UNDERSTANDING what your customer expects from you as a service provider has become multi-faceted. It's not just enough to know the demographic profile of your customer. Providing good customer service and giving your customers what they expect means understanding every aspect of their lifestyle, especially when marketing to different age consumers. It will become more and more important to know what kind of music they listen to, and where they purchase clothing and auxiliary items, business software and various lifestyle factors. Additional information needed will be sports followed, children and what their children like to do, and so many more.
It is becoming more important to align yourself with third party companies that can help you gather and analyze this critical information regarding your customers in their work life, home life and lifestyle. Social media has become a useful tool also in discovering more information about customers and even providing ways to keep existing customers as loyal repeat customers.
Arnie Goldberg agoldberg@loyaltybuilder.com 317-489-5337
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
LEADERSHIP - FIVE GUIDELINES
Leadership is not just your actions, but must include the ability to encourage and inspire others
Leadership is about trust, which is the glue that cements the followers and moves the organization forward
Leadership helps bring out the best in others including the sharing of the best within each other
Leadership is a process of teamwork, focus, commitment and execution
Leadership includes two-way communication and emphasis on solutions not complaints
Leadership is about trust, which is the glue that cements the followers and moves the organization forward
Leadership helps bring out the best in others including the sharing of the best within each other
Leadership is a process of teamwork, focus, commitment and execution
Leadership includes two-way communication and emphasis on solutions not complaints
The Future of Bricks & Mortar for Brokers
Agents over the past few years have moved into home offices. Today's technology provides all an agent needs to work from a home office. Is this the model of the future?
Many agents have seen reduced production. Why?
Not enough discipline - easily distracted
Lack of motivation
No consistency
A dynamic office atmosphere keeps agents working their deals, and getting more closings
Have you noticed top producers continue to operate out of an office... because they are more productive...
This is not to say home offices are not valuable and convenient... and to many they help save drive time and help many be more productive
For many, they can get lots of productivity at early and late hours also
So what do you think the future of bricks and mortar will be? Will a real estate office only need conference rooms and a bull pen?
Many agents have seen reduced production. Why?
Not enough discipline - easily distracted
Lack of motivation
No consistency
A dynamic office atmosphere keeps agents working their deals, and getting more closings
Have you noticed top producers continue to operate out of an office... because they are more productive...
This is not to say home offices are not valuable and convenient... and to many they help save drive time and help many be more productive
For many, they can get lots of productivity at early and late hours also
So what do you think the future of bricks and mortar will be? Will a real estate office only need conference rooms and a bull pen?
Monday, December 7, 2009
HOW DO YOU STACK UP IN CREATING LOYAL CUSTOMERS?
Too many realtors take their existing customers for granted. Think of the automobile industry that did the very same thing. They were so bold at one time they said, “Americans will not buy Japanese automobiles.” Another example of the “fickleness” of customers is the remote control. Did you know that 72% of all households have a remote control and they zap the remote control every four minutes, and men zap much more. Thus, companies trying to create customer loyalty with television ads, and are having greater difficulty reaching the consumer. It is critical for realtors to concentrate on what is New. What I mean by that is what is old is not of much concern anymore to the public. We walk up to someone and say, “What is new?” Thus, the successful realtor has new information, new trends, new newsworthy information, new-new-new stuff for their customers. The old boring newsletters, and refrigerator magnets are not new. What is new is a valuable coupon at Macy’s or Nordstrom, for the women, or three golf balls for the man. What is new is a $10 coupon for the whole family at a restaurant. What is new is sending a copy of a current newspaper article that is timely and of keen interest to your customers. Building loyalty is an ongoing process that involves creativity and much thought, but also requires up-to-date data base information, because clients change over time. Growth with more children, maturity, career changes, and neighborhood changes around them, cause customers to have different attitudes and different viewpoints. Great realtors put systems in place to help them keep up with those changes to be more relevant in their customer’s lives. Loyal customers lead to greater profits. Written by Arnie Goldberg, VP Business Development Loyalty Builder, LLC --- Faculty University of Phoenix, Faculty Oakland City University, Faculty Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.....Author of a new Customer Loyalty book “Give Your Dog A Treat” www.giveyourdogatreat.com - agoldberg@loyaltybuilder.com
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
The guardian at the gateway to your mind
Posting from Lew Smallwood's blog:
There is a guardian standing guard at the gateway to your mind? It’s called your reticular activating system or RAS, which is the scientific term for a network of nerve pathways situated at the base of your brain that connects the spinal cord, cerebellum, and cerebrum, and acts as a filter for all the sensory input your brain draws from your external world. Reticular, from the Latin word for ‘little net’ simply means a netlike structure. Everything you see, hear, touch, taste, or smell passes through this fine network, which then relays the signal to the appropriate part of your brain for processing.
