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• 7/14/2008 1:35 PM Real Estate Foundation wrote:
  I must say, that slide show did a better job than text in a post would have.
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  1. 7/14/2008 10:38 PM Pat Kitano wrote:
     Slide shows are like videos without hiring the actors or worrying about bad production quality. The message is completely controllable, that's why I like them.
     
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• 7/14/2008 2:44 PM Bonnie Erickson wrote:
  I think I'm going to send this to my broker who keeps telling me how to blog. I keep resisting the pressure because it's not "me", but he keeps emphasizing that each post should have a "call to action" and every contact I have leads to 250 more contacts . . . Those kind of referrals have proven inadequate when I've used their services. I think I'll stick to my own system!
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  1. 7/14/2008 10:37 PM Pat Kitano wrote:
     Bonnie, like you, I also was never comfortable with call to action and prefer to create a stronger relationship based on "no obligation" service, so I believe that the new social media strategies just happen to fit our temperaments.
     
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• 7/14/2008 2:55 PM Jillayne Schlicke wrote:
  Hi Pat,
  
  Fun, slideshow. Thanks!
  
  Brokers as well as agents still want hard core ROI numbers associated with tangible evidence that social media returns results.....
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  1. 7/14/2008 10:40 PM Pat Kitano wrote:
     Those demands for ROI sure put social media in the realm of art over science!
     
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• 7/14/2008 6:31 PM Tim White wrote:
  Put another way, the new art of real estate salesmenship is based on a program of attraction not promotion. Nice report Pat.
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• 7/14/2008 7:46 PM Tim O'Keefe wrote:
  Pat-
  I must respectfully disagree. WE have scrapped some of our "2.0" strategies for more belly to belly and guess which one is winning? Waiting for anything to happen is what my competitors do. They can keep waiting for it to happen while we make it happen. Call me old school. Fine. But I follow results not ideals.
  
  Hardsell is only hardsell if it is obnoxious. As an example,Interruption marketing works. If Ed McMahon came to your door with a big fat check, not ony would you welcome him in , you would make him dinner! Would that be considered hardsell? Nope. Just Hard Cash!
  
  So I think the mistake most are doing by following the Koolaid Krusaders is that it is not a hard sell if it feels good. If it delivers value who cares?
  
  The reality of it is we do not do anything as human beings without pressure. You and I would never have been conceived without pressure.
  
  I think anything otherwise is idealistic and simply naive.I say this with all respect for you as I really love this blog.
  
  Bonnie-I agree with you that you cannot force a call to action on every post, that is an obnoxious hard sell. However, you can lead with education and knowledge which is more lethal than a hard sell. But if you do neither, you are wasting your time.
  
  Noitice the distinction? It is paper thin. Just doing the 2.0 thing is a waste of time. Just going out and hard selling is a waste. But educating and leading them is mastery. That is hard selling with love and respect. It feels good to the persuader as well as the receiver.
  WE SEO guys used to have a myth we quoted: "Build it and they will come, is a sure path to internet death" Somehow that got forgotten as the idealism of 2.0 creeped in and made us forget our marketing principles.
  
  What works has never changed. To argue so is to argue that humans have changed.
  We are the same. The only big dif. is that our percieved choices have enlarged, and our tolerance for crap has retracted.We get hammered by messages daily. So is the messenger just supposed to go away?
  
  AM I to get excited about a Porche from some blogger or on Twitter? Yah, that Twitter post will get me to go lay down big bucks for a Porche Carrera. What am I missing here?
  
  What will sell me is a whole bunch of hype,sex and cool feelings and pressure to lay out that cash. As I am sorry the Porche Blog just simply wont do it.
  
  As I recall from a political donation call that I received today is they would not get off the phone even though I said I would donate. That my friend is obnoxious and very close to making me retract my donation.
  One thing that has never changed is our love for value. If Ed McMahon showed up with a McDonalds coupon, me thinks he would be spat upon.
  
  I really feel like 2.0 is nothing more than an excuse for those that have never learned real sales to totally throw it out as if it never was or is a viable discipline. And that I think is a diservice to the many would be online marketers looking for the truth.
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  1. 7/14/2008 9:51 PM Pat Kitano wrote:
     Tim, you remind me of friend Louis Cammarosano at HomeGain. I agree with both your perspectives that a working business model doesn't suddenly die in a changing social or economic environment. However, a changed social environment does change the perception of social practices. Look at how high flying Madison Avenue and the advertising world was in the 1960's when commercials were the holy grail of marketing, and how commercials are perceived today. I think the same kind of consumer reorientation is happening during this 2.0 era... business arrogance is no longer virtuous when somebody can Yelp about it.
     
