"Please" & "Thank You" . . . Still The Realtor's Best Tools

realtor, referrals, referral marketing

The gurus vary a bit on the exact statistic, but all will tell you: Top salespeople in virtually every industry become that way because they have developed the habit of sending personal, heart-felt "Thank You" cards to their customers. As a result -- they get more referrals (a lot more referrals) -- and consistently out perform their competitors by as much as 10 to 1

Most Realtors (and Lenders, Insurance Agents, & Financial Advisors for that matter) know this -- but fewer than 5% do it consistently. Fewer still, actually use this simple strategy to ask for referrals

For these categories particularly, REFERRALS are the lifeblood of their business. In my town (Atlanta), the President of any given networking organization (BNI, Le' Tip, Power Core, Freedom Builders . . . you name it), is almost always from one of these fields. It's a good strategy. It works. But that's just it -- It's one good strategy

One good strategy -- that can easily be 10X more effective by putting a new twist on the proven discipline of sending "Thank You" cards

STEP ONE: Re-dedicate yourself to consistently sending "Thank You" cards to your customers. Even if you do it the old fashioned way (There's a better way -- a completely automated, yet incredibly personalized way -- and it costs a great deal less) . . . but even if you do this the old fashioned way of going to the local card store, sitting at your desk to write each note, stuff and stamp the envelope . . . the ROI is phenomenal

STEP TWO: Send "Thank You" Cards to the people you buy from

ALMOST NO ONE DOES THIS (maybe 5% of the 5% who do anything with "Thank You" cards at all) -- and it's Pure Gold !!!

STEP THREE: Send "Thank You" cards to people from your networking groups when they give you referrals. I sometimes include a Starbucks gift card

STEP FOUR: Use personalized greeting cards for "cross promotion" with your networking group members -- to their expanded network

Buy cards that are blank on the inside (or use the "better way" Referral System my clients & I do). On one side: a note from you, briefly explaining that (Jerry) suggested (Don) might be interested in knowing about you and your product / service. On the other side: a brief note from (Jerry) endorsing you. The card is addressed from (Jerry) and sent to people he knows and likes . . . people who know & trust him

This costs you next to nothing, and will generate referrals for you and Jerry both. Include Jerry's picture above his note, and this card will live on his friend's desk or refrigerator indefinitely. People don't throw away cards with their friends' pictures in them

STEP FIVE: Send just 2 unexpected cards a year (Thank You, Congratulations, Happy New Year **, whatever) to each customer, vendor, and networking contact in your database

** I sent Happy New Year's cards this year -- with Stone's 2007 Resolutions . . . Huge Hit !!! Several in-bound phone calls, often starting with "Thanks for the card, I've been meaning to call you

FINAL TIP: If you periodically attend those more general networking events (like Chamber and Association meetings) -- you can (and should) let the other person do all the talking. All you need is their business card after the conversation. (Sometimes I'll write a little note on the back -- one specific thing from the conversation.) Send them a "Nice Meeting" you card. Again, precious few in your field or any other do this. Include your picture, and you'll be amazed at the response

Yeah -- Great Ideas, but now the cat's out of the bag. Everyone will start doing this

Think again

No, what "everyone" will be doing (if anything) is the same old tired company sponsored newsletter / postcard program I get 'em every week

Fewer than 5% -- the 5% who consistently source articles like this to explore ideas for growing their business -- will see this article. Fewer still will take the actions I'm recommending.For some, it's just too simple and too inexpensive to work

That leaves you . . . the less than 1/4 of 1% of Realtors who will start applying this simple, effective 5 point strategy -- and begin generating more referrals than you can handle

Enjoy ! . . . and please share your Success Stories with me

How Thieves Combine Two Techniques To Steal Your Identity

Identity Theft, Phishing, Pharming, Identity Protection Theft, Identity Prevention Theft

Bob squinted at the email and began to read

“Dear eBay User, as part of our security measures, eBay Inc. has developed a security program against fraudulent attempts and account thefts. Therefore, our system requires further account verification

