(This is my answer to Sandy's question last week on my Facebook page on how to attract more real estate clients.)
This is true for every entrepreneurial venture and is especially true in the real estate profession.
How many times have you heard:
The post-2008 crash days are over, and we're now living in the greatest real estate boom (bubble?) our nation has ever experienced.
So anyone who stuck it out in the real estate industry since 2008 is a Rock Star, even if you feel like you traveled the country in a '67 Volkswagen van with five fellow bandmates, hitting every county fair and rodeo from here to Cheyenne, Wyoming for a motel room, breakfast and $100 a night for many years. (Read Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers" to see how The Beatles and other greats paid their dues to get to the top.)
Now that the dolts, dunderheads, and doofuses have flooded back into the market to supplement their palm reading and dog-walking businesses, it's time for you to act like the Rock Star real estate professional you are.
When I was in BNI, I learned the tagline "Givers Gain," and it's true.
In my sales consulting, I always tell my clients to give away their best stuff for free upfront.
In real estate, the value you give could be free reports on
When you inform your prospects before they even meet you, they are getting to know, like, and trust you on their own time, at their own pace, which flows along nicely with what Jeffrey Gitomer always says,
People hate to be sold, but they love to buy."
Help them buy from you by giving first.
Do something.
Be seen.
Be heard.
Become known.
Pondering and planning and organizing are for AFTER you get rich.
To grow you need to get going.
You know what to do.
Get back to basics and do them daily.
Muscles atrophy if you sit on your butt.
Sales and marketing muscles do, too.
...until you master your basics and the "new basics" which I'll address below.
Too many people are fiddle-farting around with websites and social media and video marketing and they are going broke!
Get out and press the flesh.
Go shake someone's hand.
Say hello.
Look people in the eye and have an honest conversation with them.
I bought my current home in 2011 through my Realtor®, whom I met at a local networking event in 2006...then my son, Matthew Schaeffer, went to work for her in 2020, and he's now killing it!
Even though it took us years to finally do business together, I referred her to my father-in-law and mother-in-law, who both bought from her.
Additional sales also came her way from us and from referrals we sent her, so she's averaging about one sale a year by knowing me, and it's all because we met face-to-face.
(By the way, that's Lisa Forss and her husband, Goran, below. They were guests on The Sales Podcast. Click the image to listen to their interview on how they've become the top firm in California.)
Conduct live workshops to be seen as the trusted expert in your area.
Realtors® are humans grappling with all of the same issues we all do: organization, leveraging technology, getting referrals, getting testimonials, negotiation, prospecting, etc.
Become an expert in all of these areas and teach it to your marketplace.
Until you are an expert in these areas, bring in outsiders to round out your programs.
They'll be happy to show up to a full room, and you'll get to sharpen your skills by listening to them teach.
Bring in economic experts, business leaders in the community, motivational speakers, and even entertainers to give everyone a break (we all need more breaks today.)
I don't know how to help you make 30 sales a month, but I can show you 30-100 ways to make one sale a month.
Look at what your SUCCESSFUL competitors are doing and then either beat them at their own game or do the exact opposite of what they are doing.
I've found that few businesses are successful because of their advertising and marketing.
Most are successful despite their advertising and marketing!
If you are willing to be memorable...
To be unique...
To be passionate...
To "choose who to lose" and go after the clients you really want and can really help then you'll surpass all of your goals.
Write a newsletter.
Send it in the mail (not just some cheap and cheesy email newsletter...but have one of those, too, just make it a good email newsletter!)
Have a "Realtor® of The Month" section.
Have a "Realtor® Regulation Regurgitation" section showing them new laws either pending or recently passed.
Get certified to deliver continuing education credits and offer those classes (see the "Teacher" section above).
Partner with a local promotional items company and give significantly better gifts to new clients and for referrals.
Host a referral lunch every month, and only those who have passed a referral can attend.
Then, give a bonus gift card or pick up lunch for the top referrer that month and give them a special spot on your website and/or newsletter.
The best book I have ever read for real estate professionals (and anyone in sales, for that matter) is Robert J. Ringer's classic "Winning through Intimidation: How to Be the Victor, Not the Victim, in Business and in Life."
I know, I know. The title sounds "harsh" and "mean" and non-Politically Correct.
But don't judge a book by its title.
Robert Ringer was doing deals decades ago, and he cuts to the chase in his book.
To win in business, you must win in sales, and to win in sales you must control every aspect of the interaction and the negotiation, which means you must negotiate from a position of strength and not be bullied and pushed around and manipulated by the buyers or any other person involved in the real estate transaction.
As the great negotiator Chester Karrass wrote, "In Business As in Life, You Don't Get What You Deserve, You Get What You Negotiate."
How good are your negotiation skills?
Are you spending more time trying to get people to like you instead of trusting you?
Do you allow your prospects and even your clients to show up late for appointments, reschedule them at the last minute, and even misrepresent pertinent facts that delay, discount, and even ruin the sale?
You need to be tough in business to win the sale, but that doesn't mean you have to be mean, rude, or unpleasant.
In Ringer's book, he describes how he flew in on a private jet and showed up with multiple assistants to intimidate the other parties in his negotiations.
You can show up in nice clothes while driving a nice car and conduct yourself in a polite yet confident and efficient manner to let everyone know that you are a professional and not to be trifled with.
That is a form of intimidation...and it works.
People don't do business with you for one of only two reasons:
The #1 job of a business owner is to market your business.
The #1 job of a salesperson is to prospect.
As a professional Realtor®, you are both a business owner and a salesperson so you must become efficient and proficient at both if you are to have a life and a thriving business.
Sales and marketing are two sides of the same coin.
Great marketing makes sales easy but great selling makes great marketing possible and at the core of great selling is great prospecting.
How good are you at prospecting?
He who has the biggest list (and segments it and uses it to send targeted messaging) wins."
Every time you get a new lead, prospect, referral partner, client, etc., enter them into your database and note at least three unique things about them in your database, i.e., veteran, one-story interest, short-term buyer, long-term buyer, commercial buyer, lender, etc.
The more you know about the people in your database the more you can speak with them in an intelligent, relevant manner.
As your list grows and your "lead magnets" bring in leads with different interests, you must automate your correspondence with them to keep up.
"Out of sight out of mind" is truer now than ever.
Sales and marketing automation has been my secret weapon to create all the inbound sales I can handle—and it has been the secret weapon of hundreds of my clients since 2008.
If you're interested in discussing how to select the right sales automation platform for your business, let's talk.
Market like you mean it.
Now go sell something.