2

What You Should Know About Building a Pocket of Greatness in 21st Century Real Estate

Do you know which company attained the number one-spot in terms of return to investors on a dollar-for-dollar basis, of all U. S. publicly traded companies from 1972 to 2002?

It wasn’t GE. Nor Microsoft. Not even Wal-Mart.

Who came out number one? According to a 30 year analysis in Money Magazine, the winner was Southwest Airlines.

Think about that for a minute.

There’s Something Wrong with This Picture

You cannot imagine a worse industry than airlines over this 30-year period: fuel shocks, deregulation, brutal competition, labor strife, 9/11, huge fixed costs, bankruptcy after bankruptcy after bankruptcy.

And yet, according to Money Magazine calculations, a $10,000 investment in Southwest in 1972 would have returned more than $10 million by 2002.

Meanwhile, United fell into bankruptcy, American limped along and the airline industry remained one of the worst imaginable. Not only that, airlines that had the same model as Southwest got killed along the way.

Airline executives have habitually blamed industry circumstances, ignoring the fact that the number one best performing investment in the universe of American public companies over a 30 year period–is just like them–an airline.

Now consider a question: what if the people at Southwest had said, “Hey, we can’t do anything great until we fix the systems constraints facing the airline industry?”

Jim Collins notes that he’s conducted a number of Socratic teaching sessions in the social sectors, and in that time says that he’s encountered an interesting dynamic: people often obsess on obstacles in the system.

At one gathering of nonprofit health care leaders he asked the question “What needs to happen for you to build great hospitals?”

The group poured out a litany of excuses.

Confront the Brutal Facts

Next Collins sorted the people into discussion groups and gave them the task of finding one health care organization that made the leap to sustained superior results, and most came up with at least one solid example.

After that, he made them go back into their groups and find one organization that faced comparable circumstances, but did not make the leap.

The groups went to work and for the most part came up with solid candidates.

He finally asked the groups to identify why some organizations made breakthroughs while others facing similar [if not identical] constraints did not.

His point was this: what if these organizations that went from good to great had all given up hope, thrown up their hands and waited for the system to get fixed?

It might take decades to change the entire context, and you might be retired or dead by the time those changes come. In the meantime, what are you going to do now?

This is where the Stockdale Paradox comes into play: You must retain faith that you can prevail to greatness in the end, while retaining the discipline to confront the brutal facts of your current reality.

A Tough But Doable Task

So the question to you is: What can you do today to create a pocket of greatness, despite the brutal facts of your environment?

Whining is not an option.

In the end, greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline in strategy, marketing and execution.

Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add.

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1

How to Carve Out Your Place in Real Estate History

In building a great real estate business, there is no single defining action, no grand program, no one killer innovation, no solitary lucky break, no miracle moment, no silver bullet.

Rather, it’s more like turning a giant, heavy flywheel.

Pushing with great effort–days, weeks and months of work, with almost imperceptible progress–you finally get the flywheel to inch forward. But you don’t stop.

You keep pushing, and with persistent effort, you eventually get the flywheel to complete one entire turn. You don’t stop.

You keep pushing in an intelligent and consistent direction, and the flywheel moves a bit faster. And faster and faster. Then, at some point–breakthrough!

Cool thing is, each turn builds upon previous work, compounding your investment of effort. The flywheel flies forward with almost unstoppable momentum.

This is how you build greatness.

The Article That Has Been On My Mind for Months

I’ve been thinking of this article for nearly nine months. Maybe even longer. Probably before I even posted my first article on July 2, 2007.

Since then, each time I’ve posted I’ve always asked myself this question: “Is this helping you [the real estate agent] not only survive but thrive in this current market?”

I’ve always felt that posts that talk about this negotiation tip or that prospecting tip sometimes miss the point–the greater point: survival and greatness are founded on doing the basic but essential stuff over and over again.

Think about it: If you are lost child stranded in a forest on the side of a mountain, it only makes sense to teach you how to stay warm, find food, filter water and seek shelter. Ignore these basics and your chances of survival are slim.

That’s how I view your helping you carve out your relentless focus on the highest money-making activity you love to do best [what Jim Collins calls the Hedgehog Concept].

