Yes, Postcards Really CAN Work. . .Despite What You’ve Been Told

Whether you’re using them for the first time or the hundredth time, you’ve probably heard this tired refrain, “Postcards just don’t work.” Maybe you’ve even said it yourself.

Good news! Being completely and totally wrong has never been so exciting. . .until now.

Why? Because marketing with postcards is not only EFFECTIVE and CHEAP, it’s EASY. And that, my friend, is a hard combination to beat.

The secret? Knowing what to do with postcards, when to do it and how. Just as you wouldn’t use a lug wrench when the job calls for a crescent, so too must you understand the proper application and use of postcards.

Why Use Postcards?

Before we get to “how” you should use postcards, let’s review why you would even want to. In other words, how could a cheap, flimsy piece of paper ever serve you better than other, more sophisticated, direct mail tactics?

1. Postcards don’t need to be opened. The headline, copy and graphics are all right there for the viewing, unlike other marketing collateral that comes in an envelope and requires the prospect to at least open it.

   Why is this significant? Because it gives your marketing piece more opportunities to catch the prospect’s attention and get read before being tossed.

2. Postcards are short. This appeals to the short-attention-span reader or skimmer because she can get to the point quickly, without wading through what she sees as a bunch of unnecessary filler material.
3. Printing and postage costs are cheaper. Traditional letters or direct mail packages often cost twice as much as postcards, if not more. So if you’re working on a small budget, if you want to reach thousands of people you couldn’t afford to mail to otherwise, or you simply want to test the waters, postcards can be a cost effective means of doing just that.
4. Writing and designing postcards is easier and less costly. If you choose to write your own copy and do your own design, postcards take a fraction of the time you’d invest otherwise due to its limited amount of space. Alternatively, if you hire out the writing and design to a third party, you may spend a bit more than doing it yourself.
5. Postcards work for any business-including yours. Whether you’re in retail, an information marketer, direct marketer or any other type of vendor, postcards have worked for ALL business classifications.

The question is not whether postcards will work for you, but WHEN you should put them to work for you. Stay tuned next week for WHEN. . .

Are you ready for a little fun? OK, I’m about to let you in on a little secret…5 secret weapons for leasing and selling even more. Now all I ask is that you keep an open mind and agree to try just one. After all adding just one tool to the toolbox might actually be all you need to breakthrough your current income level. Hit 2009 running…Follow this 7-step selling process and you’ll win every time!

1. Teleseminars
   Invite a large group of prospects via an email to join you for a teleseminar (really just a large conference call) and deliver content of value! Offer different topics such as how to choose the perfect lease space, 3 strategies for adding value to your investment property before it goes on the market, or even how to calculate how many square feet to commit to.

   This is a terrific way for prospects to “sample” before signing an exclusive. It’s really fun too, especially for those of you who like to “talk”.

   A handful of my clients are currently doing this with enormous success.

   Go to www.freeconference.com to reserve you free conference line.

2. Webinars
   Just like a teleseminar but you combine the phone with the ability for your audience to see content on your desktop. For example, a PowerPoint slide show could be used to reinforce your presentation.

   Webinars are going to gain popularity quickly over the next 12 months – but its not a replacement for “see the people, see the property”.

3. Craigslist
   Have you ever thought about putting your listings on Craigslist? Try it, it might surprise you. How about putting up your offer of CRE services?

   One of my clients put an office building she was leasing on Craigslist on a Thursday, had 3 showings on Friday and 2 signed leases shortly thereafter. In fact, she completely leased her building with the use of Craigslist. Not shabby!

   www.craigslist.com

4. EBay
   Although I have never tried this one (and am not even sure how to do it), I have heard it works well.

   If you don’t have a clue how to do this why don’t you pick up a book in the Dummy series – “eBay For Dummies” is just one of many available.

5. Linkedin
   A professional’s “Facebook”.

   Linkedin is an online network of more than 25 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries. When you join, you create a profile that summarizes your professional accomplishments. Your profile helps you find and be found by former colleagues, clients, and partners. You can add more connections by inviting trusted contacts to join Linkedin and connect to you.

   Your network consists of your connections, your connections’ connections, and the people they know, linking you to thousands of qualified professionals.

