Got An Attitude Towards Open Houses?

Reprint from my Active Rain blog in 2007

I thought about titling this blog "How To Insure Your New Listing Generates Your Next Three Transactions" but it was too long. As I reported in my last blog entry, my FREE CAR WASH OPEN HOUSE continues to work wonders. I've taken one new listing and secured three new buyer clients over the past three weekends. I repeated the process yesterday and scheduled another listing appointment for Thursday evening.

There are several key things at play here I've noticed. The yellow signs promoting a FREE CAR WASH next to all of my open house signs definitely draw more traffic. Initially, it drew all the neighbors, which was great since these are potential sellers or people who may know a buyer for my listing.

The best thing however is that it creates an atmosphere that allows for and even inspires visitors to truly engage in a meaningful dialogue with me. They no longer see me as "sales person" and instead see me as a thoughtful and creative guy who works harder and smarter than the average Realtor for his seller clients.

This is totally on purpose and completely staged. I call this "conscious positioning" and it stems from my understanding that it's not "what we say we do" but what people "catch us doing" that builds lasting impressions. I imagine most open house / selling environments are pretty similar, where people seem to be withdrawn and not wanting to be engaged, let alone provide us with their email address and other contact information.

In the environment I've created I find visitors immediately walk in with a positive expectation of me and a genuine desire and willingness to engage me in dialogue. This is on purpose networking!

Watch me demonstrate some powerful tools and dialogue for squeezing more listings from your open houses:
View Simple Listing System Video on Youtube

 How many different ways can you think of to set the stage that will inspire people to engage with you at your next open house? I'd love to hear what others come up and wish you all the best of success.

A MUST Have Tool For Serious Real Estate Pros

Just like the mobile phone and G.P.S. have changed the shape of our profession, here's a link to the product I'd suggest EVERY real estate professional MUST own. www.theflip.com

I can't tell you how easy it is to pull these out, shoot a high quality video with high grade audio (up close stuff only - not good for filming water skiing from the beach) and plug it right into any U.S.B port (no wires) on your computer and start uploading video onto Youtube, Facebook, Active Rain, Craigslist, e-mail, anywhere within seconds.

Why is that important?

Imagine a series of 2-3 minute  video's you create over time. In fact, imagine having an entire video library. What sorts of video's? Well, the sky is the limit when you've got your marketing mind active but why not start with your emails? How simple would it be to have a PS in your automated signature block that say's:

PS. Watch this 3 minute video to learn how you can receive $3,000.00 to help with moving and other expenses after the successful completion of your real estate short sale http://www.Youtube.HAFA/notreallink

The viral power of video on the internet is incredible and the benefits FAR outweigh the minor start up costs and learning curve required to get started. Video in your web-site is a GREAT way to increase your organic rankings. Your own Youtube page? Easy, free, mandatory. Are you blogging? Video. Active Rain? Video. Facebook? Video. Craigslist? Video.

The keys to doing great interviews of one's self are this:

• Make sure you provide content of value.
• Don't try to be a comedian unless you really are one and even then...
• As my old mentor and friend Joe Stumpf would say, "Land the plane!" In other words, have a story to tell and tell it in a direct, clear, concise and logical format - in other words don't jump around in your story. It should follow a circular path from beginning to middle to end or you'll lose people and they'll tune you out.
• MOST IMPORTANT: Give yourself permission to be here and do this. No one asked what you look or sound like and it should not be an issue so don't you make it one. You have permission to stand on stage in front of the whole world and fall down in this life, you should try it! Give yourself a break. Be gentle on you. Give yourself permission to stutter or whatever - tell your story like you're telling it to your very biggest fan ever who loves you no matter what. People will connect with your AUTHENTICITY. By all means be professional, be an educator, be an adviser, be a consultant but... be REAL.

In fact, why not watch my video on using video.  And feel free to take at look at my free YouTube page.

Search my name (Chris Sylvada and/or Instaclose properties) on Youtube and check out all the past bank-owned property tours I've posted. Get started today! Go take action on this now!! Bank owned property tours, video messages, community tours, buyer tips, seller tips - get this stuff up onto your social networking sites for FREE today. Be sure to include LINKS as I've done above to your real estate web-site, blog, etc.

PS. If you like this blog, would you consider not keeping it a secret? Your referrals of other real estate professionals really means a lot to me and is great appreciated - thank you kindly!

Zen and the Art of Real Estate Marketing

It's true that what you think about you bring about, so be careful. If you're always thinking, "I need more business" or "I need this listing to sell", it's very likely that you'll just continue to feed the need by giving energy to it. The thought and feeling of needing means that you don't have something. Not having that something will only increase if you keep putting thought energy into the not having, and needing it.

Make sense?

I always pay attention to my "self-talk" and make moment to moment conscious efforts to shape it fit my intentions. By paying attention to the voices in my head I am able to correct them when they start to go needy on me. I say things not only to myself, but out loud to my clients all the time that sound like this, "The perfect house for you is right around the corner! If it's not on the market yet, it's coming soon" or, "the buyer of this house is going to have a large down payment, be willing to close according to our schedule and be a pleasure to work with - you'll see!"

Now, it's critical that when this "perfect" buyer comes along (the one I've attracted through the power of positive thought plus a little help from my bag of tools) that "I" show up in a way that makes them want to continue to be perfect and work according to my sellers tricky closing requirements - or whatever.

My coach, friend and mentor used to say it like this, "Chris, talk to me in a way that makes me want to serve you". Have you ever tried talking to the woman behind the mile long check in line at the airport whose obviously about to have a melt down in a way that would make her honored to serve you? I have, and I've gotten bumped up into 1st Class when the flight was full coming home from a business trip on the east coast!

"Who we be" and "how we show up" is, I believe, fundamental to a healthy real estate practice. Our clients notice and appreciate it so much so that they continue to not only use our services, but become actively involved in referring people to us because they want their referral to have the same experience they had.

I've studied the Japanese martial art of Aikido for many years. In aikido, there are zero attacks. In other words, you can't really walk up and "do aikido" on someone, yet is is extremely martial. If someone throws a punch or violently grabs you, aikido techniques could be used to instantly break an arm, hand, elbow or drive them into the ground face first. Aikido is a circular as opposed to linear art and is very beautiful to watch;perhaps the most technically difficult to learn of all martial arts.

The dojo mat where our training takes place is representative of the world we live in and our life in general. I've noticed that karate and other "striking" arts tend to create, or at least reinforce a mindset of "I strike" - as opposed to "I will not be struck", which is Aikido. Again, the focus is on "who you be". I am not a striker or kicker of people; I am a person who will not be struck or kicked - it's very different. O'Sensei, the founder of aikido once said, "you can not wrap the world in leather but you can make leather moccasins".

How do we learn to walk in this often sharp and jagged world? The way seems simple enough to me.

If I want referrals, I be referable. Want more business? Make the light of my authenticity and true desire to serve shine brightly and then put myself in front of people who need to buy and sell. I stop "needing" and start attracting through paying attention to who I be and KNOW that it is coming if I just keep knowing it.

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Should your needs be more immediate, check out amazingly powerful marketing strategies for real estate agents on my Simple Listing System YouTube page.