Be Personable Like Your Dentist

Several months ago I wrote about my dentist in Boston and how impressed I was with them.  Not just the service, but the entire way they marketed themselves.  I was so impressed, I called them back to find out how they knew my wife and I so well. I mean, really, after our first couple of visits they were able to recall six months later everything we told them.  It turns out that every visit the assistant went back to the file on the computer and wrote down all of the things that we spoke about. They were big on writing down dates of things as well, birthdays, anniversaries and so on.  Any date that they write down goes into another spreadsheet so they can send appropriate correspondence.

A similar thing happened to me when I went into get my haircut at Sportsclips.  “Matt, do you want us to use the 2 on the sides like last time?” Cindy asked me. Then she asked my how my wife was doing with the pregnancy.  Again, this was a person I remembered but hadn’t seen a few months.

It got me thinking.  How many of us actually take the time to record personal notes about the clients with whom we have worked.  What does it do for our business when we can reach out to each and every one of our clients in a totally unique and personal way?

Unfortunately, many real estate agents these days don’t even keep up to date blue lists, let alone going above and beyond to create notes on life events. There’s no better time to change a habit then at the beginning of the year.

Matthew S. Gosselin is the author of My Blue Goose, Exploiting The Wow Factor In Real Estate Marketing. The book can be purchased on MyBlueGoose.com or Amazon. Stay tuned for more information about his new book, “Stand Out, Stick and Stay. Transforming Real Estate Marketing”

Merry…I mean Happy Holidays. What?

The holidays are just about here!  When I say holidays I am talking about good ‘ole Christmas(Dec. 25); Kwanzaa (Begins Dec. 26) and Hanukkah (Dec. 21). Each year it amzes me more and more how many people will not say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Hanukkah.” Just so you know where I stand on this issue, I say if you celebrate Kwanzaa then say “Happy Kwanzaa!”  It has become to social politcal standard to say Happy Holidays at the risk of offending others.  I’m here to tell you that all of the times that I have wished people a Merry Christmas, they have not been offended.  In fact, my wife and I know more than a few Jewish families and I am reminded of one in particular.  We always wish them a Merry Christmas and they say “Merry Christmas to you and a Happy Hanukkah as well.”  Can someone clarify the offensiveness in that exchange?

As I said in last year’s post (posted below) let’s put being PC aside this Christmas and just enjoy our good company.

After lunch with a colleague and some clients I was told I should be more careful about wishing people a Merry Christmas just in case they weren’t Christian. Then I ran past an article from Ben Stein. Most of you know Ben. He was a speechwriter and lawyer for Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford (he did not write the line “I am not a crook”). He has written 16 books and seven novels and is also a screen writer. Some of you may also know him from the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Here is what he had to say on the subject.
Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart:

I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important? I don’t know who Lindsay Lohan is, either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise’s wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. Is this what it means to be no longer young. It’s not so bad.

Next confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, “Merry Christmas” to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren’t allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

Does God Belong In Your Real Estate Business?

It wasn’t more then a year ago I was sitting down with a Vice President of a real estate company and we were talking about something that all of us are told to shy away from.  The foundational question of the conversation was rather simple.  Does God belong in real estate?  Before you answer this question with a simple yes or no, think about it.

Almost immediately the first company that was brought into focus was Keller Williams. Keller Williams has been said to have a strong spiritual component to its core values. They even define this on their website.  My VP friend told me that she thought they were just selling God to steal the best agents.  I told her that this may be true, however, it was another discussion to define if this is right, wrong and/or effective.

There is no question that all of us have strong opinions on both sides of this argument.  I ask you, for the sake of this post to look at a more shallow view of this subject.  Is marketing your belief system a good idea in real estate?

The short answer to this question is absolutely.  Marketing is, after all, about finding like-minded individuals that are able to see value in your product and/or service.  Is it not?  In marketing guru Seth Godin’s new book, “Tribes” he says a business needs two things to form its own tribe.

