Dec
28
11 Guilt-Free Tips to Making Your Blog Posts Sexy
Filed Under Real Estate Marketing, blogs | Leave a Comment
For some reason, sex sells…and real estate agents get way up in arms over it.
Seth Godin says objectifying women is a short cut to cash [one only has to look to Hugh Hefner]…a short-cut people are tiring of.
Of course, ten, fifteen years ago [or was it thirty?] Gary Halbert, crudely and crassly…but classical in form…said the quickest ways to boost sales for a product was to put a photograph of a woman in a bikini in the ad.
Keep in mind, this will not work for all products.
Ogilvy points out in his book Ogilvy on Advertising that sex has has to be pertinent to the product.
Read: will work for Viagra. Will not work for a rotor rooter.
I lean towards the view point that sex in ads degrades women and is not a healthy strategy. I certainly wouldn’t want my daughter nor my wife posing half naked on a magazine spread or website. Or billboard.
Or a blog.
But that’s neither here nor there…
My real point about this post is how to format your blog posts so that it is attractive to your readers…
So that it captures their attention and forces them to review what you wrote.
With that in mind, here are 11 tips to help you write with flair and make your posts appealing, approachable and seductive.
1. Use short sentences. People crave brevity. Especially on the web. And like it or not, people read best at about a fourth grade comprehension. So short sentences are key. Especially on the web: in fact, people scan. Short sentences makes it easier.
2. Write short paragraphs. Copywriting is in my blood. So everything I write flows from that. Thus you’ll constantly see tiny paragraphs…sometimes only one sentence long.
This is also a trick newspapers like. Just look at USA Today.
People can scan short paragraphs. And scanning is the presiding world view for most online readers today.
3. Bold important thoughts. As the eye scans your post, it is looking for important information. Make important information abundantly by bolding it.
Also, look to have your bolded sentences and phrases tell a story in themselves. As best as you can.
4. Use Bullets and Numbers. Any lists you provide should be bullets or numbers. Think a litany or a grocery list: easy to remember.
5. Strike hard with action verbs. Start sentences, lists with verbs. And not just any verbs. Verbs that resonate, thunder, strive, yearn, force. Verbs that work hard. Verbs that will manhandle people into slowing down and reading what you wrote.
Arresting attention is what you want.
6. Confuse people. “Rub a chicken against your ear. Now go buy my book.”
Joe Vitale, the so-called hypnotic copywriter, uses this technique because “confusion will arrest people. It will cause them to stop and scratch their head. That’s why after the confusing phrase you insert the most important piece of information…and that point you know people are paying attention.”
7. Pepper your post with ellipsis. This is an ellipsis …. It’s a suggestion of a pause in speech. It’s a suggestion that there is more to come. Something you can’t do with out…
It naturally leads the eye along the path of the sentence…
And encourages the eye to clamber down to the next line. Which brings me to my next point…
8. Mimic conversations. In other words, ignore the rules of grammar. Start sentences with verbs. Rely on the implicit “you.” Abuse punctuation! Kick off sentences with the words “and” and “but” and “also.” However…
Remain within the boundaries. Otherwise it will back fire on you.
If what you write is obscure or artsy, people will turn their noses up at you.
Your best course of action is to listen to conversations. Don’t always be the person who dominates at the dinner table. Let others speak. And spy on other conversations.
9. Employ sub headlines. Sub headlines work like the sentences you bold…easy to scan and tells a story.
A reader should be able to scroll down your post and gather the important points immediately.
From the important points they’ll then decided if they want to read the post carefully.
10. Publish provocative photographs. Tech geek blogger Robert Scoble once shared his method to work effortlessly through 600 blogs in about 10 minutes…
One of the things that caused him to slow down as he jogged through his RSS reader where photographs.
The eye naturally sees something visually stimulating and tells the hand to stop. If the headline is compelling, Scoble looks for more clues to whether he wants to read more of the post or not.
