Now… The following is a post I entered on Active Rain last night. It seemed to strike a nerve, judging from the number of comments. So I thought I’d share it here as well.

Every time I log in to e-mail lately I get assaulted with bad news.

• The stock market is going to fall by 90%.
• Inflation is going to double.
• Unemployment is going to triple.
• 60% of all homeowners are going to be foreclosed upon.
• Home prices will continue to fall.
• No one can get a home loan

It just goes on and on. And what bothers me is that people react.

I feel like the media is leading the American public around by the nose. People are taking action based on what the media tells them is going to happen. And then… their predictions come true!

If they say it’s simply too scary to hire more employees, employers scratch their chins and say “Hmmm. Maybe so. I’d better not.”

If they say “No one can get a loan,” then thousands won’t even try.

And of course, what the media predicts about housing prices continuing to fall can do nothing but hurt your business.Yours – and mortgage lenders’ and appraisers’ and inspectors’ and stagers’. The list goes on.

It hurts mine as well, because real estate agents who think there’s no hope aren’t going to spend money improving their marketing copy.

What are you doing to counteract this negative media effect?

I’m starting with me. I delete those emails and I take time to unsubscribe to a couple of them each day. (It takes a while with a satellite connection, or I’d do it all in one day.)

I’ve quit watching TV almost entirely.

As a strong believer in the Law of Attraction, I’m choosing to ignore the doom and gloom and focus on the good news I see and read. Happily, much of that good news is right here on Active Rain!

I know, next year I’ll need to watch and pay attention in order to make a (somewhat) informed decision when it’s time to vote. But for now, there’s nothing I can do to make Congress shape up, or to make the banks keep better books or behave ethically. Nor can I push independent businesses into hiring more people, or the government into closing any of it’s redundant agencies.

So why should I fill my mind with all that?

I shouldn’t.

Meanwhile… I KNOW some people will keep on buying homes.

There will always be someone with money and/or credit and there will always be agents who are working hard, helping those folks.

I also know that there will always be agents, lenders, and others in the real estate industry who have enough confidence in the future to use copywriting services.

I choose to focus on those positive truths.I’m not giving any energy to the negatives.

But since so many are worried…

The other thing I’m doing is working on a new e-book. I have SO many struggling agents write me asking what they can do to build their business without spending money.

I do try to address any specific questions they have, but for me to try to answer the whole question of “What can I do?” in an email is impossible. There is no one “magic” thing you can do to build a real estate business. Success comes as the cumulative effect of a whole lot of actions both large and small.

It involves being the best agent you can be – doing an exceptional job for both buyers and sellers. It also involves reaching out and making yourself known – and there are simply dozens of ways to do that.

The great part is, most of them don’t cost a thing except time and effort. (And perhaps a tank of gasoline now and then.) The only “set in stone” expense is ownership of a website – and I firmly believe that every agent should have his or her own site – independent of anything offered by the brokerage.

Even that doesn’t need to cost a lot if you’re willing to do the work yourself.

My new book will be ready in a few days… So far I’m at 13 pages, and 103 ways to build a real estate business. But I’m not finished writing quite yet.

When I’m finished, I think I can safely say that any working real estate agent who reads the book can have only one valid excuse for not “making it,” because it contains a variety steps. Everyone can do at least some of them. No, make that most, if not all of them.

The only excuse would be if the real estate market in their community completely died – if NO ONE was buying homes or land. And I can’t see that happening anywhere.

If you read Active Rain, you know that there are more than 200,000 agents there – and while a good number aren’t active, many blog almost daily and comment on several other blogs each day.

These agents voice their opinions, so it stands to reason that someone will disagree with them. Most are nice about it. They simply say that they see the subject in a different way and go on to explain.

Agents support and advise each other – and form long distance friendships. New agents learn a lot about everything from marketing to handling sticky situations with clients. And old agents learn too.

It’s a good, friendly place most of the time. Most of the agents, appraisers, inspectors, stagers, lenders, and others related to real estate are the kind it’s fun to know.

But some of them… ! Some get down-right mean. They call other bloggers idiots – or worse. They suggest that those who don’t agree with them don’t belong in the business. They insist that their way is the right way – the only right way.

That’s bad enough, but some of them attack their buyers and sellers as well as other agents. I don’t even remember how many times I’ve read “Buyer are liars.” REALLY! What a thing to say!

