Selling Soulfully with Jennifer Allan

I’d already been rather distressed this last week about something - and the timing is unfortunate because I have so many other things to do besides rant and rave and whine and fuss about my Issue du Jour (or du Week?) ... and then I saw Leslie Ebersole's excellent featured blog called "Mocking Me Won't Make Me Buy" and was inspired to put my rantings and ravings and fussings on "paper."

In the last 7 days, I’ve received no fewer than 12 emails or calls from real estate agents who are frustrated with the messages they’re getting from their high-priced "coaches" telling them that WHO THEY ARE isn’t good enough and unless they change WHO THEY ARE, they’ll fail. They’re paying Big Bucks for this message to be delivered to them on a regular basis and they seem to think the advice is warranted - that they truly aren’t good enough.

What a number that message is doing on their psyches! I have to wonder… maybe this is being snarky… but I have to wonder if that’s the intent – to play on the agents’ insecurities so they’ll keep forking over the $200/month, $500/month or even $1,000/month for coaching that seems intent on convincing the coachee that they’re, well, not good enough!

Now, I’m not talking about simply encouraging these agents to work a little harder, or work a little smarter or be a little more consistent. No, as far as I can tell, these programs are advising agents to venture WAY out of their comfort zones into places that they REEEALLY don’t want to go – and for some reason the agents aren’t making the connection that something that creeps them out might be wrong for them!

Here's the thing. Hiring a coach and writing him or her big check doesn't change who YOU are. If today you're creeped out by an approach to prospecting or deal-closing, don't think it's going to be any different tomorrow just because you signed up for an expensive program. You'll still be creeped out, I promise.

As I’ve said once or twice or a dozen times… if something feels wrong to you; if something makes you feel icky and dread getting up in the morning – it’s WRONG for you! And you don’t have to do it to succeed, no matter how much money you just paid someone to convince you that you should or how much they try to make you feel inferior for hesitating! You CAN succeed by being wonderful, extraordinary, one-of-a-kind YOU, I promise!

Okay, rant over. For now.

So... whatcha' thinking I might be thinking here? More lunch dates? More blogs? More Facebook, Twittering or Linking In? Or, egads, more cold-calling, door-knocking or referral-begging?

Nope.

Here's a reeeeal easy way to double your business every single year.

EARN one referral from every single client.

If every buyer and seller you serve, every year, were to send just one buyer or seller your way in the twelve months following your time together, you'd double your business, wouldn't you? And of course, if your buyer or seller is that tickled with you that they'll send one person your way, I'm guessing they might do it again... and again... and maybe even again!

So, how do you go about inspiring your buyers and sellers to refer business to you?

Expensive closing gifts?
Nope.

Incessant reminders of your affection for referrals?
Nope.

Monthly newsletters and postcards showcasing your listings?
Nope.

Boilerplate greeting cards on the one month, three month, six month and one year anniversaries of their closing?
No again.

A contract signed at closing where your buyer or seller commits to sending you at least three referrals?
OMG, no.

Gifts, drips, cards or contracts won't inspire anyone to send you business. Oh, they might remind someone that you exist and how to find you, but unless they already think highly of you as a real estate agent, ain't no business coming your way as a result of said gifts, drips, cards or contracts.

It's so, so, so simple. Just be great at what you do. Take care of your current clients as your very first priority. Go the extra mile (where, to paraphrase Roger Staubach, there's not much traffic). And then stay in touch just enough to remind without becoming a nuisance.

And watch your business grow...

RELATED BLOGS:
Y'think Your Clients Are Talking About Their Real Estate Agent?
If a Tree Falls in the Forest and Nobody Hears it, Is Your Realtor Doing His Job?
Okay, So the Sign's in the Yard, What Next?
Ten Ways to Show Your Seller You Don't Care
I'm the Best Listing Agent I know

Yesterday, one of my readers sent me an article from her local newspaper that was a list of Do's and Don'ts for new college graduates. In the Top Ten list of Don'ts was this gem: "Never 'Friend' a Realtor on Facebook." No explanation; apparently, none needed.

Ouch.

