Real Estate Pros Podcast: For Real People Working in Real Estate

74: Josh Cobb: How Real Estate Agents Are Winning Attention With Siri

"If you're not answering customer questions on your website, you could be losing clients you didn't know you could get."

More than two million searches on Google every month - in Australia alone - are real estate related*. Every day, more of us are doing hands-off, keyboardless searches. We already use voice to ask questions in our phones and we’re now talking to the dashboard in our cars.

Voice-based searches are on the rise and tech giants like Apple and Microsoft are in a race to be first-to-market.

The research into this technology so far shows that voice-based searches typically contain longer questions - so jamming a website (or your Google Ads) full of keywords is not going to cut it against a website that delivers a headline with the answer to a question that someone is asking.

In this episode of Real Estate Pros, we’ll explore the growth of voice-based search and how you can position your agency at the top of the list when someone is looking for the answer to a burning real estate question.

73: Josh Cobb: How to Create A More Powerful ‘Why’ That Will Make You Unstoppable

You won’t go to a conference or seminar in real estate today without hearing a trainer, consultant or coach talk about the importance of knowing your ‘Why’. You might already know what it is for you, but is your 'Why' really big enough? Is it based on doing whatever it takes to succeed at the expense of the things you care most about?

In this episode of Real Estate Pros, we explore a very simple formula for why we are inspired by some people, leaders, messages and organizations over others - and how you can create a more powerful 'Why' that will make you unstoppable in real estate.

72: Josh Cobb: How To Use Google As Your Best Marketing Tool In Real Estate

In 2015, there was 2.5 million real estate related searches on Google in Australia – every month!

The best person to answer those real estate related questions is… you guessed it… you. You are on the front line of our industry. You are the person with all of the insight in your local market.

But the sad reality for real estate professionals is the overwhelming majority of search traffic is going to industry providers such as the major portals and news sites – not real estate agency websites. They are the ones answering the questions that people are asking.

The opportunity for you as a real estate professional is to become the leading informational provider in your local market by leveraging Google – just like the big players do.

And the best part is, hardly anyone else is doing it.

I recently gave a presentation at Elite Agent Magazine’s Transform program – joining John McGrath, Claudio Encina and an impressive panel of coaches – where I shared one simple strategy that – if done consistently over time – will dominate your competition online.

This episode of Real Estate Pros is thanks to the team at Elite Agent - watch the full video here. 

71: Josh Cobb: Is Digital A Better Investment For Your Real Estate Business?

In business today, it’s harder than ever to earn attention. We have to understand our consumers on a much deeper level in order to consistently create marketing that they want - instead of what we typically do which is create marketing that people simply tolerate.

If you choose to keep doing the same things over and over again without measuring them - but expecting a different result - I can’t promise that you’ll drive revenue and profit into your business.

But by measuring your marketing – as much as I know you do with your sales ratios – it will tell you exactly what you need to improve and it will earn you more clients and help you sell and manage more properties. Digital just happens to be a very good – and very affordable way of doing it compared with traditional marketing methods.

In this episode of Real Estate Pros, we’ll explore the pros and cons of both print and digital marketing for growing your real estate business.

70: Josh Cobb: What Real Estate Agents Can Learn From Rock Stars

Think of the greats like Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen or Aussie bands like Powderfinger – they know that if they don’t have an audience, they won’t have success. Not only do musicians work their butt off to grow their audience, but they work equally hard – every show – to keep their audience coming back and have that audience tell all their friends. 

Real estate is no different. Your success is limited without an audience of loyal fans and subscribers.You need to drive growth and retention of clients and prospects – that will always be the case for sales people and property management professionals. But are you trying to build something bigger? Does your marketing serve a purpose for your audience? Is there something more?

In this episode of Real Estate Pros, we’ll explore the lessons real estate agents can learn from rock stars on how to build an audience around your business that will subscribe, purchase and sell with you for many years to come.

Read the highlights: www.stepps.com.au/podcasts

69: Josh Cobb: How Real Estate Agents Are Using The Internet To Grow Their Business

Over the past few months we’ve been presenting a series of digital marketing workshops for one of Australia’s real estate franchise groups.

What was surprising to me was that no matter what part of the country we were in, real estate professionals are having the same challenges when it comes to digital marketing. The same questions came up over and over again.

In this episode of Real Estate Pros, we’ll explore the top five questions real estate professionals are asking when it comes to digital marketing in 2016 and some helpful tips from those who are succeeding to grow your business online.

Read the highlights: stepps.com.au/podcasts

68: Josh Cobb: The Small Things In Real Estate That Have The Biggest Impact

What do current and prospective clients value these days? It’s most likely not your products or services. More likely today, they value experiences over anything else - and if you don’t offer compelling, differentiated experiences, your clients – past and present – will research, look, purchase and become a loyal customer somewhere else.

The little things in business today, make all the difference tomorrow and the more amazing experiences people have with other industries, the more they are going to expect it from businesses like yours and mine.

In this episode of Real Estate Pros, we’ll explore the industries who are setting the benchmark on customer experiences and the strategies you can apply to increase client retention and referrals.

67: Josh Cobb: The Rise Of Online Ratings & Reviews In Real Estate

There used to be a time where someone would pick up the phone, send you a fax, speak to you in person or even write you a letter to tell you about their experience with your company.

But more often than not today, your clients – past and present – are instead jumping onto social media, Google or any number of real estate review sites available today, to check you out or voice their opinion about your brand to thousands of others.

In this episode of Real Estate Pros, we'll explore the rise of online ratings and review sites in real estate and a strategy to dominate your competition.

66: Jay Baer: How To Use Complaints To Strengthen Your Real Estate Business

In this episode of Real Estate Pros, we're joined by New York Times best-selling author Jay Baer to help us understand why embracing complaints about you or your company can strengthen your real estate business. We'll explore the extensive study Jay conducted in partnership with Edison Research behind why people complain about businesses, the different channels they use to complain and the strategies you can apply in your business to turn "haters" into raving fans.

Read the highlights: www.stepps.com.au/podcasts

65: Josh Cobb: A Marketing Strategy That Still Dominates 130 Years Later

Marketing in real estate today is harder than ever and it's getting harder to cut through the clutter.

Our customers have hundreds of different channels they can go through to get information and if we don’t create something that’s interesting to them, they’re going to forget all about us and they’re going to go somewhere else.

In this episode of Real Estate Pros, you'll hear the true rags-to-riches story of a 130-year-old company and how one of their marketing strategies - started all those years ago - still dominates their competition today.

The good news? There are very few real estate professionals doing it.