Let’s get this out of the way first…you don’t get instant respect with the title of “Realtor” anymore.

Sad, but true.

Your prospects don’t care how many houses you’ve sold. In their world, that doesn’t matter. They only care about how you can help them, so as you begin preparing your business plan for 2010 make sure you take time to assess your contact methods and your results.

Are you focusing on your credentials when you’re trying to gain rapport…or are you focusing on your prospects’ needs? I cite car dealership commercials for an example of impersonal marketing that makes less and less sense in an economy like this.

You know those “Sales Event” car commercials? The ones that say things like “We’re trying to set a sales record” or “Help make us the #1 dealership in (enter your state here).”  I’ve always had a big steaming plate of “Who Cares?” for those commercials. They offer nothing for me as a consumer. They’re asking me to go into debt so they can break some sales record…?!

We have been programmed for many, many years to focus on credentials…the impersonal part of our professional lives…when we market ourselves. At some point, your true intent and the extent to which you really care for people dictates your long-term success.

I recently had a call with an agent who gave me a perfect example…

She told me about two 4-year full time agents in the same market who are in two totally different places career-wise after 4 years. One works mostly off referrals while the other still has to add 15 prospects a day to her database. One still has to hustle like a brand new agent, while the other…well, you can figure that out.

Which one do you think is taking better care of his/her people?

How are you taking care of your people? Do you have a manageable database that allows you to maintain monthly email contact to augment your normal day-to-day and other marketing you do? It is more imperitive than ever that you keep your name in front of your database on a monthly basis.

As the winter approaches, make plans to scrutinize your database and your methods in your preparation for 2010. Well written monthly email drip campaigns can do wonders for your long-term business in tandem with a strong day-to-day work ethic.

There is so much talk and writing about "strategizing" with regard to social media that I see many agents missing the point and basically using social media as yet another "mass e-mail" type of marketing tool.   There's this strategy and that strategy and a whole lot of dancing around the truth that's right in front of us.

People want to know who they're dealing with...especially on a decision that can have such a tremendous impact on their future.   Any one can talk the talk...but do you REALLY walk the walk?

To put this into perspective, watch this movie clip starring Steve Guttenberg and Roseanna Arquette.  It's quite hilarious and is a great illustration of the lack of trust that has developed between consumers and sales professionals.  For our educational purposes here, Roseanna Arquette is the home owner or buyer and Steve Guttenberg is the stereotypical sales-type.   Since I can't put the video up on here (i.e. I'm too cheap), click on this link to go to my blog on my Marqeteer site.

Enjoy the movie clip and remember that today's consumer just wants to know you're not the Steve Guttenberg character.  They simply want to know that your word is good and you mean what you say.  Cheers!

VIEW THE MOVIE CLIP AT WWW.MARQETEER.COM

Here recently I've found myself in more and more conversations with agents complaining about changes in their local MLS...most frequently I hear complaints about Prime Access.

Now I've never used Prime Access, so I can offer no educated opinion one way or the other...however, what I'm finding is a whole lot of unnecessary change in some areas of the real estate business. Some changes make sense while others don't. To quote my good friend (and one of my favorite RE people) Grace Morioka, "The easiest people to sell to are salespeople."

She's right.

Again, sometimes change makes sense, but just as often these changes seem to happen more because someone in charge got sold. I'm not just talking about your local MLS...I'm talking about all aspects of business that affect you. I'm even talking about your decision making...heck, I'm talking about my own decision making!

Every day I encounter people in all realms of business who make decisions to switch to a different CRM, a different real estate company or some other tool because the one they've already invested in requires some effort. These people are constantly jumping from one system to another, never fully committing to a system long enough to even know if it works.

When you are considering making changes in any aspect of your business, ask yourself this simple question: Why?

Are you looking for an easy way out...or have you really found a better way of doing things? What personal experience are you basing your decision on? It's not always the tools...it's the way you use or don't use the tools that can be the issue.

Take a look at these pictures (and the seascape picture at the top of this post):

They were all done by Don Marco, an Army Air Corp retiree…with Crayola crayons.

Yep.

Remember…your tools don’t necessarily have to be fancy. You just have to use them. Cheers!

To see more of Mark's blog posts and other information, visit www.marqeteer.com.

The two greatest joys for me in my marketing consulting & coaching work are the successes I see happening for diligent agents who care and all that I've learned from working with these agents.  They are an inspiration to me and a constant reminder that a positive attitude (combined of course with a strong work ethic) can make all the difference in the world in your business.  You know who you are, and I thank you:)

I was reminded this morning of a Zig Ziglar quote that I just love:

"As a general rule, we always find something good when we look for something good."

It's a tough market out there, and the agents who persevere have one major thing in common:  A sincerely positive attitude which both feeds into and off of their work ethic.

If you're struggling to find that next opportunity (or struggling to bring those opportunities to fruition), always give yourself a reality check.  Are you looking for something good or are you waiting for the other shoe to drop?  Whichever is the case, it's obvious to your clients.

What you give truly is what you get:)

I was on the phone this morning with Justin Brown, a real estate professional in Fort Worth, TX and he made a statement out of the blue that just blew me away:

"I'm a door knocker.  I usually do a street every week...about a hundred houses."

He went on to explain that last year was a very good year for him, but this year hasn't been as good.  He was quick to say that the reason for this is that he got away from doing the things that made him successful last year.  One of those things was door knocking.

If you're struggling, I challenge you to knock on doors.  I know there are many of you who are rolling your eyes or thinking "I'm not knocking on doors," and that's fine.  My question to you is, simply:  What are you going to do instead of knocking on doors to generate new opportunities?