Carving Out Your Place in Real Estate History

By sustaining this relentless focus on what you do best, you build results. Those results in turn attract resources and commitment and clients, which you use to build a bigger, stronger business. A sustaining, compelling business. A business that competitors have to reckon with.

If you do that now you may not be a millionaire in two years [assuming you are not a millionaire now, of course] but you may be able to stay above the water with some greenbacks in the bank to boot.

Just think what will happen in a good market.

However, maybe you are in a hot market like Austin. Then you definitely understand this:

People want to feel the excitement of being involved in something that just flat out works.

When clients and prospects begin to see tangible results–when they can feel the flywheel beginning to build speed in an individual [whether it’s by consistent recognition of you by advertising or word of mouth]–that’s when most people line up to jump on board–whether they are clients or colleagues. They sense something big is happening and what to get on board.

This is the success of the flywheel. Success breeds support and commitment, which breeds even greater success, which breeds more support and commitment–round and round the flywheel goes. People like to support winners! Jim Collins

Examples of Financial Success in Non-Profits

In the real estate business the driver in the flywheel is the link between financial success and a growing reputation. Take a look to the social sector to see what I mean.

Does Harvard truly deliver a better education and do better academic work than other universities? Perhaps, but the emotional pull of Harvard overcomes any doubt when it comes to raising funds. Despite having an endowment in excess of $20 billion, donations continue to pour in.

Does the Red Cross truly do the best job of disaster relief? Perhaps, but the brand reputation of the Red Cross gives people an easy answer to the question “How can I help?” when a disaster hits.

Is the American Cancer Society the best organization for conquering cancer or the Nature Conservancy the most effective at protecting the environment? Perhaps, but their brand reputation gives people an easy way to support a cause they care about.

Conclusion

When you have a relentless focus on the highest money-making activity you love to do best, you will naturally create the flywheel effect.

This focus attracts believers, builds strength in your business, demonstrates results and builds the brand. It’s a cycle that feeds itself.

Consistency distinguishes the truly great–consistent intensity of effort, consistency with focus, consistency with core values, consistency over time.

Look at people like Joe Girard, Jim Rohn or Roger Dawson.

Enduring and great real estate or sales people preserve their core and stimulate progress, separating core values and fundamental purpose [which should never change] from mere operating practices, cultural norms and business strategies [which endlessly adapt to a changing world].

Remaining true to your core values and remaining focused on your Hedgehog Concept means, above all, rigorous clarity not just about what to do, but equally, what to not do.

And that will help you make your mark in real estate history.

Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add.

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4

10 Easy but Essential Tricks to Persuasive Real Estate Blogging

Amazing, isn’t it? How when you listen to one of your favorite bloggers and you say to yourself:

“Why didn’t I think of that? It seems so obvious…so easy.”

The masters of blogging–people like Brian Clark, Leo Babauta, Hanan Levin–always seem to come up with the perfect phrase…a few words…sometimes even just one word…that grabs you by the lapels and drags you into their post.

The perfect words make you want to read whatever they’re writing before they’ve even mentioned what it’s even about.

It’s the art of persuasion. Right?

But let me assure you right now that it’s less of an art and more of a science.

The art of persuasion is something you can learn. And the good news is the fundamental building block to any good persuasive writing–or speaking–is simply rapport.

And to build that rapport, you need to cultivate behaviors that will make people trust you and make them feel it’s in their best interest to follow your lead in what Greg Swann called the larger conversation of the blog sphere.

So, with that in mind, here are some ideas, big and small, for making yourself more persuasive:

1. Before you write a blog post, ask yourself “What do I really want out of this post?”

Ask soul-searching questions to understand your true motivation: money, fame, power. You’re looking for what makes you tick, what drives you. But you’re also looking for the purpose, the plan and the result. This is really a question you need to ask yourself long before you even record your first post so you know the direction you want the blog to go. That’s planning on the micro level. Planning for each post is on the micro level.

2. Develop the knack for making the other person feel like the center of the universe.

You’re blog post is not about you. Period.

