From the Files of Captain Obvious: Five Fundamental Real Estate Business Truths

by Teri Lussier

Rust Belt Realtor

Author website

I. am. not. BawldGuy. And I don’t play one on this, or any other blog. Okay, now we’ve got that (not-so) deep dark secret out into the open… If you are approaching BawldGuy status, God Bless You, and keep on truckin’ and you go girl! You can move along, because this is for those of us who are working on real estate at the ground floor level.

I’ve been given the gift of time in 2009 and looking back and looking ahead, I see some obvious truths about the real estate business. Some of these are based on mistakes I’ve made, but as long as we learn from them, I’m okay with sharing.

Truth #5: I like twitter. I don’t like facebook. But who cares? Without a goal–driven plan to use either for a very specific reason, then I’m wasting time on both, and I’ve wasted time so you don’t have to. Use them to chat, or use them to market, or use them to sell, but understand the difference and if you are going to use them for business, have a plan and follow the plan. Don’t get sidetracked, and do stay focused. If you are a lender or a vendor then you might want to network with real estate agents, but if you are an agent, then stop talking water cooler and find people who can tell you to go to hell.

Truth #4: You don’t need social media to do a great job in real estate. You don’t need to  blog, or twitter. You don’t need to go to conferences. You can. You might learn a nugget or two, but it’s entirely unnecessary to your success, and it just as likely will be a huge waste of your time and energy.

Truth #3: To be successful in real estate, you need to meet as many people as possible. Lucky us, people are everywhere, and we can find them through any means- the method is really unimportant to getting to close. What’s important is that everyday you get up and do something, and if you do the same thing every day- blogging, or door knocking, or postcard sending, open houses, or google ads, or chatting folks up at the local coffee shop- if you do this every day, and you pay attention to responses, you are going to close something. Hooray.

Truth #2: If you are not satisfied with the “close something” part but would like to close something specific, then you have to apply some marketing.  So we put our thinking caps on: Who is your perfect client? Go find them. Everyday. Find your perfect client everyday. Are they twittering? Are they really? Or do you just hope they are?  Are they on facebook? Are they at the synagogue? Are they on the golf course? In the local book club? Just go find them and talk to them.

Truth #1: Talk to people appropriately. Market to them effectively. Sell to them in ways that add value to their lives. Don’t be ashamed to be a salesman. Apply as needed, which means consistently. Lather rinse repeat.

Here’s to making 2010 the best year ever!

On a personal business note: I’m actually looking to team up with some sharp savvy souls who would like to share goals and keep each other focused for 2010. I don’t want people who will cut me slack, so if you are nice and sweet, that’s not going to work out for this. It’s just about making and meeting weekly, monthly, quarterly goals, nothing more, but nothing less. If you are interested, drop me line.