What are those other clues? Read on…
11. Embed links in your posts. Greg Swann once nailed me on the absence of links in one of my posts. He said I was “inaudible to the conversation,” meaning, in essence, not sharing my sources…
And sharing your sources adds credibility.
Robert Scoble also said “It shows that someone took time to write the post. Demonstrates he did his homework.”
Links demonstrate your post was thoughtful and planned. That it is worth the time to read and not just some random brain dump.
Calculation and research, oddly enough, seduces people, my friend. Gets them to pay attention.
Final Thoughts and One Suggestion
As is shown in the Scoble video, not one single element here will make your blog posts sexy to readers.
In truth, it will be a combination. Employ more of these elements and the better you will do.
And finally, if you write and have not read The Elements of Style, read it this weekend. It’s the single greatest book on writing that you’ll ever read. And it will take you less than four hours.
Enjoy!
Dec
21
Political Pollster Spills the Beans: How to Find Those Hidden Desires
Filed Under Persuasion, Real Estate Prospecting Ideas | 2 Comments
Republican pollster and strategic researcher Frank Luntz advises politicians on the language they should use to win elections and promote their policies.
Here’s how you can use his secrets to work with more clients…sell more houses…and grow your business.
His Work Proves One Very Important Point
Although he works on one side of the aisle, he says that what he does is essentially nonpartisan, seeking clarity and simplicity in language.
His critics disagree…and have accused him of using language that misrepresents policies to “sell” them to the public. Frank Luntz is the author of Words That Work.
But whatever you think about Luntz, what he does proves one very important point: it’s not about what you say…it’s about what they hear.
That is, potent persuasion is built around finding and using words that hit people at the gut level.
It’s interesting that one little word can have such a influential impact on an entire population…
But it can.
The Most Controversial Word
Take the term “estate tax” for instance.
Before Luntz, this tax was relatively non controversial. Luntz said that only 50% of Americans thought such a tax should be abolished.
What he discovered in his word lab, where he used focus groups and polls, was that when he replaced the word “estate” with the term “inheritance” 60% of Americans thought such a tax should be abolished.
However, with further research he discovered that 70% of Americans wanted the tax abolished when it was referred to as a “death tax.” [via PBS video "Give Us What We Want"
"Death" takes it to a whole new, deeper level...
When people think of "estate" or "inheritance," Luntz explains that they think of people like Warren Buffet and his billions of net worth...they think of JR and the 70's television show Dallas.
They think of people who deserve to be taxed...
However, "estate" or "inheritance" puts an emotional distance between people and the real issue. They are cold, unemotional words that obscure the fact that this tax does not occur until you die.
And that is justifiably hard to defend.
But what does this have to do with real estate? Good question.
Heed This One, Simple Piece of Advice
Bottom line, be the person in your real estate market who has their finger on the pulse on what people are saying, feeling and thinking.
And keep this rule in mind: cab drivers and antique dealers know more about the world and what is going on than anybody else. And when the cab driver feels a certain way, you need to listen.
In smaller towns where there aren't cab drivers, it's probably owners of the coffee shop or corner deli who know the pulse of your market. Hang out with these people...visit their spaces...and interview people in these places.
And if you want to get real technical, poll people in your community. Or hold informal focus groups.
This rule is built upon a simple idea: It doesn't matter what you want to tell the public, it's about what they want to hear.
And you have to find that out.
Discover the Hot-Buttons That Compel Us to Act
Luntz, when talking to clients, gives them one consistent piece of advice: Heed the public will.
And there's one technique that's more important than anything else: listening. That's exactly what you have to do.
You have to listen to what people are saying, how they are saying it, their body language when saying it, where they are saying it and figure out why they are saying it.
I know most of the public is down on real estate agents...so what are the words, the facts, the data that would get people to say, "You know, my real estate agent, he's okay"?
You have to find those words when working with the public, clients or prospects.
A few, carefully chosen words can make all the difference. These are words that grab our guts and get us to move on an emotional level.
It matters what you talk about. And it matters what you name things. For example:
- Don't talk about "energy efficiency." Talk about "lower bills."
