Real Estate Relish

Enjoy my latest video - Direct Mail tips for Realtors.

Lois Geller

In December, we sent out a painting of a chicken on the front of our holiday card. It was painted by my friend Donald, as he said that the new year means “new beginnings”, new hope and a fresh start. To us, it also symbolized our new company, Lois Geller Marketing Group, after 14 years of being Mason & Geller.

Many of our friends told us they loved the chicken, and named him Chicken Karma…(send out good things, and good things come back to you).

Then one of our creative people found an egg. He said the egg (when submerged in a glass of water) will crack, and then a chicken will emerge and grow bigger and bigger. When it is out of the water, it will then shrink down to a smaller size, and be hard as a rock.   

I was doubtful about  all of this, but we bought the eggs, and then watched in amazement as they hatched. The large one  in this photo, is after he’s  been in the water for about two days, and the little one is after he’s been out of  the water for a while.

He/She is not a sponge, but made of some hard substance, and I have no idea how this works. I just know  that it is a great little chicken, and a symbol to stay positive as this New Year begins to unfold…and great new things will begin to happen.

Let me know about the good things happening in your world, and we might send you one of these magic chickens!

In the meantime, we are launching our brand new Idea Incubator for companies who want to lift response to their email programs, websites and direct mail. Email: loisgeller@loisgellermarketinggroup.com for more information.

About a month ago, I started wondering what would make an interesting Happy Holidays card to send clients and non-client friends.

We’ve come up with some pretty funny cards in previous years but this year’s not looking all that funny so I was stumped.

Then I remembered Donald, the artist. I called and asked him if he could paint us an image to represent new beginnings - fresh starts for the coming year. I didn’t want Christmas trees, Santa Claus or palm trees with lights on them.

He said, “How about a baby chicken?” Hmmm. Let’s take a look.

A few days later, I drove over to Donald’s and he showed me an acrylic painting of a small yellow chick emerging from the whitest of cracked eggs on a green and red background. I loved it.

I wrote a straightforward headline: We asked our friend Donald to paint a holiday card. He painted this chicken.

On the inside, the copy reads: He said the holidays for him mean “new beginnings” like this baby chicken. We wish you a new beginning, new hope and fresh starts this year. All the best, Lois Geller Marketing Group. We’re a new chicken too (after 14 years as Mason and Geller Direct).

A smaller version of the painting appears on the back of the card along with: Win the original, 9” X 12”, New Beginnings Chick by Donald Sexauer. Just email loisgeller@loisgellermarketinggroup.com and tell her about your new beginnings.

Then, by a total fluke, I came across a place that sells fake eggs, real-looking but fake. Put one in a bowl of water for a few days and a yellow chick emerges. It comes out bigger than the egg. It’s fun to watch. I bought a bunch of them and sent each out with a card.

Here’s to all of our new beginnings this 2009. It’ll be a good year to help a friend, do random acts of kindness and create good karma in bad times – may they be oh so short.

photo credit: Azhure

Blog along with me, the best is yet to be!

My cousin, a real estate agent has been complaining non-stop that she has had only one sale in the last six months.

Well, what have you tried to stimulate business, I asked?

She replied that they had done some mailers that didn’t receive any response.

As a direct marketer, I know that is really tough to accomplish… receiving absolutely no response to a mailer. I’ve been doing mailings for our clients for decades and if the mail actually leaves the post office, someone will respond. Guaranteed.

I decided not to got there. I’ve already sent her copies of my book, Sold! Direct Marketing for the Real Estate Pro… and she is still mailing postcards, and hasn’t tested the “tried and true” letter I advised her to mail.

I also asked her if she’d write her copy like she speaks… in a conversational way. No luck.

So I decided to try some other ideas.

How about trying something new, I asked? Silence.

I suggested that she go and sign up for a few of my real favorites:

1. Sign up for Active Rain. You can write your bio on there (make sure to link your website), upload your photo, and write up something about yourself. Then write a post, and then simply check off the boxes where you want it posted. It might look daunting at first, and the more you visit there, the better you’ll like it.

I met wonderful friends at this website, and they keep in touch with me, and invited me to speak at their companies and tell me about new things their learning about marketing internationally, and so much more. It is a user friendly place to go and just comment on other people’s blog posts.

