Ribeezie

Never Talk to Strangers!

Remember when you were five-years-old and your mother took you aside, bent over and said

"Sweety...NEVER TALK TO STRANGERS! OK?!"

Well it's sage advice save for the fact that you're in Real Estate now and your business depends on your ability to turn strangers into friends, and friends into clients!

If you already have a large referral based business, more power to you!

For those of you that don't and want business NOW, there's nothing more powerful than shaking hands and meeting new strange faces. If you think blogging is the way to go and writing a local niche blog will have the leads pouring in, there's a way to accomplish both (of course by "both" I mean write for your blog and shake hands at the same time). 

I said it once and I'll say it again... Get your camera, get out there and get involved with your local community! You'll gather tons to write about and in the process of engaging and networking you might pick up a client or two.

You're in the Real Estate Sales business...talking to strangers is the one parent rule that you're supposed to break!

Don't you think?

"Can I call you back in a minute?"

How many times have you caught yourself uttering these very words?

The phone rings and almost instinctively you say:

"Hi, who's this?

Can I call you back in a minute?"

Let me just issue a very sharp warning...

Today's eager consumer wants answers now! They want solutions now! If they've taken the time to read your website and call you, it signifies a greater degree of commitment. Sure some of these leads will amount to nothing, but others, well...you just never know!

Don't get caught red handed saying "I'll call you back in a minute" only to return their phone call a day later! If you have to write their name and number down on a post-it and stick it on your computer screen and/or on your rear-view mirror or stereo in order to remember, so be it!

Either way, just remember, that every new lead is a new relationship asking to be nurtured and cultivated. Like a parent to a new born, give them the attention they need and deserve!

If the source of your leads is your social media marketing efforts, they require that much more attention!

So, what are you doing to nurture your leads?

How many times have you caught yourself uttering these very words?

The phone rings and almost instinctively you say:

"Hi, who's this?

Can I call you back in a minute?"

Let me just issue a very sharp warning...

Today's eager consumer wants answers now! They want solutions now! If they've taken the time to read your website and call you, it signifies a greater degree of commitment. Sure some of these leads will amount to nothing, but others, well...you just never know!

Don't get caught red handed saying "I'll call you back in a minute" only to return their phone call a day later! If you have to write their name and number down on a post-it and stick it on your computer screen and/or on your rear-view mirror or stereo in order to remember, so be it!

Either way, just remember, that every new lead is a new relationship asking to be nurtured and cultivated. Like a parent to a new born, give them the attention they need and deserve!

If the source of your leads is your social media marketing efforts, they require that much more attention!

So, what are you doing to nurture your leads?

I Want You Back!

Last year you lost touch with a handful of customers!

Though some of them suffer from the "tomorrow mentality" (in other words, they'll never buy a piece of Real Estate because they're always preaching "tomorrow" will bring a better deal), there are some that you actually truly miss! You have that,

"I want you back!"

feeling.

• The First Time Home Buyer: it was a smooth escrow from initial contract to close but for some reason you lost touch.

You need them back! For many a first time home buyer, owning their home is a foreign concept for them. Be there and guide them or like Broker Bryant, the previous Listing Agent will be saying

"Hi. My name is Bryant Tutas. I'm your new Real Estate Agent!"

when it comes time to List and sell. 

• The avid investor: he/she has bought more than one property. Each and every one with and through you! It was all made possible because you were feeding him/her constant updates. But somewhere along the line you stopped.

"What happened?"

he/she thought without ever actually asking you. They've since moved to greener pastures where the next Real Estate Agent is sending them steady updates.

• The VIP Client & Top Referrer: this person has done business with you once or twice and has been so impressed with your follow through and follow up that they've effectively become your best walking billboard; referring at times two or three clients! But your "follow up" has waned and fallen by the wayside. They've forgotten how and when to promote you.

What would (1) one referral from either of these sources do for your bottom line?  

So, what are you doing to re-connect with them?   

Whatever your strategy, make sure it says: I want you back! 

And don't forget to follow up and follow through along the rest of 2008 and beyond!

Less is MORE!

In a recent blog post titled "Who Are These People?", Seth Godin writes:

"Many bloggers seem to be on a perpetual hunt for the front page of Digg. Sure, it brings you hordes of eyeballs, but then they turn around and leave. What's the point of that, really?  

I think that are plenty of tips you can follow to optimize your offering for this fickle mass group. But it's still a crap shoot. Doesn't it make more sense to incrementally earn the attention of a smaller, less glitzy but far more valuable group of people who actually engage with you? And the best part is, your odds of success are a lot better." -- Seth Godin

Marketing to the masses is one way to get exposure out there but Seth raises a very valid point: what's the point if all of these people are going to click onto your site, turn around and leave? What have you accomplished?

Needless to say that though marketing to the masses to an extent creates brand awareness, what you really want to do to get business NOW is focus on marketing to the smaller masses that are going to engage with the service offering you can provide them TODAY!

If you're a Real Estate Agent, writing a local niche blog is probably the best incentive you can offer to members of the local community that you ultimately want to engage in.

