Secrets to Successful Branding – The Law of Advertising

If, we, as the real estate community really understood the concept of branding and its importance, we would save a fortune by cutting the misplaced dollars we are spending in the name of “getting their name out there.”

Most of us are re-treads – people who fell into this business and came from some other background. In 15 years of asking, I’ve only found one person who grew up wanting to be a real estate agent (and she is no longer in the business). I can’t tell you how many people I’ve interviewed as a Broker that said the reason they wanted to be an agent was because they liked houses and people. If that is the sole reason they are here my advice to them has been – “Don’t get started in this business because in 6 months you will hate them both.”

Those that make it in this industry in today’s world are those that approach it with an amount of business prowess. Unfortunately, that isn’t taught in the “learn everything you need to know to become successful in real estate in two weeks” class. So, we throw the newbies to the vultures (vendors who sell BS products that do nothing but line the pockets of the vendors and serve as filler our nation’s dumps). We let them sling mud on a wall and see what sticks and hope against hope that they will be one of the very few fortunate ones who will survive the first three years.

Over time, those that emerge as mega agents realize that to truly win in this you must realize that it is a business not a career (and there is a major difference) and start learning how to become the “RainMaker.” Although we have dozens of proprietary campaigns to generate more leads, from time to time, we need to strip back to the basics and dive into the philosophy to align ourselves with the right thinking to launch our business to the next level. This week, it’s all about how to brand effectively so that you may maximize your ROI in any marketing or advertising program your engage in. From Al Ries, a master of marketing and branding in the retail sector, we take the lessons and apply the fundamentals to our real estate businesses.

One Secret is the Law of Advertising
Once born, a brand needs advertising to stay healthy. Your advertising budget is like the country’s defenses budget. Those massive advertising dollars don’t buy you anything; they just keep you from losing your market share to your competition. Think 10% of your CGI to dedicate to your overall marketing budget to spend annually with ½ of that going to advertising.

Also, start thinking in terms of advertising as maintenance and marketing as taking new ground. Your individual campaigns will ebb and flow over the years, but your brand will provide the anchor that holds it all together.

Without proper branding, you will be re-creating from scratch every time you launch a new marketing idea. With this in mind, think about how much of a waste picking postcards out of a catalog every month is. No cohesiveness, no building effect, only the hope and prayer that your card will arrive just after the sellers have decided to look into moving (and they don’t have loyalty to another agent or a referral).

Carpe diem,

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There are good books, and there are great books – Ries and Trout wrote a great book about marketing that apply across industries and has some tremendous application to the real estate business. Here are the lessons summarized from the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing By Al Ries and Jack Trout -

The Law of Leadership – It’s better to be first than it is to be better.
The Law of Category – If you can’t be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in.
The Law of the Mind – It’s better to be first in the mind than to be first in the marketplace.
The Law of Perception – Marketing is not a battle of products or services, it’s a battle of perceptions.
The Law of Focus – The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospects mind.
The Law of Exclusivity – Two companies cannot own the same word in the prospects mind.
The Law of the Ladder – The strategy you use depends on where you are on the ladder.
The Law of Duality – In the long run, every market becomes a two horse race.
The Law of the Opposite – If you are shooting for second place, your strategy is determined by the leader.
The Law of Division – Over time, a category will divide and become two or more categories.
The Law of Perspective – Marketing effects take place over an extended period of time.
The Law of Line Extension – There’s an irresistible pressure to extend the equity of the brand.
The Law of Sacrifice – You have to give up something in order to get something.
The Law of Attributes – For every attribute, there is an opposite, effective attribute.
The Law of Candor – When you admit a negative, the prospect will give you a positive.
The Law of Singularity – In each situation, only one move will produce substantial results.
The Law of Unpredictability – Unless you write your competitors’ plans, you can’t predict the future.
The Law of Success – Success often leads to arrogance, and arrogance to failure.
The Law of Failure – Failure is to be expected and accepted.
The Law of Hype -The situation is often the opposite of the way it appears in the press.
The Law of Acceleration – Successful programs are not built on fads, they’re built on trends.
The Law of Resources – Without adequate funding an idea won’t get off the ground.

Carpe diem,

You can also click on one of the following links to have the mastery coaching blog with helpful life and business tidbits geared to real estate’s elite delivered to your computer,

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Consistency is absolutely key.  Consistency will trump all other factors.  Rule of thumb is 1 x week for the first 10 weeks then every 10 days until you have 35% market share or more.  Only then can you go to 2 x a month.  With that said, I will tell you that in our media planning with clients we stack the mail to reflect the coming trends in production.  For example, we do less mailing in November and December (1 piece each) and save the extra pieces for February and March which is 6-8 weeks before the busy listing season. It’s a game of impressions a year and keeping top of mind. Anything less is a waste of money. 

