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

Quoted with permission from Go-Givers Sell More by Bob Burg and John David Mann:

"You may have been taught that to be successful in sales, you need to "step outside of your comfort zone." Let's reexamine that idea. If you push yourself to a place that makes you uncomfortable, chances are pretty good you'll end up making the other person uncomfortable, too. Consciously or not, they'll sense your discomfort - and attitudes are contageous.

We human beings tend to resist discomfort; in fact, we'll typically do anything to avoid putting outselves in uncomfortable situations. Why base your entire career on something your strongest instincts tell you to avoid?"

One fine day last spring, I got a phone call from a real estate agent whose name didn't ring a bell.

This agent whose name didn't ring a bell small-talked with me for a few minutes, while I racked my brain to figure out if he was someone I should remember.

Well, when the small-talking was done, he asked me if I knew anyone moving to his town that I could refer to him. Ahhhhhh, sez Jennifer, Now I get it. He's prospecting. Well, I know it's hard to believe, but I didn't happen to know anyone moving to his area, so I told him he could send me an email with his contact information and I'd be glad to let him know if that situation changes. He bade me farewell and hung up. And I never heard from him.

I thought it was pretty funny, not to mention an abysmal waste of his time - cold-calling someone and asking for referrals - and then not even following up?? Interesting strategy.

But over the next month, I got more such calls from agents around the country. Agents whose names I DID recognize; agents who were followers of my philosophy which specifically advises against any form of referral-begging. All asking me if I knew anyone moving to their area.

Now I was confused. What was inspiring this flurry of referral-begging activity?

I gently tried to dissuade the callers from making more such calls to their spheres of influence, but they all seemed determined and even enthusiastic about it.

Well, okay. To each his or her own. Far be it from me to talk someone out of a prospecting technique they're excited about.

It finally dawned on me that these calls must be part of a corporate training program. My assumption was correct - there was a program making the rounds where participants were instructed to call 100 people per day (or maybe it was per week) and ask for referrals.

Whatever. I think it's a ridiculous strategy to abuse friendships with any sort of referral-begging, but apparently I'm in the minority there, at least in the world of real estate training. I'll just say that I don't like it when it's done to me, so it's a given that I will never do it to anyone else.

But the epilogue to this story is that I heard from one of the agents again the other day. Was she calling to hit me up again for referrals to her area? Nope. She was calling to apologize for doing it the first time. That she'd felt sick to her stomach doing it, not only to me, but to the other dozens of friends and acquaintances she subjected her pitch to. She is concerned that she'd actually damaged her friendships and was asking for advice on how to repair that damage.

My friends, if it feels wrong DON'T DO IT. IGNORE the well-intentioned (?) coaches and trainers and brokers who say you have to venture out of your comfort zone in order to succeed. Because there's a difference between overcoming a fear of something new, and doing something you feel is wrong. A BIG difference.

And you know what? You can tell the difference if you'll only pay attention to that little voice inside of you. It knows what it's talking about!

RELATED BLOGS
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DORKY: A style of writing, primarily used in self-promotion, which is predictable, boring, boilerplate or just plain blah. See also The Dorky Announcement Letter, The Dorky Business Card and the Dorky Online Profile.

I really really really wanted to post this blog about nine months ago. A quick look at the calendar would tell you that nine months ago was right around the 2009 holiday season. But smarter heads prevailed, and advised that I hold off until a more "neutral" time of year - e.g. the middle or end of summer. Wise heads, my friends have.

Why wait? Because what I'm about to say probably would have hurt a lot of feelings had I posted it during the heat of the season -- because it would have applied to just everyone who read it. Which means, of course, that everyone who reads it today may still be a little hurt, but at least it's not as, um, timely. You'll see what I mean shortly.

Starting around Thanksgiving, the e-greetings start coming out. You know what an e-greeting is, don't you? Basically a seasonal greeting card that is delivered to your email inbox instead of your snail-mail box. Nothing wrong with that.

But the messages in these e-greetings are... well... predictable. Pithy. Sappy, yet meaningless. Boring. DORKY.

Here's an example of a well-intended message I received last year:

May the spirit of the holiday fill your heart with warmth and love.  Enjoy this wonderful time with your family and loved ones.  It is with gratitude that we say thank you for our friends, our health and another year in our lives.

May you have a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2010.

It's only one of several dozen I got just like it; I'm sure you did, too. And don't get me wrong - I appreciate being on so many distribution lists and there's nothing WRONG with sending out a Dorky message, but here's the thing.

It's not memorable.

No matter how beautifully written, no matter how grammatically correct, no matter how gracefully your words flow, those words are forgettable. And therefore (sorry), your well-intentioned greeting will be forgotten.

And we definitely don't want to be forgotten! After all, isn't that the reason we send these greetings out? To be remembered?

How ‘bout something different this year? Something from the heart - YOUR heart that is - something that actually says something you mean; something you might actually say out loud if you were wishing someone you cared about a Happy Holiday.

Here's an example of a e-greeting card I got from one of my readers. I laughed out loud as I read it. I got a clear picture of my reader friend in my mind, and thought of him fondly. It's his voice, his personality. Might not be YOUR voice or YOUR personality and that's fine. But find YOUR voice... and USE that voice with this year's holiday wishes!

