SANTA CLAUS: A MARKETING GENIUS

Marketing 'gurus' comes in all shapes and sizes. This one wears a red jacket, black boots, and flies a fuel efficient sleigh. Find out how you can model this merry gentleman and take your production to the next level…

Merry, Merry Christmas to you all. It is my sincerest desire that this report finds you and yours in the BEST of health, wealth, and spirits. Happy, content, joyful, full of laughter, merriment and good cheer…
And what’s this I hear about you sitting in front of a dead tree in your living room and eating candy out of your socks? Pretty weird. Perhaps you should lay off the eggnog. Oh well, ‘tis the season…
Let’s talk about Santa. You know, dude in the funny red suit.
He really is quite a marketing coup if you think about it. Everybody knows him or knows about him. You think Christmas… you think Santa. Think reindeer…think Santa. Think “sleigh bells ringing”…you got it…you think Santa!
“Santa” is synonymous with Christmas, toys, trees, candy canes, and gum drops—all kinds of stuff. A marketer’s dream… free endorsements! Incredible!
Even more incredible… he never had a press agent, or even a press kit for that matter. Never made a single, solitary cold call to sell himself and his wares. And he never ran an image ad—not even a small classified.
And publicity? Oh yeah…lots and lots of publicity. Amazing amounts of publicity. Movies, cartoons, songs, satellite tracking on the nightly news, sound bites…
You name…Santa’s got it.
How come? What, specifically, is responsible for his phenomenal success, credibility and celebrity? What can we hope to learn from this incredible marketing maniac who roams the night skies only once a year and, yet, is known the world over?

What lessons can we learn, lessons which we could (and should) use to increase our success, credibility and celebrity? Could we ever hope to become as synonymous with real estate as he is with Christmas?
I think so. Let’s take a look…
One of the first things glaringly apparent about
Santa’s modus operandi is his uniqueness
He does things a whole lot differently than most of us. I mean, it’s pretty hard to lose Santa in a crowd…there’s just something about that red suit that’s hard to ignore. It just isn’t “ordinary.” It’s noticeable.
Okay. How about you and your business? Are you getting lost in the crowd? Just one of the ordinary. A typical, run-of-the-mill, dime-a-dozen, average real estate agent. Or have you somehow set yourself apart? Done things or positioned yourself somewhat differently.
Are you noticeable? Do you stick out like a candy cane against an evergreen? Do you have a unique selling proposition, a unique marketing proposition?
If not, and hear me on this, you’re doomed to mediocrity.
Unless you understand and telegraph the most appealing, compelling, and beneficial advantage you can offer–real or perceived–it’s only by luck you have any business at all.
I mean it! We’re talking serious, serious stuff here. Your USP is all about setting yourself apart from the pack—positioning yourself and your business as so incredibly different and unique… people are literally compelled to notice and to seek you out.
Think about it. Doesn’t that ridiculous red suit immediately demand your attention every time you see it? What is that? That’s one of Santa’s unique selling propositions and you have no defense against it! You don’t want to defend against it. There’s no reason to.
Find something you can do better than any one else. Perhaps it’s understanding and addressing the particular housing needs of doctors or lawyers or the elderly. Perhaps you are (or can become) THE expert within a certain tract or homeowner's association.
Find out what your clients really want and provide it. Conduct a survey of all your past clients and ask them what they thought about you and your service—if you actually did address their wants and needs—or if you left them lacking. Find out! Make their desires the heart and soul of your marketing efforts. Build your USP around what they need, want and desire and, guaranteed, you’ll leave your scratching their heads and wondering what happened.
Think about how you can distinguish your business from the hundreds or thousands of agents competing in your market. Make identifying and/or creating your “little red suit” a definite priority if you haven’t already done so. In fact, why wait? Why don’t you start now? Your goal: get noticed! Stand tall, stand proud… or stand down.
Santa also enjoys and incredible
volume of repeat business
Ever notice that? Year after year after year the same people–starting from when they were just tiny tots all the way through adulthood–continue to look forward to receiving a visit from him. He visits you one time and that’s it…you’re hooked for life.
Hmmm. Value-added service perhaps? After all, he does go through an awful lot to please, to deliver what he has promised and MORE. Flies around the world in a night. Squeezes through chimneys and keyholes.
No. I think it goes beyond that. I think the secret lies in the fact that once he’s paid his first initial visit…since he did such a bang up job of giving you just what you wanted…he is confident that you
1. know him,
2. trust him, and
3. like him.
So, all things being equal, you are much, much more comfortable letting the guy in the little red suit come into your home via the fireplace than some “stranger” whom you’ve never met or dealt with before. So comfortable, in fact, you anticipate his visit.
And that is exactly how it should be with everybody you know…
• your centers of influence…
• your family, friends, acquaintances…
• and business associates.
That’s where you’ll find the key that opens the door to “easy money.”
People like to do business those people they know, like, and trust.

