I have a lot of clients ask me how to write a blog post and I came across this great blog post today that has some great tips to get you started.
If you are looking to learn how to post blogs - read this post:
http://michaelmartine.com/2009/03/10/ten-topics-in-ten-mins/
Let me know how you do!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Are you Throwing Away Good Leads?
It came to my attention about an hour ago that not everyone looks at a lead the same way.
Let me tell you what brought me to this conclusion today.....
Many of my clients send me emails they receive soliciting them for different real estate products and ask me to check into them...knowing that I will do so and thoroughly. Today, one of my agents sent me a link to a company called RealtySoft.com that sells agents websites/design and offers a free IDX solution. He was interested in the FREE IDX they are offering since he is trying to cut costs - but was wary of the FREE offer. I went to the site and explored the idx solution looking into all of the features and what it involved. I liked what I saw and had more questions so i filled out a form to be contacted by someone in sales.
I received my call about an hour ago and the gentleman, Travis, introduced himself and I started asking him questions. I was mainly interested in if the FREE IDX allowed the agent to force a registration trigger after the visitor view a couple of homes. He explained his product briefly and I asked him for a sample site. At this point he started asking me if I was only interested in the Free IDX. I said yes and started telling him that I also had many other clients that might be interested as well since it was free and he immediately cut me off and told me that they only offered email support for the Free IDX. I understand that since its free and you cant really pay a tech person to talk to people all day on the phone to help them set up their IDX if it didn't bring in revenue to pay that tech person, but I went on asking him questions - not understanding for a moment that he meant that it also applied to the sales team. In other words - even people asking questions before they became clients had to do so via email. As I continued he quickly made it apparent to me that I needed to email my questions into support. I sputtered - "Are you telling me that I can't talk to you and ask you questions?" To which he said yes, we only offer email support. "Do you mean that even if I have other clients that might be interested - they can only email in?" "So you are unwilling to talk to me?" He sighed...and said ok that he would talk to me. I promptly said - "No thanks, I'm not interested anymore" and hung up. I will not be sending my good clients to them.
As someone who spent 7 years selling websites to Realtors, I was shocked. Even today - I have many people call me to talk about website design that never end up buying. I have many that call me and I will even help them make a few changes and I never charge them for the 30 minutes I spend talking to them or making a small adjustment that makes them OOHHH and AHHHH and solves a small problem that they have had trouble solving for some time. I establish my value in not only my willingness to help them upfront, but my willingness to spend time with them without charging them for just talking. I give to them, what I would give to a paying client. Do not mistake what I am saying - I am not devaluing my time by giving it away for free - rather I am showing them how important they are to me by letting them know that they are important enough to give them my time and sometimes a little skill. In doing so i am positioning myself as their go-to person. Their expert. Their designer. Because - as I have found out not to long ago - I am not doing them a favor by talking to them, but rather - they are doing me a favor by talking to me and possibly allowing me to build them a site. I value them for considering calling me to even ask about my services. They are in need of my expertise - my knowledge. I WANT to answer their questions and help them. Because of this attitude - many of the people I talk to come back for my services. I consider myself lucky. They could have chosen someone else.
Today's economy is tough people. You need to position yourself as the best by showing people - even the looky loos - that you are there to help them. You are going to listen with care and concern and do what you can to help. You value the fact that they came to you to get help. To buy a home - or to sell - or to get a mortgage - or whatever they are looking for when they call.
Ask yourself - when you get a lead and they are just calling you to ask a simple question - do you give it to them with a happy heart and are you excited to help them? Do you let them know before you hang up that they can call you for anything, anytime and that you are here for their needs? Do you make them feel as if their time is valuable and that they are valuable to you? When you are the customer - how do you want to feel and be treated when you are next in line? If you are next in line at the bank and the teller is blase and treats you as if you are nothing - just the NEXT person moving down the line...does it make you want to deposit your money in that bank?
Do you treat your customers the same way? Do you throw away a customer because they may be asking you a question that you consider wasting your time?
