Jennifer Allan's Selling to Your Sphere of Influence - No Sales Pitch Required!

At the end of last year, I went on a rampage about cheese. Not the edible kind (heavens, no!), but rather, the prospecting variety. As in, promoting yourself with dorky, pitchy, predictable material that you bought off the shelf or copied and pasted from some free online resource (or egads, maybe you even paid for the krap!). Y'know. Prospecting cheese.

It is my opinion that if you're going to spend your time and your money promoting yourself to your adoring fans, it's far more effective if you actually create the material yourself to ensure that it's not dorky, cheesy or boring. Everything you send out, whether via snail-mail or email, should be done with the intent of inspiring the recipient to smile and think of you fondly.

And yes, that might just take a little more time than you're used to devoting to your mass-prospecting efforts.

Well, seeing how "time" is usually in short supply, many agents read my stuff and say "Okay, I agree in principle, but at least I'm sending out SOMETHING! I figure that's better than nothing, right?"

Nice try, but no. It's not. Especially when you're sending out that SOMETHING to your Sphere of Influence - aka your friends and acquaintances. If you must, go ahead and send out cheese to strangers, but PLEASE don't do it to your Sphere.

Why?

Your Sphere of Influence contact database is precious and should be treated as such. In fact, it may be the most valuable tool in your arsenal for getting good business and bringing in juicy paychecks. Treat it with the respect it deserves. Let me rephrase that. Treat the PEOPLE who make up your contact database with the respect they deserve.

Every single person in your Sphere of Influence has the potential to bring a $10,000 check your way. More than one, even. That's a fact. So, it's well worth the effort to MAKE an effort to, as above, inspire those special people to smile and think fondly of you every time they hear from you. Don't do anything that sends a message that the person is simply a name on your list, someone worthy of your prospecting efforts, but maybe not your personal attention. And that's exactly what canned, boilerplate, cheesy marketing material does. It sends the message that the recipient is just a name on your list.

Frankly, I'd rather take the chance that my Sphere of Influence (which remember, includes my social network) forgets I sell real estate, rather than take the chance that they roll their eyes every time they hear from me. If I'm not willing to take the time to create interesting, relevant, non-cheesy promotional material to send to my precious Sphere of Influence, then a Sphere of Influence business model may not the right model for me.

So, no, Prospecting with Cheese is NOT Better than Nothing. At least not with your Sphere of Influence.

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Turning Cheese into Soul
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The other day, a nice man from REALTOR Magazine called me up to chat about the Do Not Call list - specifically, what recommendations I, Jennifer Allan, queen of cold-calling (*snort*) might have for agents stymied in their prospecting efforts by that pesky DNC.

We had a great conversation, although it remains to be seen if any of my brilliance will make it into the final article since I really have no experience with the DNC except for being first in line to sign up.

But one of the last questions he asked made me think... and I came up with an answer off the cuff that I'm rather proud of. Thought I'd share it with you.

Question: "Jennifer, I understand that you never cold-called, but I'm sure that someone in your RE/MAX office did. If that agent were to ask you for advice on what to do instead, what would you have advised him?"

JA's Off-the-Cuff Answer: "Hmmmmmm."

No, seriously, I did come up with something...

"What I would probably tell him would be to get out from behind the desk and the telephone and take his naturally charming self out there into the world and make contacts face to face. No, not by knocking on doors or attending power networking events, but rather by striving to make a positive impression on as many people as possible as he goes about his day. By implementing a Quality over Quantity approach to attracting business. Instead of trying to make contact with 100 people a day, who will almost certainly promptly forget about him, try to really connect with two or three, who will be much more likely to remember him tomorrow... and six months from now."

I'm guessing that someone who has experienced success in cold calling has an appealing personality and a confident aura of success, which would be very attractive out in the real world, too! And, frankly, being out in the real world making real friends and real connections sounds a whole lot more fun and rewarding than dialing for dollars three hours a day!

I must confess that while I think my advice is brilliant, I've never been approached by a master cold-caller for my opinion and I don't expect to be in the near future. There are many paths to success and we're all better suited to one path or another.

So, while I don't expect the cold-calling world to suddenly shift their tactics to the JA-Way, I do hope I can inspire those who'd rather not cold-call to try the JA-Way and see if they like it!

Oh, and watch for your April edition of REALTOR Magazine to see if any of this made it in...

If you've been around my blog for more than five minutes, you probably know how I feel about Begging for Business or Referrals. I don't like it. I don't think you should do it. I don't think you need to do it. I think it makes you look unprofessional, needy and, well, I'll say it again, unprofessional.