Your job is to become proactive–even aggressive–in reminding these folks that you know each other and what you do for a living. You need to design a system which enables you to keep your name, face, and profession in front of them constantly… so it’s there when they are ready to do business.
Scratch pads with your name, photo, and USP are wonder little tools to keep you in front of everyone you come in contact with. Make it a monthly habit to give everyone a scratch pad. Even better, you might want to caption your scratch pad with a brief emotional response headline and a call to action:
I WILL sell your home in 45 days or less…
Guaranteed.
Call me at 555-1212 when you’re ready to move.
• Perhaps a nice, specialty calendar…
• A newsletter…
• Birthday cards and other special occasion reminders…
Maybe even a phone call??? Just a brief “howdy-do, how are you?” Come on…it’s so simple…so inexpensive…so, dare I say, caring…so personal…
People doing business with people.

Then there’s that peculiar little habit that Santa
has about rewarding good behavior

You know, a lump of coal for the naughty versus a wonderful surprise for the nice and tidy.
Seems to me that’s a basic motivational principle: A behavior rewarded is a behavior repeated. And it works! Incredibly so. Why every year around this time my two sons seem to put on their utmost best behavior. Never fails. Something incredibly powerful going on here.
So how can you use this concept to create more business? Well, how about designing a certificate worth $100, $200, even $500…redeemable at closing…and make them available to every FSBO, EXPIRED listing, your centers of influence, within your farm area and/or targeted niche.
Maybe you could even increase the value of this certificate by offering a referral reward. I mean, twist my arm and offer me a couple of hundred bucks simply to pass along the name of a few of my friends who could use a wonderful agent like yourself and believe you me…I’ll be keeping a very sharp eye to the sky and keen ear to the ground for the slightest hint of someone I know getting ready to make a move.

You need to discover a number of ways and implement them to turn all of your previous clients and contacts into your very own mighty sales force.
Santa never sells himself

Doesn’t have to. Word-of-mouth has always been his greatest marketing coup. Is it yours? Are you getting your fair share, more than your fair share of kudos? Are you ever approaching a realistic "By Referral Only" business? If not, you need to devise a plan that will. Or count on striving (versus thriving) for a very, very long time.

Does your state offer lottery tickets? If so, you can create a magnificently powerful campaign which will generate "stories" by simply offering free tickets for viable referrals. First, research to determine the highest winning prize ever rewarded in your state. Then, using that bit of information, design a letter or postcard… or even a web page… with a sizzling headline that commands attention
REWARD: Real Estate Agent Extraordinaire will pay up to $42,034,680.00* for information leading to the identification of person or persons responsible for desiring the purchase this home or one of hundreds in the Greater Bay Area.

Note: Individual(s) should be considered ready, willing and able to purchase on a moments notice. If you have any information which may be of value… call 555-1212 now. You can remain anonymous (but with $42,034,680 dollars on the line you’d have to be crazy!). *Paid over the course of 20 years.

