Blog of Geese

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Today I read that a plane’s doors flew off after take off. Yesterday there was a story about a plane traveling from Miami with a hole in the bottom. The Southwest fiasco about inspections not being conducted properly. My last flight from Chicago to New Orleans which produced very heavy turbulence that apparently was undetectable to the pilots. My flight from Pensacola, Florida to New Orleans which consisted of turbulence so bad that I knew (not thought) that I would surely die on this itty bitty plane and it wouldn’t even make the news because there were only 12 of us on it. I could go on and on and on.

Flying, to me, is one of the faith-filling experiences a person can have. The reason is simple. A passenger has absolutely no control. That explains why people feel safer in cars even though automobile accidents almost exponentially outnumber the people injured/killed in plane accidents.

Here is my point. A homeowner is giving you the keys to their most important asset. Few will ever own anything of higher value. They feel completely out of control and that’s why you hear crazy homeowner stories like this one.

Most recently in my Xpressdocs world I have heard a lot about real estate professionals giving a little bit of control to the home owners in the form of property business cards. These cards feature a house on one side along with the address and price and on the other side is the agent’s business card. What happens is the agent gives the homeowner 100 or so of these cards and the homeowner proceeds to pass them out to their friends and neighbors. The accomplishes two things. First it gives the homeowner the control and the feeling that they are helping to market their home. Secondly it is a referral to the agent. I hope to conduct a few marketing studies on the results but overall we are hearing that agents are receiving a good number of listings as a result of the property cards. At Xpressdocs these cards are $35.50 for 250 cards which includes overnight shipping which means that as long as you place your order by 5PM EST you will be able to impress your clients the very next day.

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Control is a strange thing and giving your homeowner just a little more of it will allow for a much smoother process.

Matthew S. Gosselin is the author of My Blue Goose, Exploiting The Wow Factor In Real Estate Marketing. The book can be purchased on MyBlueGoose.com or Amazon

I enjoyed talking with the folks at Trulila (Trulia.com) at this year’s Prudential Conference in New Orleans. Visit Trulia’s blogto read about their presence at this conference.

More information coming in future blog posts about what Trulia can do to make you a standout agent.

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This is a message to a minority. Real estate professionals, stop being late to showings and listing appointments. I am completely serious. I attended a sales meeting the other day and was shocked to learn that things had turned so sour with this office that timeliness was the main item on the agenda. It wasn’t just one or two in the office, it was most of the office.

Tardiness in business is not tolerated. It’s not even tolerated in golf as we learned recently when John Daly was kicked out of the Bay Hill for missing his tee time. Earlier in the day Daily’s swing coach fired him for missing his practice.

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Matthew S. Gosselin is the author of My Blue Goose, Exploiting The Wow Factor In Real Estate Marketing. The book can be purchased on MyBlueGoose.com or Amazon

I was getting my haircut the other day (there is much less to cut then there used to be) and a real estate agent walked in the door. They knew who she was because she gets her haircut at the same place. She spent a minute or two talking to each stylist and handed them a postcard.

“I just wanted to let you know that I am a real estate agent and if you ever have a client that is in the market, have them give me a call,” she said.

And then she left. Total time spent in there was 10 minutes at the most. What happened next was very easy to predict. The stylist put the postcard on the desk in front of her and then turned to me and said “my husband and I just moved 2 years ago but now my mom wants to move closer to us.” Similar conversations were being had throughout the business.

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It has never been more important to seek out the people in the services industry that talk to many people. They include Tax accountants, bankers, hair stylists, teachers.

How many of these movers and shakers do you communicate with on a regular basis?

Matthew S. Gosselin is the author of My Blue Goose, Exploiting The Wow Factor In Real Estate Marketing. The book can be purchased on MyBlueGoose.com or Amazon

Tis the season for real estate conferences! If you find yourself at the one or both of the following events, be sure to stop by the Xpressdocs booth and ask for me. Mention Blog of Geese and I will get you a free copy of my book My Blue Goose, Exploiting The Wow Factor In Real Estate Marketing.

Prudential R.E. National Conference
New Orleans
March 16th-18th

Leading RE/Luxury Portfolio Nat’l Conference
Boca Raton, FL
April 8-11

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There is some confusion floating around the real estate industry about the definition of value as it relates to direct mail pieces. Should you send recipe cards? Should you partner with local companies to provide retail discounts? Should you stick with sending out market statistics and only marketing statistics? Here are some bulleted thoughts about the subject.

There are books written about this subject but it amazes me how few real estate agents are taking advantage of reliable information. This form of communication is an important part of your real estate business.

Matthew S. Gosselin is the author of My Blue Goose, Exploiting The Wow Factor In Real Estate Marketing. The book can be purchased on MyBlueGoose.com or Amazon

I grew up in a small town just outside Burlington Vermont where my Uncle was the Mayor, I knew the postman by his first name, I could tell you the names of most every person on the fire department and my 5th grade teacher taught not only myself and my 3 siblings but my mother as well. This was a city where conversations and relationships were king. Yet, few leveraged this in their businesses.

