FREEBIE: Trello Transaction Checklists

Have you discovered the awesome power of Trello for your real estate biz? It's an amazing free tool that is fantastic for organizing, planning and keeping track of everything - all in one place.

It's especially great for collaborating with your team, marketing assistant, virtual admin, and others - I use it in my business every.single.day.

I created some transaction checklist templates that I want to share with you. I hope they save you time, help you become more organized, and help you take advantage of the awesomeness that is Trello!

Grab your Free Trello Checklists Here ⟳

Have a Great Day! 

- Amanda

P.S. If you haven't signed up for your free Trello account yet, here's a link to get you there: https://trello.com/amandabehm1/recommend

Pin It!

5 Simple Facebook Features: Up Your Influence and Reach

Facebook features can change rapidly, so here's a quick roundup of current tips and tricks for real estate pros to quickly increase your brand awareness and networking potential on Facebook.

1. Your Personal Profile - It's important that your profile shows you are a real estate professional when someone hovers over your name and gets a preview. Make sure your personal profile is updated and privacy settings allow for people to see your work information.
   BONUS: You can link your Facebook business page to your profile too, so it's easy for someone to click over and find you there.

2. Friends Lists – Many agents receive a lot of unsolicited friend requests on Facebook. You are missing opportunities to connect, network, and grow your sphere if you're declining these requests. I get it, we all like our privacy and separation from our business life – You can have both!!
   You can create custom lists for different classes of Facebook friends. They'll never know which list you've put them into, and if you put them in the preset 'Restricted' list, they will only see the information that's shown on your public profile.
   Now, why should you do this? Because, you can also add them to another list that you create, where you can network and engage with them on their posts. This keeps you top of mind and helps you build a network all while protecting your privacy.

   BONUS: This also helps you stay focused on networking and avoid the social media time suck when you are only looking at and engaging with specific friend lists.

3. Share Button – This is key to increasing your reach and influence on Facebook. Love a post from a local business? Share it to your personal or business page. You are building your networking relationships and showing your engagement with the community. Who knows, maybe they'll share a post from your business page next month!
   Share your listing posts to local groups, share weekend events to your personal/business page, share the occasional post from your business page to your personal page – Remember, staying top of mind takes some effort on social media.

4. Private messages - Did you just accept a friend request from a distant acquaintance? Make sure you send them a private message thanking them for the connection! Facebook messages can be a great casual “touch” to include in your plan to keep in touch with your sphere. It's easy to hop onto a person's Facebook page, see what's happening in their life, and send them a quick private message. It will mean a lot more to them than just a comment on one of their posts.

   BONUS: When you private message someone, the message stays in their Facebook messenger history, so they will see your name and message every time they visit messenger!

5. Facebook Groups - Have you started your own local-centric Facebook group yet? What are you waiting for? With the 2018 Facebook changes that focuses on limiting business posts, you need to find another way to get in front of your audience. Group posts show up more often in a person's feed and notifications, and they are a more personal place to focus, network, and provide value. You will gain tons of organic exposure as people often see your name popping up on their feeds and notifications as you network and post in the group – make sure you have a group that offers real value to your community.

“A strong social media marketing strategy for real estate professionals begins with Facebook.”

Facebook is a fantastic way to connect with potential clients of a wide age range, keep in touch with past clients, as well as market your listings.

Whatever you do, make sure you have a plan and stay consistent. Your social media marketing strategy is a sprint, not a marathon. You need to show up consistently every week, even when you're buried in closings or on vacations. Try using a scheduling tool or hiring an experienced social media manager to support your goals. If you're looking for support with your social media, message me – I'd love to chat!

Original Content written by Amanda Behm, Copyright 2018

10 Ideas for Real Estate Agents: What to Send to My Email List

Here are some quick ideas to keep in consistent contact with your valuable database of past clients, potential clients, and referral sources that you've worked hard to build, all while keeping it fresh and non-salesy.

Choose and combine the ones that best match you and your audience, and make a plan to customize and create them this week.

Remember: Video email is a fantastic way to increase opens and responses.

1. Reconnect email:  A quick, conversational email to apologize for not keeping in better contact. Ask about them, give them a simple update on you. Let them know they'll be hearing from you more often.

2. Answer Questions: Choose questions that you are asked over and over again, and answer them in an interesting, conversational style. Invite your contacts to send you their questions.

