From RealSource... Glenn's Blog

In building your business, it is not about who you know... it is about who knows you!

And by "knows you," I don't mean your name.  (I hope your marketing plan is more than just "get my name out there.")

I'm talking about who knows you to the point they understand, and can repeat, your:

• Success
• Integrity
• Values
• Effort
• Focus

Now many people say, of course, "I explain all of this to my prospective clients when we first meet and through my brochures and my website."

To these well-intentioned people I ask,

• Do you like having every prospective business person you meet take your time to educate about them?   
• Do you believe every business card, brochure, and website that declares someone or a company is honest, trustworthy and hardworking?"  

If you are like most people, the answer to these questions is "no."

Here is what the successful business people often do.  The demonstrate their qualities in all they do, for all to see.  They know actions speak louder than all the words on all the brochures, websites and fliers.  through successful, honest, hardworking, smart effort, you can become known to those that can and will bring you business.

Now granted, printing business cards, brochures, and other material is a quick process.  And it is "what everyone else does", so many think it must work.   However, this alone will not build a great business.  You have to be of value.  You have to be great.  And "great" trumps "brochure" every time!

I feel like I've just stated the obvious.  However, I am constantly amazed at the number of people that want my business, want to educate me, want to convince me and want my trust on only their appearance.  So maybe it isn't as obvious as I once thought.

Quotes are often great ways to encapsulate an idea, a goal, a topic or even a discussion.  Here are some that I think are particularly timely as I look at our businesses and the economy...

We will either find a way or make one.
                             Attributed to
                             Hannibal  247-183 B.C.
                             Carthaginian General

Although much sought after, the truth can be dangerous to the
seeker.  Myths and reasurring lies are much easier to find and
believe.  If you find a truth, even a temporary one, it can demand
that you make painful changes.
                             Leto
                             From "God Emporer of Dune" by Frank Herbert

If you don't know what time is worth, you aren't ready to buy it.
                             Preston Smith

If I claim to be a wise man, then it surely means that I don't know.
                              Kansas

Opportunities multiply as they are seized.
                             Sun Tzu
                             Ancient Chinese General

Candor is a compliment; it implies equality.  It is how true friends talk.
                              Peggy Noonan

"I don't believe it!"   "And that... is why you fail..." 
                             Young Skywalker and Master Yoda

We don't perceive things as they are, we perceive them as we are!
                              Unknown

If you need a solution and don't buy it, you pay for it without getting it.
                              Henry Ford

You're never too old to do goofy stuff.
                             Ward Cleaver
                             addressing Beaver

There are a number of others but this is a nice sample.  A review of my list is something I find encouraging and motivating.  In some ways, it is like reading a book with many chapters in a few blinks of an eye.

Do you have any quotes or thoughts or even personal mantra's that inspire you in this economy?  Or any favorites (and why) in my list?   An inquiring mind would like to know!

In business and in life, do you set specific goals? 

You know there are lots of benefits of never setting goals.  Here are a few:

• You never miss a goal
• You are never late
• You never need excuses for missing goals
• Your best effort of the moment will be always be enough
• You can change your priorities any time
• You never have to feel guilty for missing goals
• You can be more flexible (in the short term)
• You don't have to consider the future as hard
• You can live in the moment
• You won't fail (since failure requires a definition of completion or success)
• You can avoid focus
• You can avoid completing tasks
• You can postpone anything
• You can let others do your work
• You can let others get more clients
• You can worry less about success

Goals are tough.  They require focus, effort, progress, growth and discipline. 

Look at people you see as successful.  It may not be obvious at first, but I bet you'll see they have goals.  Many of them have daily goals (such as work-out), weekly goals (at least one quite evening with their spouse), monthly goals (how many customers to visit) and annual goals (meet a volume of sales). 

Yet despite the correlation of goals and succes, many people do not set goals.  Or more likely they set them but don't take them seriously. 

That's okay... Success is not mandatory. 

In her blog, Janet Guilbalt wrote about "Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Why Do Realtors Trash Marketing from Mortgage Brokers?"  Janet's post was in response to another interesting post by Jennifer Allan, "How Can a Lender Earn My Business?"  In particular, Janet asked a great, really interesting question:

"Considering how important the financing part is to each precious transaction, why wouldn't Realtors be ACTIVELY SEEKING great mortgage lenders to add to their preferred list?"

In other words, regardless of your industry... Why wouldn't customers (and people that refer customers) not want to know about how great we are and how we can help them?  

So what do most people do after they ask that?  They decide to "help" others find them. They spend lots of time and money talking about themselves.  They print brochures and fliers, buy TV and radio ads, they buy ads in programs, drop in on potential customers, and stand up in meetings and talk about... themselves. 

Some do this well and are completely honest and are great!   But most do this poorly... or do the pitch well but fail the delivery.  We've all seen it and we are, honestly, jaded to the pitch.   Even the people that do this approach ignore it from others. 

Here are the problems with this "traditional" approach of fliers, keychains, pens, notepads, ball caps, lunches, brochures, etc.

1)  We all hear the "how great we are" message literally thousands of times a day.  Greatest service, greatest prices, greatest people, greatest response time, blah, blah, blah....

