Two of the first books I bought when I passed the state real estate exam were by Dan Richard: "Real Estate Rainmaker: Successful Strategies for Real Estate Marketing" and "Real Estate Rainmaker: Guide to Online Marketing." (Since I was a Manager at Borders Books and Music, I got a very good discount on them.) Although the books were published in in 2000 and 2003, what they have to say is still relevant, and probably has always been relevant to any industry at any time:
- Get customers to your web site and keep them there. This means not only have a web presence, but having a useful web presence, one with relevant content, and lots of it, that keeps them at your site rather than wandering off to someone else's site.
- Build your customer base by offering free items and services in exchange for contact information and feedback.
- Produce measurable results to increase business. This means communicating, explaining, educating, negotiating, establishing rapport and trust, and, ultimately, closing the sale.
- Be the hare to your competition's tortoise. Use new technology—Internet, digital photos, video tours, audio, RSS feeds, etc.—to run circles around that ol' tortoise. The tortoise might have won the race, but that was also a fairy tale.
In one of the books, Richard had an old rule and a new rule:
- "Old Rule: The Internet changes everything.
- New Rule: The Internet changes everything except the rules of business."
Service providers and retailers want the same thing they have always wanted—customers—and with the Internet and other new technology, now there are other ways to find them.
Customers want the same thing they have always wanted—good service providers and companies—and with the Internet and other new technology, now there are other ways to find them. One could also argue customers want it faster and easier.
Remember that what was new technology just five years ago is commonplace today. What is new technology today will probably be commonplace in five years, if not sooner. Don't let the world pass you by because of a "that's not going to last" mentality.
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