And the Winner is...

Linda Caffery of At Home Realty Group! Linda, I hope you'll enjoy your $50 gift certificate to Papa Vino's.

To everyone who contributed a feedback form, I greatly appreciate it. I can only improve when I realize where I need to improve. Now I know more of what I am doing right and ways I can expand my service to you. Many thanks!

Where do you draw the line?

I respect my customers' personal marketing tricks/techniques and want to honor them. In order to do that I need to draw a line firmly in the sand as to what IS personal marketing and what is public marketing? I am often asked for advice about how to market a home. Obviously you have postcards, flyers, internet marketing, etc. That's common knowledge. That's not protected marketing in my opinion. What IS protected marketing would be custom verbiage, perspective, and branding. What are your thoughts? Where would you draw the line?

What's Your Color Q Profile?

This post is quite beyond the event but it's something I've been meaning to get to you since. Shoya Zichy presented a seminar hosted by the Young Professionals Network of the Chamber of Commerce. She is the author of "Color Q Profile System that basically breaks everyone down into 4 categories (red, blue, green, gold). I generally don't like the idea of dividing people into such structured categories but my category really described me to my core. I'm a Blue sub Gold. I live for ideas but not neseccarily the actual see-through of that idea. I like to dream big. Blues seem arrogant and don't respect authority. But that's not always a bad thing. It's true - status doesn't mean anything to me. That explains a lot! Even more enlightening was meeting 4 other 'Blues' and realizing that I'm not crazy as my husband seems to believe. I'm just a frantic list-making, idea-launching-but-not-carrying-out Blue and I'm not ashamed. The Gold part of me acutally made a chart of my current spices (in alphabetical order) and posted it on the inside of my cupboard.

So why is all of this important? I think it's good to know what makes you tick, what your downfalls are, and where you need to ask for help from others who are more inclined to a certain talent. As difficult as it is for me to admit that I'm not perfect, I'm reminded of it time and time again. It's comforting to know that there are others to help me where I lack and that I have not failed simply because I am not good at everything. The Color Q Profile system also goes into depth about how to relate to the other color profiles (how to lead them, how to 'sell' them, how to be lead by them).

Check out a mini-assessment I'd be interested in knowing which color you think you are.

All items provided with permission of the author.

Farming Contest Idea

I was in the process last night of coming up with new Just Listed marketing ideas when I had an idea along a different line. I wanted to come up with something that was different from what most agents are currently doing and I wanted a way to utilize farming postcards more effectively. So, here's my idea:

Select a farming area
Send ALL Just Listed/Just Sold/Farming postcards to this area ONLY
Start a contest that goes like this - the first person to collect and keep 10 of the agent's postcards and calls the agent will receive a $50 or $100 restaurant gift certificate.

Here's what this would accomplish:

1.Several, if not many, people will start collecting the postcards and holding onto them, giving them more of a shelf life and more effective marketing
2.Residents will be excited to collect another postcard and will watch for them in anticipation
3. Many people will collect 10. They will ALL call into the office to speak to the agent. A relationship is born and the agent will stick out in their minds when they think of listing their homes.

Tangent Thought Here's something I don't understand and maybe someone can enlighten me. Wouldn't it be more effective to send Just Sold postcards to the same farming area every time instead of just doing the homes around the house an agent just sold? I mean, the neighborhood around the home MAY have someone looking to sell and they may not. This postcard could be the only postcard the homeowner ever receives from the agent and so the agent is pushed out of their minds just like the other agents who only send them one card. If the agent send the postcards to a selected farm area each and every time they will see how much work the agent is doing, how much they are selling, and agent recognition is much more promising.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Ideas I want to use

I get a great list of ideas piled up in my head which someday I hope to implement for someone. Here's a list (so I don't forget):

Video Virtual Tours: Upload guided video tours to You Tube, embed in your website. Not only is this embracing new technology but it also creates a higher SEO rating for your website since You Tube is pointing to your site. The best part - it's free if you have a good digital camera and someone to run it.

Farming Postcard: What can $xxxxxx buy in today's market? Front of the postcard would feature several homes currently listed at that price. For instance, feature 5 listings between $149,500 and $150,000. Might get buyers interested in purchasing when they see what they can afford.

High Dynamic Range Photography: href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_imaging"> Now that I have my Canon Powershot G9 I have become increasingly interested in photo composition and real estate photography. HDR is something I'm trying to learn in hopes of including it as a service. Interested in Real Estate Photography? Here is a great blog featuring great industry tips.

Have a suggestion for services you'd like to see? Let me know.

$1400 Clubhouse

Argh! Sometimes I don't like my best friend - my computer. This is now my 2nd time writing this post. NOTE TO SELF - do not press the backspce button unless you are editing something.

Anyway, this post will be much shorter than what it was previously. I've had 5 printers in the last 6 months. Clarification - I STILL have 5 printers.

With the amount of printers I've had, my kids know to get excited when the Dell boxes are unloaded from the DHL truck. Tai & Baylee made no exception to the rule when my newest printer was delivered last week, bringing along with it a huge & sturdy box to convert into a clubhouse. Well worth the price if it occupies them for 3 days straight. The packing foam is a whole other story.

The Dell 5110cn is an upgrade from my 3-week old Dell 3110cn color laser printer. I needed something that would be more compatible with my 6,000/month printing cycle. The 5110cn offers a duplex printing option, a 500-sheet capacity tray, super fast speeds (40ppm black & 35ppm color) and fantastic graphics. I now print twice as fast with less work in between. I just have to wonder - by the end of summer, will I still have the same printer?? I hope not.

By the way - if you are looking for a good color laser printer, I have my Dell 3110cn printer for sale for $200 ($550 from Dell) - no toner or usb printer cord included. Comes with a transferable 3-year next-day on site service warranty.