M. Nack’s Blog

Whether or not you realize it, as a licensed real estate agent, YOU are an entrepreneur. An excellent resource for entrepreneurs is Inc. Magazine. My latest copy just arrived in my mailbox.

 

The cover article is an interview of Jim Collins – author of Good To Great and Built To Last. What’s fascinating is that he is passionate about entrepreneurs and views those two books as being about entrepreneurship – even though the subject matter is huge, publicly traded companies.

 

The interview outlines some key evolutions through which entrepreneurship has progressed since 1979 – the year of Inc. Magazine’s first issue:

 

Entrepreneurship can learned:

Once perceived as a trait that one is born with, now it is understood that entrepreneurs can be taught, groomed and cultivated. Courses in business schools as well as an abundance of other resources – books, magazines, videos, mentor programs – attest to the truth that entrepreneurs are made, not born.

 

Entrepreneurship isn’t just for mavericks anymore:

The attitude in 1979 was that entrepreneurship was for mavericks. Entrepreneurs were crazy, creative people that weren’t quite normal. Today, not only are entrepreneurs socially acceptable, they are practically viewed as heroic!

 

Building a business used to be about building a better mousetrap:

Nowadays, entrepreneurship is about developing a better process. There are lots of better mousetraps and companies with a great process no longer focus on just one mousetrap – but keep adding more and more mousetraps as they come along. It is much more important today to create a better process that will produce MANY mousetraps over time.

 

Web 2.0 has created the phenomena of companies becoming movements:

According to Jim Collins, there are 3 stages to every business:

1.      Have a great idea.

2.      Build a business to implement that idea.

3.      Build a great company that can implement MANY great ideas.

However, some companies become something even bigger than themselves – they become a movement.

 

We all know it when we see it – customers that are raving product fans and tell all their friends about it. That is when a company becomes a movement.

 

So how do you go about creating “raving fans” for YOUR business?

 

1.      Your business is much bigger than you – and it is more than about “just making money”. You must think from your customer’s viewpoint – how can you best serve them? What do they need? How can you be of help?

2.      Determine who benefits most from what you are offering and identify a niche.

3.      You want to talk to your ideal prospect in THEIR language by creating an organic Unique Selling Proposition from the bottom up.

4.      Provide your ideal prospect with the valuable information they are looking for. This can be done quickly and for free if you utilize social media.

5.      Using social media tools such as Facebook or perhaps a blog, create a community. Create “excuses” for the members of your community to contact you directly.

6.      Once they “raise their hand” by communicating with you, move them to your private database. Continue strengthening your relationship with them by communicating to them as an “Insider”. Once your ideal prospect feels confident that you or the service you provide are “for real”, they will begin “spreading the word” for you and become your sales force!

 

Real estate has always been about the relationships. With focus and intention, today’s technological tools allows for faster community building. Be true to your vision to serve to the best of your professional ability; communicate that vision often. As sure as day follows night, you will find yourself at the center of a robust, business generating community of raving fans. 

For 3 quick tips on how to make YOUR business go viral, go to www.NewMarketLeaders.com and watch a free video now.

 

One of the first things we learn as a REALTOR is how to use the MLS, no? And I’m sure you will agree it is a huge resource for us. The challenge is that, even though it gives us all sorts of great information about sellers and their properties, it doesn’t give us a lot of direct information about buyers. And in today’s market, we need to know about buyers more than ever!

So what is a “super ninja” tool we can use to reserach what buyers are doing and what buyers want? Previously, when the market was hot, attracting buyers was as easy as putting a sign in the yard or an ad in the paper. But what can we do to attract them to us in this environment?

Just as we have the MLS to give us information about sellers and their properties, there is another tool that we can use to tell us about buyers. You won’t believe it, but it is a billion dollar research tool - and it’s available to us absolutely free! Not only that - but it has been sitting right under our noses for the past 8 years. But until the market shifted, we didn’t need the help we do now.

You will be surprised when I tell you what it is because it’s a tool that you probably use almost every day - just like the MLS. You just didn’t know everything it is capable of doing.

It’s called Google.

And not just Google - but specifically Google Adwords. Some crazy number like 95% of all buyers start their search for real estate on the Internet, right? Well, Google Adwords lets us figure out exactly what words they are using to start that search!