- Don't talk about "square feet." Talk about "breathing room."
- Don't talk about a "long commute." Talk about a "rolling university."
- Don't talk about "house." Talk about a "home."
How to Get Those Words
When you are with people [and make sure you are hanging out with people from all walks of life, not just a certain strain]…
…talk about a wide range of community subjects…broach controversial topics…and watch people nod there heads and look at each other.
When they all do that at the same time…at that point you’ll know that you’ve struck an emotionally charged issue that people are willing to fight for.
At that moment…that is your Eureka moment. Those are the words that you want to use, those issues. Those are the words that resonate with those particular people.
And don’t forget, just like fire, use those words for good and not destruction or ill gain.
Dec
20
How to Settle the Long v. Short Web Copy Debate
Filed Under Real Estate Copywriting, blogs | Leave a Comment
This is a topic that has been around for awhile: long v. short articles as web content strategy.
Yet, yesterday someone new in our web department asked me what I thought about the long v. short copy debate on the web.
Of course as a copywriter who has specialized in the web for the last seven years, I had just a little to say…
…and whether you are a blogger or copywriter churning out ad pieces for your business or any kind of persuader…
You can learn something from copywriting.
Here are my thoughts.
I’m familiar with the top 8 reasons why copywriting is important to real estate, and I do recommend them.
I think what you’ll find as you dig deeper you’ll discover that people will disagree on short v. long copy on the web…but in general compelling long copy will out duel compelling short copy, even on the web.
Here’s what you have to keep in mind, though:
Test Everything
And here’s the thing about long copy: long copy for the sake of long copy is not right.
When a copywriter says long copy works better than short, what he should be saying is “I want to lay out every single benefit I can to a reader…leaving nothing behind because I have only one shot at this. And if it takes 5 pages to do that, why wouldn’t I write five pages?”
A sales man would never go into a presentation and give the ten minute version when it really takes an hour to present.
Neither would you pencil in just five minutes to rehab an alcoholic.
But if the writer can layout a compelling argument in half a page, he should do so. Most of the time the length of the copy is determined by the complexity of the product/service and the offer.
If you are giving away a free book, 3 pages might be excessive.
Where You Spend Most of Your Time…and It’s Not at the Keyboard
But if you are trying to talk people into parting with money, say for contributions or to buy a house or trust you as their agent or buy a book, 3+ pages is probably the minimum you could get away with.
Again, depending on the complexity. And you have to test and see what works.
If the 3 pages doesn’t work, then you are not hitting people’s pleasure/pain buttons. Back to the drawing board.
Which means writing compelling copy is more about research rather than writing. You can really never prepare enough.
I’ve known successful writer’s to spend weeks researching before touching the keyboard. They don’t until they have that ‘ah ha’ moment.
And usually when they have that moment, the piece writes itself. This is pretty much my process, too.
The Mindset You Must Have
Picture yourself trying to lead someone from an addiction to alcohol.
It could take fifteen minutes, half hour or hour. A day. Weeks. Probably, though, months. Even years.
But you always give them what they want when they ask for it. And you always try to figure out what will resonate with them.
The thing with print/web copy is you have to think ahead and answer all the questions you think they might be asking, most important, “What’s in it for me?”
Then in the copy you have to answer those questions with enticing benefits…because this might be your only shot at having their attention.
It might take you ten questions. 20. 30. Or even 50.
You don’t know what they are going to ask for sure. So you ask them all (maybe).
You have to have available that one question that might make them go, “That’s it.”
Why People Stop Reading Your Blog or Sales Letter
It’s likely though that most people will not read every word. Especially on the web. People scan.
That is why potent headlines and sub headlines are important. To draw in those scanners.
As far as clicks, etc. what you have to keep in mind on the web here is there has to be a marriage between reader friendly web design and persuasive copy.
Think about online newspapers.
Most articles are broken into pages. They are never a single page. (Unless the article ends above the fold.) And because readership is very important to newspapers, they probably found breaking pages up improves important metrics of readership.
