I’m sure glad I didn’t forget today!

Seeing that my Active Rain profile was in sad need of updating, I took the time this morning to do it. Then I checked to see what it looked like.

I have no idea why or where it came from, but at the top of each section there were at least 100 lines of “gobbledy-gook.” I went into the HTML editor and got rid of them, but if I hadn’t checked, all a visitor would have seen was – yuck.

After that was repaired I checked all the links and they’re fine.

But earlier this week, one of my links wasn’t fine. When I posted the blog about the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, I included a link for agents to use in requesting a letter I’d written. For whatever reason, the first attempt at creating a link didn’t work – it led to an error page.

So… Check and double check. Sometimes strange things can appear when you upload – and links you thought were fine can be broken.

One of the points they made was that callers are often “too polite.”

They warned that when you say “May I please speak to Joe Jones” the answer is apt to be “No. Mr. Jones is too busy right now.”

They advise that instead of saying “May I please” you simply say “I’m calling to speak with Joe Jones. Please tell him I’m on the line.”

Hmmm… kind of reminds me of my days in real estate. We had an attorney whose secretary was a true “guard dog.” Getting through to Nick took hard work. One day he told me how to get around his secretary. I was simply to say “I’m returning Nick’s call.”

Now, that won’t work on a completely cold call. But if the person has responded in any way to your earlier messages, you could use it. If they’ve never called, you could say “I’m responding to Nick’s inquiry.”

Other points in the article point out the folly of beginning your sales call by talking about yourself or your product. Just as in a sales letter, you should avoid starting off with “I” or “We.”

Focus on the prospect – and their needs and concerns.

The last messages had been deleted or read and kept, so where was this unread message? I scrolled back through the last few months, taking the opportunity to delete things that were out of date, and couldn’t see it.

Finally, I scrolled all the way to the top, and there it was! A spammy marketing message dated… February 3, 2002.

So how does that happen?

Can a message be bouncing around in cyberspace for more than 10 years?

I don’t know the answer. Do you?

The Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007 is set to expire on December 31.

It’s not bad enough to lose the home – they get to owe the Feds on top of it.

Congress could extend the Act – but so far there hasn’t been any talk of it in the news.

So do warn your potential clients – the time to list as a short sale is right now. We all know that even after a buyer is found, short sales take longer to close, so there really is no time to waste.

That’s why I wrote a letter and added it to my short sale letter set – and why I’m offering it to you, free of charge.

Click the button, enter your address, and the letter will be on it’s way to you in moments.

When my husband suggested that I go fishing with our son Chad this week-end I almost said no. It had been cold and windy all week and I didn’t relish the idea of sitting in a boat freezing for a few hours.

But… I said yes, and the gods smiled on us. The weather was warm, the breeze was light, the fish were biting, and we had a perfect day.

The day was beautiful, the scenery was exceptional, the fishing was fun, and the best part was just floating around, being with my son all day. He’s one of my favorite people in the universe.

To top off the day, last night my other son called for a nice long visit.

When I think of the moms who don’t see or even hear from their kids for weeks or months at a time, I’m so grateful that mine stay close.

I’m a very lucky mom.

And now… I’m headed out to the garden, to dig in the dirt and put seeds in the ground.

I hope you’re having just as much fun as I will!

Our county and state election primary is next Tuesday and this week our mailbox has been filled with “Vote for me” ads – but a whole lot of people have already voted absentee, so those ads are simply wasted paper, ink, and postage.

It’s sad, because our news coverage here is such that I’d never even heard of a few names on that ballot. If I’d known something about those people, I might have voted for them.

But maybe not – most of the ads don’t say much beyond “I’m wonderful, pick me.” But you never know. A few did state their position on one or two issues.

What does my tale of  ” too late” political advertising have to do with real estate?

It’s just a reminder… Don’t come late to the party!

Don’t procrastinate about contacting that FSBO or Expired listing or any kind of  lead. Do it as soon as you’re aware of it.

Otherwise, those prospects may “vote” for someone else before they even know you exist.

For good ideas on how to get there first, read my weekly real estate marketing ezine for May 9.

And if you don’t know what to do to follow up after you’ve made first contact, go to my prospecting letter page and follow the links to FSBO letters, Expired Listing letters, and any of the niche letters. Read the descriptions and gather ideas – or just get the sets you need and save time by using the words I’ve already written.

Image courtesy of Dreamstine.

In this dream, I was thinking about the keywords for the post and writing things about potatoes. Then suddenly I thought “What am I doing?” This post isn’t about potatoes!

No, what it was about was customer satisfaction, customer service, and delivering what you promise. It was about consumers being able to have some faith in the quality of the merchandise they buy. Maybe even about integrity in marketing, since those bags of awful potatoes are labeled “#1.” (I don’t want to think what #2 or #3 look like.)

So, when you write a blog post (or any other content) stop and think about the “core idea” of your message.

For instance: You may be writing about a celebration coming up in your community, but what you’re really writing about is the fact that your community is a good place to live. Here you’ll find good things to do, involved citizens, etc.

Whatever your core idea, be sure to include it in your copy – and in your keywords.

Image courtesy of Dreamstine.

My inbox just presented me with a startling subject line: “Watch this video or unsubscribe from my list.”

Since I always try to be obliging, I immediately unsubscribed from his list.

That really worked well, don’t you think?

Today’s message was a reply to the test message. I knew what it would be, but thought that “just in case” it was important, I’d better check into it.

First, the email said he had a secure message, so needed to click and go to myhealth.va and access secure messaging.

OK, got there. I don’t see anything that says secure messaging, so I’ll sign in. That’s another click.

Now, I’m in. So where is it? Hunting around, I found a little button at the top. We’ll go there now.

Oh good. It says there’s a message. But first I have to click again to see it.

I did it because it was from the VA and might have been important. (It wasn’t.) But if that had been an advertiser wanting me to go see what he had to offer, I’d have been gone after the 2nd click.

Think about that …

And it might be fun to have someone around to do things with. But… I don’t know about sharing a garden, sharing guest bedrooms, sharing meals. This reminds me a little of communes, and makes me think of losing individuality.

For that reason, this seems a little much. What do you think of this Co-housing plan?