But wait - it gets even better! Unlike our MLS, you can learn to use Google Adwords in minutes. All you do is enter the key phrases you are interested in researching and Google will tell you how many people are searching using that word or phrase every single month. And Google is very smart - because it will also give you suggestions of other words and phrases that may be better to use.

So, let’s look at an example: Let’s say you sell resort homes in Door County Wisconsin. You enter “reseort homes” and “Door County” in the keyword tool. It will then tell us how many people are searching every month for resort homes in Door County.

I just went to Google Adwords and entered those exact key phrases: “resort homes” and “door county”. This is what came up:
Door County resorts: 2400        Door County WI:  22,200
Door County resort:  2900         Door County Wisconsin: 22,200
Door County rentals: 3600        Door County lodging: 4,400

When I scroll further down, it will suggest other phrases:

Door County: 201,00 - Now we’re talking some volume!
Sister Bay: 33,100 - SURPRISE!
Vacation Homes: 301,000

What’s even cooler is that alongside each key word or phrase, Adwords will have a graph showing the trend of how many people are searching that phrase. As you would no doubt suspect in this market, all the words are trending downward just now. (Though Door County Weddings is not! Wonder what I can do with THAT information?)

Now that you are armed with this information, what do you do with it?

Well, you have several options:
    1) You can advertise on Google itself using “Pay Per Click” advertising.
    2) You can optimize your website using exactly these keywords. (In our example, you would type Door County Resort” vs. “Door County Resorts” because more people are search the singular vs. the plural version.)

OR - you can use free social media strategies and sprinkle these keywords liberally throughout your content so that hot prospects will find you, call you and take action! How awesome would THAT be to have a hot prospect looking exactly for your service calling YOU?

For more “hot tips” on how to find your prospects and restore your 6 figure income, go to http://NewMarketLeaders.com and download our FREE teleseminar now.

Put Social Media to work for you NOW. Ramona S., a Chicago REALTOR, noticed a significant buzz around the homebuyer tax credit. She decided to post a short comment on her Facebook wall about the tax credit inviting any questions be sent her way. She was shocked when, in less than 15 minutes she received 10 requests for more information and 3 leads. One was from someone she didn’t even know who was out-of-area and which resulted in a referral

“I can’t remember the last time I got 3 leads in one day - let alone 15 minutes!” Ramona said.

The number one rule in marketing today is to provide information that the consumer is seeking:
There is so much information and things are moving so quickly that homeowners are confused and need help navigating the rules. Who are they most likely to turn to for help? Someone who positions themself as knowledgable and with whom they have developed a relationship - regardless of how remote.

Social media is about social proof:
What you know is important - but how many people you know is even more important. The old adage “It’s not what you know - it’s WHO you know” no longer applies. Using tools like twitter and Facebook, you can exponentially grow the number of people that know about you and about what you do.

Internet 2.0 - i.e. social media - will NOT tolerate “selling”:
Social media is like a cocktail party. Your friends don’t want to be hustled, sold, pressured or pitched. They DO want to talk about what interests them and what’s important to them. Everyone wants to be well informed and on top of what’s going on.

The point of Ramona’s Facebook post was not to give tax advice. It was simply to let her Facebook friends know that she is paying attention to what is happening in the real estate market. She wanted to start a real estate conversation with people she was not otherwise engaged with professionally. It served to demonstrate her knowledge of the market place and her commitment to keeping her clients informed. It also served to remind her Facebook friends about what she does for a living.

Looking for similar results? Do what Ramona did - attend a New Market Leaders teleseminar. Go to http://NewMarketLeaders.com and download a *FREE* class now.

Despite his unimpressive stature, strength and speed, hockey hall of fame great Wayne Gretzky was unrivaled in his execution of the game. He was most famously known for consistently being able to anticipate where the puck was going.  As a result, he was able to execute the right move at the right time. 

Similarly, today’s top achievers do five things to “skate” to where the market is going. 

