Pay It Forward

It’s holiday season and everyone is full of cheer, good will and, well . . . eggnog.

We’re buying each other gifts.  Retailers are rejoicing with their own version of the spirit of the season:  the door-buster sale.  Not that it’s all been candy canes and sugar plum fairies;  we’ve already had a crazed pepper spray shopping incident and a couple of tramplings at Walmart . . . and I don’t know when I’ve seen more offensive, even hostile driving.  But all-in-all, it’s a wonderful season.

So . . . while you’re picking out just the right tie or bathrobe for someone special, I have a challenge for you:

I double-dog-dare you to also do something ridiculously nice for a stranger and do it anonymously.  Want to kick the holiday spirit up a notch?  Try dropping a little unexpected niceness on a total stranger’s head!  They will be on cloud nine and so will you!

I’ve ‘paid it forward’ like this a few times but my most memorable experience was when I was the recipient of a stranger’s random act of kindness.  I was driving North from San Diego into Orange County for a business meeting.  I was running a little late so opted to take the toll road that runs through the hills above Laguna Beach and Newport Coast.  At the time it cost about $2.50, but when I pulled up to the toll booth, the attendant explained that the person who passed through before me had paid my toll . . . just for the heck of it.  Now, you think maybe I had an awesome day?  You bet I did!  And I bet he or she did, too!

This is coming up tonight because a friend passed on a list of kindness ideas to me. I have no idea who wrote this wonderful list so I can’t give credit;  but I wanted to pass it on to you to stir your thinking.  Which of these would you do?  Or do you have a different plan?  Either way, I’d love to hear from you.  I keep wondering how many more smiles I’d see if  I secretly did something nice for somebody every day  . . . and maybe the idea spread!

  • Send someone a hand-written note of thanks
  • Buy a lottery ticket for a stranger
  • Feed someone else’s parking meter
  • Put some coins in the vending machine with a note to let the next purchaser know
  • Give a compliment about your server to his/her manager
  • Send someone a small gift anonymously
  • Pay for the drinks on the next table at a cafe
  • Give up your seat for someone, not just an elderly person
  • Have a ‘normal’ conversation with a homeless person
  • Leave a treat for your mailman in the box
  • Send a thank you note to someone who helped you in the past
  • Smile a lot
  • Leave a generous tip
  • Adopt a soldier
  • Be a designated driver
  • Pay the toll for the driver behind you

 

 

Phone Message of the Week

The following message was in my voice mail yesterday afternoon.  It made me so happy I just had to share it:

(Click the Phone – and then use the back button on your browser to get back here!)

Isn’t that wonderful!  What Maruine is so excited about are the new Help-U-Sell Banner Stands that are ON SALE right now through our new print-on-demand vendor, The Alexanders.  These beautiful, big signs are printed on vinyl and come with a lightweight, easy to assemble stand.  They are impressive, and great to have in your office, out front of your office (with sandbags or something else to keep them from blowing away), at home shows or anywhere else the public is apt to see them.  Here are photos:

To investigate further and to order, go to The Alexander’s Help-U-Sell Website:  www.brandsawonline.com/helpusell. And thank you, Maurine for sharing your excitement!

Intern-alization

Tight budgets mean lean operations.

Is that Haiku?  Or something Confucius said?

Hardly; it’s just reality.  In a difficult market, you do lots of cutting.  You cut marketing, you cut facility expense, you cut personnel and you get to work covering as much as you can by yourself.

Now there is light at the end of the tunnel  and we know we have to gear back up to meet the oncoming demand . . . but the dollars are still tight.  How do you start getting done what you used to hire people to do?

Here’s an idea for you:  why not investigate bringing in a college intern to handle a few focused tasks?  You know:  the ones that are keeping you tethered to a desk and not out in the field meeting the people who will drive your business through the upturn.

Many colleges and universities have internship programs where pre and post graduate students, usually in their final semesters before graduation, take on tasks in the real world to apply some of what they’ve learned and gain experience.  Often the cost to an employer is minimal and sometimes free.

