Technology and automation tools can be essential for scaling a profitable real estate investment business today.

However, without a little common sense, jumping on the latest fads can mean you are dooming your business to failure instead of streamlining your way to greater success.

Self-Sabotaging Fads For Real Estate Investors To Be Wary Of

There are countless new apps, software, and automation tools coming out each day. A couple of them may truly be valuable. Most are a distraction.

You should be automating elements of your prospecting, follow up, and systematizing your business so that offers are going out, properties are being sold, and you just have to focus on the big picture of growing your real estate business.

However, some companies have gone to the extreme of trying to go a tech only route, relying on not so intelligent AI tools, and in the process cannibalizing their own businesses.

This is most notable in customer service. Live chat tools became very useful. Users have gravitated to the ability to conveniently chat with businesses online, from their phones, and get real, instant help from humans on the other side. This has been very efficient for brands too.

Now some have tried to replace these human interactions with just chat bots. It doesn’t work. It just becomes a source of frustration. Like old phone systems that just looped customers around, pressing different numbered options.

This problem is compounded by companies like Upwork which have also ended any human customer service or ability to contact them by phone. This is true even for their top revenue producing customers that have helped build and fuel their business for over a decade, and have brought them over $1M in transactions. They are just burning their best and most loyal customers, and brand advocates.

It’s worth noting their stock price has tanked by more than two thirds in the past couple of months because of this. It is probably just the beginning of their downfall. As well as the overall AI bubble, just as we saw with the initial dot com bubble.

The Number One Predictor Of Success

The number one predictor of future business performance is customer happiness.

If customers aren’t happy, the business will go south. This can tank the largest global corporations. It will certainly cut short the life of small businesses as well.

The reverse is also true. Repeat customers are cheaper, more profitable, and easier to work with. They will also help grow your business with referrals.

It’s just basic elementary school math and common sense.

How To Balance Great Service, Efficiency & Profitability

Do use technology for marketing, for following up with those in your CRM, and for enabling prospects to enjoy an automated process, when it works for them.

Just remember that at times many will also need a human. Whether that is by phone, text, email, or chat. Consider that $15 an hour for a great service rep, could help you make or keep a $1M a year customer. Do the math on those returns.

Is it the right time to sell your real estate investing business? If so, is your company even sellable?

This could be the ideal time for many real estate business owners to cash in and sell their companies. It is a window of opportunity many will kick themselves for missing out on.

However, not every company is positioned and optimized to be sold or bought. Let’s look at the timing, why you should be prepared regardless of your plans, and what you can do to make your company an attractive acquisition.

Why Now Is The Right Time To Sell

This is the phase in the real estate cycle when many real estate businesses may be peaking in value and appeal. It is also the same peak time in the general economy and mergers and acquisitions cycle for business owners to sell.

Many failed to see this opportunity ahead of 2008. Then either struggled for years while everything fell apart, or just closed the doors and quit, leaving millions of dollars in unclaimed value on the table.

This is a time in the economy when a lot of consolidation is in the works. Capital markets still have cash to fund acquisitions, and bigger companies want to expand by acquiring more market share.

That could all change fast in a downturn. The ability to buy may evaporate. Acquirers will be looking for steals, and to offer a small percentage of what they may offer now.

Why Having A Sellable Real Estate Business Is Important

Right now you may think you will never want to sell your business. That’s what most think, until the moment they need to. Yet, we never know where the market, company values, will go, and when for sure. We never know if we will be healthy enough to work tomorrow. Or if our families will need us to be present for them, instead of running a business.

Selling a business can provide a lump sum payday, ongoing passive income, or a combination of both, without having to be involved on a daily basis.

Even if you never sell, being sure your company is set up for it will only help increase the value of your assets, and improve your operations. You can’t lose. Yet, you can build millions or billions of dollars in extra value into your company, while going about your regular daily work. It’s virtually a no-brainer.

How To Optimize Your Company

Optimize your company for value and appeal by:

• Creating systems throughout your business
• Maintaining clean records, accounting, and contracts
• Use smart leverage for deals and keep your cash balance sheet healthier
• Make sure your business can run without your daily involvement

 

If you want to grow your real estate investment business and do more deals while the market is hot, then here’s what you need to automate and scale it.

Put these things in place and you can actually enjoy the free time and quality time this business should be providing you. While also gaining the time to focus on the highest value items to really get to the next level.

