Look What Showed Up On My Door

Door hangers are really in this year.

They help make marketing affordable.  Ok:  that means you use person power to get them out rather than postage power.  This came from an agent — not Help-U-Sell — who attached her card in the appropriate place.  Best I can tell, all my neighbors got one too.  The door hanger itself was provided by Fidelity National Home Warranty and I think it’s pretty effective.  I asked Scott Jackson, our Bank of American National Accounts Manager, if they had something similar our Help-U-Sell team could use.  He told me the local MLOs have access to a wide variety of marketing materials for brokers and he was sure several dealt with Short Sales and Loan Mods.  If you’re looking for something new to add to your marketing activities this summer,  I think this could be a good thing.  Call your B of A MLO and see what’s available and then start pounding the pavement (or get your kids to do it)!

(Aside to anyone attending the latest round of Help-U-Sell rallies — this would probably work well with that TOP SECRET Short Sale lead program we presented at the rally.  I don’t want your competitors to know about it, so I won’t name it here and I won’t describe it in detail.  If you missed it at the rally, call me and I’ll fill you in).

 

 

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Rally

I didn’t get there.  I’m talking about the Help-U-Sell Rally in Oakland which starts in . . . five minutes.  I was so sick for the meeting in Orange County (head cold), I couldn’t make myself get on the plane to N. CA and decided to let John Powell and Ron McCoy handle the program there.  I’m sure they will be fine.

The meeting in Orange County, like the one in Phoenix, was excellent.  I was struck by how interactive it was:  lots of sharing.  It was much more a conversation than a presentation.

We worked through John’s Blueprint for growth, which got everyone thinking; got back to basics with the Five Pillars of Help-U-Sell and then got excited with new programs:  The Help-U-Sell Homebuyer Stimulus Program, The new Short Sale prospecting program, and the Help-U-Sell website.  But, like last week’s Wednesday Broker Roundtable call, what seemed to resonate the loudest was this:

The importance of Buyer and Seller Data Sheets and the Leads Management program that accompanies it.

John’s Blueprint includes triggers for when it’s time to hire and they are based on closed sides and leads flow.  There’s no way you could do it without knowing how many inquiries you’re getting, what’s generating them and how they are being handled.

Growth involves recruiting and the Buyer Pool book — which is made up of the same Buyer Data Sheets — is the agent Value Proposition.  If you don’t have it, you have nothing to offer.

High productivity is dependent on Broker control and accountability.  If you’re not tracking every lead that comes in the door, you can bet your conversion rates are suffering.

We are a marketing company.  Whether we’re doing low cost/no cost marketing, optimizing our websites or sending thousands of pieces of direct mail, we are marketing and cultivating leads.  To spend the energy and money it takes to create inquiries and then not record and track them is crazy.  I bet, when you take your overhead and divide it by the total number of leads coming into your office, you’ll discover that each inquiry costs between $75 and $100 to generate.  Not tracking, and not insisting everyone track is throwing your marketing money out the window.

The ideal situation is to grow your business to the point that you have a licensed assistant answering all inquiries and gathering contact data before passing them on to agents.  The assistant’s log becomes the basis for the Broker to followup with the agents, asking:  ‘What happened with this one?  Where are you with that one?’  But even if you have not grown your office to that point, the discipline of leads management can be installed.

I talked with Ken Kopcho this morning about this.  He has run a contest in this office from time to time:  each completed data sheet is good for $1 at the last sales meeting of the month.  It’s not a huge amount of money, but it does create a competition around improving performance in this key area.  He’s also toyed with the idea of giving lottery tickets instead of dollars and I think that’s a good idea.  Leads Management and the collection of leads data becomes everyone’s job and while the contest is good for those who do well, can you imagine how naked the poor performers feel when they have to stand up and say they got . . . one or . . . two or . . . none.

There are great electronic tools for leads management.  Our current system is built in Excel and it will become part of the Help-U-Sell OMS at some point in the future.  However, the basic Buyer and Seller Data sheets are paper and should stay that way.  You can’t have an impressive Buyer Pool Book without paper Data Sheets.  Plus, if there is a stack of each at each phone in the office and in every briefcase, there’s no excuse for not completing them!

You’ll find the Data Sheets (there are several versions) and a complete leads tracking system in the Download Library under Operational Tools/Leads Management Forms.  You’ll also find the University Module on Leads Management there.

Wow! Cool!

Mike Klein, Help-U-Sell Prescott, is attaching his Free Weekly List to his blog so readers can download it.  I’m sure he’s distributing it in other ways, too, but this is great.  The FWL is great, too, featuring testimonials and highlighting new listings, price reductions and bank owned properties.  You really ought to see this:  go to Mike’s Blog and download the attachment.  I keep hearing (usually from struggling members) that the Free Weekly List is no longer relevant.  Take a look at this and see how untrue that is!