You can think of this system as something like Google. When you type a word or search string into Google, it scours the internet for everything it can find that relates to that specific phrase, retrieves it and presents it to you, and it does this in a matter of seconds. Your reticular formation does much the same thing but does its work in thousandths of a second.
The inherent danger for us whenever a failure or disappointment occurs in life is that we can identify with it too closely, and therefore mistake the failure for ourselves. That can lead to adopting a mindset of ‘I failed therefore I am a failure’ and that dominant thought attracts further failure images and messages.
It is better to forget the failure and focus on future success. That mindset will attract positive images and messages. Never label lack of success as failure, simply learn from it and be grateful for the lesson the set back provides, and keep you RAS set for success.
Just change what you think about, change your dominant thoughts. Because in life you eventually attract what you think about most of the time.
There is a guardian standing guard at the gateway to your mind? It’s called your reticular activating system or RAS, which is the scientific term for a network of nerve pathways situated at the base of your brain that connects the spinal cord, cerebellum, and cerebrum, and acts as a filter for all the sensory input your brain draws from your external world. Reticular, from the Latin word for ‘little net’ simply means a netlike structure. Everything you see, hear, touch, taste, or smell passes through this fine network, which then relays the signal to the appropriate part of your brain for processing.
You can think of this system as something like Google. When you type a word or search string into Google, it scours the internet for everything it can find that relates to that specific phrase, retrieves it and presents it to you, and it does this in a matter of seconds. Your reticular formation does much the same thing but does its work in thousandths of a second.
The inherent danger for us whenever a failure or disappointment occurs in life is that we can identify with it too closely, and therefore mistake the failure for ourselves. That can lead to adopting a mindset of ‘I failed therefore I am a failure’ and that dominant thought attracts further failure images and messages.
It is better to forget the failure and focus on future success. That mindset will attract positive images and messages. Never label lack of success as failure, simply learn from it and be grateful for the lesson the set back provides, and keep you RAS set for success.
Just change what you think about, change your dominant thoughts. Because in life you eventually attract what you think about most of the time.
Friday, November 27, 2009
GREATEST RISK TODAY - LOSS OF EXISTING CUSTOMERS
We are finding the greatest risk in today’s business is the loss of existing customers. And we all have known the best opportunity for growing sales is through your existing customers... would you agree?
You must know who are your core customers and find out which satisfied customers can become loyal customers. There is a big difference between satisfied and loyal.
Nothing beats meeting a loyal customer for breakfast, lunch or a cup of coffee. Second is picking up the phone and talking for a few minutes with your grade A customers. Third and just as important is a consistent way to create value added benefits and consulting services for customers to differentiate you from those trying to erode your customer base.
But first you must know your customers well enough to know which are "core loyal customers" and which could be "cultivated" to become core loyal customers. How do you accomplish that? "DEEPER" KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR CUSTOMERS BEYOND THE "OUTER SHELL"
Your customers do not always want to hear about real estate! In fact most of the time you they do not have any interest in real estate. You must trigger their work-life interests, home-life interests and lifestyle interests.
There are companies that offer services and or programs to help you accomplish just that. Seek them out and find companies that specialize in customer relationships.
Arnie Goldberg, co-founder and Vice President with Loyalty Builder,LLC. Arnie says, "Loyalty Builder is a relationship management and marketing firm that I believe is dramatically different from the standard industry focused firm. We are driven to generate relationships to grow your real estate business."
You must know who are your core customers and find out which satisfied customers can become loyal customers. There is a big difference between satisfied and loyal.
Nothing beats meeting a loyal customer for breakfast, lunch or a cup of coffee. Second is picking up the phone and talking for a few minutes with your grade A customers. Third and just as important is a consistent way to create value added benefits and consulting services for customers to differentiate you from those trying to erode your customer base.
But first you must know your customers well enough to know which are "core loyal customers" and which could be "cultivated" to become core loyal customers. How do you accomplish that? "DEEPER" KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR CUSTOMERS BEYOND THE "OUTER SHELL"
Your customers do not always want to hear about real estate! In fact most of the time you they do not have any interest in real estate. You must trigger their work-life interests, home-life interests and lifestyle interests.
There are companies that offer services and or programs to help you accomplish just that. Seek them out and find companies that specialize in customer relationships.
Arnie Goldberg, co-founder and Vice President with Loyalty Builder,LLC. Arnie says, "Loyalty Builder is a relationship management and marketing firm that I believe is dramatically different from the standard industry focused firm. We are driven to generate relationships to grow your real estate business."
