We have seen the enemy and he is....

...that guy over there

Sorry Pogo (old cartoon, look it up) but the age of personal responsibility has left us.  We are now a blame society.  We have all reverted to our 6 year old selves who don't want the consequences of our actions and thus blame the other guy.

While you are up there on your soap box, what does this have to do with anything?

I deal with hundreds of clients a year talking about their businesses and how to make them better.  One of the first things I look at is do they own their current situation, though I must admit, the business hero complex in me overlooks this fault in a client too often.

What do you mean own your current situation?

Did that last listing that you had not sell because of the property? the price? or the marketing?  Let's look at the options.

1.  The Property - Okay there are some pigs out there that the best lipstick isn't going to fix.  We have all seen them.  You know the property that a well placed match would improve far more than any coat of paint or landscaping could.  But most properties are not that far gone.

2.  The Price - "they over value their property"..."they don't understand the market"..."they wouldn't listen to me"  An old sales manager of mine would say that in every conversation, somebody is closing.  Either the other guy is closing you on no or you are closing them on yes, but somebody is closing.

Did you get closed?  Did you not sell the owners well enough on WHY the property needed to be sold for your price or were so desperate to get a listing that you took it at the wrong price?  It's okay, we all make mistakes, just own them.

3.  The Marketing - Look at yourself fairly and unbiased.  Did you really do everything you could to sell that home?  Look at the following list (allbeit not a complete list).  Did you try everything on this list to sell the property?

• Sign in the yard and on busy street corners
• Open House
• QR Code to a mobile site on the sign rider
• Flyers in the box and kept fresh daily with a QR Code to a mobile site
• Single property web site
• Listing posted to facebook, twitter, and other social sites
• Direct mail to the neighborhoods surrounding your listing
• Marketing in the HOA's newsletter
• Ads in the local paper
• Staging the home for sale
• Listing reception for local realtors
• Ads in local real estate publications
• Posting on Active Rain
• Direct email to local realtor colleagues
• Flyers handed out at weekly leads group meetings
• Flyers listed at local coffee shops, day cares and community gathering places

In a world where it is the other guy's fault, perhaps it is the other guy looking back at you from the mirror.  For all of those things that "don't work", perhaps you are just doing it wrong.

So I have seen the enemy and he is.....amazingly handsome and well preserved for his age.  Okay so the mirror may have been a little foggy when I looked in it.

Chris Mayr
D3 Interactive Marketing / QuickerListing.com
407-374-9003
Chris@D3IM.com

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