Selling Customers Their Way – Snap Shot for The Wizard Academy Workshop – Austin TX from Ken Brand on Vimeo.

Selling Customers Their Way

Taught by Dennis Collins & Ken Brand

$1600

May 5th & 6th

Join us for 48 hours and we’ll share all the secrets to sell customers their way. We’ll cover the simple principles behind the Science and the subtle Art of Street Smart selling. Step by step, we’ll cover why, what, when and how to attract, persuade, connect, converse, loyalize, story tell and sell like hell.

The experts tell us we have a meaningful connection with only 25% of our customers. It’s easier to sell to people with whom we connect. How do we sell the other 75%? We’ll teach you how to detect and connect with the other 75% using behavior social styles.

Talk to the customer the way the customer wants to be talked to. Cookie cutter selling just doesn’t bring home the bacon anymore.

Here’s a preview:

• Spotting The Social Styles On The Firing Line
• How To Create Top Of Mind Awareness
• When Sellers Become Buyers
• How To Build Trust and Loyalty
• How To Point Social Media
• Highly interactive role playing.

How we sell has changed forever. Teutonic shifts have compound-fractured traditional perceptions and expectations, we see broken bones poking out everywhere.

Do you feel change-quakes and tremors ripping beneath your feet?

Want to do something about it?

Want to recast your selling future?

This event will be limited to the first 12 lucky people. Don’t be late to register.

Who is Dennis Collins?

Who is Ken Brand?

Registration Sign-UP

For Real Estate Agents, Facebook is a Destiny Accelerator.

What I mean is, the broadcast power of Facebook to influence, entertain, educate, converse, share and connect with friends will accelerate your destiny.

If you do stupid things, you face-plant failure will happen faster.  If you’re cool, interesting and trustworthy, your success will fast forward.

Professional ~vs~ Casual

I believe you can do both on Facebook. Bottom line, be yourself and beam trustworthy.  That doesn’t mean that there are some things you’ll want to post that might not be perceived as “cool” with some of your friends.

No problem, Lincoln told us a long time ago, “You can please some of the people all of the time, and all the people some of the time, but, you can’t please all the people all the time.”  Crackerjacks at Facebook understand the concept and have some super-easy to implement privacy settings.  Well, at least they’re easy if you know about them.

I found this great blog post, written by Greg Finn.  The title is How To Keep Your Facebook Wall Posts (&Info) Private. In his article Greg shares  simple step by step instructions, plus screen shot examples of how to do it.  Now we both know about them.

In Finn’s post he shares why you might want privacy:

• Keep your work & industry related posts from your friends.
• Block specific users (or lists of users) from ever seeing a post.  This can be great when looking to block competitive companies or workers from seeing your posts.
• Deliver more targeted messaging to your segmented groups of friends.  You could write a social media oriented wall post and send to a social media list, and dial the copy down when just posting to a general internet marketing list.  Having targeted posts can help boost click-throughs by increasing relevancy.
• Block personal posts (and content) from co-workers and other colleagues in your industry

Here’s what he covers:

1. How To Apply Privacy To Your Wall Posts
2. How To Apply Privacy Setting To Other Facebook Info

To read Greg’s Article, CLICK HERE.

Good luck friends.

PS.  I you’re thinking you want to a make move this Spring, Google Can Help Find Your Dream Home in The Woodlands TX. – CLICK HERE.

This is my Monday Morning Blog Post for AgentGenius.com

Social Media Doesn’t Work As Well As You Thought?

For real estate agents, it’s even better or worse! Read on to find out who’s doomed and who’s charmed.

Ad Age Headline

In The Age Of Friending, Consumers Trust Their Friends Less

Edelman Study Shows That Only 25% of People Find Peers Credible, Flying in Face of Social-Media Wisdom

Ad Age Article pull quotes…

“If consumers stop believing what their friends and the “average Joes” appearing in testimonials say about a product or company, the implications could be significant not just for marketers but for the social networks and word-of-mouth platforms selling themselves as solutions to communicating in a jaded world.

Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have allowed people to maintain larger circles of casual associates, which may be diluting the credibility of peer-to-peer networks. In short, the more acquaintances a person has, the harder it can be to trust him or her. Mr. Edelman believes the Facebook component has “absolutely” played a role in diluting trust levels.”

“Richard Edelman, President and CEO of Edelman, believes it’s a sign of the times — and the lesson for marketers is consumers have to see and hear things in five different places before they believe it.”

What’s Really Going On?

