Whether you are marketing on-line or off-line, your potential customers are scared, scarred, and skeptical. Consumers, today, are quite resistant to sales messages.
In the mid 70's, a store could run a "10% off" sale and people would flock in. Then the big stores got into the discounting mentality. Now it is common to see "70% off" sales - especially in jewelry. The consumer is not too long a fool. These promotions do not produce the wanted response anymore.
Repeated, high powered sales events create a downward spiral. Eventually you cannot offer a big enough "deal" to get the public excited. The big three car makers played this game for three years. By January 2006 they found themselves in deep financial trouble. They had borrowed customers from the future by offering a bigger, better sale every couple months. It is a deep grave from which to crawl out.
Successful businesses, now and in the future, will be practicing what I call "soft marketing". To make sales today, marketing efforts have to come in under the consumer's sales-pitch radar.
Many of the big companies have known this for some time because of their on-going marketing analysis. You can take advantage of their research for free.
Look at Coca-Cola for example.
Coke was famous for their flashy, high-powered TV ads. Today you seldom see such ads. Have they cut back on their marketing expenditure? No. In fact, they are now spending more using soft marketing techniques. Most people do not even realize they are being advertised to. That is the beauty and power of soft marketing.
Here are two ways Coke is using a soft marketing approach to build profits and market share.
1. You may have seen Coke products displayed on TV shows and movies. "American Idol" is a popular TV show, with about 35 million viewers. The three judges are a big part of the success of the show. In front of each judge is a tall Coke cup. These characters, in effect, are recommending Coke to their viewers. Coke pays a lot of money for this and sells a lot of product based on this endorsement type advertising.
2. Coke brings new loyal customers in the "back door" using nostalgia products. Coke collectibles are a huge market today. And once caught up in the hobby of Coke collectibles, a person, and the whole family, become avid Coke drinkers. And Coke is being advertised to everyone who enters that home.
Coke's soft marketing techniques have made them almost bullet-proof in the soft drink market. They have built an image of being the most popular soda. Since it is human nature to want to be on the winning team, swarms of new customers are joining the group every day.
Here are three powerful soft marketing tactics you can start using today.
1. Become known as an expert. Credibility and trust are the two most important ways to succeed in any business. Write and submit articles and press releases. If you cannot write, hire someone to do it for you. There are several good writing service web sites on the internet. They are very cheap. Also, you should join a "Private Label Rights" content site. They provide already written articles that you can put your name on as your own. This is pure gold for on-line or off-line marketing.
If you have a business on Main Street, your local newspaper should be your best friend. Do whatever you can to develop a relationship with them. You may or may not be able to get your news articles and releases printed for free, but even buying the space will return big dividends.
2. Give away a free report on the topic of your product or service. Your local newspaper will probably give you some free editorial space in the beginning if the report is of interest and free to their subscribers. A real life example is a realtor in this area that offers a free report - "10 Ways To Get Top Dollar For Your Home". It reveals what is valuable, and what is not, when getting your home ready for sale. With this he becomes the expert in the consumer's mind and a person who cares about them.
You can get a book or report written for you for a few hundred dollars by the same on-line companies that ghost-write articles and press releases or from your "Private Label Rights" membership site. This realtor has been using the same report for over ten years now. It is estimated this report has generated about $1.6 million in profits.
3. Partner with related, non-competing businesses. One dry cleaning operation partnered with clothing stores in the community. The store, when selling a garment, would give a gift certificate to the customer. The gift certificate was good for a free first-time cleaning and pressing of that new garment.
The customer thought the store was paying for the dry cleaning. The fact is the dry cleaner was giving the service for free. The customer saw the store as being a "hero" and the store saw the dry cleaner as being a "hero". Both stores gained a load of new and repeat customers.
Use these soft marketing strategies or think up your own to fit your product or service. Have some brainstorming sessions with other energetic, savvy business people, like you. The resulting ideas will amaze you, and your traffic and profits will increase as if by magic.
Source: Free Articles
Marketing Articles
Why Use Blogs Instead Of Website
Why would you use Blogs instead of a web site for your online business?
You can definitely continue using a website in your online business.
Combining a website and a Blog however offer a number of superior advantages in terms of traffic generation, marketing and efficiency which a stand-alone website cannot do.
(a) Automatic push-button publishing.
Blogs are the easiest and cheapest way to have an online presence. For example, if you're using Blogger, your Blog is hosted free by Blogger. Blogs allow you to publish your website without the need to know about any technical or programming issues such as HTML, FrontPage, FTP and so on.
