Well, school started and as all parents give a sigh of relief I am left wondering if I should join them or think of this time differently. As a guy that works from home with his wife the first thing that I think of is: “Yeah! Nooners are back baby!”, and then I thought, what better way to celebrate your child’s new scholastic year than to do the things that got you that child in the first place.
Now is the time that you can scream in ecstasy and you don’t have to worry about who is going to hear you or walk in (I'm assuming). For the first time in 3 months, you and your partner can be as loud and as crazy as you want. (Why are you still reading this? You could be doing it right NOW! Wait why am I writing this? I could be doing this right now.) This is all of course if your spouse or partner works alongside you.
But honestly, I got to thinking; I wonder what would happen if I marketed myself with the same intensity that I go after my wife on the first day of school? No distractions, no caring about what others will think; the scream out loud ecstasy that makes me stand out and different than anyone else.
- Where do I start?
- What tools do I have?
- What’s currently working?
- What am I spending money and not getting anything for it?
- What am I missing?
One of my pet peeves in this industry is the "throw money at a solution" mentality that some agents seem to have. I usually find this out within the first few minutes of speaking with them. It starts with how we can make their content and website findable on Google, Bing and Yahoo (Verizon), then it moves into what systems or tools do you already have. Then usually comes the long list of items that are purchased to solve one problem or another.
For example, I have an AdWords tools to tell me what keywords I should spend my money on, I also have a keyword research tool that tells me what keywords I should rank organically for. I have a CMS a CRM an IDX and 4 WordPress websites, I have landing page software that helps me to create a website for just one listing, I also have this HomeValue page on my site that people can sign up for. Oh and I pay Zillow for leads. My first question is really simple, (stolen from Dr. Phil) “How is that working for you?” I also ask the follow-up questions: Do you know how to use all of this? Have you gotten any business from any of them?
Are all of these “tools” a distraction or are they helping you succeed? Do they at the very least pay for themselves by providing you that one extra client a year?
The last question is important to me - as a marketing provider, my goal is to get our clients business, not just provide them with another tool. This is the equal sign that I hold on to; someone is paying me to increase their livelihood. Am I? I tend to loose a lot of sleep over this one topic. The goal in marketing is simple, I provide you with more clients and you make more money and then you provide me with more money to provide you with more clients, at each turn making sure that we are building upon the last.
"Scream Out Loud Marketing" (maybe I should phrase this as "Ecstasy Marketing", but who knows how many porn sites would pop up when you Google that.) starts with a good foundation and a simple process that you can build upon without any external help.
Read More: Expand your online presence for more business
So after your nooner, (yeah, I had to bring that up again) grab a piece of paper and write down the places your customers (not leads but real customers) come from. Here are a few examples: your website, your social media (which ones), referrals, your broker, Zillow (or paid leads), flyers, a contest, door knocking and you get the idea.
Next answer the following questions.
Which of all my tools is really getting me customers?
How much time does it take to get a customer from said source?
How much money does it take to get a customer from said source?
How much money do I make an hour?
If my time is money, then is it worth my time to get a customer from the most time-consuming source?
If I am spending money to get a customer, then am I at least making money when the deal closes?
This should help narrow down the list of tools that you need or the list of tools that are working.
Now that you know what is working the next step is your process. Depending on how you obtain your new client, what is the process that you have to convert them into a paying client?
If you get them on a call to action (CTA) on your website what are the emails that you send them to set up a meeting?
If you got them from and IDX tools do you try and set up a meeting for a home that they looked at? Do you set them up so they are emailed properties that they've searched?
If they leave a phone number do you instantly call or text them?
How do you setup a meeting with them?
Do you have a CRM with a drip system that they go into and you wait for them to contact you when they are ready?
What I am leading you to is discovering what your client flow is. Where do your leads come from and how do you turn them into clients? What tools are helping you with this process and which ones do not? Dump the ones that don’t and maybe use that money to try new opportunities to increase the number leads that you want. But now that you have a “flow” and a process of how you handle your incoming leads you can now add more ways to get leads and or invest more in the tools that are working for you.
If we are all honest usually the best sexy time we have with our partner is the times when there are no distractions, no kids and you are just enjoying one another. It is the same with business; when you remove your distractions and the tools that do not work, you remove stress, you begin to relax and you begin to think through your entire client process which makes you scream-out-loud and not care what other agents are doing. It is then you become different than your competitors.
- Tammy had to approve this blog post but she altered it to be a little more PG-rated
Dr. Phil image by Wikipedia
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