Coaching For Real Estate Agents

Image by alborzshawn, used under a Creative Commons licenseOn Thursday, I attended Exit Realty Bellingham's Open House.  They recently moved the agency to a larger, more visible and higher trafficked location in Downtown Bellingham.

At the invitation of a real estate agent, Tom Gurney, I had previewed the space the week before with him, and I have to say that I am impressed at how the owners remodeled their new space with strategic marketing (and community building) in mind.

The first thing I noticed was the warm welcome I received when I entered the door by the receptionist.  Obviously she didn't know me, but greeted me as if I were an old friend that she was happy to see come to visit.

This was refreshing, I have been hard pressed to find real estate agencies that I would call welcoming or inviting.  I recall on not-to-be-named real estate office that, when I entered the door, no one was at the front desk and everyone turned to look at me as if to say "Who are you, and what do you want?"

Not exactly a good first impression.

Actually, the very first thing I noticed was how far my voice traveled down the corridor of the hallway.  I have a voice that is deep, resonant and has a tendency to carry as it is, so it was a bit of a surprise to hear my voice fill up the entire agency!  I think the hallway became a sort of megaphone.

That may have unnerved someone more self-conscious than me, but the receptionist (I wish I remembered her name!) was not disturbed and was, instead, very affirming.

I can't say I particularly liked the set up of the offices on the first floor, which were separated by the echoing hallway.  It made me feel a little claustrophobic.

But that was mitigated by the other thing that impressed me as unique and a great selling point in the make-your-potential-clients-feel-welcome department.  At the end of the hallway to the left of the stairs, the owners made the conscious decision to create a little play area for kids!  While their parents are pouring over papers and talking boring house-buying stuff, the kids can happily busy themselves with crayons or Barbie and Ken or who-knows-what-all-else in a room designed just for them.

On the walls is artwork for sale, by local artists, the art of which regularly rotates.  Artists are always looking for places to showcase their work, and this is the first agency in town (that I know of) that invites artists to do just that in their realty space.  Exit Realty offers the space at no charge, and they do not take a cut of any of the artists' sales.

The owners -- Broker Mike Hays and Agents Andy and Angela Rogers -- also permit artists to use the space for artists receptions, at no cost to them.

Very cool.

This new Exit Realty location has LOTS of wall space.  I can't imagine how many thousands of dollars it would cost them to purchase artwork for the walls.  This arrangement with local artists is truly a win-win.

And if they are not working with an agent or are not currently in position financially to purchase a home, who do you think these artists will be thinking of when they are ready to buy?

Clearly, Exit Realty is looking to build their brand in Bellingham -- particularly downtown, in the heart of which they are now located -- as well as foster their agency as something of a community center.

In addition to the abovementioned features, Exit Realty also has a conference room and a larger board-type room, both of which they are making available to the public and community groups, again at no charge.  As of Thursday, co-owner Andy Rogers was telling me that they were in the process of putting together the calendar for the purpose of registering the rooms.

I told Andy that I, for one, covet his boardroom (!) and am excited to begin using it in the very near future.

These are excellent examples of "paying it forward" by creating win-wins for the greater good of everyone.  I applaud Exit Realty Bellingham for being "go-givers" in these positive, proactive ways.

In the current residential market, there is a lot of fearmongering going on.  To be sure, it is challenging for builders, real estate agents, sellers, and others to stay positive when homes remain on the market for months on end.

Last Wednesday at the WCAR lunch meeting, I was encouraged (and educated) to view John Burns excellent video, Housing Cycles:  Lessons Learned.

The team at John Burns Real Estate Consulting posted the video on YouTube at the end of March, and I'd also like to share it with you here.  It's only about 7 1/2 minutes long, but very informative and very enjoyable to view.

(If your house could talk, what would it tell you?)

I'm always intrigued and excited to come across creative marketing ideas, aren't you?

That's what magnetic marketing is all about:  keeping my mind open to the possibilities of reminding leads and prospects of the value and benefits of what I do in a way that catches their attention and matches my personality and my brand.

(Leveraging every marketing opportunity is also important, and how you are going to do that should be considered well before implementing any new marketing strategy.) 

Jim Cronin over at The Real Estate Tomato reported on the marketing genuis idea of one of their clients, realtor Michael Bergin of Alexandria, Virginia.