3. Be quick to compliment.

If someone leaves you a comment, thank them. Especially if they are a first time visitor. And comment on other people’s blogs. Wait, that’s the next point…

4. Train yourself to visit other people’s blogs. And leave comments.

If you want comments on your blog…you have to leave comments on other blogs. Also, making your daily rounds on the real estate blogging circuit help you to note what people are talking about…which leads into my next point.

5. Listen to anybody with an idea. And see how you can help them.

Follow the maxims of legendary 3M leader William McKnight: “Listen to anybody with an idea. Encourage experimental doodling.”

And get involved. If you come across a blog that is interested in working on joint projects, email them and share your idea. If you don’t have an idea, tell them you be interested in doing some of the legwork.

6. Try to arouse positive emotion.

When writing blog posts, avoid negative emotion. You know what negative emotion is? Just read the Fox News home page and you’ll see what I mean.

People respond better when you give them positive, life-fulfilling information. Stuff that builds on their business, their lifestyle. Granted, always harping on the doom of the housing market will attract a crowd…but it will probably be a crowd of pessimists.

You, my friend, are better off being an optimist.

7. Take a clue from your audience.

Occasionally ask for feedback after your posts. Encourage people to give you thoughts about what they’d like to here. Keep an eye on your analytics, like news feed subscriptions, page visits and posts-to-comment ratio.

Really make an effort to communicate in a manner that matches your message to the receiver.

8. Hone your sense of humor.

It really, really helps if you are witty or clever.

9. Practice being a better questioner.

Follow up all posts by asking, “What do you think? Was this blog useful?”

Better yet, ask more pointed questions at the end of posts to root out opposing thoughts. You might have a good idea, but with the help of someone else arguing for a differnt side of the coin…you might unearth the best idea.

10. Keep your perspective.

Remember: Even though you’re passionate about your point of view, lighten up. Tomorrow’s another day-and another opportunity to persuade.

Well, that’s it. Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add.

If you haven’t already, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.

0

Images Are Powerful Symbols but Not Communicators

At the Visual Ideology site, you can take a visual political test that suggests which images portray political ideas the strongest.

Be prepared to be confused.

The “test” is rather frustrating, and I gave up, clicking through images without thinking because I did not know what I was supposed to do [possibly this is part of the test] just so I could get through the end.

What was most confusing is that there were no instructions. In my mind, this was a good example of something crucial we have to understand about images:

Images are powerful symbols that work on our souls, but images alone are incapable of communicating what we want people to do.

With a simple task we need at least a little coaxing. On the other hand, on a more complex task we need more coaxing. Otherwise we are asking people to interpret images on their own, which can be dangerous [read: they leave the website].

And whether visitors read all of the copy or not is not the point–it’s there if they get confused and need instruction.

Now, an elegant combination of copy and images was done well at the Interface Research survey.

Simple tasks with simple instructions.

Way back when David Olgivy proved repeatedly that long copy always outsold short copy with photo…but–and here’s why we need both copy and design–the right amount of compelling copy with the right photo doubled the previous results.

Political consultant Frank Lutz has made a fortune on a simple idea: it doesn’t matter what you want to tell the public–it’s about what they want to hear.

For a case in point, watch the video “Give Us What We Want” to see how one word increased public opinion from 50% to over 75%…

“Estate tax” versus “death tax.”

This simple change brought a bland, background issue screaming to the front of politics.

Just one word. By itself.

Just curious: Can you think of any images that have revolutionized an issue on its own merit?

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2

Britney Spears Reputation Management Mistakes You Should Avoid

Reputation is possibly your most important asset. Thus, reputation management is crucial to your success.

The classic example of reputation management can be found in the small town.

Population is so tiny interactions between members are frequent. More importantly, most interactions are face-to-face and positively identified–that is, there is no question who said or did what.

Thus, reputation accrues throughout one’s lifetime. In a nutshell, one’s individual reputation depends both on one’s own actions and experiences. [Yes, reputation is a lot like your brand. Think back to Bill Leider’s post, “What Is a Brand?“]

I’ve said in the past that there are ways to go about becoming the most irresistible person at a party. Gauging by the comments, this topic resonated with people. But I should have added a warning: don’t become the party.

