Interview with a Top Producer:
Mark Eibner
Speaks Out on Creating
An Amazing Real Estate Business
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Realty Oasis, Denver CO
2000 VOLUME: $35 Million
AVERAGE HOME AMOUNT: $232,000
SOFTWARE: Outlook, Exchange Server and PREP
Boni Lonnsburry: Mark, where would you say your business originates from?
Mark: 43% from past client referrals the rest from direct marketing and the Internet.
Boni: How did you get started in the real estate business?
Mark: I used to rehab homes for a company, which pretty much introduced me to the people I have been dealing with - mainly other agents. If these people could do it I figured I certainly could!
Boni: When did you cross over into sales?
Mark: Actually it happened almost right away. Back when I got in the market in the 80's, it was a pretty large foreclosure market. They contracted my partner and me to manage all of the HUD foreclosures. We started with 35 properties in our portfolio and ended up with around 2,800 that we managed monthly. So we had 2,800 homes with our phone number in the window!
Needless to say, we had a ton of business. It was kind of hard not to, back then there was a lot of heat on government foreclosures. Back then in Denver, in particular, the standard was $100.00 down for town homes, and $500.00 down for homes!
So it was just kind of a natural progression from buying to selling. Selling our own properties to buyers. Actually that part of the business for me was very easy. The government contracts were only one page documents back then.
Sort of like, "How much is it?" fill in your price and sign your name. So that part of it was easy but most people would not take this as a normal lead into the market. I didn't really get serious about real estate until I had been doing this for 15 years.
So from 1984-1985 until 1989-1990 I pretty much bought and sold foreclosures, worked with people buying foreclosures and managed foreclosures.
Boni: And then when the economy got better?
Mark: When it got better you could see the writing on wall. The foreclosures we governed were decreasing, month-by-month and year-by-year. Plus, politically there was so much money involved in property management that the bigger fish came in and pretty much split up Denver to around 12-14 sections and I decided that I didn't really care to have anything more to do with that.
That is when I entered into what I would call "traditional real estate," which was really attempting to run a business and farm a geographic region.
Boni: When you look at other agents who are just getting into the business what mistake do you see them typically make?
Mark: Not treating the business the way a person should treat it - like having financing and a business plan. Having a working strategy. Looking for and employing outside contract labor or assistants into your system.
Many agents are afraid of spending the money. Either they don't believe in themselves or their systems or the business perhaps - enough that they would spend or invest in the business for future profits.
It takes money to make money in this business, just like anything else.
Boni: Do you think that veteran real estate agents make different mistakes than rookies?
Mark: Probably, I mean I guess everyone has a tendency to get stuck in their own rut. Maybe they're afraid of failure. I think that there are some agents (I recruit actively for my company) who are afraid of even changing companies, much less changing their whole destination as far as how they run their business.
I run a very Internet based company. All of our software is delivered to our agents over the Internet. It's probably as sophisticated as you can get. But I do have some agents with real courage - agents who have been in the business 20-25 years, who are in their 50's, who have adjusted.
Boni: Mark if you had a son or a daughter entering this business, what advice would you give them?
Mark: I would say probably just to have some type of plan. Some type of mission statement from the get go. Pursue it like you would pursue anything else. Approach it from a positive standpoint and have a frame of mind where you set your goals, believe in yourself and the technology.
Boni: So how did you begin to plan out this growth?
Mark: I bought a half-million dollars worth of hardware and software to allow agents to prosper under my systems. I took courses such as Graduate of Realtor (GRI) and the Certified Residential Specialist (CRS), etc.
I think that those are all good classes for people to get involved in because it exposes you to marketing and outside ideas and concepts. It really opens your eyes to what other people are doing across the country.
But you don't need to start with the advanced courses. You can just begin with a local course on sales, etc. There are a number of good business-planning classes in the CRS program, as well as the GRI program here in our state.
That and if you follow some of their steps and procedures I think you could start to see things take shape.
Boni: Mark what was you most successful marketing campaign?
Mark: Probably the postcard system that I use.
Boni: Did you farm with that?
Mark: Yes, around 14,000 pieces at a time
Boni: You must have had a staff to handle the incoming calls?
Mark: Yes, at that time I had my partners and a staff of 7 other people.
Boni: So you farmed your geographical area?
Mark: Yes. Parker, CO
Boni: And you still do postcard mailings as well right?