I know the standards of writing I've set in the past are causing you right now to eagerly anticipate sage pearls of wisdom from me; carefully selected words expressed in such an articulate, heartfelt fashion with a message so touching and meaningful as to make you pause, look into the deepest recesses of your heart and reflect on the things you should be thankful for in spite of the troubled times we live in.  Sentences so eloquently constructed they'll render mental and emotional images that will make you cry (just a little). You'll vividly and fondly remember all the joyful Thanksgivings of years past and look forward with hope and eager anticipation to all the Thanksgivings yet to come.

WELL......

Sorry to tell you - I got nothing!

Just enjoy your time off with family and friends and don't eat too much stuffing.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

So, open your mind to a new way to say Happy Holidays to the people you care about. YOUR way...

Got a google alert this morning about an article that was just posted 'bout me in the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors' newsletter. I rather like it, so I thought I'd share...

Sphere Includes More Than Friends and Family

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 By Kim Shindle

Working a "sphere of influence" business is not about pestering friends and family to help you get leads, according to Jennifer Allan, owner of Sell With Soul, a real estate consulting company based in Florida.

"Your sphere of influence (SOI) is more than friends and family," Allan said. "To categorize your friends as to whether they'll make a referral and to bombard them with sales material is an uncomfortable way to do business."

Allan defines "sphere of influence" as "everyone who knows you and knows that you sell real estate. That includes people you like, don't like, people you meet every day, new contacts - whether or not you think they'll make a referral."

"Many agents use an SOI business model as an alternative to prospecting strangers," Allan said. "They ‘warm' call their friends when it's clearly a sales call; they send mass mailings to their friends and they spam them with e-mails, all in order to avoid cold-calling strangers.

To continue... click HERE!

(This is JA now, not the article)... I've been thinking a lot about my beloved Sphere of Influence strategies and philosophies... and I have some new things to say... stay tuned...

To read more of my SOI ramblings... check out my SOI blog
www.Sphere-of-Influence.com

Just got off the phone with an ambitious newer real estate agent who is all fired up about selling some real estate. Some serious real estate. He has a plan. He's committed to this plan. He's passionate about his plan. He WILL meet his goal or die trying.

His goal? To have 35 listings in the next 90 days.

Impressive. And given his enthusiasm and commitment, I think he can do it.

But should he?

This agent is a follower of SWS which means, among other things, that he is committed to being the best thing that could ever happen to his clients. Which, it is understood, will result in business and referrals coming his way for years to come from all his happy, satisfied clients.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

No new agent can properly service 35 listings. Oh, I'm not saying that he can't HANDLE 35 listings (although it's questionable), but actually SERVICE them? No way. Very few agents of any experience level can provide repeat-and-refer-worthy service at that level of production. 

So, what do I mean by "service?" Well, you can bet I mean more than taking a listing agreement, hiring someone to put a sign in the yard, having the receptionist write up an inaccurate and boring MLS description, taking some awful photos, creating typo-infused home brochures and showing up six weeks later with a smile and an amendment to reduce the price. 

No, I mean overseeing all the moving pieces and parts of the complicated process of preparing, marketing, selling and closing a listed property. Really caring about the outcome. Making sure your seller knows you care about the outcome. Keeping your seller informed and involved. So many other things I've written about in the past.

Many say that most of the post-signed-listing-agreement functions can be handled by a $10/hour assistant. I disagree. But that's a post for a different day.

Anyway, I asked this agent if he really thought he could knock the sox off all 35 of his seller clients with his service... or if, more likely, he'd just find himself with 35 unhappy clients who would not use him again or refer him to others.

He's thinking about it. What do YOU think?

Stay tuned for more on the subject in an upcoming post...

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." ~  Dr. Seuss

In April, I did a teleseminar called "Don't Be Dorky, Be YOU!" which was about how to write interesting, relevant and non-cheesy content for your self-promotional material. During that seminar, I talked about the wisdom of being "transparent" to your audience; specifically, whether or not you should you share your personal beliefs and interests with your audience if those beliefs are at all controversial or subject to debate.

I used the rather obvious examples of *religion and politics. If you are a person of faith, should you make that clear in your personal marketing (whether that's your blog, your Facebook page, your website, your personal brochure and/or your SOI communications)? If you have strong political leanings, is it appropriate to publicly share those from time to time when current events seem to call for it?  

During the seminar, I said yes - it is appropriate, within reason. I explained that even though you take the risk of alienating some of your audience, you also maximize the chances that your candor will attract like-minded people with whom you will probably enjoy working. And even if someone doesn't agree wholeheartedly with your opinion, you'll still stand out among the crowd as simply being more interesting than most of your competition who is determined to play it safe and hang out in the middle of the aisle.  

Brilliant stuff, Jennifer, if she does say so herself.  

Well, last week, I had the opportunity to put my money where my mouth was. I sent out an email to my entire **mailing list, and, without giving it much thought, referenced a recent controversial blog I'd written.

Oops.

