Archive for the 'Business' Category

Real Estate school is over, you’ve got your license at last, and have listed your first house. It’s Saturday morning and you are ready to do an open house for your client. The housing market has been a little slow lately and you need to find an edge. The client’s house is great and shows very well. It has some great amenities such as great schools, fabulous shopping nearby, and a great view out of the upstairs window. You need to find a way to make sure your visitors know what a great buy it is!

You have all the usual marketing materials available including a full color flyer, the MLS printout, and your double sided business cards. You have freshly baked some chocolate chip cookies and purchased three open house signs. You are ready to close this deal today.

You go online and pull up a map of the client’s house and realize that the main street is miles away. How are you going to direct people in with only three open house signs? You start to panic. You login to your computer and type in open house marketing materials.

Among the listings is a link to an Open House Marketing Kit. You click on the link and peruse the contents. Hmmm… you think to yourself, “this might be helpful.” You download the files, fire up MS Word and personalize the materials to fit your clients needs. Soon you are printing signs, motivational cards, and even a sign up sheet.

You put all of your materials together and head out to your client’s house. You start at the main road and put out your open house signs. The bright yellow directional signs you printed out are very helpful to keep people going in the right direction. The sign that says “Freshly Baked Cookies Ahead,” is sure to be a hit.

As you pull up to the house and greet your client, you make sure to put your Open House- Come On In sign on the front door. Your clients take off for an afternoon at the mall and you get busy. You warm up your cookies in the oven to get that wonderful aroma throughout the kitchen and strategically place some of your motivational cards throughout the house.

You lay out the sign up sheet next to the plate of cookies and put your Open House Business Cards in a display holder. You are ready. Soon the doorbell rings and you invite your first visitors in. After they sign in and have a cookie you show them around the property.

The motivation cards are a great conversational tool. You have placed one that says DSL on the computer and another that says Dual Pane on the windows. Your visitors are impressed and let you know that having DSL available is very important for their home based business. As your first visitors leave you hand them a business card with all the home info on it along with the room sizes on the back.

Soon the traffic is brisk with many people drawn in by the cookie sign. The sign-in sheet is filling up and people are interested in the school district from the great schools card. Your plate of cookies is dwindling and all of a sudden your cell phone rings.

It’s you first visitors of the day calling back to place an offer on the house. The High Speed DSL was a great selling point as many homes in the area didn’t have it. You invite them back and write up an offer. Soon your clients return and the deal is signed. Not bad for a few hours work and a plate of cookies! The Marketing kit helped bring people in and was a great conversation starter for visitors.

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The Open House Marketing Kit contains MS Word
Templates for the following…

Directional Signs: Right, Left, And Straight Ahead
Freshly Baked Cookies Sign
Come On In Sign
Sign-In Sheet
Free Drawing Cards
Open House Motivator Cards (10)
Real Estate Marketing Cards (10)
Real Estate Marketing Cards Blank (10)

Additional Materials Needed

Avery Business Card Stock (10 Card)
Heavy Weight Colorful Paper
Sharpie Markers

Directions for use:

Download the Open House Kit
Unzip the files
Open in MS Word
Modify the Templates as needed for your individual properties
Print sheets as necessary for your next open house.
Use Colorful Heavy Weight Paper for signs
Use Avery Business Card Stock for Card Templates.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: real estate, open house, marketing

The Real Estate market is changing. Prices are declining for the first time in years. Here in California, the prices are coming down from the stratosphere. Houses are still selling, but are taking months instead of days. In my Toastmasters club we have quite a few people that are involved in the Real Estate business. For some this is the first decline they have ever seen. For the more experienced agents, they have seen this cycle before.

I have asked a few of them how they are coping with the market changes. Many are sharpening their marketing tools to help match potential buyers with sellers. Others are having open houses on the weekend to bring in buyers. Others have moved online with personal websites and internet search tools.

My wife and I have spent some time over the past few weeks looking at open houses in our area. We have seen everything from an agent on the phone the whole time we visited to an agent that took the time to ask our needs, personally show us around the house, and the offer to show us other properties that might meet our needs better.

I noticed the marketing materials offered. They ranged from mass duplicated Xeroxes of the MLS listing to full color, glossy brochures. One agent even had a glossy brochure and a DVD available. When we got home I put on my marketing hat and thought to myself- how would I market Real Estate in this market?

I asked myself this question… What would I look for in a home?

