Don't Be a Greedy Realtor

A question we hear all time is how much information is too much information to give a potential client without asking them for some information in return? It's a valid question to ask. After all, you don't want to give a prospect everything, or why would they call you?

Think of your 'just listed' ads, for example. If you put "Price Upon Request," that will get them to reach out to you and ask how much the listing is, right? Well, yes and no.

First of all, of course there are some things that you just shouldn't offer to prospects without making them at least give you a bare minimum level of "skin in the game." Take your listing or pre-listing presentations, for instance. That is something that you certainly don't want floating around on the Internet. Not because potential sellers shouldn't see it, but because you don't want the competition in your marketplace to have your entire playbook.

That said, in almost every conversation I've ever had with a Realtor®, most of what they wish to protect needs no protection at all—their content. Trust me, I get it. Developing great original content takes time and time is money. I've personally written nearly 300 articles on this blog alone. That represents nearly an entire month of my life. The thing of it, though, is that I didn't start writing these articles with the expectation that people were going to have to "pay to play." I wrote them with the expectation that people would enjoy the content, learn something from it, read more, and eventually contact us to discuss having us take over their marketing needs.

If you are a Realtor that has created tons of content, or has tons of valuable information, you need to look at your arsenal of information in the exact same way. I know it takes time to craft, develop and collect that type of info, but it is more valuable for you to offer it to people—with no expectation of anything in return—than you can possibly imagine.

Three Great Reasons It's Better to Give than Receive

1. Givers Gain

It's a well known fact that, as they always say, "Givers gain." By offering valuable and useful information to prospective sellers in your marketplace, they will undoubtedly start absorbing as much of it as they can possibly get their hands on.

If you give this information to them with no expectation of anything in return, they will feel obligated to pay you back. You see, there is this inherit human trait we all have that when somebody gives us something we deem useful and valuable, and asks for exactly nothing in return, we psychologically feel obligated to return the favor. In this case, that obligation would be to give you a call for a listing appointment when they actually do become ready to sell their home.

2. Establish Yourself as the Thought Leader in Your Marketplace

Another great saying that I love is, "Knowledge is power." If you have tons of very informative, useful information on your website that prospective sellers in your marketplace are reading and taking in, you are naturally going to be considered a thought leader in your marketplace.

Being a thought leader is a very, very big deal. Thought leaders are seen as a step above everyone else in whatever industry they are in. In the real estate industry, they are also for sure going to be the first people someone thinking of selling their home will contact for a listing appointment.

3. Make Your Organic Reach EXPLODE!

This last reason is perhaps the least important of the three—but still very important, nonetheless. The fact of the matter is that even if a homeowner in your marketplace doesn't know you, they can find you on the internet. The way they will find you is by doing Google searches.

Most people these days use what are called "longtail keywords" for their searches. What is the best way to show up in these longtail keyword searches, you ask? It's simple. TONS of content. The more content you offer up to the Internet, the more your website is going to be indexed and the more you will pop up in front of prospective sellers in your marketplace. It's really just as simple as that.

The take home message for all of this is the underlying idea that "givers gain." If you want to be respected and considered a thought leader in your marketplace, the best spot to start is to first figure out how you can be an invaluable source of information to prospective sellers. Once you figure that out, everything else will start to work itself out.

To view the original article, visit the Leading Agent blog.