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WELCOME!
List Building for Commercial Real Estate
Professionals
Webinar Etiquette
• Don’t put us on hold – Often times there is music or other interruptions that interfere with the quality of the webinar
• If you must talk with someone else near you please put us on mute
• Feel free to ask questions but try not to take us too far off the subject or monopolize the conversation
• But…feel free to add to the conversation, that’s how we learn!
A Few Bookkeeping Issues
• This webinar class will be recorded and made available for replay within 3-7 days – a link will be emailed to you
• Don’t get hung up on typo’s – I make them!• If you have any questions you’d like answered
and we didn’t get to them – email me – [email protected], put “List Building Question” in the subject line and it will get answered in an email.
Introduction
• Your database (list) is your gold – the way you get commissions into your bank account! The one piece of your business that has the most value.
• Your list needs to be cared for on a daily basis and receive the same amount of attention as your favorite client.
• And yet building a quality database (referred to as “list building”) is often one of the most neglected pieces of your business. Hmm…
There is No Magic Wand
• Every one of you will gain something from this call. • No one is going to wave a magic wand and deliver
a list of ready-made clients to you. You have to put some thought into this.
• I think you actually haven’t thought before about some of the things I may go through today.
• Remember, you don’t just want to build your list. You’re building your business, and it all goes together.
The Foundation for List Growth
• We will begin with the foundation for list growth. • It’s kind of like building a skyscraper. You’re going
to be very limited as to how much you can grow the list if you don’t have the right foundation.
• Some of you already have a decent database – so for you – listen for how you can take your database to the next level and build a relationship with it.
Foundation (cont.)
• Now ask yourself - what is your relationship with your list? You’ve probably seen this out there. A handful of commercial real estate professionals are great at list building but that doesn’t necessarily mean they have a relationship with their list.
• I’ll give you a big secret. The relationship is what develops the sales. Highlight this and read it often!
• The relationship is what we want for long-term sales. It is the know, like and trust factor. When people get to know, like and trust you, they become evangelists for you, your service. That’s what we want long term.
Step 1 - Get the List Lowdown.
• Your list is going to be one of the most important assets you have in your business. When a company goes to sell products, services or their actual company in the end, often the most valuable asset they will have is their customer list.
• The money truly is in the list. It will become the most valuable asset of your business whether you are a one-person commercial real estate shop or are running a company with 30 employees. The asset is in having a dedicated, devoted audience to what you’re offering
Step 1 – Cont.
• The second reason why you want to pay attention is that marketing studies show it usually takes being exposed to a message or business seven to 10 times before a prospect feels comfortable enough to buy.
• We think sending out one email or postcard is going to make a difference or that a few tweets on Twitter is going bring new clients knocking at your door.
Step 1 – Cont.
• You have to remember that people need to be exposed to your message many times. Having a list to do that ensures that will happen. It also makes it automatic. When someone joins your list, they’re getting your newsletter; interesting articles you recently read or market updates every week, or even more than once a week.
• You can also use your list to show your prospects and clients the benefits of what you have to offer over and over. When you’re publishing a newsletter, you have the chance to educate them in the process.
Step 1 – Cont.• Let’s say your main business is tenant rep (office). You help mid-
sized business in the Chicago suburbs with their site selection. You want to be featuring content that shows that you know your stuff. Write quick tips or articles, or answer questions in your newsletter. Show the benefits of what you provide.
• It’s about developing quality relationships with those in your target market and creating this loyal group of followers who are interested in your services. Those are the reasons why a list is valuable.
• It has also become increasingly important, with the great recession, as they are calling it, that you create your own economic climate. Having a list helps you do that. You always have this group of a dedicated audience to sell to.
Step 1 – Cont.
• Building your list ongoing is important because you need to increase your reach.
• Many people have hit a wall with their business. They were letting their list stagnate.
• Having that list, of course, gives you direct access to those who are most likely to use your services.
• Remember, it doesn’t matter how big your list is. A big list is great, but it’s most important that your list consists of targeted prospects that are interested in what you have to offer.
Step 2 – Plan For Growth
• Your list-building efforts should be incorporated into your business mission or your business plan.
• First, what is the mission of your business? What is your business about and whom do you serve? Who is important?
• Your mission statement provides focus for your business and your list- building efforts
Step 2 – Cont.
• The next thing you want is your unique selling proposition. This is what makes you different from all the other companies in your market.
• When you’re looking at your list-building efforts, they should be geared to show your market that you can help them solve this problem by addressing the benefits your customers will receive from your product or service.
• Then look at what you are actually selling. What do you actually include in your commercial real estate offering? What is it about?
Step 2 Cont.
• When you have a target market claimed and you do strategic, ongoing list building to gather that target market, an audience that you can market to over and over via your list.
• Define your ideal customer or client, because these are the prospects you’re going to go after to build your list.
• You’re going to think of everything you can about this target market, like their businesses age, gender, size, location, and personal traits or qualities, and, most importantly, their problems and challenges in their business or life.