Branding will save you money.  If you are going to take on a direct mail campaign to a geographic farm or target market it will save you thousands of dollars to pay someone to help brand yourself well.  Every piece should fit together and be easily recognizable as yours.  Every message should have a consistent thread that ties back into your brand and tagline.  Good marketing campaigns don’t start from scratch every time you send something out, they build on the previous messages and tie into the future ones.

Budget before you get started.  Budget for a year at a time.  We encourage clients to take 15-20% of their gross commissions and put them into their marketing budgets if they are wanting to grow (10% if they want to maintain).  Out of the money that comes in, we allocate and take on mail campaigns is 12 month intervals. Only take on the amount of houses that you can dedicate and be consistent for a 12 month period.  It is better to have a smaller number of homes and do it right than run out of marketing funds or cut corners.

Purpose is essential.  Ask yourself what it is you are trying to accomplish with each piece.  Every piece should have a reason and clear and distinguishable benefit to the recipient.  Every card needs to be written from the “what’s in it for them” perspective.  If you are sending out cards to try and get the phone to ring, every card should have a reason and call to action to do so.  Plan your campaigns a year at a time, not only will they make more sense and tie together with your branding better, but you will see a much better return on investment with a focused campaign.

Automate everything.  Once you have your year planned out, send the camera ready files to the printer with your schedule and credit card.  Let them handle the printing, addressing and mailing and charge your card as they go.  The less interaction you have with the process the less opportunity for unnecessary delays and to mess it up. 

Carpe diem,

You can also click on one of the following links to have the mastery coaching blog with helpful life and business tidbits geared to real estate’s elite delivered to your computer,

To subscribe to the mastery coaching blog via email

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There’s an old sales adage that says “People buy from people they know, like and trust,” and public relations (PR) is one of the most cost-effective ways to build the awareness, goodwill and credibility that help influence buying decisions.  Not that we would suggest that REALTORS® use PR to the exclusion of all other marketing tactics, but a healthy dose of PR, combined with a little advertising, direct mail, or other tactics, can provide a big sales boost for many small businesses.

But how can you determine if the campaign is worth the investment?  You might think that gauging a campaign’s impact on immediate sales makes the most sense, but bear in mind that only a direct sales campaign can be measured that way. 

Most marketing programs for small businesses, especially retail, professional services (REALTORS®, CPA’S, etc.) serve to generate a pool of potential clients.  The onus for converting prospects into customers rests with the client, not the campaign.

Here are a few ways to measure the results of your campaign without relying on raw sales data. As with many marketing tactics, tracking the results of your PR campaign can be difficult if you don’t know what you’re looking for, so consider using some of these techniques:

• Track the number of inquiries or leads your business receives via phone, drop in or web visits.  You’ll need to start by establishing a baseline for each inquiry stream before your campaign starts so that you’ll know whether or not your campaign is actually drawing in more leads.
• Ask your prospects how they heard about the real estate services you offer.  Know that many people may not remember exactly where they heard about your business, unless it was the result of research such a through the Yellow Pages.  This is good, because it means that your PR campaign is working!  PR is supposed to have a “ripple effect” so that one person who sees a story tells another,  adding to the pool of people who are informed about your business through the PR, plus adding the weight of personal sanction to the referral.
• Create a campaign-specific offer through your web site with a unique URL, such as a coupon or special program that is only mentioned in your PR.  By isolating an offer this way, you can see how effective your pitch was by counting exactly how many people respond to your offer (of course, that’s assuming the offer is enticing enough to draw interest).
• Compare historic sales patterns for each year by month to see when or if your business has seasonal sales cycles. Keep in mind that it is always easier to boost a high cycle season’s sales because there are often external factors that drive customers. For example, as a REALTOR® if you work in a ski resort area, perhaps you’ve noticed a jump in sales during the holidays. That time of year (and right before) would be the perfect time to add PR to your marketing mix so that when potential clients are ready to purchase, your Resort Expertise has top-of-mind awareness.

While your story in the newspaper or on TV may motivate someone to get off the couch and take action, an actual buying decision may be based on price, location or convenience.  That’s why developing clear goals and measurement metrics for your PR campaign are so important, so that you can get the maximum return on a minimum investment.

