A melody can bring back a memory...

"Ain't it funny how a melody can bring back a memory
Take you to another place in time
Completely change your state of mind

It can make a right from a wrong, it can make you fall in love
It can get you singin' along"  Clint Black

Isn't it funny how a song can bring back a memory or even change your mind about a certain event?

For so long, I hated the song "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train.  Until... I visited the Texas State Aquarium last November.  I watched the dolphins playing together in their underwater showcase and this song came on the speakers.  I never liked this song before, however once it start playing and the dolphins started playing, I fell in love with the tune.  Don't know how or why it struck me, but it did.

From that day forward it will always be a part of me.  I will always remember the dolphins every time I hear this song.

Another, is the time I ran the Houston Marathon back in the early 90's and Phil Collin's, "I Wish it Would Rain Down" came on my walkman.  I remember it vividly, like it was yesterday.  I was at the 20 mile marker and it helped me complete the race.

The Lion King was released when I was dating, Lisa (my wife), who I met at Texas A&M University and the Elton John song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" came on.  It has since been "our song".   Happy Valentine's Day Love!

What song(s) place you back to a time that you will never forget?

Are Goals Important?

Do you have clearly written goals for what you plan to accomplish in 2011?

Read the excerpt from the book "What They Don't Teach You in the Harvard Business School" by Mark McCormack.

The author tells about a study conducted on students in the 1979 Harvard MBA program. In that year, the students were asked, "Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?" Only 3% of the graduates had written goals and plans; 13% had goals, but they were not in writing; and a whopping 84% had no specific goals at all.

Ten years later, the members of the class were interviewed again, and the findings, while somewhat predictable, were nonetheless astonishing. The 13% of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84% who had no goals at all. And what about the 3% who had clear, written goals? They were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97% put together.
If you haven't set your goals for 2011 yet, it's not too late - if you're in the north Houston area call me today for a free business planning consultation (936) 525-3214.
Wishing You a Happy & Prosperous 2011!

Why Postcards Rock! Effective Marketing with Postcards

Direct mail is one of the most expensive forms of advertising, but it is also one of the most effective. Email may be the cheapest, but is also the easiest to ignore or be caught by a SPAM filter.  Over the past 14 years, I've found that it's best not to rely solely on one type of marketing, but rather to scramble it up and utilize several different sources to effectively reach your target market.

Today I'm going to focus on postcards. Postcards are one of my favorite forms of marketing.

o They are the least expensive form of direct mail.
o The recipient sees your marketing message since there is no envelope
o They are inexpensive to produce as you can print them yourself and print up to four cards off one sheet of card stock

It is crucial to your success that all your postcards contain a unique marketing message - something that sets you apart from your competition and are mailed on a consistent basis to your target market.

Forget about the recipes, tip of the month, just listed, just sold, turn your clock back or forward postcards, all the things that most agents send out. I've tried them in the past and they don't work! Don't waste your money on image advertising when image ads don't work in real estate. I know this because I used to use them with no success. You have got give people a compelling reason to desire to use your services and postcards are one of the most effective methods for getting your message out.

The postcards that have been most successful in my personal business have all have very strong marketing messages backed with strong guarantees and special programs. We designed different USP's (unique selling proposition) or marketing messages for different target markets, for instance our "Sell it Yourself, While it's Listed and Pay No Commission Program" might be very intriguing to a FSBO, but our "Sold in 39 Days Guaranteed" might be just the thing an expired owner may be looking for after having their home on the market with another agent for the last 6 months.

One of the things I like best about postcards is that you can print them yourself. It shouldn't cost you more than a few cents by printing four on one piece of card stock and postcard postage is $.28 at the present time. I've found that ones I've designed and printed myself actually outperformed ones I purchased from a company that were slicker and more professional looking. The problem with those is that that is what every other agent is sending out and you don't stand apart from the competition.

You can choose to print the addresses directly onto the postcards (using mail merge) or you can use labels if you prefer. It's not like it's an envelope that you're trying to ensure gets opened so it really doesn't matter.

Need someone in your corner to help you in your real estate career?  I don't compete with our agents, I help them.  Call for a confidential interview (936) 525-3214.

Your Surroundings Matter

Just a couple of days before Halloween when I was driving into work I was listening to a Christian radio station; the topic was what you thought about letting your kids watch scary movies like Saw, Halloween or Night Mare on Elm Street this time of the year.

Pls watch this 1 minute video I created - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVVfk_tXTZE

It really got interesting when one of the DJ’s said that growing up his wife had never watched scary movies and she is not afraid of strange noises or being alone at home even when he is away.

What you surround yourself with - is what you become. Why are some agents having their best year and others thinking about getting our of the business? What we focus on expands and if you tune into the national media and believe all the negative publicity you will subliminally sabotage yourself.

One of our new brand new agents started calling FSBO’s as soon as she obtained he license and within a couple month period had listed 11 of them. Other agents too were focused on the shifting market to realize the opportunities in front of them. She was too new in the industry to have been poisoned by the national media and opinions to know that she "shouldn't have been having the results that she was having."

When were returning to work from lunch last week, one of our agents mentioned that he should have taken a photo of all the new cars in the parking lot with dealer tags the last time he was there. Wish I would have seen it.

In Napoleon Hill's book, Think and Grow Rich, the author writes that the a persons income is the average of their 10 closest friends. If you're struggling, maybe now is the time to make some new friends with huge goals, big dreams and a positive attitude.

