Tina Gleisner

Setting Goals You Can Achieve

I've always been goal oriented, which is sometimes good & sometimes not so good. I've accomplished a lot,  but maybe my satisfaction was lacking when I didn't quite reach the goal set. I'm a new member of Active Rain, a blogging community for those involved in real estate, and there was an incredibly good post today about setting goals that are within your control, that will lead to your ultimate business goals.

First before I forget, let me give credit for this to Jennifer Allan, author of Sell with Soul. It was Jennifer's blog on Production Quotas that inspired me to translate the achievable goals into ones I can use. I am modifying the goals as I'm not a realtor so some don't make sense.

Jennifer described her goals by quarter which makes sense. Life happens and you'll set weekly goals, some weeks other priorities will preempt your time. Remember to set goals you can achieve, goals that will give you personal satisfaction for a job well done, and encouragement to keep going.

I originally planned to modify Jennifer's "realtor goals" but that's a bigger challenge than I realized so for now, I've just added comments to help me start tweaking these goals for small business owners.

By the end of March:

• Adding 40 people to your Sphere of Influence (SOI)
• 100 homes previewed
• 3 new home neighborhoods visited
• ...2 goals above are about research to build your territory
• 15 lunch dates
• 25 "outings"
• ...I've sent an email to Jennifer as I'm not sure what an outing is
• 5 open houses
• 3 SOI e‑mails sent out
• ...My monthly newsletter but maybe I can do this better if I think about SOI?
  
• 1 mailing that included your business card
• 1 continuing education class ...for business owners, a seminar or book
  
• 50 thank you cards sent

By the end of June:

• 80 names added to your SOI
• 200 homes previewed
• 6 new home neighborhoods visited
• 30 lunch dates
• 50 "outings"
• 10 open houses
• 6 SOI e‑mails sent out
• 2 mailings that included your business card
• 3 continuing education classes
• 100 thank you cards sent
• 1 dinner party for friends

By the end of December:

• 140 names added to your SOI
• 400 homes previewed
• 10 new home neighborhoods visited
• 60 lunch dates
• 100 "outings"
• 20 open houses
• 10 SOI e‑mails sent out
• Your two mailings plus an end‑of‑year mailing (calendar, newsletter, holiday card, etc.)
• 6 continuing education classes
• 200 thank you cards sent
• 2 dinner parties for friends
• 1 housewarming party for a client

These goals are all completely doable and 100% within your control. If you meet these goals, you will have consistent business, no question.

What Online Marketing Looks Like

More than 80% of the people buying a home use the web sometime during their search. An article I read on this topic also said only 62% of Americans have computers at home? That tells me they believe the web is key to making smart real estate decisions, and they have ready access to computers at work, libraries, etc.

The web is exploding! Even though I consider myself running with the pack, with respect to my websites (www.MyHandymanNH.com and www.4walls1roof.com) and newsletters (Handyman News and 4 Walls 4 You!), I'm quickly realizing that I've only just begun to tap into what's known collectively as "social media."

Turns out many of our peers, not just our children on Facebook and YouTube, are starting to communicate online through a wide range of web sites, software and the like. Here is a great visual that can explain the explosion better than any words. Credit for this picture goes to ActiveRain and one of their 80,000 members, Michael Leznik in LA. If you're using something not shown, please share it via a comment below.

                                 

Bagel Marketing for Hungry People

With all the focus on marketing online, it's also important not to forget about face-to-face marketing as ultimately that is how strong relationships develop. I found this blog post on Active Rain, a successful real estate network which I'm exploring.  As a confirmed bagel lover, I simply couldn't resist sharing. Thanks to Audrey June- Forshey, a realtor in Gaithersburg MD, for sharing this story.

This is not web based marketing, this was good old belly to belly stuff!

Another agent and I would go on Wednesday mornings to the local bagel shop, buy bags of bagels with different cream cheeses.  We would drop these bags of bagels (about 20 to 30 in a bag) off at different local business in our area once a week.  We would leave our business cards, magnets, brochures, contact information, and the like with the bagels for the employees to read.  It took a bit of effort, but it really paid off.

We did this for about 3 months and go leads from it.  We still get business from those bagels.  They were always waiting for us on Wednesdays to come with the bagels.  The bagel company gave us a discount because we were such regulars and bought  a lot of bagels.

We have since changed our format with these companies.  We now mail gift cards, movie tickets and occasionally drop off bagels.  The bagels were a way for us to get into the door and get to know the folks, who is going to turn away free food?  This let us get them in our database and build relationships.

Social Media in Plain English

Earlier I shared a great video on blogging. Then I explored the source web site, the Common Craft show. I found another great video on Twitter, a social media tool I heard about at a technology workshop hosted by MicroCredit NH, presentation by Kevin Skarritt, Acorn Creative.

What I like about Twitter is limiting messages to 140 words or less, a challenge for someone who likes to talk too much regardless of the medium. In fact I'm trying to learn to respond to email in 1 line or less, to keep up with volume approaching 200 emails/day.

I've signed up (tina_4walls) & sent my first "twitter"? Looking forward to hearing about your doings on Twitter and please, your comments and ideas on other great social media tools is always appreciated.

This short video will get you started.

Fantastic Video Explains Blogging

I just found an incredibly good blog with a simple, yet comprehensive description of blogging. I also think it's important to share with you how I found the video:

• Attended the Portsmouth chapter, 4 Walls 1 Roof member meeting on Wednesday
• Donna Rattee, a builder and realtor shared tidbits from an "online marketing" class. The instructor was "Monika McGillicuddy," and she said google Monika!
• Explored Monika's blog and found this video. I decided to learn how to include it here and soon, on My Handyman and 4 Walls 1 Roof web sites.
• Enjoy this terrific blog from Lee LeFever, the Common Craft Show

Enjoy the videoand please share your comments here. Why? When you provide comments, you include your digital signature with a link back to your blog/web site. Link backs help raise your rankings by the search engines.

The Power of Pink

Sometimes life gets too complicated and you have to make time for a little fun. It started about 2 weeks ago when Tomboy Tools announced a pink hammer special promotion. Later that day my friend and fantastic networker, Deb Sarhanis, called to check in with me. A half hour later we had planned our very first  Pink Pajama Party!

So what exactly is a Pink Pajama Party? It's simply a Friday night get together for women to relax with old friends, make new friends, eat healthy (and not so healthy) food and have a great time. The "pajama" part means wear comfy clothing which might be jeans, sweats or whatever you define as comfy (I couldn't resist these super girl pajamas.

The "pink" part is the fund raising to sell a 100 "Hammer Out Breast Cancer" hammers. They even say  Hammer out Breast Cancer on the hammers , so if you know someone who's been affected by this sad disease, here's a fun way to help find a cure. $3 is donated to Susan Komen foundation for every hammer sold ($14.95 for one hammer, March 2008 special is 2 for the price of 1 hammer plus shipping). 5% goes to www.breastcancerstories.com, as each quarter I donate 5% of all Tomboy Tools sales to a local non-profit organization that helps women.

So if you want more details about the party (Friday, April 4) in Hampton, NH or you want to support a good cause and buy some pink hammers, just email Tina, tinag@pobox.com