Your website probably sucks + Who Pays the Highest Property Taxes? + much more...

885,391 daily readers and growing! June 2, 2016 Your website probably sucks Dear Reader, You might be surprised to hear me -- the biggest advocate of technology in real estate -- say such a thing, but it's true: your website probably sucks. I had a conversation with an agent recently, and in the course of our conversation she told me about the new website she was having design. She had spent a small fortune with one of the real estate website companies (I won't say which one, but you can probably guess), and they were going to handle her Google advertising too. So naturally I had to ask whether her website would have lead capture technology on it... and she returned a blank stare. Her website company, who of course was promising a HUGE return on her investment, didn't even have the most basic form of lead capture. WOW... Do you ever get the idea that an entire cottage industry exists for the sole purpose of fleecing agents out of their hard-earned commission dollars? Ever feel like a new technology company springs up every 15 minutes with the latest, greatest new clever idea? And all the pitches are the same: a room full of drones on phones, calling agents from the NAR membership list, promising great success! I'm sick and tired of it. "Just give me $1000 for this super-duper short-sale program, and you will make millions!" or maybe, "Sign up for our unbelievable system and you'll do 50 deals in 50 days!" or "If you'll just buy our incredible website, you will have hundreds of customers falling out of the sky!" or "Let us put your website at the top of all the search engines -- guaranteed." or "Buy our leads and you'll make a fortune!" And it goes on and on. It's nearly impossible to know which ones work and which ones don't. And, of course, each company wants you to invest just one commission a year in the hopes of receiving back many times that amount if all goes well. Let's be honest... we've all thrown away good money hoping to make money with one of those companies. Yep, me too. As a new agent, I spent money with several large national companies buying leads. They were expensive, they were poor quality, and the same leads had been sold to several other agents. But I was in a long-term contract spending $1,200 a month for poor quality leads and an education. After a very expensive education, I managed to learn two simple lessons: Lesson One: Only Leads Matter. Lots of leads means lots of money. No leads means no money. It really is that simple. There is not a single problem in your real estate practice that you can't solve by having more customers. Think about it. Lots of leads gives you endless options. From cherry picking your clients, to managing your schedule, to keeping your costs in line, to being able to relax and enjoy your job. A good lead count covers a multitude of sins! Lesson Two: Don't Buy Leads (Make Your Own). Companies who sell leads have no incentive to make them high quality. In fact, their interest is in quantity, not quality. If you've ever bought leads you understand this oh, too well. Don't buy leads -- make your own. If you eat out, you have little control over the food quality, or the cost. In fact, most restaurants force you to buy more food than you can eat (or should eat). On the other hand, if you cook at home, you control the quality and the quantity. You control the menu and the meal time. Make your own leads and you are in control of your own business. When I learned those two lessons, I looked for technology to help me make my own leads. When I couldn't find what I was looking for, I finally decided to build my own technology and start making my own leads. No more buying leads. When I did, everything immediately turned around for me. I had more business than I could handle so I recruited other struggling agents to join my team. Soon the team outgrew the small Century 21 office where I worked, and FavoriteAgent.com Team became the first FavoriteAgent.com real estate company. By the end of the first year, our company had become the largest in our market with over 50 agents. When we grew to 100 agents we began to open other offices. As you know, rumors of success get around. Before long, agents started calling me asking if I would help them build the same technology. For several months I tried, until I finally realized that you can't really teach somebody how to build technology over the phone. Finally, I offered to just build it for them, and then let them pay me to use it like licensing software. Since then over 20,000 agents have used my "Ultimate Website" to build their businesses. I thought I would share a few of their letters: Matt: When I started in real estate, I struggled to close one deal a month. I had a standard template website and thought I was "advanced" because I used pay-per-click advertising. But I closed only a few deals from it. At the time, it was the best I could do. When I heard about the LCM Gateway technology, I was skeptical. You suggested that simply by replacing my old website with the LCM Gateway I could capture 25-30 times as many leads! I decided to take the leap of faith, and within two days my lead count exploded. I was spending the same ad dollars, but generating literally 30 times more leads than before. I had to cut back on advertising just so I could keep up with the leads. Soon I started building a team of agents. We closed 126 transactions our first year and 130 our next, which was a "slow market" according to the so-called experts. And we achieved that with a fraction of the advertising