A 3 Way In Phoenix!
Have you ever wondered about having a relationship with 3 people or more at a time?
Last week in Phoenix we had a meeting of three woman to create a networking relationship in business at a local Starbucks location. The event turned into a connection of possibly six different opportunities to help one another. The goal with the meeting was to determine how we could promote each others business by creating marketing events which would be fun, exciting and mutually beneficial in the future.
Social Media is the current marketing vehicle to meet new people. If the relationship is never taken off line it is really might not ever be financially productive. This is the stumbling point for many observers just watching social media. There has to be a "call to action" and an appointment set to work the new opportunities and possibly create future cash flow from the new connection. Social Media is a marathon, not a sprint. It is going to take some nurturing just like a relationship created at a Chamber of Commerce meeting, there is NO difference in how the relationships grows, it just starts online.
In real estate anyone over the age of 18 is a possible prospect to buy or sell real estate. Adding to your sphere of influence should be a goal and might possibly include 100 new social media contacts a week. If you break that down to five days, it is only 20 new friends or followers a day. Easy to do once you are set up in cyberspace.
Prospecting still needs to be done eyeball to eyeball. To create new business today, you must be where the eyeballs are. If the eyeballs are on the Internet then you have to be on the Internet and participating where the people are engaging. Think about this, if you are not there, someone in your industry will be, so bringing your A game to the screen will help secure new referral relationships. In any sales you still need to see the people, see the people, see the people. You can now start online and then take the relationship off line to really connect. Now it is easier to start on line knowing who the people are by reading their profile.
It's ok to watch social media for awhile to see how the game is played but at some point you need to jump in and participate and not be afraid to make some mistakes. Guaranteed, you will make some mistakes so just get over it as you learn. You will learn how it feels when someone makes a comment that could hurt your feelings... then if you are smart, you will never make another person feel that way yourself. You will learn by doing and it takes genuine engagement to learn those lessons.
How did our 3 way develop?
- It all started on linkedin. I updated my status with a link to an article which was published in the more.com magazine. Anna Banana is in the same CRS (Certified Real Estate Specialist) group I am in and saw the update. She then saw the same link on facebook and thought she should connect with me when she determined that I had a Real Estate license and she had seen the article online two times in two different places.
- Anna Banana invited me to join activerain and since I had seen several of my Realtor facebook friends posting on their activerain blog, I thought it was time I did too. Anna continued with the engagement and posted about an activerain event in Phoenix and I thought I should come and see first hand what it was about. I started engaging with people who were commenting on my posts and met two wonderful people, one from Lake Havasu City and one from California. We all met physically at the activerain event and went to lunch after the program with Second Self Virtual Assistance, Heather Chavez and owner, Pamela Cendejas. We now feel part of the activerain family... even sending get well posts to friends across the country recovering from surgery! Because of our activerain meeting in real time, Heather is coming to my house over Thanksgiving after driving in from California to see family in Prescott, AZ. Pamela and I are going to have lunch with another activerain friend, Candice Donofrio in December and share a girls Spa Day.... the cyber connections are turning into friendships and will eventually result in cash flow. Candice is working with a referral I sent on a commercial building in Ft. Mohave, AZ so a payday could be coming soon. It is all because of the activerain connection and personal engagement.
- Marcia Fine answered a discussion question I posted in linkedin and we connected. I was trying to figure out how linkedin worked and how people were using it so I posted a question in a Writers group to connect with people from different backgrounds. I asked.....How is linkedin working for you and would you like to talk about it on a blogtalkradio show. Marcia responded that she was trying to figure out how it all connected but wanted to be on the blogtalkradioshow. She had just finished a book and it was ready to launch. The title is "Stressed in Scottsdale". I talked to her and felt that many people would have the same questions about the journey to connect on linkedin and it would be fun talking about her book and how she was using social media to promote it.
- After being on the program and helping Marcia with some social media ideas she invited me to her book launch party in Phoenix. Since I was coming to Phoenix I contacted Anna Banana and asked if she wanted to connect with a local Scottsdale, Author and she said "yes." I felt there could be some great connections with events featuring an Author and giving some spice to different real estate marketing events.
- The video above memorializes our meeting and shows just how easy it is to turn cyber freinds into business referral networks. Anna posted a WCR (Women's Council of Realtors) luncheon on her blog the same day I was going to be in Phoenix so we went to that event and cheered her on at yet a third event for activerain and Realtors in the Scottsdale area on the same day. We made a video in the class which we posted in class and had instant comments on the post by sending an IM (Instant Message) to activerain friends on facebook asking them to comment and show the newbies how the process worked.
- I posted my adventures on facebook and an activerain friend, Joeann Fossland, National Speaker, trainer and coach asked on my facebook if I was going to be in Phoenix as she was teaching there during the same time. Joanne is an activerain member and we had never met face to face so we made a plan to meet for dinner and connect in real time. We had a great time and created a video laughing and having a fun discussion about farmville! At the end of the day, I met four people from social media sites I had been virtually engaging with in real time and we all have a new respect for one another and are looking for ways to help promote each other. For icing on the cake, I met and got cards from six other individuals as a result of attending the book launch for my linkedin friend, Marcia Fine. I was asked by one of her friends to speak at her book club so the social media circle expands to real time connections.
- I attended the book launch in Scottsdale and one of Marcia's friends, Susan Brooks who owns "Serves You Right" and also a linkedin member asked me about Anna and the Womens Council of Realtors. Susan is participating in a trip this February to China to help women in China and wanted to talk to someone in WCR about the project. I have now connected Anna Banana to one of Marcia Fine's friends in linkedin and the networking chain continues.
If you have been on the fence about how social media is going to help you make money, I hope the summary of the 3 way, which has evolved into at least 6 connections... helps you understand that it takes time to develop relationships. Social Media gives you a starting point but you have to take it off line and MEET UP in real time to take your networking to the next level.
Connecting on facebook, linkedin and Twitter are the perfect places to start prospecting!
You will then continue your relationship by dirpping on the new connections through your blog posts! Social Media all works together.
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Carra,
Sounds like you have networking figured out. Keep us posted.