Britney Spears doesn’t seem to understand this.

The Grammy-award winning singer rocketed into success in less than 4 years and seemed to have ahead of her a brilliant career. But something unraveled. She failed to manage her actions, her experience–in essence, her reputation.

I like to thing she compromised her values [because, as you will see, she did have values] to please the world.

What follows is a brief history of her sad career to date and the the 6 reputation management mistakes she made. The mistakes you should avoid.

1. Spears posed for Rolling Stone.

The shot garnered widespread criticism for the mixing of wholesome innocence and sex.

But why the criticism? Didn’t Madonna do the same with sex and Catholicism [“Just Like a Prayer” video]?

I think the difference is that Madonna was controlled. Her image was not the same as her lifestyle. Besides, Spears was only 18, pointing to her lack of direction, experience and foresight. This will show up later.

The lesson for you: know what you are doing. And if you don’t, educate yourself. More importantly, figure out the consequences for your actions early in your life or career. Create a moral compass to live by. Anything that doesn’t fit into that narrow set of values, ignore. Think long term.

2. Spears declared she’d remain a virgin until marriage.

Noble, indeed. But hardly believable considering her childhood trauma, overt sexuality [see point 1] and relationship with fellow pop singer Justin Timberlake.

Spears’ statement is an example of a statement that lacks credibility. If you want to make a bold, noble statement, make sure that your lifestyle–both private and public–supports it. Otherwise you simply get the requisite cock of the head, the “yeah, right,” the wide swath people cut to stay away from you.

3. Spears ruined her restaurant through mismanagement and debt.

Early 2003, Spears entered territory she didn’t belong. And wasted dollars and time and reputation.

The same goes for us. We need to remain experts in our area of expertise. Going after money in an arena we know nothing about is doomed to failure. And failing by debt and mismanagement will remain on our reputation scorecard for a long time. Unless you move to a different state, of course.

4. Spears first marriage lasted 55 hours.

The reputation lesson to learn here is that you need to understand what you are getting yourself into. Otherwise you could look like a fool that people avoid [see point 2].

Spears requested the annulment to childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander on January 4, 2004, because she “lacked understanding of her actions to the extent she was incapable of agreeing to marriage because…[they] did not know each other’s likes and dislikes….”

The impact on Spears’ reputation is clear: she is either a naive or simple girl. Neither virtue that instills confidence in people.

If you want people to believe in you, steer clear of rash, uninformed decisions and opportunities. Build a foundation of credibility through perfection by making consistently wise business choices.

Your reputation will love you for it.

5. Spears does chaotic reality TV show.

Any particular reason you need to make public to millions of people your immaturity, abrasiveness or irrationality?

While this behavior might pay the bills for rock stars, it’s not likely to get you any kind of lasting success or brownie points. People might like to gape at your weaknesses, but it’s highly unlikely they’ll ever want to work with you. That wide swathe they cut for you…they’ll make it wider.

Of course, the best way to avoid publication of your weaknesses is simply to minimize them. And this means, investment in personal growth is one of the wisest decisions you could ever make.

6. Spears shaves her head.

Clearly, at this point, she is devastated by her life. She has no control over her emotions and appears to be tormented. From a reputation management perspective she needs intervention–someone to take control of her life for her.

For you this means having accountability, reporting to a mentor.

Don’t think you can weather the storm by yourself or that you are smarter than anyone else out there. An isolationist attitude will level you flat.

Find a friend, pastor, executive or relative you can easily trust and cultivate a relationship with that person. Ask them to hold you responsible for your actions. And to take you by the collar when you stumble.

Also, consider creating a small group of peers you respect to bounce ideas off of. Even if you have “the best idea in the whole world” and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s going to work, discipline yourself to run ideas by other people. They might just save your career.

Conclusion

Spears short music career is a history of a life spiraling out of control. Perhaps it is psychosis to blame, evidential in behavior that ranges most recently from crying uncontrollably as she walks her dog to faking a British accent to shopping manias at all hours of the night. But something like this doesn’t develop over night.