Was I clear?

Actually, probably not. When I use the word "beg" I'm not just talking about the literal definition of the word where you accost everyone you know and meet, and sob on their shoulder about your lack of business and beg them to find you a buyer or seller. No, when I say not to "beg" I'm also advising against "asking," "reminding," "incentivizing," and in many cases, even "appreciating."

"But... but... but..."

Yeah, I've heard all the but, but, but's and they don't sway me from my stance on the matter. 

So, what should you do instead? How DO you inspire the people you know and the people you meet to send you business if you don't ask/beg/bribe/remind for it?

Tee Hee... Here comes the pitch...

Join me on Saturday morning, January 16th for a freebie teleseminar on this very topic - "Alternatives to Referral-Begging." We'll talk about WHY it's wrong to beg for business and WHAT you can do instead to get the point across without discrediting yourself. And yes, as time permits, we'll address all the but, but, but's...

Details and Registration here
www.SellwithSoul.com/referral-begging

It's Here!!!! 
The Sequel to Sell with Soul
Own one of the first 1,000 copies printed, numbered & autographed.
www.SWSStore.com

It's here, it's here! My new book - it's here! I mean that literally - it's EVERYWHERE in my house. Boxes and boxes of books, everywhere I look. Yeah, it's kinda cool. Strike that. It's so darn freakin' unbelievably cool. I do a little happy dance every time I trip over my boxes and boxes and boxes! (But check back in with me in two weeks as I'm moving all these boxes and boxes to my new place!)

Here's an excerpt from the first chapter of the book... enjoy!

"If You're Not Having Fun Selling Real Estate, You're Not Doing it Right!
by Jennifer Allan

Chapter One 
"What's Fun Got to Do with it?"

Selling real estate can be a blast. All day, every day? Uh, no. There will be days you long for the stability and security of a steady paycheck and regular hours. There will be nights you lie awake tossing and turning, unable to forget that scathing criticism you received from your unhappy seller. You'll have weeks - maybe even months - when you have no idea where your next mortgage payment is coming from. That's definitely not fun... and, unfortunately, something a lot of us can relate to in recent times.

But you'll also enjoy the euphoria of successfully negotiating a tough inspection. Of beating out five other agents for that primo listing without budging on your commission. Of picking up the phone to find a $1.5M buyer on the other end who found you as a result of your blog. Of hearing from your new referred client that your mutual friend said you were "the best." Of being too busy to breathe and then, when you finally come up for air, realizing that you just had a $50,000 month.

Making gobs and gobs of money is fun. Getting steady streams of referrals is fun. Being a master negotiator is fun. Solving problems is fun.

Being an exceptional real estate agent is fun.

This book is going to show you how to have more fun selling real estate by being exceptional at what you do and making lots of money doing it. Yes, you can mix business and pleasure... and have a heck of a time doing it.

First, we'll revisit and expand upon the Sphere of Influence (SOI) business philosophy introduced in Sell with Soul, because having lots of friends is fun, even for introverts like me. Getting business and referrals from your friends is even more fun-more fun than cold-calling, door-knocking, mass-mailing and advertising combined! We'll discuss how the traditional Numbers Game is not much fun at all and how you can change the rules and beat ‘em at their own game.

Moving on, we'll jump into the car with your buyers and debunk most of the nonsense that real estate trainers have been pushing at us since time began. The way we've been trained to "manage" and "handle" and "protect ourselves from" our buyers is a bunch of hooey! Relax, enjoy your buyers, trust your buyers, respect your buyers and they'll be a joy to work with.

Next, we'll spend some time discussing some advanced strategies for marketing, selling and closing your listings, with a particular emphasis on pricing. Trust me, being an outrageously effective listing agent - that is, one who knows how to actually sell houses - is buckets of fun. Being good at turning your listings into paychecks gives you an intoxicating sense of power over your business.

We'll also discuss some of the finer points of being an exceptional real estate agent-covering topics such as win/win negotiating, the right use of systems and effective communication skills.

Finally, we'll wrap things up with some fresh ideas on time management, taking your career to the next level (or conversely, down a notch), firing your clients and much more.

.....................

Want one of your very own? You can buy it from me (numbered & autographed - www.swsstore.com) or at Amazon... I think the Kindle version is already available, or will be shortly.

You can also get one for free, sorta, if you participate in the book release party at my website - just go here for details.

Did I mention how darn cool it is to release a book?