Well, sorta oops. The responses poured in, literally hundreds of them within a few hours. The majority of responses were supportive, even effusive. Neato.

But some were... shall we say... less so.

A handful of my (now former) readers blasted me for my opinion, and a percentage promptly unsubscribed from my mailing list and my Active Rain blog.

At first, I was shaken. I was hurt. I was mad at myself for carelessly risking the support of my readership. I berated myself for hours for being so stupid as to be that transparent with my precious mailing list. I didn't sleep much that night.

But somewhere in the middle of that sleepless night, I had an epiphany. While my transparency did indeed alienate a portion of my audience, it also solidified the support of a much larger portion of that audience, and also attracted dozens of new readers into my world.

I must confess that in my initial moments of panic, I considered apologizing, backing off my stance and returning to the middle of the aisle where it's much safer. But I didn't and I'm at peace with that decision.

Are you considering being more transparent in your self-promotion? If so, good for you! But be warned that it may take the wind out of your sails the first few times (actually, every time) someone nastily asks to be removed from your mailing list, and you may very well lose audience members. But be assured that there IS a loyal and supportive audience for your viewpoint (unless it's really wacky or creepy, LOL); one that will love you even more once they've discovered your common ground!

*See Post #44 for other, less-divisive examples of opportunities to be "transparent."

** If you'd like to join my mailing list so you can receive my sometimes-not-thought-all-the-way-through ramblings, just do that on my home page www.sellwithsoul.com.

"Okay, I'm convinced. I need to Blog, Blog often, and Blog well. But, but, but... what on earth do I Blog about?"

I get this question in my inbox and on my SWS forum several times a week. And it's a good question! One we all asked ourselves at that point we were persuaded of the value of the Blog.

In fact, it's such a good question (and so frequently asked) that I decided to bring a few people who obviously came up with some good answers to the SWS Virtual Studio to share those answers with all of us.

On Saturday morning, May 22nd, four of Active Rain's powerhouses will convene in the Studio with me to share their thoughts on what inspires them to Blog - how they come up with topics, what topics seem to work best and how they stay motivated.

And these are folks who know what they're talking about. All have at least 400,000 Active Rain points and 800 Blogs posted. They're all among Active Rain's top subscribed Bloggers, so they obviously offer good material that people like to read. And all attribute a significant portion of their business to their Blogging efforts.

How could you NOT want to hear their brilliance?

My guests on May 22nd are...

Jeff Belonger
500,000+++ points

Broker Bryant Tutas
700,000+++ points

Erica Ramus
400,000+++ points

Loreena Yeo
Coming up on 600,000 points

Join us? It's a freeeee show... here are the details and registration page!

Back in 2007, I wrote one of my most popular (and deservedly so, she says modestly) blogs ever. In fact, this one blog has brought more real estate agents to my website than any other, and continues to attract new souls to my midst on an almost daily basis.

I'm referring, of course, to the classic "Let's Do Away with the Dorky Announcement Letter." In this blog, I sternly advise new real estate agents to Think Before They Write to their spheres of influence, BEFORE they announce their venture into real estate as if it's the most exciting news since... oh, I don't know what.

I followed up that blog with the Dorky Series - The Dorky Active Rain Profile, The Dorky Business Card and The Dorky Blog (which NAR brilliantly paraphrased here). I even created a sweet little product called "Dorky Announcement Letters - DEDorked!" where I provide several editable examples of non-dorky letters that can be used to connect or reconnect with one's sphere of influence.

But, alas, the Dorky-ness continues. The other day, I got a nice email from a brand new agent asking if I had a sample of a form letter she could use to announce her new career to her friends and family (no, I don't). Today, I got an inquiry from an agent who apparently found that form letter the other new agent was looking for, sent it out to his SOI and is wondering why no one responded.

I get that a lot. Agents writing to me in frustration that they ARE communicating with their Spheres of Influence ("just like you told me to, Jennifer!") but nothing is happening. No one seems to care about them and their real estate business. But... when I ask for details on what they're sending out to their spheres, they proudly send over their Dorky letters, monthly recipe postcards and boilerplate newsletters.

Sigh.

My friends, I get it. I KNOW that you're busy; I know that it sounds overwhelming to create new material on a regular basis. And since you can easily buy pre-created material, what is wrong with just using that? It's better than nothing, isn't it?

NO. NO. NO.

Sending boring, boilerplate, templated stuff to your sphere of influence won't cut it. I'm really really sorry, but that's the truth. I wish it would - then I could just create my own line of Dorky Letters, Postcards and Newsletters and sell ‘em to you myself! (Hmmmmmm... if you can't beat ‘em join ‘em? Nah).

I'll be discussing this topic at the next freeee SWS Teleseminar entitled "Don't be Dorky, Be YOU!" on April 24th. Join us? Here are the details: www.sellwithsoul.com/dorky.

Hope to see you there!

REGISTER FOR DON'T BE DORKY, BE YOU!
Saturday morning, April 24th
(It's Free)

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.

RELATED CHEESE-TO-SOUL BLOGS
Turning Cheese into Soul
Expireds & FSBO's
Newsletters
Open Houses

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

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