Follow Up: Nobody’s Doing It, What About You?
Send a message to your competitor and tell them, “I’m going to follow up with your leads.”
Thanks to the super expensive ($199) video equipment and a steady hand, I have a few clips to share from the International Builders’ Show. Might be a bit raw but the sound is good. Here we are behind the scenes at the International Builders’ Show talking to a crowd about follow up.
In today’s market it’s very important to find out what happens to your leads. In the following clip you’ll get a graphic view of what really goes on with lead management.
Don’t pull a Tommy Boy. There are many ways to nurture and grow that relationship. We do this by implementing a specific process.
Nicky Joy says it best, “Follow up is your first customer service test.” This is how people see what it’s like to do business with your company. Most people can’t make it past this first test. When we talk about follow up we need to be fast.
Check out the video and tell me what you think. What is one thing you’ve learned about follow up?
This is the first of a 4 part series of from IBS if you’d like to see the whole play list, here’s the link.
Or keep an eye out for my next post!
(video) Epcon Communites Goes Tech at National Sales Conference
I’ve recently discovered, after presenting at Epcon Communities’ national sales summit, that Epcon agents are people who take action!
During the summit, I had the pleasure of sharing concepts with their sales team and builder partners on how to create digital communities. We talked about integrating new technology into the sales process.
After my discussion on incorporating video into the sales presentation about 12 sales executives didn’t just take notes, they took action. They went to Target and bought Flip Mino cameras (rumor has it security almost kicked them out for trying to negotiate a group discount)
You know me, I never go anywhere without my own Flip. While I was there I shot a few clips myself with some amazing individuals!
In the first interview, I talk with Phil Fankhauser the CEO of Epcon and the best-dressed man in the industry. He shared some great concepts the night before. Here is my favorite quote, “If the market is 17% off, doesn’t that mean we are 83% on?”
Next up is Nanette Overly, the VP of Sales and a dynamic individual discussing action steps for 2010.
And finally, Ed Barber, Sales Executive of the year for Epcon talks about how he is going to use video email to blow up his business in 2010. (plus he talks about his dog, Teddy Bear)
Is Social Networking a Waste of My Time?
“How in the world am I supposed to keep up with all of the Social Media stuff, I don’t have enough time as it is?” I hear this question just about every time I present on the subject.
I just finished a great webinar with sales agents about social networking and building communities while building a powerful personal brand. Sure enough, during the Q.A. portion, someone asked it again.
I think it is an extremely valid question. The last thing you would want social networking to be is a time sucker, especially if it replaces critical business development opportunities. My standard answer is don’t spend more than 45 minutes a day of your “business” time.
Let’s face it, I have yet to see someone be 100% efficient from 8-5 every single day. So take some of that spare time and engage in your digital network. On that same note, don’t get caught in what we call “digital quicksand” where you emerge hours later and realize you have been doing nothing but playing Mafia Wars.
It may look like I spend more time on these sources than others, but I follow my own advice. I have a few tools that allow me to be efficient. (tweetdeck, hootsuite etc) but my swiss army knife is my iPhone loaded with all of my social networking apps. Because I am connected, I can use my “down time” for connecting with others. Yes, you will have to trade in your “dumb” phone for a “smart” phone – I talked about that in a recent post.
Think of all those times you are waiting around. Maybe you are getting your oil changed, stuck in traffic, waiting for the dentist, sitting at the mall waiting for your wife to finish shopping at the Gap – you name it. This is a great time to pop on Facebook and talk to a few folks, send a retweet or comment on a LinkedIn discussion.
If you are committed to using social networking to build your business, this is how you can do it without wasting time. Or you can just stop watching American Idol and use that time to build your brand – just a thought. Some call that being a workaholic; I just call it smart business.
I shot this video on my iPhone waiting for my oil to get changed. (I was a bit under the weather, sorry for looking so rough)
Podcast: Interview with Sarah Yaussi from Big Builder on Blogging, Twitter and Content
Tune in for the full interview with Sarah Yaussi as we discuss blogging, Twitter, and Social Media goodness. Learn how you can create valuable content and spread it out amongst all the appropriate networks. We explore what this means for homebuilders and tips on how to use effectively. You can also view the follow-up article she wrote below the podcast player. Enjoy.
A big fat “thank you” to Sarah Yaussi, the Executive Editer of Big Builder for her participation in the Blogging lesson in the Social Media Boot Camp series. She also did a great wrap up and agreed to re-post here. Be sure to let her know how awesome she is by leaving a comment and following @bigbuilder on Twitter
Last week, I participated in an online seminar called “Social Media Boot Camp: Blogging – Building Your Home Base.” I was invited as a guest speaker by Mike Lyon of http://www.doyouconvert.com/ fame, who hosted the event. (I still love that he called me a social media ninja, although it means I may have to start dressing the part.)
