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Sane Marketing for Real Estate Professionals
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September 2000
(c) 1999, 2000 Wanda Loskot
http://SaneMarketing.com
Registered with the Library of Congress
ISSN: 1526-6583
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Feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends!
Subscribe and unsubscribe information at the bottom.
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In This Issue:
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1. How To LISTEN On The Internet
2. Perfect Tool For Your Internet Farm
3. Freebie of The Month: Business Cards
4. MasterMind: If they can do it, so can we!
5. Search Engines Resources
6. QuickStart Got Even Better
7. More New Content at Sane Marketing Site
8. Want To Make Money The EASY Way?
9. Letters To The Editor
10. Winner of The Month
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"It is a funny thing about life -- if you refuse to accept
anything but the best, you very often get the best"
Somerset Maugham
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-> How To LISTEN On The Internet <-
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Here is a novel business idea that will double, triple, or even
quadruple your bottom line. Actually it's nothing new -- it is
a bread-and-butter of business. Or rather bread without a butter
because it is so basic. But even though it is SOO basic, I am
constantly astonished how very few people understand it!
After being on the web for more than seven thousand hours I got
used to my portion of personal letters, often in response to my
posts on various lists and discussion boards. from time to time
writer's comments lead to a business offer. That's perfectly all
right, because I need to buy things too and since I respect
proactive business people, I'd rather buy from those who write
to me than from those who don't....
However, it saddens me when they (well, a majority of them anyway)
waste the opportunity to score extra points and fail to create
a good first impression. Quite often they turn me off because
after asking me to help solve their problems and/or offering me
their products they raise questions such as: "By the way, what
kind of business you are in?" or "I would like to learn more
about you". Or here is the best one: "Do you have a web presence?"
Why it is such a turn off? Because I *ALWAYS* include a signature
file which answers those questions. And because my signature has
even more: a link to my website, which answers even more questions
and asking those questions tells me a lot about my correspondent.
It tells me tells me that he/she doesn't listen!
Not a good sign.
You might say "c'mon Wanda, LISTENING on the web??" Yes, madam.
Listening! If creating our websites is the equivalent of talking,
and participating in the discussion lists or boards represents
a conversation - then READING someone's post or letter is the
equivalent of listening. Keep this in mind when approaching
anyone with your offer, proposition or idea.
You create lasting impressions with that first contact! And
reading as carefully as you can whatever others disclose helps
you demonstrates that you are a good listener.
Dale Carnegie once said "You win more friends in life by being
interested in others than trying to get others interested in
you". It works on the Internet, too. To establish rapport, show
the other person that you are interested in what he or she is
doing. It works like a charm!
Outside of the web this can be time consuming, but here it is
a cinch! Most of the time all you need to do is to click on that
link in the signature file of person you are corresponding with.
Visit his or her website and take your time to read a little!
(of course it starts with READING that signature!)
You will find that true heartfelt listening will result in the
creation of lasting relationships. And that, my friends will
make your business thrive -- on the Internet just as much as
in the offline world.
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-> Freebie of The Month: Business Cards! <-
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Check out http://www.vistaprint.com/vp/free_offer.stm - they
offer free 250 business cards, for the cost of shipping alone!
VistaPrint lets you design your own cards, choosing from many
different designs, you can choose the fonts, colors, backgrounds
etc. And these are FULL COLOR cards, not just black text on white
cards... You can choose graphic backgrounds or insert your own
logo, and when you're done designing your cards you save them
and you can re-order them any time.
I didn't order any (I am almost 100% internet based and rarely
need business cards those days), but friend of mine did order
3 different designs and loved the quality.
You can order as many free sets as you want, all you pay for
is shipping. The "catch" is that they add a printed ad on
the back of your cards "Printed for FREE at www.vistaprint.com"
- but the good news is you can add $10 and get it removed.
Still a pretty good bargain for color cards!
You can use this site only in Internet Explorer 5 - so, make
sure you download the newest version if you don't have it.
