Lessons Learned from my Girlfriends

I had the incredible fortune to spend two days in Chicago with an amazing group of women. These women were led by a fearless leader, a gal whose "can do "spirit is infectious. Karen Deis, the founder of Mortgage Girlfriends is a pioneer in the world of new media or social marketing.After sifting through my piles of notes, I was left with a few key takeaways. While none of them are earth shattering, they all bear repeating.

1. It's all About Them - Well, duhhhh! We've always known that what the client wants, the client gets. However, with the dawn of social media and the move away from traditional media, we saw a shift from company centric (i.e. who we are, what we offer) to client focused (who they are, what they want. Now more than ever before, you must go the extra mile to get to know who your client is and what their specific needs are. Without it - they're moving on to the next guy that will.
2. Less is Not the New "More" - Understand that the mentality "less is more" does not apply in our industry. Less is, well...just less. Now more than ever your clients need to hear from you. They need your expert opinion, your guidance and your consideration. It's not good enough to take a back seat and watch the transaction go by. Get involved and possibly gain a client for life and then some.
3. Be the Local Expert - You have a tremendous opportunity to brand yourself through blogging, Facebook, Twitter and every other social media outlet as the local real estate or mortgage expert. Enough said.
4. No Communication = No Business - Have you communicated with your client since their closing? Do you have a database, a drip campaign or at least a reminder to make a follow up phone call? And how about those leads? Have you touched base with them via phone or email recently? If you don't communicate, they don't remember you. If they don't' remember you, you pass the business off to your competitor.

Whatever you want to call it - social marketing, social media or new media it's really no different than the old days. Figure out how to best communicate, retain and find clients and YOUR business wins!