HAMPTONS REAL ESTATE, SOUTHAMPTON, NY: May 2010

DO YOU KNOW HOW To Prime the business pump to get your business FLOWING again?    Real Estate is just beginning to rumble again; there is a new sense of what the new RE business is like but how do we get there from here? How do we make it happen? How do we get it going again???

Since I have a tremendous amount of very strong competition here in the Hamptons, I look for as many ways to differentiate myself....Southampton, New York has been hit VERY hard by the housing downturn and Bernie Maydoff too! So it is critical for me to be at the top of my game.

ANALOGY HAS A WAY GETTING A POINT ACROSS:

I love to use analogy when I have a point to make---SO I AM GOING TO USE ONE HERE: Many of us have a hard time "getting" it when it comes to instructions; or we resist good advice when it may just be the answer to our problem.  This is when a good analogy can make the difference in how we take advice or instruction. How many times have you listened to a public speaker who got your attention and gave you a "symbol" or and analogy that became part of your experience; that impacted you in such a way that you never forgot it? This is what I am talking about when I say analogy is such a powerful tool in the real estate business, you should waste no time in developing your own appropriate analogies---these will work for you and your clients and customers! 

In this post I wanted to point out an analogy that came up as I was responding to a comment in my last post "THE DOWNSIDE HOLDS THE UPSIDE....find the things that are good and focus on them."

In that post I received a comment about the business being so bad that most agents can't seem to find the energy to go forward, even as things begin to improve. As I wrote, something came to mind about making things happen---a very hard thing to tell someone that they must do because the big question is HOW??? HOW DO I MAKE IT HAPPEN???

So, I thougt back quickly and just as quickly I had a memory as a child, living on a farm with my family and trying to pump water from a "bone dry" water pump. My father showed me how to prime it to get the water to flow again. Perfect; perfect analogy and a symbol that most of us know:

THE ANALOGY:

ON a water pump you have a lever (handle) attached to a hard rubber or leather gasket at the end of long steel rod... and around that whole mechanism, you have a cylinder or casing that allows a conveyance of the water as it is to be literally "sucked" up to the surface from the depths of the earth. The only problem is that the mechanism is in-operable unless you add water to "prime" it---to give moisture to the gasket and a bit of pressure against the rubber or leather gasket. This will give you the  right amount of expansion of the gasket to close off any air passage and that will create the suction so when you then pump the handle quickly: ...whoosh!! ...water flows!!!"

 SOME SUGGESTIONS TO USE TO PRIME THE BUSINESS PUMP:

• Go back to old contacts; look up old friends (Facebook works here) and let them know what is going on in the market.
• Call a customer who you lost touch with when the market fell apart.
• Send out a post card to your sphere of influence; let them know that you are still around and that you would like to meet with them or speak to them regarding what is going on in their neighborhood. I used a scenic picture of the area, not a house--something really attractive to catch their attention. I also used the town data base to get correct addresses and hand wrote a few dozen in one specific area at a time.
• Compile a list of the MOST RECENT SALES and give them the truth about actual sales prices.
• Complie a list of the MOST RECENT LISTINGS and let them know what the prices are and if they are realisitc or not. Use a dollar bill--hand it to the seller--ask "How much will you give me for that?" It is a visual analogy and works to get the owner to see why he should not overprice his home.
• Print up a list of the things to hand to the seller; things you can do for a listing, in case they decide to sell right now, i.e., you have a stager you can recommend for them to use to prepare the house to be shown; a painter or carpenter to make necessary repairs; a landscaper to "edge" the gardens or driveway; give them a list of do it yourself projects that will help them to sell the house, etc.

Remember, the small steps will get you started; nothing can happen if you do nothing. It may seem like you are starting all over again---because you are!!! NOW GO PRIME THAT PUMP!!!:)