I thought the topic of blogging was a particular good one because it seems as though builders are starting to catch on to the idea that blogs are an effective search engine optimization tool. Now, let me just talk about SEO for a second. Even though I can’t see you, I know some of your eyes are glazing over at the term. The kindergarten-level explanation is that a blog, like other social media outlets, can help your name pop up higher on the list of possible matches when someone does a Google search for something generic like, say, “new homes in Dallas.” (For a much more detailed and yet easy-to-read explanation, I suggest checking out this blog post; it does a great job explaining it all in plain English.)
But being able to stack the deck in your favor when it comes to search results is just one benefit to a blog. Others include:
- Simple to implement (there are many user-friendly templates)
- Low cost (some blog hosting services are free)
- News focused (fresh content drives Web traffic)
- Authoritative (looks very professional)
- Highly interactive (comment features are king)
- Spread easily (think RSS feeds)
Given this rather long list of benefits, I’ve been noticing a lot of builders launching blogs, both separate from their corporate Web sites and integrated into their existing sites.
But with a growing number of builders sold on the blog idea, “now what?” seems to be the big question. Many builders seem to be struggling with the content part of the equation–what to post, how often to post, how much to write, what kind of voice to have, and so on. If that sounds like you, let me share with you some of the advice, suggestions, and ideas that were doled out during the seminar.
-
What’s the best blog format? While some of the seminar participants used Blogger, most liked using WordPress. We built http://www.housingcrisis.com/ on a WordPress template and have been pretty happy with it. It’s not too hard to figure out how it works, and there are a ton of different template styles and themes. (A word of caution here: Some of the coolest looking blog templates require an enormous amount of content, so you may want to rein your imagination in to make it more manageable.)
- How often do I need to post? That’s a good question, and there’s no right answer. But remember that search engines absolutely love all that is fresh and juicy content, so the more often you post, the more likely you are to have success in driving traffic. Me personally, I’m trying to step up my blogging to two to three times a week. It’s a far cry from some of the best bloggers who post multiple times a day–one of my faves is Calculated Risk, who at the time I wrote this post had posted five times on his blog–but I think that’s a good goal given that my day job has a few other responsibilities. The bottom line: Content gets moldy fast, so new posts a couple times a week are probably the way to go.
-
What should I write about? I totally feel you on this one. There are definitely times when I open up a new Word doc, and it sits there blank for quite some time. And I’m sure it’s worse for people who aren’t naturally prolific writers. But that’s really where I say, “Loosen up!” Your next blog post is not your opus. (I have to remind myself of this all the time because as a journalist my natural tendency is to write stories with facts, figures, and quotes in them, and you don’t have to do that with a blog. A blog is more about personality and perspective, in my mind.) The shelf life of a blog post is so short that it doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. I liken a blog post to a paper cup; you use it once and then throw it out. Of course that doesn’t mean they should be messy and riddled with typos and grammatical errors. It just means stop stressing and get typing.
As for topics, there are a million things to write about. Here are eight ideas that are a little more imaginative than “home for sale”:
- Real estate/home building
- Local economy
- Green building
- First-time buyers
- Financing
- Local events
- School districts
- Your employees (I think this is a good one that is hardly ever used)
We covered off on a lot more, but I think that’s pretty much the meat of the session. As a follow-up, I asked participants to point me to some of the blogs they were working or thought were good examples. Take a look!
- Peachtree Residential Properties: http://atlantaluxuryhomes.wordpress.com/
- Dealssentials: http://www.dealssentials.com/
- Zach Schabot: http://zachschabot.blogspot.com/
- Wanderings of a Wayward Online Sales Consultant: http://www.leahkaiz.blogspot.com/
- Stylecraft Builders: http://stylecraftbuilders.wordpress.com/
- NewHomesDirectory.com: http://blog.newhomesdirectory.com/
- Brookfield Homes San Diego: http://blog.brookfieldsd.com/hud-does-it-again/
- Housingcrisis.com: http://www.housingcrisis.com/
- Real Property Alpha: http://realpropertyalpha.com/
- Eastern Shore Housing: http://www.easternshorehousing.com/
Blogging Basics as told by Sarah Yaussi from Big Builder
A big fat “thank you” to Sarah Yaussi, the Executive Editer of Big Builder for her participation in the Blogging lesson in the Social Media Boot Camp series. She also did a great wrap up and agreed to re-post here. Be sure to let her know how awesome she is by leaving a comment and following @bigbuilder on Twitter
Last week, I participated in an online seminar called “Social Media Boot Camp: Blogging – Building Your Home Base.” I was invited as a guest speaker by Mike Lyon of http://www.doyouconvert.com/ fame, who hosted the event. (I still love that he called me a social media ninja, although it means I may have to start dressing the part.)
