Remember the old saying “Hope springs eternal” (from the 1733 poem by Alexander Pope)– well, there’s something about Spring that brings hope. Not sure why – maybe with all of the new growth in the trees & the flowers, it makes us feel like there’s a chance for new growth for ourselves as well.
So maybe instead of New Year resolutions we should do some Spring resolutions because with the increase in sunshine & nicer weather, we seem to have more energy to take on new projects than we do in the grey, dismal doldrums of the winter months.
The tricky part is figuring out what direction to go & which one of many possible options to choose for re-inventing ourselves, freshening our images, expanding our market exposure and/or strengthening our already existing ties to our past & current client base (and this applies to all businesses as well, in this current economic climate!)
One important factor for all of us is cost & thankfully with most everything going by way of the internet, there are some pretty good options out there that can be relatively painless for realtors.
A good one that’s free is Trulia, where you can create your own presence there & post all of your listings for free (Zillow charges realtors, but it’s free for Brokers – so maybe mention it to your Broker if you’re not already on Zillow).
Craig’s List & YouTube both offer free exposure for you & your listings as well (and there’s a lot of flexibility with YouTube sites). And fyi – if you’re running Windows on your computer – you can use the Windows Movie Maker software that typically comes free on the computer to make free slide show videos from your still photos & post them on YouTube & use them as your listing virtual tour links (if you want to see an example of what you can do with Windows Movie Maker, go to my YouTube site & check them out – all free & Sellers love seeing their properties on YouTube!)
For a relatively affordable extra service, I have been using Listing Launch Service for $5/month to automatically download all of my listings (unlimited amount) to all of the major real estate search sites (yahoo/google/trulia/zillow/oodle/cyberhomes & a few more) & I do get a fair amount of hits from the exposure on those sites.
There are numerous opportunities out there for free exposure & marketing if you spend some time doing a little bit of research. Google & read up on realtor marketing and/or customer relationship management & anything else that you can think of. Again – this applies to any & all types of businesses – so do your research & stay on top of what’s going on in your markets!
With e-mail quickly becoming a normal occurrence with all age groups, it makes it a lot easier to stay in touch with your warm market – for FREE. The trick is not to send stupid, worthless or annoying stuff to them where they end up auto deleting any messages from you.
Take advantage the non-denominational holiday opportunities to send out a light hearted greeting to them (like Valentines Day that’s coming up very quickly!!) or an important local occurrence, like a tax issue that will be voted on or when a local governmental agency is having a free hazardous waste drop-off day. Create a mailing list from your e-mail list of people that wouldn’t be offended and/or would be applicable to local vs. more universal (like Valentine greetings) & get in the habit of sending out 2-4 e-mails a year to keep your name fresh in their minds (don’t overdo it!).
If you really want to get organized on things, send out e-mails for the anniversaries of when your Buyer clients purchased (set it up on your online calendar to remind you that Joe/Jane Smith purchased their house on March 1, 2003 & send them a lighthearted “Can you believe that it has been 7 years already? Hope that everybody is doing great! Please don’t ever hesitate to give me a shout anytime if you or your friends/family ever need anything at all! Happy Anniversary, Charlie Tuna, Realtor, e-mail address, phone number, company name It’s cheap & pretty darned ez to maximize that kind of exposure. Again, keep it lighthearted & be careful how you solicit. Remember that the true gift of giving means that you are willing to help without expecting anything back & people are typically shocked when somebody is willing to help them just for the sake of helping them.
Spring brings eternal hope, so put the pep back in your step & get excited about the possibilities that await you!
Add a comment February 7, 2010
Every new year brings new hope for better things to come & believing is just as crucial a part of the equation as doing.
Many people don’t realize that the saying ‘The Power Of Positive Thinking’ is not just a fad/cult/throw-back hippie state of mind,
and in fact, is a truly effective tool and/or weapon in our constant efforts (and seemingly, sometimes a battle) for a happy life & future success of our goals.
Our brains are like computers & we DO have control over the programming of that computer
(although every day I wish that I could have more RAM/memory installed in my brain!). That other old saying of ‘garbage in, garbage out’ is something that we all need to be VERY aware of when it comes to recognizing that WHAT we are thinking, can very
well be shaping our own future realities.