Security Measures. A threat to suspend his account to prevent “fraudulent activity”. The email went on to say that there were “procedural safeguards with federal regulations to protect the information you provide for us

Bob clicked the link and was confronted with an authentic looking logon page, just waiting for him to input his user name and password and confirm what ebay supposedly didn’t know

He almost did it. The page looked absolutely authentic, and he had already been “set up” by the email message. His fingers were poised over the keyboard when he happened to glance at the URL

There was something very, very wrong with it

“PHARMING” TO FLEECE SHEEP

The art of “pharming” involves setting up an illegitimate website that is identical with its legitimate prototype, for example the ebay page Bob was almost suckered into using, and redirecting traffic to it

“Pharmers” can do it in two ways

1.By altering the “Hosts” file on your computer. The Hosts file stores the IP address of websites you have been accessing. By inserting a new IP address into the database field corresponding to a website, your own computer can be redirected to the pharmer’s website. Any information you give the bogus site is immediately hijacked by the pharmer

2.Hijacking the DNS (Dynamic Name Server) itself. A DNS matches the names of address with their IP addresses. If this server can be coerced into assigning new IP addresses to traditional names, all computers using the name resolution provided by the DNS server will be redirected to the hijacker’s web site

Once that happens, it’s time to be fleeced

DOWN ON THE PHARM

“Pharmers” hijack your “hosts” file or DNS servers using Spyware, Adware, Viruses or Trojans. One of the most dangerous things you can do is to run your computer without some form of Internet Security installed on it

Your security software should be continually updating its virus definitions, and be capable of warning you if something has been downloaded from a web site or through email. It should be able to remove it, “quarantine it”, or tell you where it is so that you can remove it by hand

You should also have Spyware and Adware programs installed, and be aware of any change in Internet browsing patterns. If your home page suddenly changes, or you experience advertising pop ups (which may pop up even when you are not hooked up to the Internet), you should run a Virus, Spyware or Adware scan

Thanks to the efficacy of these protection programs, pharming is a lot more difficult than it used to be. It isn’t as easy to hijack a computer as it once was

So, the “pharmers” have teamed up with the “phishermen” to get you to visit the bogus web page yourself, and enter all the information they need

PHISHING TO CATCH YOU ON THE PHARM

As Bob discovered, the page he had been taken to by the bogus email message was identical to the ebay logon page. Identical in every way except for the URL

Out of curiosity, he checked the URL for the ebay logon by accessing ebay directly and clicking on the logon link. The two URL’s were nothing alike, except the bogus one did have the word “ebay” in it twice – just enough to make it look authentic

By combining the two techniques, the phishermen/pharmers had avoided the high tech problems associated with downloading a Virus that could get past his protection software. They had gone straight for the throat

Bob’s throat

YOUR ONLY REAL IDENTITY THEFT PREVENTION AND PROTECTION

The only real protection against the pharmers and phishermen is YOU. There are three things you must consider when you read any email demanding information

• Why do they want it? Be extremely skeptical when they say they have to “update their records”, “comply with federal regulations”, or prevent fraud. They are the ones initiating the fraud

• Why can’t this be done at the website? Why not invite you to access the website directly and provide this information? The answer is because the bonafide company doesn’t need an update

• What does the URL look like? Is it a series of subdomains some of which have the name of the bonafide company? Most likely the subdomain is set up with a free hosting company

• Have they provided partial information about you as a guarantee that the email authentically comes from the legitimate source? Be very careful of this one. This technique is effective for “pretexting”, impersonating a person or company, and was used in the Hewlett Packard scandal to collect information. Just because they know your first and last name (and any other information – known only to the legitimate source) doesn’t mean the email is legitimate. They probably hijacked the information off the server

THE BOTTOM LINE

The bottom line is: don’t provide any information at the behest of an email, no matter how authentic it looks, or how authentic the page it directs you to looks. If you must log in, do so at the parent site itself

Your Identity Theft prevention and protection is, in the final analysis, up to you

Don’t be the next sheep fleeced by the pharmers who caught you with the phisherman’s hook. Being dropped naked into their frying pan is NOT a fate you want