Here are some things that came to mind…

Single story
Large Rooms
Efficient Kitchen
3 or 4 Bedrooms
Bright & Airy
Private Yard
Quiet Neighborhood
Good Schools

What bonus features would be good…

Nice View
Spa
Sunroom
3 Car Garage

What features might detract…

Pool with Maintenance Costs
Tile or Wallpaper the Wrong Color
Busy Street or Airport Nearby

I sat down at my computer and started working on some ideas for my Realtor friends. Since I’m not a Real Estate agent I had to look at this as a potential buyer. I came up with some business card sized marketing tools that I think will be helpful to Real Estate agents and others. The basic set is Microsoft Word template of 10 cards printed out on standard Avery Business card stock. The cards are simple and can be printed front and back.

The idea is to get information to the prospective buyer in a quick and easy format. The nice thing with business cards is they fit easily in your pocket or purse. Where a brochure or flyer might be discarded, a business card may be referred to over and over. Hopefully these will be a useful addition to a standard marketing strategy.

Real Estate Marketing Cards

The Open House Card: This is a great little tool for prospective buyers to take with them. They cost only a few cents apiece and are customized to the individual property. The front side of the card has the basic information along with the agents name and phone number. The back of the card can be printed with additional data, such as room sizes, area amenities, or loan numbers.

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The Lookie Loo Card: Many people that come to an open house are looking for something different than the property for sale. You might be offering a single story and they need a two story with more room. The house you are selling might be out of their price range. This is where the Lookie Loo cards come in. Create some of these cards for other properties for sale in your area. Take out the word Lookie Loo and replace it with a descriptive title of other properties.

When you hold an open house, ask your visitors their needs in a home. Offer these cards as an alternative to the property that is open. This will broaden your reach with prospective buyers. Popular options would be a less expensive property, a larger property, and possibly a location with a view or pool. Print the back side with additional information that matches the property. Example: For less expensive homes, offer loan information, for deluxe homes offer a list of amenities.

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The Investor Card: With declining prices, properties are starting to look good to investors again. Here in California, the prices are still out of whack, but other areas of the country there are homes and condominiums that make sense to investors. Here is a simple card where you do the math. You show your prospective clients the payment and additional costs along with the bottom line. You answer the question… What will it take to make a profit on this property? Printing loan information on the back is a great way to complete this card.

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The Move In Special Card: This is a card that can help differentiate you from the competition. Offer your prospective clients a reason to do business with you. This card is especially helpful at open houses where the neighbors drop in to see what homes are selling for. Some of these people may be interested in buying and selling in the future. This card will give them a reason to call you back.

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Back of Card: Room Sizes. This is a great template that prospective buyers will refer to over and over. This can be especially helpful when comparing different properties. Just lay out the room size cards of multiple properties on the table. This quick reference tool will give your buyers the data they need at a quick glance.

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Loan Payment Card: Run the numbers for your clients and show them how affordable your property is. Offer multiple cards with different loans on them. If your open house property is expensive, offer cards with more affordable properties on them, with this template on the back. This is a great way to match prospective buyers with a home they can truly afford.

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With this Word template it’s easy to copy and paste the card designs that you want.

Directions:

Download the Real Estate Marketing Template
Open in Microsoft Word
Fill in the blanks with your property data
Cut & Paste cards as necessary
Print out on Avery Business Card Stock (10 Card)
Break cards apart and display for clients
A blank template is included for easy data entry

Idea Options:

1. Have different cards available in Business Card Holders throughout your open house. The amenity cards work well in areas with a view.

2. Replace clip art with your own pictures (90 x 90 pixels or less).

3. Use these cards in conjunction with Online Marketing for greater effectiveness.

Other Cards Sets Available:

Goal Setting Toolkit

Five Minute Organizer

In my last post I talked about the problems I had at Chipotle Mexican Grill along with the inability to access their Flash based website. I just wanted to post an update and exemplify great customer service.

I contacted Chipotle restaurants through their online comment form and explained the problems that I had experienced. Their representative, Joe Stupp, wrote me back within a few hours and offered to address each issue that I had. Joe explained that I was overcharged and offered me a coupon for additional items at no charge. He said he would contact the local store and update them on product pricing. He also explained that they will be redesigning their website soon, which will make navigation and alternate browser access much easier.

Bottom Line: Joe is a nice guy who actually cares about his customers.

With this type of customer service, I’ll be an even stronger Chipotle evangelist in the future.

Thanks Joe!

