I love small business marketing and I love my husband who has moved to Denver for a job transfer. So I have been flying back and forth to the Denver Airport to visit him and try and find a house to buy in the Denver area (we have an offer in – again – so fingers crossed people). What I noticed about the weather here compared to Clearwater Florida, where I am moving from, is that it is C-O-L-D. The people are generally nicer and they have snow boots.

I also noticed that real estate in Colorado is also different from real estate in Florida. They get a different commission than I am used to, they have fewer listings than agents carry in Florida and they have snow boots on when they show houses.

So what does this have to do with marketing you ask? We KNOW real estate is local but so is marketing! If you are in Cleveland, which is a very depressed area right now, you may have to market WAY harder in order to get the same results you got in the past. You may have to do more face-to-face sales pitches to close a client. If you are in Denver, where they say the economy is more solid, you can focus on gaining market share. Do LOTS of marketing to take over the market before the national economy rebounds!!!

While it is not fair that you have to work harder in Cleveland than Denver, make sure you match your efforts to your expected results, not just what worked in the past!

and don’t forget to wear your snow boots!

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So I had a small business marketing seminar a couple of weeks ago with a focus on real estate professionals like Realtors, Mortgage Bankers, and marketing experts. One of the Realtors who attended (Cyndee Haydon – Clearwater Real Estate Specialist) has been tracking her numbers since the seminar and she is setting the world on fire! Her leads are qualified, consistent and…holy cow there are LOTS of them!!!

Now I cannot take any credit for the number of leads or the quality of them or even how she has developed the system to manage all these leads. What I can humbly attest to – Cyndee is now able to hyper-focus on dollar productive things that she needs to do and all the rest is just fluff. She is NOT answering stray and random buyer calls anymore. She is NOT spending tons of time with unqualified buyers. She IS focusing on her strengths which are generating leads, blogging, networking and all the other things that she is good at and likes!

My heart is SO happy! Not only has Cyndee focused her business, but she tracks her stats so she knows how far she has come! She knows how many leads, where they came from, where they went AND will be following them to see the conversion to clients. If you do not track these numbers you will never know if you are getting better!!!

Just hearing that today made me want to be a better person and track my leads more! I am currently blogging between 1-2 times per day, everyday for a month (which will get ME more leads…:) but the next thing I am doing is setting goals and tracking ALL my leads!! How about you?

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You have a million things you HAVE to do TODAY. You need to finish your paperwork, call some clients, send a newsletter, read an article, do some more paperwork, call that icky client, start your taxes, arggg!

I can tell you that there are probably only two or three things that you HAVE to do today to grow your business, sell something or get a new prospect. Those are the only things you HAVE to do today! (If you owe money to the IRS you may HAVE to talk to them today – you have my permission!)

So if you only have a few things you HAVE to do, you must WANT to do all that other busy work you have set up for yourself, right? We humans are funny creatures, we like to keep busy, to feel needed, to do important work. If we have lots to do we can justify to ourselves not getting some vital things done.

That ends today people! Today you need to figure out the top 3 things that you need to do for your business and EVERY day, before you do anything else, those things have to be done!

For my business, my top three things are:

1. Lead generating – writing blog posts, attending mastermind sessions, writing articles, emailing prospects
2. Strategic planning – getting the systems in place so that when opportunity knocks I am ready
3. Writing Ebooks or speaking in person – this is my actual physical work!

If you are a realtor, yours may look like this:

• Lead generating – holding open houses, blogging about a neighborhood, sending out emails to your database, sending a newsletter, calling your prospects or clients and asking for referrals, attending network events
• Strategic planning – organizing your calendar, targeting neighborhoods or niches, working on your database, setting up automatic emails to your prospects
• Actual Realtor Work – taking listings, signing buyer broker agreements, showing houses, servicing your listings, writing contracts, negotiating contracts, and attending closings

Doing anything other than those things is a waste of your valuable time! You need to make sure that something from those lists is on your calendar every day!

Write these things out and hang them on the wall. Anytime something comes in that seems urgent, hold it up to your list and see if it something you HAVE to do…you may be surprised how much you have been doing that is unnecessary busywork that you just have a habit of doing.

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Small Business Advice – Anyone who knows me well knows I LOVE talking about marketing, reading about marketing, teaching marketing classes, blah, blah, blah. On the weekends I frequently spend time researching new marketing ideas, planning for new projects and doing lots of other TOTALLY fun things. This weekend I ALSO spent 7 hours fixing my blogs, optimizing them for SEO, picking keywords, etc. I hate doing that! A friend called me during hour 7 and asked what was wrong, I sounded that glum!