Carpe diem,

You can also click on one of the following links to have the mastery coaching blog with helpful life and business tidbits geared to real estate’s elite delivered to your computer,

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We just did a composite of our Mastery Coaching clients through our proprietary business analysis tool which we do annually to track our client’s business (and our success or failure as coaches).  We found that the average client that had a “prospecting focus” (they spend 10 hours a week or more actively prospecting) closed an average of 16 transactions with an average volume of $7.8 million.  Their average GCI (gross commission income) was $180k.  Not bad given the market conditions the last 12 months.

Things got interesting when we looked at the next group that had a “marketing focus” (they actively market to a geo farm or target demographic or group 2-3 times a month). They averaged 22 transactions, $13.2 million in volume and $292k in GCI.

Then the most astonishing results.   Those that had a “SOI focus” (working a SOI is considered their dominate activity). They averaged 65 transactions, $19 million in volume and made $453,295 in GCI. 

All three groups worked 46 weeks a year.  All three groups spent roughly the same amount to market or promote themselves.  All three were a cross section of the US, various brands and companies, and marketplaces.  The only difference as a group was what they focused on.

What makes one agent make $180k vs. $450k?  Why did one group out-perform the others if they all did similar things? 

It’s boiled down to their focus.  What they focused on allowed them to develop into their magnificent obsession.  While the first group got really good at scripts dialogs and overcoming objections, the second group developed great ads and mailers that made the phone ring, the SOI group became obsessed with being thoughtful and providing delightful surprises to their people.  

They constantly looked for ways to go above and beyond.  When others send Christmas cards to their data base they send birthday cards – to their SOI’s children.  They learned to care about the things their clients care about.  They pamper, care for and make their clients feel like they are the most important people on the planet.  One stand-out invited his “Top 15″ on a trip to Tuscany for 10 days to ride Vespas.  Total cost $50k.  Total reward – unfathomable. These clients had already referred 5+ closed transactions each.  It’s fair to say that he’ll get at least 5 more (5 x average price of 2.5 million x his average commission x 15 people = $1.875 million in commissions). 

This group considers their primary job to spoil their sphere.  They sell houses.  They are good at it.  They understand people are more important than transactions or houses and that lesson has paid them very, very well.

Carpe diem,

You can also click on one of the following links to have the mastery coaching blog with helpful life and business tidbits geared to real estate’s elite delivered to your computer,

To subscribe to the mastery coaching blog via email

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Tired of marketing like a maniac but not getting any clients?  Beef up your referral systems, and soon you’ll have all the clients you want.

Here are ten secrets of building a referral machine that builds your real estate business:

1. Network, network, network.  And when I say network, I don’t mean join groups and never go, or go but skulk around the sidelines, I mean network actively.  Talk to people about their businesses, and your business.  Mingle with people you’ve only met once so that you get to know them better.  Introduce yourself to everyone you don’t know, and learn how you can refer to them, then tell them how they can refer to you.

2. Build a Group 100.  A Group 100 is a network of 100 people with whom you have a reciprocal referral agreement.  You feel comfortable referring others to them because you have personally sat down with these folks, and learned enough about their businesses to understand who will really benefit from their products or services.  In the process of learning about them, they will learn about you, and so you have just expanded your network to the 300 people each of your Group 100 folks knows!

3. Refer to other people.  Referrals are almost like yawns in that they spawn more of the same.  I receive reciprocal referrals more often when I am referring to others, so I make it my business to refer as often as possible.  Make sure that they are quality leads you are giving.  You don’t want to waste time with bad leads, and neither do your partners.

4. Ask for referrals.  Ask your clients, ask your prospects, and ask your colleagues.  But ask correctly.  Don’t ask if they know anyone who needs your services, because they might not know off the top of their heads.  Sure, they know a lot of people, but may not think of the right person to refer to you unless you ask in the right way.  The right way is to ask a clarifying question such as, “You’re active in your neighborhood association, aren’t you?”  A positive response sets up your request for referrals: “Do you know anyone in your neighborhood who is also thinking about selling or buying a home?”  That focuses the attention on a specific group, rather than on all acquaintances, which is more likely to result in an actual referral.

5. Give it away.  Not your services, of course, but something valuable to people who are thinking about buying the services or products you have for sale.  For example, you might have a free report or checklist on choosing the right professional for the job that you do.  Once it becomes known (through your web site, press releases, and word of mouth) that you offer a great tool for figuring out how to buy what you’re selling, you can become the go-to person for real estate related services in your community.

6. Become visible.  If you’re not on the internet, you’re invisible.  But just one little web site isn’t going to cut it these days; you need higher visibility.  Get listed on your networking organizations’ web sites, send out press releases, participate in community projects, and assume leadership positions in one or more of your social, business, or philanthropic groups.