Technorati Tags: customer service, restaurants

With a lot of new items coming in the next few weeks here at Success Begins Today, I decided to take a close look at our current setup and put this blog through the SPARK ratings system. The five items in the SPARK system really cover the majority of ground in a marketing sense. I asked the question…

What is good about this blog and what does it lack?

I’ve put my thoughts down and also listed a blog in each category that I think rates 5 stars. The comparison should hopefully help me make some constructive changes. I welcome your comments and opinions.

The SPARK Rating system consists of Five Key Areas

1. Story
2. Product or Service
3. Atmosphere
4. Routine
5. Key Values

Let’s start with the Story of Success Begins Today. The story here is about 2 sentences long. If you go to our current about page you’ll find a vague statement about the title and not much else. There is a small picture of me so at least you can put a face to the writing. In the Spark ratings system I would give myself a 2 out of 5, or a poor rating. No excuses here, just a lot of work to be done.

As an example of a blog with a great story, I would pick Liz Strauss’s great “Successful-Blog” as a glowing example. She has some great content that really illustrates an ongoing narrative with her audience. Since she is a writer by trade she is really adept at the craft of story telling. Her page entitled “My blogging goal,” is powerful and tells an amazing story of her father and the difference he made in the lives of others.

Liz has over 10 different pages that form her “about” statement. They are clearly listed at the top of the left hand column of her blog and catch your eye quickly. In a few minutes you get a real picture of who Liz is, her purpose for blogging, and some great information to help you become a better blogger. In the different articles she has numerous pictures of herself writing, thinking, and working at the computer. These really help you capture her emotions and make you feel like you have known her for a long time.

Three of her pages really stand out as shining examples of links that every successful blog should have…

• About Page
• Goals Page
• Popular Posts Page

Be sure to take a look at how she has crafted a inspirational story that draws you into the pages of her blog.

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When we talk about the “product or service” of a blog, we have to ask the question as a reader… “What’s in it for us?” With SBT I think there are two primary “what’s” or products that are available here. The first is motivational writing on inspirational subjects. This is what the blog started out as and continues to be the passion that drives the writing. The second product has become our free downloads in our Five Minute Solutions series. These pocket sized business cards have proved to be the most popular destination here and people have found many amazing uses for the cards.

Overall I think we offer a good product that people find useful. I would give SBT a rating of four. One of my mentors in blogging has been Rosa Say and her 5 star blog called “Talking Story.” Her blog is the epitome of a great product and unselfish service. Her main “product’ is her book, “Managing with Aloha.” The reviews on Amazon are all 5 stars and the book takes a unique look at management through the lens of Hawaiian values.

The thing that really sets Rosa’s blog apart from the rest is her Ho’ohana Community. This collaboration of bloggers presents an amazing “voice” that is diverse with unique viewpoints and ideas. The synergy that is created through the help of Rosa’s blog is remarkable. As a facilitator Rosa offers help and guidance to others and provides a structure for expressing ideas. The overall service that she provides to her readers is definitely five stars and is available free of charge.

Spend some time exploring her site. You’ll find so many examples of a great product or service ideas that can be offered to readers and website visitors. Examples include..

• Community Forum
• Manifesto
• Newsletter

All three of the items above are on my list for future implementation and Rosa’s site offers great inspiration to get them done.

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The third item on the SPARK acrostic is Atmosphere. When talking about a blog it’s the design and the look and feel of a site. It’s the colors, the fonts and the overall structure. It’s the pictures, the graphics and the icons. It’s the words, feelings and expressions. It’s the total of all of these items combined into an online adventure.

As someone who enjoys the graphic arts, I’ve spent a lot of time on the design of this site. I’ve tried different Wordpress templates, different color combinations, and different header designs. The design has gone from two columns to three and some new plug-ins have recently been added. In the latest iteration I’ve gone for a more professional look and feel.

The problem with spending too much time on design is that the returns do not match the time and energy expended. If I have any advice in this area it is to find a well developed template and do minor modifications. Do enough to make it your own and come up with your own header graphic.

In trying to rate this site for Atmosphere, I had to step back and try and look at the site with unbiased eyes. The blue and silver colors are easy on the eyes, the header has a professional look, and the tag line provides some inspiration. The template fits most screens and three columns provides more information above the fold. Overall a good look, but nothing inspiring enough to garner a five. I would rate it a four.

In my search for an outstanding blog I’ve looked at hundreds of templates and custom designs. Very few really inspire me. Given the available screen real-estate and the abject fear of most bloggers to use Flash or other animation software, most blogs are a compromise to lower resolution screens and older computers.

