Your life, your newsletter
This time last year, I got home from a trip and found my basement flooded. Yay! Spring is here and the snow is melting! Three hours with the Shop-Vac later and it was still damp. Anyway… Why am I telling you this? Well, there are three reasons. First, telling this story illustrates a point I…
Newsletters – and the lonely statistician
A few years ago, a friend (no, it wasn’t me) decided he needed a wife. So he went online dating. Now…this guy is a statistician, so he took the whole process very seriously. He even created a spreadsheet. And because he is a statistician, he calculated exactly how many women he would need to contact,…
You’re more than a real estate agent
It’s not “what you sell” that matters. It’s not you as a “real estate agent” that matters. Instead…it’s all the stuff that surrounds it. Let me explain. Here at Ready to Go Newsletters, we sell newsletters. But that’s not what matters. Yesterday Mayna, our long-suffering customer support manager (I say long-suffering because she works hard…
Quack, quack go!
Have you ever seen a duck trying to take off from a swimming pool? (Let’s not ask why the duck was there in the first place – I guess the 85 degree clear water was a better choice than a muddy pond.) The duck uses a lot of energy to get airborne. It’s first few…
Ants, Oreos and newsletter referrals
Have you ever watched ants? They march across your countertop (if you are unlucky) carrying an Oreo crumb. And when they meet another ant, they have a quick little chat – no doubt passing on vital intelligence as to the whereabouts of the Oreos stash. These ants work in the same way that your clients…
You, the local real estate expert
This is probably the number one secret to having business come to you – rather than you having to go chase after it. That secret is: becoming the local expert. Here’s the thing: People want answers. They want to be led. And they want someone who will show them the way. When every other agent…
The unstoppable snowball
Have you wondered how those mega-agents get to be so, well… mega? Having them in your market is like fighting a giant vacuum cleaner that sucks up all the good listings. It’s tough to break through. Those mega-agents are benefiting from what I call the snowball effect. And it’s something I have seen happen to…
Putting the fun back in to real estate marketing
If you ask some marketing experts, you’d think that promoting your real estate business is all about hard, unpleasant work. Push, push, push. Hustle, hustle… I don’t believe it needs to be like that. Instead, I see it like this: You have valuable information, skills and experience to share. Your marketing is a way to…
When it’s really for them
A few years ago, when newspapers realized that Google News and Craig’s List were eating their lunch, the bean counters in charge started to cut costs. One of the ways they did that was to slash editorial budgets. Content is content, they said. We can share content between papers. So that’s why you started seeing…
The world’s longest newsletter?
On Friday I had a nice chat with someone who receives these emails. He’s not a client – he makes his own newsletters. And he sent me a sample. It was the world’s longest email newsletter. My hand hurt from all the scrolling. But… His newsletter was doing very well for him. He shared his…
The handshake newsletter
In the first chapter of my book, which is inching closer to publication as we speak, I talk about the old-fashioned hardware store. The one on Main Street, where you know the owner. It’s small, maybe a little dusty, but they always seem to have what you want. (And if they don’t, you can have…
Serious message for fool’s day
It might be April Fool’s Day… but I’m not kidding. Every so often, I get a call from an agent ready to join my newsletter service. That person has been receiving these emails for months – sometimes years – and decides they really must get a newsletter. Now, in some ways that’s great. It shows…
Starting Monday with a smile
Monday can be a difficult day. You’ve had either a) a relaxing weekend or b) a crazy-busy weekend with showings and open houses – and now it’s back to work proper. It’s hard to find the motivation you need. But let me share with you a way to feel better about getting to work today…
When your newsletter costs nothing
I heard from another of our clients the other day, and what he told me is a great example of how newsletters work. Now – this guy is in the insurance industry. But what I have to say applies to real estate too. He said that he needs two sales per month to pay for…
Your mouse, your sculpture
The computer mouse – a work of art beneath your fingers! You probably never thought of it like that before. It’s just a mouse. But I was watching a video by Logitech yesterday that explained how they designed a mouse. And the prototype – it was made out of wood. Like a beautiful oak sculpture.…
What clients really respond to
Sometimes, amid the day-to-day hassle of business, it’s easy to forget what really matters. Whole days go by while you are fighting fires and sweating the small stuff. You’re busy on listings presentations, showing homes and solving problems. And on days like that, you can forget WHY you are doing what you doing. So sometimes,…
How newsletters work
I got the perfect illustration of how newsletters work the other day. It came from a long-time client in Florida. Here, in just a few words, is the simple method for using newsletters to build your business. First, you focus on creating a database of leads and clients. That means you ask people you come…
Your elite inner circle
There’s no shame in sending just a few newsletters. I was talking to a potential client today – he wants to mail 100. And that’s just fine… because when you send those 100 newsletters to your best contacts (your elite inner circle!) and you keep doing it for a long time, magic happens. The good…
Just a little bit famous
I don’t know about you, but no-one is going to host a Justin Bieber-style roast for me on Comedy Central. I’m simply not famous enough. (And I’m not bad enough either.) But… You can… and should… be a little bit famous. I just heard from Sandra, a long-term client who is having success with her…
The most important number
How much do you earn each time you close a deal – on average? I ask you – because it’s an important question. It shows the value of a customer to you. That number is probably the most important number in your business. Because… if you don’t know this number, you are operating in the…