It’s sad, and overall speaks to the point that she needs help. And the final point to drive home to you is this: it’s probably safe to say that her misery was in part due to the fact that she surrounded herself with the wrong people.

Make sure you don’t make the same mistake.

6

Wendy Kopp’s Elegant Idea to Growing Your Business

Last Monday I asked the question: “Why would anyone in there right mind work with fewer people?”

If you still think it’s either impossible or a bad idea to limit who you work with, read this following story. It should convince you of the power of selectivity. [via]

The idea: convince Harvard graduates to teach in America’s roughest public schools

In th spring of 1988, Wendy Kopp graduated from Princeton with an idea: why not convince graduates from leading universities to spend the first two years of their careers teaching low income kids in the public education system?

She had no money, no office, no infrastructure, no name, no credibility, no furniture, not even a bed or a dresser in which to store her clothes. Leaving Princeton, Kopp moved into a small room in New York City and approached the Mobil Corporation.

Once Mobil agreed to grant $26,000 of seed capital to fund her idea, Teach for America, Kopp spent the next 365 days in a juggling act–convincing top-flight people to join her bus with the promise that she would convince donors to fund the bus… while at the same time convincing donors that she would convince top-flight people to join her bus….

One year later, Kopp stood in front of 500 recent graduates from colleges like Yale, Harvard and Michigan. These graduates assembled for training and deployment into America’s under served classrooms.

And how did she convince these graduates to work for low pay in tough classrooms?

First, by tapping their idealistic passions. Second by the making the process selective.

She basically said to all these overachieving college students: “If you’re really good, you might be able to join our cause. But first you have to submit to a rigorous screening and evaluation process. You should prepare yourself for rejection, because it takes special capability to succeed in these classrooms.”

Selectivity led to credibility with donors, which increased funding, which made it possible to attract and select even more people into the programs.

As of 2005, more than 97,000 individuals applied to be part of Teach for America and only 14,100 made the cut, while revenues grew to nearly $40 million in annual support.

Wendy Kopp understood three fundamental points.

First, the more selective the process, the more attractive a position becomes–even if volunteer or low pay. The same is true if people are paying you.

Second, the social sectors have one compelling advantage: desperate craving for meaning in our lives.

Purity of mission–be it about educating people, connecting people to God, making our cities safe, touching the soul with great art, feeding the hungry, serving the poor, or protecting our freedom–has the power to ignite passsion and commitment.

Third, the number one resource for a great organization is having enough of the right people willing to commit themselves to mission.

In real estate, this translates to creating momentum–a flywheel–that will eventually turn by itself.

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2

4 Irresistable Ways to Gain Major Media Attention without an Ad Budget

Sometimes being controversial can be extremely beneficial.

Take the Super Bowl, for example.

For the 2007 Super Bowl, advertisers are scrambling to spend up to 2.7 million dollars for a 30 second spot.

6 Years ago it was only one million dollars.

We, like a gazillion cash-conscious business owners, thumbed our noses at their stupidity for, yet again, falling into that inevitable pit of wasted dollars.

This year we may need to rethink snubbing our noses.

While Toshiba sinking millions into a Super Bowl commercial makes no sense, other advertisers would be wise to spend this money [if they have the pocket book, of course] because they have more than just the 30-second spot to bank on.

Super Bowl advertisers mean to entertain audiences. However, the target isn’t so much the 90 million viewers. Rather it’s the millions who will chat about the commercial after the event.

Thanks to the Internet, they’ve got the aftermath on their side, the buzz. Some good buzz And some bad.

Here’s what I mean…

And here’s how you can generate the buzz and leads that $2.7 million buys…without spending a single dime.

1. Take a Stand on an Important Issue

Last year General Motors cried “uncle” when president Robert Gebbia of the pint-sized AFSP [American Foundation of Suicide Prevention] rose a stink after he heard about a commercial where an assembly-line robot dreams of getting fired and jumping off a bridge.

[Note: the video is no longer available.]

The next day Gebbia sent a sharply worded letter to GM telling them to yank the letter. When word got out that they did, a firestorm of coverage was unleashed.

In pure numbers, the AFSP generated 39.1 million impressions in print and 13.4 million impressions on TV.