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Flash forward many years to Boston Massachusetts. Signs like the Citgo sign shown here next to Fenway are a common phenomenon lining the streets. Billboards are animated, on the T (the subway) ads decorate the inside of cars and as the train moves ads scream at you from the outside.

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Whether agents are in a large city or a farming town, their advertisements should do the same thing. Old marketing methods tell us that ads are used to sell a product and make a message visible to as many people as possible. New marketing methods tell us that ads are used to start a conversation and it is perfectly fine if you start that conversation with just a few like-minded people.

So here is the question. Does your ad scream at people or does it start a conversation?

The most basic questions to ask yourself when creating your advertisement are:
1. To whom am I speaking?
2. Will this ad be important to them?
3. Does the advertisement show a personality?
4. Do I give them enough information so they can contact me on their own time using their preferred method (phone, address, email, website)
5. Is my advertisement attractive?

Answer these questions before you come up with your idea for the ad and you’ll be in good shape.

Matthew S. Gosselin is the author of My Blue Goose, Exploiting The Wow Factor In Real Estate Marketing. The book can be purchased on MyBlueGoose.com or Amazon

Xpressdocs has announced its aggressive green initiative, making it one of the first real estate partners to do so. As real estate’s leading print on-demand technology company it understands the importance of creating a business environment that is both energy efficient and eco-friendly. While the plan incorporates recycled papers and environmentally friendly inks, it is inspecting every aspect of its business—from energy use to roof coatings—so it will remain on the leading edge of environmentally responsible business.

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Transforming your real estate business into a green one is no longer for the tofu-eating, dreadlock-wearing hippies. In fact leading giants like Wal-Mart are making extreme efforts to reorganize their business around using energy efficient buildings, working with other green companies and using environmentally friendly products.

As companies within the industry make green changes, the question then becomes “how can a real estate agent turn their business into a eco-conscious one?”

In a May survey, Landor Associates found that eight out of ten consumers believe it’s important to buy from green companies and are willing to pay more to do so. If consumers are willing to pay more but an agent’s commission will stay the same, isn’t it fair to say that the average consumer will choose you as their real estate professional over someone else who is less green? The following are just some of the ideas that every agent can adopt.

1. Specialize in green home listings
Companies like EcoBroker allow agents to become EcoBroker certified while teaching innovative energy, environmental and green strategies. Additionally the company will teach you how to your market yourself as an EcoBroker, an asset in itself.

2. Yell it on the hilltops
Create what is called a boilerplate; standard information about your business that appears on each one of your marketing pieces. In it, describe the practices that your business and company use to promote eco-responsibility.

3. Use the good plastic
Carry an environment saving credit card with you at all times. Bank of America is one of the latest to offer a green credit card. These programs offer a chance to donate a percentage of what you have spent to environmental groups. It also calculates your carbon emissions and attempts to neutralize them. For instance, if I buy a plane ticket the credit card company will have an appropriate number of trees planted to offset the carbon emissions that my travel produced.

4. Ask people to opt-out!
Make sure you are not using more paper then you need by mailing only to the ones who want to receive your mailings. If a client chooses to be taken off your list offer them a chance to be contacted through the web.

5. Don’t forget about your exceptional services

As great as it is that you are green don’t forget the importance of appealing to the consumers on many different levels. In other words, don’t let your ‘greenness’ overshadow the exceptional real estate services that you offer.

6. Seek out green companies
When you have a choice in service providers do some research to find a company that is eco-responsible. It’s okay these days to ask companies what they are doing to become green even if they aren’t all the way there yet.

7. Keep up your direct mailings and flyer printing
You’ll notice that even the environmental companies are using direct mail as their primary focus to generate income. After all, their mission is not to eliminate all impact on the environment but to decrease the negative effects. You still need to run your business effectively and the public understands that.

8. Start a green force
The nice thing about many of the real estate companies today is that they are open to hear suggestions from the agents. Your company also has more resources then you do. Creating a task force to begin implementing green ideas can be an important first step for you and your company.

Matthew S. Gosselin is the author of My Blue Goose, Exploiting The Wow Factor In Real Estate Marketing. The book can be purchased on MyBlueGoose.com or Amazon

If you ask any serious marketer, they will tell you that real estate marketing is just as much about basic human psychology as it is about designing an advertisement. Of the many types of human psychology, social marketing is defining the way in which we conduct our business.

Social Marketing has been and will always be about relationships. Don’t let the new web 2.0 fool you. Social marketing has been around in a business-like setting since the days of the hunters and gatherers. It was always used to start conversations with people who shared interests. The collection of these groups are called social capital. Read my post about the importance of obtaining social capital.

