Two recent posts from Heidi Sloss

Is Your Website Working For You or Against You?

Business, Marketing 1 Response »

Apr 062013

A few weeks ago, I tried to help my son find a real estate agent in North Lake Tahoe. Sounds easy, right? As a recovering real estate agent, it should have been even easier for me. But it wasn’t. why was that? The reason was that so many of the agents in that area all look and sound alike on their websites. There was very little to differentiate them from each other. Is your website working for you or against you?
I checked out 4 or 5 dozen (that is 50 to 60!) agents’ website and only a handful had information about the agents themselves. Most were trying to sell us on the region, which was a waste as we were already sold on it–that was why we wanted an agent. All told us how honest they were and how hard they work. This was also a waste as I assumed that they were honest, after all they are licensed by the state and have a fiduciary responsibility to be honest. And as far as hard working, again, I assume that of all business professionals. These are not traits anyone should use when marketing to prospects.
Many agents’ websites had still photos of the area, some in slide-show mode, some not. As far as I was concerned this was a waste of my time to view–I know how beautiful the area is, that is why I wanted an agent!

In my last blog post I defined marketing as building a relationship with a prospect until they feel comfortable enough to do business with you. After hours of research, I realized there was very little on most of the agents’ sites that helped me feel comfortable enough to even contact them, much less hire them. But there were a few and let me share with you what was different.One agent’s website had lots of information describing and showing the agent, his family and team members. I learned about his kids, what they are doing, and how he and his wife work together. This gave me a great sense of how he worked and what he was like. Another site had two women talking in a video about how they work together and help their clients. It was a great way for me to get to know them–or at least feel like I did. Another agent had lots of information about all that she had done professionally and as a volunteer. This gave me a sense of what she valued and helped me feel like I knew a little bit about her–something that is critical for relationship building. All of the sites of the agents I considered had testimonials that had details of why their clients appreciated working with them. Those testimonials with photos got even higher marks.

The bottom line is that if you have a website (and who doesn’t in this day and age?) you need to make sure it is working for you. Just a few photos and a short description of how hard you work is not an effective use of your website–especially if you have competition (and who doesn’t in this day and age?).

Think about what your prospects need to know in order to hire you. What information would make it easiest for them to chose you? How do they go about the process to chose to hire someone in your profession? Not sure? Then ask your past clients. Find out why they chose you and what they were looking for when they hired you. Note: Chapter 4 of my book, Fortune is in the Follow-Up® has all sorts of great ideas for what and how to ask your clients for input.

Gone are the days when all you need is a plain website, make sure yours is working for you by really marketing with your prospects. Use your website to help you build relationships so that you can stand out from the crowd. The key is differentiating yourself!
Feel free to leave your comments, I would love to hear your experience with this issue.

Yours,

Heidi BK Sloss
Marketing Strategist & Follow-Up Expert
Best-Selling Author of Fortune is in the Follow-Up®
hsloss@heidisloss.com
www.heidisloss.com
650-248-1545

PS: After all that work and research, my son decided to rent in the area again before buying!

The Truth About Marketing

Marketing 1 Response »

Apr 042013

I get asked all sorts of questions by audiences all over the world, but the main question business owners ask me is for help with their marketing. Most of the time they attended a conference or a presentation and some slick marketing coach or consultant tried to sell them the idea that marketing has to be complicated and expensive.
But the truth of the matter is that marketing can be as simple as building a relationship with a prospect, or a great referral source, until they feel comfortable enough to do business with you. Period.
So if you can make friends, you can build relationships. And if you can build relationships you can do market your business. The key is to make sure your marketing is effective and for that you must have a well-defined, repeatable target market.
This will allow you to let people know who a great lead is for you and then you can harness the powerful number one source of all business: Leads and Referrals! They come to businesses who can clearly and articulately communicate who they are, what they do and most importantly who they want as clients.

Here is a short video with my definition of marketing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUmG0oQWulU

Please leave your thoughts on marketing on my You Tube channel. Feel free to subscribe to my channel to view new videos as they get uploaded.

Yours,

Heidi BK Sloss
Marketing Strategist & Follow-Up Expert
Best-Selling Author of Fortune is in the Follow-Up®
hsloss@heidisloss.com