This ISN’T a Zen lesson & I’m not burning incense as I write this, but it’s very important that we realize how truly effective our brains are at making our thoughts & state of mind actually come to pass. So always keep that in mind when you catch yourself dwelling on anything negative.
Cancel those negative thoughts out & turn your thoughts toward positive things & goals in life that you want to achieve and/or that you will look forward to enjoying in the future (and do it with enthusiasm to add extra power to that computer programming)!!
It takes a while to train your mind (initially this can take non-stop repetitive correcting, possibly for weeks or months – but it’s worth it!), because it’s a lot like muscle memory.
The more that you do it, the easier & more natural it will become for you to immediately recognize that a negative thought is occurring & flush it away, replacing it with a positive thought! You can literally change the direction of your life, just with the proper programming of your own built-in brain computer.
To quote Liz Murray from KW Mega Camp on one of her favorite expressions:
“There are gifts in all of our lives. If you’re looking for them, you’ll find them. If you’re looking for the faults, you’ll find them.”
Start your new year on a positive note, don’t let the weight of your world slow you down & remember to always look for the gifts in life, no matter how small they might be!
-Carol Franklin
Broker/Owner
The Bayshore Group
Traverse City, MI
Add a comment December 31, 2009
Tags: association, City, estate, new, positive, real, realtor, realty, team, thinking, Traverse, year
We’ll soon be saying the year 20-11
and here’s hoping/praying for a much better year for all of the hardworking residents of our State of Michigan.
I’m a realtor in the Traverse City area & have been for almost 19 years. I had the pleasure of enjoying what I now know to be a pretty lucky rocket ride for the first 14 years of my real estate career.
Definitely a different story now, and even though it isn’t nearly as fun & exciting as it was before,
it’s a market that drives me to new limits on constantly trying to keep up with the ever-changing
realities of today’s market so that I can help as many people as I can survive the ride.
It’s imperative that Realtors keep up with what’s going on in the market so that we can offer up the best guidance to our clients – many of whom have become innocent victims of the crumbling economic & real estate markets. Doing all of that, while very much fighting the battle ourselves – can be very emotionally draining & it’s important to keep close tabs on our own emotional states of mind.
The latest on what I see coming at us over the next several months unfortunately seems to be more of the same. Even though you may constantly see blurbs here & there about constant increases in home sales, I’m afraid to say that the market overall is not going to be healthy for quite a while.
It will still be a GREAT time for home buyers & investors to purchase properties, but it appears like the selling end is possibly heading for the same dismal conditions. There are two big reasons for that, one of which is the unemployment issue in Michigan which will continue to add more inventory to our market (unfortunately much of it may be in the form of fire-sale priced properties being either short sales or foreclosures).
The other dark cloud looming over all of America, is that several of the biggest lenders had somewhat of a moratorium on foreclosures and/or were utilizing the majority of their personnel in the hopes of convincing people to restructure/modify their existing mortgages.
Not a big secret that statistically those efforts are not producing the glowing results that the big lenders had hoped for. What that means is that there are potentially MILLIONS of additional mortgages across the U.S. that will be processed for foreclosure over the next 6-12 months.
I know & I sincerely apologize for this being so seemingly depressing, but there have certainly been lessons learned the hard way & powerful moments of awareness discovered by many families across the country.
Lessons learned? We all really do need to learn not to be such a disposable society & to truly
learn to live within our means, while always being prepared for the best & worse case scenarios.
And awareness needs to come in the form of knowing that these material items are really not what should be defining us in our own minds & worrying about having the best or the shiniest of whatever on the block. Family, health & doing our best to help other people whenever we can, should be the focus of our mental, emotional & physical energies. Even if it’s just a smile or a random act of kindness – you never know when a simple gesture can be a life changing event for somebody truly struggling under the pressures of today’s world.
WE ARE ALL going to be fine & make it out of this mess, and hopefully end up being better human beings because of it. Somebody once said ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff, and in the grand scheme of things – it’s all small stuff’. So when the going seems tough, remember to focus on the things in your world that really should be your focus & dwell on the positive. The rest of the crap will sort itself out & when we reflect back on it, we will see that it was just another speed bump in life.
Have a wonderful New Year to All & seize every moment of simple enjoyment that you can. The work & list of things you need to do, will wait for you.
Best Wishes!
Carol Franklin
Broker/Owner
The Bayshore Group
Traverse City, MI
Add a comment December 26, 2009