1)      Top Achievers adjust who their “ideal prospect” is:

Much of the traditional real estate market segment  - the move up or move down buyer - is not active in today’s market. The profile of today’s active consumer is

1. Pre-foreclosure homeowners
2. The banks
3. Investors
4. First-time homebuyers

In order to “skate” to where the deals are, Top Achievers learn the skills necessary to work with today’s active consumer - whether it’s learning how to do short sales, BPO’s, or analyzing NOI on investment property. 

2)      Top Achievers have a Unique Selling Proposition for Each Market Segment: 

Rather than limiting themselves to a generic “one size fits all” slogan, Top Achievers adjust and adopt their message specifically to each of the market segments they are marketing to. (See “Pull Clients To You Like Magic” for specific information on how to create a USP.) 

3)      Top Achievers are in front of market trends and use absorption rate pricing:  

Top Achievers intelligently analyze the market and counsel their clients to execute appropriately based on where the market is going. Top Achievers are professional consultants whose key responsibility is to give their clients the accurate data necessary to make the best decision in light of their personal situation.

4)      Top Achievers use Social Media to communicate instantly and for *FREE*:  

By familiarizing themselves with free Social Media tools, Top Achievers share information while it’s still news. Using direct mail is costly and time consuming. A phone campaign can be more immediate but is extremely time intensive. One post on Facebook or Twitter spreads the news while it’s still “hot”. (See “5 Things You Will Love About Social Media”) 

5)      Top Achievers Manage Their Attitude: 

By honing skills or learning new ones, listening to CD’s, reading self-improvement books, Top Achievers never stop learning and growing. They inoculate themselves against the sea of negativity swirling around them. 

Take a tip from Wayne Gretzky. To stay on top of YOUR game,

• Learn to analyze the market and where it’s going.
• Define your most likely prospect.
• Craft a unique message to attract that prospect.
• Use social media to communicate with them instantly and for free.
• Finally, do not succumb to the fear and panic all around. Immunize yourself against a ‘sea of misfortunes’ and skate to the top of your field! 

Download a *FREE* teleseminar on  “The Unwritten Rules of Social Media Marketing To Restore Six-Figure Incomes”. Go to http://NewMarketLeaders.com now.

Are your current marketing strategies not producing enough leads? Has income been sliding? Overhead exceeding income? Struggling just to make ends meet?

No one adopts new strategies if the old ones are working. A quote from Abe Lincoln seems particularly pertinent to our current environment:

   ”The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.”

What a great nickname: “Honest Abe” - especially coming from Illinois - home of impeached governors. Honest Abe, of course, was talking about the Civil War and preserving the Union. Thank goodness he realized he had to use new strategies - or we might be 2 separate countries right now instead of one United States!  

This is what I’ve discovered: the lead generating strategies of the real estate boom are inadequate to the stormy present. I have been working REALLY hard for 2 years to generate the income I need to sustain myself. I’ve never been a stranger to hard work. But I having been working harder than ever and STILL not generating adequate results. I finally realized that I had hit a brick wall.

Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. If you’re in a hole, digging harder and faster will only get you in deeper.

Delving into social media strategies, I am beginning to realize that THIS is how people want to be communicated with these days!! They don’t WANT you “knocking on their door” (I did plenty of that in my youth!) or calling them on the phone. They want to go to the internet, (i.e. “FaceBook”, “My Space”, “Twitter”, etc…) get the information they want and THEN contact you if they feel like you’ve got what they’re looking for. If they CAN do it by themselves, they will. But most often that just isn’t practical. So, they do the next best thing: they talk to the person they think is the most likely to help them.

The way we did business in the “roaring 90’s” is inadequate for the stormy present. Just as “cold calling” was an awesome strategy for the 50’s and 60’s, relational strategies was amazing for the 90’s. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. Today, the way we market ourselves is using Social Media.

If you find that the old “tried and true” systems just aren’t working for you as well, find out what we’re doing on www.NewMarketLeaders.com. We’ll help you put the all the social media puzzle pieces together.

“All Things With Exuberance!”
mary!

I had a conversation with my new teleseminar partners last night. We have been working really hard on a series of trainings on internet marketing and we’re really excited by the positive feedback we’re receiving. For an aging boomer such as myself to learn internet marketing strateiges - well, if I can do it…

Here’s the thing: no one adopts new strategies if the old ones are working. A quote from Abe Lincoln seems particularly pertinent to our current environment. (What a great nickname: “Honest Abe” - especially coming from Illinois - home of impeached governors.) He, of course, was talking about the Civil War and preserving the Union. Thank goodness Honest Abe realized he had to use a new strategy! 