Furthermore, print sales letters are broken up into pages. As are books. (Doesn’t there seem to be an argument for everything?)
But here’s the point I wanted to get to: the reason people stop reading a sales letter, article or book is not because they have to turn the page or click to the next…we lose people because the copy isn’t compelling.
You are right when you say that “the user feels more ‘accomplished’ by browsing / clicking-thru” and good web design tries to accommodate this.
See, the marriage comes when the copy is persuasive. When the monkey with the red fez can EASILY follow the banana.
Personally I find one long page of copy exhausting and intimidating. And I’m not alone, as copy blogger Brian Clark explains in his post The Death of the Long Copy Sales Letter.
But here’s the thing: I’ve clicked through 8 pages of news articles I found fascinating. I’ve scrolled through very persuasive sales letters online that when printed equal 16-21 pages.
Thing is, I’m sure these people have tested the layout, one single page v. 4 web pages…and found where they get there better response.
They tested to see what works.
To Drive My Point Home
The reason I ever bought a product online or read an entire article is not because it was long or on one page.
I bought because I got an emotional charge out of it…found it compelling…convinced I couldn’t live without it.
A great writer constantly struggles with this thought: is this the least bit compelling, passionate?
It gnaws at him.
That’s why human psychology and emotion are so important to copy.
We have to know what plucks people’s heart strings. Constantly.
That’s why, if you are going to write a five page article or letter, every sentence counts.
Here’s the thing: we are missing opportunities when we make categorical statements like long copy on one page is better than short without explaining why…and without ever testing the boundaries.
In summary, the first order of business, is to make sure the piece is compelling and passionate.
Then we can talk about layout, length or page breaks.
Dec
19
This Blog Is Ranked Top 50 Best Real Estate Marketing Blogs
Filed Under Real Estate Marketing, blogs | Leave a Comment
Thanks to the people over at International Listings for creating a list of the top 50 real estate marketing bloggers.
We ranked number 46…
Just before Renderings, a blog by a real estate marketing agency and just after RSS Piece, a firm that builds SEO enhanced web sites for real estate agents.
Granted, International Listings didn’t number based upon a ranking system. What they did very nicely was put each blog in a category and then list the bloggers alphabetically.
Very nice indeed.
Thank you very much for the love, International Listings!
Dec
17
10 Core Emotions So People Understand Your Message at the Gut Level
Filed Under Real Estate Marketing | 1 Comment
Last Friday, while I was brainstorming over a marketing message with some other writers, I shared with them a technique I use whenever I’m trying to understand the psyche/heart of a prospect/partner/client…and what will get them to respond positvely to my message.
I filter everything about the person through ten core emotions to see which emotion or combination of emotions will best help a person understand a message.
This is something I learned from the American Writers and Artists Institute (AWAI), where I completed both their Accelerated Copywriting Program and Master’s Program.
Here, according to AWAI, is a list of the ten most powerful and common core buying emotions:
1. Curiosity. For some reason, we just can’t stand to turn aside from new, fascinating information. This is why the “news” industry is a multi-billion-dollar business.
2. Vanity. Most people have a strong, almost uncontrollable, desire to be better than everyone else in some way - physically, socially, mentally, spiritually, etc. And not just to be better, but to make sure everyone knows it.
3. Fear. Decades before I was concerned about things that really pose a threat to health and security, I worried about what was hiding in the pitch-black abyss under my bed. Fear makes us feel that danger is imminent, and we will do almost anything to avoid it.
4. Benevolence. The negative emotion of fear is countered by a drive for the positive emotion of happiness, even euphoria. And the quickest way to achieve that feeling is by doing good for someone else.
5. Insecurity. Are you good enough to be a top-notch wage earner? Parent? Lover? Are you good enough to live in the prestigious neighborhoods? I bet you’ve wondered. (We all have.)
