“All things being equal, people will do business with — and refer business to— those people they know, like and trust.” ~Bob Burg, Endless Referrals

In the real estate industry, we all know it is so important to network. We want to make sure that everyone knows who we are, what we do, and why we are the best at doing it. We wear our name badges in the grocery store, we leave stacks of our business cards at the dry cleaners, and we attend countless networking events where we are given the opportunity to share our 60 second elevator speech; however, there is another side to networking . . . almost the reverse side of the networking coin, if you will.

I was introduced to this other side of networking while attending classes at Coach U (the country’s largest and oldest accredited Coaching University). They called the technique Building Your Team 100. Basically, it was creating a professional team of 100 people from all different industries and services that you would feel comfortable referring business to.

Think about ALL of your contacts. Who do you know, like, and trust enough to do business with and include on your team? That is the only qualification you need to start building YOUR team. And, think outside of the “industry box”. You probably already have a great mortgage lender, title company and bank that you work with . . . but what about a chiropractor, massage therapist, personal trainer, caterer, CPA, business coach, graphic designer, florist? The list goes on and on!

I just had this happen to me the other day in the most unlikely of places! I have an Airedale Terrier – Cocoa, and I was having a difficult time finding a groomer that understood how to correctly groom and cut this particular breed. Well, after experiencing many interesting and unusual styles and cuts with my puppy, I happened upon a small shop called A Terrier Tale. I took Cocoa in for a grooming and I was so impressed with the outcome that I have been referring this groomer to anyone and everyone I know that owns a terrier! The result? I have been able to refer two new clients to this shop! And, guess what else? The owner of the shop has agreed to pass my information along as her preferred business coach should the opportunity arise.

And, don’t we as women love being able to refer “our” people to other people? Think about it, if someone compliments your new hair style, aren’t you inclined to say something like: “Oh thank you! Kelly from Salon De Jour did it. She is the absolute best in the business . . . here’s her number! Tell her I referred you!”

Another wonderful thing that happens as you build and refer your team, you become the expert – the “go to” person. You have a plethora of information and resources at your disposal to offer your clients! You just never know when a client is going to ask you for the name of a good infertility specialist! Trust me, it has (and does) happen on a regular basis!

Once you have created your Dream Team, don’t keep it a secret! Meet with each member and let them know that you think so highly of them and their services that, if they don’t mind, you would like to be able to refer them to clients! (Who would say NO to that proposition?) At the same time, ask them to consider you and refer you as their personal Realtor as well!

If you would like more information on how to create YOUR Dream Team, feel free to contact me!

Guest Blogger: Leah Turner
email: Leah@CreatingYourMasterpiece.com
website: CreatingYourMasterpiece.com
407.709.6816

I was watching my two dogs playing today, as I took a break from working in my home office. Dogs always play with such abandon, with no agenda in mind (other than getting the ball, I would imagine.). As I watched them playing today, I realized that they offered me a peek at strategies we all could use to “get the ball” in our careers. Let me tell you a bit about my dogs, as it will help me explain the strategies. The older dog, Jessie is a small Australian Shepherd. She is seven years old, but her speed and tenacity makes her look almost puppy-like on the grass. Cooper is a 7-month old Mini Australian Shepherd. He is 3/4 the size of Jessie. He is fast, and incredibly bright, but neither as fast or tenacious as Jessie.

Today’s game went something like this. The first part of the game, I threw Jessie’s favorite ball into the yard, and Jessie sped toward it with lightning speed. Cooper hung back because he just isn’t as fast as she is. Jessie catches the ball, spins around and heads back to deliver it to me. Cooper knows that he could never win a race against Jessie, and has no hope of getting to that ball first, so he positions himself between Jessie and me (we call this “playing defense.”) As Jessie gets closer to me, Cooper makes his assault, leaping onto Jessie’s shoulder and wrestling the ball away.

As I watched Cooper’s strategy over and over, and Jessie tenaciously clinging to the same failed response to the ball, I thought about how many of us cling to the same way of doing things even if it continually produces a poor result. Call it habit, a rut, a personality trait, but we’ve all been guilty of doing something over and over and expecting a different result. Being tenacious is admirable, but is it time to look at areas of your business where you’re still not getting the results you expect? Perhaps you’ve been disappointed with the results of your networking, coming back from events feeling as though you’ve wasted your time, again. Would setting specific goals for your networking event, or researching ways to network proactively break the cycle of disappointment? Maybe your cold-calling routine is producing little or no results. Is it time to change your script, or even hire a virtual assistant to make the calls for you? Jessie will continue to chase the ball, just as she always does, because she lacks the ability to reflect on why she never seems to come up with the ball at the end of the chase . We are lucky, we can change strategies overnight and change our outcomes.

