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

It was such a hit last year that we thought we'd do it again... A show about selling real estate without selling your soul!

This Thursday morning, I'll have two SellWithSoul-minded real estate agents who follow SWS principles and are - gasp - SUCCESSFUL! Even though they aren't selling their souls to make it happen!

My guests will join me in the SWS Virtual Studio and tell you how they run their businesses without resorting to icky, cheesy, intelligence-insulting tactics. How they've done it their way, using techniques and strategies that feel right to them, that don't make their skin crawl or reduce them to smiley-faced, cheesy real estate hucksters. How they've resisted the pressure of their brokers, trainers and associates to Suck it Up and Just Do It in the interest of generating business... if that "it" is something they don't feel comfortable doing.

Here are some of the topics my guests will address:

• Is it possible to be "soulful" from Day One, or is a certain level of Old School practice a necessary part of getting started?
• What prospecting activities have you been encouraged to do, but refused?
• Did you ever consider doing and/or implement any prospecting strategies that conflicted with your gut? If so, what was the outcome?
• Have you ever gotten flack from your broker for not being willing to implement prospecting techniques you were uncomfortable with?
• When things aren’t going well, do you ever question yourself as to whether or not you should continue doing things your way, or if maybe your gut instincts are leading you wrong?

Be assured, this is not a sales-pitch for any SWS program or product. Just an hour or so of intelligent, common sense discussion on ways to succeed selling real estate without becoming someone you don't recognize... or even much like.

Join us?

The DETAILS
Date: Thursday, October 27th, 2011
Time: 8am Pacific / 9am Mountain / 10am Central / 11am Eastern
Duration: 60-90 minutes
Equipment Needed: Computer with high-speed Internet access or a telephone.
Cost: Free to attend live, but you must register below:

REGISTER FOR THE SHOW HERE

I believe that every real estate agent who wants to be the best thing to happen to their clients (thus generating a steady supply of new clients throughout their careers) should invest in and commit to a real estate-specific contact management system. No, not to send out cheesy drip-mails to their nearest and dearest every two weeks, but to maximize the likelihood that everyone they know thinks of them fondly when the subject of real estate comes up in their day-to-day wanderings.

On Tuesday, October 18th, I did a teleseminar show in the SWS Virtual Studio on the subject, and discussed several ways contact management can be used to help a real estate agent enjoy the success they dream of. At the end of the show, I asked attendees to send me at least one thing they learned that would help them achieve that - and below are the results of that poll!

Favorit-est Tip #1
Create checklist (or Action Plan) templates for your transactions, specifically, your Active Listings, your Buyers-Under-Contract and your Listings-Under-Contract. Every time you enter into a transaction, apply the appropriate template and voila! Your transaction-specific to-do list auto-populates into your daily task list so nothing slips through the cracks! (you can see samples of mine in my VIP Lounge here.)

Favorit-est Tip #2
Print out a list of your "Group One's" (your social network) every quarter and work your way through the list, making personal contact with a few each week. Each week, different names will "call out" to you from the list, depending on your mood, and by the end of the quarter, you'll have at least attempted to talk to or meet up with everyone on the list. Once you're through the list, print out a new one and start over.

Favorit-est Tip #3
Use your contact management system to REMIND you to do things, not to do them for you! Don't ask your contact management system to DO your staying-in-touch, particularly with your Group One's and your clients. Just set up tasks that will remind you it's time to send a birthday card or a how-ya-doing email or a market status report - then send the greeting card, write up the email or send the report personally.

Favorit-est Tip #4
Every time you have an encounter with someone you know, think of something from your conversation you can follow-up on, and create a task for yourself to do it. For example, if your friend tells you they're job-hunting, set a reminder to call them in a week or two to see how it's going.

If you'd like to read more of my ramblings on Contact Management (exciting stuff, I know), just go here: www.SellwithSoul.com/contact-management.

Thanks to everyone who attended the show and provided their feedback!   

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

Anytime my name is mentioned, I just have to re-blog ;-]. But what Ruthmarie says here is absolutely true - the customer service at IXACT is great - very personal and reliable - and I've literally sent hundreds of agents their way. Anytime we've had an issue - something that slipped through the cracks - they're all over it and end up creating a fan out of the person who was a little grumbly at first ;-]

I endorse very few outside providers, but IXACT is one of them. They offer a free 35-day trial (but it will only take you a few hours to figure out if you love it) - and you can extend that trial to 60 days if you use the special Friends-of-JAH enrollment link: www.ixactcontact.com/ja.