The 2010 Edleman Trust Barometer reports that people who trust their friends and peers as the source for trustworthy source of information about companies has swooned from 45% in 2008 to 25% in 2010.

Oddly, the publicly released report does not have the chart above, but, there is lots of interesting information in the report. It’s worth reading.

The survey reports that people like you and me, we’ve lost trust in just about everything; companies, politicians, banks, etc. In times of trouble, we look for safety, leadership, certainty and expertise.

Here’s a quote from Mr. Edelman…

“The events of the last 18 months have scarred people,” Mr. Edelman said. “People have to see messages in different places and from different people. That means experts as well as peers or company employees. It’s a more-skeptical time. So if companies are looking at peer-to-peer marketing as another arrow in the quiver, that’s good, but they need to understand it’s not a single-source solution. It’s a piece of the solution”

“Consumers are a distrustful bunch in general — the credibility of TV dropped 23 points and radio news and newspapers were down 20 points between 2008 and 2010.”

I believe it’s true! Recent cataclysms cause us to trust less in general. Specifically, we trust companies, government and corporations less than ever. But (Behold the Underlying Truth), I believe these troubled times make social media more important than ever, for real estate agents. Here’s why, in the yellow box above Edelman shares…

Click HERE for the rest of the article and the 7 Destiny Accelerators.

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Photo Credit.

Bonus: Edleman’s Digital Visions – 10 New Ideas For The New Decade (These may be new to some, perhaps you know this already.)

Yea!  Yet Another Social Media Shiny Object – Behold Google Buzz

If you have Gmail, you’ve notice the new Google Buzz offering.  I’m up to my ears in Social Media communities, I’m not sure I need another one.  I could ignore it.  But I won’t.

Why?

The world’s moving fast, people need help and answers, the more I know the more valuable I am.   Especially if I know more than my competitors.  Plus, what if it turns out that Buzz is the next Facebook or Holy Grail?

The thing is, it’s difficult to predict what a new toys tool will juice your business, serve your clients, make you smile, help you connect and broadcast.  Besides, it’s Google, they have some smart people whipping up cool free stuff.

Here’s a great post on how to everything on Buzz

What I’ve discovered so far is that the Google Buzz mobile App is way cooler than the PC version.  The mobil version has location and layers.  To get a feel  for what I’m talking about you can read this imformative article from Brad Coy – Google releases a Buzz which may be a BuzzKill for others.

As with anything new, it takes some time to figure the in’s and out’s, here’s some information about security and privacy you might want to know.

I write a weekly article for AgentGenius. com. Here’s this weeks.

Wise Words

“What ever is happening to YOU now, YOU either created it, YOU allow it or YOU promote it.” ~Unknown

Reread that. It’s stark truth and reality for 97% of what is going on with our real estate careers. Success and challenges alike.

Setting things right is simple…take personal responsibility and embrace The Fix It or Fire It Method.

Fix It or Fire It

Current Listing Inventory Not Selling? Fix It or Fire It?

1. Fix how the property shows compared to the competition. Sellers won’t help themselves? Fire them.
2. Adjust the price to a competitive level. Sellers won’t help themselves? Fire them.
3. ReEvalute your marketing and promotional competitiveness. If you are unwilling or unable to compete and deliver as promised, do yourself and you seller(s) a favor – release them and Fire Yourself.

To READ 5 more simple Fix It or Fire It’s – CLICK HERE

Thanks for reading.

Good News! Your Raise Is Effective As Soon As YOU Are.

No Brown-Nosing, glass ceilings, boot licking, politics, nepotism, seniority, annual performance reviews or begging for a raise.

In our real estate world, YOU are your own boss. That’s good news for hard persistent faithful smart committed motivated workers, bad news for slackers.

Why?

Because the real estate business is pure pay-for-performance. Want a raise?

“Your raise is effective as soon as you are.” Marilyn Eiland

3 Questions You Have To Ask Yourself:

1. When do you want it?
2. What do you need to do differently? Doing nothing is not an option.
3. When will you start? Today?

Stuck In Stupid

Intellectually, it’s seems simple. If we’ve created success in the past, in the present, if we do what we’ve always done, won’t we always get what we’ve always gotten? Nope!

Why?

Because in my world, and maybe yours, everything that surrounds me is changing. ReInvention, obsolesce, options, upgrades, choices, knowledge, value, creation, young-guns, expectations, cannibalism and Black Swans — boom, echo and ricochet — hourly. If I stand still and things around me are vibrating with change, my comfortable position will wobble out of orbit and any success I’m currently enjoying will inevitably vanish. It’s real estate entropy in action.

