Build a business through relationships
We’ve said it time and time again: creating REAL relationships is the easiest, best path to better business. People want to do business with you, not with a pile of market statistics (though, yes, we recognize that these data are important … just not ALWAYS). When you sit down to chat with friends or family, do you immediately start spouting off facts about how many real estate designations you’ve earned or how it’s a great time to buy or how referrals really help to build your business? Of course you don’t (and if you do, we need to have a whole OTHER conversation). NO. You don’t talk to your friends like that, so why would you talk to your customers that way? Talk to them like people. Treat them like they’re your friends.
And don’t just take our word for it.
We had a chance to talk to Jimmy Mackin, co-creator of Curaytor.com and co-host (with Chris Smith) of the Watercooler, and he had a lot to say about email, building relationships, and Happy Grasshopper.
“One of the best ways to stay in touch with your database–which is like the lifeblood of your business–is through email marketing. What I’ve witnessed with most agents is the reliance on traditional newsletters that they send out every single month. They send 1,000 or 2,000 words of block text, or they send a script that someone wrote 5 years ago. Or they put their customers on some drip campaign that they signed up for and then never went through and actually edited or personalized.
That message that you send is absolutely critical. If the message you send is irrelevant, is pre-canned, is something that you yourself would not read … then, how can you expect your customers to want to read it?
That’s what really excited me about the Happy Grasshopper service. When I first learned about it in the Facebook groups, a lot of people were talking about how much they loved the service & how they got great results from it. But the one thing that struck me that was really fascinating was the fact that when they send emails out, people responded. If you think about it for a moment, the goal of email marketing, and the goal of networking to your database isn’t to blast messages to them and check it off because you’ve done it, the goal is to actually keep building that relationship. The only way that you can maintain a relationship is if there is a conversation involved. Not a one-way blast of you shouting at them. That’s what I think Happy Grasshopper has really, really succeeded with is writing emails and creating content that people actually read and that they actually respond to.
So here is my advice to you: If you are in a position right now where you’re struggling to keep in touch with and really connect with your database. If you are having a hard time creating relevant content to send to your database because you’re so busy? If that’s you? My recommendation is to go to HappyGrasshopper.com, check it out, sign up for the service and see if it can help you stay in touch with people that matter most to your business.”
We think Jimmy’s right on the money. But we want to know what YOU think. Give Happy Grasshopper a try and let us know how it goes. We really want to know, because we’re your friends.