Blogs provide a simple editorial interface. All you need to do is write your content, and publish it just by clicking the 'publish' button in most cases, and you're done.
(b) Fosters relationship building, trust and 'stickyness'
Unlike websites, which are static, Blogs allows interaction between you and your readers. Blogs have a commenting function, and if turned on, it allows readers and visitors to post their comments, thoughts or opinions to a particular article you have written.
Constant interaction with your readers builds a feeling of community and 'stickyness' factor. You can then recommend products more easily to them, and they would be more ready and willing to accept your product or services.
(c) Increase search engine ranking
Almost every major search engine has a software program called a 'bot' that searches or 'spiders' websites online to find new content which it can then bring back to update the search engine databases.
Basically what this means is the more frequently you update your site, the more frequently the search engine 'bot' will visit your site, and this helps to boost your search engine rankings.
If you make regular postings to your Blog, you can be sure that search engines will visit your Blog again and again.
You can then place links of your other websites in your Blog and these will get indexed quickly by the search engines.
Of course you could also update your existing web site with new content, but you would have to go through a more technical process, that of using an HTML editor or FrontPage and uploading through FTP and so on.
(d) Free listing in Google, Yahoo and MSN
The traditional way of getting your website listed in these three major search engines: Google, Yahoo and MSN is slow and inefficient.
A listing in Yahoo directory alone would cost you $299.
However, with the inclusion of RSS feeds by these search engines, you can now gain a 'backdoor' listing which is legal and free. If you have an RSS feed, you can have it included in Yahoo and MSN and your website will be immediately listed in these major search engines within 24 hours!
My video e-course shows you the step-by-step process on how to do this.
(e) Syndication Power
The most powerful feature of a Blog is its syndication function. Blogs can be turned into RSS feeds, and most Blogging service providers have this built-in function.
It is just a matter of turning it on from within your account.
Once it's turned into an RSS feed, you can syndicate your Blog contents by:
? Submitting to the major RSS directories and search engines like Yahoo and MSN, gaining free exposure and free traffic
? Allow other website owners to publish your feed on their sites, again, getting free traffic you otherwise will not have
? Gain new readers, subscribers and potential clients by letting them subscribe to your RSS feed via a newsreader
Source: Free Articles
You can definitely continue using a website in your online business.
Combining a website and a Blog however offer a number of superior advantages in terms of traffic generation, marketing and efficiency which a stand-alone website cannot do.
(a) Automatic push-button publishing.
Blogs are the easiest and cheapest way to have an online presence. For example, if you're using Blogger, your Blog is hosted free by Blogger. Blogs allow you to publish your website without the need to know about any technical or programming issues such as HTML, FrontPage, FTP and so on.
Blogs provide a simple editorial interface. All you need to do is write your content, and publish it just by clicking the 'publish' button in most cases, and you're done.
(b) Fosters relationship building, trust and 'stickyness'
Unlike websites, which are static, Blogs allows interaction between you and your readers. Blogs have a commenting function, and if turned on, it allows readers and visitors to post their comments, thoughts or opinions to a particular article you have written.
Constant interaction with your readers builds a feeling of community and 'stickyness' factor. You can then recommend products more easily to them, and they would be more ready and willing to accept your product or services.
(c) Increase search engine ranking
Almost every major search engine has a software program called a 'bot' that searches or 'spiders' websites online to find new content which it can then bring back to update the search engine databases.
Basically what this means is the more frequently you update your site, the more frequently the search engine 'bot' will visit your site, and this helps to boost your search engine rankings.
If you make regular postings to your Blog, you can be sure that search engines will visit your Blog again and again.
You can then place links of your other websites in your Blog and these will get indexed quickly by the search engines.
Of course you could also update your existing web site with new content, but you would have to go through a more technical process, that of using an HTML editor or FrontPage and uploading through FTP and so on.
(d) Free listing in Google, Yahoo and MSN
The traditional way of getting your website listed in these three major search engines: Google, Yahoo and MSN is slow and inefficient.
A listing in Yahoo directory alone would cost you $299.
However, with the inclusion of RSS feeds by these search engines, you can now gain a 'backdoor' listing which is legal and free. If you have an RSS feed, you can have it included in Yahoo and MSN and your website will be immediately listed in these major search engines within 24 hours!
My video e-course shows you the step-by-step process on how to do this.
(e) Syndication Power
The most powerful feature of a Blog is its syndication function. Blogs can be turned into RSS feeds, and most Blogging service providers have this built-in function.