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The beginning of the internet simply brought more exposure and numbers of like-minded individuals and it removed the need for a physical meeting. Of course the use of tele-conferencing also removed the need for physical meetings but it lacked the ability to search people by their interests.

Traditionally, relationships are defined by the degree in which sharing and intimacy occur. This remains true in the online world as well. If we know this to be true then we can define the three stages and some web tools that currently exist within these stages to promote the level of intimacy and sharing that are appropriate.

Stage 1: Knowledge of Existence
Before anyone can share their interests, they must first be found. Before the internet it was difficult to find large groups of like-minded people. In the case of real estate groups, social after-hour groups were created but a lot of effort and time was put into making these groups into a reality. Below are sites professionals use to be discovered. You are able to create your circle of ‘friends’ based on conditions that you choose. The best part is you are able to see friends of your friends without asking them, a feat which wasn’t possible before the internet. Sites that can be included in the Knowledge of Existence stage include:
Facebook
MySpace
Linked In

Stage 2: Elevation of Interest
As with any forming relationship, once you discover someone, or something for that matter, you are enticed to learn more. Maybe it is a new musician, a restaurant your friend just told you about or hopefully a homeowner is trying to learn more about you! Whatever the case may be, more information is needed and in the Googleized world in which we live, they will get the information they are seeking. Here’s where you make sure that the only information they see is what you are putting out there.

Twitter
Twitter is micro-blogging in 150 characters or less at a time. Very often it will reveal personal information and thoughts about the people that you are ‘following.’ This insight provides a chance for you to know a person on a deeper level then what their blog will often allow.

Personal Blogs
Blogs engage a reader. They will eventually determine whether or not a reader will stay loyal to your blog. Although stage 2 is a stage of evaluation the majority of people on the internet will not advance the relationship any further. Most often your blog and advice is what they are really after anyway. I will argue that the few people that do advance the relationship will become clients and/or partners.

Stage 3: Involvement

The Involvement stage is all about a realization that there is a strong interest connection between you and them. More often then not and when proximity allows, it results in a face-to-face meeting. For real estate agents this could mean a potential client or another real estate professional who shares your interests.
Spock
Spock (If Spock is used in the same way as My Space or Facebook it can also be considered as Stage 1 site)
Spock is similar to the MySpace’s of the world although it was designed to be low-key and to be kept to a group that you truly ‘know.’ This then allows the user to not have to censor his or her message to the group.
Tumblr
There are many people using Tumblr as a way to share personal information and thoughts in addition to their blog or micro blog. These thoughts are often random in nature. I’ve also seen some agents using it as a listing and showcase tool. They can direct clients to this micro-site and include video, photos and additional notes about particular properties. In a day of personalized message deliveries, Tumblr allows the users to provide relevant information for clients in a way that doesn’t showcase it to the entire world.
Meet Up.com
Combining traditional with new, Meet Up.com promotes groups waiting to be discovered for just about any interest. The purpose behind every one of these groups is to meet up, in person, with anyone who may share the same interests.

To develop interpersonal relationships we need to understand how they begin and what makes them progress. The above tools should help you stay organized especially if you are one of the few with enough foresight to develop a social marketing plan.

Matthew S. Gosselin is the author of My Blue Goose, Exploiting The Wow Factor In Real Estate Marketing. The book can be purchased on MyBlueGoose.com or Amazon

The year was 2002 in San Francisco, CA when four friends realized that the world was facing a crisis. People were wearing the same socks; white, black and gray. Most people stick to these colors simply because they know they eventually lose one.

So the Little Mismatched Company was formed. With three socks in each set ordered, men, women, boys and girls virtually lined up on the Little Mismatched website to get their hands on these expressive accessories.

“It’s about coordinated mismatching, not to be a clown” co-founder Arielle Eckstut told the USA Today in 2006.

Today the company has produced over $25 million in sales and has landed deals with Linens & Things, FAO Schwarz, and Nordstrom. The company understood something important. People want to express their creativity and their lighter side without going overboard. This simple understanding lead them to great success.

The real estate industry is not much different then this story. There are a lot of black and white socks in the industry today. In other words, real estate professionals are perceived as being same. A Harris Interactive poll revealed that 36% of those surveyed felt agents had “hardly any prestige at all” indicating that agents have failed to show a lack of real achievement. The existing consumer perception of real estate professionals should be of concern to us.

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Just last week I spoke to a homeowner asked me “does it really matter who I list my house with? They all seem to do the same thing, put my house on MLS and conduct open houses.” This perception seems to be common among the public which tells me that as real estate professionals we are doing a poor job of educating consumers about the real services a real estate agent offers.

Let people know that you aim to do much more with their listing then what they can do on their own. Only you know what will work best in your area so keep your ear to the ground and bring a notepad and pen with you.

Matthew S. Gosselin is the author of My Blue Goose, Exploiting The Wow Factor In Real Estate Marketing. The book can be purchased on MyBlueGoose.com or Amazon