Politicians need votes, Agents need listings

Last week I was coaching an agent and saw that she had the ability to make things happen quickly and wondered why had she not been able to reach her full potential? She had tried the same old stuff. Social media coaching by one company, cold calling by another and yes “get 2 deals in 7 days” and all had led to the same results. A promise of deals soon and no long term plan. She only had so many friends to call and the cold calling was as effective as extracting a tooth without Novocaine. Her Facebook was cool and filled with other agents, family and friends. Her family and friends were already using her so except to send a few photos nothing was happening.
She bought into the hype of trainers, speakers and others that had something to sell. Honestly, I wished it had worked for her. She would have saved money and a tremendous amount of time. So we directed her focus in another way.
Politicians campaign in different ways. A national campaign such as the Presidential campaign must focus on all parts of the country. Distinct cultures, religious beliefs, lifestyles, and different socio-economic situations make it very difficult to get votes from different regions with only one message. That is why the candidate will organize locally and put boots on the ground if the area warrants. This is determined by the amount of votes they can get. State races such as for governor or senator are different. They focus on the state issues and all the fore mentioned. What about the local councilperson’s race or the mayoral race? They focus on the city or the district. The candidate in your city is not concerned about having Facebook friends 2,000 miles away. They have a razor focus to the constituents that can vote for them.
How do your local candidates connect? List the ways. You will find several ways they do it and not just one or two. It is all about the connection. Remember that all things being equal people do business with people they like and all things not being equal people still do business with people they like. This doesn’t change from industry to industry or election to election.
After you have determined how the successful local candidate connected then you will have a good pattern to follow. Did they use public events to make an appearance? Did they hand out fliers? Did they use social media? Were they on the radio? These questions should be answered and you will need to do the homework.
Real estate is all local. It doesn’t matter what NAR says about the national statistics or what other experts say. It is always local to the area you are working and not one community over. While Twitter may work miracles for the presidential race it could have no impact in a small town in Kentucky unless they are big into Twitter. You are local, working locally and your plan must be local. If not, then you are set up for spending a ton of money with little results. Don’t fall into the trap that you are only spending a few dollars on each outreach. When you add it up, it becomes a sum that could be used to make a ton of money in ways that are much more effective. If you work a seasonal market like Hawaii or parts of North Carolina then your plan will vary. You are reaching out to people that live in different areas. Does this make sense?
Does the candidate for mayor of your town use a website that is cloned by a company then put his or her picture in and depends on them to put in the content? If so then they were a candidate now looking for a job. It is about the candidate’s views, updates and when the next big meeting is taking place. You will not find Inman news or any other negative thoughts about the poor market place. You will not find the WSJ at the bottom where all the bad news about the housing market exists.
Does your local candidate do a ton of hand shaking at networking events? Thought so! Does he/she spend hours in an office looking at paper work or checking out the MLS to see if they could find some new voters? Thought not!
Every candidate has a daily plan. They will not sit at the front desk hoping for the phone to ring in order to get a free vote. They get up and get out and make things happen.
Does the candidate need help? Yes. They have advisors and consultants but never do they sit and hope that something will happen in the polls. They watch them with the anticipation and planning to change them for the better.
Why do candidates watch the polls? It is simple. They are trying to see what works and will not keep doing the same thing if they go lower. They don’t have the time to wait it out and will never keep doing the same thing if it is not working. They will change overnight even if it means no sleep. After the election the polls are no longer valuable.
If you bought into the fantasy that real estate is easy with so much time off then you need to know that the only people that get rich is the one that sold you that idea with a ton of stuff. They got rich and you paid for it.
This is only the beginning but a nice start. We have other ways of increasing your revenue if you are committed to change. We hear so much now in real estate about change and the Shift. What does that mean for you? Buying something else and hoping it works. Again, is it a local strategy or a sales pitch? Change is costly and difficult. Look to a famous sports figure and tell me it was simple. Did you notice in Egypt that change came with a great price and much sacrifice? Asked the people spending days in the square/park if it was worth it?
Phil Lamb

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