3. Offer value: A market update in layman's terms, with interesting pictures and data examples of a couple of recently sold properties. Point out the good and the bad using your real estate expertise.

4. Local activities and events: Create an attractive pdf printable to include.

5. Speaking of local, be a fantastic local resource. Try sending the top 5 places for a round of golf, your favorite lunch/dinner restaurants, best place for a cup of coffee, etc.

6. Tips specific to your real estate knowledge and your market. A video series is fantastic. What are home buyers most looking for right now? How fast is the offer process happening? Are sellers receiving multiple offers? Show them your knowledge and expertise without saying it.

7. Highlight local real estate news, new building areas, up-and-coming communities, new businesses or parks.

8. An invitation: Everyone loves them. Think coffee date, client appreciation BBQ or picnic, or an invitation to join you at a volunteer event.

9. I saved the best for (almost) last: A behind-the-scenes tease, HGTV style. This is a fantastic way to promote coming soon properties, make your email list feel like they are being let in on something before the rest of the world knows, and has a high-interest factor. Also, it's a great way to get them to connect with you on social media for the follow-up and full info at a later date.

10. It's a little more involved, but if you do this a couple times a year, your list will always look forward to an email from you in their inbox! A freebie offer through the mail. Buy a stack of bulk gift certificates from Amazon, Starbucks, the local car wash or bagel shop (or whatever is the hottest thing for your area and audience), or even theme it after your own favorite things. Offer the freebie to the first X-number of people to respond with their mailing address. After you've run out, make sure you still mail something to anyone that responded, thanking them for their response and a “maybe next time” message. Every person that responded with an address gets something mailed to them: your custom flyer, brochure, market analysis - whatever you choose, along with several business cards to share with friends and family.

P.S. Always use a P.S.! It's where you put the most important or call-to-action info.

P.P.S. - Keep emails quick and to the point, with lots of white space for easy reading.

P.P.P.S. - Take note of your send days and times - think evenings or weekends. Change it up, and test it so you find the best time for your audience.

Lastly, if you've found this article helpful and would like more support with creating, writing, and designing your emails, managing your contact lists, scheduling and sending your campaigns consistently, and monitoring the results, send me a message and let's chat!

Take it to the next level of real estate marketing, without taking up all your time!

NEW!! - If you’re looking for a done-for-you newsletter to send to your neighborhood, farm, or share with your open house attendees and prospects, I now offer a customized newsletter in the Etsy shop. Take a look HERE - You’ll love the modern content and clean look.

- Amanda Behm, Real Estate Digital Assistant -Copyright 2018

7 Tips - Keep your Real Estate CRM Working For You!

No one has to tell you that your database is the lifeblood of your real estate business. Regular checkups with your CRM are important to keep it working for you. Whether you plan for weekly or monthly CRM maintenance, these tips will keep your CRM optimized and organized. (Psst ... the free printable is at the bottom of the page)

1. Merge Duplicate Records - Duplicates are easy to come by in a CRM system. They can originate from multiple sources, a lead gen source where a lead is looking at multiple properties, or even something as simple as the same person coming in from both your phone contacts and your email. Merging these records both minimizes the clutter of your database, but also ensures you have a single, complete and accurate contact record. It's also important to regularly remove the duplicate contacts to avoid the same person receiving multiples of your newsletters, drips, and email campaigns.

2. Double-Check Unsubscribes – It's fairly common for a contact to unsubscribe from your newsletters or ask to be removed from your marketing campaigns.

It's very important you preserve your reputation by following up with the unsubscribes across all your systems and platforms.

Are you using MailChimp, BombBomb or Constant Contact? Make sure all of your unsubscribes are notated and grouped in your CRM.

3. Update Your Leads – The contacts that are classified in your lead categories are going to be the ones that need the most regular maintenance. Their status will change, so it will be necessary to run through your leads list to refine and regroup them as they move along in your sales pipeline, so you can more accurately follow-up and apply the best drip marketing campaign for them.

4. Record Your Referral Sources - Many times a new lead is entered into your CRM, but it's often a missed step in getting the referral source recorded. You know it's so very important to take care of and maintain your contact with those all-important referral sources.

It's crucial to your long-term CRM management strategy to be able to easily find your list of referral sources.