    ”The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.”

That’s the position I find myself in: the lead generating strategies of the real estate boom are inadequate to the stormy present. I have been working REALLY hard for 2 years to generate the income I need to sustain myself. I’ve never been a stranger to hard work. But I would work and work and work and not generate adequate results. I finally came to the realization that I had hit a brick wall. Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. If you’re in a hole, digging harder and faster will only get you in deeper.

Yes: doing calls, notes, pop-bys is a terrific way to connect with past clients. And it’s a spectacular way to incubate a lead (seems we get them 12-24 months out these days). And it’s not that our past clients don’t want to help. It’s just that they aren’t talking to anyone who is in a position to make a real estate decision. It was easy getting referrals when EVERYONE wanted to buy real estate - and as a consequence everyone wanted to sell. But the story is quite different these days.

Delving into these internet marketing strategies, I am beginning to realize that there IS an easier way!! It doesn’t have to be SO hard!! The way we did business in the “roaring 90’s” is inadequate for the stormy present. Just as “cold calling” was an awesome strategy for the 50’s and 60’s, “call, notes and pop-bys” was an amazing strategy for the 90’s. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, find out what we’re doing on www.NewMarketLeaders.com. Come on in, the water is just fine!

“All Things With Exuberance!”
mary!

On our teleseminar call last week, I shared a couple of paragraphs from an article by Peter Wallsten of The Washington Bureau that appeared in The Chicago Tribune on Weds, Jan 14, 2009. The article said:

    ”The organization, known internally as ‘Barack Obama 2.0′ is being designed to sustain a grass-roots network of millions that was mobilized last year to elect Obama and is now widely considered the country’s most potent political machine.

    ”Strategists for both parties say the scope of this permanent campaign structure is unprecedented for a sitting president. People familiar with the plan say Obama’s team would use the network in part to pressure lawmakers - particularly wavering members of the new president’s own party - to help him pass legislation on the economy, health care and energy.

    ”The plan could cause tensions with members of Congress, who are unlikely to welcome the idea of Obama’s political network targeting them from within their own districts…

    ”Strategists in both parties said the ideas being discussed would create a weapon for policy battles far more powerful than the speeches, news conferences and donor-targeted techniques used by past presidents.

    ”No one’s ever had these kind of resources,’ said political strategist Ed Rollins, who led political operations under President Ronald Reagan. ‘This would be the greatest political organization ever put together.’…”

I share this article with you because it demonstrates the incredible effectiveness of what the Obama campaign has done using very accessible AND AFFORDABLE Internet marketing strategies!

And what we’re teaching you are the very systems that the Obama campaign used so that you can win your election with YOUR database - “Marketing 2.0″

To hear a *FREE* recording of the call -or to register for our NEXT *FREE* call - where we will cover “Must Have Social Media Tools” - on Jan 22nd, go to: www.NewMarketLeaders.com

“All Things With Exuberance!
mary!

Whether or not you are an Obama supporter, his campaign proved one thing - his campaign’s marketing strategies worked like magic!

Obama literally came from “nowhere” to become Leader of the Free World.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been working really hard the past 12-18 months - and making less. I’m all about using whatever will work. Aren’t you?

Einstein said, ”The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.”

In these challenging times, “business as usual” just doesn’t cut it.  It’s going to take a different way - a NEW way - of thinking about things. Obama’s campaign has shown us a different way - clearly a way that works!

Obama had to tackle 2 major issues: 
    1) He was a relative newcomer to the political scene without a large support base to draw upon. 
    2) With limited financial resources, he needed to overcome the the Clinton “money machine”.

“Business As Usual” wasn’t going to cut it for the Obama campaign. He was forced to devise a NEW strategy to win his election. He followed 4 steps:

I. He Created A “Bottom’s Up” Unique Selling Proposition [USP] - “Change We Can Believe In”
Most candidates (and business people and sales people), sit in a room “thinking up stuff” that they think might appeal to the public. One good friend who is also a REALTOR used a tag line on all of her marketing, “We Do Our Home Work.” Catchy. Clever. But how effective is it in getting me to choose her as my REALTOR?