Mark: Yes, Every time I take a listing I will send out about 500 to 1,000 cards. You have to use the cards in combination with some type of "selling proposition." You know, 'Top Pizza' delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less or it is free. My big idea right now is that I will "sell your home 39 days or less" or I will do it for free.
If you're not doing that kind of marketing and you don't study marketing and you don't get with a coach or somebody to work with, then you're not going to produce the amount of business you want to.
I think a lot of agents follow what I call "Realtor incest" they will kind of do what other people kind of do because they don't know what else to do. But it really may not be that effective at all.
I try to have any (mail) piece that I send out list an 800-number that goes directly to me and any one of the 50 various domain names I have at this point to different parts of my web sites that I use. Every piece I mail has some type of unique selling proposition on it.
Boni: With such a high referral rate from your past customers you must keep in touch with them as well. Do you do that through post cards?
Mark: I was doing a newsletter but it was just too cost prohibitive for me. I have a mail list of 3,200. The newsletter that I was producing was actually done out of Arizona from another coach that I have used there in the last couple of years.
But, combining the newsletter with postage, stuffed, sealed and delivered, etc. It was running about .68 - .70 cents a unit. So every time I did a mailing it was $2,400. I had a 7-year letter campaign for sellers and a 3-year letter campaign for buyers, so they get a letter every month. I was doing two newsletters every month and the return just wasn't there.
I email a newsletter to my people on my email list, they click on it, and get a copy. It is just kind of one of those friendly reminder issues. It is as cost effective as it comes! E-marketing is very cost effective.
Boni: Mark who or what was the biggest contributor to your success?
Mark: Probably the birth of my son!
Boni: How so?
Mark: He just made me think more seriously about going to the next level. He was born in 1995, so I have been cranking up my business from 1990, and from 1995 on I have been just taking it to a higher level each year.
My goal in the last year kind of forced me to shift my emphasis. It is more and more on recruiting and working with agents rather than working with buyers and sellers.
Boni: If you had a magic wand what would you change about your current business?
Mark: I would probably scrutinize and study it more. And I would spend more and more time talking to the bigger, mentor-type people and using the things that they use to be successful at work. A lot of people out there are already doing the necessary things and you can just follow what they do. You don't need to reinvent the wheel. It's amazing what is out there for the taking, actually!
Especially if you can get involved in some good coaching programs and subscribe to some good publications. There is a lot of good information out there on the Internet.
I don't know if I would really change anything about my current business per say. I like where it's at, what it's doing, where it's going - that part of it I like. But everything can be improved.
Boni: You must work with a coach?
Mark: Yes, I do
Boni: Is it in the real estate field? Are they specialized are they a personal coach?
Mark: I have a real estate coach and I am also working with a, what I would call is a psychologist - somebody that is trained in NLP. I have even thought about becoming accredited or licensed in hypnotherapy.
It is all about understanding why people like you or what they like about you so that they would work with you
Boni: How did you get interested in that field? Was it a book or a tape that you listened to?
Mark: Several books, tapes and seminars and just reading up on stuff.
Boni: Is there a book that you would recommend to others who might be interested in that?
Mark: Probably the best little short book that someone could read is called NLP: The New Technology of Achievement. Some other good ones are, Unlimited Selling Power and How To Master Hypnotic Selling Skills.
They use applications of selling and working and influencing people, highlighting some traits that successful people have.
You could have the best of everything in the world, the best workers, the best company, the best hardware, the best software, the nicest laptop - all of this, but if they don't like you they don't trust you.
Boni: Trust and likeability are vital.
Mark: Yes, you have to have the tools, but once they get to trust and like you then you can perform.
Boni: Is there anything else that you would like to share with other agents that you haven't covered so far?
Mark: I think it's vital to focus on the fundamentals of business, your profession, your market, customer skills, principles, products and competition. There is so much to learn - you could read a book every hour of every day there is so much information out there.
That doesn't even include the Internet. You can pick up amazing information there, as far as studying, planning skills, people skills, time management and scheduling.
Boni: How do you motivate your staff to be positive, and work on themselves like you do, obviously you spend a lot of time on self growth?
Mark: I pretty much, try to lead by example - I don't really force any of these things on them. I just think that if they are ready and they want to change then they will incorporate some of these things in their lives.
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A resource you should know about: ____________________________________________
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