Give Your Clients a Free Prize in Every Box

Seth Godin hits it on the head again in his new book when he says to make sure you give a free prize in every box. Think of it, you go to the store, and there on the shelf are two brands of caramel popcorn, which is precisely what you are in the mood for. Box #1 is Joe's Caramel Popcorn, and Box #2 is Cracker Jacks. Which do you buy? I've asked this question 50 times since I read his book, and each time it was the same answer....the Cracker Jacks, of course! Why? Because of the free prize inside!

The same goes for the service you render, and the services your company renders. Each service experience should incude a "Free Prize Inside", that extra value or feature that will stand out in your clients mind when they think of choosing a Realtor. Cracker Jacks has proven it doesn't have to cost a lot, it can even be low cost, but it has to be consistent to be recognized. It could be as small, perhaps, as assuring your client the CO will be submitted on contract (if practiceable) or that you will make sure you ask for a Sellers Disclosure and always provide one when available(I am not in a mandatory state, but I highly recommend its use) or whatever consistent point of Value you can think of that you can commit to doing consistently and properly. It is up to the individual firms to make sure they adhere to all the points of service consistently for the consumer to recognize the Free Prize in Every Box .

Whatever you do, do what you say you are going to do, be consistent in your Service delivery, and always remember to give your clients the Free Prize in Every Box. It will make it much easier to win their business and referrals by standing out from the rest of the caramel covered popcorn in your market.

Good luck!

Be A Purple Cow

I had heard Seth Godin talk and shared in a prior blog a few years ago what I thought was a great marketing strategy, given all the interference the consumer deals with every day in every way from every industry that deals with consumers;

Picture yourself driving through the country with your spouse and two kids. Your kids are 5 & 7, and naturally are squabbling most of the way to wherever you are going. Along the way, you pass some cows. They stop, turn their head for a moment, look at the cows with some interest, maybe even commenting on them. Within moments, the cows will be forgotten, the ride continues and so do the chldren squabbling.

Now, picture that same ride, only this time,you pass a purple cow. A real purple cow. You would look in amazement, having never seen a real purple cow. Your kids would be ooing with amazement. You probably would stop to get out of the car, and take some pictures with your camera phone of. Pictures of your kids with the cow, pictures of the cow, and when the ride resumed, no doubt the cow would be remembered every so often. When you got home, your kids would tell all their friends about the purple cow, and bring the pictures of the purple cow to show and tell. The purple cow would stick out among all the other cows, and other people might even drive out there to see the purple cow for themselves.

In todays multi billion website and mutli billion $$$ media markets, you want to be a purple cow. You want people to pick you over all the other regular brown cows they see all the time that mean nothing unless they happen to need a cow when a cow happens to be there. But the purple cow is remembered, talked about, and its popularity will grow.