As I read Eric Kodner's  recent post, where he talked about people without an appointment dropping in and expecting instant service from a busy broker who may be  out showing properties,  it occurred to me that he could use a life sized cardboard cutout in front of his office with a continuous loop of instructions for those drop-ins.        " Yes! I would love to assist you with your real estate needs, but I am out showing houses to a client right now, who did make an appointment with me.  If you'd like to set up a showing please write a note and drop it in my mail slot and we can set up a mutually convenient time, Feel free to look over any of my brochures while you wait."

Then I started thinking of other cardboard cutouts we could use to keep in our listings when we were not around. .  Some folks may admittedly need and want reminders to keep them on track: You would record a message something like this:  "C'mon now, keep your house free of clutter, it is much easier than scrambling at the last minute when some people-who may love your house and want to buy it-will be there in 20 minutes.  Why don't you just get out the dustcloth right now?  And don't forget to do the dishes.  Just another reminder that you should check if the grass needs mowing. And please do not turn down any more showings if you can help it..."

Then we have the folks who need oh so much reassurance and we could record this:  "Yes!  We can do this!  We will sell your house and get you where you need to go on time. We are doing everything right and we just have to wait for the right buyer to come along.  It will happen! Hang in there!"

If you had a cardboard cutout of yourself, where would you put it and what would it say?

If you want Elvis or Justin Beiber, or a body builder cutout, I found this pretty cool site:  http://stanbysec.html where you can shop for just that!

http://tinyurl.com/BChatterton