Real estate agents want to either list or sell homes
Oddly enough a few are listing or selling as much as they would like. Most of them are not coaches, gurus or guides. Many of them, however, have consulted with a professional to improve their technique and results. Ah, but that is so inconvenient.
This is an abstract to illustrate a point ...
"So you're telling me you want $3500 to write a few posts (it was 25 to be exact well researched and well planned for SEM), put a few links on Twitter (100) and Facebook (and create his page and application to house his signup form and establish his mailing list and ... nevermind) and I'm supposed to be excited about that?" Those are not exactly his words but they are his meaning. What he was saying is, "it's too inconvenient for me to write that check". Although we had discussed budget he wanted to "hold on to his reserves".
It was I who failed
Truly it was my fault because I had not shown him the difference between what works and what is free. In reality I had told him that was only a part of what I would do for his grand opening because I was also offering some traditional marketing including radio and snail mail. There were 12 people at his grand opening. All day.
You see the client purchased a banner from the local print shop for $99. It looked pretty decent for block letters and a star shaped grabber. "GRAND OPENING APRIL 8" it read. The colors were good - white background red block lettering. The banner was big enough, 30" tall by 96" wide. The banner was plainly visible from the parking lot ... not the street.
Now it is he who is failing
During our discussions we had determined he needed to gross no less that $1100 per day to just break even. That would cover rent, supplies, payroll, insurance, other business costs and $100 in ad expenses. He hasn't had a total of $1100 yet. Oh, he will, probably after the next owner buys it.
His marketing plan consided of a .com WordPress, fliers on the cars in the parking lot where his shop is and his banner. That's it. That's all. Nothing else. Not even a single little $25.00 ad in the Creative Loafing.
But it's not about him
The story is not about the non-client, it is about you. And me. It is about listening to the professionals and not wasting time and burning social equity.
Everybody is blogging so I am too. Great. What does your blog say? What is your goal with your blog? Is your blog an island? What is the best time to publish a blog post? (I can tell you it is NOT at the time I am publishing this one!)
It's convenient to send a blast email to all of the people in your contact list. Do you know who opened it? How about who clicked on a link inside the email? Did you call for action and make it convenient for the reader to take action? How did you entice them in your email blast to take action?
There are 3 constants in marketing that should be followed:
- It's a numbers game - the more people you reach the more likely you are to annoy some and make a sale or two.
- Trends and hype are a marketer's friend, create it or coat tail it - I know what my other friends said. If I agreed with them we would all be wrong. Tell the venders who make millions at the Olympics hype is no good. Ell oh ell.
- Consistency consistency consistency - it's neither convenient nor cheap. It works. Until the horse is dead or the pond is fished out.
So here is what is suggested to the 97% of us who do not do this:
- Speak with a professional consultant you trust. My number is up there ;) and I seek advice, too.
- Establish a plan and be prepared to modify the action midstream if the buyer economy changes.
- Do what you say and say what you do. I will check your ad campaign and online presence for free to see if it is obvious what you do and what you want to do for me as a prospect.
- Move the discussion from conversational to transactional. I can talk golf all day long but if I don't close some deals I'll only ever talk about it and never play it.
- Hire someone to pick up the dimes while you deposit the dollars. Why do you spend time doing things you can pay someone $12 an hour to do? If you are worth $12 an hour or less then keep screwing around with your wordpress plugins (and probably messing something up).
It looks like my next stop is in Destin for XPLODE - I know, my picture isn't on there but I'm confirmed. Then on to DENVER ...
Comments(2)