     Yes, hard sell can be obnoxious when obvious or aggressive. I'm defining hard sell (perhaps incorrectly) as the common sales methodology of "working the numbers". Pitching 1,000 to get one lead... and it does require chutzpah to meet the quota.
     
     The social media marketing strategy is not passive, it is generating content for a constituency (in substitution for mailing out postcards). The call to action belongs to the constituents. I'm positing that more leads will come in from a social media/blogging strategy than a hard sell shotgun strategy. Once the call comes in, it's up to the agent to close it. It's easier to close a call from a constituent than from some stranger hit by that shotgun.
     
     And like Louis, I agree with your concept about melding 2.0 with outreach ("hard sell"). Both are necessary. Frankly that kind of network building is consistent to a social media strategy.
     
     Finally, although you state 2.0 seems like a crutch, I believe a 2.0 strategy and closing sales are frankly separate topics. I think you would admit that 2.0 strategies are efficacious for lead generation, and it's independent of whether its practitioner is a good closer or not.
     
     I love reading your thoughts Tim... Thanks!
     
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     1. 7/15/2008 7:43 AM Tim O'Keefe wrote:
        Pat-
        As I converse with you on a 2.0 platform obvsiously I am not adverse to the platforms. Scouring Twitter for conversations last night after many comments in your blog here.
        
        First of all if I may sound superficial and pull the veil down, the reason I commment and take my positions that I do is to gain an audience that would find my positions make sense.
        
        I don't blog for bloggings sake, I do not comment for bloggings sake.
        
        I do it for the almighty dollar to come my way at some point. Sooner than later hopefully.
        
        I write about these things because I think in real estate especially there are a whole contingency of broke agents that have bought into the otion that ther internet means a new way of selling. Meaning no selling. The old way is for old stupid people.The real estate boom supported that mind virus.
        
        I believe that most agents would do better in many cases picking up a phone or knocking on 1000 doors to get one or two good prospects.
        
        Yes Madison avenue was high flying back when we were kids watching Romper Room. (had to throw that in. I always wanted Miss Maryann to call my name). However, the vast amount of people have tuned the noise out. Then they go online and cannot remember the website they were at five minutes ago. Rich Sheffren call is the Attention Deficit Age. I agree.
        
        Butthat doesn't mean we just fold our tents and go home. Or does it mean we just post vanilla all over the web. Passively waiting for our turn to come up. Everyone that I have studied in Twitter as an example are posting neopolitan and rainbow sherbert.
        
        These places are a part of their slippery shute right down into thier gulp. Hard close. Yep they are asking for the money. And they ask again and again. And they get.
        
        I do not look at hard sell or soft sell as real. Some people need to be pushed and pushing simply is not offensive to them. In fact they will not respect you unless you push. Others like it softer. But the pro persusader still knows how to wake them up from their trance.
        
        I think the notion of interuption =bad is by the fact that we get pounded on daily with noise from people wanting us to part with our money.Most it seems to be real bad offers. But as I mentioned above when Ed comes a knocking we have no problem.
        
        If you don't ask you don't get. Funny thing my wife never would have married me if I didn't ask. I closed in on her hard sell soft sell. Whatever it was gonna take... she would be mine. So why isn't that OK in sales?
        
        I think that we are all asleep in a trance because we have turned down the noise from all the commercials. And it is even easier for someone to come in and give a good story.
        
        Hard sell. Its just a word. Use another if it makes one feel better. But the pro salesman or woman like a chameleon changes to their prospect, wakes them up from their sleep and gives them exactly what they want. They will always always overshadow technology.They are very unique and too few however.
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        1. 7/15/2008 2:37 PM Pat Kitano wrote:
           Tim, what you and your company have to offer - the development of online presence - is quite consistent with the goals we're discussing here. I'm pleased with your contributions here, and would encourage agents to check out your offering because it all leads down the same path. I think we, along with Trulia, Active Rain and the myriad real estate 2.0 companies, are all in this together - pulling the masses into an online marketing realm that will benefit their careers. And that's our business...
           
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• 7/16/2008 9:17 AM teresa boardman wrote:
  Have been saying this for years while hard sell stategies are being crammed down my throat. Now some of the coaches are talking about social networking but they have it all wrong. We don't use twitter to tweet info about our next open house, we use it to meet people.
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