6. Power. Think politicians, here. Corporate CEOs. Generals. Dictators. The Brain. Wave the fact the fact they’ll be the top dog, control large masses of people, conquer their enemies… and they’ll eat out of your hands.
7. Wealth and Abundance. This applies to everyone on the planet: the desire to have the jet set life, luxury and leisure…the boat, the house on the beach, the friends in Paris.
8. Security. Life insurance ads do this really well. Or Onstar. It’s rooted in fear, because when this hits a person in the gut, it is usually from fear that something bad will happen to them or their loved ones.
9. Belonging. This one is huge. In every single person God has planted a need to connect with other humans. That’s why the family is foundational to God’s plan. Show someone how they can be part of something important or exclusive gives them a good incentive to do what you ask.
10. Guilt. Not to many appeals come straight out and condemn you. What happens usually in a guilt appeal is you are allowed to connect the dots. And when you do this, there’s that quite ache in your soul that says, “If I turn my back, Fluffy the ferret is going to die!”
You’ve probably recognized that a lot of these emotions overlap. Some are stronger than others. The point is to understand your prospect so well, that you know which emotion—or combination of emotions—will appeal to him or her.
And by understanding these and other core buying emotions, you command the power to help other people understand your message at a “gut” level.
They won’t just read or listen to it—they’ll feel it.
Dec
15
Still don’t have a clue what Web 2.0 is all about?
Or perhaps you want to demonstrate to your broker or spouse [whoever holds the purse stings] in a simple, shoot-from-the-hip way what Web 2.0 is…but don’t have the time to create such a demonstration. Or even know how to go about doing it.
If that’s you, then watch and then share these four short videos.
Social Bookmarking in Plain English
Social Networking in Plain English
Dec
14
There’s a word with so much destructive power that you should never, never, use it when talking about or evaluating a marketing effort.
I know you’ll find it hard to believe a word could have such appalling magic. But it’s true. I’ve seen this word works its evil more times than I care to think about.
Dec
13
A Short History on the Friction between Email and Design
Filed Under Email Marketing, Real Estate Prospecting Ideas | Leave a Comment
If you use HTML in email, then this is a must read post.
You need to discover if you are using HTML in email wrong and then you need to learn how to use HTML in email right.
And trust me, you could be using it wrong because there are a lot of people using HTML in emails wrong, including big name corporations who you’d think would know better.
The following chronology occurred middle of this year. You’ll enjoy the banter, the back and forth bickering between these two web designers, that will make this HTML email lesson not only informative, but fun.
Read on.
June 8, 2007: My favorite potty-mouthed* rant on email versus design: email is not a platform for design.
June 12, 2007: Campaign Monitor’s response to Zeldman’s potty-mouthed rant + 5 steps to better html emails.
June 12, 2007: Jeffrey Zeldman responded to Campaign Monitor’s response over his potty-mouthed rant with a well thought out and much more modest post, Eight points for better e-mail relationships.
June 14: Zeldman lingers on the subject: Nokia is trying to cram a bad web page—the kind of web page that is all graphics and almost no textual content—into a container that can’t hold it.
July 5, 2007: Despite my desire for all text, I confess I am a sucker for this: showcase of elegant email designs that work. The reason they work: design frames the language…not the other way around.
Dig This from the Dustbin: October 2005: Designing Emails For the Preview Pane and Disabled Images
* Zeldman says “sucks” a lot, which my six-year old daughter says is a bad word.
Dec
12
For whatever perverse drive, desire or demon, this morning I worked through Hugh McLeod’s Global Micro Brands archive, Brian Clark’s post on Are You Someone’s User-Generated Content? and in the the same hour, I also read through randfish’s visual tour of the basics of social media marketing, twice.
Something was telling me I was gunning for a connection, searching for concepts to connect to bring this blog post to you.
That’s my convoluted way of saying this was divinely inspired. And that means you must pay attention.
The Moses of Marketing is about to speak. :0
1. You’ll Never Escape the Relationship
What stuck out to me most thoroughly in my research this morning–especially when I scrolled through the Power Point Presentation of social media marketing, which made made a very visual impression on me–was that social media marketing hinges on relationship.
