In the following interview, Carlos Gomez, associate broker, Gorbutt Group Team, Coldwell Banker in White Plains, N.Y., discusses his team’s trajectory, and the social media marketing system positioning them in front of new clientele.
Region Served: Westchester County, N.Y.
Number of Agents: 124 (White Plains Office)
Years in Real Estate: 17
Facebook: @GorbuttTeam
Twitter: @TeamGorbutt
Tell us about your real estate career path.
Peter [Gorbutt] and I have been in business for the last 17 years. We had our own real estate company, sold that when the market crashed, and then went to Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. We finished out our contract there, and came to Coldwell Banker. We’ve been residents of White Plains for 23 years.
What are you doing now to prepare for the spring home-buying and -selling season?
Peter and I are doing mailers—99 percent of our business is condominiums and co-ops, so what we do is target every single building. White Plains is a strange place—you have a two-bedroom co-op that goes for $525,000, for example, and a block from that, a two-bedroom co-op that goes for $250,000.
We’re also doing email campaigns. We have a system that automatically reaches out to our sphere of influence, every single month or for birthdays, holidays, seasons, etc.
What marketing strategies are hitting home with today’s homebuyers and sellers?
Email campaigns and social media. Seventy-five percent of our business is repeat business from past customers; the other 35 percent that we’re trying to reach are millennials, and, to them, everything is through social media. We’ve really only worked with previous generations in our business, so if we want to compete, we have to get to that new segment.
You recently added RISMedia’s ACE to your efforts. What aspects of the system are most appealing to you?
I never sign up for anything. At [the NAR Triple Play conference], it took me five minutes to sign up for ACE. We’re not 24/7 on Facebook like millennials. What RISMedia posts is both related to the business and informal—there’s something for everyone.
With social media, Peter and I have always said, ‘We have to do it.’ RISMedia has given us that opportunity.
For more information, please visit ace.rismedia.com.
Suzanne De Vita is RISMedia’s online news editor. Email her your real estate news ideas at sdevita@rismedia.com.
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