Also yesterday, an article came out in Inman about a "sure-fire" prospecting technique that basically advises agents to accost anyone who comes within three feet of them with "I'm a real estate agent, do you know anyone who needs to buy or sell a home?" If the accosted person does not, in fact, know anyone who needs to buy or sell a home, the agent should smile sweetly and tell them they'll give them a little time to think of someone and check back in a bit. Or something like that.

Again, ouch.

I may rant further on the Inman article in a future blog, but for today, I'll just try to be helpful ;-] not rant-y.

So... here's me being helpful on this beautiful Friday.

Imagine having coffee with a potential new friend who, you find out, sells life insurance. Being self-employed yourself, you realize that this potential new friend would luuuuuuv to tell you all about his products and services, and persuade you send all your friends his way so he can do some "financial planning" for them.

Truthfully, you're really hoping he won't, right? But, sigh, you know he will. Just as you're tempted to do as soon as he finishes HIS pitch.

You settle in for the inevitable presentation, comforting yourself with the knowledge that it'll be your turn soon enough (you hope).

(Now, this behavior might be appropriate, or at least tolerated at a networking event, but it's actually rather obnoxious over a friendly cup o'coffee.) 

But what if... what if this potential new friend pleasantly surprised you by NOT launching into his elevator speech? What if... after you exchanged the obligatory "what do you do's?" he instead launched into... a funny story about one of his clients? Or a poignant story? Or even a light-hearted PITA story? But a STORY about his insurance business, without a hint of pitch, presentation or persuasion?

And then... when he finished his story, he turned his attention to YOU and seemed sincerely interested in your reciprocating with a funny, poignant or PITA story of your own about your real estate business?

Of course, you could return with: "Wow, that's really interesting. So, do YOU know anyone who needs to buy or sell? I promise to take great care of them, just like they're my family, and my company is awesome and I have a 168-point marketing plan and I have a promotion I'm doing right now that for every referral that goes to closing, I'll give the referer an iPad and the greatest compliment I can receive is your trust in me when you send your friends my way for professional real estate services...?"

And watch your potential new friend sigh, and politely disengage at the first opportunity, never to be heard from again.

Surely there are plenty of things you can share about your wonderful real estate career besides the fact that so you're so desperate for business you must beg for it at every social opportunity? Right?

Right?

It's a common complaint among our ranks that we often work "for free," especially these days when buyers are fussy, sellers are frustrated and closings are more tenuous than ever. We can work for months on one transaction only to watch it fall apart due to factors beyond our control, leaving us uncompensated for all that time, energy and gas money.

While I have some issues with the opinion that all that work was "for free," that's not my topic du jour.

Today I want to pontificate about our resistance to providing a "free" CMA (comparative market analysis). That it's unprofessional to "give it away" so that the seller prospect can take our information and run with it, possibly even giving it to another agent who offers a lower fee and uses our hard work to procure a sellable listing.

Nonsense.

If you go to my website (www.sellwithsoul.com), you'll see enough free stuff* there to keep you busy for hours, maybe days. Some of that free stuff (actually, most of it) took ME hours (even days) to put together, some of it at a not-insignificant cost.  I imagine there's enough free stuff there to get you 75% of the way toward knowing everything I know about running a successful real estate business without selling your soul to do it.

Why do I give so much away?

Well, there are two ways to market yourself to your potential audience. You can TELL them how great you are... or you can SHOW them how great you are. Which approach do you think might be more convincing?

When you cheerfully provide a thorough, professional market analysis to a seller prospect, you're demonstrating that you are a competent real estate professional who understands his or her market; as well as opening the door to further discussion, which builds rapport and further proves your competence and professionalism. Sure, you could TELL the seller that you're professional and competent, but that CMA will say it far more convincingly.

Will the seller prospect "use" your CMA against you? Maybe, maybe not, but so what if they do? If they do, it has nothing to do with the fact you gave it to them and everything to with something ELSE. In other words, doing the free CMA only enhances the chances (hey, that rhymes!) that the seller will honor you with his or her business, but if they don't, it's not BECAUSE you did the CMA, but rather in spite of it.