Anyway, thanks for the mention, Ruthmarie!

Last week we did a show-n-tell webinar in the SWS Virtual Studio about contact management - specifically what to DO with your contacts once they're loaded. Because, as nice as it is to have a place to safely store your precious sphere of influence contact details, having them in storage certainly isn't enough to justify either the effort it took to get them there, or the cost you'll incur to keep them there.

If you'd like to watch the video from the show, you can do that here: www.sellwithsoul.com/cms-contacts. It's a long one - nearly 90 minutes, but there's some good stuff there if I do say so me-self!

If you don't have the patience to sit through a 90-minute tutorial (I know I don't), here's the Cliff's Notes version...

Step One: Print out a report of all your contacts, including their spouse's name, home address, email address, phone number and birthday.

Step Two: Go through the list with a highlighter and identify any missing bits of information. Don't DO anything with the missing bits just yet - just identify them.

Step Three: Go through the list again and identify your Group Ones (the people you'd feel comfortable asking out for coffee; i.e. your social network). Put a "1" next to your Group Ones.

Step Four: If you imported your contacts from an old database, identify anyone on that list that you don't know with an "IDK" (I Don't Know). These might be old web leads or people you met at open houses five years ago, for example.

Step Five: Everyone else on the list, who isn't a Group One or an IDK should be a Group Two (people you know, but who aren't in your social network).

Step Six: Go BACK through the list (yet again) and identify members any sub-groups that you see - for example - family, service providers, dog-lovers, fellow bikers or hikers, little-league parents, members of your church, high school or college friends, etc.

INTERLUDE

All this printing and highlighting and scribbling may sound a little low-tech for today's world, eh? Surely there's a faster, more efficient way to do these things without expending all this manual effort?

Yes, of course there is and most contact management systems will allow you to do most of these steps directly online, without printing and highlighting and scribbling.

BUT

I believe there is something magical about "touching" the names in your database on a regular basis. When you print out the list and go through it, name by name and really think about each person and who they "are" to you, good things happen. First, you'll likely be inspired to reconnect with many of the people on that list, and second (as airy-fairy as this may sound), when you think about someone, I believe you send out a vibe to them, and if you're thinking good thoughts (!), I believe they'll feel it... and might be inspired to reconnect with YOU! I think every real estate agent should go through their database, name by name, at least every six months.

Okay - I'll continue this later this week with what to do NEXT after you've printed out and scribbled up your list... Stay tuned!

Just a quick announcement of an SWS webinar next week... we're doing it specifically for IXACT Contact users, but even if you use a different contact management system or are considering signing up for one, it might be worth an hour or so of your time to attend.

We're going to do a show-n-tell webinar about what to DO with your contacts once you've loaded them up. Sure, it's nice having contact information for your sphere of influence all in one place, but if that's all you do with it - that is - store it, you SO won't get your money's worth from whatever program you're using.

And I want you to GET your money's worth from any program, system or tool you spend your hard-earned dollars on, especially if it's a program, system or tool I advised you to get in the first place!

So, if you'd like to join us, we're meeting on Tuesday, August 9th at 8am Pacific / 11am Eastern. You'll need to be sitting at a computer with speakers so you can follow along. Again, you don't have to be an IXACT Contact subscriber to attend and benefit from the material.

To register for the webinar, just go here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/744266937.

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?

Real Estate Agents ask... "How do I meet more people to add to my database?"

Traditional Training answers: "Join clubs! Attend networking events! Volunteer at the homeless shelter! Sponsor booths! Take classes!"

All fine ideas, to be sure. But I'm exhausted just looking at that list, never mind actually doing any of those things on a regular basis.

Personally, I don't WANT to join clubs, I dread networking events, I'm too lazy to sponsor anything and there's nothing I want to take a class on right now! So, am I doomed to live a life of seclusion and isolation, with only a puny little sphere of influence database to show for it?

NO!

Meeting people and inspiring them to think of you as a go-to real estate agent in their world isn't nearly as complicated and time-consuming as we've been led to believe. Yes, it takes effort and might take a little time, but you don't have to completely turn your life around or change who you are just to beef up that precious contact database of people who know you, like you, trust you... and know that you sell real estate.