"Pay-Per Click" Ad Campaign: Earn More by Spending Less"

click\, \pay-per, \pay-per click\, advertising, click\ advertising, customers, campaign, internet, search, \pay-per click\ advertising, right, ad, advertising campaign, people, business, possible, website, online, search engine, potential,

What is "Pay-Per Click"?  "Pay-Per Click", is an easy to understand advertising strategy. There are around 300 million searches at major search engines everyday. This causes 80% of internet traffic. Placing your websites on these search engines is very important in reaching as many potential customers as possible. But in order to be seen and clicked most frequently, your website should be viewed at the top most of the search list. Most people only reach up to the third page of a search engine so the lower your rank, the lesser the chance you will be clicked. In "Pay-Per Click" advertising, you pay to be always visible on the internet. You select keywords or key phrases about your website, and the highest bidder ranks the best. There is no upfront cost. You only pay after a visitor clicks your link. This is why it is called ,Pay-Per Click

Everyday millions of people around the world click on Pay-Per Click Advertising Campaign. With the booming internet industry and the ever growing online business, an ad of virtually anybody on the planet can be seen on the internet anywhere in the world

The "Pay-Per Click" advertising campaign is the premier growth area in online marketing. Last year, an estimated $741.2 million was spent on "Pay-Per Click" advertising. The usual search engine optimization can take weeks or even months to produce results. "Pay-Per Click" advertising can attract customers at an instant. Why? Because, this cutting edge ad campaign can be placed on any website and can be viewed by potential online customers, anywhere, anytime and all the time. The only challenge is placing the ads on proper websites that will attract possible customers for a specific product or services

"Pay-Per Click" advertising campaign attracts the right consumers at the shortest possible time. This is the most cost effective way of marketing products or services. You can also monitor the customers who visit your site, what they are looking for and what they are buying. With the right creativity on using the right search-phrases, we can direct the right people who are willing to do business with us

"Pay-Per Click" advertising can easily be managed 24 hours per day and 7 days a week through the internet. This allows you improve the campaign strategy by effectively responding to the activities of both customers and competitors

So what are you waiting for? "Pay-Per Click" now and let your business take the fast route to success

“learn To Play” Musical Instrument Sets

musical coupon codes

We all have a few of those childhood dreams that fell to the wayside as we grew up. We were either too busy or too involved in something else or were too poor or just kept forgetting about it. It doesn’t matter why we never learned to play the instruments that we wanted to, what matters is that now that we’re adults, are we going to learn to play the musical instruments we dreamed of
   
While shopping for the musical instruments of our dreams, we keep running across the “learn to play” instruments and book sets. They look like they were probably designed for kids, but the instruments look like they are almost high quality enough to get away with playing. So can anyone really learn to play a musical instrument from the “learn to play” series
   
To be honest, those who learned to play at least one musical instrument as a child most likely can learn to play another musical instrument form the “learn to play” series provided we at least learned the basics of reading music. Being able to at least read the basic scale from sheet music will help tremendously when trying to learn to plat a musical instrument from a book
   
Some people do very well learning to play musical instruments from a book, but the people who do very well all have one thing in common, they are self learners. Those of us who were born in the mid to late seventies and beyond grew up in a system of education that everything was handfed to us, thus the majority of us do not learn very well on our own. We need someone to hold our hands and teach us note by note to play a musical instrument, not to mention trying to learn other things. Learning to play a musical instrument from a book requires a certain amount of self teaching ability
   
Without the ability to “figure things out along the way,” learning to play a musical instrument from a book will prove to be quite frustrating, although it can most certainly be done. If our desire is strong enough and our patience can run fairly deep, then yes, we can learn to play a musical instrument from a book
   
There are few things quite as satisfying as accomplishing something like the challenge of learning to play a musical instrument from a book. As we learn to play any musical instrument without the guidance of someone else, just like kids, our confidence grows. For adults, learning to play a musical instrument from a book may very well be the realization of a childhood dream, and there’s nothing but pure magic in that