Have you ever been really hungry?

Have you ever been really hungry?

You know that feeling when your hunger is on the top of your mind, and you can't get food fast enough?

Think about that for a second, and remember a time when you had that feeling while I tell you this story.

I used to own a hot dog cart.

One summer during college, my friend Neil and I bought the cart for $1600 and went into the hot dog business.

The foresight we had about this whole situation was that we were smart enough to negotiate a deal with a local nightclub to park our cart outside the main entrance to their club.

On Friday and Saturday night between 10 pm and 2 am whenthe club closed, we would routinely make over a thousand dollars a night.

It was something to see.

Literally a full line of people ten or more deep for 4 hours straight.

These people would come out of the club after dancing (and drinking) for hours, and they were truly a starving crowd.

There was no food at the club, and we were the only immediate option. We charged premium prices for hotdogs, italian sausages and soft drinks.

Far more than we could charge in the middle of the day.

That was our limited menu, and we sold a LOT of hotdogs.

The thing is, in a little less than 4 hours - 2 nights a week, we were able to make more money than anyone else we knew with "real" summer jobs.

Plus, at the end of the summer we resold the cart for more money than we paid.

I was reminded about this last weekend, because my wife Vesna and I were watching a comedy special with Chris Rock and he was talking about how nobody has to SELL "crack".

He said "Crack sells itself" -- there's no effort.

"I've NEVER heard a drug dealer saying How am I going to get rid of all this crack?!"

That's sort of what those hungry nightclubbers reminded me of. Starving people looking for something...anything...to eat...NOW.

They were already in motion with food in mind.

The thing is it's exactly the same in real estate.

For every segment of the market, there is a starving crowd just dying to buy or sell a house.

They've already made up their mind that's what they want to do, and they're already actively LOOKING for something.

The trick is to get in front of that audience while they're looking, and guide their already existing desire toward you.

Most of the time, Realtors and lenders are advertising in the hopes of "convincing" somebody that they should buy or sell a house...and preferrably with THEM.

Now, Neil and I could have taken our hotdog cart and gone door to door in neighbourhoods where we thought there might be some hungry people...hoping to convince some of them to buy our hotdogs.

The problem with that would have been that we couldn't guarantee they would be hungry, and maybe we would have sold some hot dogs, but not in the volume we did on Friday and Saturday night with a guaranteed starving crowd.

Right now, there are people who have already made up their mind that they are going to buy a house in your city, and they are actively starting the looking process.

Instead of spending your money sending postcards to an apartment complex trying to convince people that they're making their landlord rich, or that they're wasting their money on rent when they could own, try focusing your attention on the people who are already actively looking.

The key to any marketing is to find an audience that's already in motion and get in front of them early.

At some point every month, new people are entering the process of buying a home and they reach for whatever media people use to find homes in your area.

They probably start with the classifieds in the daily newspaper, or the weekend real estate weekly that comes with the paper.

They might then stop and pick up a homes magazine from one of the boxes on the corner, and start looking through that.

Then, they might start driving around neighborhoods they like, looking at what homes might be for sale.

If I had a limited advertising budget, that's where I would focus all my attention. On getting in front of people like that who are already in motion and convinced.

Dollar for dollar, that's the very best way to spend your money attracting new business.

Now when you make up your mind that you're going to start what I call MOMENTUM marketing, you've got a goal and that's to get in front of your chosen audience in a way that helps you identify who they are so you can help them.

The thing is, there is something subtle in that last statement that probably slid right by you.

I said your goal is to get in front of that audience in a way that helps YOU identify THEM. I didn't say in a way that helps THEM identify YOU.

It's subtle, but it can make a huge difference in the way you are recieved. Most advertising I see is focused on trying to "get your name out there" instead of focusing on trying to "get your prospects names in here".

It's far more valuable for you to know who your prospects are than it is for your prospects to know who YOU are.

So, how do you do it?

Well, let's start with turning around some of the mistakes you're probably making that you don't even realize.

1. Start focusing on a single target market instead of trying to appeal to people "thinking of buying or selling".

When you narrow your focus, it makes it easier for you to get inside your prospects minds and focus on what would be absolutely appealing to them.

It's easier to find someone who's looking for a condo in Richmond between $80,000 and $150,000 than it is to appeal to everyone looking for any kind of house in Richmond.

2. Take the focus off YOU and put it where it belongs...on your prospects wants and desires.

The big mistake in thinking here is that your prospects are as interested in you as YOU are.

No one will ever be as interested in YOU as you are.

No one cares how many designations you have, or how many homes you've sold, or how long you've been in business.

What your prospects care about...more than anything else in the world...is themselves, and what THEY want.

You're always better off to attract people to a recorded message about how to buy Condo's in Richmond with zero downpayment, than you are by telling people about how you're a condo specialist.

Focus on them. Always.

3. Make it easier for your prospects to respond to your ads by using free recorded messages.

If you're not using the words "Free Recorded Message" in every ad you run, you're losing money.

It's that simple.

Having people call you directly is costing you big time.

You'll get far more people who will call and listen to a free recorded message than will call you directly.

Recorded messages lower the barrier of resistance, plus you get the undivided attention of a true prospect while they're listening to your recorded message, and you can shape their perception of what to ask for when they call you.

This process will sift, sort and screen out the very best prospects and eliminate the tire kickers.

4. Start offering valuable information to your prospects instead of convincing them to choose you.

When you've identified your target market, start making offers of valuable information to get them to identify themselves as a prospect.

If your target market is Condo buyers in Richmond, you could offer them a recorded message on how to buy condos in Richmond with zero down payment, a free list of condos they can buy with zero down payment, a guide to all the condo complexes in Richmond.

Those kind of offers are going to encourage your prospects to identify themselves out of self-interest...because they want the valuable information you're offering.

Remember for every target market, there is an audience that's already in motion. Your job is to get in front of them and use their own momemtum to attract them to you.

Focusing on how great YOU are might make you famous, but focusing on your prospects selfish wants and desires will make you rich.

And it's far less expensive to get RICH than it is to get FAMOUS. So let's focus on getting you rich first, and then you can use all your extra money to get famous if it's still important to you.

Until next time...Happy Marketing!

Sincerely,