Last week I was in a real estate office waiting to speak with a realtor friend about doing a workshop for her group on the social media programs they want to test.
The owner is smart and knows the value of relationships, so I was enthusiastic when I got there. But not for long.

The receptionist asked me to take a seat and wait. I did, and casually asked how her day was going. “Okay” she said and turned away. She didn’t want to chat with me or, apparently, with the person who called on the phone a minute later, asked a few questions and got curt answers, too.

This could have been the best real estate agency in South Florida, with a great brand and outstanding marketing programs – but it would all have been for naught where the rubber meets the road – when the prospect meets the receptionist. Don’t let this happen to you.

Try setting up your own secret shopper program. Ask a friend or two who’ve never visited your office to drop by as if they were prospects and report on their impressions. Visit your website as if you’d never seen it before (ask your friends to do this, too, and listen to their feedback). This will give you a fresh perspective on your personality, voice and brand and help you to make strategic changes in advertising and on Twitter and Facebook. Maybe even in personnel.

It’s important to make sure that prospects and clients get treated like good friends at every touchpoint.

I’m always talking about CRM, Customer Relationship Marketing, and about how to build friendships with your prospects and customers. It’s a major consideration even before you launch any kind of marketing.

Let me know if you are interested in a workshop at your office or perhaps a lunchtime speech: Click here

All the best,
Lois

Blog along with me, the best is yet to be!

My cousin, a real estate agent has been complaining non-stop that she has had only one sale in the last six months.

Well, what have you tried to stimulate business, I asked?

She replied that they had done some mailers that didn’t receive any response.

As a direct marketer, I know that is really tough to accomplish… receiving absolutely no response to a mailer. I’ve been doing mailings for our clients for decades and if the mail actually leaves the post office, someone will respond. Guaranteed.

I decided not to got there. I’ve already sent her copies of my book, Sold! Direct Marketing for the Real Estate Pro… and she is still mailing postcards, and hasn’t tested the “tried and true” letter I advised her to mail.

I also asked her if she’d write her copy like she speaks… in a conversational way. No luck.

So I decided to try some other ideas.

How about trying something new, I asked? Silence.

I suggested that she go and sign up for a few of my real favorites:

1. Sign up for Active Rain. You can write your bio on there (make sure to link your website), upload your photo, and write up something about yourself. Then write a post, and then simply check off the boxes where you want it posted. It might look daunting at first, and the more you visit there, the better you’ll like it.

I met wonderful friends at this website, and they keep in touch with me, and invited me to speak at their companies and tell me about new things their learning about marketing internationally, and so much more. It is a user friendly place to go and just comment on other people’s blog posts.

2. The second place I recommend is LinkedIn . It is a business website, where you can find and connect with business associates. Invite them to “link” in with you. You can then see who their contacts are and see if you want to be introduced to those people. It is a great way to network without having to go to an event. You can network with others in your own home office in your pajamas, if you like.

I’ve made my best associates on Linked in by going to the Answers section and posting answers to other people’s questions. I have also asked some of my own and gotten some great responses.

So, when someone awful hijacked my website, and I was “crazed” about what to do, I emailed my contacts and sent out an open question, and the whole problem way quickly resolved with the help of my friends there.

3. I’ve also been trying Plaxo, and it is another professional site that includes some interesting groups in my area, marketing.

4. Then there’s the best new real estate marketing blog… Real Estate Relish. I hope you’ll participate here. Leave your comments and I’ll respond to you. If you have written something that will help people with the joy of real estate marketing, send it to me, and I might offer it here too. Make sure to add your website in the comment field… you’ll get a link that way.

That way, we’ll make beautiful traffic together. You will get some leads from other agents and hopefully, everyone will win!

Jim Lisi Increase Visibility Top SEO Services

I was in Bloomingdale’s today, and met this woman who looked really down in the dumps. She told me that she is a Realtor, and that she just came from her Open House in a lovely home in Hollywood. She said that only two couples had come the whole day. And, one of them was a couple she’d already sold a home to, in the neighborhood a few years ago.

