Today in my in-box, my daily e-mail from ClickZ caught my eye – Social Commerce 101: Leverage Word of Mouth to Boost Sales by Sam Decker. Social networking and social media are the current, sexy, shiny topics at business and marketing conferences in the real estate industry. Are we using this new marketing venue correctly? Probably not.

In his column, Decker asks these two questions: “What does the ’social’ moniker mean for your business?” and “How does the customer voice really impact bottom-line sales?”

I know that most brokerages are working an angle with the social media platforms, but have they answered these two questions? If your brokerage has, we would love to hear your comments.

I am a member of several brokerage fan pages and I have yet to see one client talk about the company. Most of the pages are postings of listings, educational videos, introductions of new agents and press releases. I have also noticed that many of them have not posted for several weeks. Even one of the largest firms in California hasn’t posted since last summer.

Here are some suggestions from Decker:

• Craft your daily post to get folks talking about your company and your service
• Host promotions and contests on your pages – check out Dunkin’ Donuts on FaceBook
• Upload photos and videos – on FaceBook become a fan of CENTURY 21 M&M and Associates and on YouTube visit one of the Long Realty Company channels

I am so glad that I took time to read this e-mail today as it now has me re-thinking our social commerce at Skirts and also with my industry clients.

As you said goodbye to 2009 and welcomed 2010 into your lives, how did you spend your *transition* zone?

I refer to the week after Christmas and before New Years as the transition zone because it is a time when we are allowed to really reflect on the past year while at the same time set plans and goals for the upcoming year. We are transitioning from the old into the new! Think of it as the final week the caterpillar is in the cocoon before blossoming out to become the butterfly!

As you may know, I don’t believe in making resolutions (see last week’s blog post), but I do believe in examining the past and setting goals for the future.

So, let’s start by reflecting on the past year. What worked for you in 2009? What were some of your 2009 highlights? Think about your accomplishments and write them down. Did you meet your sales goals? Did you improve your health?

Now, let’s think about the future. What goals do you want to achieve this year? Are there specific areas of your life you would like to focus on? How can you make 2010 your best year ever?

One exercise I like to have my coaching clients work on is called Finding My Purpose. Do you have a purpose? We all need a reason and motivation in our lives if we are truly going to live it to the fullest.

The exercise begins with you asking yourself: “What am I passionate about?” Again, write down anything and everything that comes to your mind! Are you passionate about animals? children? gardening? photography? singing? Whatever your passion, the key is to identify that passion and then find a way to incorporate it into your life! When your passion and your path intersect, you are truly living your purpose!

If you need a little coaching to get you thinking this way, check out Creating Your Masterpiece’s 30-Day Guide to Becoming the Artist of Your Life. It’s a 2 CD series that works as a self-guided coaching program to help you uncover (and discover) what you are passionate about and then how to create the action plan to achieve it! Visit CreatingYourMasterpiece to learn more!

Here’s to a passionate and purposeful 2010!

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

My favorite daily e-mail comes from Media Post Publications and it’s the email insider. Last Friday, Ryan Deutsch of StrongMail Systems had a post entitled Monetizing Social Media is about Targeting First, Everything Else Second. I read the post and then I read it again and thought ‘Holy Cow this is Brilliant.’

Although he was speaking of a retail company who wanted to increase participation in their loyalty program, I saw great value in how they sent an invitation to their current customers and asked them to forward the invitation to their friends and to share with them their experience with the loyalty program. The results of this campaign surpassed past ‘un-socialized’ e-mail campaigns by three times!

The majority of our business comes from referrals, right? We ask our buyers and sellers to refer us to their friends and family. It’s word of mouth marketing at its best. So, why not apply the old basics to Web 2.0 (Social Networks and Blogs). Being a true marketer I doodled out a few programs.

• Send an e-mail to all past clients with a link to either your company or business Fan page on Facebook. In the e-mail, ask them to write a few words on your Fan page about their experience with you or your company. Results – you start building a strong referral network online as the comment is also posted on your client’s Facebook page. Don’t just do this for Facebook, do the same for LinkedIn and My Space.
• Find the local ‘Super Influencer’ blogger for your community. These bloggers have great impact upon their readers. These folks are always looking for new content to share with their readers. I would recommend that you reach out to them to arrange a meeting to discuss how you can provide the local real estate data to them to share with their readers. Become the ‘Barbara Corcoran, Real Estate Expert’ for your local market.

I invite you to share with us how you are using Web 2.0 to generate new business for you.

Can you believe that it is December already? This time of year goes by so quickly! So much to be done and so little time to do it all. Before you know it, it will be January 2010! Are you ready for the new year?

Do you have the proper tools in your tool kit to make 2010 your best year ever? And, by best year ever, I mean both professionally and personally! Many times we can get so caught up with our professional goals, that our personal goals get overlooked or put on the back burner.

Here is a list of recommended tools to help you set your goals for 2010:

1. Think about what your definition of success REALLY is for 2010.
Complete the following sentences:
My personal definition for success in 2010 is_________
My professional definition for success in 2010 is_________

2. Write down one SPECIFIC goal for each area of your balanced life palette.

• Health/Emotion
• Physical Environment
• Relationships
• Financial
• Spiritual

You might write something like this:
In the Health/Emotion area of my life palette, my goal is to run a marathon, loose 10 lbs, take up yoga to reduce stress, etc.

3. Create an action plan for each of these goals and commit to it. For example, if your goal in the Financial area of your life palette is to save enough money to take a trip to Italy next summer, your action plan might look something like this:

• I am going to open a vacation savings account and deposit $XXX per month into this account
• I am going to create a monthly spending budget – and stick to it
• I am only going to eat lunch out once a week, and will only spend $15
• I am going to sell one additional house per month in order to attain my goal

4. Create a Vision Board. What is a vision board? Simply put, a vision board is a visual representation (or collage) of the things that you want to have, be, or do in your life. It consists of a poster or foam board with cut-out pictures and words from various magazines, and personal pictures of the things that you want in your life. The purpose of a vision board is to keep you focused on your goals, dreams and passions while at the same time activating the law of attraction to enable you to realize your dreams.

5. Work with a friend, mentor, partner or life coach who will hold you accountable and support you while you work to attain your goals!

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

“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