Becoming a "Famous" Agent-Investor Lesson #2

Over the next few lessons,  we're going to talk about WHERE are the best places to publish, promote, network, appear, get interviewed, etc. to start positioning yourself as a "Celebrity" in your industry.  As I mentioned in Lesson #1, this adventure in becoming "Famous" is going to transform your business and turn your marketing "challenges" upside down. 

Rather than chasing prospective clients and "convincing" them to work with you, you'll be the coveted one, the one that everyone wants to work with because your prospective clients will already know OF you, think they know you, and believe that you're the answer to their current problem.

But before we start walking down that road, there are some issues that we need to clear up and one of them is a BIG one: Who are you?

Now, I don't mean in an existential sense (I frankly couldn't care less).  I mean as a business, as a professional, as a brand.

Who are you?

If we're going to spend this time to make you famous, what are we going to make you famous for?

Now, there are a lot of ways to answer this question for those of you who are Agents and even for those of you who have already decided to transform your businesses by becoming Agent-Investors.

In order to REALLY take advantage of the fame that we're going to create, we need to examine:
1) What's your target market?
2) What's your specialty (in terms of real estate)?
3) How do you work?  (What's your process?)
4) How do people work with YOU? (what are your hoops?)

Part of celebrity and positioning is getting people trained to work with you.  Yes, we want them to WANT to work with you but we also want them coming in knowing what to expect WHEN they work with you.

It's time to tell your clients "How it's going to be" and have them STILL want to work with you.

I find that this is a challenge for most realtors because, as I explain in irritating detail in my Article, "Why Realtors Are Saps and Other Mysteries...", most realtors are like 7-11s - Always Open, Trying to be all things to all people,  and Not At All Selective About their Customers. 

There are no "rules" - the only "rule" is I'll do whatever it takes to not lose a customer.

Well, 7-11's empire notwithstanding, that's no way to run a real estate business.  Or at least it's not the way that you want to run YOUR business.

You need to define yourself, to say NO to some people so that you can have other people saying (enthusiastically) YES to you.

And so that you can become, as author Steven Yoder puts it, "Slightly Famous", famous with the people that matter and for the reasons that you want.

Let me give an example of how being famous for HOW you work and HOW PEOPLE work with you can make working with people easier down the road.  Jack Nicholson has cultivated his image as a wildman.  Tom Hanks has cultivated his image as a Nice Guy.  WHen you work with The Jack, you make allowances for behavior that you would be shocked and appalled by from Tom Hanks.

Most realtors, because of having NO NICHE, NO SPECIALIZED SKILLS, NO REAL MARKETING TO GENERATE DEMAND, have to live and die by trading on "I'm a nice Guy/Gal", "I know the Area", "I'll always be available for you".

Well, here's what happens when you focus, when you niche, when you develop specialized skills (like working with investors and investment property, for instance), and when you TEACH your clients that you're NOT 7-11, you're a professional - not a lapdog.

- You can teach them how and when to contact you.  And how and when NOT to contact you.

- You can make them jump through hoops to "qualify" to work with you, rather than your running around begging them to work with you

- You can fire clients who don't fit into your mold, confident that they will be quickly replaced by other, better clients

- You can say "NO" to people who don't, from the outset, fit your criteria, confident that they will be quickly replaced by other, better clients

- You can let your SYSTEMS attract, qualify, and convert the "right" clients rather than spending any energy dealing with "looky loos"

So, that takes us back to the question of, "Who are you?" and the second question, "What are you going to be famous FOR?"

It can't just be as a Realtor.  Too big of a pond, not enough niche.

You could be famous as THE REALTOR in a certain geographic area.  That's getting there but it still leaves you pretty exposed to "My sister's barber's daughter is a realtor so we're working with her." 

You've got to provide THE REASON why they MUST work with you.

You could focus on a certain group - doctors, lawyers, contractors, teachers, police, military.  I see Realtors doing that and it's approaching Smart, because everyone believes that their situation is different and thus when you're speaking DIRECTLY to their situation, you have an edge.

You could focus on certain "technologies" - I'm the internet savvy realtor, we specialize in Auctions, I have my own media.  This focus really starts getting you places because people will start to believe (if properly sold) that WHAT YOU DO is "the answer" to getting their house sold (or finding the right house) - "And that's why, Mary, I can't work with your barber's daughter"

You could focus on certain TYPES of houses - luxury, Condos, shotgun houses, etc - Again, everyone believes that their situation is different and it makes sense to say, "It takes different skills to sell Condos than to sell single family detached".

Once you've chosen your "niche" or your specialty, it's time to define your business and yourself.  Part of what's going to make people claw through crowds to work with you is a personal connection with you.  And it's hard to have a personal connection with VANILLA. 

In order to start having people say "Yes" to you, you've got to have people saying "No" to you and that is the hardest part for most agents of niche'ing and becoming famous.  It requires some decisions that fly in the face of the "7-11" approach to running a business.

You've got to start to treat yourself as a valuable, in demand, sought after Professional, with rules, and processes, and a waiting list of people who want to work with you.

And then you're going to implement your "Getting Famous" plan to bring that POSITIONING into reality.

In the next lesson, we're going to talk about WHERE and HOW to appear for maximum exposure and maximum reinforcement of your "positioning".