2006: “Bubble, what bubble??”
2007: “It can’t get much worse… can it?”
2008: “How much more can we possibly cut?”
2009: ???
Sound familiar? Has that been the voice in your head the past three years? Our conversations with brokers, large and small, all over the country, tell us this is industry has been in denial… denial that they have to do more, much more, than just cut expenses until things get “better”. Take a look at your business analysis.
- Are your agents getting any younger?
- Do you really need that 12,000 square foot “palace” that is empty most of the time?
- Have you figured out how to get more than half your agents to promptly respond to online inquiries?
- Do you really have an integrated technology strategy that touches every aspect of how you communicate with the younger, more educated consumer who will soon dominate this business and knows more about Facebook and Twitter than they do about your company?
Those are just a few of the business analysis questions you should be asking yourself. If you don’t ask yourself, we will.
Most companies now know they truly need to analyze how they do business and, more importantly, must be willing to make dramatic, potentially scary changes, to their businesses. But for those who think all they have to do is cut expenses and “hunker down”, the best case scenario is being less profitable in the foreseeable future.
PCMS is committed to helping real estate brokers transform their business anylysis and break from the paradigms of the past to embrace those that will be necessary to be successful in the future.
]]>What Marketing Strategies have returned you be highest ROI? 
With more than 60 billion searches conducted every month and 90% of online consumers using search engines as their primary source of information, online marketing strategies are critical today. Internet Marketing Strategies have rapidly become the most effective method of marketing strategies that deliver a high ROI. For consumers and prospects to find your business online, it’s critical that your URL rank in the top 20 search engine results. After all, 93% of consumers stop searching after the second page of listings. SEO needs to become a top priority for your marketing strategies.
Companies are overwhelming neglecting SEO as part of their marketing strategies plan. As a result, they are missing out on a massive opportunity to boost their profits and thrive in today’s market and economic situation. In today’s challenging market and economic downturn every dollar spent needs to have relevance. Traditional marketing strategies media vehicles such as newspapers, magazines and TV, simply do not make the phone ring like they used to. This is because consumers today are bombarded with thousands of marketing messages every day and they have almost become immune to traditional media. People use the internet for their needs in both the real estate and franchise businesses.
Optimizing your website is a process for a successful marketing strategy with many key components to consider:
- How do search engines see your site?
- Are there site validation errors?
- How many road blocks does your site have?
- What keywords are people searching for?
- How many landing pages do you have?
- Are you fully utilizing your META tags?
Once you determine all these things, how do you evaluate whether your SEO campaign is actually working? There are several things to measure your marketing strategies:
- Number of estimated unique monthly visitors
- Number of conversions
- Number of top 10 rankings you achieve
- Number of page views
- Number of search referrals
Not every website designer is an SEO expert and vice versa. Therefore, it is very important to have the right people focused on the right things … just because your website is designed well, does not mean it will drive consumers to your site. The amount of traffic is dependent on how well it has been “optimized.”
Because PCMS is at the forefront of the changes occurring in the real estate and franchise businesses, we feel the area of SEO and internet marketing strategies are a critical component of what we can offer to our clients. We believe there is a good chance your competitors are not focused on this and that it creates a significant opportunity for us to provide value to your organization.
]]>- Legal and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requirements
- Scaling a concept on a regional, national basis, or international basis
- Standardizing your operation into an integrated business system others can successfully employ
- Proving your concept or systems successfully so you can show others how to do it
- Creating a policies and procedures manual
- Determining how much to charge for initial and ongoing franchise fees
- Deciding whether to sell single unit franchises, area developer franchises, or master franchises
- Determining how quickly to grow in a state, region, nationally, or internationally
- Identifying what your model franchisee should look like
- Hiring and training the right kind of franchise salespeople for your company and/or industry
- Ensuring your salespeople are following a strict sales process that will yield results
- Creating an integrated “Discover Day” or “VIP Tour” to help impress your prospects and answer all their questions
- Ensuring that you are in compliance with FTC regulations regarding prospective franchisee disclosure
- Ensuring that you have a legal and binding contract that helps you build your brand and protects you if something goes wrong
- Having a training program for new franchisees so that they understand how to be successful with your service or product
- Having a regular support program so that the franchisee feels they have a “partner” in the business, can justify whatever your fees are, and renews at the end of their term
That’s just the tip of the iceberg … failure to successfully address these, and other issues you will encounter, can potentially lead to additional expense and heartache.
Whether you are just starting out or are already franchising your brand, PCMS Franchise Development Consulting can help. Our group has been involved in every aspect of franchising from sales and service to contractual administration and compliance. We have seen just about everything and can save your company time and money by helping you avoid mistakes in addition to capitalizing on our many years of experience in the industry both in the U.S. and abroad.
Click here to learn more about PCMS’ franchise development and franchise consulting services.
]]>Remember for most humans, our biggest fear is change – the majority of agents didn’t wake up today wanting to “change” companies. Therefore you must appeal to a desire that is more compelling than the fear of making a change. A key point in recruiting is that you cannot make targeted sales agents feel that their initial meeting with you is about “moving and changing companies”, rather it is an opportunity for a “business strategy meeting”.
The “hot button” in today’s market for most experienced agents is to make more money and work less hours. The key proposition recruits are looking for is that your company leadership has the ability to help agents create additional business or systems to do their business more efficiently. When calling agents to set an appointment you must create curiosity relating to their “hot button” in your dialog and you have less than 10 seconds to do so.
Without an integrated recruiting strategy that is supported by the other aspects of your business which encourage someone to work for your company, you will be at a disadvantage in your market. PCMS recognizes that recruiting is the lifeblood of a real estate company, especially as the industry transforms from one generation of agent the next. We have the professionals who can help you become a prolific recruiter.
]]>Why International Business Development Consulting? We live in a global society, and PCMS is committed to offering services to American companies who want to expand internationally and international businesses who want to bring their concepts to the U.S. Our international business development consulting team lives overseas, is experienced, professional, and dedicated to providing the same real estate and franchise industry one-stop shop consulting to its international clientele. We offer these international business development services to companies in all industries.
Our diverse group of international business development consultants includes a former President, a Chief Operating Officer, two Senior Vice Presidents, and a Regional Director who were involved in a total of nine international franchise organizations, including work for some of the master franchisees of these organizations. We are able to offer overseas clients all the services we offer to our U.S. based customers such as:
- Company analysis
- Franchise development
- Internet marketing,
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Real estate coaching and recruiting.