It is just a matter of turning it on from within your account.
Once it's turned into an RSS feed, you can syndicate your Blog contents by:
? Submitting to the major RSS directories and search engines like Yahoo and MSN, gaining free exposure and free traffic
? Allow other website owners to publish your feed on their sites, again, getting free traffic you otherwise will not have
? Gain new readers, subscribers and potential clients by letting them subscribe to your RSS feed via a newsreader
Source: Free Articles
5 Tips to Get More Results from Your Marketing Materials
The moment I decided to specialize as a direct response copywriter (which means you get a response directly from the marketing materials, there's no middle person involved, like a sales rep) I knew there would be one thing that would determine if I would be eating steak or eating mac and cheese.
And what's the one thing? The results I got for my clients.
Therefore, improving results became a pretty big focus of mine. You might even call it a passion. (Some people who aren't nearly as nice have called it in an obsession.)
Regardless, here are 5 tips that can help you improve the conversions of your marketing materials.
1. Know who you're talking to. If I hear anyone say "women are my potential customers" or "anyone with skin is my target market" (yes, that really was a direct quote from someone who sold Mary Kay or Arbonne or something like that) I will send my border collies (all 3 of them) to your house and force you to play fetch with them until your arm falls off. Seriously, the quickest way you can end up with the most dismal results imaginable is to try and talk to everyone. Come up with a specific customer -- the more specific the better -- and make sure your marketing materials speak directly to that customer.
2. Make sure you write benefits, not features. This one is probably the hardest one to "get" but also one of the most critical. People buy benefits, not features, so if you only talk about features you're just asking for people not to buy what you're selling.
So what is the difference between features and benefits? Features are a description of a product -- for instance, if we're talking about a diet pill, a feature would that the product is a pill. A benefit would be the solution the product provides -- in this case, losing weight.
As much as you possibly can, write about why someone should buy your product. No one buys diet pills because they like taking pills, they buy them to lose weight. Think of the solution your product or service provides and write about that.
3. Work on that headline. David Ogilvy, famous ad man and author of Confessions of an Advertising Man, has said that people make the decision to read your marketing materials based your headline.
Your headline should: a. speak to your potential customers, b. contain a benefit, c. be so compelling your target market is compelled to read further. That's a lot to ask for from basically a handful of words. So don't rush the process -- take as much time as you need to create the very best headline for your particular piece.
4. Don't forget the call to action. You've got to tell people what to do next. If you don't tell them what you want them to do, chances are they won't do anything.
Don't assume your potential customers know what you want them to do. They don't. They can't read your mind. Nor do they want to. They're busy people. They don't have the time or the energy to figure things out. Tell them what to do next, or don't be surprised when they don't do anything.
5. Use P.S.'s or captions. Postscripts (P.S.) are the second most read item in a sales piece. What's the third? Captions. (The copy under photos, diagrams or other illustrations.) Now that you know that, think of the ways you can use either or both of those items in your pieces. Maybe you put a special offer in there or you highlight a particularly compelling benefit. Or you tell them again what you want their next step to be. Whatever you do, don't waste that space.
If you even do just one of these tips, you should start seeing better results. Work on all five and you might be amazed at how much your results improve.
Source: Free Articles
And what's the one thing? The results I got for my clients.
Therefore, improving results became a pretty big focus of mine. You might even call it a passion. (Some people who aren't nearly as nice have called it in an obsession.)
Regardless, here are 5 tips that can help you improve the conversions of your marketing materials.
1. Know who you're talking to. If I hear anyone say "women are my potential customers" or "anyone with skin is my target market" (yes, that really was a direct quote from someone who sold Mary Kay or Arbonne or something like that) I will send my border collies (all 3 of them) to your house and force you to play fetch with them until your arm falls off. Seriously, the quickest way you can end up with the most dismal results imaginable is to try and talk to everyone. Come up with a specific customer -- the more specific the better -- and make sure your marketing materials speak directly to that customer.
2. Make sure you write benefits, not features. This one is probably the hardest one to "get" but also one of the most critical. People buy benefits, not features, so if you only talk about features you're just asking for people not to buy what you're selling.
So what is the difference between features and benefits? Features are a description of a product -- for instance, if we're talking about a diet pill, a feature would that the product is a pill. A benefit would be the solution the product provides -- in this case, losing weight.
As much as you possibly can, write about why someone should buy your product. No one buys diet pills because they like taking pills, they buy them to lose weight. Think of the solution your product or service provides and write about that.