And while some are proud that they’re available to their clients any time of the day or night – others call them unprofessional and tell them that if they had any sense they’d make those clients respect them more than to call in the evening or on a Sunday.

So what is suicidal about that?

The fact that buyers and sellers read those posts, and when they read they form opinions about the writers. Not only that, Active Rain agents refer buyers and sellers to each other with regularity – and they choose who gets the referrals by the opinions they’ve formed while reading what people write.

Agents who like to beat up on others may feel superior while they’re doing it – but they’re showing the world that they aren’t very pleasant people.

It seems to me that they’re posting big signs saying “I’m a jerk. Don’t call me!”

It’s his fault, because he not only hired the produce manager, he keeps him on year after year. And because the guy is so rude and nasty, I detour around the produce department when he’s there.

I know, that’s silly. He isn’t going to bite me. But I don’t like going near someone who gives off such negative vibrations.

For about a year I tried hard to be friendly to this person, but it didn’t work. In fact, I think my cheerful “How are you today?” did nothing but irritate him. He always snarled an answer, if he bothered to answer.

Until recently, he was the only unfriendly person in that store. The managers and the checkers and the guys in the meat department are all cheerful. They’re all fun to visit with. Everyone but this man.

But now, sad to say, there’s one more who is showing the same surly attitude. And guess who he is… the produce guy’s assistant.

He was nice when he first started, but now I see the frown and he no longer has a cheerful answer to “Good morning.”

What’s the message here?

If you hire employees, pay attention to their attitudes – and not just when you’re watching. Ask other people about the treatment they get from the people who work for you.

Second – be careful who you associate with. You just might fall victim to letting someone else’s bad attitude rub off on you.

The message you send out must be clear and compelling, and give your prospective customers a reason for buying that they can’t resist. In addition, the methods you choose to get that message out must be carefully chosen to make the most of every marketing dollar.

But there’s one more component you need.

You need the right attitude. In fact, you need to adopt the kind of positive attitude that draws customers to you and makes them glad to give you their business.

Part of this is the Law of Attraction at work. When you have an attitude of gratitude and notice all the good things you do have, more good things will be drawn to you.

But there’s a more immediate response, and that is the effect your attitude has on customers.

Stop and think about your own reactions. When you talk with a business owner whose face is turned down in a frown and who talks constantly about how tough things are, how do you feel? If you’re like most of us, you feel like you want to get away from that person. It certainly doesn’t make you feel like saying “Here, Mr. Businessman, let me spend some money with you and make it better.”

Sometimes when listening to those people I think that’s exactly what they expect us to do. They want us to feel so sorry for them that we’ll help them out by giving them our business.

Instead, their attitude drives people away and business gets worse.

On the other hand, when you meet someone who shows appreciation for the business they do have and who spends his or her time talking about the good things happening in that business, you do feel like sticking around.

The fact is, people with an attitude of gratitude are constantly noticing the good things going on around them. Their conversations are up-beat and their faces bear smiles. They make you feel like life is getting better and better every day. Of course they’re the ones you’ll choose to do business with.

I can write the right words for you, and even help you decide where to send those words to bring customers to you.

But then you have to do the most important part – hang on to those customers with your positive attitude!

Because of the price of fuel, truck sales are down – way down.  But they aren’t giving up. Instead, creative officer David Lubars was quoted as saying “We know the amount of people out there who are going to buy a truck is going to shrink. It’s a smaller group than usual, and we have to get all of them.”

Wow. That’s an ambitious goal. But why not adopt it for your own business?

Does it sound mean, or even greedy? I don’t think so, because you couldn’t help your competitors thrive even if you tried.

You know that when times get tight, a whole lot of them are going to curl up in a ball and hide, afraid to spend a dime on marketing because they think there’s no use. So when you take the opposite attitude, and begin to market aggressively, you aren’t hurting them, you’re only helping yourself.

AND – you’re helping your prospective customers. They’ll be dealing with an up-beat positive person, and that will help them to be more up-beat and positive as well. Energies do rub off on other people, you know.

Start thinking about that. You aren’t Chrysler and (I assume) don’t have billions to spend on a media blitz to market yourself.  What can you do instead?

Of course I believe that sharpening your message to show your prospects the positive benefits of doing business with you comes first. The words you use make all the difference in any marketing effort – be it yours or Chrysler’s.

Then consider all the places you advertise and focus only on those places that have given you a good return in the past.