One blog that has really stood out in this area and has worked through the compromises to present a very unique look is Yaro Starak’s Entrepreneur’s Journey. Using a state of the art CSS template for Wordpress, Yaro combines white space, color blends, and smart buttons in a very intuitive user interface.

Above the fold he includes his picture and a welcome audio message that develops his story on the first visit. His placement of popular articles and blog traffic tips keep readers on his site. Overall this is an amazing use of space. Almost any blogger can find inspiration on this site. Be sure to take note of his…

• Podcasts
• Forums
• Articles Page

Yaro has created a Five Star interface and provides a great resource to all bloggers.

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When it comes to routine, blogs are naturally efficient at providing links to previous posts and custom pages. The blog software automatically produces comment pages and keeps track of visitors and other sites that link to them. What sets apart a blog in this area is smart design and a liberal use of informational links. Success Begins Today is just average in this area. I’ve been re-designing some of the links on paper and I hope to implement a much more intuitive system to help users navigate this site. In the meantime I would rate it a 3.

One site that stands out in the navigation area is Darren Rowse’s great Problogger site. This site is very easy for first time visitors to navigate. Key areas of interest are listed at the top in different colored CSS boxes. It’s easy to find what you are looking for. His left sidebar offers numerous “about” pages and the available FAQ pages will answer most of your questions. Overall a great resource and an exemplary model of organization. Be sure to check out his…

• FAQ pages
• Tips Pages
• Blogging for Beginners page

Five stars to Darren for a great roadmap to blogging!

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The final area of SPARK is the Key Value. It’s the tag line that you come away with after you visit a site. It’s the one sentence mantra that describes your experience. It may be… “Great site with wild colors,”or “great podcast,” or maybe “what were they thinking??”.

I’m not sure what the Tagline for Success Begins Today might be but it probably have something to do with ideas and the utility of our Five Minute Cards. One of the comments on our Five Minute Organizer was left by Peter Kua. He writes…

 Ahh.. the power of the paper and pen! Very cool!

Since the comments have been generally positive I would rate our take away as Good or a 4.

One site that always elicits a comment from me is Seth Godin’s blog. Seth has such a unique style of writing and is always thinking outside the box. As an author Seth has sold thousands of books to marketers and other business people all over the world. His claim to fame is being remarkable. In one of his latest posts from his 5 star blog he lists what people really want…

The same thing everyone else is having, but different.

A menu where the prices aren’t all the same.

More attention than the person sitting next to them.

A slightly lower price than anyone else.

A new model, just moments before anyone else, but only if everyone else is really going to like it.

A seat at a sold out movie.

Access to the best customer service person in the shop, preferably the owner.

Being treated better, but not too much better.

Being noticed, but not too noticed.

Being right.

I think in blogging people want SPARK.

• Tell us your story,
• Offer a great product or service,
• Package it in a fun and exciting atmosphere
• Make it easy to navigate
• Give us something memorable to take away

When you put all the pieces together you’ll have a Five Star Blog!

I added up my score and came up with a score of 3.4. A little above average but quite a ways to go. With inspiration from the Five Star blogs listed above I’m sure constructive changes will come.

Be sure to take a look at their blogs and be inspired!

Over the last week we talked about the five elements of SPARK and how they relate to businesses. The five criteria are…

1. Story
2. Product or Service
3. Atmosphere
4. Routine
5. Key Values

It will be pretty easy to set up a 5 x 5 grid to rate businesses on a 1 to 5 scale on each of the five areas. This will give us a way to average out a score and publish a rating for a business. The ratings will be as follows

1. None
2. Poor
3. Average
4. Very Good
5. Excellent

Lets look at an imaginary business and see how we would score it.

Wiley Widget company has the following

1. Story: The story of Wiley Widgets is a short one.
   They are basically a copy-cat organization without a
   creation story or marketing strategy. The average
   customer doesn’t know much about them. The address
   of the company is not listed on the web site.
   Rating: 2 (Poor)
2. Product: The Wiley Widget is a cheap copy of a
   name brand product. Product quality is average
   with more defects than the name brand.
   Rating: 3 (Average)
3. Atmosphere: The product comes in a cheap white
   box with generic lettering. The web page consists
   of a very generic page with simple order form.
   Rating: 2 (Poor)
4. Routine: The ordering routine of the company is
   simple but does not have any bells and whistles.
   You go to the website and select size, color and
   quantity. The product is shipped by UPS.
   Rating: 3 (Average)
5. Key Values: The key take away from Wiley is one
   sentence… Cheap Commodity. The product does
   not elicit excitement and would not lend itself to
   word-of-mouth promotion.
   Rating: 3 (Average)

The SPARK Rating will be the total of the ratings divided by 5
Wiley Widget ends up with a 2.6 rating which puts it below average for companies in its marketplace. These five items will give a pretty accurate accounting of business success and allow a picture to form for areas that need improvement. If 4 out of the 5 areas are very good or better but one area lags behind, this rating will help pinpoint the problem.