To create break away impact, the first thing I need to do is make sure I’m not “Stuck In Stupid”. In reality, if I always do what I’ve always done, I’ll get less and less and eventually nothing.

What To Do Now

There’s a constellation of small and large changes you can make and actions you take. The main thing is action. We have to start…TODAY.

Behold, 15 Anti-Stuck-In Stupid, simple and mostly free or inexpensive things you can immediately do to create the raise you deserve.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of the AgentGenius.com blog post.

Are We Victims?

Some people allow events, people and circumstances to impact them permanently negative! These people are victims. You recognize a VICTIM like so:

1. They mope, whine, opine and wish things were like they used to be….way back when.
2. It’s never their fault, there is no forgiveness or acceptance.
3. Negativity poisons their passion?
4. Setbacks cripple compassion and chinks their soul.
5. Hopelessness brittles their heart and turns their futures fruitless.
6. Misery loves company. They throw impromptu pity parties to infect friends with their victim-virus.
7. They are mean and small and petty.

At times, life’s hard, unfair and brutal. How we handle accidental adversity and unexpected impact is up to us. Victimhood is a choice, so is Vitaminhood.

Are We Vitamins?

Some people allow events, people and circumstances to impact them permanently positive! These people are Vitamins. You recognize a VITAMIN like so:

Read the REST at AgentGenius.com – CLICK HERE

It’s 2010 – Master The Internet – For Your Clients, For Yourself

The cool thing about the webinars is that you can learn from anywhere there’s an internet connection.  No need to run across town.  Leave your checkbook at home.  You could even watch and learn in your underwear.  Register, learn, prosper.  Cheers.

UPCOMING GARY GREENE WEBINAR SCHEDULE


SETTING UP YOUR FREE GARY GREENE WEB SITE
January 8 from 10:00 – 11:00 AM
This course provides instructions for setting up your free Gary Greene web site including your contact information, activating some free tools, copying and pasting text for the Buyers and Sellers Tips, and adding References to your site such as the HAR School Finder , Master Planned Communities and Senior Living Finder. Additional Courses will be offered on customizing your Home Page and inserting links and photos on your site.
Click here to register. https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/655805442

OVERVIEW OF THE ENHANCED GARY GREENE WEB SITES
January 8 from 1:00 – 2:00 PM
A New Look for a New Year!  This class will give an overview of the Enhanced Gary Greene Web site features  - including the different templates and headers available.  There is no setup fee for these sites and the charge is only $35 a month.  You can preview a sample site at http://alindamartin.garygreene.com <http://alindamartin.garygreene.com/> .  Following the session, there will be a brief  discussion on getting your own domain and forwarding it to this site.  You can get MarshaSells Spring.com for $10 a year and  forward it to http://marshamitchell.garygreene.com <http://marshamitchell.garygreene.com/> for free.  Think about your target market and how you want to present yourself.  This will help you in building and marketing your site.
Click here to register. <https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/443032523>

THE BASICS OF CONTACT MANAGEMENT (Using Outlook 2003, 2007)
January 15 from 10:00 – 11:00 AM
Get ready for  an amazing 2010!  Stay in contact with friends, relatives and past clients.  Learn skills to help you stay in contact with potential customers. No need to throw away “bad internet leads”. This webinar will help you manage your contacts by organizing them into functional groups using views, categories and folders.  With organized contacts, you can more easily send email messages, make appointments, and be prompted when it is time to “touch base” with someone again.  Learn tips to help keep your contacts and leads manageable. Click here to register. <https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/464441347>

A COMPLETE OVERIVEW OF THE OSA
January 15 from 1:00 – 2:00 PM
Make sure you are not missing anything! This webinar is an overview of the 3 components of the OSA (Online Seller’s Advantage Program) exclusively offered through Prudential and Gary Greene.
The Online Sellers advantage program has 3 parts:
1.  The Listing Presentation   - customizable buyer activity report for prospective sellers
2.  The Online Seller Advantage Report – setting up the email alerts, uploading your Virtual Tours and Open Houses
3.  Customer For Life Program – stay in touch with past and prospective customers
Click here to register. <https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/744449050>


“YOU’VE GOT THE LEAD, NOW WHAT?”
January 22 from 10:00 – 11:00 AM
Personalizing follow-up emails to generate responses from potential clients and Internet leads.  Part of the “Clicks to Closing Presentation” by Marsha Mitchell.  See also Feb 2 for same session.
Click here to register. <https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/332870795>

“INSERTING PHOTOS, HYPERLINKS AND VIDEOS ON YOUR GARY GREENE WEB SITE
January 22 from 1:00 – 2:00 PM
Part Two of the Gary Greene Web Site series.  This webinar will show you how to insert photos and vidoes on your Gary Greene Web Sites. It will also show you how to create hyperlinks from text or photos to other web sites or resources.  A great session for those wanting to customize their home pages on their Web sites!
Click here to register <https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/191031275> .

