Two small words that add punch to a request

Words and where you use them really do make a difference, and these two are surprisingly effective.

The two words? "Will You."

Instead of making a statement such as "Call if you'll be late," change it to "Will you call if you'll be late?" and get the affirmative response. Once someone has said yes, they've made a commitment to you and are far more likely to follow through.

Use this tactic in dealing with friends, family, and with customers.

Your specific business dictates what you might want your customers to do. It might be calling to confirm an appointment, calling if they can't make it, calling if they have questions prior to a decision, or calling after the purchase to let you know if they have any concerns. (Which is better than talking about you behind your back.)

If you've got any little word tricks that work for you, share them please!

Yours for success,
Marte

A New Lead Generation Idea

Sometimes a good idea just jumps out at you - and that's what happened to me when I read a post on Active Rain yesterday.

This was a lead generation tip for Realtors, but any business that provides a "big" service could use it.

After you've closed on the sale of a home (or installed a pool, remodeled a kitchen, landscaped a yard, etc.) throw a party! Let the client invite 25 friends for the celebration, and while they're there, do your best networking.

Hand out cards, of course, but mainly just get acquainted with these folks so they can see how friendly you are and imagine how pleasant it would be to work with you. You can also use this time to learn more about what your potential clients are most interested in about your kind of service, and use that knowledge in future marketing. If you listen well, you might learn something you didn't know about your prospect base.

You could also hand out discount cards. Make it a VIP kind of thing - because they're friends of your friends (clients.)

Let your client choose the kind of party - wine & cheese, beer & pizza, punch and cakes, or whatever fits their personalities and lifestyle.

Now, if I could only figure out a way to use this idea myself. But, all of my clients are long-distance. Hmmm... guess not. Be pretty hard to serve refreshments through the computer.

Happy second half of June!

Marte
writer@marte-cliff.com

What should you present in a listing presentation?

This one is for you Realtors. My Real estate help ezine today is about the experiences a friend has had in trying to find a good Realtor to sell his house...

After two bad experiences with hiring the wrong agents last year, he's been interviewing plenty of agents trying to find someone with enthusiasm and willingness to work with him, rather than against him.

He wanted to contribute $2,000 per month so that his house would be advertised in more places with larger, more prominent ads - and he wanted his realtor to work with me on the copy.

The agent he finally chose presented him with a full blown CMA, a clear schedule of her various fees, a marketing plan, and then some. Others merely showed him a computer print-out of a few recently sold properties.

I intended to post the entire article on my site so you could go read it and then come back and comment. But that is not to be - at least not tonight.

When my computer crashed a week ago it left me without my reliable old Top Dawg software for HTML editing - and I cannot find my way around in Dreamweaver. My son says its a great program, but I can't find anything great about it - not even one thing!

After spending an hour trying to figure out how to talk to it, I've given up. I simply MUST find a more user friendly editor. One that's made for non-techies like me who don't know any of the jargon but just want to do some simple editing. Things like inserting paragraph breaks and changing a font size. Top Dawg seems to have disappeared from the web, darn it!

So, instead, share with us what you think should be included in a listing presentation. And if a client offered to contribute $2,000 per month for you to use marketing his house, would you take it?

How about if a client told you that you had a professional copywriter at your service? Would you take the assistance, or turn it down?

We're just curious...

What's the difference between anxious and eager?

Think about those two words... I've been thinking about them ever since this afternoon when I listened to a teleconference with Herschell Gordon Lewis.

He was talking about the importance of the words you choose in marketing, and how each word conveys a subtle meaning. Even while it "says" the same thing.

For instance, think about the two phrases: "Declined to comment" and "Refused to answer." They give you two different feelings, don't they?

But back to the headline - the word anxious conveys a bit of anxiety - even though it might not be what you mean. But the word eager conveys enthusiasm and hopefulness.

Another "trick" he mentioned was about making things seem bigger or smaller by the unit of measurement you choose. Would you rather have a "quarter pounder" or a 4 ounce burger?

I've taken all sorts of copywriting classes, and like most copywriters, I read and study about copywriting almost every day of my life, but listening to that man was incredible. I took 10 pages of notes in one hour. I'd heard him speak before, which was why I made it a point to listen today. If you ever get the opportunity to hear him - jump at it.

The kind of psychology he talks about will help you even if you're not a copywriter - because everyone needs to persuade someone sometimes.

Yours for success and successful persuasion,
Marte