She said the day was wasted.

I didn’t think so at all. I asked her, if she’d talked to her previous buyers and asked them about their home and the neighborhood. She said, “No, I asked them if they knew of anyone that might buy this house”.

What did she do wrong, all you smart agents out there?

Well, from a marketing vantage point (and that’s the only one I have)….she might consider building relationships with people, not prospects.

People know when you’re just thinking about yourself. When you have a mindset of just making friends, they know that too. So, when I received a postcard on Saturday from a Realtor, and it said:

Treat yourself this summer to dependable one-on-one service.

I know he didn’t mean it because the card was addressed to Current Resident, and I think he really runs a Tex-Mex restaurant, because half the card had a recipe for quesadillas. I get dozens of cards like that (maybe because I live in a waterfront property or a good zip code). Some of them say:

I just sold Apartment 2703 in your building.

Well, whoop-de-doo. In direct mail, you need to begin a relationship with people by:

1. First knowing who they are, and mentioning that in your copy. It will sound like you’re a real human being if you say something like, “I’ve sold several apartments in your building, and think it is really quite a lovely place with amazing amenities. If you’re considering selling your apartment, I can stop by and talk to you about its value in today’s market. Even if you’re not planning to sell, it might be good for you to know anyway…in your financial planning.

2. Then, you might give them an offer. If I do stop by, I’ll give you one of our property evaluation papers, or book on easy summer entertaining, or one of our mini-ipods that you can use when you walk.

3. Ask for a date to talk. “I’ll be in your building the week of August 20th, and I’d like to visit if you have the time. Please let me know”.

The idea is to build a relationship and that takes some time and planning. Most agents have a “I want to sell now” mentality and that just won’t make it. Relationships build over time and always pay off. So consider, doing a direct mail program to just say “hello” to your prospects, and you’ll see that it works!

Good luck, and let me know how you’re doing: loisgeller@loisgellermarketinggroup.com

Enjoy my latest video – Direct Mail tips for Realtors.

Lois Geller

Many of our friends told us they loved the chicken, and named him Chicken Karma…(send out good things, and good things come back to you).

Then one of our creative people found an egg. He said the egg (when submerged in a glass of water) will crack, and then a chicken will emerge and grow bigger and bigger. When it is out of the water, it will then shrink down to a smaller size, and be hard as a rock.   

I was doubtful about  all of this, but we bought the eggs, and then watched in amazement as they hatched. The large one  in this photo, is after he’s  been in the water for about two days, and the little one is after he’s been out of  the water for a while.

He/She is not a sponge, but made of some hard substance, and I have no idea how this works. I just know  that it is a great little chicken, and a symbol to stay positive as this New Year begins to unfold…and great new things will begin to happen.

Let me know about the good things happening in your world, and we might send you one of these magic chickens!

In the meantime, we are launching our brand new Idea Incubator for companies who want to lift response to their email programs, websites and direct mail. Email: loisgeller@loisgellermarketinggroup.com for more information.

About a month ago, I started wondering what would make an interesting Happy Holidays card to send clients and non-client friends.

We’ve come up with some pretty funny cards in previous years but this year’s not looking all that funny so I was stumped.

Then I remembered Donald, the artist. I called and asked him if he could paint us an image to represent new beginnings – fresh starts for the coming year. I didn’t want Christmas trees, Santa Claus or palm trees with lights on them.

He said, “How about a baby chicken?” Hmmm. Let’s take a look.

A few days later, I drove over to Donald’s and he showed me an acrylic painting of a small yellow chick emerging from the whitest of cracked eggs on a green and red background. I loved it.

I wrote a straightforward headline: We asked our friend Donald to paint a holiday card. He painted this chicken.

On the inside, the copy reads: He said the holidays for him mean “new beginnings” like this baby chicken. We wish you a new beginning, new hope and fresh starts this year. All the best, Lois Geller Marketing Group. We’re a new chicken too (after 14 years as Mason and Geller Direct).