This excludes radio and Internet. Talk about power.

Gebbia’s annual budget is $9 million. Employs 31 people. And spends nothing on advertising.

In the real estate world, this translates to being involved in more than just business: take up a significant cause, and put your heart and soul into. Not to get attention, but to make a difference in your community.

And when that crucial line gets crossed, smeared or defamed, blow the whistle.

However, even if a crucial moment to take a stand never materializes, your good efforts will not go unrewarded.

2. Make Fun of Someone Popular

With their permission, of course.

More than two weeks before the 2007 Super Bowl, Nationwide ran an ad where Kevin Federline [ex-hubby to Brittny Spears] plays a fast-food worker who dreams of becoming a rap star.

Several days later the trade group National Restaurant Association sent an angry letter to Nationwide CEO. NRA complained trade members were concerned over how the industry was portrayed.

This backfired.

Federline quickly apologized. Nationwide, on the other hand, was offended, explaining the only person they were making fun of was Federline.

The public responded by agreeing with Nationwide.

Nationwide’s benefit amounted to $24 million in unpaid media exposure. 10 times more than what Nationwide paid for the ad.

The moral from NRA’s perspecitive: don’t be hypersensitive. The point for you: be creative, and toe the line. It could ruffle some feathers in your favor.

3. Flirt with Controversy

Whether Nationwide flirted with controversy is debatable. Pepsi, on the other hand, there’s no question they are borrowing controversial equity.

This year Pepsi will launch an ad with Justin Timberlake, who was involved in the 2004 Super Bowl “wardrobe malfunction” with Janet Jackson. [This video, too, is no longer available.]

The new Pepsi spot doesn’t allude to that incident.

It shows Timberlake escaping a series of disasters caused by a pretty girl sitting poolside sipping her Pepsi.

“Word that he’s in the ad has gotten quite a buzz, probably because of his connection to that past Super Bowl,” says Pepsi (PEP) spokeswoman Rebecca Madeira.

Allude to past controversy and you borrow the buzz around that event. Low-cost, but dense with conversation.

4. Create a Sticky, Victoria Secret-Style Event That’s Easily Mashable

After a nine-year absence, lingerie retailer Victoria Secret plans to generate some online buzz by resurfacing this coming Sunday.

Doesn’t take much to do this.

The National Organization for Women says it plans to relaunch its national Super Bowl Ad Watch that it last oversaw in 2003. I wonder why.

After the Super Bowl, thousands of men will hunt down the commercials online and share them with their buddies. Kind of like what happened with Ekday.

It’s just the nature of the Internet beast.

Furthermore, create a sticky video and people will even create mash ups of them, because this is an ever increasing format in which people are consuming online content…

That happened to the Cadbury Gorilla video. Go on YouTube and you’ll find dozens of renditions of this video.

In essence, mash ups allow viral ideas to spread by mutation rather than in a pure linear way.

This is really about letting go of control. Let me know what you think.

0

When Being a Narrow-minded Fundamentalist Works

Jesus. Evolution. Abortion. Hot, volatile topics. Topics likely to upset even the mildest of situations.

But I’m not talking about creating a riot or a mob. Just want to get you thinking about 3 things:

1. What you love
2. What you do best
3. What makes you money

Master these fundamentals–and never waver from them–and you survive the current housing chokehold.

Narrow-mindedness and Marketing

According to Paul Eastwood, founder of Single Property Sites, Inc., “There is a relationship between a tightly-focused niche and increased sales.”

That’s not surprising.

Competing in a crowded, sluggish market makes it difficult to earn a living, let alone generate good leads. That means not only are there fewer people per agent to go around, but commissions and profits drop, too.

So what do you do?

Conventional business wisdom states that you make yourself unique. You stand out, go against the grain. You narrow your focus to a smaller, denser segment of the market, which might sound bizarre.

One way to narrow your focus is to create marketing personas. Another way is to follow the Parkinson’s law by rapidly disqualifying buyer leads.

But why would anyone in their right mind decide to “narrow” their market and work with fewer people? Good question.

The Paradox of the Narrow Market

The more successful you become with your small segment, the more exposure you gain, the more business you earn and the more money you make.

