Become a "Famous" Agent-Investor Lesson #3

Better Blunt than Boring

Ok, so we've covered why NOT to be Vanilla.  Let's get down to brass tacks. 

In this age of 24-7 media and all encompassing internet "touching", it's easier than ever to get "slightly famous", that is, famous to the people who matter to you - your prospective customers. 

In fact, as I wrote about in Lesson #1, Publish or Perish, really all you have to do to become famous is to "Raise Your Hand" and say I'm someone worth listening to.

There are thousands of outlets for you to get your message out and it's the nature of our "online" world that media (and list builders like yourself) are hungry for content, hungry for knowledgeable, informative, and entertaining people.

Entertaining?  How did that get in there?  Isn't it enough for me to be a great agent and to "know my stuff"?

Uh uh, sister. To get noticed and to build your "herd" in this world, you've got to be engaging and "knowing your stuff" ain't enough.

Now, that doesn't mean that if you aren't as funny as world class comedian like, say, me, you're lost and your business will wither on the vine and die.  No - that of course is an unrealistically high standard to hold you to. :)

BUT you do have to put some effort into it.  When we talk tomorrow about WHERE to publish to make yourself famous (i.e. the outlets), you need to start thinking beyond the circulation of boring statistics or trite, hackneyed stories and start sharing something more interesting with Those Who Would Be Customers -- namely, YOU.

You want to make the people who read what you write and listen to what you say and watch what you produce -- all of the tools of getting famous -- you want to make all of those people RESPECT you and WANT to work with you.  It's great if they LIKE you as well, but it's OK to be the "anti-hero", the No B.S. Gruff, no nonsense curmudgeon with a heart of gold. (Obviously that's a well-worn archetype that the movies have helped make us accustomed to having affection for as well)

Now, this doesn't mean that you have to remake yourself and create a "fake" persona.  But it does mean that you better have some personality in your writing (and the other "pieces of you" that you will be circulating).  Being "Boring" is the cardinal sin of marketing and the best way that you can avoid falling into that trap is to Be Real.  Talk about real things and talk about them in a real way. 

Yes, we're taught to avoid politics, sports, religion in our cocktail conversations so as not to offend, but you can only be committed to applying those same rules in your marketing and your commitment to "getting famous"  if you're content to be ignored.

This doesn't mean that you have to purposely offend people (although it certainly is a strategy); it just means that, rather than hiding yourself because you don't want for anyone to have an opinion about you and you want everyone to like you, you be real.

Remember, the only people who matter are your customers.  And you're not going to get all of your prospective customers to work with you anyway.  Whatever customers you lose because they are miffed by something in your tone or personality will be replaced by people who connect with you, who like you. 

And those who you irritated because of your tone or your personality or your opinions (a) would have been lost somewhere down the line and (b) would have been pains in the ass to work with anyway.

It's tempting to dumb everything down and make yourself Vanilla so that you "never lose a customer" but the truth of the matter is, just as we discussed with nicheing, if you try to be all things to all people, you'll only accomplish being nothing to no one.

Part of your "Getting Famous" approach (once we have secured the attention and interest of the customer) will be to build rapport and relationship, to turn them into a fan, someone who turns to you as a trusted advisor.  Much of your ability to create and maintain that ongoing relationship will be based on you sharing your personality with them.  Don't fear the consequences of being real as long as you are following the other approaches that we talk about - nicheing, building authority and credibility through publishing, and establishing "who you are".

Whenever I worry that I might lose a customer or a prospect if I'm too, well, Frazier, I'm reminded of something that I heard Ali Brown, the "Ezine Queen", say at a Dan Kennedy seminar a few years back about building relationships with your ezine subscribers and whether it was ok to share parts of your personal life in your writing.  She quoted Bernard Baruch's famous line, "Those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind". 

Once you've chosen your niche, started to position yourself as a specialist, and decided HOW and with WHOM you want to do business, you get to FINALLY "Be Yourself".

Remember, Nicheing means Never Having to Say You're Sorry.

Now that we've got you NICHEd (say "Agent-investor", say "Agent-Investor", say "Agent-Investor"), sold on the concept of "Publish or Perish", thinking about the TYPE of business that you want to run, AND connected with the need to let your personality show through to turn your writing, recordings, production from BORING to ENGAGING, it's time to start thinking about WHERE and HOW to share yourself to attract the attention of your prospects!

Frazier O'Leary is the sometimes brash, but always lovable Director of Breakthrough Business Consulting for the National Association of Real Estate Agent-Investors and the Real Estate Community Networking Group.  Ignore his words of wisdom at your Peril!

If you want to learn the "7 Steps to Transforming Your Business By Becoming An Investing Agent", visit http://www.Agent-Investor.org.

If you want to learn how to transform your life, income, and business by becoming a "From Anywhere" Six or Seven Figure Business Consultant, visit http://www.JointVenturePreneur.com