Lottery tickets can also be used as agent rewards and lead to any number of lead-generating, deal-making things.
Holding an open house? Make it a gala event… a mini buffet… complete with door prizes (including lottery tickets). Design a flier and distribute to every agent and broker servicing that area informing them of your gala and how to go about getting a free lunch and the opportunity to win this and this and this. How do you play? Simple. Just show up! Drop your card in the bowl! Want even more chances to win? Show up with buyers in tow and you get to drop two cards for each person in your company!
Will you sell that particular home that day as a direct result of your gala? Probably not. BUT you will certainly accomplish a couple of powerful, powerful things:
1. Your property will become exposed and previewed by a large number of agents and, hopefully, buyers (who may know someone else interested in that particular home.
2. The neighbors, whom you personally invited, will be duly impressed and it is for these wonderful folks you really put the open house on for anyway, right? After all… if any of the neighbors were even remotely considering marketing their homes or even if they know of someone who might be interested…do you think you’ll have earned their undivided attention?
Market by doing things differently. Creating a Unique Selling Proposition to draw attention to yourself, to set yourself apart from pack, the ordinary. Galas…not just another open house. For Sale sign in the yard AND five other signs pointing the way to the listing…
Have a formal referral generating system in place.

Are you aggressive in your pursuit of referrals? You should be. Referrals can comprise 50, 60, even 70% of your business or more. And what’s really great about referrals are they are, for the most part, lay down business! They also come to you without the high cost of advertising to draw them in. They tend to buy faster and are more willing to listen to and heed the advice of their expert (that’s you) whom they’ve come to know and trust. Need a price reduction…a referred client is much more apt to give you one without a fight because they trust you.
And here’s the best part - they tend to refer even more clients to you!
Referral business is THE #1 way to grow your business exponentially.
Promise yourself you will sit down between now and the new year to finally, formally set up a number of programs to aggressively pursue this very, very lucrative business.
If you don’t, you’re just cheating yourself AND all those wonderful folks you could have helped. And that would be tragic. Terribly tragic.
Well, I’m sure you’ll agree that Santa is one sharp, sharp marketer. And we can learn a lot from his example. The number one attribute responsible for this tremendous, world renown success?
Santa is first and foremost…a giver.

Think about that.
The bottom line to ALL of Santa’s popularity can be traced back to his unfaltering attitude of being a giver…without recourse…without reservation.

Are you being perceived as a giver? Or as a taker?
A salesperson seeking to get something…a commissioned agent looking out for his or her best interests…
Or a consultant seeking to provide answers, solutions and benefits to your clients and everyone else you come into contact with…without recourse, without reservations?
Imagine the impact on your business the simple act of giving could impart. You’re the listing agent. The buyer is represented by one of those ordinary, run-of-the-mill, average, commissioned salesperson-agents. The listing is sold, and the buyer moves in.
You, of course, helped your sellers move, hook up with a similar service-oriented agent in the location they were headed, provided maps, reservations…whatever you could to give them value - but if you stopped there, if you ignored the buyer simply because they weren’t your client…you’ve lost yourself a potential fortune in future business AND future referrals.
Why don’t YOU call the buyer a day or two after moving in…just to check in…just to make sure they are pleased and everything is going well. Why don’t YOU bring them over a homecoming gift…a welcome wagon to the neighborhood? Why don’t YOU go out of your way to make sure they have all the local information they need… school locations, recreation facilities, shopping centers. Why don’t YOU make it a point to discover where they work and route the best way to get there from their new home…(If you can shave fifteen minutes off their commute, you’ll have endeared their hearts and referrals for fifteen years!)
Always seek to give to everybody. Make it a point. Make it an integral part of your unique selling proposition. BECOME, through and through, an unselfish giver and you will…in time…become renown in your own right.
GIVE, make it a habit, and you will reap a ten-fold reward. It’s one of those universal principles that made Santa famous…could it be you’re next?

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Brian Rodgers is a Bestselling Real Estate Author, Trainer and Coach. His methods have been used by over 100,000 Real Estate Professionals Worldwide. He is the Founder of The BusyAgentPro Real Estate Community which empowers real estate professionals to take control of their lead generation and client retention. You can receive over 100 hours of free audio training and marketing materials by visiting his site at: www.busyagentpro.com