Keith Haring and Help-U-Sell

Bear with me; it’s not that far-out a combination!

I have great appreciation for the artist, Keith Haring.  First off, I like his art, the energy and simplicity of it.  Like the cave paintings of our ancestors, it is so iconic that it’s hard to forget.  For years I toyed with buying a real Haring and finally, in 2001, I did.  It’s from a four part series called ‘Fertility’ and I have number 66 of 100.  It measures about 4 feet, square.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.

Later I picked u p a signed poster for the first showing of his huge metal sculptures in New York.  Just today, a friend, trying to make a little wall space, gave me a smaller print.  I also have lots of Haring nicky nackies:  buttons, cups, tee shirts and so on.

The art is great, but there’s another reason I like Haring so much, and it’s his uncanny ability to market himself and his work.  The art world is pretty stuffy and rigid.  We have the image of the starving artist slaving away in a garret somewhere for a reason:  it’s very hard for a young person to be recognized, promoted and accepted into the establishment.  Most work a lifetime and die before anyone pays them any serious attention at all.  Haring hit New York in the 80s with a unique vision  and an impatience that made waiting to be discovered impossible.  He started noticing the blank inserts that were put up  over old advertisements in subway stations.These black velum-like paper coverings occupied the ad frames between messages.  He started riding the subway with a bag of chalk, and when he saw one of the black blanks, he’d hop off and, in ten minutes or so, craft one of his icons:  radiant baby, dancing dog, UFO and Pyramid.  It didn’t take long before millions of New Yorkers had seen his work and because it was iconic and memorable,  they looked for more.  Within a year he was being shown in galleries in the city and soon around the world.

Do you see what he did?  Faced with a fossilized status quo with lots of rules and indignation over anything new and different, he simply leap-frogged over them, went straight to the consumer — who he defined not as an intellectual snob, but as the man in the street — used guerrilla marketing techniques to build top of mind awareness and never looked back.  The Status Quo was forced to reckon with him and they quickly opened up to him.  He’s now in major museums throughout the world.  I saw a huge retrospective at the Whitney in New York a few years ago that was stunning.

One more Haring thing before I try to tie in Help-U-Sell.  After breaking through, Keith once again earned the raised eyebrow of the art establishment when he started mass producing his work on tee shirts and skateboards and backpacks and marketing them in his Pop Shop in New York and Tokyo.  The prices were affordable and suddenly common everyday people could own a little of his work.  Again:  he took a risk to make his high quality product affordable for the average person.

Help-U-Sell operates in a similar environment.  We are faced with a rigid status quo — the real estate industry — that has lots of unspoken, and sometimes spoken, rules designed to preserve things just as they are.  It’s very hard to innovate or take a different path without incurring the hostility of  this huge entity.  With a unique vision, Help-U-Sell goes into the marketplace using guerrilla marketing techniques to establish top of mind awareness.  We go directly to the consumer and obsess on how we can provide high quality real estate services that are affordable for the average person.   Sound Familiar?  It’s the same story.  We even have our own icon, the Help-U-Sell logo, brilliantly crafted and carefully designed to be memorable and recognizable from blocks away.

As for leap-frogging over the industry?  Every poll, every survey I’ve seen solidly states that the consumer wants exactly what we have.  All we have to do is let enough of them know that we have it.  Keith Haring used blank subway advertisement placards.  I’m not sure what our equivalent is, but I’m leaning toward Facebook.  If that statement baffles you, tune in next Tuesday to Tech Time (11 am Pacific, 2 pm Eastern) for the second of Tami Patzers 4 part series on building your client base using Facebook.  Then tell me if you think we’ve found our medium.

Don’t Miss This

Tech Time Tuesday goes Facebook for a month, starting today!  Each of the next four Tech Tuesday webinars will focus on this amazing tool and how you can use it to build your business.  I’ve talked with offices that are averaging a closing a month just from the network they’re building on Facebook and I believe that’s just the beginning of what could be a very profitable source of business.  It’s not an automatic, though.  Facebook, like so many other lead generation systems, must be worked.  It’s not hard, but there are a lot of tips and tricks to make your experience easier and more effective.

The sessions will be one hour each and will occur each of the next four Tuesdays (including today) at 11 am Pacific Time (2pm, Eastern).

Check you Help-U-Sell email and look for a message sent yesterday, May, 24, from Robert Stevens.  The subject line will be:  ‘Tech Time Tuesdays – Facebook and new Broker Website Implementation.’  It has the link you can use to sign up for this important series.  If you can’t find the email, call anyone at corporate or send a message to support@helpusell.com.

See you online!

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