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How To :: Get Your Clients and Prospects (and complete strangers) To Appreciate Your Use Of Technology

Let me first start this post by saying that I had an ah-ha moment this evening.

My discovery was based on one principle explained in The Millionaire Real Estate Agent By Gary Keller.

I have mapped a system of technology that overlays the bullseye principle (a.k.a. bringing prospects and those you "haven't met" into your innercircle or bullseye.) The book has an illustration of this on page 137. For those of you who have the book, you'll want to use this blog post to see if this system works for you. If you don't have the book yet, I suggest that you buy it.

My system came from the frustration that I had many systems of marketing going, but they were all sloppy, and could not be identified from one to the other, as one unified voice. For example, someone that knows me on this site, may not follow me all the way to my offsite blog, and someone from my podcast might not know that I even have a blog.

I realized that I couldn't just rely on links to get all of my content to people out there. I have to give people a reason to make the rounds on all of my internet content (which is for them anyway).

So Here is the system :: going from simple to complex and general to specific in marketing message...

1) I started with the assumption that I will be dealing mostly with people who I don't know, that I'm trying to bring into my main, organized, unified message about real estate, regardless of medium.

2) I determined that my direct mail postcard campaign is the most far reaching of the print advertising, and reaching people that I don't know in my area. I determined that the messages on the postcards should be AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE. I also determined that the postcards should only do 2 things: 1) Drive people to my online systems (blogs, podcast, MLS Search, static website) and 2) Ask for referral business. This means that my URL is on everything, but also that I tell people WHY they should go to my website right now, like "Get market updates at www.rorysiems.com" --- And business cards are in this same category

3) Social networks such as Active Rain, Wanna Network, MySpace, etc. are almost habitual, the function of my participation on these sites is to drive people to my Blog, Podcast, and Website. I also want to make as many friends as possible (by whoring), create interesting profiles, post informational bulletins, and ask for referrals.

4) My Blog, here I'm referring to my offsite blog, I need to start getting at least 1 post up per week minimum because all of the people in the rest of my systems who have been to my site 2+ times will quickly become bored if they do not see a fresh message. My blog should also have localized information, meaty (not necessarily popular) opinion. My blog should reference and drive traffic to my podcast, and likewise I should specifically mention posts that I wrote on my blog while doing a podcast.

5) Email Campaigns :: I want to send out emails to my contacts on a weekly basis. The emails will drive people to my Blog, Podcast, Website, and ask for referrals.

6) Letters, Yes I still write letters and I think you should too. My letters provide Value Adds (also called did-you-knows) They drive traffic to my blog, podcast, and website, and they also ask for referrals.

7) Phone Calls, When I call my contacts, I want to provide a Value Add, Drive System (Blog, Podcast, Website) traffic, close for appointments and ask for referrals.

8) At Open House I want to capture leads, ask qualifying questions, close for appointments, drive system traffic, and ask for referrals.

This is the best way that I have found to organize and "lace-up" all of my marketing efforts into one clean presentation, where my contacts can start to get a consistent message from me.

Contacting prospects and clients can present a challenge when you are attempting to create value, and contact across mediums, while also making sure NOT to contradict yourself.

This is just my solution, discuss.

Posted by Rory Siems on 01/08/2007 10:32 PM

Comments (15)

how to, email, technology, blog, podcast, marketing, system, millionaire, bullseye

15 Comments on How To :: Get Your Clients and Prospects (and complete strangers) To Appreciate Your Use Of Technology

JAN

2007

What a great system! I wish you the best of luck with it! I hope you have a very successful year in 2007!

I hear you man! My 2006 was all over the place. It seems to me that whatever marketing we do, it should be unique, different from everyone else. That being said, systematic and consistent should be a close second priority. By the way, I love going to your online photos. I was born in the OC and left just a couple years back for Colorado. With snow piles of about 2 feet in my driveway, I MISS THE BEACH!!!!
Northern Colorado

Hey Doug, Ironically I'm from Colorado, and I don't miss scraping windshields.