2. The second place I recommend is LinkedIn . It is a business website, where you can find and connect with business associates. Invite them to “link” in with you. You can then see who their contacts are and see if you want to be introduced to those people. It is a great way to network without having to go to an event. You can network with others in your own home office in your pajamas, if you like.

I’ve made my best associates on Linked in by going to the Answers section and posting answers to other people’s questions. I have also asked some of my own and gotten some great responses.

So, when someone awful hijacked my website, and I was “crazed” about what to do, I emailed my contacts and sent out an open question, and the whole problem way quickly resolved with the help of my friends there.

3. I’ve also been trying Plaxo, and it is another professional site that includes some interesting groups in my area, marketing.

4. Then there’s the best new real estate marketing blog… Real Estate Relish. I hope you’ll participate here. Leave your comments and I’ll respond to you. If you have written something that will help people with the joy of real estate marketing, send it to me, and I might offer it here too. Make sure to add your website in the comment field… you’ll get a link that way.

That way, we’ll make beautiful traffic together. You will get some leads from other agents and hopefully, everyone will win!

It seems that in years past, a real estate agent could decide which homes to show me on any given trip we made together. I have read recently in an interesting book about the way you position the alternatives…often precipitates the decision by your client.

So, if you have (1) one home to show me that is modern, but needs a lot of internal repair work (like bathrooms and kitchen and floors) at $20,000 less than (2) modern home that is in great repair and shows well, and house (3) that is more old fashioned (maybe a tudor or an older home) in good shape…in the same price range. The buyer (me?) may have a higher likelihood to buy the modern home that is in better shape, because there is a comparison.

One home is similar, but better than the other.I wonder if that is the same way with a lot of other purchases. How about a mixed breed dog versus a  purebred one? one looks good to me and I don’t know if he’s purebred or not. This is also akin to brands. Today I saw an ad in the New York Post for a black saddle bag. I’ve had dozens of those in the years I lived in Manhattan. This one was in Bergdorf Goodman, and the brand is Lanvin. The price $2535. Mine were usually much less costly than that one.   I am wondering though with real estate clients now enabled to look at mls listings online…whether it makes it harder for agents to position products strategically. Maybe we are overwhelming clients with so many choices (and a soft market. Let me know your thoughts…

A few weeks ago, I went with two of my colleagues to look at some new office space in Ft. Lauderdale.

After a few hours of getting “the lay of the land” as we are new to the area…we decided to look at homes to see the price points, and what we might be able to afford.

As we were driving through a particularly pretty area, we noticed a sign for an Open House, and decided to stop and look, as there were two homes across the street from each other. When we went into the small house, the agent who was there told us about it, and the fact that it was owned by a family who’d recently inherited it. Their father never updated it, and it was in pretty rough condition. The agent agreed on our assessment and that the price was high, because of all of the upgrades it needed.

Then she showed us the upgraded home across the street. It was twice as expensive, was fully finished and on the water. Along the way, we mentioned that our price range was approximately the cost of the “home in need of help”.

As we left, and traded cards with her…I was wondering how I would feel if I’d heard her comments as the owner of the fixer upper home. I guess I wouldn’t want to list my property with her for a couple of reasons: 1) She didn’t tell the prospects about the wonderful opportunities for the home, like the huge backyard, the possibility of building out the kitchen, and the fact that it was a small home on a street with large ones. 2) She made the owner sound “cheap” by not fixing the place up. Maybe they weren’t in a position to do so, or maybe they didn’t want to upgrade after their father passed away.

It all brought to mind some people I’d met recently when I did a speech at the Luxury Portfolio Meeting at the Boca Raton Hotel. All those top realtors selling high end properties seemed like they were honest, straightforward and had good characters. I chatted with them about their families, careers. No one put anyone down, even their competitors. It is like when you do RIGHT, good things happen.

I’ve seen the same type of good chaaracter in the halls of top corporations when I’ve met with clients at JP Morgan Chase, American Express and others. The folks at the top (for the most part, of course) are decent human beings.

So, I’m thinking on my realestaterelish.com blog, and on activerain, that it might sound preachy, and I don’t care. Good character can be noticed in the way that you treat your customers, your prospects, your colleagues, friends and family.

