Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Women's Council of REALTORS® Lake Houston


Attending the Women's Council of REALTORS® Lake Houston Chapter Business Resource Meeting last week was educational and rewarding, with effective networking and great speakers.  President Debra Camino and the leadership team created a welcoming environment for real estate professionals and affiliates, and The Mystery Guest brought back some memories!

The speakers, Tim Underwood and Michael Mengden, educated us on VA Financing (with real world examples) and Understanding the Basics of Leasing (real estate agents, be sure to brush up on the Texas security laws of rental properties...will post info to my blog soon). 

Congratulations to Michael Clapp, winner of the membership recruitment contest!  

No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.  Enjoy your networking opportunities this week!

~Patti St. Louis, 2012 Texas State Secretary
"Accentuate the Positive!"

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Amy Smythe Harris presents “Don’t Botox Your Brokerage, Go for the Whole Facelift!”


Part One – Focus on Your Brand

Amy Smythe Harris delivers programs that always promise to be as entertaining as they are educational.  Her presentation at the Women’s Council of REALTORS® Midyear Conference last month was no exception.  Although the focus here is for REALTORS®, it applies to any business.


Branding is an integral part of your business.  What does your brand tell the consumer?  Your Brand includes your personal Brand, your office Brand and your company Brand.  Just as “Finger Lickin’ Good” tells us how delicious KFC’s chicken really is, you should have an effective Brand that tells the consumer why they should use a REALTOR®, and why they should use your company, your office and you.

Your Brand includes your company name, logo, slogan and photo.  When you create your Brand or give it a facelift, do your research, develop your marketing plan, and consult a few people before implementing, then monitor your Brand.  


Researching current trends and the viability of your target market are essential.  You will also want to utilize Namechk.com to make sure your desired user name and domain name are available on dozens of sites.

Developing your marketing plan should include social media.  Start your Facebook biz page, use Twitter as a cold calling tool, start your Blog and be consistent, update your Google profile, and be sure to use a Wordpress site.

Monitoring your Brand tells you what people are saying.  Some of the many tools to monitor your Brand include Google Alerts, Socialloomph.com and Socialmention.com.

As Amy says: Measure! Everything!

Patti St. Louis, “Accentuate the Positive!”
Insuring This Land is Your Land

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Share Your Testimonials for the World to See


One of the marketing strategies in my business plan for 2012 is to share ALL of the testimonials that I receive.  After all, what good do they do if I am the only one that reads it?  Sure they make us feel good, and the writer certainly feels good writing and sending it.  Testimonials reinforce what we strive to achieve for our clients, and they can be one of our most effective marketing tools.

During a recent Women's Council of REALTORS® meeting or BNI Education Moment, the speaker suggested writing a testimonial for yourself before you complete your business plan, vision or mission statement.  Where I heard it is not as important right now as what it meant to me and the importance of including it in this post.  I'm sure it is in my notes in my Blog folder waiting for a future post.
So, here it is for you to see:

Patti,

Thank you so very much. Your office did a great job in taking care of my client throughout the entire transaction. Because of the constant communication from your office, my client, a first homebuyer was very comfortable with the process on the day of closing.

I received this testimonial today and immediately shared it with the staff in all three of our offices, posted it to Facebook, now to Active Rain, and will post it to HAR, Blogger and LinkedIn.  I have much to learn in the social media world and one day I will figure out how to link everything together.  For now, I will share as best I can for the world to see.

Patti St. Louis
“Accentuate the Positive!”
http://about.me/pattistlouis