What Obama did was a classic marketing strategy: he held “focus groups” in the form of “town meetings”. He ASKED people what they wanted in a candidate. He listened first and THEN came up with a USP based on what he was told. People wanted change. Ergo the USP “Change We Can Believe In”.

II. He Built An On-Line Community  
Now the campaign has its USP, it was time to take it to the “market”. What was so unique about what the Obama campaign did was to make extensive use of internet social media strategies - FaceBook, a blog, a website, YouTube videos. It probably started out due to lack of funding. However, the campaign utilized these tools so brilliantly that they ended up literally circumventing traditional media (newspapers, TV) to talk directly to their public. When a negative story would break on the news, the on-line community not only knew about it but had already heard Obama’s side of the story!

III. He Lowered The Barrier to “Buy In”
Instead of looking for huge donors to fund the campaign, the campaign asked for $5 donations! $5!! It was a complete game-changer. I remember thinking, “Heck, I don’t know if I want to vote for the guy - but I’ll give him $5 to give him a chance at being on the ballot.” But once I made the $5 ”commitment” - now I’m no longer standing on the outside looking in. Now I’m engaged! Now I’m watching the campaign with interest! And once I’m on the “inside” - they not only asked for my vote, they asked me to help get the vote out!

IV. Post Election Follow-Up
Even though the election is past, I am still being solicited for input. Obama is brilliantly allowing the community to shape policy. He’s converting ”Insiders” into Advocates! There was just an article in the Chicago Tribune on Weds, Jan 14th about “the country’s most potent politcial machine” and how Obama is using it to force his agenda on Congress. Do you let your advocates inform YOUR agenda?

During the Great Depression, huge fortunes were made by many. The Kennedy, Rothschild and Rockefeller families all dramatically increased their fortunes throughout the Depression. But it wasn’t just the rich who got richer - many ordinary citizens found a way to not only survive but thrive during a poor economy.

To learn more about the marketing genius of the Obama campaign and how to apply it to your business, go here: www.NewMarketLeaders.com

“All Things With Exuberance!
mary!

There is no question about it. We are a country in trouble. I don’t like giving Sarah Palin credit for much of anything - but her infamous interview with Katie Couric was right on point about one thing: it is all about job creation. Is Obama the new FDR? Is he going to put everyone back to work on WPA projects? Will Congress allow him to put us further into debt (or print more money) to make that bold move? Will we as a nation give them the authority to do so?

I was out showing property today. Every single property we looked at was in foreclosure - which has to do with the price point we were looking at. The final home we saw, the seller was still living there with his family. He pointed out the mold growing in his closets due to the need for a new roof, which he can’t afford. And why is this family in trouble? He lost his job and can’t find work. He had worked as a chef. He went from making $80,000/year to nada. No need to tell you about the restaurant industry and how it’s hurting.
  
And why were we looking at foreclosures? Because my buyer is afraid to over-spend. She lost $50,000 in the stock market before cashing in her mutual funds for T-Bills. Instead of $180,000, she now has $130,000. And she is afraid of losing her job at an architectural firm. No need to tell you about the real estate industry and all the affiliated industries that are tied to it.

Now take these stories and multiply them over and over and over and you have to know: it’s all about jobs.

For the majority of Americans.

But there is a bold reality that belongs to the elite few that dare. Gen X and Gen Y have already pointed the way. Dependence on Big Brother for job security is a notion that has been bankrupt for quite some time. And when you take an aging Baby Boomer like me, trying to find a job in these market conditions is not even an option. (I had a conversation with a head hunter about a month ago who informed me of that reality. There is such a thing as “too much experience”. Some political circles would call it “agism”.)

Necessity is the mother of invention. These are the times that demand we become creative, take responsibility for our own destinies, craft a bold new approach. The old strategies that worked 5-10 years ago are no longer effective. When the old strategies no longer work, we must look for new ones. I believe it was Einstein who said that insanity is doing the same things and expecting different results.

For me, this means exploring different options. Check out what I’m doing at: www.NewMarketLeaders.com

“All Things With Exuberance!”
mary!