08May

Surprise! Lame Email Responses get Lame Results.

Give more than you receive. If someone spent the time to complete that contact form or your website, spend more than 5 seconds on a lame email response. Always expect that you will, and should, give more to prospects and customers than you will receive from them. It seems like a common sense statement, but [...]

24Jan

There’s a Difference between “Packaged” and “Canned”

Packaged offerings benefit the buyer. Canned offerings benefit the seller. When an offering is packaged, it’s done so with the buyer in mind. The package is a combination of products or services that affords the buyer additional value, often trading a little bit of decision making freedom for simplicity and that increased value. The buyer [...]

24Jun

Why You Might be Wasting Your Time with Email Marketing.

Its no secret I’m a big fan of what opportunities the mobile web presents for home builders. What I didn’t quite expect was a recent wake-up call on how closely email marketing is linked to mobile. We recently sent out an email promotion for an apartment management client. The day after the email went out [...]

12Jan

Ignore the Mobile Internet at Your Own Peril

I’m not normally one for drama, but I’m not sure the message is really reaching the industry. In the past I’ve written about home builder mobile marketing and how to use Foursquare for real estate. Thankfully, a group called Mobile Future has put together a great “Did You Know?” type video with some sobering stats [...]

11Jan

Why Do Your Listings Look Like Everyone Else’s? Try a Social Listing

Generally speaking, most builders, salespeople, and real estate brokers I speak with agree that the last thing the Internet needs is another home search directory. Each time a new directory is introduced, it creates a new burden for the builder (focus, monitoring, plus a new SEO competitor). Ask a consumer if the Internet needs another [...]

10Sep

“90% of Home Shoppers, Blah, Blah, Blah…” Moving On.

“More home shoppers start their search online than ever before.” “Over 90% of buyers use the Internet.” This is not news. This is not new information. The number of home shoppers who start their home search online has been above 80% for years. This is not news. Even early numbers in 2000 showed that 40% [...]

13Jul

What Makes Start-up’s Different from Traditional Business and Why You Should Think Like One.

I am regularly amazed at how difficult some companies make it to business with them, or simply get a taste of their product or service. Traditional businesses are terrified a potential customer/client will find a way to take advantage of them; a way to skirt their beloved system and get something for free. They setup [...]

22Mar

Effective Communication with Social Media

On March 9th, I had the pleasure of speaking to over 200 new home sales and real estate professionals at SMC SalesCamp. My assigned topic was “Effective Communication with Social Media.” The videos below contain my full presentation. In this presentation, I was able to introduce the concept of Lead Curation – Creating an environment conducive to [...]

09Feb

Want More Facebook Fans? Don’t Buy Them. Earn Them.

I do not become your fan by clicking a button. The click merely affirms the work you’ve already done. If I’m a true fan of a business (not just in the Facebook sense), I am rooting for that business’s success. I’m an advocate for the product or service. I feel a sense of pride when [...]

30Sep

Social Marketing is Providing Customer Service BEFORE Someone is a Customer

While I’m far from a major real estate investor, with a partner I own a vacation rental property that is about 3 hours from my home. For many reasons, including the shear distance and weekly activity, we pay a management company to run the day-to-day for us. Overall, I’m happy with the job the management [...]