have a website sign up for an inexpensive lead broker site. When you sign up for one of these sites you can be up and running in less than 24 hours and receiving motivated seller leads. Remember home sellers like to deal with people in their local area. With more and more stories in the news about home sellers being taken advantage of by real estate investors, you can not blame home sellers for wanting to deal with local people they can meet face to face. Even if you already have a direct mail marketing program or bandit signs, a website is a must. Home sellers will go to the web to check out your credibility before contacting you.

In my opinion lead broker sites are your best option when it comes to internet real estate leads. When you join a lead broker site you spread the cost of maintaining a website across many real estate investors. Lead broker websites spend an enormous amount of money, time and manpower to keep their sites at the top of the search engines.

As a note of caution, there are leads broker sites on the internet that charge a substantial amount of money for their service. Most will charge you a nonrefundable start up fee, in addition they will charge you a large monthly fee. My advice is to stay away from any lead broker site that charges you a sign up fee and large monthly fee. You have no idea where your large monthly fee is being spent and you are not in charge of your marketing dollars.

My advice is to sign up with a lead broker site that allows you to manage your marketing dollars. Sign up with an inexpensive motivated seller lead website. Then start your own pay per click marketing campaign and free advertising. If you are waiting for a closing one month and your marketing funds are tight, you can pause your pay per click marketing campaign and start it up again the following month.

Also note that a pay per click marketing campaign will generate leads, but there are ways to get free motivated seller leads. Yes I said it, free real estate leads. Once you have a website that is optimized to capture motivated buyer and motivated seller leads you can use the website to generate free leads.

Defining your small business’s brand enables you to present the most important facts about your business in a compelling story that will help you connect with your target customers.

That’s certainly easier said than done, though – defining a business’s brand can be tough. Entrepreneurs often have a hard time creating a brand definition for their businesses. This can be because they are so because they’re so intimately involved with the business – they work in it day in and day out, and lose track of the bigger picture. Others are so passionate and involved in their mission, that they forget to explain the business to others, assuming that everyone will “get” it intuitively. Whatever the reason, this difficulty can lead to a business that doesn’t communicate clearly, that confuses customers or that just isn’t compelling.

When the going gets tough, the tough get a process

In order create a brand definition that tells your business’s story, you need to define 4 things: who you are (the personality and motivation for your business), what you do, what makes you different from your competition, and your target audience, or the people to whom you’re telling that story.

How do you do that? Here are 7 ways to come up with an interesting, engaging and compelling brand story for your small business – and it won’t be too tough.

1. Capture your thoughts about your business – in writing. If you were writing a novel, it would be important to start with an outline instead of trying to write the narrative straight from your imagination. The same is true for your business. Taking the thoughts and ideas that you have about your business and recording them can help you take the first step towards being both organized and thorough when creating your brand definition. If writing isn’t your thing, try talking about your business into a voice recorder, and then having the recording transcribed; speaking about your business may be more natural than staring down a blank page.

2. Start with the easiest section. Is there one portion of your brand definition that seems easier to articulate than the others? Beginning with something easy and quick can give you the momentum to move through the rest of the process. For example, if you’re really clear on what you do, it can help to get that down first and then to move forward from there.

3. Scrutinize your marketing materials. Read your own website, blog, and marketing materials with a curious and critical eye. What do you say in them that really reflects your thoughts on your business? And, what parts of your marketing materials appeal to your audience? Look to your materials to see what’s working and what you should continue to use. Remove yourself from them as much as possible so that you don’t overlook any subtle messages. And be sure to consider the things that you’ve said a thousand times before – those bits can be the most genuine. Go back over your past marketing materials as well – you can get a lot of valuable information out of your own history.

4. Review others’ thoughts about your business. Go through your customer testimonials, emails, conversation or past feedback, review those to get gems of insight. What do people continually say about you? What comes to you as second-nature, yet still gains you compliments? How do others introduce or refer you? Listen to people who are talking about you – and see if what they’re saying rings true. If you don’t have testimonials yet, this might be a good time to go out and ask for some – they can help you in both your branding and marketing efforts.

5. Sift through questions you’ve received. Customer questions can be a gold mine filled with requests for the types of information that belongs in your brand definition. You’re not looking so much for questions about the logistics of what you do – your delivery, process, contracts, or policies (though bits of these could contribute to your brand definition). More often, you’ll be looking for questions about your beliefs, background and motivation, the answers to which could as a backbone to your story. Questions have the added benefit of coming from your target audience – so you already know what they want to know.

6. Compare yourself to the competition. Read your competitors’ websites, blogs, newsletters, and any other marketing materials you can get your eyeballs on. Seeing what they’re up to, what they talk about and what’s important to them can help you to identify your brand – especially how you’re different from them. Look for their brand stories, and use them as a template – fill your unique information into their overall format. Consider doing some hands-on research as well – purchasing their products or services so that you can experience them (if that’s practical).

7. Ponder where you want your business to go. Your brand definition should be about both what you currently do and what you wish your business will become. You won’t want to create a brand story that you’ll then have to change in a years’ time – or even within a couple of years. Think about the direction you’d like your business to take in the future. If you can’t predict the future, then changing the story won’t be the end of the world – but there’s no harm in trying to create something that will last.