The second half of this game was so entertaining to watch, that I’m hoping to catch it on video for my blog soon. After I’ve thrown the ball, Cooper ambushes Jessie and steals it away. It takes a moment for Jessie to realize what has just happened. By the time she realizes that the ball is no longer in her mouth, Cooper is off and running. He is fast for his age, but Jessie can easily overtake him, and he knows this. The game (and the strategy) unfolds in a different way now. Once Cooper is running, with Jessie hot on his heels, he heads for the patio table set. In one glorious moment, in the middle of the first chase, he realized that while Jessie is faster, she is also bigger. He dives under the patio set and begins weaving in and out of the table and chair legs, crouched down, and impossible to catch. Jessie, being larger and not as flexible, can only run around the table barking in frustration. Occasionally, Cooper will dart from the safety of the table, and run around the garden shed, but only in short sprints, as he knows she can catch him if he runs too long. Back under the table, he moves around freely, still controlling the ball.

Cooper was showing me that you don’t have to be the biggest, or the fastest, but you have to work smart and capitalize on your strengths. Like a small-town clothing store taking on the retail giants by offering outlandish customer service, you can succeed against the odds by reaffirming your unique strengths and putting them to work for you. There is a particular zen in creating a life around your true gifts. When you work with authenticity, you are no longer competing because you’re offering something that no one else can offer: you.

If you aren’t already aware of the strengths you possess that can be incorporated into your business, there are several ways to identify them. If you have a file of testimonials, or perhaps thank you notes, read them all to see if there are one or two things that you’re consistently being recognized for. You’ll see a pattern emerge from the notes and testimonials, that pattern will give you a glimpse of your unique strengths that your clients value (and if your clients value them, then potential clients will seek them out.) Feel free to ask a colleague or friend to help with this if you feel as though you can’t be objective about yourself. Another simple way is to ask those whose opinion you value, to give 3 examples of your strengths. You’ll get a variety of responses, but pretty quick you’ll see a theme, whether it’s your caring nature, great follow up, or encyclopedic knowledge of your business. If you think better by working with words, then make a list of 10 things you’re most proud of in your life. Going down the list, write the strengths you demonstrated in each instance that made this a cherished accomplishment for you.

Once you’ve identified two or three strengths, review your marketing to see how you can re-position yourself by focusing on these unique qualities. You’ll find that your personal marketing gets easier, and branding flows, when you’ve plugged in to your authentic self.

With the lessons of Jessie and Cooper’s games you can break the cycle of being stuck in unsuccessful habits, and manifest the strengths you know in your heart will keep you ahead of the pack. And isn’t that what being top dog is all about?

Guest Blogger: Diana Hathaway-Timmons
email: Diana@KeepYourZen.com
website: KeepYourZen.com
253.514.8892

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” – Anais Nin

Back in the late 1990’s when I worked for Arvida Realty Services as their Marketing Director, I remember that the onset of November usually marked an eerie and quiet time in the real estate business. The excitement of the upcoming holidays left most real estate agents focusing on such things as turkey recipes, holiday gatherings, Christmas shopping, etc.

However, there was one agent in the company that always sold more homes in November and December than any other time of the year. Her name was Bobbi. Now, don’t get me wrong, Bobbi enjoyed the holidays just as much as everyone else, she just didn’t turn the holidays into a 2 month long hiatus. In fact, she looked forward to the holiday season more than most people!

When I asked her HOW she sold so many homes in two of the traditionally slowest months of the year, she simply said: “People still buy homes in November and December; we have just been programmed to think they don’t.”

She went on to tell me how she actually had a very different and unique marketing approach that she used only during the last two months of the year. She embraced the holidays and played up on that theme in her marketing, advertising and sales strategies to kick her business into high speed!

Interesting point! While chatting with other real estate agents, I noticed that their attitude was quite different from Bobbi’s. I repeatedly heard that “people don’t buy during the holidays”, “why should I waste my time?”, “I use November and December to create my 2010 business plan because nobody buys or sells during the holidays.”

Which leads me to the quote I started this blog with….it’s really about our perception, isn’t it? As independent contractors, we don’t get paid unless we sell a home, right? Can you really afford to take two months off from your business?

Think about all the creative ways you can fine tune or adjust your marketing and sales tactics to theme with the holidays. Remember, this is an excellent time to touch past clients and ask for referrals!

The reality is people DO buy homes in November and December, just ask Bobbi! The question is – will they be buying from you?

