How I Used a Real Estate Virtual Assistant to Grow my Real Estate Business
A great article for the prospective or existing real estate virtual assistant.....
As a Real Estate Agent in a very competitive Philadelphia marketplace, I was constantly searching for new ways to market my business. I’m open to anything to gain an edge on the competition. There’s just not enough time in a day, and any support to take time off my hands to allow me to do what I do best – sell, is what I’m looking for. About a year ago, the idea of contracting a virtual assistant to increase my marketing efforts and take time out of my busy day was proposed to me. I dealt with a rather niche type of real estate market working exclusively with buyers, most of whom sought me through the internet. Leads didn’t often seem to come in evenly. Some days there were none at all and some days I was overwhelmed by a plethora of home seekers. Now if you are accustomed to working with internet leads, you probably know that a quick response is essential to capturing the buyer’s interest in you before they wander off. Internet searchers are on lightning speed, and are very quick to click elsewhere if they don’t get an immediate response. Even with a Blackberry, it wasn’t always convenient for me to respond right away. So I decided to take my friend’s advice and tried working with a virtual assistant. First order of business was lead management that was getting out of control. As leads came in, my virtual would respond by email and telephone, to let the prospects know that a real, live human was responding to their interest. Each state has its own set of rules as to what an unlicensed assistant can talk about with a prospect. In Pennsylvania, an assistant can screen prospects and give physical details of properties but cannot mention pricing or bargaining. After a brief learning period, my virtual began working with clients and after a month – sure enough, my conversion ratios went up! During the slow periods I would have my virtual call and email old leads. You know, the ones in the back of your book that don’t warrant making a priority because they’re not as “hot” as the others that take up most of your day. Well my virtual was able to turn some of those old leads into clients. There’s always somebody who thinks they’re ready now but puts their home search on the back burner for a while, only to turn up many months later refreshed and ready to begin again for whatever personal reason. I also had my virtual mail direct mail pieces. Every new client would get an introduction letter with a business card. For a nominal price I got an unlicensed assistant’s account from our local MLS. I or my assistant would compile a list of prospective homes for buyers and my virtual would print and mail them out. These are some of the ways that my virtual assistant helped me grow my business. Some of my friends who are also listing agents, have been able to use virtual assistants in many more ways than I was able at just the buyer’s agent end. Below is a list I compiled of some of the ways my listing agent friends have been using virtual assistants, in addition to the ways I mentioned how I used a virtual as a buyer’s agent: As you can see, the possibilities are “virtually” endless and the benefits are lucrative when engaging the help from a virtual assistant. Try one today and see for yourself!-Brad About the author:
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