Then reach out for all the low or no cost marketing opportunities on the web. Craig’s List comes to mind, and there are plenty of others.

Get your web site up to speed with search engine optimization – and strive to come up on the first page in an organic search, so you don’t have to pay for clicks. Make sure your landing page reaches out to visitors with the benefits you offer them. Give them something in exchange for their email addresses.

Then implement a solid email marketing campaign using an autoresponder to stay in touch with all your customers and prospects – and encourage them to forward your messages to their friends. Give them a reason to do so by including valuable information – or even a tasteful joke or two.

In short, stretch the marketing dollars you do have by focusing and using them wisely.

You can do it! And if you need help making your marketing message sparkle, write me. Helping other people make more money is what I do.

Yours for success,

Marte

“There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.”

And then he went on to talk about studies done on why people left their jobs. Among other things, 88% felt that they were not appreciated for the work they did.

I expect that if we dug into divorce statistics we’d find much the same thing – people feeling unappreciated and thus unloved.

All of us know the warm glow we get when someone offers a genuine thanks or voices appreciation for something we’ve done or said. So why don’t we return the favor more often?

Jack said that a few years back he decided he was going to teach himself to make it a habit. He put a file card in his pocket and each time he voiced appreciation to someone he put a check mark on the card. If he didn’t have 10 by the end of the day he took the time to send an email or write a note to people he appreciated. It took him about 6 months to turn it into a habit so he no longer needed the file card.

Wow. What a lot of joy he spreads!

There’s also a self-serving reason for making appreciation a daily habit. If you’ve read “The Secret” you know that one of the things they teach is to wake up each morning and give thanks for the good things in your life. That activates the Law of Attraction to bring more good things.

No, there are 2 self-serving reasons. When you see how pleased someone looks when you acknowledge their value, it feels pretty darn good.

Anyway, Jack’s message really got me to thinking about people in my life that I’ve never thanked. So I just got out the phone book to see if my High School Journalism teacher was still around. According to the book, she is. Now I just need to find her address so I can write and tell her how much I enjoyed having her for a teacher – and how much my kids liked her when they got to high school and were in her class.

Hmmm… I wonder if it was her influence that turned me into a copywriter? She did make writing fun.

Better go look for that address… I hope you think of someone special now and go thank them!

Marte

Yesterday I promised to tell you about my friend, and why “The Secret” would change his life for the better – if he would even consider seeing the DVD – which he wouldn’t.

You see, my friend cannot carry on a conversation without negatives. Between talking about the news, his past life, and events in his neighborhood, every conversation revolves around something “bad.” When I see him drive up I groan, and when he leaves I have to consciously turn my mind to something cheerful just to get over having listened.

Do you suppose that this attitude is the reason behind his being passed over for promotions time after time? Do you suppose it’s the reason why he’s lonely?

You probably know people who can’t seem to get ahead – especially in sales – because their “down” attitude pushes people away. Watching them makes a good case for changing your thinking patterns.

Even if you don’t believe the law of attraction will do everything promised in The Secret, you can’t deny that we are all drawn to people who are cheerful and who have more to talk about than how bad things are.

We all want to be around people who make us feel good, and as much as we might pity the people who are constantly whining, we don’t choose them when we want to hire someone. Instead, we choose the person with an optimistic attitude – the person with ideas and plans and enthusiasm.

I know that when sales are down it’s easy to become discouraged, and easy to talk about how bad things are. But that’s not the way to create new sales! If you learn nothing else from watching “The Secret,” learn to talk about what you want – not what you don’t want.

So what should do when a customer asks “How’s business?” and the true answer is “Lousy.”

Take a hint from master marketer Tom Hopkins. In his book “How to Master the Art of Listing and Selling Real Estate,” he provides the answer. Just say “Unbelievable” – and say it with enthusiasm.

The result – you’ll convey an impression that things are great, and you’ll do it without lying. And what will happen then? Customers will believe that since things are good with you and bad with all your competitors, you must be doing a better job. Therefore, you must be the person they need.

Think about that.

One of the things “The Secret” teaches is to focus on gratitude. Try it today. Show gratitude for the business you do have – the customers who are loyal – the friends who are true. And then let that gratitude show on your face and in your voice.

See what happens.

As always, I’d love your comments. Do you think I’m crazy, or do you agree?

Marte

P.S. If you want upbeat marketing materials to explode your business, write me at writer@marte-cliff.com. I’ll be glad to help you!