Lets look at an example of a company that lags behind in one area.

Molly’s Muffins has a great story of home baker turned entrepreneur.

1. Story: Her Applesauce muffins were a big hit with her
   friends and co-workers. They encouraged her to start
   her own business, which she did after scrimping and saving.
   The story gets better with her whole grain and organic ingredients.
   Rating: 5 (Excellent)
2. Product: Her muffins are the best. She uses the best
   ingredients and makes sure every one is perfect.
   Rating: 5 (Excellent)
3. Atmosphere: This is her weak point. She has taken over
   an old donut shop. The walls are dingy white and the
   plain glass display cases are boring. She has no sign
   or logo on the business. She just has a piece of paper
   in the window that says Molly’s Muffins.
   Rating: 2 (Poor)
4. Routine: Her smile is her best selling point and her
   attention to detail on each sale is great. The sales routine
   is easy to follow and she always makes you feel welcome.
   Rating: 5 (Excellent)
5. Key Values: The word of mouth about her muffins has
   driven a tremendous amount of business her way. The key
   sentence… Her muffins are the best! Viral Marketing at work.
   Rating: 5 (Excellent)

As you can see when we break down the ratings one glaring area becomes apparent. If she were to design a logo, add a sign, and paint the place in friendly colors, her long term viability would increase. The improved atmosphere would increase sales and probably change her key value to cute place and great muffins.

Take a minute and jot down your ratings for some popular businesses in your area. See if there are any glaring problems that could be overcome with a little SPARK! If you run your own business can you see some areas for improvement? Have others rate your business and see if any patterns emerge. A little SPARK never hurts!

Later in the week we’ll look at SPARK and how it relates to Personal Branding.

Other posts in the SPARK series…

Creating Spark
Spark: Telling Your Story
Spark: Product Excellence
Spark: The Routine Path
Spark: Key Values

Visit any store in your local mall, hire someone to perform a job around your house, or visit the newest website and you’ll capture it. You’ll come away from each experience with something very profound. It’s a few words compiled into a short sentence. It will affect your future and it may have profound implications for your friends, family, and even the person you meet on the street.

It’s something so simple you may not realize it even exists, yet we create them on a daily basis. It’s called a “Key Value,” and it happens in our minds. It’s the few words or sentence we create to describe our experience.

Here are some examples…

• Walk out of a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop and the words may be hot and delicious
• Experience Disneyland and the values might be fun and excitement.
• Fresh and clean might describe having your carpet cleaned.
• Paying $1.59 for a small soda at Wendy’s might elicit what a rip-off

These key values are commonly shared with our friends and family. If they are positive, our friends will want to experience them. If they are negative, people will stay away. These key values are a mixture of the other SPARK values. When you combine the business story with the quality of the product and experience it in the unique business atmosphere while following the routine path, these items form a synergy that can be expressed in just a few words.

The interesting thing is that only one of the SPARK values need be negative and the entire key value may end up negative. Take Starbucks as an example. They have a compelling story with a wonderful atmosphere and an intuitive routine. Their product quality is exceptional but what key value would you take away if their paper cup leaked all over your freshly pressed white shirt?

Attention to detail is paramount and the little things can really sway a customers opinion. If you are sitting in a window seat at a 5 star restaurant and you notice a dead fly on the window sill will your key values be positive? When you have to fill out that webform three times to get it to work… maybe the routine will sway your opinion of an otherwise fine business.

In his insightful book, “All Marketers Are Liars,” Seth Godin talks about the power of first impressions.

The problem with first impressions isn’t that they’re not important (They are important! They’re crucial!) but that we have no idea at all when the first impression is going to occur. Not the first contact, but the first impression. That’s why authenticity matters.

Since we don’t know when first impressions occur, having positive SPARK values are very important.

We need to ask the question… what key values are our customers taking away?

Other posts in the SPARK series…
Creating Spark
Spark: Telling Your Story
Spark: Product Excellence
Spark: The Routine Path