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Andreas · Guest

Realtor pitch

Matthew · Guest

The only luck we had so far was buyers agents getting quotes so they could take it off the price of the house for the new owners. We gave quotes but not one job, lol.

Guest

the realtors you need to contact are the ones who flip houses. They will keep you busy depending on how busy they are.

Central Iowa Roof Cleaning · Certified Cedar Shake Roof Cleaning Specialist

Andreas wrote:

How many of you are working through real estate contacts? And what was your pitch/angle? We've tried in the past with our window cleaning but only with limited success. The one agent I spoke to didn't seem bothered by roof stain just saw it as a negotiating tool.

I have had good luck with realtors. They are going for curb appeal. I just cleaned the Iowa Realty building 16,000 sq. ft. that has 110 agents in it. The manager called for the cleaning. They are doing a presentation at their weekly meeting. My pitch is curb appeal for the home buyer which is a win/win for them(realtor/seller) and me.

sweetwaterfish · Guest

I can speak aboout agents with a fair ammount of knowledge. I spent 18+ years as a Realtor, RE/MAX office owner and developer.

Keep in mind the average real esate agent is not very busy. Its really quite useless to market to them. You don't want to deal with joes average. On real estate , the 80/20 rule in the real estate these days is more like the 90/10 rule ( 90% of the business is done by 10% of the agents, so to be successful you need to identify these top 10% of the agents. Most of these agents will already have a stable of tradespeople they trust and deal with on a regualtr basis. You will need to build rapport with them through ongoing communication before you get jobs rolling in.

It is a good idea to become an "affiliate member of your local board This will give you the opportunuty to meet a large number of agetns and begin idenitfying the busy agents and the busy offices. Other affiliates in the RE industry can become very good champions of your cause, such as home inspectors. I have a couple which now recommend SPray Wash Exterior Cleaning to their inspetion customers whenever needed.

Most offices have regualr weekly office meetings. Calling the broker and offering to sponsor a bagel breakfast at one of the meetings is a great way to get into an office.

Realotrs are not necessarily the cash cow for buisness they once were. In times past, I used to foot the bill for all of the REO (foreclosure, bank owned proeprties, etc) maintenance needs and then would get reimbursed at closing when I was an agent. I understand that due to the instability of this market, this type of behavior has become a thing of the past.

Rather than targeting ALL the agents, find 10 in your area and start working them and building rapport for refferals. Great agents will certainly recommend you to dirty custmers, but that is the extent of what they will do, only recommend you. They won't pay for it, have it done for the customer, etc, in all but the most extrme of circumstances.

Also, just becasuse you see a property with a for sale sign, don't assume that agent has talked to the client about having the property cleaned. So many agents are exceptionally medicore and put forth only the minimum required effort.I have agent friend pull me a list of all the newly listed proeprties each month from the MLS nd market those homeowners directly.

I typically do 4 properties per month that are Realtor referral based.

-- Edited by swee****erfish on Thursday 4th of November 2010 07:33:58 PM

OSM-Jo · guest

Thanks Ray for sharing this great information.

Andreas · Guest

thanks for the insight.

I do know some of the agents in my area and am planning to talk to them. From what I understand they usually have the owner drop the price the value of a roof replacement. Of course that would drop their percentage and take a bit of coin out of their pocket as well, no? This is one of many things I'll be working on this winter.

sweetwaterfish · Guest

Andreas:

I would not approach it from this financial angle to the Realtors. Most of the good agents don't worry about the difference in commission from a $250,000 sales price lowered to a $235,000 sale price. If you are working with that type of agent, run away.

Let me explain:

in a typical sale scenario that 15,000 would only amount to $900 in commission (6%), that commission would be shared with the other agent on the transaction so that would be $450 per side. The the office/broker get their share of that commission (30-50%), so the individual agent is only pocketing about $225 on a $15,000 commission. Most good agents don't care about that and prefer to make it up in volume rather than chiseling it out of max commissions on each individual sale.

Better methods to sell would include:

1) BETER CURB APPEAL means shorter marketing times.

2) A clean roof could help you avoid issues with the roof inspections. the roof will look cleaner and newer than it actually is right now. I've seen dirty roof throw up red flags to the inspectors & buyers, where clean roofs of the same age passed with flying colors.

3) a clean roof will make the property stand out from competition, look better in marketing pictures, etc. With the tight market right now Agents want every competitive advantage they can get.

Hope this helps.

Ray

sweetwaterfish · Guest

When you do the bagel breakfast for the agents, make sure you give a gift certificate for a free roof cleaning or house wash ( limit the value so you don't get stuck doing a $900 roof job for free) out in a drawing, this works best in a larger office. You can also offer to to the office roof for free, and do half of it one week, place signage then return and do the other half. Thats a great marketing tool!

Andreas · Guest

Well wouldn't you know we had an emergency carpet cleaning this morning for a realtor. Dog threw up on her carpets. I stuck to my new talking points and she thought it was a really good idea and asked for a bunch of our cards. No bagels were bought or exchanged however.

gutterdog · Nov 6, 2010

I have only dealt with one realtor so far. Gutter cleans and handy man stuff. Tried the curb appeal stuff to show them what I can do for roofs and houses etc. No luck.

My opinion so far, just one realtor, they put as little money as possable into the property?

sweetwaterfish · Guest

Micheal, the average Realtor puts NO money into a property (* at least not their own money)! A good Realtor will have their clients ( the property owner) spend as much as needed to make it look good and get a competitive advantage.

sweetwaterfish · Guest

Here's a copy of my Realtor Flier I used which deliver pretty good results.

WDE · Guest

Great advice Ray. I remember the good old days of free breakfast/lunch for the office from every mortgage agent in town.. LOL

Realtors are a great way to get referral business. It might be a little slower in today's market, but target top producers and change your discount/referral terms a little to adapt.

-- Edited by WDE on Saturday 6th of November 2010 07:43:30 PM

-- Edited by WDE on Saturday 6th of November 2010 07:44:22 PM

gutterdog · Nov 7, 2010

I want to know more about how to deal with realtors. Its something I havent mastered or really understood!

Central Iowa Roof Cleaning · Certified Cedar Shake Roof Cleaning Specialist

swee****erfish wrote:

Here's a copy of my Realtor Flier I used which deliver pretty good results.

Thanks for sharing. Nice flier.

SEE OUR WORK HERE!!! · Guest

I 'm actually doing my first realtor job tomorrow after a whole season of sending them fliers and dropping info off at their offices.

sweetwaterfish · Guest

Barry : Get lots of Before & after pictures, then design a custom flier for the agents in that office (assuming its a large office). Use a service like this to get your small batch color copies:
http://copiesincolor.com/

Showing that you are working with an agents promotes an automatic rapport with other agents in that office. Just make sure you tell everyone!

APPressureWashing · Guest

swee****erfish wrote:
Here's a copy of my Realtor Flier I used which deliver pretty good results.

That is a great flier! Thanks for the example!

sweetwaterfish · Guest

Thanks AP...make sure to join the association and you'll get lots more exposure to pieces such as that!

The Roof Cleaning Institute Of America Training & Certification Forum "Find A Certified Roof Cleaner Directory"

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"Find A Certified Roof Cleaner Directory"