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

"The more fun you have selling real estate, the more real estate you will sell!"

I believe this with all my heart. When I'm having fun and feeling good, my business explodes. Have you ever noticed that one great phone call begets another ... and another? When you're rolling in MoJo and you know you're hot stuff... the whole world seems to think so, too.  And that phone RINGS!

So, how to keep the MoJo Risin'? By ramping up your cold-calling and door-knocking efforts? By committing to yet another expensive monthly postcard campaign?

Uh, no. Not for me at least.

If I were to force myself to make phone calls to strangers on a regular basis, I'd be a mess. Because that's not ME and it's not FUN.  And I can guarantee you it would be incredibly UNproductive time for me, in more ways than one. Not only would I be utterly wasting my time during my stranger-pestering activities, but I'd also be one depressed, MoJo-les real estate agent. Which is bad for my mood... and therefore my business.

So, what's FUN for you? Do that. Often. Okay, well, if the only fun things you can think of are sleeping and reading, those might not work, but otherwise... what makes you smile? What would you do more of "if you only had the time?"

Chances are, most of the things you enjoy doing involve being out in the world where other people happen to be. And if you're out there too, being yourself, having fun, you'll be magnetic. And it's REAL EASY to let people know you're a kick-a$$ real estate agent (assuming you believe that yourself) when you're in a good mood and feeling foxy.

Don't tell me you don't have time to have fun. Puh-leeeeaze! Life's WAY TOO SHORT for that attitude, doncha' think? Sooooooo.... it's the first weekend of summer - GO HAVE SOME FUN!

Want to build a raving fan base that will support your business for years to come? It's SO easy - way easier than cold-calling, door-knocking or farming and a heck of a lot cheaper. All you gotta do is look for opportunities to impress the heck out of those who have the potential to be your future past clients and stop worrying so much about whether you're wasting your time!

On Friday morning, I got a referral from an agent on Active Rain (Thanks Miranda!). The buyers live in the mountains, want to buy a home in Denver... this week? Nah, they have a house to sell first, so maybe sometime in the summer. That's cool - I like a full pipeline.

Around 2:00 on Friday afternoon, the buyer calls me and wants to know if I can show her and her husband houses on Saturday. Yep, with a little re-arranging, I can do that. So, we did. Went well. Nice, nice couple with two adorable little girls. Found a neighborhood they love, so I promised to keep them updated on the market activity in there. They headed back up the hill to their mountain home.

7:30 this morning, my cell phone rings. The buyers are so excited about what we saw yesterday that they want to make another road trip to Denver today to look at all the other houses for sale in the neighborhood, as well as the ones we saw yesterday. Well, I have an open house at 1pm, three offers to present at 4:30 and dinner plans tonight, so if I'm going to accommodate them, it will have to be this morning and I do have a lot of things to do between now and my 1pm Open House.

Did I rearrange my schedule for them? Oh, yeah. We're meeting at 11:00. Are they going to buy a house today? Not a chance. Are they pre-approved? I'm not sure, I think so, but I haven't asked.

So, why am I "wasting my time?"

1.        My past clients are an enormous source of business for me. Because I put them on a five-year drip campaign and hound them for referrals? Uh, no. I think it has more to do with working my backside off for them and making their needs a priority over my paycheck. Even if (egads!) I'm inconvenienced.

2.       The agent who referred them to me could also be a sweet source of future business for me - she works in a resort market just an hour away, so if I impress her clients, in turn I impress her.

Here's the thing... meeting them as requested will take maybe two hours out of my day. Big deal. I think that's a very good use of two hours that I'd otherwise probably be surfing Active Rain or even whining to myself that I wish I had a few buyers. To me, taking advantage of the opportunity to impress someone who has the power to bless me with a $10,000 + paycheck is an excellent way to spend a Sunday morning.

 www.sellwithsoul.com

As my loyal readers know (my, that sounds pretentious, doesn't it?), I recently re-entered the Wonderful World of Real Estate Sales, after two years away on a sabbatical WRITING about the Wonderful World of Real Estate Sales.

My re-entry into the biz was prompted by a number of factors, one of which was an unintentional challenge by Loreena Yeo back in September. In a nut, she asked if I thought the early success I enjoyed in my real estate career, back in the mid-90's, was due more to the strength of the market, rather than the strength of my business strategy (specifically my 100% SOI model).

So, many have asked how it's going for me, now that I've been back in the trenches a few months.

FABULOUS.

Frankly, I'm stunned at the warm welcome I've received from my sphere of influence, many of whom I haven't spoken with in years. More than once, more than twice, more than three times since my return, I've been told by past clients that they were thrilled to hear I was back in business. They said that in my absence they hadn't met another real estate-type who knew her stuff as well as I did and who gave the impression of actually caring about her clients. HUGE SMILE.

But enough back-patting from me. Sure, compliments are nice, but how's BUSINESS?

FABULOUS.

I have two buyers under contract, three sellable listings coming on soon and four more buyers in my car. All but one are SOI (and that one came from Active Rain!). I'm not crazy busy, but considering my license has only been active for less than two months, I'm quite pleased.

So... does an SOI strategy work in this market? Oh yeah.

Thanks for asking.

 http://www.sellwithsoul.com/