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

Been doing a little private SOI (Sphere of Influence) tutoring with some local Denver agents. Yesterday, as I was working with one of my students, she asked me a question that got me thinking (I love that). She asked "So, my goal is to expand my Sphere of Influence database to a certain number by the end of the year?"

Well, sorta. At least, that's probably one of your goals. But as I answered her question I realized that there are really four different branches of an SOI business model, thus four different "goals" to shoot for as you build your SOI model.

Here are the four branches:

1. Your Direct SOI - that is - the people you know
2. Your Indirect SOI - that is - the people your SOI knows (i.e. referrals)
3. Your Third Generation SOI - that is - the people you meet via your SOI
4. Everyone Else - that is - every single person you encounter in your day-to-day wanderings

Your Direct SOI
These are the people who know you and know you sell real estate. It's made up of your Group One (your social network) and your Group Two (those people you know that you don't socialize with). You should try to have at least 200 warm bodies there; of course, more is better, but they don't "count" if the person wouldn't recognize your name off the bat. These are people who KNOW you, even if they aren't your best friends.

You'll get business from your Direct SOI, but it probably won't be your primary source of closings. Most of aren't blessed with an SOI who buys and sells houses on a regular basis!

Your Indirect SOI
These are the people your Direct SOI refers to you, who, of course, will be added to your Direct SOI once you've met. Your Indirect SOI should be a fairly consistent source of business for you, assuming your Direct SOI thinks a lot of you, and they know how to find you.

Your Third Generation SOI
These are the people you serendipitously meet as a result of your existing personal relationships. For example, back in 1996, I met my second and third clients ever at the wedding of a mutual friend. I met another client at a Pride parade I attended with my GLBT friends. Another at a Super Bowl party. Stuff like that. This can be an enormous source of business for you, if you're often out there in the world with a smile on your face and your antenna up, and can speak intelligently about your local real estate market to anyone who's interested (and please don't bore those who aren't!)

Everyone Else
These are the people you run into during your daily travels. Every single person you meet, every day, has the potential to be the newest member of your Direct SOI. Not all will, of course, but you never know who will end up being your biggest fan. It might be that young couple who stumbled into your Open House who had a child the same age as yours. Or that woman standing next to you at Ace Hardware getting a key made, who casually mentions she just moved to town. That guy you meet at the dog park. Your neighbor three doors down who is looking for his lost cat. The woman who calls you off your Craigslist ad to purchase your roller blades.

Again, HUGE potential with this category - if not today, then next month or next year.

So, looking at the four branches... how can you incorporate these four categories into your SOI-building goals & activities?

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SOI 101: What exactly is an SOI business model?
SOI 102: The SECRET to Successful SOI
SOI 103: My daughter's best friend's parents just hired someone else!
SOI 104: I think I've blown it with my SOI

"Dear Jennifer,

I've been reading your blogs about SOI and my heart is sinking. I think I've blown it with my Sphere of Influence by constantly asking them for business and referrals. Is there a way I can redeem myself with my friends, or do I have to go make all new ones?

Bill"

I get this question a lot! Mostly from new or newer agents who have been brainwashed into believing that an SOI (Sphere of Influence) business model means that they're supposed to drive their friends nutso with constant reminders of their love for referrals. Most tell me that:

1) they felt it was wrong, but were convinced to do it anyway, and/or
2) they've felt their friends pull away and suspect they're avoiding the agent's calls.

Oops. Not at all good for business OR your social life!

Here's what I tell these distressed agents.

There are a couple of things they can do. If it suits their personality, they can address it head-on with an apology letter - very sincere, not too sappy, but friendly & apologetic, with a "let's move on" tone. I'm not convinced this is the best line of attack, but it might be effective if done well.

Of course, then the agent needs to follow it up with action - he needs to BE a non-referral-begging friend who happens to be a real estate agent. Coffee dates, casual emails, dinner parties - whatever socializing feels comfortable with the various members of his SOI. Oh, and he doesn't mention his real estate career unless it's appropriate, but strives to come across as a happy, enthusiastic, reliable, dependable, generally cool person who is probably a fabulous real estate agent, as well.

If the apology letter doesn't feel right, then he can just make a concerted effort to reconnect with his SOI, as above, and if the opportunity arises and it feels appropriate, give a little apology in person.

The other thing he can do is strive to build his SOI by meeting new people and NEVER breathing a hint of referral-begging with them. He can meet new people thru his existing SOI and by being out there in the world with his antenna up. I consider my SOI strategy to be more about meeting people THRU my SOI, not necessarily generating business directly from the people I know.

