What Can Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton Teach Us About Prospecting For Clients?

On one of the local NPR talk shows, there was a conversation about how Barak Obama blindsided Hillary Clinton, especially with his hi-tech approach to fund raising and campaigning.

They are right.  Obama has used technology well trying to appeal to a wide range of voters.  Clinton was running an old-fashioned campaign, and she focused her fund raising efforts on the guys with the big bucks. 

But wait!  Obama isn't successful only because he's a tech savvy politician.  He's successful because he is amazing and smart and inspiring!  If he wasn't a fabulous rock star of a candidiate, no amount of tech savvy could have helped him.  Tech savvy and a hot red headed wife couldn't help Dennis Kucinich - his message didn't resonate with many people.  And Clinton's campaign worked less well because she wasn't able to connect with the voters as well as the competition.

Unlike people looking to buy houses, I doubt that most voters begin their quest for information about their candidates on the Internet.  I think most of the information people got about the group running for President was from television.  It's  even sort of passive - turn on the tube during campaign season, and there are cadidiates running their mourths on the debates, Sunday morning interview shows, Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show. 

I know that I check the candidates' web sites for details  on their positions, but it's now where I get my first impressions. 

Obama is running a 21st Century campaign.  I have a  friends who are working for him, and they say a lot of what they're doing to get the message out is pretty high tech.  Obama's official web-site is fabulous - click the link at your own risk, because you'll feel compelled to empty out your checkbook.  And I've been looking at the ways he uses video to see if there are ideas I can steal for my own presentations.   But Barak Obama is also using the old fashioned methods of campainging, like neighborhood canvassing, meet and greets, and hugging babies - also essential.  He's outdoing the competition i that area as well.

But the cornerstone of his campaign is his message and his ability to inspire people who, until now, haven't been all that involved in the process of selecting our political leaders.

It's a lot like a 21st Century real estate practice.  You need all the help you can get from technology, but you also need the old fashioned face-to-face contact with the leads your techology investment bring you.  And you need the professionalism and market knowledge to get them moved.

You need a message, and you need to be able to connect!  And I'd actually rather do it with buyers and sellers than with voters!