Category Archives: Business Planning

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Do You Have A One Page Business Plan?

business-plans
Let me ask you a question. When you jump in your car or on your bike, do you do so without any idea of where you’re going? Nope? Didn’t think so.

Unless you just felt like taking your car out for a spin or getting lost on a bike ride, I’d say you would almost always know a rough route of where you’re going, how long it will take and what you’ll do once you get there.

So it blows me away that people do not have a road map for their business. A business plan is quite simply a great investment of your time. I hear excuses flying at me from left, right and centre such as:

“I just don’t have time”, “I have too much work to do”, “I’ll do it someday”, “It seems like too much work and too complicated”, “I have no idea where to start”, “I don’t need a business plan, I’m making money already.”

I’d also like to let you know that contrary to what people may tell you, your business plan does not have to be a book. It can be just one page and still work wonders.

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Is Your Target Market Profitable?

Britain's Prince William takes part in an archery lesson in Llandudno

Target marketing is one of the keys to a successful sales marketing program. Starting your marketing efforts without first identifying your target market is like trying to hit a target with a bow and arrow blindfolded. A very small percentage of the arrows will hit the target.

Every product or service will be desirable to a definable group of people. To have greater success in less time with your marketing efforts, spend time identifying your target market.

There are Three Things to consider when finding your Target Market

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Should You Send Your Friends Your Marketing?

Sold-house

I will never forget the shock I felt when one of my friends worked with another agent to sell his home because he perceived the other agent to be the “neighborhood specialist” in the neighborhood we both lived in. To make matters worse, I had originally sold him his home and had negotiated for him in multiple offers to do it.

My client/friend and I were on great terms. We were neighbors in a popular area in Minneapolis. Because it was a sought after area many agents mailed material to the homeowners as the listings there sell really quickly. He told me he and his wife despised junk mail from Realtors so I quickly took him off of my marketing list. Imagine my horror when I drove down his street one day and saw the sign in his yard listing his home with another agent from my same company. When I asked him why he used the other agent he told me it was because he published a monthly neighborhood specific newsletter talking about his sales in the area and the local market statistics. My friend and his wife felt the other agent really knew how special the neighborhood was and would be able to market their home the best. WHAT?!?! They bought their home because I recommended the area, found them an awesome home, I lived a couple of blocks away and I had worked hard for them and had assumed they would only work with me!

I learned four things that day.

#1- Perception is reality. My clients saw in the agent they hired a specialist for their home and neighborhood. They considered me a generalist because I had not been giving them specific marketing messages that appealed to them.

#2- Keep in touch with ALL of your clients on a regular basis to make sure they know you are busy working in Real Estate and know their market.

#3- The neighborhood specific newsletter with statistics and a list of homes he had sold in the neighborhood was not considered “junk mail” because it was specific and even considered valuable.

#4- Even friends need to be reminded you are successful and effective in selling once in a while!  As the saying goes, out of site, out of mind.