7. Establish a stellar reputation. If you know that you’re good, but not sure your clients are raving about you, ask them for written testimonials (but don’t you dare write them yourself!).  They will write much nicer things about you than you would ever write yourself, and the process reminds them of how good you are, so they are more likely to refer to you.

8. Create a rewards program for referrals.  Set up a system that gathers information about how your clients heard about you, and reward those who refer to you.  It can be as complicated or as simple as you like, but remember: if you promote it, you must honor it. 

9. Develop strategic alliances with non-competing businesses.  Find out who works with your clients before they need your services, and set up a system that funnels their clients your way.

10. Reward referrals, not sales.  It is your responsibility to close the sale, so always measure the success of your referral program by the number of referrals you get, not sales.

Carpe diem,

Most of our marketing efforts as an industry have been a series of trial and error decisions, made on a reactionary basis at the hands of a professional salesperson trying to extol the benefits of their wares.  It has had very little root in systematic evaluation or factual data.  We have been sold that “we have to get our name out there” and taken to the cleaners by affiliate industries that have made a fortune by taking advantage of our naivety.

As a master at your craft, you recognize that you need to run your business on fact, not emotion.  It is not only helpful, but absolutely essential to take an honest look at what you are doing, why you are doing it and what you expect at the end of the day.  The days of slinging mud on the wall and seeing what sticks are over, and guessing what will be effective will be reserved for those who represent the 90% of the industry that scrounges for 10% of the business.

What do you do that sets you apart? 

What makes you different? 

What ROI (return on investment) do you demand or expect from your marketing and advertising programs? 

Does every piece of marketing material reinforce your brand? 

Does every piece answer a need or offer a solution to a problem that the prospect has? 

Do you have a marketing plan or is it piece meal? 

What are you expecting as we enter the end of summer?  Expect the best and if you don’t know how to get it by all means have someone, whether it be another agent, your broker or a coach help take some of the guesswork out of this crazy business.

Carpe diem,

We got a real nice testimonial this last week that I thought I’d share -

“You have taught me how to look at my business as a business and build it to be profitable, predictable, stable and most importantly consumer centric. I just got back from a 6 week trip – without my phone – and my business is still growing and thriving! I would have never even concieved it as possable before we met; much less translated it into reality.”

- Gary H., RE/MAX Broker Associacte

Instead of reveling in what stroked my personal ego, I thought I’d share with all of you something we worked on with Gary to get him to say such nice things so that you may also benefit…

 Your Sphere of Influence (SOI) is any veteran agent’s greatest asset.  Over the years, we have done some research and tracking as to what yield (the amount of return) agents are able to expect to receive from a healthy, vibrant and active SOI.  We then took those that had the highest averages and distilled down what they are doing and systematized their ideas.  We then gave them the turn key marketing system and their yields increased even further. 

Do you want to know our secrets?

Let’s start at the markers we measure. 

First, if I asked how much of your business comes from your SOI, you’d probably tell me that it is 70-90%.  Although that is true, it is very hard to use that in a meaningful way when we are trying to grow our net income.  With our coaching, we use the yield number.  You would work through your individual yield during your initial coaching session and re-visit it annually during your yearly check up so you can stay on track.   But as a reminder, your yield is how many transactions out of every 100 SOI relationships you generate a year.

When we launched our PCG (Private Client Group) program we saw first year yields average around 15%, during the second year they increased to an average of 25% and as agents continued to use the Private Client Group program, some agents were experiencing yields that were topping 48%.  That’s 48 closed transactions per 100 relationships in your SOI!

We work a lot as an industry on the marketing needed to build your SOI and spend very little time talking about how to market to those that are already in our list of “Friends.”  Loyalty from past transactions and a job well done are great things and we have them on our side with these people, but it doesn’t give us the license to ignore them.

In my posts this week, I will share with you our step-by-step program that has literally revolutionized a number of our client’s lives. 

Carpe diem,

Secrets to Successful Branding – The Law of the Word

If, we, as the real estate community really understood the concept of branding and its importance, we would save a fortune by cutting the misplaced dollars we are spending in the name of “getting their name out there.”

Most of us are re-treads – people who fell into this business and came from some other background. In 15 years of asking, I’ve only found one person who grew up wanting to be a real estate agent (and she is no longer in the business). I can’t tell you how many people I’ve interviewed as a Broker that said the reason they wanted to be an agent was because they liked houses and people. If that is the sole reason they are here my advice to them has been – “Don’t get started in this business because in 6 months you will hate them both.”

