Sharon Lankford Dameron – Owner of Sharon Lankford Realtor Inc.
Website: http://www.sharon4homes.com/
“Meet your REALTOR…Sharon Lankford Dameron. A true Carolina Girl, I have lived in the Carolina regions all of my life and began my real estate career here in Greensboro after college. Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of working with over a thousand satisfied families throughout the world and introducing them to our wonderful community and helping them call “The Carolinas” home.”
1. Could you tell me a little bit about yourself?
My name is Sharon Lankford Dameron, and I went into real estate at 22 years old straight out of college. I have been doing real estate for 38 years, it was February 6, 1976 when I got my license approved. Before real estate, I was a waitress so I have actually never had a salary job in my life.
2. Can you tell me how you got involved in Realty?
My husband and I were living in some apartments and we had dogs that barked all the time. They barked so much that they got us evicted from the apartment complex. We decided it was time to look for a home. I had my teaching certifications and was student teaching at the time but my husband and I were not bringing in enough money to buy a house. My husband sold his car and I took a loan out so that gave us enough money to buy a house. The realtor that sold us the house approached my husband and asked him if he would be interested in a rewarding and beneficial business. He said “No, but my wife might”. After that I enrolled in some classes and things took off from there. Realty really appealed to me because it was an outside job.
3. Could you give me some examples to illustrate the challenges you have faced starting your own business?
Having steady income, it’s either feast or fathom! You have to learn how to save money for the rainy days. The hardest part that I think about being self-employed is saving for taxes. One time I had some money put back in a joint bank account and we needed something expensive for the house. Not knowing my husband spent the money I had put back for taxes for the repair. It was a hard lesson learned, but it’s best to have a separate account set back just for taxes. It is also hard to get started and get your name out there, because in real estate there is a lot of competition. You have to remember market for cheap and lead with revenue. Always think of rainy days. When I first started out I borrowed $5000.00 just to keep in the bank just as a comfort in case of a bad month.
4. When problems arise within your company how do you resolve them?
Head-on! Being a realtor is problem solving. You have to talk and find professionals that know the answers to your problems. Getting a revolving network of professionals is crucial to your success. No man is an island. As far as problems with employees you need to make sure that they know your specific expectations and you give them a clear job description. Then you shouldn’t have any problems and if you do it’s obvious where they went wrong.
5. How have the experiences that you have had during your entire career influenced the way you now run your business?
I have found that bigger is not always better. As I grew I found that as people were doing the jobs I had done before they were not meeting my expectations or satisfying all of the requirements. Also I didn’t like not knowing what was going on in full detail, sometimes I would get calls from clients and not know the answers because I had not been informed of the details yet. On a first-hand experience I have found out that someone is dying for me to meet them and are always in a hurry then they are not serious about working with you. I have also learned that if you don’t make time for yourself people will use you 24/7, so be sure to make time for yourself.
6. How did you first begin to market your business?
I started out marketing in the local town magazine. I have also done marketing in neighborhoods, one time I gave away 300 potholders that I had made with my information printed on them. One Halloween I gave out pumpkins with my cards attached. I have had T-shirts made and sponsored local sports teams. I used the real estate book commercial ads. I had a blue Volkswagen punch bug named Ollie the bug and if you emailed me and told me where you saw my car then I put you in a monthly drawing for a free pizza. I also use the internet for marketing, I have 5-6 websites that I can put my real estate information in and it will disperse and post that information to 350 different websites.
7. How do you determine what or who to market?
I use two different types of marketing, target marketing and farming. Target marketing for example is if you are selling a $350,000 dollar house then you target a neighbor that has houses worth around $150,000 in the same school district of the $350,000 home. Chances are some people in the $150,000 houses are outgrowing them and need a bigger house but don’t want to move their kids out of school. In these areas I usually market by using mass mailing and sending post cards. Farming is targeting geographic neighborhoods for the assets of the area they are in. For past clients I usually send postcards for “fall back/spring forward”, 4th of July and Christmas for a constant reminder which helps in referrals. I always send prior customers a Christmas music CD that I make.
8. Do you use social media tactics as a way of marketing and if so how has it effective has it been?
Yes, I use Facebook marketplace, virtual tours on YouTube, Twitter. These social media tactics have a very limited age bracket towards the customers that I am dealing with so it has not been very effective.
9. How much time on an average week do you dedicate to your business?
I used to spend 60 hours a week on my business; I worked 7 days a week. Now it is better than it used to be I spend 30-35 hours a week.
10. Can you give a percentage of how you dedicate your time to the different aspects of your business?
40% – I spend talking with people about showing houses/listings/and repairs.
25% – I spend on paperwork
10% – I spend in training/seminars
25% – I spend running errands like putting out signs and misc. jobs
11. How are things going in your company in general, right now: are you hiring, downsizing, or “staying as you are” in terms of your company’s workforce; are sales up, down, or flat?
I am down from where I was in 2005. I went from 5 employees to 1 employee in the past 4 years. Sales are up from 2012 but not as much as they were in 2008.
12. Do you have any future plans of expanding?
No, I have no future plans of expanding.
13. How do you keep up with best practices in your industry?
I keep up with the best practices in my industry by going to classes, training, real estate conventions and webinars.
14. Could you describe a typical day?
Usually I show two houses in the morning and go back to work at the office for a couple of hours. Then I take lunch and go to my afternoon appointments, afterwards I negotiate repairs that are requested. Then from 4-5pm I spend that time returning phone calls and then when I’m done the day is over. Honestly that was my schedule today but it varies daily.
15. Did you attend school that related to your business?
No, my major in college was Sociology, but I can say that going to college helped me get an advantage when it comes to learning new skills.
16. How do you think you compare to some of the larger business in your industry?
It is same thing just on a smaller scale; there is no real advantage to being a larger business. The advantage that I have being smaller is that clients like to talk to me directly not just someone on my team.
17. Are there any particular changes you would like to make to help advance your business?
No, not at this time there are no changes I would like to make.
18. What advice would you give to someone who was considering a career in your particular industry?
I would tell them to learn everything that you can, to market the “sphere” of influence. Always be sure to save your money if you have a good month.