Do some readers take my stuff and run with it, without ever spending a dime in my bookstore? Sure they do, and I'm fine with that. But if my website were just one big promo for Jennifer Allan Hagedorn and how fabulous she is, I'm pretty sure a whole lot fewer dimes would find their way to my bookstore and bank account!

_____

*Here's some of the free stuff you can find at SellwithSoul.com: a sample listing presentation, 2X/month teleseminar shows, listing and buyer checklists, three newsletter/mini-courses, an abridged version of Sell with Soul, a 7-day free trial of my Savvy Prospector program, sample client  and SOI communications, a forum... probably more but that's what I can think of right now!

I get emails all the time from newer real estate agents who want to know how to "pick up clients."

(Don't we all?!)

But there's something about that phrase - "pick up clients" - that makes my nose wrinkle. While I obviously get the gist of what they're asking, and I realize the pressure new agents are under to prospect, generate leads and yes, pick up clients, something about it just sounds a little icky to me.

But what if these agents adjusted their goals FROM "picking up clients" TO "finding people to serve"?

When you strive to "pick up clients" - you're coming from a position (and attitude) of YOUR need for business, with nothing in it for those potential clients you're hoping to pick up. When you strive to "find people to serve," you're coming from a position (and attitude) of a DESIRE and ABILITY to solve a problem for someone who needs your help.

Which approach gives YOU more confidence in yourself as you're prospecting? And which approach gives your audience more confidence in you that you might just be the right (wo)man for the job?

Just something to think about...

RELATED BLOGS
"You Gotta Ask for What You Want, Right?"
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Well, thank you AR Gods for featuring my little teaser blog about 20 Ways to Make $100k This Year... OR NOT! As promised, here are those 20 ways you could make (or NOT make) $100k by simply attending (or NOT attending) to "minor" details.

1.       Do you have a photo on your business card? ("To Photo or Not to Photo?")

2.       Do you follow up on referrals sent or received? ("Ten Tips for Being a Good Refer-ee")

3.       Does the Contact Me link on your website work?

4.       Does the link to your website in your email signature work?

5.       Is your phone voice is off-putting? ("How's Your Phone Voice?")

6.       Do your eNewsletters go out from your company name instead of yours (so your SOI might delete them unopened and maybe even block you)?

7.       Are your incoming emails aggressively blocked by your ISP? ("Why You May Not Be Hearing From Me")

8.       Is your business/cell phone ever answered by your child?

9.       Is your outgoing voicemail message friendly and/or professional?

10.   Do you return calls or emails on the weekend? "(Workin' on the Holiday Weekend?")

11.   Is your business card boring? ("The Dorky Business Card")

12.   Is/are your About Me profile(s) boring? ("The Dorky Active Rain Profile")

13.   Do you risk offending contacts by misspelling names in your database (and therefore your communications)?

14.   Do you risk offending open house visitors by asking them to sign in "for security purposes"? ("Open Houses - Turning Cheese into Soul")

15.   Do you post on Facebook about a difficult, PITA client (or real estate clients in general)? ("Five Dollar Charge for Whining")

16.   Do you blow off parties you RSVP'd for? ("Show Up When it's the Right Thing to Do")

17.   Do you change your email address every time you change brokers?

18.   Do you use an email address you "never check" in your marketing?

19.   Do you go on vacation without good backup?

20.   Is your email auto-responder obnoxious? ("Do You Use an Autoresponder? Please Be Careful with it!")

Will attending to any one of these make or break your career? Nah. But at $5,000 a pop (or whatever your average commission is), they can add up to some real money pretty quickly!

Last September I posted a blog called "To Photo or Not to Photo" where I raised the age-old question of whether or not to put your (hopefully) smiling face on your business card. (I vote YES).

One of the comments on that blog was something along the lines of "Can anyone actually demonstrate that their picture on a card resulted in business for them?" Excellent question! My response to the commenter was:

"There is no one magic bullet to success. Clients come in from dozens of sources - I got a listing once because my lawn guy saw my RE/MAX signs in the back yard. So, is your business card in itself an important part of your marketing strategy? Probably not - at least, I hope no one is relying on a business card to generate business for them. But if one open house visitor remembers me over the other agents he met that day because my photo was on my card, I'll consider that a valid testimony. If one cross-country real estate agent I met at the NAR convention sends a referral my way because she was able to remember me out of the dozens of other agents she met, again, that's certainly worth having my photo on a card."