Those that make it in this industry in today’s world are those that approach it with an amount of business prowess. Unfortunately, that isn’t taught in the “learn everything you need to know to become successful in real estate in two weeks” class. So, we throw the newbies to the vultures (vendors who sell BS products that do nothing but line the pockets of the vendors and serve as filler our nation’s dumps). We let them sling mud on a wall and see what sticks and hope against hope that they will be one of the very few fortunate ones who will survive the first three years.

Over time, those that emerge as mega agents realize that to truly win in this you must realize that it is a business not a career (and there is a major difference) and start learning how to become the “RainMaker.” Although we have dozens of proprietary campaigns to generate more leads, from time to time, we need to strip back to the basics and dive into the philosophy to align ourselves with the right thinking to launch our business to the next level. This week, it’s all about how to brand effectively so that you may maximize your ROI in any marketing or advertising program your engage in. From Al Ries, a master of marketing and branding in the retail sector, we take the lessons and apply the fundamentals to our real estate businesses.

In Branding , There is the Law of the Word

There is a limited amount of real estate in our consumer’s active memory. The lion’s share of the space going to the things that weighs most heavily on their mind. Because this resource is precious and limited your brand should strive to own a single word or concept in the eyes of the consumer. You are not competing with other agents; you are competing against every other professional and service industry. You have an advantage because real estate and the client’s home equity can be leveraged as an important value on a constant basis with spikes of interest as it comes time to move. But you must keep the importance on the consumer’s top of mind with all the other competing interests vying for attention.

You want to establish yourself as the expert and go-to person for real estate regardless of where they are in the buying or selling process. Become their resource and contact. Ideally, you want to get to the point where when your perfect client drives past a competitor’s sign, they think of you.

Carpe diem,

You can also click on one of the following links to have the mastery coaching blog with helpful life and business tidbits geared to real estate’s elite delivered to your computer,

To subscribe to the mastery coaching blog via email

To subscribe to the mastery coaching blog via RSS reader

I want to recommend that you read one of the finest books I’ve read: Book Yourself Solid (Port).

One of the greatest misconceptions is that “everyone” will want a certain product or service. While this may come as a shock to some of you, there is no product, service, or idea that has ever been developed for sale that appeals to everybody.

Not everybody wants to be thinner, richer, smarter, blonder, sexier, taller, better hydrated, fresher-smelling, chemically enhanced, or more physically fit than they already are. And not everybody wants to take advantage of once-in-a-lifetime-ground-floor opportunities, or make money from their down-lines, or cash in on the latest trends.

So while that may be bad news for some, in terms of marketing your real estate services, that’s actually pretty good news! Because marketing to everybody is time-consuming and expensive, and I have yet to meet an entrepreneur who is willing to spend much more than 10% (if that) of their annual revenues on marketing.

Why focus on your ideal ‘target’ client?

There are many reasons, but the one I like best is that really happy clients become your unpaid marketing department! Seriously, though, by focusing on a certain type of problem/solution for a specific type of client (1031 Exchange information for folks interested in investing, or diversifying your investment portfolio by adding real estate, TIPS for sellers or buyers, etc.), you enhance your problem solving skills and get really familiar with that category of issues (and therefore more valuable in the eyes of that client).

And of course, marketing to a smaller pool of prospects is easier, quicker, and less expensive than marketing to a huge pool.

Although many REALTORS® are willing to take money from anyone with a checkbook, the truth is that until you know precisely who your ideal client is, getting clients will continue to be a struggle.  The more precise you are about what you do and for whom, the more easily you will attract your best client! As Dr. Phil says, you must be able to name it to claim it.

So who is YOUR ideal ‘target’ client? You ‘NICHE’ market?  How do you describe that person or market?

If you want your sales to be quick, easy, and inexpensive, you should include these five attributes as a start. Your ideal client is someone who:

• Acknowledges or recognizes their desire to have the outcome (solution or experience) you provide.
• Is willing to pay your fee to get that solution or experience.
• Is motivated for whatever reason to take action to get what they want (and is ready to buy).
• Will be thrilled with your service.
• Will tell their friends about your service.

So who wants what you’ve got, who is ready, willing and able to pay for it, and who will be thrilled with it?

Once you can identify who is most likely to buy from you, and who is seeking your solution to a specific problem, then pretty much all you have to do is let that person know that you exist.

This is much easier, much cheaper, and much faster than trying to sell yourself to someone who just plain isn’t already ready to buy.

Carpe diem,

You can also click on one of the following links to have the mastery coaching blog with helpful life and business tidbits geared to real estate’s elite delivered to your computer,

To subscribe to the mastery coaching blog via email To subscribe to the mastery coaching blog via RSS reader