Thursday, November 26, 2009
REALTOR CUSTOMER BASE MARKETING
Realtor Customer Base Marketing
Important information
A National Association of Realtors Technology Survey in 2007 found that REFERRALS, REPEAT BUSINESS and INTERNET were the main sources of leads.
And I have found in realtor surveys that the majority of realtors are still spending more of their marketing budget on soliciting new clients than on their customer base. Why?
The traditional brokerage office is still hiring as many agents as possible, hoping for as many sales as possible, and using old techniques like open houses, floor duty, and email. I include email because email is now a marketing tool that is loosing it’s value.
New technology and a new approach
The advent of the social media boom, the massive availability of information on the Internet, the younger generation of multi-tasking and fast paced living have dictated a major shift in the way realtors approach their business.
The information below reviews the need to consider a shift from traditional marketing budgets to a new approach. The low cost of advertising and publicity and information gathering allows realtors to allocate more to customer base marketing than prospect marketing.
Marketing Costs Per Closing
Assumptions:
• The realtor tracks their commissions (If they don’t I bet the IRS does)
• The realtor tracks marketing costs
• The realtor tracks revenue from repeat and referral business closings (Although many do not, we suggest they begin immediately as it takes more and more knowledge of their business to survive and/or grow today’s climate.)
Realtor tracked - customer value
• Original commission earned on purchase of a home $ 3,200
• Referral to a neighbor for a listing which sold $ 3,800
• Listing customer’s home/repurchase of a new home $ 8,200
• Referral to a home builder (2 sales in 2 years) $ 5,500
• Listing of older parents moving to assisted living $ 3,100
• Introduction to HR person where customer works
(value undetermined as of yet)
Total $ 23,800
Economics
Closings per year (assuming) 30
Commissions $90,000
Total Marketing Costs $6,000
% of Referrals 70% or $63,000
Marketing cost on Customer Base 30% = $ 1800.00 (typical)
Marketing on Prospecting 70% $ 4,200.00
Marketing Costs New Prospect Closings $4,200.00 or $466.66 per closing
Marketing Costs Referral or Repeat Business Closings $1,800.00 or $85.72 per closing
Re-alignment of marketing dollars
If your referral and repeat business is 70% of your income, why spend only 30% of your total marketing investment on your customer base.
We strongly suggest you reverse the marketing investment and allocate 70% of total budget dollars toward your customer base.
Important information
A National Association of Realtors Technology Survey in 2007 found that REFERRALS, REPEAT BUSINESS and INTERNET were the main sources of leads.
And I have found in realtor surveys that the majority of realtors are still spending more of their marketing budget on soliciting new clients than on their customer base. Why?
The traditional brokerage office is still hiring as many agents as possible, hoping for as many sales as possible, and using old techniques like open houses, floor duty, and email. I include email because email is now a marketing tool that is loosing it’s value.
New technology and a new approach
The advent of the social media boom, the massive availability of information on the Internet, the younger generation of multi-tasking and fast paced living have dictated a major shift in the way realtors approach their business.
The information below reviews the need to consider a shift from traditional marketing budgets to a new approach. The low cost of advertising and publicity and information gathering allows realtors to allocate more to customer base marketing than prospect marketing.
Marketing Costs Per Closing
Assumptions:
• The realtor tracks their commissions (If they don’t I bet the IRS does)
• The realtor tracks marketing costs
• The realtor tracks revenue from repeat and referral business closings (Although many do not, we suggest they begin immediately as it takes more and more knowledge of their business to survive and/or grow today’s climate.)
Realtor tracked - customer value
• Original commission earned on purchase of a home $ 3,200
• Referral to a neighbor for a listing which sold $ 3,800
• Listing customer’s home/repurchase of a new home $ 8,200
• Referral to a home builder (2 sales in 2 years) $ 5,500
• Listing of older parents moving to assisted living $ 3,100
• Introduction to HR person where customer works
(value undetermined as of yet)
Total $ 23,800
Economics
Closings per year (assuming) 30
Commissions $90,000
Total Marketing Costs $6,000
% of Referrals 70% or $63,000
Marketing cost on Customer Base 30% = $ 1800.00 (typical)
Marketing on Prospecting 70% $ 4,200.00
Marketing Costs New Prospect Closings $4,200.00 or $466.66 per closing
Marketing Costs Referral or Repeat Business Closings $1,800.00 or $85.72 per closing
Re-alignment of marketing dollars
If your referral and repeat business is 70% of your income, why spend only 30% of your total marketing investment on your customer base.
We strongly suggest you reverse the marketing investment and allocate 70% of total budget dollars toward your customer base.
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