1. Like-minded people

2. A way to communicate

In the God case in which we are talking, God can be the interest of the like-minded people.

So why do so many people say it’s wrong? Well, for starters, people are afraid of offending others and losing their business.  The truth is you will never be able to please all of the public all of the time. Quite frankly, you shouldn’t try either.   And here’s the thing.  If you can’t tell people about who you are and what you represent, how can you call yourself authentic? (I’ve written about being authentic a bunch)

Is it effective? Just ask Keller Williams.  They seem to be recruiting agents just fine.

Matthew S. Gosselin is the author of My Blue Goose, Exploiting The Wow Factor In Real Estate Marketing. The book can be purchased on MyBlueGoose.com or Amazon. Stay tuned for more information about his new book, “Stand Out, Stick and Stay. Transforming Real Estate Marketing”

Matt at Fort Worth Turkey Trot PART ONE

What a great way to get out on a cool morning and exercise. The YMCA hosts its 27th annual Turkey Trot in Fort Worth. It’s also an excuse to eat more turkey later on in the day! I ran with the other members of Fellowship Church.

Happy Thanksgiving Video (Part TWO)

What a great way to get out on a cool morning and exercise. The YMCA hosts its 27th annual Turkey Trot in Fort Worth. It’s also an excuse to eat more turkey later on in the day! I ran with the other members of Fellowship Church.

Severe Consequences For Not Voting

(Courtesy of Terry Tate)

In speeches and here on BlogofGeese.com I often talk about Terry Tate, the office linebacker famed by the advertising efforts of Reebok.  Reebok has used Terry Tate not only in television commercials but also in various forms of guerilla marketing.

Terry is at it again and telling you to vote.  Watch the video below.  (If you don’t see it, it is because your work has YouTube blocked.)

Vote!

Thank you all for emails recently and concern for why you haven’t seen my usual blog posts.  I am a big believer that if I don’t have anything important to write then it is just not worth taking your time.  Secondly, there is a lot going on in our world today and instead of competing for your attention I think it is better to hold off (for the most part) for the next 30 days.

So you will notice that from here to elections I will be sparse in my posts.  This will also give me time for other writing.  I want to encourage and ask you all today to make sure you’re registered to vote and that you get out and vote November 4th!

Two things before I end this pre-election post.

1. Promote voting to your sphere of influence. Xpressdocs has given you one tool. They have given you the opportunity to order “Why Vote?” postcards that can be direct mailed.

2. Share this link with your friends, family and clients. By typing in their address they will be able to find the nearest places to register as well as vote.

Enjoy and we will see you soon!  Oh, as an aside.  I was originally scheduled to attend the NAR conference in Orlando this year but this has since changed due to a conflict.  Do me a favor and stop by the Xpressdocs booth and give your card to any of the reps there and mention my name. I will be sure to send you a little something extra special for taking the time.

The Real Estate Agent Versus Bottled Water

The bottled water industry has always amazed me. I mean truly amazed me. I am able to watch this over $35 billion (Beverage Marketing Corporation) industry as though it were a sporting event. Most recently I have realized that it continues to evolve and the latest evolution is most definitely in the packaging.

Bottled water is using the same approach as the wine industry. Its use of various packaging and it’s method of story-telling is just now breaking the surface. Case in point: FineWaters.com

“GOTA- The Guaraní Aquifer, located beneath Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay and is one of the world’s largest aquifer systems. Named after the Guaraní tribe, it is estimated to contain about 37,000 km³ of water, arguably the largest single body of groundwater in the world, with a total recharge rate of about 166 km³/year from precipitation.

Bottled at its source and extracted from an 250 ft (80 m) deep well under the highest safety and quality standards, no additives or processes are inflicted to this water.”

Doesn’t this sound like a description of a great bottle of wine? If you are still not convinced, be sure to take a look at this ad for Gota Water.  Categories like Balance and Hardness prove that this industry is after to most elite water snobs.