It is also free.
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-> NEW! - Perfect Tool For Your Internet Farm <-
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Build your own e-zine in 5 minutes or less!
It was never cheaper than now to promote your business and
yourself. On the Internet you can build a huge network and,
thanks to e-mail, you can stay in touch with people on a regular
basis at ridiculously low cost and *without* spending much time.
It costs the same (practically nothing) to send e-mail to 50 or
to 5,000 people. The problem is ... what to send them?
The most effective way to stay in touch with your sphere of
influence is sending them your e-mail newsletter, similar to
this one. It is called e-zine and experts agree that it is the
best marketing tool on the Internet. Believe it or not but e-zine
is even more important than having a website!
Here are some of the reasons why:
-> Electronic newsletter allows you to stay regularly in touch
even with people who have no access to the world wide web.
Estimated 30-40% of internet users never surf the net, yet
they use e-mail on the regular basis.
-> Another large group of people rarely visit websites from the
lack of time (they might be your most qualified prospects).
-> Many of those who do spend a lot of time on the web, prefer
to read as much as possible offline. A simple text newsletter
like this one can be easily printed to read later.
-> Plain newsletters can be easily forwarded by readers to their
friends and associates, which means free promotion for you.
That's why it is *extremely* important to produce a quality
newsletter instead of sending to people just *something* to
stay in touch.
-> People don't like to receive ads in e-mail but they have no
problem if you include your commercial message in your e-zine
(just like every magazine has advertisements). Your ads in your
own e-zine will be read -- and that alone is a great reason for
sending your own newsletter.
-> Newsletters download fast and don't annoy people the way most
of attachments do (contrary to what some industry experts would
like you to believe, it is rarely a good idea to send images
via e-mail -- just because something CAN be done, doesn't mean
it is a good idea to do it!)
Of course there are some problems with newsletters... The main
problem is to come up regularly with a content that will be truly
appreciated by your readers who delete junk e-mail upon arrival.
Most of your sphere of influence contacts will NOT be interested
in your new listings. You need to have a follow up system for your
prospects and that should focus on real estate, but people who just
moved from one home to another don't care about interest rates,
or major problems to avoid when selling a house.
So, what can you send them?
here come the Ezine Builder to the rescue!
Your problem is solved. Now you can build your own personalized
e-zine in just 5 minutes or less at Sane marketing site. It is
perfectly formatted and packed with a content your readers will
*want* to read. For example, September issue titles are: "Back to
School Again" and "Creating Special Moments". And my sophisticated
programming will create a finished product personalized with your
own name, title, phone number -- even your professional designations
and your own marketing slogan.
The best part -- using this online program and e-zine content is
free of cost. I even created for you a FREE mini-course "How To
Market Real Estate Service Using Your Own E-Zine" -- just to make
sure that you take full advantage of this marvelous tool.
Would you like to build your own e-zine now?
Go to http://sanemarketing.com/ezine-builder.html
Comments? mailto:comments@sanemarketing.com
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-> Real Estate MasterMind Chat <-
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"If they can do it, so can we!"
Risa Saltman is a successful online agent from RE/MAX Town &
Country in Orlando, She owns seven web sites, among others
http://risashomes.com and http://relocatehelp.com and last year
she generated 35 transactions via the Internet -- she was my
guest during one of the MasterMind chats. Here is the transcript
our conversation:
Wanda Loskot:
Seven web sites -- Wow! How long have you been doing business
online?
Risa Saltman:
Three years now
Wanda:
Three years on the net translates into 21 in human years :-)
How did you get started?
Risa:
I started with a friend, just playing around. We said if *they*
can do it, so can we. My first site was so basic it's funny now,
but it sure looked good then. I've saved every site and all the
junk since day one and believe me it is very funny to look at
them...
Wanda:
I know what you mean, I wish I saved all the progression pages
of with my own sites. It would be funny too :-) Did you know
a lot about computers?
