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ASK MR. INTERNET
Michael Russer answers your Internet marketing questions
Mr. Internet is the alter-ego of Michael J. Russer, an internationally recognized Internet speaker, trainer, author, and consultant. You'll see his column on REALTOR® Magazine Online every month and in the magazine quarterly. Send your questions to help@askmrinternet.com. Harness the Internet to create Masterful Listing Presentations Leverage the power of a mastermind group to win more listings. | DEAR MR. INTERNET: I know the Internet is great for locating buyers, but how can I use it as a listing tool? Frank Zedar Century 21–New Millennium McLean, Va. DEAR FRANK: The great thing about Swiss Army knives is that they're a multipurpose tool. The Internet, too, is multifaceted. You can use it not only to find buyers but also to acquire listings. One of the most effective ways of generating listings almost immediately is with a strategy I call Online Mastermind. To create and successfully use Online Mastermind, you need a digital camera, a laptop computer, and the willingness to follow three steps: 1. Establish a mastermind group. Perhaps you're familiar with the mastermind concept described in Napoleon Hill's book Think and Grow Rich, which describes how a group of people harness the collaborative power of a group "mind" or intelligence. Online mastermind is similar, but members must Be top producers from your area (ideally from different companies). Be Internet savvy. At least, they should use E-mail regularly. Understand that the group needs to collaborate to obtain more individual listings and sales. Agree to E-mail a notice or virtual flyer (see No. 2 below)on every new listing they take, the instant they take it, only to other Online Mastermind members, before the listing is added to the MLS. If you don't obtain every member's explicit agreement on the last point, the collaboration won't work.
2. Create a virtual flyer. You can create a flyer on the Web or as a self-contained executable attachment that you transmit via E-mail.
For help, try such systems as PictureWorks' NetCard, which creates multimedia E-mail postcards you can use as online flyers. I like www.Websuite.com, which lets you create a flyer in minutes, even during the listing presentation. See Peg Bryant's* virtual flyer.
Creating flyers is a matter of taking house photos with your digital camera and downloading them into flyer templates, along with descriptive text and the appropriate agency disclosures. Even without the mastermind group, you'll set yourself apart from the crowd with a virtual flyer.
3. Craft your killer listing presentation and give it maximum exposure. To make an unbeatable presentation, explain to sellers that when they hire you, they're also tapping the area's top producers, who'll have first crack at selling the property.
To add drama to your presentation, display the virtual flyer on your laptop while you're connected to the Internet. With your finger hovering over the Send button, tell sellers that the moment they agree to contract with you, you'll instantly send the flyer to all the top producers in your group, setting off a frenzy of marketing activity.
The first morning Rob Levy, a salesperson with Prudential Northwest Properties in Beaverton, Ore., used the Mastermind system, including virtual flyers, he won twolistings by getting the edge over his competitors.
The Online Mastermind strategy leverages the Internet's collaborative power to let you work with people who'd otherwise be your competitors.
*Peg Bryant is a mythical real estate professional whom Mr. Internet uses to demonstrate various ways to market yourself effectively online.
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| Mr. Internet is the alter-ego of Michael J. Russer, an internationally recognized Internet speaker, trainer, author, and consultant. You'll see his column on REALTOR® Magazine Online every month and in the magazine quarterly. Send your questions to help@askmrinternet.com
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