Video of the Week - Kick Your Own Ass
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Here’s a 2 minute video from one of my favorite authors, Jeffery Gitomer. His get-real approach to business and sales is extremely refreshing. This should be required reading for all real estate professionals.
(Click here if you can’t see the video.)
If you don’t have any of his books, do yourself a favor and pick up a few. I promise you’ll get a ton out of them.
Pick up a few today!
Do the World and Yourself a Favor
If you’re on Windows and still running Internet Explorer 6, please upgrade. If not please skip this post. To find out what version you’re running, launch Internet Explorer, click help, then select “About.” If it says version 6 please upgrade.
Why?
Because the internet has moved way beyond what IE6 can handle. You’re not seeing the full picture, kind of like watching black & white TV when you can get color for free. A full 40% of visitors to this blog are still using IE 6. This is too bad because they’re not seeing a lot of cool things that are going on on the web and they’re causing developers to dumb down their apps to accommodate the IE 6 users.
My Haircut is Not Fungible
I have choices when it comes to getting my hair cut. I could go to Mountain Cuts for an inexpensive “blow & go” cut by a recent cosmetology grad. It may be a fine service for some but I prefer a little more experience and a
higher quality hair cut so I go to Savanna at The Comb Goddess. I pay more and I get more. I pay more and I experience lower risk that it’s going to be screwed up & I’ll look like a fool. Both are hair cuts but they are not the same. They’re not fungible. (Fungible means that there is no difference in value between two or more items. For example, a $20 bill is fungible with any other $20 bill and it’s fungible with roughly $200 Mexican pesos.)
You can’t swap either haircut for the other and have the same result (the guy in the picture doesn’t get this). Savanna delivers additional value and I pay a higher price.
Most if not all of what you do to market a property is not fungible.
How about your real estate marketing? Most if not all of what you do to market a property is not fungible. Point & Shoot digicams won’t capture the same essence of a property as an experienced photographer with a digital SLR. You can’t simply trade one for the other and have the same value.
Writing ad copy 30 minutes before the deadline is not the same as a well crafted message done by a professional copywriter.
Venturing into the online realm with the cheapest web company you can find won’t be the same as investing time, energy and money with an experienced e-business outfit.
Just as we, the consumers, can tell the difference between a bad “bowl cut” and a killer style, we can tell the difference between elegant marketing that tells a compelling story and cookie-cutter-hack-job marketing. They are not the same. They’re not fungible - they don’t have the same value. In a crowded, competitive market, paying more attention to the quality of your marketing and less about the price can make a huge difference. We notice.
“I Love Money”
Here’s a little clip from the no BS financial guru Larry Winget that really sums things up.
Click the green button to play:
There is such great opportunity for those who think beyond the Pilot & MLS to provide extreme value to their clients & potential buyers.
Provide value first, do what you say & build your brand.
You can find Larry’s books here:
Why Do Some Brokers Do Well in Bad Times?
Because they’re consistent in investing and improving their business in both good times & bad times.
I hear the same objections over & over regarding investing in their business. In good times many brokers say “Why should I spend any money to market myself or my properties? Business is so good, these properties just sell themselves.” Then they go play golf.
In bad times they say “Business is too slow right now. I can’t afford to spend and invest in my business. I’m going to cut way back till things get better.” Then they wait.
But the brokers who are successful in bad times are the ones who take a consistent approach to investing and improving their business in good times & bad. This works because it lengthens the good times and shortens the bad. As they continue to improve & invest in their business they put themselves in a position where they have more opportunities and more lucrative transactions. So when the market begins to turn south their opportunity pool is much deeper than otherwise, thus extending their good business.
They not only make more money but they also take deals off the table that could have been there for you.
When times are bad the same brokers continue to invest & improve their business Their down market is shorter than others. Why? For two reasons. First when many other brokers scale back their efforts those who maintain a strong presence have a greater chance of being noticed. Second, for the most part, the market pendulum will swing back the other way and when it does, those who have continued to invest & improve will catch the upturn much earlier than others. They not only make more money but they also take deals off the table that could have been there for you.
Cam Boyd recently hired a full time marketing person - in a down market. By doing this he’s positioned himself to catch opportunities much earlier and free his time & focus to find & properly market those opportunities.
There will be no green light for a better market and by the time you read about it, a ton of money will have already been made.
