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Your new emal signature

Recent conversations with coaching clients have lead us talk about when Realtors are needed and how to ask for business.

Two of them have come up with email signatures that you may want "borrow." Just give me credit.

They follow. You will note that they are much the same but with minor variations.

CHANGE HAPPENS! SO WHEN SOMEONE YOU KNOW... gets engaged, married, divorced, separated, widowed... gives birth, adopts, has a child move out, a parent move in... gets promoted, demoted, transferred... invests, divests, tires of renting. They'll likely need the help of a REALTOR soon and I want to help! Refer them to me for exceptional service... they'll be in great hands and will thank you for it – I promise!

SEE JUDY WHEN SOMEONE YOU KNOW... gets married, divorced, separated, widowed ... gives birth, adopts, has a child move out, a parent move in ... gets promoted, demoted, transferred ... invests, divests, tires of renting. They'll likely need the help of a REALTOR soon and I'd like to be their REALTOR! Refer them to me for exceptional service ... they'll be in great hands and will thank you -- promise!

Please let me know what you think.

Reg Gupton

Valuable help saving time with buyers

If you are in the real estate business I recently came across a set of tools that will help you with buyers. They are called the Buyer Homework and Buyer Interview forms.

One, the Buyer Homework is given/sent to the prospective buyer prior to your meeting with them. The form will help you save time and also show that you are a professional. It will help you help them.

I recently visited a new doctor. When I visited his office his receptionist handed me a clipboard with a set of forms that he wanted completed prior to meeting with me. I completed the forms without much thought. Your buyers will do the same.

The other, the Buyer Interview form to be used during your in-office interview with the prospect(s).

My experience and the experience of others says that the more time you spend prior to actually showing property the better. IMHO your job is to find the buyer the perfect house that meets their individual needs, not show every house in the MLS. No wins by showing 50 houses.

Fortunately, my average while showing houses was 5.7 or so per buyer before we found one that they liked.

If you would like either of these two forms, either leave a comment below containing your contact information including email or send an email to gupton@growthseminars.com

Reg Gupton

Well, It finally happened

After more than 15 years of using Top Producer I made a change. I finally changed to Top Producer 7i, the web enabled version of my favorite relational database.

I have used TP since it was a DOS program, I have taught classes on it and use it everyday. It is the foundation of my business and my life.

I signed up last Friday. The shift from TP 6i to TP 7i was pretty seamless. I made the decision in the late morning. The conversion took place while I was at lunch and was complete before the end of the day.

After breakfast Sunday I visited the login page to see what was there. I found a valuable resource. The resource is a very, very helpful. Visit https://www.topproduceronline.com/default.htm

Look in the middle column of the page under the heading Top Producer Training there is a link to Top Producer Training Links. Spend a few minutes with each. They are fast and full of information that will be useful.

These clips will help you begin to use Top Producer more effectively.

Reg Gupton

When it's too big to send

Ever have a file/document that is too big to send by email? I know I have.

While reading the November, 2006 issue of Business 2.0, an article on page 25 spoke to easy, proven solutions to this pretty common problem.

My solution of choice is www.yousendit.com. I use it regularly for big digital files, especially photos or large documents that are too big for my server. Visit the site and sign up. It is free.

Reg Gupton

How can you strengthen relationships easily?

I have been sending (off and on-mostly off) birthday cards to friends and family and clients for years.

It has been a hassle to day the least. You know how it is.

It's somebodys birthday next week. You forgot again. You jump in your car, hustle to the card store, find and buy a card. You go back to your office and find that you're out of stamps. That means a stop at the Post Office. You ended up spending $3 and 3 hours on one greeting card.

Well I found an easier way, but first I had to populate my database with valid birthdays. I sent the message below to everyone in my database.

I hope this message finds you well and you're having a wonderful fall season. I certainly am.

Recently I made a commitment to send more birthday cards and stay in touch with those important to me. Because of this decision, I have recently sent many more cards and found out two important things.

First, I find that I am missing many birthdays (maybe yours). And second, I have come to the harsh realization that some of the dates I do have in my database are incorrect. I sent a card (or two) and rec'd some friendly static from those when I sent a card on a the wrong date.

I would really appreciate it if you would give me a call or respond to this message and let me know your birth date (just the day and month is fine).

Thanks in advance. I look forward to hearing from you.

This message was sent to hundreds of folks got me run over with replies. I had contact with many, many folks who I have not been in touch with in years.

There were hundreds of replies. I have created a monster with this campaign. I can think of worse problems.

Reg Gupton

Are your customers worth anything to you?

Yesterday at lunch I finally got around to reading the September, 2006 issue of Fast Company magazine. There was sidebar on page 68 about executives being clueless on the financial implications of their customer strategies.

Over 87% did not know the average annual value of a customer.

It gets better, over 90% did not know the cost of a customer complaint.

And finally, again, over 90% did not know the cost of acquiring a customer.

You must be kidding. Most of this is pretty simple math, the kind you can do on the back of an envelope with data provided from the marketing folks.

No wonder some businesses continue to struggle.

Don't let this happen to you. You can complete this simple analysis in just a few minutes.

It will help you make more informed decision in the customer acquisition area.

Enjoy,

Reg Gupton

Why am I working so hard?

Some of us work too hard. Here is one take from a client. She had the following breakthrough.

He says, "I always look for the most difficult way of achieving something – Why? Am I focusing on the small picture and not the big picture? I haven’t clarified the challenge – what am I trying to prove?"

He has repeatedly chosen more difficult ways to grow business rather than easier, proven methods. We continue to move him forward on this troubling issue and you can too.

Reg Gupton

A perfect way to grow your relationships

Marketing to individuals is all about building relationships and sending hand written notes to folks can strengthen and build those relationships. A client during a brainstorming session came up with the following system (and systems are all important in personal selling).

A real estate contact manager software package Top Producer, is mentioned. I will talk about this more later.

I have created a system for writing my 15 daily notes that makes it easy and fun! I print out my sphere list from Top Producer. Each work day during my prospecting time I pull out my folder, which contains cards, envelopes and stamps, pick a name on the list and write them a small, personal note. I highlight the name on the list and put the date next to it. When I have written to everyone on the list, I print out a new list (which will have all the new biz cards I have added) and start over. I have received amazing cards, emails and phone calls from the notes I have sent. Since I am thinking about the notes more, I am constantly finding new people during the day to send a note to. If this person is not on my printed list, I add them to the last page. I now look forward to my note-writing time each morning!

Put this simple and yet, powerful strategy into effect and watch your relationships get better and better.

Reg Gupton

Who is your perfect client

During a recent coaching call we spoke about a marketing concept called the ideal client.

Here is what she said in her call review form:

Another great idea that came about on one of my coaching calls has to do with the Ideal Client. When I meet with business affiliates, I ask them who would be their ideal client? This question is amazing. They sit back, smile and start explaining who that would be. This helps me understand how I can best help them with referrals to their business and usually generates them asking the same question to me! Win-win!!

We will talk about the concept of working with business affiliates in a future post.

Reg Gupton

Your perfect work day

One of my coaching clients recently had the following breakthrough. We were working on time blocking and daily scheduling.

She wrote the following:

On one of our coaching calls we came up with the idea of creating the perfect work day. This idea has been very powerful for me. Although I have yet to have the day follow the plan perfectly, enough pieces have started to become habit that I am actually finding I am completing things more efficiently and faster, resulting in more personal free time!

Write your own perfect day and perfect week. You will find it useful.

Reg Gupton