Risa:
I knew just enough about computers to be dangerous :-)
Wanda:
What was the biggest challenge when you were starting out?
Risa:
Doing it. That probably sounds pretty simple but we all tend to
think about stuff and instead of doing something about it now,
want to do it later...
Wanda:
Risa, how did your online business grow, from the first year up
until now -- could you share some numbers?
Risa:
Sure. In the first year I had 8 transactions as a direct result
of my web site. In the second year 22 transactions, last year
- 35 and this year will be way ahead of that.
Wanda:
Those are great numbers! What works the best for you as the
transaction generator? Any recipe to share?
Risa:
Give them more than they ask for, get them to fill in their
e-mail address, and hopefully other info to get stuff from you.
And use autoresponders.
.......
This is a long transcript -- too long to publish it here in
its entirety. You can find the rest of our conversation at
http://sanemarketing.com/interviews/risa.html
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Do you like this newsletter?
Please forward it to your real estate friends!
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-> Search Engines Resources at Sane Marketing <-
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Please, please do yourself a favor and never ever subscribe to
the "we submit your site to 900 engines" service. No matter how
inexpensive it is, even when it is offered for free. It is often
offered for free because it is worthless - in the matter of fact
those automatic submissions will hurt your positioning more than
help. And on top of that you will be flooded with SPAM.
While they indeed will list you in hundreds of engines, almost
all of those engines are insignificant and rarely used by your
prospects. Those automatic submission will be of zero value when
it comes to being listed in the Big Six (excite, infoseek, lycos,
altavista, hotbot, northern lights) and a few other, equally
important.
You really - absolutely positively - must submit your website
to these engines manually (or by using a sophisticated submission
tool like Web Position Gold). Otherwise your site will end up
listed on the page number 1250 or so.
To save time going from search engine to search engine searching
for their submission form, you can submit your site to 6 major
search engines fast and easily from just this one page:
http://sanemarketing.com/engines.html
You might also want to read:
- Getting Traffic Through Search Engines Promotion
http://sanemarketing.com/interviews/engines.html
- How to Master Your Meta Tags
http://sanemarketing.com/articles/meta.html
- Is the Search Engine Game Enough?
http://sanemarketing.com/articles/montana.html
If you really want to be effective and get top positions AND
maintain them almost effortlessly, you should install the Web
Position Gold - a great tool I use and highly recommend.
You can download it for free evaluation here:
http://www.webposition.com/d2.pl?r=GIL-5556
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-> QuickStart Just Got Even Better <-
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In addition to 20 page website and 4-week Internet Coaching,
QuickStart buyers participate also in these tele-courses:
2-week "Goal Setting & Target Marketing" coaching
2-week "Advertising for Results" coaching
2-week "Business Through referrals" coaching
AND personal one-on-one coaching session -- all that backed
by 100% money back guarantee!
If you are serious about business, this program is from you!
for details go to http://sanemarketing.com/quickstart.html
Can't afford it?
Find out how you can generate significant income just by
telling others about SaneMarketing site - go to:
http://sanemarketing.com/earn-cash.html
Register to win!
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You can even register to win the entire package -- one winner
is selected every month. You never know, the next winner might
be you. (scroll down to see who won in August)
To register go to http://sanemarketing.com/win.html
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-> More New Content at Sane Marketing <-
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Listen to "Sane Internet Marketing with Audri Lanford" - you
do need to have real audio installed for this one:
http://sanemarketing.com/interviews/marketing.html
A while ago Robert Boduch interviewed me about creating effective
headlines for his book. You might find this conversation helpful,
and in addition you will get a special gift at the end of the
interview (it is not linked from anywhere else at the site :-)
http://sanemarketing.com/interviews/headlines.html
Multiply Your Client List Through Networking
http://sanemarketing.com/articles/multiply.html
How To Have Fun In Real Estate
http://sanemarketing.com/articles/havefun.html
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-> Would You Like to Make Money The EASY way? <-
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I might be wrong, but this could be the easiest money to make :-)
If you spent more than five minutes at http://Sanemarketing.com
you were probably very happy that you found my web site and
were quite willing to recommend it -- am I right?