Video of the Week - Your “Strings” Ad
It’s that time of year again where everyone is all in a twit about their Strings magazine ad. Headshots, font styles, ad sharing, the list of things to get done goes on & on.
But before you say yes to that final proof (for this publication or any other) take 60 seconds to watch this video. You’ll be glad you did.
(If you can’t see the video click here.)
At the risk of giving the video away I’d ask, how does your ad measure up? Given the context of the event and the amount of competing ads is your ad really good enough? Maybe spending sometime reflecting on this video and how it relates to your ad would be time well spent.
Every Picture Tells A Story Baby! Well… some do.
It turns out that many brokers have things a bit backwards when it comes to marketing properties. At a recent conference I learned that a study of real estate buyers shows that 80+% of buyers prefer great photos over virtual tours (the “spin-around-to-see-the-room’ kind) and 80+% of brokers prefer virtual tours. A bit backwards wouldn’t you say?
So in reorienting some to the reality of what buyers want, great photography is something that brokers should require of themselves as a minimum. I’ll try to illustrate some differences between really good pictures and the uninspired, drive-by point & shoot photos we see way too often.
I was recently on a trip and took a picture of some super colorful shops. Online, someone else had posted the same shot but with very different results. Take a look & imagine yourself in the market. Pay attention to how these photos make you feel.
This first version was taken by someone else with a simple point & shoot.
I took this picture with serious camera gear and an inspiration to get a great photo:
Big difference. Or how about this photo of a ranch:
Compared to this one I took last fall:
Which one would interest you?
Photos are such an important asset for real estate agents and here in Steamboat there’s almost no excuse in having crappy pictures. Hire a great photographer and smile when you pay them knowing that you have awesome photos that tell a story and sell property much more effectively. Great photos will pop on the MLS and can be leveraged in many ways.
Kim Keith is an excellent local photography resource. She’s a real pro and puts art into her photos. What this means to you is you’re likely to get photos that evoke emotion. More emotions equals more sales at higher prices.
Kim Keith Photography
Studio K
2550 S. Copper Ridge Rd, suite #204
Steamboat Springs, CO 80477
(970) 846-3680
kim@steamboatgallery.com
Video of the Week - Memorable
Following up on the last post, the only clips included here are either exceptional plays or huge screw ups. Those are the things we remember.
The Most Memorable College Football Plays of All Time
Memorable
I mostly remember either the stuff that was really exceptional or the stuff that was really bad. I remember stuff like Dan from back in 1988, the exceptional Nordstrom sales guy, who mailed me birthday cards. I remember the awful boat rental shop in Lake Powell called “Do Powell” from back in 2003. However, I can’t tell you the name of the title exec that helped us close on a property just a few months ago. She didn’t do anything wrong and didn’t do anything exceptional either.
With so many brokers concerned about referrals are you memorable enough?
There is so much average stuff in the middle there’s not enough room to remember it all. I suppose it’s a bit like this graph with the painful experiences being a little more memorable:
If you do everything right & meet expectations, you’re average.
So many Steamboat Springs brokers are concerned with referrals but I wonder if they’re really doing the stuff that’s memorable. Are you memorable enough? 3 years from now will your clients remember the exceptional experience they had with you. 3 years from now what will your clients say? Will they say you were average? If you’re truly average, I doubt they’ll remember anything at all. And in today’s world truly average is actually a pretty high bar.
If you do everything right & meet expectations, you’re average. It’s only when you exceed expectations or really screw things up do you become memorable. Going with the flow, blending in, doing what everyone else does feels safe but we won’t remember you come referral time.
Buying & selling a home is such a life changing experience for your clients the goal should be to make it THE most memorable experience of their lives so there is no way they could forget you.
Love My Kids
I had a family dinner at Rex’s recently and because we have a daughter a key factor in our decision to eat at Rex’s was the fact that they have cool little coloring kits for kids. Princess kits for girls & train kits for boys (I think - we only have a girl).
(Not my kids)
Just as we expected, we had a great dinner and our daughter wasn’t fidgeting or dumping salt all over the table. So the question is, what kid friendly stuff do you have to occupy kids when you’re clients bring them along? It might be a good idea to have a “kid kit” in the trunk with an assortment of activities for boys and girls.
Love my kids and I’ll love you forever.
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