happy grasshopper: Skeptic to Evangelist: Chelsea Peitz is a Happy Grasshopper Believer - 02/27/14 02:00 AM
“I Have 100% Confidence In Happy Grasshopper.”
Those are the words of Chelsea Peitz, Director of Marketing forFidelity National Financial. Now one of Happy Grasshopper’smost ardent supporters and advocates, Chelsea wasn’t sure about us when she decided to try our Be Awesome With Email system back in the fall of 2013.
How It All Started.
Some things are just meant to be. Chelsea met Dan Stewart, Happy Grasshopper’s co-founder and fearless leader, last fall when he was in Phoenix making a presentation to some other fine folks (who are now HG customers, too). There was something, she says, about his affability and his absolute, rock-solid confidence in … (0 comments)

happy grasshopper: On Positioning. On Conversion. On Email. On Being Smart. - 01/24/14 03:42 AM
I’ve just returned from a week spent with some of the brightest minds in real estate. At Real Estate Connect New York, two thousand of real estate’s innovators and most curious folks gathered at Manhattan’s Grand Hyatt to seek, to learn, to discuss, to forge, and to propel their businesses forward.
This is a conference to which I’ve gone several times and I always come away from it with new perspective. This time was no different.
The thing that struck me this time ‘round wasn’t the abundance of shiny tech goodness. Nope. It was the LACK of it.
For an event that … (1 comments)

happy grasshopper: 2013 at Happy Grasshopper: A Year of Great Email! - 12/31/13 04:51 AM
Your customer database should be your most valued asset.  You can slice it and dice it in a million ways(maybe even a million and one), but there, sadly, is one part of it–a part that often sits there, glowing brightly like a neon sign on a roadside motel–that most people flat-out ignore.
We’re talking about people who know you, but who aren’t looking to buy from you right now.
There are all kinds of people who fall into this group. Your family, your friends, past customers, folks from the PTA or your kid’s soccer team, your referral partners … all of those people who, … (0 comments)

happy grasshopper: Kristina Rhodes: Strengthening Brand Image on The Promise of a Wish - 12/19/13 08:51 AM
We say it all the time: our customers are amazing. And it’s true. Not only are they a fine bunch of folks, they’re about the smartest and most creative bunch around.
Every time we turn around, one of them is using Happy Grasshopper in a way that makes us smile. They’re constantly taking the tool we’ve developed and making it their own. And that’s just what we want to see.
Take Kristina Rhodes (well, don’t TAKE her … we like her a lot and want to keep her around), for example.
Kristina is a REALTOR in Evansville, Indiana. She’s been a Happy Grasshopper customer since … (1 comments)

happy grasshopper: Hit The Nail On The Head: Use Your Tools The Right Way - 12/12/13 01:00 AM
  As with any tool, no matter how simple it is, there’s a right way and a wrong way to use it.Take a hammer, for example. Its concept is simple enough, right? You’ve got a nail, its poky end poised and ready to get lodged into a piece of wood. You hit it with the hammer–one swift strike–and the job is done. But what if you hit your thumb instead? That is definitely not the right way to use it, anyone can tell you that, but still … it happens all the time.
Happy Grasshopper can be like that.
Happy Grasshopper … (3 comments)

happy grasshopper: Happy Grasshopper & RE Webmasters: More Website! Tastes Great! - 12/08/13 07:34 PM
At Happy Grasshopper, we love greatness. We love the great people we work with, the great town where we’re located (shout out to Safety Harbor, yo!), and we LOVE the constant greatness of our customers.
That’s why we’re super excited about a new bit of greatness that’s getting ready to go down!
We’re teaming up with Real Estate Webmasters–a company that’s all about greatness–on a snazzy new integration that’ll pair their super-optimized websites with the keep-in-touch, nurturing greatness of Happy Grasshopper. How great is that?
So, we decided to do something BIG to celebrate! That’s right, we decided to do something GREAT.
… (0 comments)

