The REALTOR In the Drawer

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”