A long time ago (last week? The week before?), I promised to continue a little series I was running about Turning Cheese into Soul - that is - taking yesterday's tired old prospecting techniques and making them less, um, cheesy. Well, I got a little distracted, but it's been driving me NUTS to have the remainder of the series on my to-do list... so, I'm back.

Today's topic is about greeting cards. Specifically, a program called Send Out Cards.* If you aren't familiar with the product/program, it's a greeting card system where you choose a card from an online selection, customize it, and "sign" it... hit SEND and a real, live greeting card goes out in the mail with what appears to be your signature. You can even provide samples of your handwriting and the system will "handwrite" your personal note in the card so that appears to actually have been written by you. Pretty slick.

I've been rather critical of the program for awhile now. I did try it a few years ago, had a negative experience - my cards were sent out twice, thus destroying any notion the recipients might have had as to the authenticity of the cards. I've never used or recommended Send Out Cards again. Here's a blog I wrote on the topic, in fact: http://activerain.com/blogsview/430334/if-you-re-gonna-soi-don-t-over-systemitize-

However, I had a conversation a few weeks ago with my new friend John Lind who might have changed my mind. At least, sorta. Maybe I should say that he opened my eyes to a better way to use the product/program; one that is much more in line with my philosophies of how such things ought to be done.  

John uses his Send Out Cards membership in a decidedly non-dorky/non-cheesy manner. In fact, his use of the program falls right in line with what I teach about staying in touch with your Sphere of Influence. Instead of simply relying on the program to sign and mail a mildly clever, but run-of-the-mill greeting card, he takes the time to use the technology offered by the program to create a truly memorable card - one that will almost certainly make the recipient smile; maybe even LOL!

Here's an example of a card John sent me:

John generated this card after our discussion where I explained why I didn't like the idea of Send(ing) Out Cards. He "wrote" a very nice note on the inside of the card; one that was personal to me and our conversation. I am, in a word, impressed. And yes, I did LOL when I opened it. I even kept it!

Here's another card John did at Thanksgiving...

So, what's the punch line? While it's cheesy (IMO) to rely on technology to do your staying-in-touching FOR you, it's not at all cheesy to use technology to make your staying-in-touching memorable!

See the difference?

Let me know if you have any cool ideas I can steal admire.

* I have nothing to do with the Send Out Cards program - I don't sell it, promote it or distribute it, so the above is definitely not any sort of infomercial for the product. However, I'm sure John would be happy to brainstorm ways that you can make more of an impact with your staying-in-touching! Here's his email address. 

The other day I got a very timely question from my cyber-friend Ron, considering this week's Cheese-to-Soul series.

Ron asked if I knew of a source for good real estate-related newsletter content that would be "meaningful" to his Sphere of Influence (his "SOI"). He's frustrated by the material available for purchase, most of which simply feels canned. Moreover, he's uncomfortable using much of it because it relates to topics he's NOT an expert in, such as tax planning, home staging and credit reports.

I agree. As I may have mentioned a time or two, I refuse to use canned, boilerplate material. I think it's cheesy and dorky. (My definition of Dorky is any written, self-promotional communication that is dull, dry, boring or corporate. Most content-for-purchase pretty much qualifies. )

But let's go back to Ron's quest for real estate information that would be "meaningful" to his SOI.  Here was my response to him:

"Here's the thing - your SOI doesn't have a lot of interest in real estate on a day-to-day basis. Therefore, there's not much in OUR world that would be generally meaningful to people outside of our world, with a few exceptions that come up from time to time.

You want your newsletters to be interesting to your audience, more so than "meaningful." And you know what's interesting to your SOI? Stuff from YOU.  From YOU, their friend, Ron. Maybe an observation about the real estate market, if it's interesting, or to pass on a funny story from your career. Or maybe not related to real estate at all.

I write to my SOI every month in email form, not newsletter form. I want my SOI communications to clearly come from me, not some canned product I bought off a virtual shelf. If newsletters/emails are going to be part of my marketing plan, I'm going to put some effort into them in the hopes of inspiring my friends and acquaintances to think fondly of me, rather than to just simply remember that I sell real estate (and promptly forget)."

So, to pick up from yesterday's blog post on this very topic, remember that the primary goal of your "newsletter" is not to impress, educate or overtly prospect. It's simply to remind the people you know that you exist and that you're a pretty cool guy or gal.

What topics might do that? Well, kinda like blogging, the list is endless... and once you're in the habit, it gets easier and easier to come up with ideas. Here are a few of mine:

Didja' See Me on the News?

Denver Dwellers, what's YOUR special day?