So, if the notion of joining a dozen clubs or attending weekly Chamber of Commerce events leaves you cold, don't fret. You can still enjoy the rewards of having a robust sphere of influence database, even if you're starting from scratch. We'll tell you how!

Join us? 

THE DETAILS
Date: Thursday, May 12th, 2011
Time: 8:00am Pacific / 9:00am Mountain / 10:00am Central / 11:00am Eastern (try to show up a few minutes early to log in or dial in)
Duration: 60 - 90 minutes
Equipment Needed: A computer with a high-speed connection and speakers or a telephone
Cost: Free to attend live, but you must register, below.

REGISTER HERE!

NOTE TO KELLER WILLIAMS AGENTS! Do not register for the program using your @kw email address; your confirmation will be blocked and you will not receive access instructions. The Keller Williams email server does not allow emails from the program we use to confirm teleseminar registrations.

In early 2011, we did a webinar called "Using Your Contact Management System to SOI" where we discussed and demonstrated various techniques to generate business and referrals from your sphere of influence using a contact management system. That is - how to use the conTACT management features of your system to soulfully reconnect and stay in touch with the people you know... and the people you meet.

Well, turns out it's a much more popular topic than we expected; in fact, more people signed up and showed up than we had room for! So, we thought we'd do it again on Tuesday, May 10th. It's free to attend, but there will only be 100 seats in the house, so register (and show up) a little early!

Using webinar technology (that is, you'll be able to follow along on the computer screen as we demonstrate various techniques), we'll walk you thru how you can use contact management technology to, to put it bluntly, make money. It's pretty simple stuff, actually, but in so many cases, simple is ... simply better.

We'll talk about acknowledging birthdays and other important dates; how to group and categorize your sphere without overdoing it; how to set up action plans and tasks to stay in touch your sphere of influence both on an individual basis and with mass-communications projects. Stuff like that.

We'll be using webinar technology, so you'll need to be in front of a computer with a high-speed connection and speakers to get the most out of the show.

If you don't have a contact manager yet, don't despair! The show will still be helpful and informative and might just inspire you to take that next step and commit to getting a contact management system of your very own. I hope it does, anyway. It really is important.

Oh, one more thing. If you don't have a contact management system and are looking for one, try the one we'll be working from. It's called IXACT Contact and you can get your first 60 days free by signing up here: http://www.ixactcontact.com/JA. I highly encourage you to explore the site a little before the show so that it looks familiar to you, which will make it easier to follow along.

The DETAILS
Date: May 10th, 2011
Time: 8am Pacific / 9am Mountain / 10am Central / 11am Eastern
Duration: 60-75 minutes
Equipment Needed: Computer with high-speed Internet and speakers
Cost: Free, but you must register, below

TO REGISTER, click here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/293856985

If things go as planned, my next book will be released sometime in late April... so this week's show is a sneak preview of what's in that book and, frankly, a little pre-release marketing to boost pre-sales! (How's that for transparent?)

As the title implies, we're going to talk about choosing the right prospecting methods for you - or, as the subtitle of my book promises "Discovering the Perfect Prospecting Strategies for Wonderful, Extraordinary, One-of-a-Kind YOU."  Because you ARE wonderful, you ARE extraordinary and you ARE one-of-a-kind! And your approach to building your business should reflect that. 

Because you know what? You CAN choose which prospecting strategies you're going to implement - and which ones you'll reject. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks you should do, this is YOUR business and you can (and should) run it your way. In fact, you'll be far more successful, not to mention happier, if you figure out what works for you, what you enjoy doing and what you're good at. 

Sounds obvious, doesn't it? But so much of our training pushes just the opposite - that we need to do things we dread doing; things that embarrass us or make us uncomfortable if we're to have any hope of succeeding. 

BAH! 

Anyway, on March 31st, we're going to talk about this and much more, and I'll walk you thru some self-evaluation exercises to help you strategically figure out what prospecting methods are right for you at this stage of your life and career.

Join us?

THE DETAILS
Date: Thursday, March 31st, 2011
Time: 8:00am Pacific / 9:00am Mountain / 10:00am Central / 11:00am Eastern (try to show up a few minutes early to log in or dial in)
Duration: 60 - 75 minutes
Equipment Needed: A computer with a high-speed connection and speakers or a telephone
Cost: Free to attend live, but you must register below.

TO REGISTER FOR THE SHOW
www.SellwithSoul.com/perfect