I thought the topic of blogging was a particular good one because it seems as though builders are starting to catch on to the idea that blogs are an effective search engine optimization tool. Now, let me just talk about SEO for a second. Even though I can’t see you, I know some of your eyes are glazing over at the term. The kindergarten-level explanation is that a blog, like other social media outlets, can help your name pop up higher on the list of possible matches when someone does a Google search for something generic like, say, “new homes in Dallas.” (For a much more detailed and yet easy-to-read explanation, I suggest checking out this blog post; it does a great job explaining it all in plain English.)
But being able to stack the deck in your favor when it comes to search results is just one benefit to a blog. Others include:
- Simple to implement (there are many user-friendly templates)
- Low cost (some blog hosting services are free)
- News focused (fresh content drives Web traffic)
- Authoritative (looks very professional)
- Highly interactive (comment features are king)
- Spread easily (think RSS feeds)
Given this rather long list of benefits, I’ve been noticing a lot of builders launching blogs, both separate from their corporate Web sites and integrated into their existing sites.
But with a growing number of builders sold on the blog idea, “now what?” seems to be the big question. Many builders seem to be struggling with the content part of the equation–what to post, how often to post, how much to write, what kind of voice to have, and so on. If that sounds like you, let me share with you some of the advice, suggestions, and ideas that were doled out during the seminar.
-
What’s the best blog format? While some of the seminar participants used Blogger, most liked using WordPress. We built http://www.housingcrisis.com/ on a WordPress template and have been pretty happy with it. It’s not too hard to figure out how it works, and there are a ton of different template styles and themes. (A word of caution here: Some of the coolest looking blog templates require an enormous amount of content, so you may want to rein your imagination in to make it more manageable.)
- How often do I need to post? That’s a good question, and there’s no right answer. But remember that search engines absolutely love all that is fresh and juicy content, so the more often you post, the more likely you are to have success in driving traffic. Me personally, I’m trying to step up my blogging to two to three times a week. It’s a far cry from some of the best bloggers who post multiple times a day–one of my faves is Calculated Risk, who at the time I wrote this post had posted five times on his blog–but I think that’s a good goal given that my day job has a few other responsibilities. The bottom line: Content gets moldy fast, so new posts a couple times a week are probably the way to go.
-
What should I write about? I totally feel you on this one. There are definitely times when I open up a new Word doc, and it sits there blank for quite some time. And I’m sure it’s worse for people who aren’t naturally prolific writers. But that’s really where I say, “Loosen up!” Your next blog post is not your opus. (I have to remind myself of this all the time because as a journalist my natural tendency is to write stories with facts, figures, and quotes in them, and you don’t have to do that with a blog. A blog is more about personality and perspective, in my mind.) The shelf life of a blog post is so short that it doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. I liken a blog post to a paper cup; you use it once and then throw it out. Of course that doesn’t mean they should be messy and riddled with typos and grammatical errors. It just means stop stressing and get typing.
As for topics, there are a million things to write about. Here are eight ideas that are a little more imaginative than “home for sale”:
- Real estate/home building
- Local economy
- Green building
- First-time buyers
- Financing
- Local events
- School districts
- Your employees (I think this is a good one that is hardly ever used)
We covered off on a lot more, but I think that’s pretty much the meat of the session. As a follow-up, I asked participants to point me to some of the blogs they were working or thought were good examples. Take a look!
- Peachtree Residential Properties: http://atlantaluxuryhomes.wordpress.com/
- Dealssentials: http://www.dealssentials.com/
- Zach Schabot: http://zachschabot.blogspot.com/
- Wanderings of a Wayward Online Sales Consultant: http://www.leahkaiz.blogspot.com/
- Stylecraft Builders: http://stylecraftbuilders.wordpress.com/
- NewHomesDirectory.com: http://blog.newhomesdirectory.com/
- Brookfield Homes San Diego: http://blog.brookfieldsd.com/hud-does-it-again/
- Housingcrisis.com: http://www.housingcrisis.com/
- Real Property Alpha: http://realpropertyalpha.com/
- Eastern Shore Housing: http://www.easternshorehousing.com/