Of course, the best approach is to not annoy one's friends in the first place, so that there's no need for apologies or redeeming one's dignity after the fact!

The SOI Starter Kit - Everything You Need to Implement Your Own Sphere of Influence Business Model
SOI Starter Kit

"Dear Jennifer,

Got up this morning and saw that my daughter's best friend's parents listed with someone else! They've been on my mailing list and their daughter and my daughter have been best friends since grade school. I'm crushed. Should I continue to send them things or take them off my list?"

Jane"

I get these letters all the time - people who have embraced my Sphere of Influence (SOI) philosophy and then feel kicked in the teeth when someone in their SOI hires another real estate agent. They almost seem angry at me for leading them to believe that they could count on the loyalty of everyone in their contact database!

Well, first, I always give permission to my friends to feel really really bummed for an hour or two. If they're brand new in the business, they can even fret overnight about it. It's a natural reaction, and even I'm not immune to it. We tend to think that anyone we've ever breathed on is obligated to use us to sell their home, as long as we made sure they had our business card in their possession. Heck, just last week, I went out for drinks with a new friend and found out just that day she'd listed her house with someone else! The nerve! Yeah, I was a little flustered by that, I can admit.

But here's the thing... or things.

First, in the vast majority of time, when people make a business decision that adversely affects you, it has NOTHING TO DO with you at all. It's not personal - not one little bit. I'm rather thin-skinned, so I find myself hurt all the time by perceived slights, only to find out later that the "slight" was completely, utterly 100% reasonable. An example- last week someone I thought adored me unsubscribed from my mailing list. I was crushed. Later, she wrote to me to say she'd changed her email address and wanted to make sure she continued to get my mailings!

When someone in your SOI chooses someone else to work with, it's almost a certainty that their decision made sense to them and had nothing whatsoever to do with their feelings for you. In fact, it's likely they didn't even think of you when making their decision - yes, the people in our world have their own lives to lead and aren't particularly concerned about ours.

However, if you truly believe that the hiring decision was personal, then you need to ask yourself why that might be so... and it's not likely that it's because the other guy is an idiot or a meanie. There's something about your relationship with them that led them to believe you were not the best (wo)man for the job. But if the extent of that relationship is a series of postcard mailings and an annual calendar, then it's quite possible another agent is higher on their friendship priority list than you are.

Should my friend continue to market to her daughter's best friend's parents? Sure! It's possible that they won't be happy with their choice in agent and might someday start fishing around for my friend's card when the listing expires. But they definitely won't do that if my friend acts at all miffed or unprofessional about it.

An SOI philosophy does work. 100% of the time? Uh, no. Not even close.  But when it doesn't, yes, you have my permission to pout about it for a little while!

 RELATED BLOG: Obligation - a Dirty Word when you SOI

Next in the series... "I think I've blown it with my SOI!"

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Thanks for the Gold Star yesterday for my first SOI 101, AR Gods! So, to continue the message, here's SOI 101 Lesson #2 - The SECRET to running a successful SOI business model.

Sphere of Influence = The People Who Know You.

Here 't'is.

The secret to running a successful SOI-based business is to be a great real estate agent who loves her job and knows her market and stays in touch with the people she knows, without ever pestering them for business or referrals.

That's it! That's the secret! To be a great real estate agent who loves her job and knows her market and stays in touch with the people she knows, without ever pestering them for business or referrals.

Let's take these items one by one.

You're a great real estate agent
This is huge. When I say that you need to be a great real estate agent, I don't mean that you need to be a great real estate prospector, even though that's what most of our training tends to imply. I mean that you take great care of your clients as your first priority, not as an afterthought when your prospecting is done. Doing business this way helps you on so many levels. First, obviously, you'll have happy clients who will be delighted to refer you to everyone they know. Second and third, you'll be proud of the work you do and confident in the work you do, which will lead to the second requirement -

You love your job
When you're good at what you do and you know it, you'll probably absolutely love your job. And that excitement and enthusiasm is contagious to those around you.

When you're able to hold your head up high and announce that "I'm a Real Estate Agent and it's the Coolest Job in the World!" people will be drawn to you - as one agent I know puts it - they want some of what you're smoking! When the topic of real estate comes up in a social setting and you're able to say those magic words "I'm a real estate agent and it's the coolest job in the world!" people will ask YOU for your business card. It's beautiful.

Which leads me to the third requirement:

You know your market
The best way I've found to build rapport with strangers is be master of your market. If you know your local real estate market, and you KNOW you know your local real estate market, you'll find opportunities to share that knowledge all over the place.