In essence, you’ve made this small segment so happy that they gush about you like a five-year-old after drinking a can of Coke.

This tight-knit group is your cult.

How to Narrow Your Market

One of the ways you could “narrow” your focus is with technology. Let me explain.

Let’s be simple for a moment and split the world in two: on one side we have those who hate technology. On the other side we have those who love technology. Do you see how I’ve just “narrowed” your playing field?

You can continue to do that.

Let’s split the technology camp into two: those who like to use technology and those who like other people to use technology.

Let’s split those who like other people who use technology: now we have those selling homes in the city versus the country.

Now those selling in the country might love technology. They might have a fit of joy–after a brief introduction, of course–if you walked into their house and said “I’m going to sell your house for more money in less time because of the powerful electronic marketing tools I use.”

That’s because you stand apart and satisfy their soft spot.

You can do the same if you narrow your market to working with the exact opposite group: people who were “relationship-oriented selling in the city and hate technology.”

Do you see what I mean?

And the cool thing is, once you narrow your focus down three or four levels, you can write it out and use it a lot like a mission statement.

As Seth Godin points out in his post needle in a haystack marketing, this works in the world of online search, too.

Do this and you’ll find yourself energetic, excited and potentially more successful–both in money and life.

0

Unforgettable Negotiation Advice: Discover His Thumbscrew

Whether it’s a lending partner, your listing coordinator, a competing agent or a prospect across the couch from you, people will occasionally resist you.

And constantly butting up against these people will cost you a lot of energy.

One important thing to realize though is everyone has a weakness, a gap in the armor, a soft spot. Usually it’s an insecurity, an uncontrollable need or a closet passion. Once found, however, it is a thumbscrew you can turn to guide them down the right path.

Here’s what to look for:

Pay Attention to Gestures and Unconscious Signals

Everyday conversation supplies the richest mine of weakness, passion or emotion, so train yourself to listen. Start by being interested.

Also, open up to the other person. Share a secret that won’t damage you if you share it.

Finally, train your eye for details–how someone responds to their spouse, what delights a person, the hidden messages in clothes.

Once you find this soft spot, push on it.

Look for Contrasts

An overt trait often conceals its opposite. People who thump their chests, cowards; prudent minds, lavish souls; the uptight, screaming for adventure; the shy, dying for attention.

Probe beyond appearances and you will find a person’s soft spots.

Fill the Void

Insecurity and unhappiness are the two main emotional voids.

Validate the socially insecure: “This neighborhood may seem out of your league, but you belong here.”

Look for the roots of the unhappy: “Tell me if I’m wrong, but you don’t look like you are enjoying the home-selling process. If this is true, can you tell me what’s bothering you?”

The Moral?

You can win against just about anybody–no matter their power, fame or money. Just find their soft spot.

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Creating Killer Web Personas in Under 30 Minutes

Shaun Of The Dead isn’t your typical zombie movie. In fact, the zombies don’t truly enter the story until almost a third of the way in.

But that’s beside the point.

If you have seen the movie, then you’ll remember the part where Shaun and Ed are sitting in the pub making up personal histories for the other bar patrons.

Turns out this is not just a fun way to kill time over a few pints–it can also be an important tactic in evaluating your customer base for you marketing efforts.

Creating the Perfect Personas–without the Long Nights

According to Usability.gov, personas are fictional people who represent a major user group for your site.

The idea is to invent entire back stories, personalities, quirks, and needs for all of your personas…then evaluate how each of them would likely react to your website, blog or marketing.

This is a great way to get into your client’s head. But it can be time consuming and complex. So time consuming and complex that the time-spent outweighs the benefit.

See, at the least, you should create 9 personas. You should define these personas by age, income, experience, occupation…basically, whatever psychographic you can get your hands on.

Sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? But it doesn’t have to be. Follow me.

Typical Approaches to Creating Personas

There are lots of ways to sketch out personas. Ian Lurie has a convincing but complex persona method he’s been using since 1990.

In a video at SEOmoz Lurie expands his persona thinking with a far-fetched but compelling case for the use of Persona modeling.

