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

As promised, here's the follow up to my blog yesterday entitled "Is SOI Enough in Today's Market?"

Yes and No.

No, traditional "SOI" where you  simply let all your friends know you sell real estate and then send them off into the world to be your marketing department is definitely not enough. Why? Because the volume of buyers and sellers is drastically reduced from days past when everyone and their uncle knew someone buying or selling. Now, it's not unrealistic that the people you know truly DON'T anyone who needs your services today or tomorrow!

But yes, if you redefine what it means to "SOI."

If you expand the term "SOI" to include every warm body you come into contact with during your day-to-day travels, then yes, most certainly, SOI will work beautifully for you, even in today's market.  Obviously, this means that you need to try to get your smiling face in front of as many warm bodies as you can, as often as you can. However, you can't just hit the streets (or the phones) with a smile on your face (although that helps A LOT) and hope that new clients will force themselves on you.

In order to capture the attention of those warm bodies you run into, you need to have something they want. What's that? Information, as in-- knowledge of your local market. Fact and figures, yes, but also a familiarity with specific listings, recent sales and even the overall vibe of your marketplace.

Sounds really simple, but apparently it's not because I'm wiping the floor with other agents' former clients who were dissatisfied with their previous agents' knowledge and familiarity with the market. Every single buyer I have right now belonged to someone else, but when they crossed my path for one reason or another, they were blown away by my ability to speak intelligently about their specific real estate wants & needs. They wanted ME! They asked ME to be their Realtor! Gotta love it.

When you're out in public and can Talk the Talk confidently and casually, business will be almost magically drawn to you. You won't have to beg for it; you won't even have to ask for it. People will ask you if you have time for them.

So, how is this related to an SOI strategy? Well, you have to have an audience with whom to share your market knowledge and the best way to find a receptive one is to be in the company of people you enjoy. Your friends, sure, but also people who live in your neighborhood or attend the same parties or eat at the same restaurant or drink at the same bar or go to the same dog park or even shop at the same Wal-Mart!

Being a nice-n-friendly guy or gal is great, and can even be enough to generate a minimal level of business is a strong market, but today, you need more. In order to effectively generate business from the people you know and the people you meet, you must have something they want. That something is information.

Master Your Market... and sell your share of it!

*SOI = Sphere of Influence = A business-building strategy based on the personal relationships in your life.

The Savvy Prospector: Eight Weeks to a Full Pipeline for Life!
          

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The Daily Seduction: Tips for Generating Business & Referrals from the People Who Know You

First, allow me to apologize for using that tired phrase "Today's Market." Real estate is most certainly local, so "Today's Market" in Denver is much different from Today's Market in Detroit, Dallas or Des Moines. I get that. But, for the sake of argument (or discussion), let's just assume that in most US real estate markets, "Today's" is not as much as fun as "a Few Years Ago's." Deal?

I'm just wrapping up the Savvy Prospector 12-week course, which was a live online program that helped real estate agents (and a few loan officers) create, maintain and nurture an effective prospecting strategy, which of course included a heavy dose of SOI. (Hey, it was my show and that's what I believe in).  As always happens when I teach, I learn. Perhaps even as much as my students.

What did I learn from The Savvy Prospector program?

Well, I'm not sure if this lesson came from the program or simply from being out there in the world selling real estate, but I've decided that in "Today's Market", SOI alone is NOT enough to maintain the lifestyle I'd grown accustomed to. Now, before you (depending on your frame of mind) gloat and smugly say "I told ya so," or conversely, burst into tears with disappointment, allow me to continue.

In the good old days (prior to "Today's" Market), buyers and sellers were all over the place. Everyone knew someone who trying to buy a house (and getting outbid) or who had just sold their house with multiple offers. People were amazed at the equity that had built up in their recently-purchased properties. Anyone with a toolbox fancied him or herself a real estate investor. In other words, real estate was a hot, POSITIVE topic of conversation. All you really had to do was get your cute little backside out there in the world and you could pretty easily drum up a prospect or two.

In my first year back in 1996-97, I implemented a take-a-friend-to-lunch campaign which was wildly successful. I got a lead and usually a closing from every single lunch. Like I said... everyone knew someone who was thinking about "doing" some real estate. It was practically shooting fish in a barrel. Eat some sushi, sell some houses.

Today - eh - not so much. For various reasons we're all familiar with, people simply aren't buying and selling homes in the volumes of years past. Real estate is NOT the hot, positive topic it used to be and I'll bet many of you have faced that sympathetic look when you tell someone you sell real estate for a living.

So, what's a cold-call phobic to do? Just get over the fear of cold-calling or otherwise pestering people for business?

Nope.

Stay tuned... I'm outta room on this blog. But don't fret - those of you who favor a softer approach to building your business don't have to abandon that approach until Tomorrow's Market arrives! You can continue to be who you are and experience the success you desire.

I'll tell you how tomorrow!

*SOI = Sphere of Influence = building your business based on the personal relationships in your life.