Archive for August, 2008
Yes, it’s another spam rant. If it weren’t for my virus software, PC-cillin, I’d be a goner. Or, at least I’d probably have several viruses running around my computer by now.
The one that came close? CNN. Or at least someone trying to be them. I’ve never gotten a spam saying they were CNN, so I wasn’t really thinking about danger. The email looked pretty good. It was laid out well, had a CNN logo and listed the top 10 stories and videos from the famous news outlet. One of the videos sounded interesting, so I actually clicked on the link.
There have been times when PC-cillin has warned me that a site might be a phishing site. This time was different. Rather than displaying the web page, a message came up telling me that PC-cillin would not allow me to display the site. If I really wanted to see it, I’d have to change the settings in the PC-cillin software.
This made me wonder if perhaps something might be amiss! And, of course when I checked the link I was being sent to, it had nothing to do with news. More something about toys, which I’ll bet aren’t for the 3-6 age group. Whew, just snuck out of that one!
I’ve also noticed that some of the traditional spammers are getting lazy. The other day I got an email, and rather than the long, heart-wrenching story this type of mail usually contains, all it said was:
- Hello, I am Mr Name Deleted, the an external auditor of a bank in Singapore.I have a proposal to discuss about a certain Dormant Investment Account of a deceased customer.Please contact me through my email below if you are interested to know more about this transaction.It will be beneficial to all parties concerned. Yours Faithfully,
If these fools insist on clogging up my email system, you’d think they’d at least take the time to write a good story.
Then, I got a junk email from someone named “Speece Poullion”. I looked that up on the Internet just for fun. As far as I can tell, both those names are actually last names. Must have been that the sender thought the name rolled off the tongue. On the other hand, the email address domain was from Denmark. Maybe that’s a real name over there.
I just can’t believe that people are still falling for these stupid tricks. I can only assume they are, because the spammers must get some result or they’d probably stop.
On the other hand, consider this famous definition of insanity:
- Doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result.
So, maybe spammers aren’t really bad people — they’re just insane.
Colors Can Drive You Crazy
· CommentsIf you’ve ever tried to coordinate the colors on your real estate web site, your business cards and letterhead, and your yard signs, you know what I’m talking about.
I’ve been working with a client who has just established his own brokerage. We designed a logo for him, and we’ll design his brokerage web site to utilize the colors from the logo. He also needs yard signs, business cards and letterhead.
You’d think doing those tasks should be fairly simple. But, you’d be wrong. If you find yourself in the same situation, here’s a brief primer on colors.
Website Colors
When you’re identifying colors on websites, you use six-digit HEX numbers. For example, 000000 is the HEX equivalent of black. Each pair of numbers represents combinations of Red, Green and Blue. The HEX numbers are used in HTML to identify colors.
HEX colors translate well into a color model known as RGB. Black can be identified in RGB as 0-0-0. That indicates a lack of any color, of course. Equipment like monitors and television sets display colors using RGB. So, it’s fairly easy to display the color you want on a monitor because it uses somewhat the same method to identify the color.
However, you know that sometimes you see different colors on different monitors. In the same way, you can really mess up your television if you adjust the color settings to be too green or red, and so on.
Printing Colors
A printer who is producing your business cards and letterhead uses another color model, CMYK. Unfortunately, the conversion from HEX or RGB to CMYK is not very direct. Therefore, if you like the website color you see on your monitor, you’ll have to work with your printer to choose CMYK colors that are consistent.
Sign Printing
If you’re having signs prepared, unless you’re using cut vinyl, you’ll probably run into yet another color model, Pantone colors. Pantone colors do not directly translate into any other type of color model. So, if you want your sign colors to match your website and business cards, you’ll have to work with the sign vendor to pick a color that is consistent.
As you can imagine, coordinating production of all of these real estate marketing materials can drive you crazy. And, we don’t want to even think about what happens if you want to get some coffee mugs printed.
The important thing to remember is that you want to maintain a consistent “feeling” with your marketing materials. If the colors are slightly different (and they probably will be), no one will notice but you.
If you saw a McDonald’s sign that used a slightly different shade of yellow, you’d still know it’s McDonald’s.
What’s On Your About Page?
· CommentsAre You Lost in the Crowd?
Have you taken a look at your About page on your website lately? What about your introduction on your marketing material? When you read about yourself as you are presented to the world, does it sound familiar? Does it sound like every other agent’s description of themselves, with only the names changed to protect the innocent?
Anytime you write about yourself, you should really be writing about your business. Many “About” pages are written like a biography, something like this:
- “Joan has been with ABC Realty for four years, and was a member of the Millionaire Club in 2003. She has been a licensed realtor for ten years. Joan is a member of the Podunk Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors. With her husband Harold, she has lived in XTown for 15 years and has a son and daughter. Joan loves people and does her best to help her clients achieve their dreams.”
OK, So What’s Wrong with That?
Well, for one thing, you’d think a REALTOR® would know how to display that designation. For another thing, most people think if you are a member of the Millionaire Club that you make a million dollars a year. That can be pretty intimidating; besides that, it’s an industry award and doesn’t necessarily mean anything to someone who isn’t a real estate professional. Finally, citing an award you received 5 years ago and never again since doesn’t really help your cause.
The biggest problem is that there is not one benefit identified. A prospect reading that description might think Joan sounds like a nice person, but they have been provided no compelling reason to work with her.
Get Benefit-Oriented!
Long ago I took a sales course that emphasized three ways people describe things. I’m not sure if they’re still teaching this approach, but it’s always worked for me. The idea is that you describe a product (or a real estate consulting practice) in three steps: Feature, Function, Benefit.
Basically, you work through those three steps until you reach the benefit, and that’s how you sell something. Here’s an example – let’s say we were selling a 6-slice toaster:
- Feature: Six toasting areas.
- Function: Lets you toast a lot of bread at one time.
- Benefit: No one has to wait for a piece of toast while their eggs are getting cold.
The closest thing to a marketing message in the agent’s bio above is this: Joan loves people and does her best to help her clients achieve their dreams.
So what do you think? Is that a feature or function? It sure isn’t a benefit!
Get a Brand
The purpose of developing a brand for your real estate consulting business is so that you can identify your niche, and come up with a list of benefit statements that you can use on your website and in your marketing material.
If you don’t have a brand, at least take a hard look at your marketing message and make sure it’s full of benefits!
