Friends -
Top of the morning to ya. Hope all of you had a fantastic weekend. I enjoyed a weekend of technology challenges. I went to a wake boarding competition and watched the competition from my boat. It was fantastic. We docked right up front and got the best seats in the house. However... On one particular instance, the wake board missed the wake and came within about 3 feet of my boat. He had to lay the board down before he became a permanent decal on the side of my boat. While laying his board down he proceeded to spray a very large wall of water into my boat. Which hey its a boat, not a big deal. I wasn't too upset until I went to grab my cell phone in the glove box of the boat. Little did I know that wall of water filled my glove box. So as I proceeded to grab my cell phone and ipod and wallet out of about two inches of water needless to say i was displeased. Both of them completely submerged in water. Fantastic!
It was an expensive weekend to say the least. Other than that I had a blast. I hope you all did as well. Up here in Salem Oregon we only get 12-15 days (I might be embellishing) of sun per year so I take advantage every opportunity I get.
So friends, thanks for letting me vent to you. Here is my gift for your toolbox. Step 7 of 14 steps in the book title "The Millionaire Real Estate Agent." by Gary Keller. A fantastic tool for any real estate agent, new or veteran.
Step 7 - "Marketing Vehicles"
As stated in the book, "if you focus on marketing your seller's listings - the buyers will come."
To me a marketing vehicle is simply a means to maximize your exposure for your sellers home by bringing potential buyers to the table realized or otherwise implied. Meaning, your phone rings and the call is on a specific listing, you have marketed that home well enough for someone to take time out of their day to make a phone call to you. Whether or not you retain that potential buyer for this sale or another potential sale is entirely your sales abilities. And that's another blog in and of itself.
For marketing purposes, if you get that phone to ring, you have done your job. And I would make sure I communicate that with every seller. Why? Because it validates you. If the phone is ringing about a specific property and you arent communicating to the sellers, it doesnt seem as if you are doing anything to market that listing. then when the time comes to do a reduction, or take specific action you need to sell the sellers more than you would need to if you had constant communication with the seller. Do you agree?
While there are a tremendous amount of marketing vehicles out there my comment to you is to pick a few and maybe experiment with a few. But find a few and stick with them. To me marketing vehicles is about branding yourself. The more you show up in one place over and over again, the more you are showing yourself to people. Think about a homes and land magazine for example. Showing up one time per year for one month. Like throwing spaghetti at the wall. Did it stick? Probably not. But maybe. However, can you 
name 1 or 2 Realtors that you have seen in that magazine for years in the same spot?
Think about it... I became the craigslist guy. People would call me all the time in the early stages of craigslist and say "man you everywhere on craigslist." I sold many homes from craigslist. But it truly was a great informal way to pick up buyers. I did it for years.
Find a few things that work for you. Maybe it works for you because of its simplicity or expense. Whatever it is just do it. and do it and do it.
Make it a good week everyone!
Derek Meyer
AmeriTitle - Salem Oregon
Marketer for Title And Escrow
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