Short Version
Read THIS book – ‘The Ultimate Sales Machine’ by Chet Holmes.
Because; Education Based Marketing.
Read THIS book To Sell Is Human’ by Daniel Pink
Because; Everything Is Sales!
Register for THIS 3-day event in Whistler Feb 1, 2 & 3
Hang with fellow Experts.
That is all.
Long Version
I’m not strong on marketing myself… not direct marketing anyways!
To make such a statement… well it may sound odd coming from someone who closed 98 files in their first full calendar year as a Broker (14 in the first 8 months) and then jumped to 165 files the year after that and onward to 200+ files per year through the 10 years I was actively Brokering.
My business was 95% A business. I’d been in the same community for 25 years when I started out, 35 by the time I wrapped.
And mostly I was not a jerk, or a gossip, mostly…
And while the rules were not easier, they were changing at least as rapidly – if not more rapidly than the past few years.
I also landed a superstar underwriter working with me from 24 months into the business.
Together we really kicked some ass.
OK – Angela kicked all the ass, I hustled hard just trying to keep up.
No big team of agents, no staff, no bus bench adverts, no facebook campaign, no TikTok dancing… just referrals stacked on referrals stacked on referrals.
And me never saying no.
So if I’m so weak at marketing, how’d all that success happen?
3,000 + applications
1,695 funded files over ten years?
The answer showed up in an audiobook several years into my career as a Broker.
The book?
The Ultimate Sales Machine – written by Chet Holmes.
The answer; Education Based Marketing.
I’ve always done my very best to be well read and current re what’s-what about the thing I’m supposed to know about.
IE Mortgages, Real Estate, the local market, and nowadays the national CDN market… if there is such a thing as a National Real Estate market (there isn’t).
But there are national trends. There are things like the impact, or lack thereof, of Foreign Buyers… and the impact, or lack thereof of a foreign buyers tax, or outright ban.
Although now the mdeia and the gov’t alike seem to think that ‘the call is coming from inside the house‘.
It’s actually Mom & Dad, or Grandma & Grandpa that are the problem, they’re the new bogeyman of real estate. Beware the ‘individual investor’. Nonsense, but bait needs to be clicked, outrage needs to be stoked.
Being able to speak to these type of things intelligently, to articulate why they matter… or mostly don’t… is important.
This education-based marketing idea dovetails with advice given to me in the first few weeks of my career… ‘position yourself as the expert’
Not ‘an’ expert.
‘The’ expert.
And ok… here comes today’s pitch – wrapped in an apology.
The setup
This morning I had someone ask me – why haven’t you advertised the heck outta this Whistler conference you are hosting?
Good question.
The answer; I have a day job, a contract executive role that wipes out weekdays, most weeknights and a piece of each weekend.
5 years+ in, I don’t take time off – I’m fully invested.
I don’t know how to work ‘light n’ easy’. I work hard & harder… smart too I like to think – but also hard.
So, to write a post like this one, late on a Saturday afternoon after several hours in the chair already, I gotta dig deep to find the juice! And I should have done so months and months ago.
I cost some of you an opportunity to participate in a kickass event, because it is just 59 days away.
This hurts us both.
I am sorry!
Another Broker had something else to say today, they said ’I’ll only ever attend events that are 100% sales focused’
Which made me think of another book, one by Daniel Pink titled ‘To Sell Is Human’
Everything is sales related.
Especially education.
*watch the above video for an example (or two) of things picked up at a ‘non-sales’ related events that helped me manage, retain, and close clients… as well as convert them into lifelong referral partners.
Because why do people refer?
So they can look like they know the right people.
You ever hear anyone say “I gotta guy for that’ – and then say ‘ya… they sorta know their stuff’
No!
People refer who?
Experts, that’s who!
So how do you become an expert?
Easy.
- You invest time hanging around with people who are experts in their (your) field.
- You invest time learning about how the clock is built, why it’s displaying the time it is.
You want to understand the inner workings, because if you share just a little bit of that knowledge with a client, they’ll understand that you’re far more than just a rate – you’re an expert!
And everyone wants to work with an expert.
Although it remains true to this day, and always will, that in the absence of knowledge people will default to price (rate) every time.
The Pitch
So should you invest the energy, the time, and the money in attending this 3-day gig in Whistler?
If you want to engage with other top performing experts. Yes.
If you want to gather market intel from experts like;
Bob Dugan – CMHC Chief Economist – yes.
Stephen Poloz – Former Governor of The Bank Of Canada – yes.
Brad Simpson – Chief Wealth Strategist at TD Bank – yes.
These people have, or have had, access at the highest levels of decision making around policy.
Policy that directly impacts your life and the lives of your clients.
Will you take away critical talking points to position yourself as The Expert in the minds of your clients?
Yes.
Yes you will.
Also, you’ll have a kick ass experience doing it!
Be There!
DW
Click HERE to register.