Branding your self - Niche Marketing

Most title companies and title agents I’ve spoken with have not taken the time to really put down on paper what they will do to “specialize” or how they will service a particular niche differently. The differences may be subtle but going able to articulate those differences are very important to building a niche brand.

As you read through some of the examples below – be sure to ask yourself the following questions, in doing so you’ll get a clearer idea of what niche you might want to go after.

• Could you create a division in your company specifically to serve the needs this niche?
  How would you operate differently?
• Who in your operation has the skills to services a particular niche? Or even more broad, what are the skills required to service this particular niche if any?
• What services and adjustments would be necessary to achieve success?
• What would you call it?
• What kind of sales and marketing effort would best attract these clients?

A few examples worth talking about given current market conditions and should help to illustrate this concept of developing a niche.

Top Producers: Let’s say you have been noticing the national trend which suggests that top producing residential real estate agents (those in the top 20% of production in their market) are gaining more and more share of individual markets. This trend also shows that top producing real estate agents have increased their share of the market over 160% during the past twelve months). Creating a “Private Client Services” division that is more in tune with these high volume targets and clients can enable you to be the company of choice for this niche.

Reverse Mortgage: Rapidly growing in volume and expanding in product type, the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage or HECM is a great source of business. Over 100,000 have closed in the FY 2006/2007 according to HUD, and these are likely to grow at the current rate (over 35% growth in the past two years) or higher given the aging of the baby boomer population. Isolating this business as different and unique, serving its customers specifically, and branding that effort separately from your core products and services will give you a high return. Everyone might be closing reverse mortgages, but who is serving the needs of the clients in such a way that they become recognized as the provider of these services? Who is marketing themselves as the reverse mortgage expert? Might as well be you.

Loan modifications: If you have mid sized mortgage bankers in your area, chances are they are performing loan modifications in order to stem the foreclosure tide. Although the national lenders have contracts which handle these limited title searches on a nationwide basis with title information service providers, there are opportunities at the local and regional level. Be sure to talk to your banker to see if your bank is actively performing loan mod’s in their servicing department and if so, get their title work.

Credit Unions: One of the fastest growing locally sourced high quality areas of refinance transactions. Don’t overlook the multitude of Credit Unions, many of which out produce community banks at a rate of approximately 2 to 1 in certain markets (CUNA Stat.)

Private banking and private mortgage services: The Private Banking and Wealth Management department of national, regional and local banks represent the majority of deposits in the United States owned by wealthy clients. Many of these people own lots of commercial and residential real estate and their banker can approve commercial mortgages as well as refer residential refinances and purchases. None of your competitors call on these accounts and your upside in terms of deal sizes and frequency is unlimited.

Pre-foreclosure/Short Sales sales: Teach real estate agents to handle pre-foreclosure transactions, becoming the local expert in this rapidly growing market segment. In certain parts of the US, over 20% of all residential transactions are predicted to be “short sales” over the next year or two. Even if your area is less affected by this issue, it is still a great way to get introduced to real estate professionals around a hot topic.

A little time spent asking yourself questions about how you'll "specialize" in a specific niche might just be the next step to winning more accounts and adding to your bottom line.

Do's and Don'ts of Sales and Marketing - Part 4

Leadership and Management - Driving Results from the Top Down


Do

• DO Make sure everyone in your operation knows the goals (Open, closed, clients, revenue)
• DO Focus on individual targets - offices can't give you business, individual agents or LOs can.
• DO involve everyone in your organization in the sales effort with specific action items, tasks and goals
• DO make sure that everyone in your organization knows what differentiates you from your competitors - You're customers should be able to finish the sentence, "I use you because...." and your sales people should be able to help your customers articulate that
• DO make sure each person knows what their role is in achieving the goals

Don’t

• DON’T assume each person knows how to sell or ask for business
• DON’T pay for customer service reps….incentives should be based on mainly new business

Short and Sweet. Happy selling!

Do's and Don'ts of Sales and Marketing - Part 3

Execution - Sales Activities that Drive Results: here are some very specific tactical things that you should pay attention to...