happy grasshopper: Doing It Differently, Doing It RIGHT - 11/14/13 07:13 PM
Happy Grasshopper isn’t for everybody. We get that. And you know what? We’re okay with that. 
The people who use our service think a little differently and they’re willing to do things in a way that doesn’t fall in lockstep with the traditional drumbeat of, “Sell, sell, SELL!” So when I had a few minutes to sit down with Bob Hertzog, I knew he was “our people” through and through.
Bob Hertzog is a guy who does things right.
A REALTOR & broker based in Scottsdale, Arizona, he’s a guy who runs the numbers. He values quality and spends money on the things … (3 comments)

happy grasshopper: WARNING! Happy Grasshopper Isn’t For Everyone. - 10/24/13 09:16 PM
DOSAGE: Use Happy Grasshopper every three weeks to reduce salesiness & increase customer responses.
WARNING! Happy Grasshopper is NOT for everyone.
Discontinue use if you suffer from any of the following: Inability to smile. Patent dislike of success. Inclination to whine. Insatiable need to talk about yourself. You hate children and puppies and rainbows. You think Chekhov is hilarious. Flowers wilt at your glance. The last time you laughed was 1964. You find sunshine and new life tiresome. You have no interest in new business or in making any money. You’re content to spin out the same, tired messaging you’ve been … (7 comments)

happy grasshopper: Who Says Serious Business Can't Be Fun? - 10/17/13 11:00 PM
Really? Who said that? Who made that rule?
Since the dawn of time, salespeople have been trained to sell … ALL THE TIME. Sell at work, sell in your messaging, sell to your friends, at your coffee shop, at the grocery store, your gym, your mom’s house … you get the picture.
I’m not sure who’s great idea this was, but really? It’s not so great.
First of all, who wants to be sold to all the time? Certainly not this writer, and neither do any of the other humans I know. I’ve got loads of friends who are salespeople and the … (5 comments)

happy grasshopper: Positioning vs. Pitching: Know The Difference - 10/10/13 10:15 PM
This morning, we've got something a little different for you. Our CEO (and my co-founder), Dan Stewart, had some thoughts about the differences between "pitching" and positioning". One of the biggest problems salespeople (no matter WHAT business they're in) have is that they often don't know the difference between the two. Here's what he had to say on the subject.
___________________________________________

If you’re a salesperson, you’re likely quite familiar with the idea of an “elevator pitch”. It’s a simple concept, really, whose general idea is to prepare you to succinctly–and with punch–answer the question, “What do you do?”
In my career, and … (5 comments)

happy grasshopper: Getting Happy with The Geeky Girls! - 09/26/13 11:29 AM
Through our work, we're lucky enough to meet some pretty fascinating, impressive people. Sometimes--often, actually--those people become our customers and we all go on to write shared success stories.
For us, there are few better examples of people like that than Laurie Davis & Lisa Archer. They run a 28-member team for Keller Williams in North Carolina. They've been customers of Happy Grasshopper almost since we started, and they've become two of our strongest advocates. Together, they speak at real estate conferences and tech shows as The Geeky Girls. They share their wins and their failures, and talk with folks about … (6 comments)

happy grasshopper: Happy Grasshopper's Excellent Adventure - 09/19/13 08:06 AM
“Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.”
Whether or not you recall this quote from the super-duper 80s classic “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”, it kinda captures the spirit of what’s happening the spirit of what’s happening here at HGHQ (that’s Happy Grasshopper Headquarters for those of you playing along at home). While we wouldn’t necessarily classify our super-secret activities “strange”, per se, they’re certainly different and have got us more than a little excited.
Changes are a’comin’.
No, not to Happy Grasshopper. Why would we change something that we love and, more to the point, that YOU love? Nah. Happy Grasshopper will stay just … (8 comments)