Web Strategist Jeremiah Owyang waxes about early adopter personas. Theoretical. Real world? Jury still out.

There’s Usability.gov persona recommendations I mentioned above. Clear cut and organized better, I think.

And finally, my scaled-down, paper-sketch approach to personas that multiplies the result with minimal work.

Magically Create 9 Personas in 30 Minutes

This way of creating personas occurred to me during a 30-minute, 29-member “brainstorm” session I was involved in with a client when trying to redesign their website.

As you can imagine, it was a chaotic event. Bordering on stupidity.

In the middle of the battle over the definition of what this client’s website should do, I stood and stated, “You have 3 people you need to cater to. Basically.”

In a nutshell, this is what I sketched out on the white board in less than 30 minutes:

Persona 1: The Fanatic

The Fanatic is someone who has been to your website and crawled every inch of the site looking for every piece of information you offer. They are likely checking back to the site every week to see if you have added anything new.

[Recommendation 1: If you are certain one of your major user groups is a Fanatic, please, pretty please, offer a news feed. They will love you for it.]

Persona 2: The Periodic

This person comes back only when they want to buy something. Once, maybe twice a year.

[At the User Experience 2007 conference I learned that average Amazon Power Reviewer visits Amazon 4 times a year. 4 whole times. That meant most of our sites are visited and engaged a lot less than we think. In fact, only 8% of adults are deep Web 2.0 users.]

Persona 3: The Newbie

The Newbie has never been to your site. Ever.

The Reaction to My Personas

This oversimplification seemed to work for my client. But I needed to take it a bit further.

[Word of caution here: The following is standard practice, and essential. So pay attention. This alone will pay divedends for your website.]

One important thing to remember about any of your marketing is this: you are probably not your target.

Yes–it helps to put yourself in your targets shoes…but you really can’t do that until you figure out who your target is.

How do you figure out who your target is? Use one of these five tools to identify your major market groups.

Learning Styles and Web Personas

Now, what I’m about to share with you I figured out by working backward from popular and usable websites.

It’s based upon learning styles: audio, visual and kinesthetics.

The Audio Learner

The audio person tends to be the person who is attracted by copy.

They’re typically your book readers, curious, a tad more patient [not by much]. The important thing to remember about them is that they’re superior way of interacting and learning on the web is through the written word.

So ample [Myth 9], concise, scannable and objective copy is essential to your website.

The Visual Learner

Your visual person will be the person who steers towards the videos. The photos. This is their preferred style of interacting and learning on the web.

Finally, you have your kinesthetics.

The Kinesthetic Learner

This is the most often neglected group. Most often neglected because the kinesthetic wants to interact by leaving comments, rating, reviewing on your website…and surprisingly enough, a lot of website owners are still resistant to letting go of the conversation and allowing comments and reviews.

The kinesthetic is your feeler, bent to emotions. It’s your people person. No matter their age, they want to see a community.

[On a side note, bringing up the needs of the kinesthetic to a web owner has been my best argument for a web site’s user-generated strategy but not yet an air tight case].

Putting all of this together now, you have potentially nine different personas:

The Fanatic who could be an audio, visual or kinesthetic.

The Periodic who prefers audio, visual or kinesthetic.

Then your Newbie who leans toward audio, visual or kinesthetic.

How to Apply Your New Knowledge on Personas to Your Web Marketing

Now, if you find that your major user group to your website is a kinesthetic Fanatic, it’s essential you provide not only a new feed to new content…but the ability to leave comments as well.

If comments scare you, at the least allow someone to rate content. This is also a good low-barrier entry point to invite people to interact.

Say your other major group is the visual Newbie. That means you must have video feeds in your golden triangle.

Or perhaps you discover you cater to an audio Periodic, then copy, and links to more copy, better be in that golden triangle.

Your Turn

Sometime this week work this out for yourself and then share with me your results.

One thing you have to keep in mind: my goal is to make this easy and personal. You may want to call them something other than Newbies. Your show, champ. Just keep it easy.

Personas can be helpful–as long as the time-spent vs. benefit is in favor of the benefit and not the time. So get to working.

Looking forward to hearing from you.