Scott Stratten: The Business of Awesome For Realtors #bawesomeyyc

Scott Stratten – The Book Of Business Awesome

The following are notes from Scott Stratten‘s recent presentation in Calgary, AB. Thanks to CIR realty for hosting this event.

TIPS TO AWESOMENESS

- Social Media is sexy speak for “talking”.
- Think of Allan, the awesome realtor who spent 6 months listening and learning about other members of the networking group without giving away his cards.
- You’re not supposed to give your card to everyone. Give it at the end of the event when you have permission to carry on the conversation.
- Don’t go for mass quantity and deal your cards out like a Las Vegas dealer.
- Go for connections.
- Ritz Carlton Story about Joshie

- How many resources do you spend designing a logo versus designing an experience?
- In the case of this story about Joshie, the logo becomes the experience of the customers
- Branding is none of your business. It’s what I (the customer) say it is.
- 95% of the time I don’t care what you do
- Marketing is not a task, it’s a verb. It’s what you do every time you answer an email, answer a question, pick up the phone, send a text etc.
- Listen to how your customers communicate. You don’t have to “believe” in it. It’s not Jesus, it’s communication.
- Marketing is really an experience. Next time you are free on a Tuesday afternoon head to the mall and see what experiences stores create for you. Which stores would you buy from?
- Was your experience at all like Lush?

PASSION + KNOWLEDGE = PROFIT

- Passion does not come through ads
- Knowledge might

TWO TYPES OF CUSTOMERS

- Static & Ecstatic
- Static customers are price sensitive.
- Ecstatic customers are those who call to set a wake up call from the front desk at a hotel and end up ordering $78 pot of coffee because their experience was so good.
- There is an ROI in being awesome. It’s worth at least $70 in this case above.

QR CODES

- You are doing it wrong.
- Underground in a subway? no signal underground.
- On the side of a highway? I’m busy driving.
- Airplane pulling a banner? I’m not going to track the sky.
- Send it in an email? I’m already on my computer.
- Don’t put it on a sign then send me to a non-mobile friendly page.
- Ads in Airline magazines? no signal on a plane.
- Don’t think about QR codes as though you can use them. Think instead of whether or not you SHOULD use them.
- Usage of QR codes is very low. Moderate your expectations and use them when they make sense.
- Here’s a list of other epic fails in QR code usage

SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESS DOESN’T EXIST

- Social Media can only take what you are and amplify it.
- Nobody has spare time to do social media. Make time.
- Social Media doesn’t change the fact that relationships take time to nurture.
- On Twitter, the only number that matters (to Scott) is the % of @replies. His is over 80%. You can measure your own on Tweetstats (I’ve got work to do, my own is a paltry 37% in comparison)
- Social media can enhance events.
- Social is a networking event. It is not a place to sell your MLS listings IN ALL CAPS.

PINTEREST

- Pinterest works because of passion, not profit (ideas from most followed Pinterest users here)
- If you have to pay for repins, followers or RTs you’re doing it wrong.
- Become a catalyst for conversation. Look at how Whole foods is doing it.
- Find out who’s pinned your site by typing this into your address bar http://pinterest.com/source/yoursite.com/

FACEBOOK

- Don’t blast events to everyone. This creates apathy

The Third Circle Is Where Viral Lives

Dog in a Backseat – Will not go Viral

Dog in a backseat – Will go viral

- Don’t post listings with every time.
- Share great content or really awful content. Both are intriguing for their own reasons.

IN GENERAL

- Social Media evens the playing field. Everybody has 140 characters to tweet. What you do with those characters and how often you use them is what makes the difference.
- Outrage does not take a day off. Papa John’s story about “Lady Chinky Eyes” is a good example of why you should have a social media policy.
- You can use humour to address issues

How to handle Social Media Challenges by @nenshi

EMAIL MARKETING

- Is so awesome. It’s the best way to communicate to most of your market.
- If you are unawesome, people will unsubscribe.
- Consider adding an interesting automated reply when someone unsubscribes like the one from Groupon below.

- when someone subscribes to your list consider an interesting automated reply like the one Scott has

Thanks for signing up to the Un-Marketing newsletter. I know how an
inbox can get crowded and I appreciate you allowing my newsletter
to get through the clutter.

May I ask what line of business you’re in? It helps me tailor the
newsletter to you even better.

Sincerely,

Scott Stratten, President

http://www.Un-Marketing.com

Bringing Customers To You

YOUR CHALLENGE

- Can you be as awesome as Austin Pizza? They created a great customer experience by fulfilling a request to draw a unicorn fighting a bear on a pizza box.
- Don’t build another realtor page. There are 1,000s of them already.
- Do build a page focused on the community you sell in. There aren’t enough.
- Give back a lot more to the community. In time, they will pay you back.

How might you use social media to showcase your awesomeness? By all accounts, Kelley Skar is a realtor doing a great job with it. Is there anything you can learn from him? Please leave your comments and feedback below.