  Any thoughts?

Where are you going?

""Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'

    'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.

'I don't much care where--' said Alice

    'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat" -- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

 

The more specific you are about where you want to be, the easier it is to get there. A whole month has gone by and we've all talked about business plans for 2008. How many of you have actually put the pen-to-paper?

Remember, it's never too late to get started. 

If you're goal is to close $10 million or more in production this year, get started now! Start doing the things that will say to your clients: I want you back!

Schedule luncheons, coffee meetings, etc. Send them hand-written notes... Remind them that you're a friend and that you care and the referrals will casually start to pour in. But it only begins when you put the pen-to-paper and start planning where you want to go.

What are your plans for 2008?

What have you been doing that you find effective? 

It's OK to get Personal

"Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and "building" of shared meaning, as people share their stories, and understandings." [Source: Wikipedia]

"A blog (an abridgment of the term web log) is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog." [Source: Wikipedia]

 

Why do we blog? Not to sound too presumptuous but I think I'm correct in saying that we all blog with the same end-goal in mind; to generate traffic, build readership, generate leads (leads = new transactions = money in the bank), etc. And like the JG Wenworth commercials, you want it now!

We utilize a vast array of tools to get it all done (to promote our blog and ultimately our brand): Facebook (& the many FB applications that allow us to syndicate our RSS Feed), LinkedIn, Twitter, Skype, Social Networks, etc.

But in the midst of all the "SuperPokes", "Tweets", "DM's", chats and posts, we seem to forget one very important thing: we forget about the "social" in Social Media!  

In other words, it doesn't always have to be about blatant self-promotion all the time. You know, like the "me, me, me" post! It's "OK" to drop the hard-sell, view a message, and get personal with it. If you allow yourself to converse and get personal with the person on the other end, the other stuff just kinda takes care of itself. You break the stigma that says, "great, what's this person out to sell me?" and you allow your message to be heard. You allow the other person to say "hey, this guy has something interesting to say, let me stay and listen."

Don't you think?

The Sooner, the Better!

I hate when my incoming calls go to voice-mail.

Why?

Because I know what it feels like to call someone else you really need to speak to, and have you, my call go to voice-mail. Quite frankly, it sucks! Especially if I need a question answered.

So the way I see it, when any new prospect calls me, whether off the net, a personal referral, or however else they found me, I have to suspect that there's a certain sense of urgency in having a question answered.

That said have you ever had a prospect contact you only to have them wait a day or two before returning their phone call? C'mon...admit it...you know you have.

Just remember, the next time you receive a pleasant voice-mail, someone looking to buy/sell your product, the sooner you contact them, the better! Because after a couple of days, they may not be happy to hear from you at all. And if you hit their voice-mail more than once, that's as good as saying "No Thanks! I'm not interested!"

My 100% "NO-SPAM" Gaurantee!

Get fresh content from The Industry Report sent straight to your e-mail inbox and I promise to never share, trade, sell (in any way, shape or form) your e-mail address. PERIOD!

And if you're still worried about receiving SPAM via e-mail, learn how RSS feeds can give you back total control over the type of content you receive from publishers.

 

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

What the Heck is RSS?

And why should I care?

Good questions.  First, here's why you should care.

Unlike getting website updates or e-zines by email, RSS feeds give you absolute, 100% complete control over the situation.

You don't have to reveal your email address.  If you want to stop receiving content, you don't have to request to be taken off the list.

One click, and poof the subscription is gone.

Plus, since there's no email address involved, there's no way a publisher can sell, rent or give away the means to contact you.

That's right, no more spam, viruses, phishing, or identity theft. And best of all, no reason to put yourself at the mercy of the publisher's intentions.

You won't need to suffer through the legalese in the privacy policy (if there is one) looking for loopholes that will send you deeper into inbox hell.  No more setting up dummy Hotmail accounts "just in case."

Again, if you don't like the content, you can make it disappear as fast as you can change a TV channel.  With just one click.

Pretty cool, huh?

That is cool!  Umm� What the heck is RSS?

Alright!  Now we're ready to get to that part.

RSS is a simply an Internet technology standard that allows busy people to receive updates to web-based content of interest.

You might have figured that much out by now.  But basically, that's the essence of an RSS feed � you subscribe and then receive new content automatically in your feed reader.

If you actually want to know how RSS works, click here.

What the heck is a feed reader?

You may already be using a form of feed reader, and not even realize it.  If you use personalized home page services like My Yahoo or My MSN, you've got RSS capabilities built in.  That's how syndicated content like news, weather and stock quotes appears on your personal page.  You can also add content from any blog or other site that uses RSS to provide updates.

Other web-based tools are primarily dedicated to feed reading only. One of the most popular web-based feed readers at this point is Bloglines, and it's also free and easy to get started with.

If you use the Firefox browser, you can also receive RSS feeds from your tool bar by using the Live Bookmarks function.  The next version of Internet Explorer will add this feature as well.

Finally, there are desktop-based feed readers.  These function somewhat like an email program for feeds.  Examples include Newsgator and Feed Demon.