5. Eliminate Fakes – 1234 Somewhere Street, anyone? If your CRM is integrated with any lead capture or lead gen sources, you are going to have fake contacts brought into your CRM. It's important to take the time to clear this clutter from your CRM.

6. Enter Missed Contacts - Glance through your recent phone and email histories to make sure that any new contacts were entered into your CRM. This is easier to do on a weekly basis.

(Here's a PRO TIP: Use your SENT folder, rather than your inbox. This helps more easily identify the contacts that you communicated with, without having to wade through the clutter that is most likely jamming your inbox.)

7. Check the Integrations - Check to make sure you've got any available integrations connected and functioning properly. While you don't need to do this weekly, a monthly or even quarterly check is a good idea. Good CRMs are constantly adding features. It's a good idea to pop on to their website occasionally to see if they might have added a new feature to auto-import your leads, listings, added transaction management features, or integrations with any other marketing/email programs that you use.

The more connected your systems are, the less confusion, duplication, and manual work there is for you.

Remember, it's good to periodically send yourself a test lead from any integrated sources to ensure that they are still working properly, and to be certain you're not missing any important leads.

As a top agent, your database is one of your most valuable assets. You can't afford to set it and forget it. A couple hours per week or per month, depending on your volume, is vital to keep your CRM system being a key tool that works well for you. If CRM maintenance is not high on your interest list, or your have 100 other priorities in front of you, this is a great regular task to pass on to your assistant.

Get your free printable CRM Maintenance Checklist HERE. It's custom-created for your Real Estate CRM!

The checklist makes it easy to remember the necessary tasks when you're ready to maintain your CRM, or even easier to hand off to your trusty assistant.

Do you need support with regular maintenance, integrations, and customization of your CRM? Are you migrating to a new CRM? Maybe you would like some help creating and scheduling your drip campaigns?

Real Estate CRMs are my specialty! Email me: amanda@redigitalassist.com

Let's talk about how I can support you in getting your CRM organized and working efficiently, so you know:

• Your contacts are taken care of

• Your leads are collected and managed

• You can use your database to build and grow your business!

Original content written by Amanda Behm – Real Estate Digital Assistant Copyright 2018©

How Are You Tracking Your Mileage?

Tax time is nearly over (Whew!) – Now to make improvements and adjustments for this year.

If you choose to deduct business mileage, every mile in 2018 is worth 54.5 cents. That adds up quickly as you drive around showing houses to those indecisive buyers.

Make it easy on yourself and choose an app that does the work for you. It's one less thing to remember and could mean more $ in your pocket next tax season.

Here's a roundup of some great ways to make tracking all of those deductible miles easier and more accurate:

MileIQ: It's a wildly popular app that automatically detects when you're driving and records the mileage. At the end of the day, you click in and classify the trips as business, personal, or even custom categories. You can track what your mileage is worth, and download detailed pdf reports. Bonus Feature: Automatically classifying repeat trips. Cost: There's a 40-trip free trial, and after that it's $5 per month.

Taxbot: A robust app that uses GPS to create a detailed trip log. You can also use it to track your other business expenses and even take pictures of your receipts. Bonus Feature: Trips can be matched to calendar appointments automatically. Cost: 14-day free trial, after that it's $100 per year or $10 per month.

Hurdlr: It's an app that is built specifically for real estate professionals and business owners. It tells you the potential deduction for each trip. The upgraded versions include the expense tracking features. Bonus Feature: They have a completely free version that includes mileage tracking! Cost: Free or a paid version for $5-$8 per month for upgraded versions.

Quickbooks: If you're already using Quickbooks Self Employed, make your life simple and use their included tracker app at no extra charge. Bonus Feature: It integrates beautifully if you're already using the software. Cost: Quickbooks Online Self Employed is $10 per month after, and there are usually promotions that offer 50% off for the first 3-6 months.

Wait! I haven't forgotten.

There are those of you who still prefer the old-school pen and paper. While I'm not advocating for it, I'm also not leaving you out. HERE is a free printable template to keep in your vehicle.

There are many other apps and programs to choose from that will help you with mileage tracking. The important part is to actually USE whichever method you choose, and make sure you are recording everything required by the tax man.

Happy motoring – Now get out there and show some houses!

Original Content Written By – Amanda Behm, Real Estate Digital Assistant Copyright 2018 ©