In most cases, the task(s) must be well defined with a beginning and an end and ‘grunt’ work – things like running errands and photocopying – is frowned upon.  But think about what an intern might be able to do for you:

  • Optimize your web presence.  You have a magnificent tool in the Help-U-Sell website.  It blows the pants off anything else that’s out there.  But it requires your attention.  It must be optimized, localized, keyword-ized and continually refreshed to be most effective.  Plus there’s everything else you do to be visible online:  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Zillow, Trulia, blogs and on and on.  Who better to take this task on than a 21 year old marketing major who’s grown up at a computer?
  • Do marketplace intelligence.  Our markets are turning rapidly now.  Everything’s shifting.  It’s a great time to do a thorough analysis of your market to determine the opportunities that are emerging.  Where are the high turnover areas?  What properties are most in need of a short sale expert?  Who’s facing foreclosure?  What’s happening to the demographics?  Gathering this valuable information is something none of us have time for, but a motivated business major could handle with ease.
  • Competitor research.  Who’s doing what?  What programs are working and which ones are not?  What are the numbers?  Marketshare? Price ranges? Again, a business or marketing major would be ideal for this.

And that’s just three.

So how do you find programs in your area?  The same way you find anything else:  Google.  Try search strings like:  ‘Birmingham college university internship’ or ‘internship opportunities in Orlando’ or ‘Boise State intern program’ You’ll be amazed at how many programs you will uncover.  Learn all that you can;  then, before you go through the proper channels, fill out all the paperwork, submit and wait, wait, wait . . .

Call the business/marketing/IT schools directly.  Ask for the person in charge of intern programs for that department.  Pick their brain a bit:  what does a good intern opportunity look like?  How have interns helped small business owners like yourself in the past?  Offer to meet with this key person and present to students.  Becoming involved will not only increase your chances of success with an internship, but will expand you circle of contacts.  Once you’ve put a personal spin on it, then go back and do the paperwork.

We were talking about this on the Roundtable Call yesterday and Ron McCoy mentioned that he frequently teaches real estate pre-licensing classes at his local college.  He said that he – and everyone else who teaches these courses – is always looking for brokers to come in and present their programs to the class.  What a wonderful opportunity for Help-U-Sell!  And, if you’re looking for an intern, maybe someone in that class will help you navigate the academic bureaucracy to get it done quickly.

If you run with this idea, I want to know how you do.  Tell me how you found your program, what you had to do to get it started, what was difficult and what worked well.  Good Luck!

3 Objectives of Marketing

Visibility – Lead Generation – Client Base Development

In that order.

First rule of Marketing:  Be Visible! Which means to be seen . . . frequently.  In real estate we do that largely with signs: For Sale Signs (listings!), directional signs, open house signs, Blitz Signs, Car Wraps, Billboards, Bus Benches, office signage.  You are visible when you hear the magic words:  ‘I see your signs everywhere.’

However:  Visibility can be accomplished in other ways as well.  Richard Cricchio (whose office is on an ISLAND, which is a pertinent detail) has used a weekly radio show for the past 9 years to boost his visibility.  Maria Powell and Michelle Morgan have become active on local television to be more visible.  Kim Zelena and Kimber Regan have used community involvement and charity events to increase their visibility.  Julie Wright is deeply into her Chamber of Commerce.

Lead Generation is all about Targeting, which means honing in on the people most likely to need your services in the future.  Lead generation might take the form of direct mail or door hanger distribution.  It used to take the form of newspaper and homes magazine advertising (and still may in some cases).  Increasingly, lead generation is about maximizing your web presence . . . essentially being electronically VISIBLE and easily found online.

Many of our folks are generating leads by optimizing their Help-U-Sell websites.  Good News:  if you haven’t done that yet, call Tony – he’ll help you.  Others are pulling them in regularly via premiere agent programs at Zillow, Trulia  and Realtor.com.  Robin Rowland is using Facebook to create new business.  Maurine Grisso has 5 websites (and counting), each targeting a different segment of the market.

Client Base Development means we look backward as often as we look forward.  As we move contacts to contracts and closings, we move those clients back into our cache of fans.  We cultivate the relationship with regular meaningful contact.  We seek and get their help in further developing our business.  You are doing client base development right when you have former clients functioning as advocates in the field for your service.

Rather than single out anyone doing a good job of client base development I’d simply congratulate all Help-U-Sell brokers.  Truth is:  nobody is making it through the tough market of the past several years without the help of a strong client base.  No matter how many leads you are developing, the power of a personal referral will almost always be your best option for doing business.

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