We've all learned to tune these out no matter how polite people are, no matter how professional the material is, no matter how important the value is.  Admit it, you don't listen to this stuff all day long.  Why would others?

2) Some people spend so much time and effort on their "how great I am" material, they fall in love with the material and the process.  

Like raising a child or a pet.  Time and money spent making it all perfect and important.  And once this material is "loved", it becomes incumbent on the "parent" to love it, protect it and defend it from those that fail to see how important it is. 

With all due respect, it is now virtually impossible for these folks to consider there are other approaches, "so 'gosh darn it' I'm going to fight to show I'm right!"  (And maybe you are right... in that case, stay the course, for your are the great exception and should value that!)

3) It is not remarkable. Out of billions of marketing pieces and approaches, only the tiniest percentage become noticed to the point we literally talk about them. 

Is "one-in-a-billion" the odds we want to invest money in?  Surprisingly yes as people invest in this every day, thousands of times, even if it is just a few dollars at a time.

4) People forget to think about the customer's view (or the view of the partner we seek) BEFORE they have a relationship with you.  Most make the mistake of thinking about how great the customer will see us once "they get to know us" through all the efforts we are making.

Why do potential customers want to meet you?  Because you're great?  Sure you are.  But your customer (or potential partner) heard that message AAAALLL DAY LONG long and honestly, they don't have time to figure out who is great and who just has great material. 

5) The customer (or partner) you want is likely doing well without you.  At least the great ones, the ones you really want, are doing great.  That is why you want them, right?

So you are asking to be added to their team with a nice speech or useful pieces of information on a flier?  The great customers (and partners) are buried in this stuff.  They don't have time to sort this out and, honestly, don't have to sort it out. 

So what are we to do?       BE great.

You see, many of the great customers and partner you seek are watching what others do.  They are ACTIVELY SEEKING to grow their network of succes.  Not all watch, but enough.  The great customers and partners typically surround themselves with great folks. And they find those great folks by actively watching and remembering and by listening to those they deeply trust.  Marketing material will almost NEVER interest these people. 

They are "Actively Seeking"... not "Asking to be Sold."

Think sports for instance... do you find the best players by hearing about them or reading stats in the newspapers?  That does not reflect how well they play with others, how their current team may limit them or how their current team may make them look better than they are. 

You find the best by watching them in action.  From that perspective you can see the big picture and how the real players perform under pressure of "game time."

Doris Phillips, the president of RealSource, worked for years as a successful title rep and marketing director.  She says that at the time, she did all the things everyone else does, did them well and got business. 

However, Doris said that since that time, she has gone back to her former employer and apologized for all the money she wasted on flyers, gas, lunches and time "doing what everyone else was doing."  She says she learned that it may have gotten orders but it was the extra service that got the relationships.

In other words, success was about BEING great.

Related posts that may be of interest:

Does your marketing material FAIL... and you don't know it?

Forget Your Logo and Tag Line (because everyone else will)... What is Your Brand?

No One Wants to Be Sold... But They Do Want to Buy!

"Mutually Qualify" Your Potential Clients... or Waste Time to Discover Issues Later? (And I'm not talking about lender pre-qualification!)

Memorable?   Actionable?   Immediate?

Does your marketing material meet these three important tests? 

If not, I hope you not surprised when your material generates little action or response.

In my post, Does your marketing material FAIL... and you don't even know it?  I mentioned this sign for storage units.  It was such a good example it merited further discussion of how it meets the important tests.

Face it, storage units are BORING and FORGETTABLE.  Even people that need them don't always think about using them.

This sign is great for many reasons that most marketing material fails.

To begin with, it is not about the storage unit... it is about the customer!  No explanations of the value of storage units or where they are located or what size units they have.  Customer focused!  The details will come AFTER the customer is interested.

It creates a sense of urgency by getting people to think about how others may feel about them.

Emotions can be so much stronger than fact for most consumers, particularly in the initial stages of getting their attention.

This sign's emotional response creates a sense of urgency.  Even if it not dolls in their house, it gets people thinking about other items.

The sign frames expectations with a starting cost.  You can look at this quickly and say, "Hey, that is in my price range" even if you need a larger unit that costs more.  You have a sense of price scale now.  This sets the stage for memorable and actionable.

The web address and phone number make it easily actionable.  The phone number is designed to be easy to remember.  The web address includes the location, so it does not have to be repeated. These folks make it easier for the customer to do business!

Now, I know some will think, "Houses are different... you can't use this for selling a house."   I want to be clear, I am not suggesting THIS sign for selling houses (although stagers could easily use this concept!). I am suggesting material that meets the tests.  And that indeed is possible.

Remember: Memorable   Actionable   Immediate

There are successful people across the country that use this everyday to make money in many fields, including real estate.  These successful people have gotten past the idea that the marketing material is all about them or about blasting customers with tons of information BEFORE they are really interested. 

And do I suggest you sell houses with the "freak people out" approach?  Of course not.  But you can look at your material to be sure it meets the tests and is not just a big, boring, looks like every-other-agent infomercial that everyone will forget almost as soon as they see it.