Linda's Southeastern CT Real Estate Blog

It’s fun Friday at my office today!   And here is our quiz of the day.  How well can you locate states on a map?  I readily admit Geography has never been one of my strengths.  But this Geography Quiz can be a good teaching tool!   And hey, we need to be able to locate all those referrals we send out. (That was a poor attempt to make this real estate related.).  

Get Ready, Set, GO   How well can you do?

I’m heading off to Phoenix next week for a RE/MAX  Conference.  The thought of an almost 6 hour  flight from Connecticut to Arizona and another 6 hours back already has me going stir crazy.  I’m thinking of how to best use the time since “Relaxing” for 12 hours just isn’t in my vocabulary. I do have a portable DVD player so I know I can watch a movie or two. (Any good DVD suggestions – I’m thinking chick flick?)  I’ll have my laptop…I once spent a whole flight cleaning up my email.   But my thought is to pick a couple of projects to complete along the way…maybe nail down my holiday marketing plans and/or  review my business plan for the last quarter.  I also can spend some time reading, something I don’t get to do as much as I would like.lately.  OH, and I can’t forget to bring something to eat – food can keep me amused for awhile.  My flight leaves Tuesday morning so for the next couple days I’ll be planning my “inflight travel kit.”  What would you include?  I have 12 hours to fill.  <sigh>

Angus blogged today about Mentoring Groups   It made me think about the Cyberprofessionals, a mentoring group with a history of over 10 years.  They Cyberprofessionals got their start in the summer of 1995.  They met chatting on the old RE/MAX Compuserve forum and had an idea, meet in person and share ideas. Only 9 agents attended that first meeting in Stamford, CT and they arrived by car, plane and train.  Each of the attendess presented a topic and the idea of presenting "15 minutes of fame" was born. In Stamford, and the meetings that followed, the group continued to share ideas, some very high tech and others high touch.  The group, numbering over 50, no longer just RE/MAX agents, meets twice a year in locations across the country.  You'll find the rest of their history and membership information on the Cyberprofessionals Website.  Several Rainers are members of the group. But I digress.....

My main point is to second Angus's idea of forming mentoring groups.  Whether long distance like the Cyberprofessionals, or locally as Angus experienced, it is an opportunity to improve your business and make lifelong friends.  My advice...have few rules, keep it casual, and share your best stuff! 

I just started using Visistat to track the web traffic on my website.  The traffic reports are very detailed and better yet, they are real time.  I especially like the Georgraphic Information right down to the visitor's city! The very coolest part is the live StatCaster which you can keep open on your desktop and watch visitors enter!

Very cool!

The Mother of all Trade Shows and my favorite real estate event of the year is coming!!  Yep, it is The National Association of Realtors Expo and I wouldn’t miss it for anything.  With over 600 exhibitors and tons and tons of cool stuff, I formulate a plan each year to see as much as I can see in the 1 ½ days I spend on the Trade Show Floor. Comfortable shoes, a good convention bag, and a compatible shopping partner are all I need to celebrate Christmas in November.  Ooops, did I mention my credit card and some cash?  

While it is always great fun, it is also hard work, as this will be the start of formulating both my Marketing Plan and Technology Plan for 2007.  What will you find here?  You’ll find aisles and aisles of good ideas (and some silly ones), new technology and some great freebies too!  When I look at my technology tool kit, I find much of it came from purchases I made at this great event.  Many of the vendors have show specials so you can even save money.  (My husband doesn’t quite understand this concept.)   

Because the show is so spread out, it is easy to miss some of the good stuff unless you plan well and are a serious shopper.  I know quite a few of the Active Rainer’s are regular attendees and several of us even meet at lunch to review our best finds!!  Have you ever attended the Mother of all Trade Shows?  

But I have to ask.  Tomorrow I’m heading down the highway an hour or so to give a presentation on blogging to an office meeting of about 100 or so.   I’ve given the presentation before so I’m well prepared and my hand-outs are just about ready.  The first time I gave this presentation, I realized that most folks don’t even know what blogging is so this is not a highly technical presentation.  I talk about the free blogging sites like blogger and the more expensive alternatives like Real Estate Blog Sites.  And of course, I talk about Active Rain ,now that I’ve started to participate here and discovered what a great community it is. (I’m not sure why I resisted it originally.) As I was thinking about my presentation last night, I realized that I’m giving my opinion on a number of issues.  So, I thought I’d ask a question here.  If you were giving a blogging presentation tomorrow, what advice would you give to someone who is about to enter the blogosphere?

I’ve attended the Howard Brinton Conferences for a number of years and have listened to his Star Power Tape Series for even longer.  One of the ideas that has stuck with me since I heard it …. Star Bob Wolff’s routine of writing notes every day to not only clients, but to average people he came in contact with.  He has some amazing stores of how a simple note “touched” someone enough to create future business for him...a waitress, a cab driver, the gas attendant.  I’ve tried to keep up the routine of writing short notes and encourage my team to do the same.  In the email age, people are really surprised and pleased to receive a personal hand written note.

Hmmm who can I write to tomorrow?  I think I'll send a  note to the farmer who threw in a few extra eggplants in my bag at his stand yesterday.  How about you?

                         No Room in the Inbox

I've had an office pet for a few years now.  Our most recent additions are these two girls, Lily and Molly.  We use Lily and Molly in our advertising and many of our marketing pieces.  Lily and Molly have even sponsored "Ledyard's Best Pet Contest", where residents posted photos of their pets on our website.  We had over 30 pet photo's submitted. 

We adopted these 2 cuties from a local animal shelter.  We market by saying "We found Lily and Molly a new home, we can help find YOU a new home too!. About once a month we post a photo of a pet that needs adopted from the shelter under the heading that says "Lily and Molly were adopted by the Linda Davis American Dream Team", they hope you will adopt a pet too.  The response is amazing.  Clients bring the girls gifts and children will often stop by just to visit.  Marketing with Pets is a no brainer. I did a blog on Pets in Offices back in February that you might enjoy!   MEOW!

 There have been a few blogs of late from newbies (I say affectionately as we were all new once.)  looking for ideas of how to increase business.  When agents start in the business one of the first things they do is print up business cards.  The second thing they need to do is actually give them out.  If your business cards are sitting in the box they came in, they are not doing what they are supposed to do.  Keep them in every vehicle you own and every purse or wallet.

When you do hand out a business card, it tells people a lot about you.  I read somewhere (wishing I could give credit here) that you should consider it a tiny billboard – 3 ½ x2 inches.  It basically says 3 things – who you are, what you do and how to find you.  But you might what to consider doing more than that with your card. Your card should look professional and be of good quality.  It sends a message to people about how you run your business.  

Use the back for information people need, and as a result keep your card.  A calendar, mortgage amortization schedules etc. 

Some agents use their business cards as a mini brochure and some use their cards to have a little fun.  I bet we have a whole range of ideas here.

Critique your business card.   What does your business card say about you?

I just sent an email to a local agent with some information about an offer I was putting together on one of her listings.  I received an “auto responder” saying she was out of town and wouldn't be returning emails until  after the 27^th.  Period.  (That’s 5 days from now).  Wow!  While I understand everyone deserves a vacation or some downtime occasionally, wouldn’t it be prudent to include who is handling business while she is out of town?

I don’t expect everyone to be obsessed with keeping up with emails like I am.  Heck, I was returning emails on the golf course yesterday.  I have this thing about a clean “inbox”.  I always take my laptop along on a trip and usually am able to keep up with at least the emails that require responses.

I’m always amazed at my competition. Amazed but happy to know what the competition isn’t doing!