Branding – Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS)

January 4, 2012 2 Comments

Are you keeping your promises?

As many of my business associates know, I love to watch, read and follow Seth Godin.  I think the guy is brilliant!  He has a unique way of taking really complicated issues and breaking them down into something that’s simple while putting his own unique, humorous twist on them.  Here is another classic entitled “The Simple First Rule of Branding Anything (Even Yourself).”

Not a secret, often overlooked:  “Keep your promises.”

If you say you’ll show up every day at 8:00 AM, do so.  Every day.

If you say your service is excellent, make it so.

If circumstances or priorities change, well then, invest to change them back.  Or tell the truth, and mean it.

If traffic might be bad, plan for it.

Want a bigger brand?  Make bigger promises.  And keep them.

I think too many times companies, teams, schools, businesses and real estate agents try to create an image or brand by trying to spend big money on advertising and cute gimmicks that they hope will get them noticed.  I don’t know about you, but what gets my attention and causes me to return to do business with someone is when I’ve had a good experience in the past and know what to expect from them in the future.  That only occurs by delivering day in and day out on your promises.
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Source:  Godin, Seth. “The Simple First Rule of Branding and Marketing Anything (even Yourself).” Web log post. Seth’s Blog. 17 Dec. 2011. Web. <http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/12/the-simple-first-rule-of-branding-and-marketing-anything-even-yourself.html>.

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Seven Habits of Highly Successful Real Estate Agents

December 31, 2011 Leave a comment

In 1989, Stephen Covey wrote a book that has since sold over 15 million copies worldwide called Seven Habits of Highly Successful People.  The book should be required reading for anyone thinking about getting into business for themselves.

Jay Thompson, a respected real estate broker and blogger in Arizona, recently wrote a post entitled ‘Seven Habits of Highly Successful Real Estate Agents.’  Good stuff – - – here are his seven habits with my accompanying comments:

Habit #1 – Understand the Real Estate Contract and Supporting Documents.  Real estate agents in our state can use standard contracts supplied by the Pennsylvania Association of REALTORS® that have been written and reviewed by the legal profession.  In other words, the verbiage is used over and over again in virtually all transactions.  There is no excuse for not knowing what is contained within these documents.  Read them.

Habit #2 – Patience.  Our business is becoming more and more complex by the minute.  We deal with other agents, title companies, mortgage reps, appraisers, inspectors and our clients for sometimes months in the same transaction.  The valuable real estate agent knows how to navigate the choppy waters to get the transaction to the settlement table.

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Instill Some Zappos in Your Business

October 23, 2011 Leave a comment

Zappos: Delivering "Wow!"

Want to invigorate (or reinvigorate) your business?  Why not take a cue from Zappos.com who sells over $1 Billion worth of merchandise every year.  They are  known as a company that gives great customer service that just happens to sell shoes.

Here’s a list of Zappos’ top 10 ways to instill superior customer service from the book Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose by Tony Hsieh.  (NOTE: my comments are in BLUE)

 1. Make customer service a priority for the whole company.  Every program and service offered should revolve around the customer – not you.

2. Make “wow” a verb that is part of your company’s everyday vocabulary.  Strive to hear your clients say “Wow!”

3. Empower and trust your customer service reps.  The more you empower others, the more time you will have to deliver.

4. Realize that it’s okay to fire customers who are insatiable or abuse your employees.  Stop trying to work with anyone who sucks the life out of your enthusiasm.

5. Don’t measure call times, don’t force employees to upsell and don’t use scripts.  If you help clients to attain their goals – meeting your goals will follow naturally.

6. Don’t hide your 1-800 number.  How easy are you to find?

7. View each call as an investment in building a customer service brand.  Practice SMILING when you pick up the phone.

8. Have the entire company celebrate great service.  Collect client references and share them with others (HINT: you’ll need to ask for them).

9. Find and hire people who are already passionate about customer service.  Only work with vendors who share your passion for service – they are a reflection of you.

10. Give great service to everyone: customers, employees and vendors.  You never know who might be looking for a home in the future.

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Five Star Customer Experience

September 28, 2011 Leave a comment

I love the simplicity of this short clip on the ‘New Consumer.’  Here’s to you delivering a FIVE STAR customer experience!!!

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Unreasonable

May 1, 2011 Leave a comment

I love reading Seth Godin’s work.  I think what he has to say is extremely relevant to anyone doing business today.  If you haven’t read anything of his, get started by going to his blog.  After that, do a search on YouTube and I guarantee you that you’ll spend close to an hour listening to him.  Here is a recent post from his blog that I found especially insightful.

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It’s unreasonable to get out of bed on a snow day, when school has been cancelled, and turn the downtime into six hours of work on an extra credit physics lab.

It’s unreasonable to launch a technology product that jumps the development curve by nine months, bringing the next generation out much earlier than more reasonable competitors.

It’s unreasonable for a trucking company to answer the phone on the first ring.

It’s unreasonable to start a new company without the reassurance venture money can bring.

It’s unreasonable to expect a doctor’s office to have a pleasant and helpful front desk staff.

It’s unreasonable to walk away from a good gig in today’s economy, even if you want to do something brave and original.