3. Work on that headline. David Ogilvy, famous ad man and author of Confessions of an Advertising Man, has said that people make the decision to read your marketing materials based your headline.
Your headline should: a. speak to your potential customers, b. contain a benefit, c. be so compelling your target market is compelled to read further. That's a lot to ask for from basically a handful of words. So don't rush the process -- take as much time as you need to create the very best headline for your particular piece.
4. Don't forget the call to action. You've got to tell people what to do next. If you don't tell them what you want them to do, chances are they won't do anything.
Don't assume your potential customers know what you want them to do. They don't. They can't read your mind. Nor do they want to. They're busy people. They don't have the time or the energy to figure things out. Tell them what to do next, or don't be surprised when they don't do anything.
5. Use P.S.'s or captions. Postscripts (P.S.) are the second most read item in a sales piece. What's the third? Captions. (The copy under photos, diagrams or other illustrations.) Now that you know that, think of the ways you can use either or both of those items in your pieces. Maybe you put a special offer in there or you highlight a particularly compelling benefit. Or you tell them again what you want their next step to be. Whatever you do, don't waste that space.
If you even do just one of these tips, you should start seeing better results. Work on all five and you might be amazed at how much your results improve.
Source: Free Articles
Do you know the value of each visitor?
The success of any store that sells products or services relies heavily on traffic. Whether walk-in, telephone, or web site visitors, each person that in some way contacts you has a value to your business. Yes, even the problem people, the random visitors, and the tag-along husbands have a value.
Being aware of how much each person is worth in dollars is extremely important. This will help you maximize your income while minimizing your marketing expenses.
Most business owners do not take the time to determine the value of each visitor. Why? Because business owners may be experts in furniture, hardware, plumbing, or teeth, but they hate the paperwork side of business ownership.
Let us take a look at a quick and easy way to assign a dollar value to each person who calls or visits your business. And how it can increase your income this year, as it has for so many others.
Very simply, take the total sales each week. Divide it by the number of people that visited and called you. This assigned value will become more accurate and more important each week. You add this week's visitors to all previous visitors, and this week's sales to all previous sales.
If you have a walk-in business, such as a furniture store, put a traffic counter on the door. If your door is used for both entry and exit, divide results by two to avoid counting the same people twice.
Keep track of the phone calls too. Have a pad by the phone to record the name and phone number of each caller. This is just good business sense. You, no doubt, are doing this already.
Now, for example, let us say that for the month of May you had 3000 walk-ins and 500 phone calls. Add these together for a total of 3500 visitors. Your sales for the month was $33,000. Divide $33,000 by 3500. You have now established that each visitor is worth $9.43 in gross sales.
Now you have an accurate way to measure your in-store marketing strategies. You can quickly see the results in the rise or fall of the "per person" value in sales. These tactics might include how you arrange your merchandise. Also, suggesting additional items that will complement the visitor's purchase. Also, setting up specific displays with colorful signs or banners tied in with special or seasonal themes.
Be creative. Scout out your competition and similar stores in other towns. Here are a couple proven strategies that are very effective.
Hamburger stores have found that offering a "super-size" package dramatically increases the per person value. They have found that it is much easier to get additional money out of people who are already committed to spending money with you than to sell a new customer.
One grocery store, when setting up an Italian dinner display, will include all the accessories in the display. Wine from the liquor department, French bread from their bakery, and Parmesan cheese from the dairy department. The customers love it and it dramatically increases sales.
Ok - you have optimized your in-store marketing. Now you can look at buying more traffic with external marketing - such as media advertising.
But, before you spend a penny, you need to take the "per person" value one step further. You need to establish the per person gross profit.
The average percentage of profit needed to stay alive may vary from 200% for a jewelry store to 2% for a grocery store. Most stores and service businesses average around a 40% margin. We will use 40% for this scenario.
Let us say you have increased the per person value to $14.90 gross sales by fine-tuning your in-store marketing. Your margin of profit is 40%, so each person is worth $5.96 in gross profit. Now you know for sure you cannot spend more than $5.96 per person to profitably bring them into your store.
For example, you spend $1000 on a TV advertising campaign. It increases traffic by 200 people. You have spent $5.00 per visitor. The advertising paid for itself, but barely shows a profit. Your next marketing effort may be a $1000 newspaper program. It brings in additional 300 visitors. You paid only $3.33 per visitor. This would be quite profitable. Obviously, this is one marketing plan that you will want to repeat over and over again.