Guest Blogger: Leah Turner
email: Leah@CreatingYourMasterpiece.com
website: CreatingYourMasterpiece.com
407.709.6816

Some brokers refer to their business development (or ‘biz dev’) professionals as the person or department responsible for managing partnerships or affiliate relationships.

To a select few, whatever remains of their relocation department, is referred to as business development. Others refer to their referral-based business as biz dev.

In some firms, it’s the folks that own the responsibility for talent attraction (recruiting ‘re-branded’) or career development that wear the business development hat.

Some simply use the term to refer to their sales force.

By now it should be fairly obvious. Business Development is the responsibility of every person and department in an organization. So, why don’t more brokers mention Marketing when asked about their business development initiatives?

As real estate organizations begin to shift their focus from cost-containment to revenue growth, don’t you think it’s about time marketing takes more of a leadership role in business development? After all, isn’t it marketing’s job to create need and stimulate desire for a company’s product or service offering? Aren’t they the folks responsible for generating qualified leads for your sales team?

Marketing has a direct effect on company profitability. While they may not close a single side of business on their own, when marketing superstars put on the business development hat and work in tandem with your sales force, revenue follows.

The reality is there is business out there. Go get it.

What’s all the hoopla about “Business Development“? Don’t we all do a form of this every day when we are asking buyers to buy a home, asking sellers to list their homes with us, recruiting an agent to join our team, or if you are a vendor to the industry, asking the brokerage or agent to purchase a product to increase business? Granted today’s times aren’t like anything we have seen for quite some time, and many companies are streamlining and reviewing job responsibilities across the board. But the buzz word in the halls, on the streets, and at the water cooler is “Business Development.”

So, like my fellow Skirt Natalie, I too turned to Wikipedia for the definition. In the field of commerce, the specialist area of “Business Development” comprises a number of techniques and responsibilities which aim at gaining new customers and at penetrating existing markets.

In the definition it offers techniques that are used to grow one’s business, including:

• Assessment of marketing opportunities and target markets
• Intelligence gathering on customers and competitors
• Advising and enforcing sales policies and processes
• Following up sales activities
• Proposal and presentation management and writing

Okay, the techniques are something that we all know and understand. Most of us go after new business regularly. But, what about current clients, past clients or just the day-to-day operations of business…do we need “Business Development” in these areas as well? YOU BET!

In the early 1990’s I left my job as a Retail Advertising Director for a mid-size daily newspaper in Montgomery, Alabama. Newly married and feeling secure, I decided to go out on my own. So, what was my first step? I started calling clients and letting them know that I was going to be freelancing my marketing skills. I engaged in “Business Development,” right? The first rule is to contact people you know or have worked with in the past. Okay, I rallied up a few clients.

One of the clients I secured was an independent real estate brokerage with 70 agents, and the median age of the agents with whom I was working was 52. These agents had never had to do any marketing on their own. Their company did it all. Now, remember this was in the 90s and not too much different than today’s market. Interest rates were much higher, but a lot like today. I needed to find that agent that was hungry and had no fear to prove to the others that marketing on her own would bring business.

I found the perfect rookie, and she had no fear. She was a wife, mother of two and had a brother who was a real estate agent in another city. With sibling rivalry at its best, I leveraged the fact that he was the number one agent in the state to motivate her. So, when she said to me “I need to develop business,” I jumped at the chance. She asked the more established agents if she could hold their listing for Open House. She asked to advertise them in her full page ad in the local home magazine, and our list of To Do’s went on. We even developed a business plan and marketing plan. She was determined not to live deal-to-deal but instead to establish clientele and make a legitimate living.

To give a prime example, consider her most challenging case of “Business Development. “ In her first year as an agent, she had plenty of experience with the “dog” of a listing. You know the listing – the one that has rotated through the troops in the last two years. It was a vacant home, no furniture, no curb appeal. Ring a bell? And to top off the torture, it was during the Holidays! No potential clients to be found – until we devised a wonderfully effective plan. We contacted several local merchants: boutique stores, a landscaper, interior decorators, a caterer, a florist and others. With their help, we hosted a “Holiday Open House.” Party invitations were sent, ads were published, shopkeepers set up displays of their wares, and the house smelled of cheer when interested buyers strolled through the home. In that four-hour span on a dreary Sunday afternoon when we thought no one could be bothered, this rookie agent developed business. In fact, she obtained six new clients!

One of our goals with both our Blog and SkirtsInDirt.com is to explore the various modes of business development to support your day to day business. Additionally, we hope to provide suggestions and ideas on sales-oriented functions, as well as marketing, customer service, and the dreaded operations of running our business successfully. We hope you’ll find our insight practical and put us to work in your own “Business Development” efforts!