It’s unreasonable for teachers to expect that we can enable disadvantaged inner city kids to do well in high school.

It’s unreasonable to treat your colleagues and competitors with respect given the pressure you’re under.

It’s unreasonable to expect that anyone but a great woman, someone with both drive and advantages, could do anything important in a world where the deck is stacked against ordinary folks.

It’s unreasonable to devote years of your life making a product that most people will never appreciate.

Fortunately, the world is filled with unreasonable people. Unfortunately, you need to compete with them. 

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SOURCE: Godin, Seth. “Unreasonable.” Seth Godin’s Blog. 02 Feb. 2011. Web. 03 Feb. 2011. <http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/02/unreasonable.html>.

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The Difference is Smaller Than You Think

May 2, 2010 1 Comment

As many of my friends and colleagues know, I like to run.  It’s a passion I picked up when I turned 40 a couple of years ago (OK – maybe many years ago).  It’s a relatively simple, inexpensive pastime.  Just lace up a pair a running shoes and no matter where you are in the world, you can run.  You don’t need special gear, perfect weather or a well-manicured playing field.  All it takes is a bit of desire and the will to just get out there and do it.

Anyone who has ever run semi-seriously knows that the four-minute mile barrier was broken by Sir Roger Bannister.  This historic event took place on May 6, 1954 during a meet between British AAA and Oxford University in England.  The race was watched by about 3,000 spectators and broadcast live by BBC Radio.  The following announcement was made immediately after the race to those in attendance by the stadium announcer:

“Ladies and gentlemen, here is the result of event 9, the one mile; 1st, No. 41, R. G. Bannister, Amateur Athletic Association and formerly of Exeter and Merton Colleges, Oxford, with a time which is a new meeting and track record, and which – subject to ratification – will be a new English Native, British National, All-Commers, European, British Empire ad World Record. The time was 3 . .”

The roar of the crowd drowned out the rest of the announcement.  Bannister’s time was 3 min 59.4 sec.

Up to that point, the four-minute mile was thought to have been an impossible feat.  Scientists, physiologists, coaches and runners had literally placed a self-imposed, mental barrier on anyone thinking they could challenge the mark.  But with Bannister’s historic feat, he opened up the flood gates.  Within one year of the record-breaking time, an unprecedented thirty-seven runners shattered the four-minute mark.  Did these runners suddenly all get better at the same time?  My guess is ‘No.’  The only thing that changed was a little voice in the back of their head that was silenced that day.  The voice that said the four-minute mile was impossible.

How often do we listen to that little voice in the back of our heads that tells us something can’t be done?  Sometimes the difference between failure and success is just that little bit of extra ‘Umph!’ that lies within each of us.  Here’s a short video that will make you think:

Related posts:
  Bannister Breaks Four-Minute Mile - BBC
  How to Run Faster – About.com

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The Keys to Success

November 8, 2009 Leave a comment

Every once in awhile I see, hear or read something from outside of the real estate industry that just strikes a chord with me.  This video was one of them.  Here’s a guy who took a product as simple as soda and turned it into a success for himself.  The twelve minutes that you spend watching this will be worth it’s weight in gold down the line.  Enjoy!

  So what are the lessons to be learned here.  If you want to be a Success, follow these rules:

  1. Be passionate about your job or chosen field of endeavor.  Whether you’re negotiating for your client, chopping wood or parenting, do it with vim and vigor.
  2. Become educated about your product or service.  You should be a sponge that sucks up knowledge so that you become known as the “go to” guy or gal in your field.
  3. Be honest in everything you do.  Continually ask yourself the question when faced with tough decisions, “What’s the right thing to do?”
  4. Provide exceptional customer service.  Anyone can sell you a widget.  But not everyone sells you the widget, delivers it to your home, shows you how it works and follows up to make sure that you’re happy.  Go the extra mile.  It pays off.
  5. Find your niche.  Stop trying to be the best at everything.  In the end, you’ll be good at nothing.

Now that you’ve read this post, go have a cold, banana nut soda.  You deserve it!

Related articles of interest:
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Oops! I Made a Mistake

October 28, 2009 Leave a comment

When it comes to selling your house, “oops” won’t cut it.  Recently, I read an article on HGTV’s FrontDoor.com about the most common mistakes when trying to sell a home.  I’m not sure what kind of research they did, if any, but I thought the list was worth sharing.

1.  Waiting Until Spring to Sell – For some reason, people have it in their heads that Spring is the best time to put their home on the market.  Here are the numbers for pending homes sales in Lancaster County as compiled from the Keystone MLS over the last six months:  April – 481, May – 469, June – 485, July – 461, August – 483, September – 464.  Not a lot of difference here - is there?  Here is a short, un-scientific list of reasons why people move: getting married, getting divorced, job transfer, new addition to the family, death.  You will notice that none of these happen exclusively in the Spring.

2.  Not Reading the Paperwork - When it comes to the largest amount of money that most people will spend on any one thing in their lives, don’t let anybody tell you that “you don’t have to read it because it’s a standard real estate form.”  Sure there’s a lot of paperwork to read and comprehend but don’t you think the time invested is worth it?  Go over the fine print of the agreement with your real estate agent or attorney before signing anything to make sure you understand your responsibilities

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