“YOU’VE GOT THE LEAD, NOW WHAT?”
Feb 2 from 2:00 – 3:00 PM
Personalizing follow-up emails to generate responses from potential clients and Internet leads.  Part of the “Clicks to Closing Presentation” by Marsha Mitchell.  Repeat of January 22 session.
Click here to register <https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/778098186> .

I write a weekly article for AgentGenius.com, a blog for things real estate related. Here’s this monday’s post.

Has this ever happened to YOU?

Weeks of involvement drag by. You’re not having fun. Pouring yourself into it, people don’t seem to appreciate you. You’re likable. But, you’re not connecting. Relationships aren’t blooming. What’s wrong? This misfit story unfolds when the decision to join a group/organization/tribe/niche, is based on demographics, or worse, random happenstance. What’s wrong? Your Psychographic proclivities are not in alignment with the group you’ve selected — these people aren’t your kind-of-people, you know it and they know it. Ergo, nothing good happens. The fix is simple and quick. When you engage with a tribe that has shared passions, interests, activities and opinions, you click and stick. Now is the time to open your mind and imagination. Let’s talk about how to enjoy, grow, nurture and profit from choosing the right tribes and crafting relevant and effective marketing, advertising and branding. We’ll start with a momentary review of old school demographics, then we’ll dive into the in’s and out’s of new school Psychographics.

You’re familiar with Demographic selling?

If you type “definition: demographic selling” into the Google Search, it returns 4,720,000 results. Demographic selling is old school.

Crafting a written plan to develop and grow your business is smart. Demographic considerations play a role in every effective business plan.

Want to slingshot your business from misfit and unfun, to popular, appreciated and wildly brilliant?

Learn all you can about unlocking and unleashing the brilliance of Physcographic-Selling.

WTH Is A “Psychographic”?

If you type “definition: psychographic selling” into Google Search, it returns 66,600 results. (My first thought, the sign of Satan, then, realizing it was Lucifer’s trick to misdirect, I quickly gathered my thoughts and continued…). That’s 4,720,00 results for old school “Demographic-Selling” and 66,600 for the lesser known, but brilliant, Psychographic-Selling”. Why lesser known? Because the power of” Physchographic-Selling” is most recently electrified by the omnipresence of the internet, social media, online sharing and boundry-less conversation. Facebook, blogs, Flickr, Youtube, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., all empower us to engage each other on shared Interests, Activities and Opinions (IAO). Interests, Activities and Opinions are Psychographic variables. It’s easier than ever to find new friends and join new tribes. Here’s more, a snippet from Buzzle.com on the definition of “Phsychographic Selling”.

Psychographic variables are also known as IAO variables – Interests, Activities and Opinions. The seller needs to analyze these 3 factors primarily in order to understand the psyche of the customers. Then he can adopt a suitable marketing strategy, or he can alter an existing marketing strategy. The habits that consumers generally display with regard to a certain class of products will determine their reaction to the product that a seller is offering them. Psychographic Segmentation Variables The variables that come into play when we speak of psychographic segmentation are primarily psychological in nature. The following variables could be said to be a part of the process of psychographic segmentation.

• Interests
• Activities
• Opinions
• Behavioral patterns
• Habits
• Lifestyle
• Perception of selling company
• Hobbies

Because the real estate business is personal in nature and success is won or lost on the basis of “trust”, when planning and strategizing on tactics to grow your real estate business success and profitability, Phychographic considerations add muscular-mojo to your plan.

Psychographic-Selling Mojo

People with similar interests, shared beliefs and in-common hobbies like each other. People trust people they like. People hire and referral recommend people they like and trust. This is why understanding Psychographics and it’s IAO (Interests, Activities and Opinions) variables is important. To deepen connection, forge strong relationships, earn trust and have fun, it’s wise to analyze your SOE (Sphere Of Engagement) and segment them into tribes and niches of similar Psychographic makeup. Taking this advanced step will insure that efforts to grow the size, depth of connection and your relevance (Top Of Mind Awareness & Trust) within your tribes, returns maximum results.

Here’s how:  Click HERE To Read The Rest Of The Story.