Okay, we’ll start with a certified Vegas-quality stand-up joke:
So I got this piece of spam email that said, “Make love to your wife like a pro!” I thought that sounded like a good idea, so I locked her in a closet and stole her purse. [Ba-dum-bump!]
is a charming discussion by Carl White of how you can “grave rob” the Yellow Pages ads of all of your failed former competitors by “piggy-backing” on their disconnected phone numbers. This is sleazy, but it’s clever enough that I signed up for the free tips, just to see what else he comes up with. In due course he will become yet another by-the-month training guru, but I will never pay him one red cent. But for sheer chutzpah, this guy is hard to beat.
(If you’re having a hard time wrapping your mind around the morality of this issue, consider the ethical implications of being lied to on a first date. If you answer someone else’s phone line, even if that person is out of business, you are starting a relationship with a lie. What other lies should your clients expect from you? And if you are honest in all other respects, why would you undermine your credibility in this way?)
I’ve had a bunch of email this morning from people passing along their ludicrous spam. Keep ’em coming. We’ll knock them down one by one.
Technorati Tags: real estate, real estate marketing
Chris Bolstad says:
A few years ago I rented a U-haul to move some furniture. When I showed up to pick it up, all that was at the location was a cement pad where a building used to stand and a chain link fence around it. Apparently, another rental company had used this technique and answered my phone call. What they didn’t tell me was that their rental location was nearly an hour away in the wrong direction. Needless to say, I was less than thrilled.
Chris
June 19, 2008 — 2:44 pm
Craig Tone says:
“…What they didn’t tell me was that their rental location was nearly an hour away in the wrong direction.”
[Ba-dum-bump!]
June 19, 2008 — 8:01 pm
Greg Cremia says:
When I was affiliated with a brokerage I had my personal business line and 800 number hooked up to my office. When I left the staff messed up the phone numbers and my number was listed in the phone book under my former brokerage’s name.
Total nightmare. Suspicion was immediately cast onto us like we we had done something underhanded even though we would explain the situation and point them in the right direction.
All the calls were for agents with established relationships with these people. Leads DO NOT use the phone book.
June 20, 2008 — 5:31 am