   Through your network you can:

   * Find potential clients, service providers, subject experts, and partners who
   come recommended
   * Be found for business opportunities
   * Search for great jobs
   * Discover inside connections that can help you land jobs and close deals
   * Post and distribute job listings
   * Find high-quality passive candidates
   * Get introduced to other professionals through the people you know

   Linkedin is free to join – but you have to be invited!

   Next time you Google someone you’re trying to get contact information on try Linkedin – chances are they’re a member.

Remember, try just one and don’t forget to let me know how it goes! Good luck.

 Do I have your attention? Of course I do. And I bet you’re expecting to read something like: make more cold calls, increase your canvassing and up your marketing. Wrong — Not that those are bad ideas but not the secret.

I feel compelled to mention that although there is no “Magic Bullet”, (the title of next weeks article) and in fact these times require getting back to the basics – it’s still not the secret.

The 3 secrets are simple — “eliminate tolerations”, “plan daily” and “delegate”.

1. Tolerations – Tolerations are those things that you put up with from situations, other people or from yourself, often times we think of these as distractions. Without realizing it, you allow these tolerations in your life so much that they drain energy and focus away from your ability to reach your desired goals and reduce your income potential.

Steps to becoming toleration free:

• List your tolerations (from situations, people, self)
• Check the ones you want to change immediately.
• Constantly review the list and add new ones.
• Know and understand that keeping tolerations is not helpful.
• Commit to take action to change.
• Make appropriate shifts and changes.

When you are toleration free, you have more energy left over for deal making. Not having to worry about or deal with the things you are tolerating could save you hours a day! This is time left over for money making action steps.

2. Planning – You must get into the habit of setting measurable goals and then planning daily, weekly, monthly and annually the required action steps to achieve these goals. Planning brings clarity for what needs to happen in order for you to achieve your goals.

Just think of a day when you went to work and knew exactly what actions steps you needed to take in order to achieve the results you expected to that day. Then, think of a day when you weren’t focused and seemed to spin your wheels all day long. The difference was you planned!

3. Delegate – Do what you do well – delegate everything else. What are the activities that really generate commissions? Probably things like deal making and relationships, right?

For example, if you tell yourself doing your own clerical work only takes a few minutes each day but the practice of doing so increases a little more each week eventually the clients will see less of you; even hear less of your voice and what do you think the impact will be? Fewer commissions of course!

Even if we can replace the commissions, we can never replace the time, and time is the second variable of growth.

So create these 3 new habits and watch your income take a leap!

Do you love to Network? Do you network? Do you even understand the value of networking? I first learned the value of networking in my early 20’s and believe to this day many of my successes can be attributed to my ability to effectively network beginning at a young age.

I remember being invited to an ICSC party in Las Vegas when I was 25 by a retailer I was in the midst of negotiating a deal with and the guest list represented the who’s who as far as retailers are concerned. It was evident to me almost immediately that I was the only broker at a party intended to keep us out (and retailers in). I even tuned out the few who were gossiping behind my back about the fact that I wasn’t on the official invite list and thus shouldn’t be there.

Youth was on my side; being na?ve at the time I focused on meeting and beginning relationships with as many of these individuals as I could. And I was genuinely interested in them as people first, what they did for a living second, and lastly how I might be of assistance to them – not the other way around. My Rolodex grew by leaps and bounds that evening.

Little did I know that evening would lay the groundwork for the next several years as I got more deals done then my competition because my calls got returned. I had developed the emotional equity I needed. I connected to develop relationships and without the open hand most others seem to have.

Attending networking events with a “what’s in it for me” attitude is transparent and extremely unattractive. So just how should one approach networking to get the biggest bang for the buck? I am glad you asked, read on. . .

