Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Prospecting Requires Tool-kit

Sitting here reviewing the latest Facebook statistics, I am amazed at the fervor of activity and growth of social media sites. Facebook is now over 300 million users worldwide with over half of those logging on daily. Facebookers, spending ore than 6 billion minutes daily, post more than 2 billion pieces (including web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, events, and videos) weekly! Facebook is a growing, thriving country of intricately woven relationships.

It is astounding to me that we now have the ability to reach so many people simultaneously. It is no wonder why such a large number of marketers are focusing their attention on Facebook and other social media sites. We can create connections, establish relationships helping other people. Through a process of educational marketing we authentically develop these relationships with our friends as they begin to know, like, and eventually trust us, proving again Jim Weichert’s age-old adage, “People by people before they will buy a product or service.”

These social media marketing platforms, like Facebook, Twitter, and the rest, have given real estate agents and other prospectors the ability to reach more people and further develop their sphere of influence. With the web 2.0 explosion, however, we have begun to lose sight of a very important piece of the prospecting system: good old eyeball to eyeball, belly to belly as the cronies call it, contact.

Yes, we can electronically and conveniently, send documents to be signed literally anywhere in the world. Relationships however still have to be developed and grown. Take the time to meet with people. It’s the relationship that really makes the service industry fun! Cherish the true richness of the personal face to face contact that or customers truly deserve.

Prospecting and marketing methods have changed. They include a new tool, social media. In the end, it’s still just a tool. You can’t hammer with it. You need a hammer for that.

1 comment:

  1. You are so right Byron, as always. Thank you for remind us that we need to be human after all, that we should never forget the importance of that face to face meeting, where you can learn so much about other people.
    Karla

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