Bob's Journey

I'd planned on starting posting on this blog a few months ago, but I got a little off track taking care of business in my personal and professional lives.  But, I'm back and plan to tear it up in 2007! :)

If you read the intro page on this site, you'll know that back in October 2006 I made a commitment to myself to make a serious change in my Real Estate business.  For the previous 18 months, I had been floundering.  Sure, I'd done a couple deals, but I never knew where my next deal was going to come from.  This is a business I'm excited about and one I'd really like to be able to do full-time in the next year or two.  So, to help me take that next step, I hired the folks at By Referral Only (BRO) after attending their Main Event in Sacramento.

By Referral Only teaches people how to develop a consistent, systematized, referral based business (RBB).  Once you've build an RBB, you no longer have to spend so much time trying to get business from strangers because instead, you're working with people who know you, like you and trust you, or someone who was referred to you by someone that does.

Tomorrow morning I have my 5th telephone appt with my Coach, Katrin, from BRO.  She's probably wanted to shoot me for the last few months cause I haven't made as much progress as either of us had hoped.  My initial tasks were relatively easy, and I should have been able to plow through them, but instead, I let a few other things get in the way.  I could re-hash all the excuses I've given Katrin, but when it's all said and done, it comes down to me not making the time.  I had time to sit down at the end of the day and watch every episode of Medium when it was on, but I didn't do anything to help grow my business.  But that's going to change!

My first  assignment from Coach was to finish cleaning out my client database and to send out a reconnect letter to everyone.  This task serves a few purposes.  First, like it says, it's to reconnect with my friends and family that I may not have kept in touch with as often as I should have.  Second, to let them know that I'm in the Real Estate business. 

It may sound strange, but I didn't tell some of these people I'd gotten into the business a couple years ago and I probably missed out on a few deals because of it.  At the time, I didn't feel comfortable asking those closest to me for business because I was afraid of messing up and tainting the relationship.  With a few deals under my belt, I'm much more confident in the process and my ability to satisfy.

The 3rd and final purpose of the letter is to plant the seeds of referrability and to open the door to follow-up conversations from me about Real Estate.

Katrin should be very pleased when I report tomorrow that I've sent out the reconnect letter to my entire database and have even started on the follow-up calls.

I don't know if I'll end up with any new business as a result of this mailing and follow-up campaign, but either way, it's a win-win as this is a new direction in my business.  A ground breaking if you will.  This is my first attempt at marketing.

In case your interested, this initial campaign cost me just under $35, not including my time, for fancy paper and envelopes, return address labels and postage.

From now on, each month I'll be sending out two items to my database.  An evidence of success postcard that talks about the people I'm working with and a letter from the heart that tells them what's going on in my life.  This will, hopefully, no, definitely be a regular mailing I send out on specific days of the month.  My first step in systematizing.

Until next time, Bob :)