Now you can do just that and earn SERIOUS MONEY in the process!!
Consider becoming my revenue sharing partner. I want to send you
a monthly check and handsomely reward you for sales I make as
a result of your referrals. This way we all win: you, I and of
course your friends who can take advantage of Sane Marketing!
For more information about my Affiliate Program go to:
http://sanemarketing.com/earn-cash.html
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-> Letters To The Editor <-
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Dear Wanda,
Thank you for the article about not sending attachments, I must
admit that I sent word file attachments all the time and your
article made me realize that it was a big mistake.
But I have a problem. You say "copy and paste the message in the
body of e-mail instead...." Help! I don't know how to do it.
How do you "copy and paste"?
Thank you for sharing and for everything you do!
Christi Schiller
Brooklyn, NY
.......
Dear Christi,
It is really easier than it sounds. To copy, place your mouse
at the beginning of the document, click on the mouse and while
holding that clicker down, drag the mouse to the end. This will
highlight the entire document.
Now release the left click and click the *right* button of the
mouse. A little menu will pop - select "copy". This will save
the document in memory.
Now, place your mouse on top of another document, precisely
where you want to insert your copy. Right click and from that
little menu select "paste". Voila! Your copied text will appear
instantly in the body of your e-mail.
........................................
The following letter refers to the article you can find here:
http://sanemarketing.com/articles/no-competition.html
Hi Wanda,
I enjoyed your article in the last newsletter. Now I know why
I get so many clients and why they thank me over and over.
Recently I closed a transaction with a $8700 commission and
only met the folks twice.
We exchanged over 60 emails though. He told me that I was
the only one that gave them a serious response out of ten
inquiries. His first was a very general request for relocation
info (which I have tons of on my site anyway) I find these
kind of inquiries are to check me out and not really get info.
What I do?
I qualify just like in person - ask questions - are you
familiar with our area - do you plan a visit here soon - tell
me about your ideal home - timeframe, etc. If they answer with
details, I send specific information and also ask them what
level of attention they want from me. Weekly, monthly, back
burner, whatever.
Prompt replies from me really seem to impress them. It really
is no different from an ad or sign call - they are low level
leads, so qualify and convert. What is the point of spending
the time and energy on a website if you don't even try to
convert the leads???
Sincerely,
Nancy Braam, RE/MAX Whatcom County, Inc
www.nancybraam.com
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-> QuickStart Winner of The Month <-
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The QuickStart winner for August is Risa Saltman from RE/MAX
Town & Country in Orlando - congratulations Risa!
Remember, you can only win if you register! So, if you
didn't register yet, go ahead and do it now. The next
winner might be YOU! http://sanemarketing.com/win.html
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And that's all for September. Thanks for reading. If you have
comments, suggestions, feedback, contributions or maybe even
a praise, please write to mailto:wanda@sanemarketing.com
Have a BLAST!!!!!
Wanda Loskot
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-> Copyright Notice <-
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Copyright 1999-2000, Wanda Loskot. All Rights Reserved. Please
forward it along or tell your friends where they can subscribe
- but do not remove this copyright notice.
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Wanda Loskot - Success Connection
150 Heron's Run Drive, #124, Sarasota FL 34232
http://loska.com http://SaneMarketing.com
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SaneMarketing.com
Wanda Loskot - Success Connection
150 Heron's Run, Suite #124 - Sarasota,
FL 34232 - USA
Phone (941) 342-4203 - Fax (240)
358-7445
Wanda Loskot offers tele-classes,
seminars, corporate training
and one-on-one coaching for self-employed
professionals.
(who is Wanda Loskot? - click here)
wanda@loska.com
back to the top!
All materials Copyright 1998, 1999,
2000 Wanda Loskot and Success Connection.
All Rights Reserved. Do not reprint,
or distribute without express written permission.
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