I also spent 6 hours this weekend working on a design project for a great client (www.Managemy401k.com). The owner is a businessman and marketer who is commited to executing a comprehensive marketing plan for 2009 – that makes me SO happy! BUT he needs design help first, so I am doing that for him as part of the whole plan. That is not my favorite part, but it is something that must be done in order for him to succeed.

So what does that have to do with you? You are a Realtor, or retail store owner, or a craftsman, or a Mary Kay Lady. Well…I am sure that you picked your profession because you love part of it. I know Realtors who have battled through 2 years of hardship with no end in sight, just because they love helping people and selling real estate. I know beauty consultants who like to make people feel good about themselves by making them pretty.

EVERY small business owner (and employee) has stuff the don’t like to do. Stuff that they put off as long as humanly possible before starting and then only do scratching and clawing through each step with horror and gloom. What if you did those things first? Got them out of the way sooner rather than later? OR What if you found someone else to do it instead? Kept the parts of the business that you like and ditch the rest!

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So I got my marketing materials in yesterday – YAY! I feel like a real marketer again now!

I have a very distinctive look and feel to the items so that they “all look like my stuff” and I really like the one photo that I used as the focal point of the pieces (it is a group of realtor looking people, from diverse backgrounds, who are dressed professional casual – I know too much information BUT this is the only time I am going to make you listen so bear with me!) The color scheme is neon green and black and is very distinctive and will be easy to use in numerous pieces.

When you have your logo and marketing materials designed you should LOVE them! You should also ask other people what they think since you are trying to appeal to humans in general. I had one person (Pam, our closing coordinator) who didn’t like my realtor group, but in general everyone else either liked them or was neutral. I can live with that! While I DO care about what people think I also have to take into consideration that personal taste does come into play sometimes and what I like will not be what everyone likes.

That having been said…. I used a different picture on the front of my tri-fold brochure that has caused SEVERAL people to recoil in horror and say they don’t like how the one person looks. That is not good AT ALL. She doesn’t offend me, but my message is getting lost in general reaction (who knew!). Anyways, she has got to go!

I will be resending the file with a new picture. It will cost about $10 to change it since I ordered only 25 copies to start. That is one of my big tips, order small quantities to make sure you like how things turn out. Imagine if I had ordered 10,000 of them!!! I would be hesitant to send them out so they would last even LONGER. I would develop a reply to people who hated her, “well she isn’t that bad and I have 10,000 to use so please try to get past it”.

Public opinion will never be 100% on your side, BUT if you hear something more than a couple of times (we would have liked more communication, our flyer box is always empty, my clients liked it but there was too much wallpaper) that is something you need to fix TODAY!

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What is the one thing you can do to give yourself instant credibility? Have some FABULOUS collateral made!

When I started as a realtor the one thing that I did which helped me most was to design some really impressive marketing materials. When I went on a listing appointment I could feel confident that my materials would be a great representation of my level of committment and professionalism. That committment included providing great representation to my clients and to spending all my time learning my real estate skills, not dealing with the fact that I was a new agent.

What kinds of collateral do you need? The most basic answer is you MUST have a great business card. I am not a fan of the head shot cards, enough said. What you need to make sure you have is enough contact information that someone could reach you by whatever means they prefer (mail, phone or email). Having 3 or 4 ways to reach you via phone means that they may have to have to chase you down and that is never a good sign!

Tri-fold Brochure – Whether you are a small business owner or a realtor this one HUGE. It allows you to give a comprehensive look at your background and credentials as well as all the products and services you can offer your clients. It is great for leaving behind after a sales appointment, listing presentation or a buyer appointment. It is also good for networking events and for open houses where you might want to have something more than a sales sheet to leave behind. I prefer to have my Tri-folds act as a mailer also so that if I want to send them I do not have to put them in an envelope when mailing.

Presentation Cover – On any sales call you make you need to have a professionally designed cover that matches your marketing materials. Use it for sales proposals, RFPs, listing presentations and buyer appointment books.

Oversized Postcard – Last but certainly not least you should have a postcard that you can pop into the mail. I recommend having a BUNCH of different ones depending on the situation that you encounter, BUT to start, get one good solid postcard that covers most of your products and services. He

How much of each should you order? This is a tough one since ordering larger quantities can reduce the per piece price BUT with the new color print shops online I would not order terribly expensive or large quantities of any one item. Your services may change and if you have thousands of pieces you will have to throw them out. Also I have done jobs in the past for clients who ordered REALLY top of the line materials and then were hesitant to send them out – if you have to think for one moment whether you can afford to send a prospect a card or brochure you have spent too much!

If you can’t tell I am a HUGE fan of having professional marketing materials and think EVERYONE in business should have them also!

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