Do

• After an interview with a target, schedule/calendar a plan for the next follow up – don’t leave an appointment without setting the next one


• Make 1 hour of outbound phone calls daily to targets and other prospects of interest
  (if you think about it this is only 12.5% of a 40 hour work week. Make it mandatory for yourself or for your reps. (you can make between 15-25 calls in an hour – if you use 5 call blocking)


• Interview broker managers every other month to get speaking engagements and other opportunities


• Sit with Closers while they make customer phone calls (they will not do it otherwise). Help create 'message' – empower them to make warm calls (not cold) – in fact here are 5 areas to call: Orphaned Clients, Lender in the middle, Non directing Agent, Best clients to ask for referrals, Cheaters


• Internal public relations – regularly/daily inform your Closers of all sales activities
  I have seen reps live and die by their ability to communicate with their closing/branch teams. It will be very difficult to over communicate what you’re doing as a rep to gain new business. It’s very easy to under communicate


• Ask for the sale. Ask for the appointment. Ask for the next step. Don’t rely on “accidental” results. (Know and) ask for what you want.


• Learn to Listen

Don’t

• DON'T deliver anything if you can convince an EO to do it. Get EO to set drop off appt with agents.


• DON'T spend time creating marketing flyers; or limit it to one hour a month.


• DON'T spend more than 30 minutes on your email per day.


• DON'T do lunches, unless that is the only way to get a target to talk to you. Quite coffee houses are better. Best case scenario, get them to meet you at your office.


• DON'T join committees or task forces that have little or no exposure to top producers, unless it is your first year in title sales, and even then be choosy.


• DON'T talk too much. Know when to shut up. People like to hear themselves talk...ask questions that get your prospect talking and let them go...continue to ask follow up questions to show that you are engaged.


• DON'T Sell the same way to every person. Be skilled in reading others, and then make sure you can flex your style to best suit your prospect.

In sales it's all about the execution - make sure that you're DOING the right things with the right people.

Happy Selling!

Do's and Don'ts of Sales and Marketing - Part 2

Planning and Strategizing - Make it happen...don’t be happy with accidental results!

Do

• Know what activities are most productive for YOU and understand your activity ratios...they may be different from other people on your team. Most top producing sales people can tell you their highest gain activities (things they do that pay them the most amount of money). In our business those activities typically are:
  Asks (referrals and for orders directly)
  Face to face appointments / interviews
  Conversations with prospects
  They can also tell you that metrics like, “I need to set 10 appointment to have 7 show up” and constantly tweek those metrics.
• Set goals and create a daily activity plan to achieve them...look for incremental successes to celebrate, not just the final “close”. Spend 10 minutes at the end of each day planning your strategy for the next day. Ask yourself how much different your days would be if you spent just a minimal time the day before planning what you’d like to do. Someone said, not having a plan is planning to fail… I think they’re right.
• Measure and track your progress and results, know where you are daily so you can tweak and adjust your plan. Don’t over do it (but I really meet great sales people or marketers that overdo tracking), typically it’s the other way around. Make it simple and just track the four things I mentioned above on a daily or weekly basis. The simpler the better.
• Have a daily contact and interview goal: minimum 2 per day.

Don’t

• Wake up without a defined plan/strategy for your day – based on our recommendations for what to DO – this goes without saying
• Go a single day without any selling activity. Keep your skills sharp and your pipeline full by making sure that every day has purposeful selling activity included.
  Literally, if we’re not living for getting new clients and doing something everyday that puts us in a position to get a new client we’re missing the boat

Do's and Don't of Sales and Marketing - Part 1

I constantly get asked to describe the do's and don'ts of sales and marketing for our industry. As easy as the question may sound the answer I've discovered is somewhat complex. I've divided the the answer into four areas or four parts each having a brief list of what we consider at RightNow, the do's and don'ts of sales and marketing:

Attitude and Demeanor - Acting and Dressing “The Part”: this is about how to “be”, behaviours and attitudes that will positively affect, or detract from your sales results.

Do

• Think and act positively. Negative self-talk will only reinforce negativity. Good sales people are by nature positive and this attracts (Law of Attraction) positive results.


• Make sure your outer appearance matches your inner self...always dress professionally and make sure you look polished. Appearance matters, whether we like it or not – marketing and sales people are the “face” of your company. Don’t be afraid to set expectations or standards about how you want your companies image portrayed in the market place.


• Constantly evolve your skills, mindset and perspective. Read voraciously, “interview” other top performers in other industries, try new things, recognize stagnancy, try and be ahead of the curve when change is imminent. Don’t be afraid to learn and keep learning, sharpening your saw (if you’re the president of a title agency on this call, ask yourself when is the last time you made a cold call or when on a sales appointment with a new prospect – hopefully it’s been recently, if not schedule sometime to make some calls this week


• Be accountable to YOURSELF first. Remember this... “If it is meant to be, it is up to me.” You can only be accountable if you have committed to measurable objectives. Get clear on how much you want to make, how many orders you want (the results), then work backwards to the activities you need to do to get those results and hold yourself accountable to the activity that you can control.
  