1. Learn to appreciate relationships: Appreciate one person daily. This can be done with a phone call, email or personal note and only takes minutes. The benefits of this one tiny habit alone will produce a tremendous payoff.
2. Practice networking one day at a time: While in line at Starbucks, the grocery store, even the airport practice striking up a conversation. Eventually you will be able to do this with ease. And, you never know when you’ll come across just the person you’ve been looking for.
3. Join a networking group: There are so many – Rotary, Kiwanis, The Chamber of Commerce, industry associations, mastermind groups. Join these groups to meet new friends and to help foster the success of their business.
4. Go to industry functions: ICSC, CCIM, SIOR, NAIOP, CREW (for the ladies in the business), anything! Just go and enjoy the people you came across. Have the intention to seek out one person at each event whom you can help. Become resource rich!
5. Learn to smooze: Practice making people comfortable around you. Learn how to talk on a variety of subjects thereby being able to choose from your conversational arsenal when needed.
6. Make connections: Approach a group or person, introduce yourself and learn something about each person – be interested. Now, go back to your office and follow-up with each person.
7. Offer help and follow through: If you’re in the position to help someone you meet networking follow through and do it. The law of reciprocity will pay you back ten-fold.

The bottom line – be sincerely interested in people and cultivate the talent to be of genuine service to others with no expectations in return.

The practice of networking will provide you with many “get out of jail cards” to cash in when you need them!

Who can you reach out to today?

I keep hearing the same thing over and over from my clients . . . “My deals are taking forever to close/be fully executed”. This can be very frustrating for you and warrants some discussion. Is there anything you can do to speed things up?

I am going to go out on a limb and say often times “yes”. Now I am not na?ve, there are always going to be exceptions – remember the 80/20 rule? Well 80% of the time you are in the position to move things forward and don’t even know it. And of course, you will have absolutely no control 20% of the time.

Remember Einstein’s definition of insanity: “Doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result?” Something has got to change.

I imagine by now I have your attention and you’re ready for me to start spilling the beans – just exactly how can you help move a stalled deal forward? OK, OK, I’ll tell you (and yes I already know a handful of you are already using these strategies but . . . so many more of you are not).

1. Make a list of all of those involved in the negotiation. The brokers/agents, the real estate rep for the company, the lawyers representing each side, the decision maker(s), space planner/architect, city officials issuing permits and occupancy, anyone and everyone who has a role in the transaction.
2. Develop a system to track each person’s involvement in the deal and any open issues they are responsible for. For example the city officials seem to have a bigger role today than in the past – are they slacking in the permit process or on top of everything? What about the attorney, is a particularly heavy workload shifting your deal to the bottom or is it getting the attention it should?

   Be a detective and know how to ask the right questions.

3. Be a problem Solver. Once you have identified the stumbling blocks you must be in the position to solve them. One of the primary skills needed during these harder times is the ability to problem solve.
4. Be resource rich. Along the same lines as being a problem solver, have a gigantic toolbox of resources available. You never know when one comes in handy. Being resource rich also helps you land the listing!
5. Control your mindset. It’s possible this is the most important one of all. YOU MUST HAVE THE PROPER MINDSET. Do you believe you can get the job done? Or do you think it’s acceptable for all of your deals to be dragging – after all just open the paper and read the headlines. DON’T fall into this trap. Deals are closing and being executed every day, that’s a fact.
6. Finally, be patient. Sometimes there’s just nothing you can do.

Be in control, stay on top of things, and have terrific follow-up.

Remember our economy goes through cycles – these are necessary for our business. We need these down cycles in order to weed out the folks who just don’t belong in the business. And guess who’s left? DEALMAKERS. Stay focused and you will be one of the dealmakers left.

A fellow coach and friend of mine recently published a fantastic and timely article that really is so appropriate at the moment. Luckily, he granted me permission to reprint it in my newsletter — Thanks Doug (doug@ProfitableHorseman.com)

Do You Make This Mistake As You Build Your Business
Written By: Doug Emerson

As the Labor Day holiday weekend approaches, many will celebrate the lingering days of summer by taking a day or two off to relax or play.

It’s natural to also take some time to think about how your business can prosper in the last four months of the year. Your attitude may have more to do with your success than anything else. Business owners’ attitudes range from unstoppable enthusiasm to abysmal negativity. You’ve probably experienced this spectrum of emotion at some point in your own business life, too. I know I have.

Escape cold, hard reality for a moment to recall the children’s story, Peter Pan. This classic reminds of the importance of attitude. As you recall, early on in the story, Peter convinces the Darling children they’ll be able to fly to Neverland with him if they just change their attitudes and beliefs about the things and events that can NEVER happen.