Additionally, knowing the value of each person in gross profit will help you eliminate expensive junk marketing. Junk marketing includes advertising on phone book covers, posters, maps, and the like. In fact, yellow pages are quickly becoming a poor investment.
For example, a salesperson asks you to put an ad on a fishing contest poster. Quite likely, it may only bring in one or two visitors, if any. You wisely determine that the most you can spend on this would then be about $12. Anything more should be considered a donation, not a marketing investment.
Numbers not your cup of tea? Follow the example of Henry Ford. Do only what you do best, and wisely hire out the rest. Train and empower a family member or fellow employee to become essentially involved in the success of your business. They can take care of tracking the numbers and you can do the brain work.
Establishing a value for each visitor is simple. It is essential. It is powerful. It puts you in total control, no matter what the economic cycles throw your way. It gives you a way to measure the value in dollars of every new marketing idea you implement.
Source: Free Articles
Being aware of how much each person is worth in dollars is extremely important. This will help you maximize your income while minimizing your marketing expenses.
Most business owners do not take the time to determine the value of each visitor. Why? Because business owners may be experts in furniture, hardware, plumbing, or teeth, but they hate the paperwork side of business ownership.
Let us take a look at a quick and easy way to assign a dollar value to each person who calls or visits your business. And how it can increase your income this year, as it has for so many others.
Very simply, take the total sales each week. Divide it by the number of people that visited and called you. This assigned value will become more accurate and more important each week. You add this week's visitors to all previous visitors, and this week's sales to all previous sales.
If you have a walk-in business, such as a furniture store, put a traffic counter on the door. If your door is used for both entry and exit, divide results by two to avoid counting the same people twice.
Keep track of the phone calls too. Have a pad by the phone to record the name and phone number of each caller. This is just good business sense. You, no doubt, are doing this already.
Now, for example, let us say that for the month of May you had 3000 walk-ins and 500 phone calls. Add these together for a total of 3500 visitors. Your sales for the month was $33,000. Divide $33,000 by 3500. You have now established that each visitor is worth $9.43 in gross sales.
Now you have an accurate way to measure your in-store marketing strategies. You can quickly see the results in the rise or fall of the "per person" value in sales. These tactics might include how you arrange your merchandise. Also, suggesting additional items that will complement the visitor's purchase. Also, setting up specific displays with colorful signs or banners tied in with special or seasonal themes.
Be creative. Scout out your competition and similar stores in other towns. Here are a couple proven strategies that are very effective.
Hamburger stores have found that offering a "super-size" package dramatically increases the per person value. They have found that it is much easier to get additional money out of people who are already committed to spending money with you than to sell a new customer.
One grocery store, when setting up an Italian dinner display, will include all the accessories in the display. Wine from the liquor department, French bread from their bakery, and Parmesan cheese from the dairy department. The customers love it and it dramatically increases sales.
Ok - you have optimized your in-store marketing. Now you can look at buying more traffic with external marketing - such as media advertising.
But, before you spend a penny, you need to take the "per person" value one step further. You need to establish the per person gross profit.
The average percentage of profit needed to stay alive may vary from 200% for a jewelry store to 2% for a grocery store. Most stores and service businesses average around a 40% margin. We will use 40% for this scenario.
Let us say you have increased the per person value to $14.90 gross sales by fine-tuning your in-store marketing. Your margin of profit is 40%, so each person is worth $5.96 in gross profit. Now you know for sure you cannot spend more than $5.96 per person to profitably bring them into your store.
For example, you spend $1000 on a TV advertising campaign. It increases traffic by 200 people. You have spent $5.00 per visitor. The advertising paid for itself, but barely shows a profit. Your next marketing effort may be a $1000 newspaper program. It brings in additional 300 visitors. You paid only $3.33 per visitor. This would be quite profitable. Obviously, this is one marketing plan that you will want to repeat over and over again.
Additionally, knowing the value of each person in gross profit will help you eliminate expensive junk marketing. Junk marketing includes advertising on phone book covers, posters, maps, and the like. In fact, yellow pages are quickly becoming a poor investment.
For example, a salesperson asks you to put an ad on a fishing contest poster. Quite likely, it may only bring in one or two visitors, if any. You wisely determine that the most you can spend on this would then be about $12. Anything more should be considered a donation, not a marketing investment.
Numbers not your cup of tea? Follow the example of Henry Ford. Do only what you do best, and wisely hire out the rest. Train and empower a family member or fellow employee to become essentially involved in the success of your business. They can take care of tracking the numbers and you can do the brain work.