Nice system and good job. I need to create a system to follow as well,

JAN

2007

Hi Rory - You're just a few pages away from the 12 Direct, 8x8 and 33 Touch which should really help you fine-tune this. For example, with new people you meet at an open house, I would put them on an 8x8 (eight 'touches' over eight weeks) with a combination of a handwritten note (great meeting you this weekend ...), a drip email campaign and a couple of follow-up phone calls and letters. By the time you get it set up it may be a 12x8 or 16x8 -- what matters is the consistency of your message.

For the direct mail postcards, we have one KW agent who sends the exact same postcard 12 times a year. When people are ready for the message it will be there, and if not he makes an impression each month, even if it's 'here's another one of Bruce's postcards.' The important thing is that they subconsciously remember his name and that he's in real estate. Plus he gets a great quantity discount on the cards!

I'd love to see a couple of follow-ups to this as you build your system. Or feel free to email me direct. Good luck!

Hi John,

I'm already working the 8x8 and 33 touch systems. I believe that this maps to these as well. I didn't go into the lengthy details for the specifics of that because I didn't want to write a rant.

At any rate, the overall focus of this campaign is that it makes the message that I send out to contacts practically the same no matter what, and that it maps to the systems of contact found in the book.

-Rory

Rory, do you use top producer or some other system to keep this all managed?

I use Outlook and Excell. I keep all of my contacts in outlook and assign them to one of 8 groups (A-H) for the 8x8. Excell tells me which one of the groups to contact each day, then I just print out that list before I go anywhere.

I don't like paying monthly fees for software, that's why I'm doing it this way.

Rory, well you motivated me to get moving on my postcards and let them know about my blog. I'm always scepticle about the cards and wish I could do it all on-line but there are a lot of folks that don't do the on-line thing and that I get business from down the line from those very little cards/newsletters.

I too lived in CO for 12 years and I must say, I don't miss it. I like CA weather....but the next 3 days will seem like I'm back in CO with the Alaska cold spell coming!!!

Good Rory with your plan...referral, referral, referral!

JAN

2007

Rory:

I have used constant contact for about a year. I noticed a HUGE increase in click-through when I featured other bloggers (people outside of my market) along with one of my articles. The simplest thing I've done is to call everybody who opened my email (constant contact displays that for you) and ask their opinion. That has lead to increased loan business from those people.

I hope to be highligting "non-real estate " blog articles on my next one. If you'd care for a sample of my last e-mail, please e-mail me a request through AR.

Brian,

That sounds very interesting, and reminds me that I once decided that my website copy and marketing emails should both resemble blog posts in content and style,

JAN

2007

Hi Rory, loved your post.

I'm puzzled though. Since you started with a rave about Gary Keller's "The Millionaire Real Estate Agent" why is your first assumption that you'll be "dealing mostly with people who I don't know"?

The book makes clear that the most productive marketing is done to people you already know (i.e. Mets yield 2 transactions for every 12 names per year; Unmets yield only 1 transaction per every 50 names per year; that's and 8 fold advantage for Mets.)

To see the rest of the Blog post where this graphic came from go to: How much marketing contact should you make?:

Maureen, Dmitry & Rory re: Top Producer vs. Outlook and Excel.

For people in the real estate business; Top Producer is to Outlook and Excel as a car is to a bicycle and roller skates. Sound too extreme? Take a look at some very important things Top Producer does that Outlook and Excel will never do:

Using Lead Inquiry Forms to capture leads from Web pages, automatically import them into your database; then trigger sophisticated follow-up campaigns
Tapping a library of custom email and letter templates for use in various marketing and administrative follow-ups
Publishing custom flyers to the Web and instantly emailing them to all the agents and prospects in your database
Segmenting your database into categories like: past clients, "Mets", Buyers, Sellers, Sphere of Influence, etc. then sending out fully automated, year-long follow-up campaigns
Developing detailed administrative checklists for both listing and closing follow-up that automatically calendar and track every action item for you
Publishing automatic status reports to the Web for your clients to track up to the hour status of their own listings and closings.
Publishing beautiful custom presentations and reports to the Web as their own Web sites; then emailing links to recipients so both you and they can view them online while you discuss them on the phone.