And I thought I was so smart...

I recommend that you always have a notebook with you to scribble down ideas for SOI newsletters - and I think you'll be pleased how quickly your list will grow once you get in the habit.

This seems like a good opportunity for a little SWS plug - I just released my SWS Mega-Toolkit which includes a section of several dozen real-life SOI letters and emails that might give you some ideas for your own 2010 newsletters.

Okay, so that's three blogs on the Art of the Non-Cheesy Newsletter. I think I'll move on now... next up - Greeting Cards! Or... maybe listing presentations... or maybe... heck, I dunno. Just stay tuned!

In yesterday's installment of the Cheese to Soul series,  I commented that I might have half a dozen posts in me about how to create an effective newsletter. Fortunately, or unfortunately, that might actually be true. We'll see how far I get today.

Remember, the goal of a newsletter is to make the recipient of the newsletter smile and think of you fondly. Which is best accomplished not with gardening tips, Just Sold notices or descriptions of your listings, but rather with interesting content that reflects YOU - your voice, your personality. And the best way to do that is to write the content yourself.

Now, don't freak out on me. Writing interesting content YOURSELF is not all that hard, especially if you work under the principle that less is more. As in - don't feel your newsletter has to be formally formatted with a Volume Number, Table of Contents and a three-column layout. Nope. In fact, a simple email-style newsletter will work much better. If you're on my mailing list, you've seen my "newsletters" which are nothing more than me rambling about something, hopefully of interest, with my cute little signature logo at the bottom. No sidebars, very few graphics, and only the occasional sales-pitch (which I usually apologize for).

And, by the way, my newsletters are probably the most important (and effective) self-promotion I do.

Write your newsletters with the goal of inspiring your audience to respond. Responses are good. They open the door to ongoing conversations with your readers and you never know where they'll lead. You're much more likely to get meaningful responses to your newsletters if they're done in a casual format, rather than a formal newsletter format. Whenever I get a newsletter that appears to be professionally-designed, I might be impressed, but I'm not inspired to respond. And, frankly, I make the assumption that the newsletter is mostly boilerplate or sales-pitchy anyway, and not likely to be of interest to me. If I'm pressed for time, I hit DELETE. Which is most of the time.

Make sure your newsletter goes out from YOU - as in, from Your Name. Not from some professional-sounding company or even your fancy tagline. YOUR NAME. Period. I can't tell you how many newsletters I get from people I know, but I'd never know who they were from because the "From" field is a company I've never heard of.  

One last tip for today ... DON'T use a program to send out your emails that doesn't allow replies! I was recently added to an acquaintance's Avon drip campaign and right across the top of my daily marketing email (sigh) is the note:  "PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL. This email box is not equipped to handle correspondence." Sheesh.

So... what might you write about that would be "meaningful" to your audience and inspire them to respond?

You know the drill... stay tuned.

Ahhhhhhh... flickering jack-o-lanterns... the changing o'the leaves... the first snowfall... chestnuts roasting on an open fire... and time to order your end-of-year Doo-Dads!

Every year 'round this time, real estate agents open their checkbooks (or, better said, key in their credit card numbers) and spend millions of dollars on calendars and other Doo-Dads designed to be distributed to anyone and everyone who crosses their paths. The goal? Why, to ensure that every human being on the planet knows who they are, what they do and how to reach them, of course!

A worthy goal, indeed.

Even I, staunch opponent of the typical Doo-Dad, am sorely tempted this time of year to spend my few remaining marketing dollars on something of value to throw at my sphere of influence in hopes of drumming up some last minute fourth-quarter business or filling up my pipeline for the spring season.

But sheesh, most Doo-Dads are really silly. C'mon - personalized fly-swatters? Ice-scrapers? Lip balm? Oh, I'm not sayin' that I won't use a free fly-swatter, ice-scraper or lip balm, but I can pretty much promise you that such Doo-Dads are NOT going to make me feel obligated to use the person or company whose name graces said Doo-Dad!

That said... I like magnets. Always have. Not just any old magnet, mind you; it has to be cool if it's gonna go on my fridge. Even more important, it has to be cool if it's gonna get sent out to my precious sphere of influence.

What do I mean by "cool?" Glad you asked.

A "cool" magnet is one that is 1) extremely clever or attractive, and/or 2) contains truly useful information that the recipient will appreciate and 3) reflects my personality or interests.

What are some examples of UNcool magnets? Oh, how about a plain-jane, vanilla business card magnet? Or a list of kitchen measurements? Or, from someone like me, the sports schedule of the local hockey team? (But if you LOOOOOOOVE hockey, this would be totally cool for you).

