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.

There are two main reasons why some of our greatest agents aren’t achieving the completely realistic benchmark of 50% for referrals from their active clients. 

First, Most of us assume that our clients know what to do and understand our love for referrals.  What we forget is that our clients are not in the Real Estate business and need to be educated on how to recognize the “referral moment’ and what to do when it arises.  If we incorporated a simple dialog at our first meeting together saying – “Now that you have made a decision to buy or sell, you will notice a strange phenomenon, much like when you bought your last car (got married, had a baby, etc).  When you were looking at that car and first got it, weren’t you amazed at how many others you saw around?  The same thing happens in real estate.  As you begin looking and throughout this process you will start seeing other people that are looking to buy or sell.  All I ask is that when those situations come up that you remember me.” 

The second is that we do a great job minimizing the great job we do.  Our standard of excellence is a part of our service package and has become old hat to us.  The challenge is that our clients have no idea that our service is exceptional because they don’t have a standard to measure it against.  Overcoming this is easy, especially since the service is there.  We need to start weaving opportunities to tell our clients the truth.  Drama happens in every transaction, and while I am not advocating dragging your clients through the drama, I am simply suggesting you communicate it to your clients with how you saved the day.  If we can also enlist our strategic partners (escrow, title, mortgage, inspectors, TC’s, etc.) to simply drop a note, phone call or comment to our clients to the effect of “I work with a lot of different agents, and I have to tell you how fortunate you are to be working with one the very best.”  Your clients feel like a million bucks and it creates an atmosphere for them to say “wow” and tell a friend, or two or twenty.

I highly recommend the book The Starbucks Experience by Michelli. It’s a great read on why people will stand in line and pay $4 for a cup of coffee. As I read through it, I thought I’d share a few of the principles from the book in a condensed form as well as some of my thoughts on how they apply to your business.

Principle #1 – Make It Your Own
We all have common objectives. Our goals and those of each of our clients are similar in their construct. Where we soar is in the individual creativity and passion that we apply to what we do. It is in those things that we form the bonds so that people will continue to come back. It is there that we connect, discover and respond. It is in our core values and strengths that we learn to love what we do.

Principle #2 – Everything Matters
In a service industry, everything matters. Every detail, every conversation every nuance makes a difference. Master the simplicity of the basics and spend the rest of your time perfecting your game. It is in the details that the pros stand out from the masses.

Principle #3 – Surprise and Delight
Pursue “wow” moments. Think through your business and ask yourself – “where can I give a ‘wow’ moment to my clients? Those are the moments where you have exceeded expectations and delivered something above and beyond. It is in these moments that we demonstrate and prove our value. We need a certain amount to justify our compensation, we need more to create buzz. Deliver the exceptional, surprise and delight at every opportunity.

Principle #4 – Embrace Resistance
Change is going to happen, people are going to complain, life is going to hurt at times. Learn from it all. Everyone has something to contribute, every challenge offers an opportunity. Be open to hear about your faults and shortcomings and where others are disappointed. Learn from them and except that you are a work in progress, not perfection.

Principle #5 – Leave Your Mark
What do you leave behind? I’m not talking about a notepad either. What is it that has added value and where have you invested in others? Success is sweet, but significance, yes significance, is what brings glory to our soul. Joy and peace, the deep internal kind that marks your life and the lives of those you come into contact with is manufactured in spades in significance.

You don’t sell houses. Let me say it again, you don’t sell houses. Not in a successful marketing campaign. You sell your USP or Unique Selling Proposition. There are hundreds of thousands of agents in world today. If all you do is sell houses, then there are at least a few others that are willing to do the same thing. What makes you better than any other? Why should a client hire you? As an industry, we have been caught without enough distinction which is why over the last few years we have experienced such a high level of “Commission Compression.”

Here’s an example - If I were to buy a new BMW 7i and one dealer had one the car for $80,000 and another dealer could get the exact same car for $72,000 which would I choose? All things being equal, price will become my determining factor. But let’s say that I just wanted to buy a car that allows me to get to and from work in a safe comfortable manner. What makes me consider an $80,000 BMW versus an $18,000 Kia? Price no longer becomes the only factor. BMW knows they aren’t selling a car or mere transportation; they are selling “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” In fact, they’ve done quite well getting buyers to buy to satisfy the buyer’s own ego needs. And more interestingly, how many BMW owners would cop to ego being their primary reason for buying the car? With that said – let’s not beat up on the BMW crowd too bad, the same could be said about Lexus, Mercedes and others and they don’t have the distinction of being the “Ultimate Driving Machine.”

What is your USP? What are your strengths? What can and do you do better than anyone else? What are your values? What do you care about and hold most dear? Market around those things and you will find yourself in the rare air of those agents who make the rules about how the real estate game is played and who hold the top %1 who dominate the marketplace.