A smaller version of the painting appears on the back of the card along with: Win the original, 9” X 12”, New Beginnings Chick by Donald Sexauer. Just email loisgeller@loisgellermarketinggroup.com and tell her about your new beginnings.

Then, by a total fluke, I came across a place that sells fake eggs, real-looking but fake. Put one in a bowl of water for a few days and a yellow chick emerges. It comes out bigger than the egg. It’s fun to watch. I bought a bunch of them and sent each out with a card.

Here’s to all of our new beginnings this 2009. It’ll be a good year to help a friend, do random acts of kindness and create good karma in bad times – may they be oh so short.

It seems that in years past, a real estate agent could decide which homes to show me on any given trip we made together. I have read recently in an interesting book about the way you position the alternatives…often precipitates the decision by your client.

So, if you have (1) one home to show me that is modern, but needs a lot of internal repair work (like bathrooms and kitchen and floors) at $20,000 less than (2) modern home that is in great repair and shows well, and house (3) that is more old fashioned (maybe a tudor or an older home) in good shape…in the same price range. The buyer (me?) may have a higher likelihood to buy the modern home that is in better shape, because there is a comparison.

One home is similar, but better than the other.I wonder if that is the same way with a lot of other purchases. How about a mixed breed dog versus a  purebred one? one looks good to me and I don’t know if he’s purebred or not. This is also akin to brands. Today I saw an ad in the New York Post for a black saddle bag. I’ve had dozens of those in the years I lived in Manhattan. This one was in Bergdorf Goodman, and the brand is Lanvin. The price $2535. Mine were usually much less costly than that one.   I am wondering though with real estate clients now enabled to look at mls listings online…whether it makes it harder for agents to position products strategically. Maybe we are overwhelming clients with so many choices (and a soft market. Let me know your thoughts…

After a few hours of getting “the lay of the land” as we are new to the area…we decided to look at homes to see the price points, and what we might be able to afford.

As we were driving through a particularly pretty area, we noticed a sign for an Open House, and decided to stop and look, as there were two homes across the street from each other. When we went into the small house, the agent who was there told us about it, and the fact that it was owned by a family who’d recently inherited it. Their father never updated it, and it was in pretty rough condition. The agent agreed on our assessment and that the price was high, because of all of the upgrades it needed.

Then she showed us the upgraded home across the street. It was twice as expensive, was fully finished and on the water. Along the way, we mentioned that our price range was approximately the cost of the “home in need of help”.

As we left, and traded cards with her…I was wondering how I would feel if I’d heard her comments as the owner of the fixer upper home. I guess I wouldn’t want to list my property with her for a couple of reasons: 1) She didn’t tell the prospects about the wonderful opportunities for the home, like the huge backyard, the possibility of building out the kitchen, and the fact that it was a small home on a street with large ones. 2) She made the owner sound “cheap” by not fixing the place up. Maybe they weren’t in a position to do so, or maybe they didn’t want to upgrade after their father passed away.

It all brought to mind some people I’d met recently when I did a speech at the Luxury Portfolio Meeting at the Boca Raton Hotel. All those top realtors selling high end properties seemed like they were honest, straightforward and had good characters. I chatted with them about their families, careers. No one put anyone down, even their competitors. It is like when you do RIGHT, good things happen.

I’ve seen the same type of good chaaracter in the halls of top corporations when I’ve met with clients at JP Morgan Chase, American Express and others. The folks at the top (for the most part, of course) are decent human beings.

So, I’m thinking on my realestaterelish.com blog, and on activerain, that it might sound preachy, and I don’t care. Good character can be noticed in the way that you treat your customers, your prospects, your colleagues, friends and family.

Just for a few days, take note of the people you meet and respect. Look at our Presidential candidates. Who would you want your children to emulate? Then maybe button your lip when you have the impulse to gossip, or tell a client about an owner, or anything that will reflect negatively on you.

After all, in real estate, YOU are your BRAND. Make it shine with good character.