My point in revisiting this debate today is to reiterate that real estate clients find us in many different ways. And when they do, they each bring with them the potential of a significant paycheck - in some cases, even a year-changing paycheck. Depending on your market, your average commission check could be $3,000, $5,000 or even $10,000! Therefore, just one missed opportunity to capture one potential client could cost you $3,000, $5,000 or even $10,000! Not to mention all the business that potential future satisfied past client would send your way...

(Um, still not seeing your point, JA-H).

Okay, getting to it now.

If you miss opportunities to capture potential clients on a regular basis with silly little omissions, carelessness or even (gasp) laziness, you could easily cost yourself $100,000 in the next twelve months (assuming 20 missed opportunities at $5,000 per).

What might those 20 silly little omissions, carelessness'es or even (gasp) laziness'es look like?

Ahhhhhh... Watch This Space for further discussion. (But in the meantime, feel free to share your own thoughts!)

It's funny - I notice that the questions that come into my in-box often have a common theme... one month it's grouping and categorizing your sphere, the next it might be getting feedback for showings, the next maybe it's making open houses more productive.

Well, this month's most popular topic seems to be about expanding one's sphere of influence without being a pest about it.

Just in the last week I've been approached by three different agents who realize they need to beef up their spheres of influence - and quickly - but don't know how to do it without coming across as pushy, desperate or mercenary. So, they're finding themselves hiding out at home being decidedly UNsocial, and then kicking themselves every evening for failing yet again to Meet More People.

Wanna know what I told them?

I told all three to go out there in that world AS A SECRET AGENT instead of venturing out into that world, business card in hand and elevator speech fired up ready to launch at every opportunity!

What? Are you serious, Jennifer? You're telling agents to BE a Secret Agent? You're nuts.

Maybe. ;-]

But here's the thing. No one out there in that world cares one bit about your real estate career until/unless they care a little bit about YOU. And when you head out with grand intentions of handing out business cards and delivering elevator speeches, you're gonna scare people. (In fact, I got an email from a real estate agent over the weekend who was nearly arrested for too-aggressively prospecting at a local Target! But that's a story for a different day).

These three agents who wrote to me knew this deep inside - they knew that they'd make other people uncomfortable if they pushed their agendas (and business cards) onto people prematurely, which is why they were having trouble motivating themselves to do it.

So, my advice to them to BE a secret agent went like this: "Go out into the world every day, be pleasant to the people you find there and keep your mouth shut about your career UNTIL/UNLESS someone asks you what you do. At that point, they CARE (at least a little bit) and you're free to answer them enthusiastically."

Will you miss a potential prospect or two by keeping your mouth shut? Perhaps. But I doubt it. And the more pleasant you are to more people (sans sales pitch), the more likely it is that those people will ask you about yourself and actually care about your answer!

I'm a big fan of communicating with one's sphere of influence (SOI) via the written word - with the caveat that those written words are YOUR written words, not some words written by someone else who doesn't know you!

If your SOI "hears" from you on a reasonably regular basis - and again - that means they hear from YOU (not that mysterious someone else), they'll remember you, and even better, they'll remember you FONDLY. I've written about this concept once or twice or a dozen times - see the list below for related blogs.

Anyway, agents ask me all the time what they should write about that will inspire their SOI's to remember them FONDLY. Their new listing or recent sale? How low interest rates are and what a great time to buy it is? A reminder to winterize their sprinkler system or change smoke detector batteries?

YAWN. No, none of these.

There are a gazillion things you can write to your SOI about that won't come across as pitchy, pushy or just ho-hum. One of those things is the YAY-ME letter.

Huh? YAY-ME? Isn't that the epitome of pitchy, pushy or even ho-hum (after all - who cares about ME?)

Yep - if you do it wrong.