The goal was to increase subscriptions to his new blog, GWSleptHere.com (The GW reference is to the first president of the United States, George Washington.).

To that end (and with the GW branding in mind), Michael created a mailing that included an announcement of the new blog, a business card, and a dollar bill replica (George Washington's face is on the dollar bill).  The promotion on the back of the dollar bill offered a $5 Starbucks giftcard to the first 50 subscribers to GWSleptHere.com.

They sent the mailing to at least 300 people on all of their lists, including clients, church members, and the neighborhood association, to name a few.  As Michael elaborates in the comments of The Real Estate Tomato's article, he and his partner also use every free opportunity to hand out their dollar bills and announcements during their day-to-day activities.

From my rough calculations, their total investment in this promotion was just under $700 for the cost of printing, postage, and Starbucks gift cards.  This did not include the design work, which was traded in exchange for dinner.

Perhaps if Michael had gone to a local printer rather than Kinko's and offered some sort of trade with a local coffee shop instead of Starbucks, he may have even further reduced the cost of this promotion.

Does this give you any ideas for promoting your real estate blog?

The goal, of course, is to drive quality traffic to your blog.  Your job, then, is to provide a consistent stream of interesting and valuable content that keeps your new readers coming back for more.

As for Michael, the next thing he should be thinking about (besides creating quality content) is how to leverage this great idea, capitalizing on the buzz he's generated.

How else will he continue to add value to his potential clients?  What can he do for those subscribers who were not among the 50 to receive a Starbucks card?

What would you do? 

You gotta admire anyone who goes into business for him- or herself.  It takes a lot of guts to be a salesperson, because you really have to put yourself out there to the world and be vulnerable.

I think most people go through life believing there's something wrong with them.  This is especially true of people in sales (which we all are in the business of sales and marketing, regardless of our industry).

What if they find out I'm not who they think I am?  What if they find out I'm a fraud?

There are many keys to success, but a foundational piece of the puzzle is having a high level of belief in yourself and in your expertise.  It boils down to self-image.

And whether and to what extent you have a healthy self-image smacks you right in the face when you work for yourself......especially when you have to get out there and sell yourself.

Our minds try to sabotage us with nonsense like "I'm not good enough" or "I don't have enough experience."  Have any of these thoughts crossed your mind?

For a salesperson, these thoughts left unchecked will stop you in your tracks.

The truth is even if you just started your business today and until this very moment you've never sold anything before, you are more than qualified and have plenty of experience.  There is no other you.  In fact, there are people out there to whom -- if only you boldly marketed yourself so that they could find you -- you are the answer to their prayers.

These people -- to whom you are magnetically attracted and they likewise to you -- are your ideal clients, because they reveal to you how wonderful you really are, and that all you already are is all you need.

Why wait until you meet your ideal clients?

You've probably heard the advice to "act as if."  (I used to wonder why they never complete the sentence!  Act as if what?  Of course, now I understand that it means to act as if you already possess whatever it is you desire)

In this case, whether or not you possess a high level of healthy self-esteem to boldly put yourself out there despite the risk of rejection, act as if you already do.  The result is that you will find in your ideal clients confirmation of your greatness.

How does that feel?

This reminds me of the story of Rapunzel, as interpreted by Andrew Mathews, author of Being Happy! A Handbook to Greater Confidence & Security.

He offers (on page 22) that the story is about self-image.

Rapunzel is a young lady who lives locked up in a castle, imprisoned by an old witch who continually tells her how ugly she is.  One day, a handsome prince passes by the tower and tells Rapunzel of her loveliness.  She lets down her golden locks (apparently of some considerable length), so he may climb her hair to rescue her.

It is neither the castle nor the witch that has kept her a prisoner, but the belief in her own ugliness.  When she recognizes her beauty, reflected in the face of her prince charming, she sees that she can be set free.

Who's telling you you're ugly?

If you're not the salesperson you want to be, it's really you (or, more accurately, your mind) doing all the talking about how unworthy you are.
 

All of you savvy readers of this blog probably knew about this long ago, but I'm just now discovering GOOG-411, Google's free voice local search service.

Here's the cool video that turned me on to it (How I stumbled upon it, I don't know):

How do you think GOOG-411 might enhance your life and how you do your work?  Or, do you think it's nothing more than another cool Google Gadget?