A lead is only as good as you make it. Everyone of them is valuable. It's all in how YOU handle it.
My suggestions:
Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk980jV7Ao
Read: http://www.smileandmove.com/
Let me tell you what brought me to this conclusion today.....
Many of my clients send me emails they receive soliciting them for different real estate products and ask me to check into them...knowing that I will do so and thoroughly. Today, one of my agents sent me a link to a company called RealtySoft.com that sells agents websites/design and offers a free IDX solution. He was interested in the FREE IDX they are offering since he is trying to cut costs - but was wary of the FREE offer. I went to the site and explored the idx solution looking into all of the features and what it involved. I liked what I saw and had more questions so i filled out a form to be contacted by someone in sales.
I received my call about an hour ago and the gentleman, Travis, introduced himself and I started asking him questions. I was mainly interested in if the FREE IDX allowed the agent to force a registration trigger after the visitor view a couple of homes. He explained his product briefly and I asked him for a sample site. At this point he started asking me if I was only interested in the Free IDX. I said yes and started telling him that I also had many other clients that might be interested as well since it was free and he immediately cut me off and told me that they only offered email support for the Free IDX. I understand that since its free and you cant really pay a tech person to talk to people all day on the phone to help them set up their IDX if it didn't bring in revenue to pay that tech person, but I went on asking him questions - not understanding for a moment that he meant that it also applied to the sales team. In other words - even people asking questions before they became clients had to do so via email. As I continued he quickly made it apparent to me that I needed to email my questions into support. I sputtered - "Are you telling me that I can't talk to you and ask you questions?" To which he said yes, we only offer email support. "Do you mean that even if I have other clients that might be interested - they can only email in?" "So you are unwilling to talk to me?" He sighed...and said ok that he would talk to me. I promptly said - "No thanks, I'm not interested anymore" and hung up. I will not be sending my good clients to them.
As someone who spent 7 years selling websites to Realtors, I was shocked. Even today - I have many people call me to talk about website design that never end up buying. I have many that call me and I will even help them make a few changes and I never charge them for the 30 minutes I spend talking to them or making a small adjustment that makes them OOHHH and AHHHH and solves a small problem that they have had trouble solving for some time. I establish my value in not only my willingness to help them upfront, but my willingness to spend time with them without charging them for just talking. I give to them, what I would give to a paying client. Do not mistake what I am saying - I am not devaluing my time by giving it away for free - rather I am showing them how important they are to me by letting them know that they are important enough to give them my time and sometimes a little skill. In doing so i am positioning myself as their go-to person. Their expert. Their designer. Because - as I have found out not to long ago - I am not doing them a favor by talking to them, but rather - they are doing me a favor by talking to me and possibly allowing me to build them a site. I value them for considering calling me to even ask about my services. They are in need of my expertise - my knowledge. I WANT to answer their questions and help them. Because of this attitude - many of the people I talk to come back for my services. I consider myself lucky. They could have chosen someone else.
Today's economy is tough people. You need to position yourself as the best by showing people - even the looky loos - that you are there to help them. You are going to listen with care and concern and do what you can to help. You value the fact that they came to you to get help. To buy a home - or to sell - or to get a mortgage - or whatever they are looking for when they call.
Ask yourself - when you get a lead and they are just calling you to ask a simple question - do you give it to them with a happy heart and are you excited to help them? Do you let them know before you hang up that they can call you for anything, anytime and that you are here for their needs? Do you make them feel as if their time is valuable and that they are valuable to you? When you are the customer - how do you want to feel and be treated when you are next in line? If you are next in line at the bank and the teller is blase and treats you as if you are nothing - just the NEXT person moving down the line...does it make you want to deposit your money in that bank?
Do you treat your customers the same way? Do you throw away a customer because they may be asking you a question that you consider wasting your time?
A lead is only as good as you make it. Everyone of them is valuable. It's all in how YOU handle it.
My suggestions:
Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk980jV7Ao
Read: http://www.smileandmove.com/
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