Where Do We Go From Here?

    Well here we are in the midst of craziness. The Real Estate Market is in the tank for now. The mortgage industry is in trouble and tightening up. The stock market makes no sense. Elections are coming closer and as of yet there doesn’t seem to be a candidate that anyone can put their full confidence in. With all that said however, you still have a business that you are trying to run and still be successful. So now everybody and their uncle are coming out with things to spend money on that “guarantee to make you money”. I have even recently read some real estate marketing people espousing that the internet is “dead”, and it’s time to “get back to basics”. Well, here’s my answer to that. First, the internet is NOT dead, and it’s not going to die, and if you don’t have a website that hasn’t or isn’t producing income or is at very least gaining potential clients for the future, you are way behind. Furthermore, if your website is not customized to reach specified target markets you are “dead in the water”. Secondly, I hope you don’t have to “get back to the basics”, because you should be doing the basic things on a regular basis. Think about this, a star athlete doesn’t “get back to the basics” because they do the basics everyday as part of their daily routines. I hope you are a star.

    Alright then so with all this doom and gloom that we all are facing, where do we go from here? Well quite honestly that is up to you. So rather than giving you marketing tips that may or may not work it’s time for me to put on my psychology hat and start with some mental health that hopefully you can integrate into your business, your team, and for yourself that can make a difference.

    1. Realize the Only Thing YOU can CHOOSE to Control Immediately is your Attitude

      It really does take a realization that “attitude” is the one thing you have power over to control. I recall in one of my group counseling courses of an example that goes something like this: If you kick me in the shin, I actually have many different ways I can react to that. It is all within my power. I can get mad at you and hit you back, I can fall down and cry, I can remain silent, I could even laugh at you. It really is up to me to decide how I am going to react to whatever you choose to do to me. We are in no different of a situation. YOU CAN CHOOSE how you are going to react to the world around you. You don’t have to like it, but you can still CHOSE to control your attitude on a moment by moment basis.

    2. Honesty is Still the Best Policy

      I notice in down markets that people panic. They start doing things they never dreamed they would do. They become afraid of losing clients so rather than telling them the truth, they inflate the possibility. I am all for thinking and believing positively, but at the same time one must be realistic. I can believe all I want that I will win The Masters Golf Tournament, but truthfully it will never happen. Be honest with yourself and with your clients you will save your reputation, save your integrity, and you will build an instant reputation of being the one thing people can trust in a non-trusting environment.

    3. Aim to Serve Not to Please

      There is really a difference here. Don’t try to please people, you will never please everyone and in most cases “people pleasing” is phony. However, if you aim to serve your current and past clients they will respect you for it. Pleasing people implies that you give people something that they want so that they don’t bother you any more or you can stay on their good side. When you truly serve people it is because you go much deeper and care about their well being. You are truly interested in what people really need and you provide it to them. The idea here is to go beyond the ordinary. In fact, when it comes to service most people are ordinary, your goal for you and your business is to become extra-ordinary. I have yet to hear anyone complain that they received too much service.

    4. While You have Time Re-evaluate What You Are and What You Want to Become

      Now is the time to take a closer look at yourself and your business. I know you have a good idea of what you think you are, but maybe it’s time for you to have honest people (preferably not your friends, they have a tendency to lie to you) tell you how they see your business. Tell them to be brutally honest. What are those things you really want to become, write them down and start today to change them.

    5. Identify Your Passions, and Your Dreads, and put some Fun Back into Your Business

      I know this sounds a bit weird, but what are you passionate about? I am not talking about your kids or your family. I am talking about what do you love to do, and adapt that to your business. At the same time identify what you “dread” about this business and eliminate it. You will never do it anyway.

      Let me give you an example:

      I have a friend and client that is a real estate agent in Las Vegas. She has really been struggling to enjoy the business, as you can well imagine things are a bit tough. She is doing a great job of maintaining a positive outlook; however, she isn’t enjoying the business. Furthermore, we thought she would start doing an expired program; however, she couldn’t get started. Why? She “dreaded” talking to people on the phone. Not that she wasn’t good with people on the telephone, she just dreaded the idea of talking to people who have homes that expired. Hence, she never got off the ground with it. We needed to do two things. 1. Improve her business, and 2. Get her back to a place where she enjoyed the real estate business. Rather than trying to convince her of doing it, like most people would try to do, I asked her what she was really passionate about doing, not related to real estate. This of course caught her off guard, but she told me cooking, entertaining, and being creative. Hmm. Quite a dilemma isn’t it? She wants to grow her business, yet she can’t bring herself to do the expired listings program (which may help her business) because she dreads it. Understand that “dread” is different than “I don’t like it”. When you “don’t like” to do something you can overcome it because you know you might not like it but you can force yourself through it, because it might be good for you (I like to think of it as eating my vegetables). However, when you “dread” something you will not do it, as a matter of fact you will even make “passive aggressive” actions to not do it. When it comes to something you “dread” you may even become depressed just thinking about it. Okay so what did we do? I mean it’s not like she can open of a real estate agent restaurant in her home (although it is kind of a neat idea). We had to break it down into smaller elements and really get at the heart of the matter. I asked her, “What was it about cooking and entertaining that she really enjoyed”? She told me that some of things she enjoyed about cooking and entertaining was that preparing the food was relaxing, there was a creative element to it, and that she enjoyed the immediate feedback people would give her when they tasted her cooking. Ah ha! We now had a plan of action. What we decided to do is work with her web designer and create a few pages on her site dedicated to frustrated sellers, with the idea of getting expired listing appointments through her website. She is writing the content aimed at expired sellers who can’t sell and giving them a place to “vent”. No promises that she will be the one to sell their house, just a place where they can come and vent about their frustrations, fill out a form if they want to try something different, or ask for more information. In the mean time she is creating a unique marketing piece that is not a square or rectangle, that will be sent out encouraging them to come to that particular area of the website. What are the results? Well the numbers aren’t in yet, but she is so very excited about her business again, and she is creating and looking for immediate feedback from people who have had bad experiences, so that maybe she can help provide a good experience. She is really cooking and entertaining in a creative way in her business. She is back to having fun in her business, and when you enjoy what you are doing, that radiates to others you come in contact with.

      I hope you will do the same.

      Always trying to find a prescription for you w-health,

      Dr. Jay

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