Unlike Peter Pan’s Neverland, where anything can happen, some folks in the horse business live in a different Neverland where they are certain of things that will never happen. Have you ever shared this group’s thoughts about Never? Thoughts like these:

• I’ll never find the right employees
• This horse will never win
• I’ll never have enough riding students
• I’ll never be out of debt
• I’ll never find a buyer for this horse
• I’m never done for the day before 10:00 P.M.
• I never have any luck
• I never get clients who appreciate all I do for them
• I never get a day off
• I never have enough money to get what I really want

And the people living in their own Neverlands are right. What they believe will never happen, won’t.

Do you imagine any of the Olympic athletes in Beijing this month included never as a possibility?

Is it possible that the owners of the most successful horse businesses in your area built their businesses with an “I can never do it” attitude?

Did the smiling little girl on the pony leaving the show ring with first place think she could never win as she rode through the entry gate a few minutes earlier?

You’ll never know what you can accomplish until you eliminate Never from your vocabulary and your thoughts.

“So come with me, where dreams are born, and time is never planned. Just think of happy things, and your heart will fly on wings, forever, in Never Never Land!” – Peter Pan –

 About the Author: Doug Emerson helps professional horsemen struggling with the business half of the horse business become Profitable Horsemen! And, he writes one heck of a good newsletter!
www.ProfitableHorseman.com

Do you want to know a secret? It’s easy to make piles of money in commercial real estate – you don’t even have to be that smart! You just have to know what to do and then do it.

So, as I sit on a plane flying to Dallas to take my daughter to college (SMU), I decided to provide you with a QUICKSTART Commercial Real Estate Formula – 21 Steps to Success:

1. YOUR ATTITUDE: Attitude is quite simply your biggest key to success. If your attitude isn’t 100% do whatever it takes to shift it – do not underestimate this fundamental step. You achieve what you can believe.
2. YOUR VISION: What kind of business do you intend to have? Are you one of the bigwigs? If you can’t see it, you can’t achieve it. You must spend some time detailing where you plan to be in 1, 3 and even 10 years from now.
3. YOUR GOALS: Think about this, without goals what chance do you have of achieving them? Start with an income goal and then chunk it down into smaller goals to support your income goal.
4. YOUR TIME MANAGEMENT: Learn to time block, limit interruptions, and delegate as much as you can.
5. YOUR POWER OF PLANNING: Daily planning is not only important it’s essential for success. Each morning review your goals and outstanding deals, and then create a list of action steps to support them. Check off the money making action steps first.
6. YOUR POWER OF EXECUTION: Don’t get stuck in planning and forget to execute!
7. YOUR DATABASE: Quality above quantity. Make sure it’s current and allow it to grow. Your database is the single most important thing when it comes to creating an asset that supports your business growth and success.
8. YOUR ABILITY TO NICHE: Be an expert in a product type, geographic area or both.
9. YOUR NETWORKING: Network regularly at trade association meetings, mastermind groups, leads groups, wherever your ideal client hangs out.
10. YOUR ABILITY TO READ: Read everything – trade journals, newspapers, appropriate newsletters, anything and everything that is relevant to your business.
11. YOUR SALES TOOLS: Make a list of the sales tools you need and then acquire them.
12. YOUR SALES SKILLS: Likewise, make a list of the sales skills you think you need and then learn them.
13. YOUR PREPAREDNESS: The opposite of preparedness is failure.
14. YOUR WILLINGNESS TO BE IN MASSIVE ACTION: Important – successful people take more action steps daily – many more!
15. YOUR MARKETING SKILLS: I’ve come to realize good marketing skills supersede good sales skills when it comes to being successful. Invest in some good marketing skills – you’ll thank me.
16. YOUR PROSPECT PIPELINE: Always be prospecting. Choose three prospecting activities weekly to keep your pipeline full. The idea is to prevent the “feast or famine” cycle by being consistent with prospecting even when you think you don’t have the time or the need.
17. YOUR ABILITY TO PROBLEM SOLVE: Did you know prospects would pay just about anything to have their problems solved? Learn all about the problems your ideal client experiences and become a master at solving them.
18. YOUR ABILITY TO LISTEN: Talk 20%, listen 80%. Know what questions to ask.
19. YOUR FOLLOW-UP: Most clients fire their commercial real estate professional due to a lack of follow-up. Don’t let this be you. Remember, plan daily and include follow-up. And communicate good, bad or indifferent; it’s the communication of ANY type that’s key.
20. YOUR COMMITMENT: Decide if you’re interested in being a success or committed to being a success because unless you’re committed you won’t be. There are way too many things to be interested in but only a few to be committed to.
21. YOUR SELF-DISCIPLINE: Your determination and ability to achieve your goals and live up to your commitments.