If it sounds complicated, it's really not.  And things will get even easier when the next version of Outlook integrates feed-reading capabilities. So, you'll have the same convenience that email subscriptions offered in the old days, without any of the terrible consequences of giving out your email address to potentially unscrupulous characters.

Sounds good.  So how do I subscribe to a Feed?

First of all, look for the subscription or feed options (some bloggers make this difficult for some odd reason).  You might see a variety of buttons (amusingly called chicklets).

If the site you want to subscribe to uses FeedBurner to aid in the subscription process (like Copyblogger and many other popular sites), you'll likely see the standard RSS icon, which takes you to a page that will give you an array of the most popular feed readers so you can select yours, and you'll go from there.  This is the new standard RSS icon:

Sometimes there will be a chicklet for your particular reader right on the blog that will take you to the appropriate subscription page. You may see these (among others):

Finally, you may also see little orange buttons that say XML or RSS.  Often these chicklets will take you to a page that looks like code gibberish.  In this case, you simply cut and paste the page URL from your browser window and manually paste it into your feed reader subscription function.

Hopefully this last method will soon disappear, never to be seen again.

In summary: RSS solves BIG problems.

So there you have it.  RSS is being adopted at a phenomenal rate, because it's a good thing for everyone.

The benefit to readers is obvious.  And it's good for publishers too, because we want to make sure that people feel comfortable subscribing, and that our message is not nuked by an overzealous spam filter.

If there's anything here that is confusing, or you have a question, please contact me and I'll be happy to help!

_______________

Note: Thanks to Copyblogger for a helping hand with this tutorial.

And why should I care?

Good questions.  First, here's why you should care.

Unlike getting website updates or e-zines by email, RSS feeds give you absolute, 100% complete control over the situation.

You don't have to reveal your email address.  If you want to stop receiving content, you don't have to request to be taken off the list.

One click, and poof the subscription is gone.

Plus, since there's no email address involved, there's no way a publisher can sell, rent or give away the means to contact you.

That's right, no more spam, viruses, phishing, or identity theft. And best of all, no reason to put yourself at the mercy of the publisher's intentions.

You won't need to suffer through the legalese in the privacy policy (if there is one) looking for loopholes that will send you deeper into inbox hell.  No more setting up dummy Hotmail accounts "just in case."

Again, if you don't like the content, you can make it disappear as fast as you can change a TV channel.  With just one click.

Pretty cool, huh?

That is cool!  Umm� What the heck is RSS?

Alright!  Now we're ready to get to that part.

RSS is a simply an Internet technology standard that allows busy people to receive updates to web-based content of interest.

You might have figured that much out by now.  But basically, that's the essence of an RSS feed � you subscribe and then receive new content automatically in your feed reader.

If you actually want to know how RSS works, click here.

What the heck is a feed reader?

You may already be using a form of feed reader, and not even realize it.  If you use personalized home page services like My Yahoo or My MSN, you've got RSS capabilities built in.  That's how syndicated content like news, weather and stock quotes appears on your personal page.  You can also add content from any blog or other site that uses RSS to provide updates.

Other web-based tools are primarily dedicated to feed reading only. One of the most popular web-based feed readers at this point is Bloglines, and it's also free and easy to get started with.

If you use the Firefox browser, you can also receive RSS feeds from your tool bar by using the Live Bookmarks function.  The next version of Internet Explorer will add this feature as well.

Finally, there are desktop-based feed readers.  These function somewhat like an email program for feeds.  Examples include Newsgator and Feed Demon.

If it sounds complicated, it's really not.  And things will get even easier when the next version of Outlook integrates feed-reading capabilities. So, you'll have the same convenience that email subscriptions offered in the old days, without any of the terrible consequences of giving out your email address to potentially unscrupulous characters.

Sounds good.  So how do I subscribe to a Feed?

First of all, look for the subscription or feed options (some bloggers make this difficult for some odd reason).  You might see a variety of buttons (amusingly called chicklets).

If the site you want to subscribe to uses FeedBurner to aid in the subscription process (like Copyblogger and many other popular sites), you'll likely see the standard RSS icon, which takes you to a page that will give you an array of the most popular feed readers so you can select yours, and you'll go from there.  This is the new standard RSS icon:

Sometimes there will be a chicklet for your particular reader right on the blog that will take you to the appropriate subscription page. You may see these (among others):

Finally, you may also see little orange buttons that say XML or RSS.  Often these chicklets will take you to a page that looks like code gibberish.  In this case, you simply cut and paste the page URL from your browser window and manually paste it into your feed reader subscription function.

Hopefully this last method will soon disappear, never to be seen again.

In summary: RSS solves BIG problems.

So there you have it.  RSS is being adopted at a phenomenal rate, because it's a good thing for everyone.

The benefit to readers is obvious.  And it's good for publishers too, because we want to make sure that people feel comfortable subscribing, and that our message is not nuked by an overzealous spam filter.

If there's anything here that is confusing, or you have a question, please contact me and I'll be happy to help!

_______________

Note: Thanks to Copyblogger for a helping hand with this tutorial.