Don’t

• DON’T get stuck in price wars-it is not about price, it is about perception of value. This is easier said than done, but with few exceptions when we can demonstrate value to our customers, they are willing to pay more – and at the end of the day they’re not paying anyway…)


• DON’T “buy business" or get stuck in that sandbox. If you’re in TX – P53 pretty much lays it out for you. Find ways to add value through your knowledge or tap into the knowledge of your company and it’s employees to create mutually beneficial relationships in an ethical way.


• DON’T believe that anyone is off limits…everyone cheats! This is all about assumptions. Assumptions about our prospects without actually asking or finding out for sure leads us to inaction. It’s typically us looking for an excuse not to do something out of our comfort zone so for example instead of asking and hearing no, we assume a target is off limits and don’t ask.


• DON’T do it ‘because everyone else is doing it’ Otis spunkmeyer cookies… need I say more


• DON'T Work for someone else. Create the mentality that you are “self-employed” regardless of whether you have a base pay or not, and plan and work your day/month/year as if no one but you were responsible for the results you achieve and the money on your paycheck

Next we'll dive into Planning and Strategizing do's and don'ts

Happy Selling

Management Time Woes - Managing your Return on Time Investment

70/20/10

Jack Welch, Chairman and CEO of General Electric from 1981-2001 has discussed his simple management strategy which served him well as he built GE into the success it became. According to Welch, all your employees fit into one of three categories, 70/20/10. Most fall in the middle 70%, employees that are generally meeting your expectations, neither flying above nor below the radar. About 20% fall into your most coveted employee category…those who are highly productive, highly motivated, and are a great cultural fit for your organization. The bottom 10% is just that, they either need to elevate into the middle 70, or they need to leave. Here are some strategies to consider in working with your people after you have identified where they fit.

Talent Strategies
Top 20 – Deepen the relationship
Most of these people are vocal when the need something, but otherwise go about their business quietly. Because they don’t demand very much management attention, they can be vulnerable to recruitment. Make sure that you are creating purposeful strategy for retaining your BEST employees while at the same time taking action to move out the bottom 10%.

• Create challenges
• Create participation in leadership direction
• Reward performance
• Connect personally
• Create opportunity

Middle 70 – Accelerate performance
Many of these individuals need little to now management support to achieve mild success. Some of these people can blossom with the right support and mentorship and can become the next generation of Top 20’s in your organization. Pay attention to “influencers” in this group, and look for the leaders of tomorrow.

• Create individual expectations
• Formalize coaching/learning
• Implement skills enhancement/practice
• Specify growth progression
• Communicate progress regularly
• Praise successes

Bottom 10 – Upgrade
If you combine the mental energy you devote to these people, with the actual physical time and energy you have to commit to, these people take up an inordinate amount of your time, especially in relationship to their contributions. Simply, move up or move out...they can become “a cancer” in your organization.

• Execute written Performance Improvement Plans
• Require skills development
• Closely monitor progress within defined timeframes
• Terminate decisively

If you would like a talent scorecard that helps you identify and create action steps for your employees in these catagories please email us at info@rightnowconsulting.com

Also remember that the 70/20/10 rule can also directly to apply to our customers and prospects. Think about it... would love your comments and your stories.

Happy selling.

Coaching for Results

Coaching/Counseling

We have developed the coaching model here, for use with performers all along the spectrum. Depending on where someone is (70/20/10) your coaching may be more collaborative and less directive, or more directive and less collaborative.

Consistency is the key to successful coaching. In order to create a “culture of accountability” within your organization, you must communicate what you want, and then follow-through to assess progress and results.

For your Bottom 10, define desired outcomes, meet frequently, give support/training if need be, and then act decisively. If you allow your Bottom 10 to stay, you unwittingly communicate to everyone else that lackluster performance is acceptable.

Be prepared to deal with the following coaching challenges:

Salesperson “too busy” to be coached
• Politely insist
• Go to them
• Make it fun

Not being prepared
• Delay the meeting
• Ask when he or she will be ready

Talking too much:
• Reiterate time constraints
• Use a timer

Bringing other issues into the session:
• Make a follow up appointment to discuss

Not doing what he or she agreed to:
• Counseling

At the end of the day coaching is about helping your people to succeed and having real conversations with them that ENABLES them to do the right activities. Coaching is one of the most powerful ways to motivate and demonstrate thoughtful leadership.

Let me know how it goes.