Well there you have it, 21 steps. Good luck and let me know if I can be of service with any of the above.

Thanks to Seth Godin and his permission to include this great piece!

1. Anticipated, personal and relevant advertising always does better than unsolicited junk.
2. Making promises and keeping them is a great way to build a brand.
3. Your best customers are worth far more than your average customers.
4. Share of wallet is easier, more profitable, and ultimately more effective a measure than share of market.
5. Marketing begins before the product is created.
6. Advertising is just a symptom, a tactic. Marketing is about far more than that.
7. Low price is a great way to sell a commodity. That’s not marketing, though, that’s efficiency.
8. Conversations among the members of your marketplace happen whether you like it or not. Good marketing encourages the right sorts of conversations.
9. Products that are remarkable get talked about.
10. Marketing includes the way your people answer the phone, the typesetting on your bills, and your returns policy.
11. You can’t fool all the people, not even most of the time. People, once unfooled, talk about the experience.
12. If you are marketing from a fairly static annual budget, you’re viewing marketing as an expense. Good marketers realize that it is an investment.
13. People don’t buy what they need. They buy what they want.
14. You’re not in charge, and your prospects don’t care about you.
15. What people want is the extra – the emotional bonus they get when they buy something they love.
16. Business to business marketing is just marketing to consumers who happen to have a corporation to pay for what they buy.
17. Traditional ways of interrupting consumers (TV ads, trade show booths, junk mail) are losing their cost-effectiveness. At the same time, new ways of spreading ideas (blogs, permission-based RSS information, and consumer fan clubs) are quickly proving how well they work.
18. People all over the world, of every income level, respond to marketing that promises and delivers basic human wants.
19. Good marketers tell a story.
20. People are selfish, lazy, uninformed and impatient. Start with that and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what you find.
21. Marketing that works is marketing that people choose to notice.
22. Effective stories match the worldview of the people you are telling the story to.
23. Choose your customers. Fire the ones that hurt your ability to deliver the right story to the others.
24. A product for everyone rarely reaches much of anyone.
25. Living and breathing an authentic story is the best way to survive in a conversation-rich world.
26. Marketers are responsible for the side effects their products cause.
27. Reminding the consumer of a story they know and trust is a powerful shortcut.
28. Good marketers measure.
29. Marketing is not an emergency. It’s a planned, thoughtful exercise that started a long time ago and doesn’t end until you’re done.
30. One disappointed customer is worth ten delighted ones.
31. In the “googleworld”, the best in the world wins more often, and wins more.
32. Most marketers create “good enough” and then quit. Greatest beats good enough every time.
33. There are more rich people than ever before, and they demand to be treated differently.
34. Organizations that manage to deal directly with their end users have an asset for the future.
35. You can game the social media in the short run, but not for long.
36. You market when you hire and when you fire. You market when you call tech support, and you market every time you send a memo.
37. Blogging makes you a better marketer because it teaches you humility in your writing.

Obviously, knowing what to do is very, very different than actually doing it.

One of the questions I am frequently asked is, “What’s the easiest way to get a new client fast?” While there is no single BIG secret there are a handful of strategies that, when implemented, can produce a new client fast. These strategies are not new but they work every time. They are:

1. Host a “Client Appreciation” Breakfast: Make a list of about 100 past, present and future clients — invite them to a “Client Appreciation” breakfast. Give a 10-15 minute talk about ignoring all of the “gloom and doom” everywhere and inform your guests that there is still an abundance of money to be made in 2008 and even 2009. Let them know you appreciate them and their business. That’s it. No sales pitch for new business, just plain old appreciation.
2. Call 100 Business Associates and Ask for a Referral: You have heard this many times before so you already know this, but are you actively doing it? Chances are you’re not. Be clear you would appreciate some new business, and be serious in your request. The secret is to come to the table with a referral for the individual of whom you are making the request. This works like a charm — it’s the “Law of Reciprocation.”
3. Turn Cold Calls into Warm Calls: Make a list of 100 folks with whom you’ve thought of doing business, gather up their contact information, then send each one a personalized letter introducing yourself. Let them know the benefits of working with you and offer your services; maybe even include a short success story from a past client. Then, follow up each letter with a call. These are now warm calls. Again, nothing new here, but are you doing it?
4. Contact all Past Clients: This is a no-brainer. It is easier to get additional business from an old client then new business from a stranger. Just do it!
5. Ask: The biggest mistake professionals such as yourself make is that you actually forget to “ask” for the business. Never assume the other person already knows you need more clients. Have you ever hired a professional you don’t know because you assumed your business friend didn’t need or want any more clients; that he already had a full book of business? WRONG. Very few people don’t want or need any new business.

I hope these 5 simple strategies gave you a few good ideas. I haven’t introduced you to anything new, but hopefully I have motivated you to get into action! The funny thing is if you implement these ideas you will actually get a new client fast. Imagine that!

I recently attended a bootcamp designed to teach the attendees to attract clients like crazy. While reviewing my notes realized each presenter had 5 common elements, so I’d like to share these elements with you. Pay attention because each presenter earns multiple 7 figures each year!

1. Planning
   You must get into the habit of setting measurable goals and then planning daily, weekly, monthly and annually the required action steps to achieve these goals. Planning brings clarity for what needs to happen in order for you to achieve your goals.

   Just think of a day when you went to work and knew exactly what actions steps you needed to take in order to achieve the results you expected to achieve that day. Then, think of a day when you weren’t focused and seemed to spin your wheels all day long. The difference between the two days was your planning!

2. Marketing Mindset
   You need to understand you are not just in the business of delivering a service – you are in the business of marketing as well. When you learned the business, you were taught how to perform the specific services required of your client. You were not given a course on marketing.

   You might be a terrific broker, but if you can’t or don’t know how to be a marketing master you will never be able to keep your pipeline full.

   Just the same, you might be a mediocre broker but a master at marketing. If so, you will never have a shortage of clients!

   Learning how to market your services will give you more bang for your buck than anything else you can do.

3. Have Systems and Processes in Place
   I cannot stress the importance of having systems and processes in place. Why re-invent the wheel every time?

   Some examples for useful systems include: marketing, prospecting, time management, and follow-up (join my Commercial Real Estate Success Inner Circle being re-launched next month for these system templates).

   The result of taking the time to implement systems and processes is simple – more time for you!

4. Have a Winning Team in Place
   I think I have always underestimated the importance of a having a winning team in place. A winning team extends beyond your assistant and perhaps a junior broker or two.

   My winning team includes:

   1. Assistant
   2. Webmaster
   3. Transcriber (from audio to word)
   4. Office Organizer
   5. Lawyer
   6. Accountant
   7. Marketing Coach
   8. Mastermind Group
   9. Technology Expert

   My team allows me to grow my business. Without these people in place, I could not do what I do.

   The biggest mistake people make when building a business is putting team members in place after they are needed. This style of growth DOES NOT work. The team needs to be in place before the growth occurs because the team supports your growth.

   Who’s on your team? Just for fun, list them out . . . who’s missing?

5. Make Choices
   Everyday you make choices for better or worse. For example you made the choice today to read this newsletter and maybe, just maybe, you picked up a tip or two that will improve your business.

   You make the choice to show up to work every day (or not), to exercise daily (or not), to take action steps that will put money in your pocket (or not); you get the idea.

   The choices you make reflect the life you are living. No one else makes these choices for you; you are in control.

   So, why not choose a little more thoughtfully? Ask yourself what results the choices you are making will bring you. For example, if you decide to skip following up with that prospect you’ve been thinking about, you may lose the opportunity to a competitor. If you choose not to write and submit the report for your client when it’s due on Friday but instead send it on Monday, you have chosen to be late and therefore broken a commitment to get things to your client as promised.

   Make choices that reflect what you stand for and that support your goals.

I hope you will take some time to think about these five golden nuggets for commercial real estate success and choose to adopt them for your business.