Quit watching the news, surround yourself with educational and motivational material. Plug into a positive group of friends and co-workers that can help you advance your career.

Do you need a change of surroundings to jump start your career? Give me a today (979) 777-7677.

Marketing Your Real Estate Business on a Shoestring Budget

If you are a new agent or just plateauing or you simply need a fresh perspective and are on low budget....what are your options? Here is what our Keller Williams Agent Mastermind Group in Conroe, TX came up with:

1. Attend networking events like the Chamber After Hours, etc.
2. Door knock to introduce yourself to a farm area (April Sound, Panorama Village, Seven Coves, Walden, Bentwater, Del Lago, etc.)
3. Direct mail - Postcards be sure you can track the responses
4. Set up your free KW or HAR website and ensure it is working properly
5. Place free ads on Craigslist
6. Call, mail or deliver something of value to FSBO’s & Expireds
7. Blogging - become a neighborhood or area expert vs. only a real estate expert (this takes time, but can be very lucrative in the long term in areas like Willis, Conroe, Montgomery, New Waverly, Elkins Lake, Hunstville)
8. Hold Open Houses, sure to let the neighbors know in advance with a flyer or door knocking
9. Handwritten notecards to your SOI
10. Call Team Leaders or agents in other offices and introduce yourself as a potential referral partner
11. Inexpensive, very targeted ads on Facebook
12. Develop and implement a USP - Unique Selling Proposition (something that differentiates you from the competition)
13. Give away free information (ex. free list of “top 10 buys in any area you specify”, free report “How to prepare your home to sell quickly and for top dollar.”)

Lots of great suggestions. What are your favorites?

Keller Williams Realty Conroe-Lake Conroe-Huntsville Awesome 80's Listing Contest

As the Keller Williams Realty Conroe-Lake Conroe-Huntsville’s “Totally Awesome 80′s listing contest” comes to a close, we’d like to congratulate all that participated. We’ve got a great party planned at one of our awesome agents (Mike Berger’s) home scheduled for next Thursday 10/7/10.

All agents and preferred vendors (that donated prizes) are invited and encouraged to attend to network.

Andrew Smith
www.kwconroerocks.com
(979) 777-7677

Conroe Real Estate Agent Mastermind Sessions

Come build your real estate business and mastermind with other real estate professionals in the Conroe, Willis & Montgomery area each Thursday from Noon-1:00 PM. These sessions are from beginner up to $2 million in production over the last year. Open to all real estate agents regardless of affiliation with company.

The sessions are held at Keller Williams Realty Conroe-Lake Conroe-Huntsville at 2200 North FM 3083 West (next to Wallgreen's) on the corner of Hwy 105 & 3083.

Bring your own lunch.

For more information call Andrew Smith @ (936) 525-3214

Blogging 103

Jeremy Dayen taught a workshop on the importance of blogging and how it can benefit your real estate business.

He also unveiled our new Walden in Montgomery county blog and taught our Keller Williams Conroe agents how to become a neighborhood specialist in subdivisions such as April Sound, Walden, Bentwater, Panorama, etc. by utilizing technology through blogging.

Here’s our new subdivision blog for Walden http://waldennews.wordpress.com/

Real Estate Agents - Repeat and Referral Business

To generate a new client it costs between 5-10 times what it costs to maintain an existing one.

What someone else says about you is 10 times more believable that what you say about yourself.

Referral clients are generally less likely to negotiate commissions, interview other agents and in many cases they are sold on you before they even meet you - since someone else told them about you.

Stop and think just for a second about the top three statements. If it costs so much more to generate an existing client then why do so many agents neglect their past clients and sphere of influence?

I think that most agents just don't realize how much more expensive it is to obtain a new client and since the client they just sold a house to is no longer in the market they choose to spend their efforts elsewhere.

The advice I give to our agents is that it's not about when that person in their sphere of influence is going to sell their home or buy a new one, but equally important is that that person could refer business to them. After all that maybe the house they plan to retire in, but these people that know and love you, and have done business with you could - if treated right - be your next Raving Fan.

It's crucial that you develop and implement a system to continuously stay in touch with your database. Marketing to your sphere of influence is the absolute best use of your marketing dollars.

Transforming your sphere of influence into "Raving Fans" should be every agents goal.

Step number one is building up your database, start with making a list of everyone you know that could buy or sell a home through you or could refer business to you. You can use a memory jogger to increase the people in your database. You may be able to find a better one more specific to real estate. Continue to feed it daily.

The next step is coming up with a strong and consistent follow up system. As the result of studying the very top agents from all across the country, Gary Keller in the Millionaire Real Estate Agent book recommends contacting your database 33 times a year. You've got to develop a system to consistently touch your database 33 times each year or if you don't want to reinvent the wheel, check out ours.

We developed a very aggressive and successful 33 touch campaign to touch people in our database from different marketing mediums. We combined powerful marketing messages (USP's - uniques selling propositions) that produced great results with consistent touches.

The more different directions your touches come from the better. I don't believe that sending someone 33 emails is going to do the trick. We combined newsletters, postcards, phone calls, personal notes or cards, and pop-ins to come up with our 33 touches.

You can see my previous articles on pop-ins to learn more about a systematic effective approach for pop-ins on ezine or activerain. To learn how you can generate four or more closings each month using a simple automated follow up programs please contact me directly (979) 777-7677. We are growing quickly and so can you.