Step 2 Cont.• What are the problems or challenges they are facing? How does your
service help them? This is where we’re making that connection. • Let’s say your target market is mid-sized professional service businesses
in suburban Chicago. When you start listing everything you know about them, even trade journals they read, websites they visit or blogs they frequent online, you’re suddenly going to realize that your marketing has gotten easier.
• You’re going to know where to go after them. You know where the fish are. Sometimes when you nail this down, it’s like fishing in a barrel, as they say. It’s a very important exercise.
• When you are creating your list-building communications from this point, you now have your mission statement, your USP and your target market. All of these come together, and then suddenly, you realize where you need to go find these people.
Step 2 Cont.• For example, one of the things I want you to think about with your
target market is maybe they are already members of a specific type of organization or association. That’s the number-one place I have many clients look when I’m coaching them.
• Look where these people already are. You want to find where they are in large numbers. This relates directly to what we’re going to talk about a little bit later on this call about joint ventures as well. Just start figuring out where these people are. Where are they hanging out? What are they reading? Where are they online? Where are they offline?
• This is all going to come together in what we call the message-to-market match. You need your good message. That’s your USP. You need your good market. That’s your target market. You need to match those together. This is the foundation for everything you’re going to do for list building.
Step 3 – Get Started!• Step 3 is to get started. Once you’ve done your homework, we want to lay out
how people are going to get on your list. Let’s talk about lists for a minute. • To some of you, some of this may be very obvious. We have mix of people on the
phone in terms of where they are with their lists. Some of you are getting started after ignoring your list for a bit. I want to make sure we’re covering all the basics before we move on to the more advanced strategies on the next in the call.
• When I’m saying “a list,” I don’t just mean people you come across. This is a funny example. A speaker made this joke. He said, “If you’d like a list of a million people right now, I can give that to you.” People just started jumping out of their seat and saying, “Where is it?” He said, “It’s called a phone book and it’s probably on top of your refrigerator.”
• It’s a great example of a list that would be useless for many of us. It’s not our target market. Imagine calling all of those people and telling them you’d like to help them lease a new space in suburban Chicago – period.
• Did you know it takes ten times more work and/or expense to sell to a new customer as it does to a current or past customer? One of the best things you can do if you have not been marketing for a while is simply to get back in touch with your clients and customers that you’ve been working with for the past several years.
Pre-Work
• Let’s get started on some of the pre-work necessary for list building that will make a difference:
Target Market Checklist ACTIONS TO COMPLETE PRIOR TO TACKLING LIST BUILDING STRATEGIES Have a MISSION for your business. What’s your business all about, who do you serve? My MISSION statement is: Have a USP (unique selling proposition) for your company. What makes your business stand out from all the other companies in your market? (Feature a main benefit.) What service(s) are you selling: NARROW DOWN YOUR MARKET TO A SPECIFIC GROUP OF PEOPLE: 1. Determine the demographic profile of your client. Age of Business __________________ Number of Employees__________________ Size of Business in SF __________________ Sales Volume __________________Geographic Area __________________ Business Category(s) _________________Other __________________ 2. Determine social profile and personal aspects of your client. Best personal traits/qualities: Where they hang out offline: What they read: What websites and forums they visit: What trade associations or networking groups they’re a part of: Problems or issues they face: One big business dream they have:
Resources
• Search.Twitter.com• Wefollow.com (great Tool)• Facebook.com• LinkedIn.com• Jigsaw.com• Plaxo.com• Business Journals• Associations• Google• Yahoo• Affiliates
Other Useful Websites• www.Search.Twitter.com• www.Wefollow.com• www.Facebook.com• www.LinkedIn.com• www.Jigsaw.com• www.Plaxo.com• www.Google.com• www.Yahoo.com• www.elance.com• www.datadepot.biz• www.emailfinder.com• www.salesgenie.com• www.lexis-nexis.com• www.onesource.com• www.hoovers.com• www.faulkner.com• www.executivelibrary.com• www.dnb.com• www.dowjones.com• www.dialogweb.com• www.CEOgo.com• www.brint.com
• www.altavista.com• www.hotbot.com• www.iaf.net• www.lycos.com• www.metacrawler.com• www.yahoo.com• www.ap.org• www.businessweek.com• www.fastcompany.com• www.forbe.com• www.gartner.com• www.harvardbusiness.org• www.mckinseyquarterly.com• www.newslink.org• www.prnewswire.com• www.rueters.com• www.salesandmarketing.com• www.sellingpower.com• www.economist.com• www.redherring.com• www.wsj.com
Offline Methods
• Now we will begin discussions of a few offline strategies for building your list as well a handful of great online possibilities. Ready? Here we go!
Method 1
• Join a networking group – BNI or LeTip are two that are well known and tend to deliver decent results depending upon the mix of your group participants and your level of commitment.
Method 2 • Tradeshows and Speaking – Both for your niche as well as the niches
of your target market. While there take a look around – who has the busiest booth and why? How about renting a booth and collecting business cards in a fishbowl while there. Maybe have a drawing and give out a special prize at the appointed hour?