It’s not about the blog, LinkedIn, Twitter or You Tube.
It’s about the relationship. It’s about the fundamental ways you make people follow you. It’s about building that cult. Those junkies.
They like you, and that is the fundamental reason they want to work with you. Joe Girard will tell you that.
But you don’t want to stop there.
2. You Must Build Your Personal Brand
Thing to keep in mind is this: there are lots of opportunities out there to market, whether on a micro scale or a macro scale.
Yet, you have to build your real estate marketing plan first. And your client has to be the cornerstone of that plan. But don’t forget about who you are.
What I mean by that is this: some pundits will say branding is dead or a waste of money. Now, branding for branding sakes is a waste of money.
I agree.
But there is a growing body of research that proves that branding will improve any marketing effort you put forth.
Think about the blogs that you follow most. What is it about them that you hang on them the most?
Definitely the writing, the wit, the humor, the information. But don’t forget about the clean design, the clever logo, the glamorous photo.
Moreover, this branding or presentation appeal exists in the living, breathing type, too.
You’re signature scarf, lavender zoot suit [had to throw that in there] or your charity work for Habitat for Humanity.
The point is you are separating yourself from everyone else, including your company.
Which brings me to my next point, the third commandment….
3. You Must Create Original Digital Content on Your Brand
One point about social media is that so few people are adding valuable content.
Most people linger half-heartedly on any social network at best. [With your striking brand and drop-em dead blog, you are ahead of the curve.]
I think part of people’s problems is the massive opportunity of new technologies flooding us. I stopped caring about the newest apps when I stumbled across a list of the 1,000 best Web 2.0 tools.
It’s like a plague.
And people abandon one thing for the next, helter skelter, void of a plan. The thing to remember about a blog is this:
People who abandon blogging [or neglect it] have gone from developing a digital asset of their own that could have real value, to becoming someone else’s user-generated content.
Blogs like Freelance Switch and Zen Habits have grown big fast because readers tend to value the independent publication approach…
Valuable content on a site you own is a classic win-win for readers and the site owner, while publishing on Facebook is a lopsided relationship that favors Zuckerberg and his data-hoarding cronies. [via]
The same is true with Active Rain.
You must remember this. What is bigger than your blog is your personal brand. Who you are. You are lost on Active Rain, Facebook, because that is not your content. Try and ask them to migrate your content to another independent blog platform.
But also remember that you are bigger than the company you work for. As Hugh McLeod says:
The grand-daddy of this space is probably Robert Scoble, who may work full-time for Microsoft, but whose brand is much, much larger than any job description they could give him; that’s worth far more than anything they’re ever likely to pay him.
Don’t let your company branding swallow you alive. There are certain protocols you have to follow. But you are smart. You’ll figure ways around it.
Very few people outside the blogosphere know what the hell he’s talking about. What I’m talking about. What Greg Swann is talking about.
They’re just now figuring out online stealth marketing, IE4, MySpace.
But perhaps the proliferation of users going online via mobiles will change all that.
Conclusion: Your Biggest Motivation for Obeying These Commandments
In a nutshell, you got three commandments you must obey:
1. Seek the relationship. That is the prize.
2. Become a valuable person by building your brand.
That means you simply must work on identifying what you can do better than anyone else in the entire world…and do that one thing the best. [Even if it means being a literary curmudgeon.]
3. Protect your individuality.
Now, perhaps your biggest motivator for obeying these commandments comes from Seth Godin soapboxing on monopolies:
The defectors know something you don’t. The defectors know that if they hurry, they can build a new monopoly, a monopoly you don’t control. They know that they can build a direct and long-term relationship with the end user, one that will survive competitive incursions and will last a long time. if they hurry.
And so, learn from these folks. you should hurry. You must hurry.
Dec
10
The Cult of the Real Estate Agent
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Perhaps you could follow this Trappist command: thou shalt not buy too much of our beer.