Establishing a value for each visitor is simple. It is essential. It is powerful. It puts you in total control, no matter what the economic cycles throw your way. It gives you a way to measure the value in dollars of every new marketing idea you implement.
Source: Free Articles
Marketing to Real Estate Agents and Establishing Loyalty
All the mortgage marketing experts say the same thing - establish a relationship with a real estate agent and watch the business roll in. But these experts miss an important part of the message, simply sitting back and watching won't keep the agents loyal to you.
What can you do to establish loyalty? You can take an accounting of your relationship. Basically, you need to conduct a performance appraisal - of your service.
Just because an agent is sending you business doesn't mean that you don't have to work to maintain the relationship. A strong business relationship begins with delivering quality service. You also have to test the waters to keep moving forward.
It's not always easy to get feedback from a client. But the feedback is invaluable to your business - it's far better to have an accurate understanding than be caught by surprise, especially if the surprise is the end of your business interaction.
Audit Your Relationship--
One way to get an accurate assessment is to call your client and schedule a meeting to discuss your performance. This will make a great impression with the agent and give you a chance to solicit their feedback - and ultimately, it can lead to client loyalty.
An effective tool for evaluating performance is to ask for a SWOT evaluation:
? Strengths - What problems have you solved? Which solutions were used to solve the problems? What were the results?
? Weakness - Are you earning 100% of the agent's transactions? If not, why? What do you need to do to improve your service (your relationship)?
? Opportunities - What is the realtor's goals for the next 90 days? What can you do to help them achieve goals? What resources are needed to meet goals?
? Threats - What other lenders is the agent using? What does he or she like about that lender? Does he or she plan on doing more business with them?
Keep Your Business Top of Mind--
Take a page out of the title companies play book - they give real estate agents all kinds of free items (posters, magnets, desk pads, cartoons, coffee cups). These items end up decorating the agent's cubicle.
You can keep your name in front of the agent by using the same strategy. And, you can intimidate your competition at the same time. Give gifts and knick-knacks, but personalize them for your client. A coffee mug with a personalized tag attached thanking the client for the business or being specific about an especially productive deal.
Praise Your Partner--
Write letters of recommendation praising the agent's diligence and professionalism. They need the same kind of positive feedback to show prospective clients. Your recognition doesn't have to be elaborate-a simple hand-written card shows sincerity and appreciation
Make it a regular practice to touch base with your clients and solicit their feedback and give your feedback on their performance. You'll build a relationship that lasts for years to come.
Source: Free Articles
What can you do to establish loyalty? You can take an accounting of your relationship. Basically, you need to conduct a performance appraisal - of your service.
Just because an agent is sending you business doesn't mean that you don't have to work to maintain the relationship. A strong business relationship begins with delivering quality service. You also have to test the waters to keep moving forward.
It's not always easy to get feedback from a client. But the feedback is invaluable to your business - it's far better to have an accurate understanding than be caught by surprise, especially if the surprise is the end of your business interaction.
Audit Your Relationship--
One way to get an accurate assessment is to call your client and schedule a meeting to discuss your performance. This will make a great impression with the agent and give you a chance to solicit their feedback - and ultimately, it can lead to client loyalty.
An effective tool for evaluating performance is to ask for a SWOT evaluation:
? Strengths - What problems have you solved? Which solutions were used to solve the problems? What were the results?
? Weakness - Are you earning 100% of the agent's transactions? If not, why? What do you need to do to improve your service (your relationship)?
? Opportunities - What is the realtor's goals for the next 90 days? What can you do to help them achieve goals? What resources are needed to meet goals?
? Threats - What other lenders is the agent using? What does he or she like about that lender? Does he or she plan on doing more business with them?
Keep Your Business Top of Mind--
Take a page out of the title companies play book - they give real estate agents all kinds of free items (posters, magnets, desk pads, cartoons, coffee cups). These items end up decorating the agent's cubicle.
You can keep your name in front of the agent by using the same strategy. And, you can intimidate your competition at the same time. Give gifts and knick-knacks, but personalize them for your client. A coffee mug with a personalized tag attached thanking the client for the business or being specific about an especially productive deal.
Praise Your Partner--
Write letters of recommendation praising the agent's diligence and professionalism. They need the same kind of positive feedback to show prospective clients. Your recognition doesn't have to be elaborate-a simple hand-written card shows sincerity and appreciation
Make it a regular practice to touch base with your clients and solicit their feedback and give your feedback on their performance. You'll build a relationship that lasts for years to come.
Source: Free Articles
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