But if you do it right? It's a fabulous opportunity to very subtly remind your sphere that you're competent and confident AND give them a chance to congratulate you on whatever it is you're telling them about which can open up the door to conversations! And conversations with the people we know can lead to all sorts of wonderful things.

So, Jennifer, um... what's an example of doing it right?

Glad you asked ;-]

Here's a letter recently sent out by one of my faithful readers. She sent it individually to each of her 2010 clients, although I'm sure it could be tweaked to be sent to her entire SOI. My reader enjoyed a tremendous response to the letter, got a few (unsolicited) glowing testimonials to use in her marketing and may even have a few new clients to show for her efforts.

The subject line of the email was: "And the award goes to..."

(and here's the text of the message)...

...me!

This week I had the pleasure (and total surprise) of winning an award from RE/MAX for 2010! It is a beautiful cherry wood plaque that reads:

In Appreciation and Recognition
Of Your Outstanding Performance and Achievements In The RE/MAX® Organization.
You Are Truly "Above The Crowd!"®

Out of 30+ agents in my office, I was one of only 9 to receive this honor!

Why am I sharing this wonderful news with you? Because, without you putting your faith and trust in me last year...well, I wouldn't be writing this email at all!

So thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!  : )

Jane"

Do you have something you could YAY-ME about to your sphere? I bet you do... want to share some ideas? Or ask for feedback??

RELATED BLOGS
Newsletters - Turning Cheese into SOUL (Part 1)
Newsletters - Turning Cheese into SOUL (Part 2)
Newsletters - the Difference Between "Meaningful" and "Interesting"

Oops. A few weeks ago I promised to finish up a series I was doing on KLT - The Know, Like and Trust Principle which goes something like: "The more people who know you, like you and trust you, the more real estate you'll sell."

In the first two segments of the series I talked about the KNOW and LIKE factors - you can read those here and here.

But this third factor - the TRUST factor is probably the most important. Because even if a whole bunch of people KNOW you and a whole bunch of people LIKE you, they won't hire you or refer you if they don't TRUST you. And yes, it is possible to know and like someone and not fully trust them!

By "TRUST," I'm not referring to whether or not the people who know and like you think you're an honorable sort of guy or gal. If they don't TRUST you from an ethical perspective, well, they probably don't LIKE you much either. I'll assume that's not the case!

What I mean by "trust" is that the people who know you and like you TRUST that you'll do a great job for them and their referrals. That if they refer you to their friends, you won't embarrass them. They TRUST you to make them pleased with and proud of their recommendation.

Bob Burg in his book Endless Referrals tells the story of a dry-cleaning service in his town that is owned by someone he knows... and likes... and trusts personally. But professionally? Nope. He hates it, but the guy is a lousy dry-cleaner and Bob simply can't give him his business or refer him to others, no matter how much he likes him on a personal level. He acknowledges that if the drycleaner just matched the service and quality of his competition, he'd be happy to use and refer them, but once he betrayed Bob's professional "trust" by performing poorly more than once, the potential for a professional relationship was over.

In our real estate businesses, there are two ways we earn professional trust from our spheres of influence.

First, we provide fantabulous real estate service when we are honored with the opportunity to represent someone we know, or someone who is referred to us by someone we know. (Which is by far the best way to build a referral-based business!), and

Second, we remember that, even in our personal lives, we're always on display.

If we give our friends and acquaintances (and even the new people we meet on a daily basis) a reason to think of us as reasonably intelligent, reliable, ethical and competent guys or gals in our personal lives, they'll easily make the leap to assume we're all those things in our real estate lives, as well. Which means... that they'll TRUST us to handle their own precious real estate business AND the business of anyone they know who happens to need real estate service.

So, what's the punch line?

Strive to KNOW lots of people... strive to be LIKED by those lots of people...and always strive to earn the TRUST of those lots of people.

Do these things and you can forget all that nonsense you learned about canned prospecting scripts, pushy closing techniques and uncomfortable stranger-pestering dialogues in your pursuit of business!

RELATED BLOGS:
"Too New to Have Satisfied Past Clients? That's Okay - Just be a Reasonably Competent Human Being!"

"Do You Refer to Your Flaky Friends?"