It's true...you don't have to knock on doors.  You don't have to cold call.  Hell, you don't have to do anything...but if you're struggling and don't know where your next transaction is coming from, you'd better do something.

Every day I encounter agents who are struggling, paying thousands of dollars a year and going into debt to be a part of a real estate company, and doing nothing with regard to prospecting.  They think a lead generation service will serve up closings on a silver platter.  They think they can do business by referral only with a database of a hundred people.

If you're struggling, look at your database.  Chances are you need more people in it, which means it's time to prospect.  Don't make excuses.  You may not want to cold call.  You may not want to door knock.  That's perfectly okay, as long as you have a viable alternative that is honestly accomplishing the same goal...building your database.

Ultimately, you want face-to-face contact with people as soon as possible, so why not take a cue from Justin and knock on a door or two?  You might even have fun with it...he seems to enjoy it.

I read a great post on AR this morning by Kevin Tomlinson that I couldn't agree with more.

It concerns a phrase that I've heard uttered like gospel in nearly every sales realm I've experienced:  Buyers are liars.

Now, underneath the ridiculous generalized corporate rhyming there is a shred of truth.  Some people will be evasive when their money is at stake and, in some cases, will not be entirely truthful.  Problem is, there's a reason for this and more often than not salespeople in all realms handle these scenarios in manipulative and argumentative ways.  These very salespeople behave in the same fashion when it's their money at stake, thus showing the same distrust for salespeople.  It's a vicious circle.

A home is, in most cases, the largest purchase of any individual's life.  The chaos and aftermath of the housing bubble ruined thousands upon thousands of people financially.   Is there any wonder today's consumer is more skeptical than ever before?  Until a buyer or seller gets to know you and gets comfortable with you, their guard will undoubtedly be up.

If you feel one of your buyers is a "liar," you have two choices:

1) You can take the sterile and impersonal approach of manipulation through questioning, or

2) You can step back for moment, look objectively at the situation and let your actions show that you care.

That's all you, me or anyone else wants in a transaction that involves our hard-earned money (and taking on a long-term debt).

"Buyers are liars."

That phrase has irritated and disgusted me for years, as I've seen one person after another use it as an excuse to be...shall we say...less than honest with a client or prospect.  I agree with Kevin Tomlinson when he says "Real estate agents know they have a reputation for dishonesty. But they counter with this claim of their own (i.e Buyers are Liars). Here's what it says about YOU by stating (or believing) it: I KNOW THAT I HAVE A REPUTATION FOR DISHONESTY...."

If you're handling your clients and prospects in this manner, I'd guess you're probably not getting many referrals.   Treat people the way you want to be treated, build a large database of people who are all receiving monthly contact from you (email drips are fantastic when they're used properly), and show through your actions that there's no need for a buyer to be a liar when they're working with you.

Cheers

In a conversation with my client Lynn Wetzel yesterday, I mentioned the 80/20 rule of sales and how many RE trainers have told me that it's actually 90/10 in real estate.

Lynn then informed me that NAR recently posted that it's really 95/5.   Think about that for a moment:  95% of all RE transactions are generated by the top 5% of agents.

Once upon a time, it was the top 20% of agents.  What happened?

I see the difference between agents who take care of their clients and those who don't throughout the course of every day.

The market is tough, opportunities are harder to come by, but those of you who are doing the work (even when you don't feel like it) are the ones who are not only surviving but laying a strong foundation for flourishing business as the market slowly recovers.

Cheers to all of you who are helping to grow that 5% back to where it should be!

"Your database is too small."

I've made this statement to more real estate professionals in the past 3 months than in the past year.

Yes, the market is tough.

Yes, sellers are scared.

Yes, buyers are scared of missing a better deal if they commit to the one in front of them.

Yes, there are transactions happening every day and someone is making those transactions happen.

No, you can't maintain a real estate career with only 200 people in your database.

I run into this dilemma every day in my discussions with clients.  Now I understand that if you've been in real estate for 15 years (or more) and done things the right way, you probably have a helluva referral network and the guidelines are slightly different for you; however if your database is only a couple of hundred, there's more to your story.

I'm talking about the agent who has gotten into real estate and, in some cases, done relatively well but has seen their business continue to go down to the point of considering another job.

If your heart is in real estate, buyers, sellers and the business of real estate itself all need people like you.  If your business has gone down considerably in this market, look at your database.   Look at your results.  If you don't like your results, then the answer is right in front of you.

If you have a couple of thousand people in your database, you may just need to tweak how you're marketing to them.

If you're like the majority of agents I encounter, your database is simply too small and you need to be in contact with more people.

I just had a great chat with Grace Morioka in San Jose, CA and asked her what she thought was the reason for her success with internet leads and today's consumer in general.

It was really simple:  Tell the truth.

"The number one test of whether you're going to be looked at as a real estate professional or a used car salesman is are you going to give them (the prospect) a line of crap or tell them the truth?   I believe people are sick of being told 'It's a great time to sell!' when it's just not necessarily true.  People are tired of being fed sales lines...they see through them.   Sometimes that means delivering bad news rather than saying 'Sure I can sell your home for that price.'"

Long term email follow-up is definitely a factor, as well, but long-term follow up is often futile if you don't lay a strong foundation.  And a little personality doesn't hurt, either:)

Keep these simple points in mind as you navigate the waters of this tough market.  Buyers and sellers are simply looking for someone they can truly trust.  Why not you?

Cheers!

Are you stumped by the current state of the housing market?   One too many deals trunkated after so much work?

Wood you like to branch out and offer a more unique property for your buyers?

How 'bout this beauty?   Great view, wraparound porch...a real treet.  Heck, even the Keebler elves would be jealous.