happy grasshopper: Happy Grasshopper: You’re Not The Only One That Doesn’t Get It - 09/12/13 10:07 PM
We don’t get many complaints from our customers. That’s something we’re pretty proud of here at Happy Grasshopper. Happy customers getting great results are what drives us. There are some folks, however, that simply “don’t get it.”
Joe Lucci didn’t “get it”. Until he did.
Joe is a cool dude. Like many of our customers, he’s a REALTOR®. He’s also afinancial planner, helper of people, lover of beaches, and all-around good guy. Oh! And he’s a triple espresso man (so we know he’s serious). If you haven’t met or talked to him, you really should; he’s been in the business for more than … (7 comments)

happy grasshopper: The Proof Is In The Pudding - 08/28/13 12:36 PM
One of the most frequent questions we get at Happy Grasshopper is "WHY do your messages work so well?"
Given what's been drilled into people's heads forever and ever, ad nauseum, it's understandable that lots of folks wouldn't be able to "get it". How could something that wasn't branded to look like their website, didn't come loaded with symbols and widgets and testimonials, and didn't tell people how great their senders were at selling POSSIBLY work.
When people ask, we simply say, "Try it."
No fuss, no muss. If they don't like the service (which rarely happens) or it just doesn't … (7 comments)

happy grasshopper: An Indecent Proposal - 08/15/13 06:03 AM
Do you remember that movie from the early 90s--Indecent Proposal? 
I don't remember it because it was such a great movie, really. I remember it because of the questions it raised.
In case you don't recall, the plot was something like this:
Robert Redford plays an extraordinarily wealthy guy. On a pleasure trip, he encounters a couple in love, played by Demi Moore & Woody Harrelson. The couple is struggling financially, but they are seemingly happy and in love. He finds Demi very attractive and asks her to sleep with him. She declines, of course, saying that she's married and loves … (22 comments)

happy grasshopper: Stop Sending ME Mail - 07/18/13 05:12 AM
Be human. That’s what everyone is talking about these days. Be authentic. Make your business about people. Find the human connections.
This idea, of course, isn’t rocket surgery. For most people, the notion of treating people like people, at the very least, SOUNDS like something that makes sense.
And yet.
So many, especially folks who are in sales professions (REALTORS, sure, and so many others), treat their customers, past clients and even their friends like sales targets. Don’t think that’s the case?
Let’s examine this.
Once or twice a month, Salesperson X turns to his lovely CRM and its sparkly drip … (35 comments)

happy grasshopper: Be AWESOME. - 06/05/13 12:45 PM
Team Happy Grasshopper has just returned from a terrific week in Fort Worth, Texas, where we took part at the inaugural session of REX Annual, a new breed of Real Estate conference sponsored by HousingWire.
Going into the event, none of use was quite sure what to expect, but coming out? The message was clear: no matter WHAT you’re doing in your business, be AWESOME at it. Otherwise, what’s the point?
Time and time again during the conference sessions, presenters talked about making sure that while it didn’t matter terribly what direction you wanted to take your business or via what … (16 comments)

happy grasshopper: Two Years & Counting ... And Still Getting Replies! - 05/22/13 03:54 AM
That’s the way Todd Clark sees the relationships he has with his clients and past customers. See, he knows what lots of professionals--no matter
which industry they’re in--fail to recognize: people don’t need to be beaten over the head with information about YOU or YOUR JOB. If they’re being treated as friends, they’ll respond in kind. See how that works? And, as Todd can tell you, it’s not as complicated or cockamamie as you might think.
Two-ish years ago, Todd signed up with Happy Grasshopper, much in the same way everyone does: just to see if it worked as well as … (3 comments)

happy grasshopper: Recruitment ... and Other Dirty Words - 04/30/13 07:22 AM
Recruitment. For lots of business people, the mere mention of it makes them want to rinse their mouths out, as if they’d just run through their own, personal version of George Carlin’s “7 Dirty Words You Can’t Say on Television” (if you've never seen this bit, check it out. It's NSFW in every way, but hysterically funny).
Bleep. Bleep. Censored. Blocked. Bleep.
Like it or not, in many of industries, solid, effective recruitment is imperative to business success. Business is booming and you’d like to keep it that way. The best way is to attract talented people to help in that … (0 comments)