I could go on, but that's more than enough to make the point. Here are two Blog posts that will give you a better idea of Top Producer's marketing power:

Here's the thing. Real estate is a very complex, intense (and if you do it right, multi-million dollar business). Top Producer has been developed over the last 20 years, based on the experience and input of top agents all over the U.S. and Canada. All this is not to say that Outlook and Excel aren't fantastic programs (they are, and I love them dearly), rather, it's to make the point that they aren't expert real estate systems, while Top Producer most definitely is.

Regarding the monthly fees; two points.

1. Let's say you need transportation. A car and moving van are both transportation. It's easy to see which is most economical; or is it?

Your job is to move people around. Sure you could put lots of things in the car and make numerous trips; but for some things you would still need a truck. Counting the extra hassle, gas for multiple trips, and truck rentals the car would wind up being the most expensive and least productive way to go. You've got a serious business to run, TOP PRODUCER is a semi-truck.

2. Ahh, those pesky commitments. As a realtor I know you've got this rent vs. own argument running in your head all the time. Trouble is, that argument doesn't really apply so well when you're talking computer systems.

First, TOP PRODUCER 7i is online (where you want it), not in your computer. Having it online means you can access it from virtually any computer, anywhere; not just your own computer. You're assistants' can access it from anywhere too.

Second, computer programs are constantly being updated. Had you bought Top Producer 7i outright (which you can't) you would either not have important new upgrades, or you would have paid an upgrade fee to get them. A low flat-rate fee per month for maintenance and upgrades is a real bargain.

Third, I've supported clients on PC based contact management systems (ACT!, GoldMine) and now on TOP PRODUCER. I won't go back. My clients had 500% more problems with PC based software, than with Web based software.

Forth, even if you put all that aside (and you definitely shouldn't) TOP PRODUCER would still be the way to go because of its unique and very powerful marketing and administrative features.

Ok so Top Producer is like a semi-truck. But at best it is a rental truck. Because when it comes to lead capture forms, I write my own, same goes for databases. You have to realize that if you want to use the car comparison, then I'm a formula 1 mechanic. I don't mean to come off as cocky, so let me explain specifically what I mean.

When it comes to software such as top producer, I will inevitably be disappointed at limitations in one area or another. The reason outlook and excel work better for me is because they are not software that tries to cover "too many" bases and features. When I use applications like that, I find that some of the features I just never use, others aren't done to my liking. Not as if Microsoft outlook is all that great, but it does what I need in my workflow right now. I'd rather not have a lead management system handle emails and vice versa. So I would rather use applications that are limited in scope, but work well, and don't charge subscriptions.

See, I think about things like this:

What if I want to change my contacts database from MSSQL to mySQL one day? Is Top Producer going to provide me with the kind of data scalability I'll need when it comes to XML? How can I syndicate my message to get it out to clients? What if I need to change the way my lead capture forms process, flag, and notify me of leads, am I going to be able to edit source code to do that?

Not to mention that I'm vehemently opposed to anything that sends out automatic, or pre-canned information to my clients. My clients are waaaaay too important to get automatic crud sent to them.

Hi again Ray,

To answer your question about whether or not I'll concentrate on people I know or don't know, this workflow is only based on people that I haven't yet met. It is intended to handle the differences of where I may meet them, and bring them into the 'met population' of people.

For example, when speaking in terms of website, blogs, and podcast, the audience is the internet, it is safe for me to assume that I don't know more people using the internet, than it is to assume that I do know the people using the internet. Likewise for open houses, I don't hold them open to find people that I already know, I do them to attract people that I don't know.

For people that I know, I employ different workflows, that aren't really covered in this post. It is only a biproduct and benefit that my clients, and prospects whom I do know will benefit from updates to my blog, etc, as outlined.

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