As Ben McConnell states, “Besides being what people describe as an excellent beer, Westvleteren has developed into a cult brand based on its rituals.”
Some of those rituals include:
- You must make an appointment to buy the beer
- You have to call the Beer Phone to make that appointment
- The monks, from an order of silent monks, may talk on the Beer Phone only
- You may buy only two cases at a time
- The beer is sold only once per month
- They only make 120,000 bottles per year
- Tales abound of people driving 16 hours across your Europe to get their monthly supply
- And the monks truly believe that sell beer to live and not “live to sell beer”
The key to creating this kind of cult is essentially being religiously devoted to your craft.
The Horror of Scarcity, the Pain of Exclusivity
Those who brew Westvleteren are serious about their business, “their craft”, but they aren’t trying to maximize results, track eyeballs, post records…
What they’ve done is created a cult: They’ve developed a need for their product that is borderline addiction.
A short supply sends people into horror-stricken panic. Think scarcity. Like the Great Depression type run on banks when everyone thought money was going to be scare.
Or it creates a sort of exclusivity…that it is a prize to have this product.
On an update to his original post, McConnell, an Austin resident, shares the fact that the only way he could get his hands on one of the beers was through a beer connoisseur’s collection.
How about that for being shut out?
The Cult That Spreads Without Help
Another creation of a cult occurred when Hugh McLeod created a the Blue Monster sticker campaign for a winery.
The blue stickers, which read “Microsoft change the world or go home” where a hit and people clamored for the stickers. In the small print on the sticker was a pitch to buy wine and a web address.
He also encouraged bloggers to request free bottles of wine if they blogged about it. They did. Happily.
That is cult via viral.
The Largest Cult in the Smallest Market
There is another kind of cult: the cult of community. Think Star Trek fans. Or medieval Renaissance week enders. Or Green Bay Packer fans.
The Green Bay Packers thrive in the smallest media market to be home of a major professional sports league.
Why is that?
It has a lot to do with legendary history.
The Green Bay Packers won five league championships in seven years and then went on to win the first two Super Bowls. In fact, the Super Bowl trophy was renamed the Vince Lombardi Trophy in 1970 in recognition of these awesome accomplishments.
And tons of lore:
Because Curly Lambeau’s employer, the Indian Packing Company, paid for the team’s first uniforms when they played their first game, they were called the Packers. Initially, due to Lambeau’s affinity to the University of Notre Dame, the Packers’ team colors were blue and yellow. When it was time for a change in 1959, new head coach Vince Lombardi introduced the current green and gold we have all come to know and love. Just two years after the new colors, the oval G was created by Green Bay Packers equipment manager Dad Braisher. [via]
The other towering figure head of the Green Bay Packers is Brett Farve: “The Green Bay Packers have been spoiled to have their quarterback, Brett Favre not miss a start in well over a decade - a record no one has ever come close to touching.”
A Profile of a Real Estate Cult
The thing to remember about creating a cult is that it is slightly religious. A better way of saying it is that it is ritualistic, or rich in ceremony or practice.
As an agent this could mean several things. Let me create a profile to give you an example:
- If you have significant or unusual history, share it. Create that story of your early days as an agent, the history, the lore.
- If you are successful, or if you can manage it, work only six months out of the year. When you come back from your six month hiatus, your waiting list will be the length of your arm.
- If you are charismatic, flaunt it. Use it to make people happy, fulfilled. Use it to entertain or perform on a high level. Cults are built around highly influential people. If you are not an irresistible person, get started on becoming one.
- If you can arrange it, perform certain functions of buying or selling homes differently. Instead of a closing at the title company as usual, see if you can’t do it at an old historic home, maybe even in the old historic court house. Think ceremony and different.
Finally, if you want to be the best, create the purple cow…
What you deliver should be something people instantly recognize, without being told, as something that’s extraordinary and almost impossible to imitate.
Think the iPod. Or the Wii. Or the Four Seasons Hotel George Paris.