Water is just one way in which an industry has completely found a Blue Ocean Strategy. 15 years ago no one ever considered purchasing water in an individual bottle let alone buying a $9 bottle of water that was imported from a far away Antarctica glacier (could this be the reason our glaciers are melting? )

Are there ways in which real estate may be able to find these Blue Ocean strategies within our own industry? The answer is we already are! Real estate websites like Trulia are finding ways to enhance the search process and are attracting a different demographic then what the usual MLS systems can do.  Companies like Xpressdocs are creating easier ways to use direct mail and email marketing with greater capabilities and are designing them with the real estate professional in mind.  Companies like Redfin are redefining the transaction process for the real estate world.

The truth is, your real estate package is much more difficult to change then simply changing the shape of a bottle.  Your unique real estate business involves great thought, turnkey solutions, and a style that no one else can duplicate.

What Is Your Real Estate Packaging?

Pancakes have been around, seemingly, forever. So how could they ever get any better?
For one, the packaging could change. Pancakes are commonly a weekend food because of the length in time of preparation, unless of course you are fine with the frozen pancake thing.

One company has created a new and unique packaging for pancakes. It’s called Batter Blaster They’ve solved a simple problem while creating a new way to enjoy warm stove-top pancakes (and organic at that!).

The Connection
Real estate agents have been around for a long time as well. To the public, most agents are the same ‘pancake mix’ that can be found in any store. The agents that want to be successful tomorrow will need to change their packaging. As a real estate professional, how do you show the public that you do things differently? How are they supposed to know that you offer services that no one else does? What do you do differently? Do you tell them these things on your website, your blog, your advertisements, your voicemail message, your tagline, your press releases?

Answer these questions about your packaging, stay consistent and you have yourself a real estate agent that is going to stick around for a while.

Matthew S. Gosselin is the author of My Blue Goose, Exploiting The Wow Factor In Real Estate Marketing. The book can be purchased on MyBlueGoose.com or Amazon

You Don’t Want To Be In My Folder. Do You?

I have a folder that sits on my desk. You don’t want to be in it. It’s simply labeled blunders. It is a collection of some of the worst marketing, advertising and public relations examples I have ever seen.

When I was 14 years old I had a good idea of what I wanted to do, I just didn’t realize people called it marketing communications. It was during that year that I started to collect some of my favorite examples and I saved them. In fact, I hung most of them on my wall. I didn’t have much content to sort through so I would steal magazines that belonged to my brother, sisters, father and mother. I would sift through them and when something caught my eye, I kept it. To this day I have a bad habit of ripping out pages from doctor office magazine collections. Just ask my wife. It’s her pet peeve.

The materials I tend to collect are either very very bad or extremely well executed. I have separate folders for each. After all, what is the point of collecting mediocre examples? The content itself ranges from great use of content flow in make-up and jewelry ads to a really bad advertisement about a lawn mower. There are also reminders of great public relations campaigns like the recent Chesepeake Energy’s Barnet Shale to the bad handling of a PR crisis over at the Boston Arch diocese. You can find postcards, fliers, bad business cards and the list goes on and on. After sharing some of these materials with a group on real estate agents one day someone asked me “Don’t you ever feel bad about showing people’s bad advertising.” My reply was simple and honest. They didn’t feel bad about making it, I’m just helping them promote the message they created.

Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch!

The part that most companies miss when they realize that they have not promoted themselves in the most effective way is that they are missing a connection to their audience. Worse yet, those who do take a look at a company with poorly executed advertising, public relations and marketing will often see the brand in a negative light.

The same is true with real estate agents. If you want to advertise yourself in a cheap way, expect a cheap audience. If you want to make yourself look like a snake oil salesperson, then come up with very cheesy slogans and use bad photos of yourself to promote your brand. If you want to blend into the crowd of real estate clutter then use the same text, tag lines and photos that everyone else is using. You will all but guarantee that no one will look at your branding.

On so many levels this is a very easy game. There is a reason why everyone knows what a salmon fish is. It’s because they swim upstream. So the question remains. Isn’t it about time you swim upstream?