It's amazing how much confidence this gives you and it's pretty easy, to strike up a conversation with a total stranger about real estate... if you know what you're talking about. You'd be surprised how many people will ask YOU for your business card if you sound like an expert. I get a lot of my business this way - not from prospecting to strangers, but just from being confident about my competence - a big part of which is a good understanding of my market.

So, for someone who needs to build an SOI from scratch, they need to spend some quality time learning their market and put themselves in social situations where they can share their knowledge with people who are interested.

You stay in touch with the people you know
This, of course, is really important. If you know a whole bunch of people, but you never make any effort to have a personal interaction with any of them (above and beyond drip campaigns), your sphere of influence efforts will crash and burn. To be someone's favorite real estate agent, you either need to have done a fantastic job for them in the past (and stayed in touch) or make an effort to be in touch with them on a somewhat regular basis. Especially if someone hasn't used your services before, it's really easy for another agent to swoop in and take your place!  

Just know that yes, if you intend to generate business and referrals from the people you know, you will need to take time to talk to them.

You never pester anyone for business or referrals
The last requirement is that you never pester the people you know or the people you meet for business or referrals. This is a tough pill to swallow for many agents. We're trained to ask for business and to make sure that everyone we know and meet is aware that we are desperate for business. I know, that's not what we say - but it's how it comes across. When we constantly or even sporadically remind the people we know that We Love Referrals, we send a message that is counterproductive to our goal of actually generating referrals.

Sooooooo.... Are you a great agent... who loves your job.... And knows your market.... And stays in touch with the people you know without ever pestering them for business or referrals? Yeah? Then get off the computer and go SOI!

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

 Next in the series: "My daughter's best friend's parents just hired another agent!"

The SOI Starter Kit
Everything you need to get your own SOI business model up & running!
www.SellwithSoul.com

A Sphere of Influence business model is a strategy that focuses on attracting business to you from the people you know and the people you meet socially, as opposed to pursuing business from strangers. It's possible to run a 100% SOI business and never have to make one cold call, memorize a prospecting script or knock on a strangers' door!

There are three primary activities in an effective SOI business model.

1. Nurturing the personal relationships you already have within your social network (that is, your friends - I call this group my "Group One." Clever, eh?)
   
   
2. Staying in touch with "everyone else" (that is, the people you know who aren't your friends - I call them my Group Two)
   
   
3. Meeting new people.

Before you panic and say that you don't have the time, money or energy to do all this socializing, don't! Running an SOI business is much less time-consuming and less expensive than just about any other systematized prospecting method, and can be far more effective, more quickly. In fact, if you spend a few years creating your personal cheering section, you can pretty much coast through the rest of your real estate career. That's what I did and in my last five years I rarely worked more than 30 hours a week and my marketing budget was practically zero. My phone rang, I answered it, and whaddya' know?  I had a new client.

Nurturing the personal relationships you already have
From a philosophical perspective, this means to ensure that the people in your social network (AKA Group One) know that you care about them. In a practical sense, it means that you strive to have a personal conversation with everyone in your social network as often as you can, at least once a quarter. A personal conversation can be a face to face lunch or coffee date, a phone call or even an email exchange. What it's not is a concerted effort to abuse your friends with a sales pitch. Always approach your social network as a friend first, and a real estate agent second, or third, or fourth.  Not the other way around.

Staying in touch with Everyone Else
Staying in touch with your "everyone else" group (AKA Group Two) just means that you keep your name in front of this crowd with periodic interesting, relevant, non-salesy written communications, delivered both through snail-mail and email. As long as your mailings are consistent and intelligent, you'll see a significant number of sales from even this minimal effort.

Meeting new people
An important part of an effective SOI model is to add to your Groups One and Two, especially in today's market where there is admittedly less business to go around. The more people you know, who know you, and think you're a generally cool person, the more that telephone will ring.

Running an effective SOI business model isn't nearly as complicated as some would have you believe. Yes, it takes some organization and commitment upfront, and an ongoing effort to stay in touch with the people you know and the people you meet, but once it's rolling and you're in the SOI habit, it won't feel like work at all! In fact, it might even feel suspiciously like FUN! And "the more fun you have selling real estate, the more real estate you will sell!"

Stay tuned for more SOI 101 coming to a Selling Soulfully blog near you...

How Much Do You Know about SOI? Take the Quiz!

The SOI Starter Kit
Everything you need to get your own SOI business model up & running!
www.SellwithSoul.com