If you're going to spend your hard-earned dollars on Doo-Dads, put your money where your heart is. If something seems a bit silly to you, it probably is. As with every other prospecting method you evaluate, be willing to listen to what your gut has to say on the matter. If your gut seems to be saying "Eh... we can do better," trust me, you can.

Here's a link to what I consider to be the ULTIMATE in Doo-Dad-Coolness. Yeah, I had a hand in creating it, so of course I think it's cool, but I'd love your thoughts as well. And please share your own experiences with Doo-Dads - d'good, d'bad and d'ugly!

Earlier this week, I spoke on the subject of Selling to Your Sphere of Influence - No Sales Pitch Required! at the Colorado REALTOR Convention.

As I usually do, I did my best to debunk many of the sacred cows of the SOI- business model training industry, such as how important it is to ask for referrals, why it's a great idea to categorize your friends based on their history of referring to you - stuff like that.

The crowd seemed to accept my protestations that this behavior is not only obnoxious, but that it's not terribly effective. Cool.

I closed my presentation by encouraging the audience to evaluate every prospecting strategy that crosses their path from their gut... to ask themselves if the strategy they're considering is one they're excited about and proud of; to be honest with themselves as to how they would respond to the strategy if used on them and whether or not it would annoy them, if used on them. And to trust what their guts have to say on the matter.

A woman in the back of the room raised her hand and asked if I "approved" of Client Appreciation parties. I asked her if she would enjoy holding such an event and she said she would. I responded with "then absolutely - have that party" with the explanation that if you enjoy doing something, it's probably a good prospecting activity for you. Me? Nah, I'd be too afraid no one would show up and it wouldn't be worth the pre-party stress!

But later I gave this some more thought and wish I had just another 45 seconds in that room to share the rest of the story...

Which is... I just can't get excited about the phrase "client appreciation party." Oh, it's not the worst thing in the world, but to me, it sounds like an event specifically held to make me feel obligated to the host with my future real estate business, as opposed to a party where I'll have a great time. I dunno - there's just something about that title that gives the introvert in me the heebie-jeebies - even more so than a run-of-the-mill party invitation might evoke.

Am I saying not to have the party? Heavens no! Party on, my friend! But call it something else! Have your party in conjunction with an event of general appeal - Oktoberfest, Halloween, your or your spouse's birthday, the World Series or Super Bowl, your housewarming celebration (even if you moved over a year ago!), or just your "first annual wine and cheese tasting" party.

Don't approach your precious Sphere of Influence as a real estate agent first and foremost, as if that's all you are to them. Be a friend or pleasant acquaintance, who throws a good party, and oh, yeah, also happens to sell real estate.

The Winter of Soul Cometh!
10+1 Teleseminars for Agents Who Want to Sell with Soul
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Now that the listing agreement is signed and your FOR SALE sign is in the yard, you're done, right? Onto the next victim prospect to WOW with your fancy listing presentation and 132-point marketing plan! Of course, most of those 132 points are pretty much fluff & nonsense, but by the time you've overwhelmed the seller with your promises of Exceptional Service and Total Commitment, he probably won't notice.

No, he probably WON'T notice at the time, but he'll certainly notice later. The good news is that by then it's too late! He's committed to stuck with you! And you'll be damned if you'll let him out of your listing agreement after you've spent ALL THAT MONEY and ALL THAT TIME on his listing! Besides, he probably won't have the guts to even ask (whew!).

Want to Show Your Seller How Much You (Don't) Care?

It's easy! Just follow these simple steps...

1.  Don't send your seller a copy of the MLS listing entry to get his feedback.

2.  Don't let him know when his house officially goes "on the market."

3.  Don't offer to do an open house, and be sure to argue with him if he asks you to.

4.  Don't call the seller after your open house with feedback.

5.  Don't call the seller after you show his house with feedback.

6.  Don't call after the first few showings just to check in.

7.  Don't monitor showings, but the next time you talk, ask "Have you had any showings lately?"

8.  Put up a brochure box, but never fill it (or let it stay empty after the first batch is gone).

9.  Don't send the seller copies of your advertising.

10.  Don't contact the seller at all until it's time to ask for price reduction or to extend the listing.

If you follow these simple instructions for each and every one of your listings, you will be assured a long, glorious career of prospecting, prospecting, prospecting to keep that pipeline filled! You'll never have to worry about repeat or referral business distracting you from your all-important prospecting schedule...

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