Friday, April 2, 2010

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.

*******************************************************************************

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

No comments:

Post a Comment