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NUGGETS FOR THE NOGGIN
THE REALTOR IN THE DRAWER
Article by: Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown
Name a Doctor. Name
another Doctor. Name another one.
Name a Beautician.
Name another one. And another.
Name a Truck. Name
another one.
Our brains are like a huge file cabinet made up of
drawers. Each drawer has a label on it
that indicates what is stored in each drawer.
The drawers are very very small.
The Doctor drawer for example tends to hold one name and maybe two. When you look at the contents of each drawer
you will discover that this is true for every drawer. There is only room in each drawer for one,
two and in some cases three items. The
contents of each drawer are not always on your mind, they are there to be
recalled when needed; there just is not enough room for more than two or three
and there is no need for more than two or three.
Pick any subject, a professional, or a consumer product
and you can prove this theory correct or incorrect. Most people can name one or two things, Coke
and Pepsi. Chevy and Ford. Wonder Bread and . . .I had to really think
about this one, Bunny Bread.
Think of aspirin. Most people would say Tylenol or
Excedrin. At one time, everyone would
have said Bayer. Bayer aspirin clearly
had the top position in consumer’s minds but what happened. Along came Tylenol and Excedrin and they began
a marketing campaign and over time became the number one and number two most
named aspirin products on the market.
Tylenol even survived the tampering scare to maintain presence of mind.
This theory is especially true
when it comes to professions. Plumbers,
electricians, heat and air conditioning repair, doctors, dentists and of course
REALTORSâ. Ask the general public to name a REALTORâ. Most can name one. Some, believe it or not cannot even name the
REALTORâ
they last used. What does that tell
you? It tells me that most REALTORSâ fail
to maintain contact with people they have already worked with. Does that make any sense?
Whether you are an experienced
real estate agent or a newly licensed agent, your objective should be very
clear – you want to become or maintain the number one position in the
consumer’s mind. You want to be the ONLY
REALTORâ
in the mind’s REALTORâ Drawer! When
someone thinks of real estate, you want him or her to think of you!
How do achieve this objective? First you MUST understand that it is
not a one-time activity, it is an all-time process. The process must be systematic and performed
without fail. REALTORâ are
like a lot of businesses in that they tend to engage in marketing and
advertising when times are “good” and then stop their marketing and advertising
when times are “bad” because income has slowed and there is less money for such
activities. When times are “good”
consumers want to buy and sell so why spend a great deal of marketing and
advertising dollars to attract customers who are coming to you regardless of
your marketing and advertising. When
times are “bad”, consumers need to be made aware of buying and selling
opportunities and that is when most people reduce or stop marketing and
advertising. Does that make any sense? In fact, Gary Keller, founder of Keller
Williams Realty has repeatedly said, "The only time you can really grow
your real estate business is in a down market." As said, during good markets people come to
you whether you advertise/market or not.
It does not matter what business you are in, you want the
consumer to think of you when they think of the service or product you
represent! You want to be the ONLY
REALTORâ,
the only Donut Shop, the only trainer, etc that the consuming public thinks
of. Some people, realizing that a person
already has such a person at the top of their mind, make no attempt to supplant
that person as Tylenol and Excedrin did with Bayer Aspirin. Remember most people can name TWO such
people, products or services. You want
to become one of the two. To accomplish
this, you may have to start by becoming the THIRD person, product or
service they can recall.
It is vitally important to understand that people may
already have a dominant name in their Realtorâ Drawer (or Donut Shop
Drawer, etc). Can you think of one
person, service or product that you held dearly only to have an incident occur
that caused you to never use that person, service or product again? Everyone has.
We have all gone to a restaurant that we absolutely enjoyed and visited
often. Then suddenly, you have a bad
meal, you were treated poorly or there was some incident that has caused you to
think differently of the restaurant. Or
you always bought Fords and then you suddenly got a “lemon” and never again
bought a Ford.
Some people just “know” the name of a REALTORâ but
have no specific loyalty to THAT REALTORâ; they just are
"aware” of him or her. This proves
the point that you have a choice to make.
Do you want to become “famous” or do you want to become
“successful?” Famous people are well
known whereas successful people are utilized!
You want to be utilized!
Just being a REALTORâ is not enough. Just being a Ford is not enough. You have to be very good at what you do or
provide and more importantly you must understand that you are only as good as
your last activity. In other words, what
have you done for me lately? Consider
the following excerpt from Steve Farber’s book, “The Radical Leap”:
“Extreme
Leadership is what our fragile world so desperately needs right now!”
“Do what
you love in the service of people who love what you do!”
“There are three parts: ‘Do what you love.’ Make sure that your heart is in your
work, and that you’re bringing yourself fully and gratefully into everything
you do. If you’re not connected to
your own work, you can’t expect to inspire others in theirs. ‘In the service of people’ will
keep you true, honest, and ethical at the very least. If you’re doing what you love, you’ll make
yourself happy. But Extreme Leadership
is not only about you; it’s about your impact on others. ‘Who love what you do’ doesn’t
mean that you find people who love you and then serve them; it means it’s your
responsibility to give everyone you serve something to love about you and what
you’re doing. See the difference…?”
ACTION STEPS
In order to attain the number one position in the
consumer’s mind, you must first subscribe to the above excerpt from Steve
Farber’s book – you must “Do what you love in the service of people who
love what you do!” To accomplish
that, you must:
·
Build relationships not just transactions
·
You must get the consumer to KNOW YOU, to
LIKE YOU and more importantly, to TRUST YOU! In this regard, I cannot stress enough how
important it is for you to read Bob Burg’s books, “Endless Referrals” and
“Winning Without Intimidation.” and more recently "Adversaries Into
Allies"
·
You must systematically contact through
face-to-face contact, mail, telephone or email, the people you do not as yet
know but want to get to know and you must do this at least once a month! (Read the Millionaire Real Estate Agent)
·
You must systematically contact through
face-to-face contact, mail, telephone or email, the people you already know and
want to get to know better and you must do this at least 33 times a year! (Read the Millionaire Real Estate Agent)
·
You must also position yourself as a RESOURCE
for your customers and potential customers so that they recognize you as a
professional in your field and someone from whom they can get vital information
they need when they need it.
·
You must bring value to the relationship. This means that you are not always asking for
business but that you are providing your prospects with something of value on a
regular basis.
·
You want to position yourself to when a prospect
thinks of real estate (or the donut shop, etc), they think of you.
This is not an event – it is a process. This is not a jaunt across the street – it is
a journey across the country. It is not
an on-off-on process – it is an always ON process.
“Do what you love in the service of people
who love what you do!”
Steve Farber – “The
Radical Leap”