• Maybe even offer to speak at the tradeshow or volunteer for a breakout session. People perceive speakers as “experts”.
• Identify COI’s who can help you (Center of Influence). Make a list of 10 COI’s ahead of time and make it a goal to search each one out.
• Have a goal for the tradeshow – collecting contacts for your list. • Finally, know your 30-second elevator speech and be prepared to
use it!
Method 3
Go through directories at your public library – there are hundreds available. Pick out names and contact information of those who would make good prospects.
Method 4
• Shuffle through your stack of business cards and create a new pile of prospects, insert them into your database if they are not already there.
Online Methods
• We will now review 14 online methods for growing your list – Ready?
Method 1 • Social media, which has been this phenomenon, which has just taken over the
Internet over the last few years.• I recently read a statistic that social media, video and interactive online
activity has finally surpassed porn. I can’t remember where I saw that. I think it was USA Today recently. That says a lot. That means everyone is using the Internet now to engage with other, to be in connection. It says a lot about social media.
• In residential real estate, 97% are using the Internet before engaging a realtor!• One of the two biggest benefits to using social media in your business is • Social media allows you to connect everything. You connect your website with
your blog, with your Twitter, with your Facebook, with your LinkedIn, etc. There are software, tools and applications where you can blast something out and it goes to everything at once. It’s all seamless.
• Second, it provides what some people call social proof.
Method 2
• Facebook groups. These are designed for members of groups to connect, share and collaborate on a given topic or idea.
Method 3
• Facebook Business pages. They were formerly called fan pages. You may have a personal Facebook profile page, but I highly encourage you to get what’s called Facebook page, formerly called a fan page. You have a lot of options with these pages.
• You can choose where a person lands on your page. They can actually land on you wall, which is where you can post notes and respond to those left by your fans.
• At the top of your page you can create tabs that provide people with more information on your business, special reports, anything -- info, events, listings, photos, video, podcasts, and then there are more. You can customize these.
Method 4
• Twitter - I have to tell you, some are getting a lot more response lately from Facebook. For a while it was Twitter, and now Facebook seems to have completely overtaken Twitter. Some people are telling me that they get much better response on Twitter, so you want to be doing both. It’s not hard to do both.
• And Twitter is SO easy
Method 5 • LinkedIn. It can help you find prospects, and help more people find
out about you. Is it good for building a list? Yes. • Fill out your entire profile, including your headline, summary,
interests, honors and awards, contact settings and areas of interest to you. Use keywords to help people find you. Don’t miss the basics.
• Get involved in groups on LinkedIn. Look for introductions you can make in your own network. Make recommendations and take advantage of the applications LinkedIn offers. Of course, if you have someone you can delegate a lot of this to, I highly recommend it.
• And don’t forget to give recommendations – they help to get your name out there for others to see.
Method 6*
• www.meetup.com. MeetUp is where you will find local groups to network with, or start your own group. It’s one you want to check into, especially if you do any local marketing.
• * I have not personally used this method
Method 7
• Forums and blogs. Comment on other people’s forums when possible. There are advantages to promoting your list and business in general through forums. First of all, it’s completely free. You can usually find laser-targeted forums directly related to your niche if you look hard enough.
• You can establish credibility and expertise by posting on the forums, and it helps to develop strong relationships with others who are passionate about your topic.
Method 8
• Video. The New York Times recently reported that video marketing is the fastest-growing segment of online marketing, period. Why? Videos tend to rank very well in the search engines, providing more traffic to your site. They create an emotional bond between the speaker and person watching.
• They can be made fast. You do not have to do a super-professional video with lighting and all that stuff. You can do a pretty quick and easy video with a Flip video camera.
Method 9
• Audio - The objective of the podcast is to get people to come back to your website and get on the list.
• Keep it short. • You want to aim for 10 to 20 minutes. You
want to keep it really easily digestible.
Method 10
• Create a resource library. People come online to find information.
• If you have a specific topic of interest, you can get traffic to your site and get people to opt in by providing a resource library.
• Use your website to compile important information and resources that your target market needs so they come to you.
Method 11
• Give Great Testimonials. Give generous and honest testimonials for other people’s products and services. Ask to be featured no their websites and Blogs along with your contact information. Results-based testimonials are most likely to be featured.
Method 12
• Submit Your Articles to ezinearticles.com. Recycle every article to write! Be sure to include a resource box at the end (this is where you have your contact info and a short bio or USP).
Method 13
• Advertise in eNewsletters, Websites, and Blogs (even Facebook).
Method 14
• Google – Google is the greatest thing in the world for gathering information, period.
• www.Google.com
The bottom line…
• Attracting new leads is crucial to filling your pipeline that will deliver you sales and clients for years to come. Remember it’s all based on building a list of YOUR target market (not just a big list).
• The more you systematize and automate this process, the better. Start immediately, even with just one strategy!!!