Great CRM Software

If you aren’t using a software database to drop your leads in and manage them, then you are doing things the hard way, and the slow way.

You might get away with pen and paper or an Excel file for your first couple deals. Though the longer you wait to implement a CRM program, the harder and more expensive, and disruptive the transition will be later.

Pick one that integrates easily with your other software, is affordable, not too complex, and that you can get running with quickly. Close.io seems to be one of the great options out there today.

Automated Follow Up

Most of your real estate deals will be closed with the follow up. If you aren’t following up, you are probably missing out on 90% of the deals you could be doing. In turn you are wasting a ton of time, and 90% of your marketing.

Whether you use email, text, ringless voicemail, or something else, the most efficient way to do this is to create automated sequences that go out on their own in your CRM.

A Buyers List

As a real estate wholesaler or flipper, it really doesn’t matter how many deals you find, or how great they are if you can sell them immediately.

Ideally you will have buyers waiting, and taking your inventory the same day you close on it.

Build your buyers list and things will flow more smoothly and profitably. You won’t get stuck with bad deals either.

The best buyers to add to your list are those that will buy multiple properties from you each and every month.

A Bigger Marketing Budget

Every time you raise your goals, you need to raise your marketing budget. If you want to do twice as many deals next month, then you need to be prepared to invest twice as much in your marketing. If you want to do triple the deals, then triple your marketing investment.

If you aren’t getting the results and returns on your marketing you want, and you’ve already been doing the above, then invest in better marketing experts to get better results.

Summary

If you crave more time, and want to do more deals and dollars, then start scaling your real estate investment business using these tactics.

 

How is your real estate investment business preparing for the new era of post digital marketing?

Everything is cyclical. The economy, the real estate market, and marketing. Just as we’ve seen some of the biggest changes in the first two of these, another super cycle change is primed to happen in marketing.

For those that have been in the business long enough, we’ve seen the rise and fall of direct mail, outdoor advertising, cold calling, purchased internet leads, and email, and more recently PPC and social media.

More and more factors are building up to force a new change in marketing, and what works and doesn’t. Ensuring your business is ready, and ahead of the game is likely to make all of the difference in deal flow and cash flow, as well as who survives and grows, versus those that fold.

The End Of Digital Marketing

The trust is gone, and more limitations and rising costs are accelerating the demise of digital marketing as we’ve known it for the past decade.

We recently saw TikTok surpass Google and Facebook to become the most popular website in the world. We’ve seen major online companies that should have been poised to dominate after COVID end up losing 30% to 70% of their stock value, and running into serious issues. Those include companies like Zoom, Netflix, Upwork and Better (mortgage). In most cases they seem to be failing because they made disastrous short term decisions at the expense of their most loyal customers and their reputation.

Google is getting hit with more and more lawsuits and limitations. The latest accuse it of misleading users about the tracking that has been happening even when they thought they turned off location services. This will directly impact PPC advertising and SEO.

Real estate advertisers have also been driving themselves crazy and burning enormous amounts of money on junk. Including new grammar checking apps, SEO analyzers, and joining groups offering tons of self-sabotaging duplicate content, such as blogs and white papers.

This is on top of rising costs from bots, and scams, often initiated by advertising platforms like Facebook themselves.

Then there is spam, spam, spam. Now it is not only phone calls and social media like LinkedIn, but in text messages and ads too. Countless consumers have also been burned trying to buy things directly over social sites like Instagram, and may be vowing only to do business with local sellers they can see and hold accountable.

Post-Digital Marketing: What’s Next?

As consumers and businesses get burned out on digital marketing, grow tired of losing money and won’t even take a chance on it anymore, what’s next?

What marketing will work and be useful after the digital we’ve grown accustomed to? Especially if you are trying to buy, sell or rent real estate?

Half the country has already decided that they want to be free and return to normal activities. They aren’t interested in vax mandates, masks, or restrictions. So, outside of the Northeast and California, expect in person meetups, in person sales presentations, groups, and experiential marketing in the real world to make a huge comeback. More modern, boutique offices may also reappear with new innovative twists.

As more and more people migrate and move, signage may be more important as they explore new areas.

Those stuck at home in the most restrictive states, may see direct mail once again seeing great results.

These are all things that require marketing, just different types. It may be authentic and original mail, pitch decks to present on your device in person, what you wear, etc. The question is, are you investing in these materials and copywriters, strategists, part time, fractional or remote CMOs to help you win in this transition and new era?