Just for a few days, take note of the people you meet and respect. Look at our Presidential candidates. Who would you want your children to emulate? Then maybe button your lip when you have the impulse to gossip, or tell a client about an owner, or anything that will reflect negatively on you.

After all, in real estate, YOU are your BRAND. Make it shine with good character.

As I talk to realtors each day, I begin to wonder about the “cul de sac” markets. Oh yes, we are all familiar with cul de sac streets. My sister, Margot lived on one in Long Island. It was a special place because it was safe for the kids…a dead end, and I always liked it….because it went in a circle, and you could still get out of it.  I think you can roll around and get out of this market too…and succeed. So, take a look at my article that appeared in Lore Magazine this month, and test some of the ideas. They work in the world of direct marketing, and I think they’ll work for you.   Then drop me an email and let me know how you are doing.

A few weeks ago, I went with two of my colleagues to look at some new office space in Ft. Lauderdale. After a few hours of getting “the lay of the land” as we are new to the area…we decided to look at homes to see the price points, and what we might be able to afford.As we were driving through a particularly pretty area, we noticed a sign for an Open House, and decided to stop and look, as there were two homes across the street from each other.

When we went into the small house, the agent who was there told us about it, and the fact that it was owned by a family who’d recently inherited it. Their father never updated it, and it was in pretty rough condition. The agent agreed on our assessment and that the price was high, because of all of the upgrades it needed.Then she showed us the upgraded home across the street. It was twice as expensive, was fully finished and on the water.

Along the way, we mentioned that our price range was approximately the cost of the “home in need of help”. As we left, and traded cards with her…I was wondering how I would feel if I’d heard her comments as the owner of the fixer upper home. I guess I wouldn’t want to list my property with her for a couple of reasons: 1) She didn’t tell the prospects about the wonderful opportunities for the home, like the huge backyard, the possibility of building out the kitchen, and the fact that it was a small home on a street with large ones. 2) She made the owner sound “cheap” by not fixing the place up.

Maybe they weren’t in a position to do so, or maybe they didn’t want to upgrade after their father passed away.It all brought to mind some people I’d met recently when I did a speech at the Luxury Portfolio Meeting at the Boca Raton Hotel. All those top realtors selling high end properties seemed like they were honest, straightforward and had good characters. I chatted with them about their families, careers.

No one put anyone down, even their competitors. It is like when you do RIGHT, good things happen.I’ve seen the same type of good chaaracter in the halls of top corporations when I’ve met with clients at JP Morgan Chase, American Express and others. The folks at the top (for the most part, of course) are decent human beings.

So, I’m thinking on my realestaterelish.com blog, and on activerain, that it might sound preachy, and I don’t care. Good character can be noticed in the way that you treat your customers, your prospects, your colleagues, friends and family.Just for a few days, take note of the people you meet and respect. Look at our Presidential candidates. Who would you want your children to emulate? Then maybe button your lip when you have the impulse to gossip, or tell a client about an owner, or anything that will reflect negatively on you. After all, in real estate, YOU are your BRAND. Make it shine with good character.

I was talking to my assistant the other day, on the way to a meeting and she told me about her friend who is doing great.

This friend of hers came to our seminar on Marketing for Realtors and I liked her immediately. She took notes, followed up with me, and was just new to real estate. Privately, I thought it might be a real struggle for her to make it in this Miami market, now when she didn’t have many connections, and was starting from square one.

So, I was surprised when Amanda told me that she had several closings this week. How is she doing it, I asked. Amanda answered that many of the buyers were referrals, and she was simply plugging away, and following up on every lead.

That is a great lesson for us all. Last Thursday night we had dinner with several people and one of them told me that she is an illustrator. Well, being in marketing, we are usually looking for good young talent…so I told her to email me some of her work. I asked her for her email address, but she had no card and no pen. Well, she didn’t get back to me, and I was disappointed.  And, she lost an opportunity.

So, maybe the magic of all of this business for Joanne is that she does meticulous follow-up with every prospect. Perhaps she’s set up a database of her former clients and keeps in touch with them, and asks if they know people looking for homes. Maybe she drops notes to owners whose homes she’d like to list, and then calls them afterwards.

It is not rocket science. It works…always. Maybe we should take a lesson from Joanne.