budget of our competitors using traditional marketing methods. Needless to say, I highly recommend this system to anyone serious about increasing their transaction volume while decreasing their current marketing budget. - Kyle Wilson, ID Dear Matt, As a new agent, I was broke and ready to quit real estate due to the lack of business after only four months. Then I found the LCM Gateway technology, and my business has never been the same. I've used the LCM Gateway for two years. When I started using it, I was a rookie agent and had only sold one home. After my first full year with them, I was named the top producer in my company of 21 agents (and again the following year) and was ranked in the top 3% of agents in my metro area. All the other agents in our region are saying it is the slowest year they've ever seen, but I've had more business than I can handle. So much that I recently hired a full time administrative assistant and started my own team. The LCM Gateway solved my "no-business" problem! Thanks! - Jason Jarstfer, KY Just to update you on a previous email I wrote, I signed up with you in mid-March and after a few days of trial and error I actually began. I received my fourth lead on March 20, and today, May 10, we closed. A total of 51 days -- not bad! Of the 35 leads I've gotten, I set up 14 on automatic listings (by email) campaigns, had 2 hangups and 5 wrong numbers. Others I have not been able to get in touch with. I expect to make at least 1 listing and 1 sale in the next 2 weeks... - Alan Rosenberg, CA Take a Tour of the Technology » So, what worked for me also worked for them, and it has worked for lots of other agents. Just listen to them in their own words in the short video at the link below. I think they say it better than I could do. Now I started this article by saying that technology sucks, and I think for the most part it does. If your technology isn't bringing you business, then I say you need to seriously rethink it. I know I did. So have many other agents. Let's be honest: What difference does it make if you have the slickest website in the world if you are about to go out of business and it isn't contributing by producing leads? It is either part of the problem or part of the solution. The same goes for every other piece of technology that some fast-talking salesman got you to try. If it isn't producing, fire it! It's either adding to the bottom line or it's taking away from it. If ever there was a time when leads matter, it is today! The business is tougher than at any time in our history. True, the number of home sales is down 10% from a couple of years ago. But, the number of agents is down by nearly 30%! That means that it is a better time than ever before to be in the real estate business, assuming you have the leads. Because I'm an agent and a broker, I understand the tough times agents are going through today. But, I also know how powerful our technology is and how agents who are using it are having their best months ever, in spite of the awful economy. So let me ask you this: Are you struggling, not having enough business to pay the bills? Are you tired of trying idea after idea, each of which requires you to make a big investment and a long-term commitment and then hope it works? Then do this -- try my LCM Gateway. You can demo the technology yourself by clicking the "test drive" link below. My Ultimate Website is a state-of-the-art lead capture technology for less than the price of a cup of coffee a day and it has no long-term contract! No kidding. So if you're struggling... if you're wondering where that next transaction is coming from... stop wondering and check it out for yourself. Your practice will never be the same. Maybe you've been thinking about putting lead capture technology in place in your business for awhile now. Well I've created a little extra incentive to motivate you to get off the fence. Today only, you can use the promo code below, and I'll give you two freebies with my Ultimate Website technology. Promo Code: “NEWSGENIUS” (All caps, no quotations) #1 First, with this promo code you'll get a free Craigslist ad. My coaching staff will actually write your first Craigslist ad for you FREE ($150 value). Not a standard classified listing -- a super-charged ad, just like Craig is running, my exact formula that will swarm your website with customers. You supply the new property listing (it can be borrowed) and we'll write a unique, proven, and highly effective Craiglist ad that you can run over and over again for free. #2 You will also get my entire eBook library (a $200 value) free of charge. That's all 10 of my books I've written on how to make a killing in real estate FREE. This include my book Becoming a Mega-Producer where I tell the whole ugly story about how I practically failed out of real estate before becoming the top listing agent in my market. This book includes a blueprint for you to follow to completely automate your advertising. Plus you'll get my nine other training books. And by the way, these are no longer for sale anywhere. The ONLY way to get them currently is through this deal. or check price and availability in your area.   As always, thanks for reading. Matt Jones  Broker/President/CEO  FavoriteAgent.com Matt Jones is the founder and CEO of FavoriteAgent.com, nationally syndicated columnist, broker, and best selling author. He has been profiled by major media outlets as an innovator and a pioneer in the industry, and CNN's Pulse on America claimed he and his company were "changing the way real estate is done in America."

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