The very first thing I counsel agents to do in all of my programs and classes is to think in terms of Positioning yourself in your market area.

To create a greater marketing impact, and to have a successful real estate business today, you must know what makes you different from all the other real estate agents in your town who offer similar services.

Let's face it, as real estate professionals, we all offer pretty much the same real estate services. Why would people come and do business with you if you offer the same services as every other agent in your office? In your board? If you only offer more of the same to the public, why will they choose to do business with you?

There are so many choices today for people looking to buy or sell a home. There are many, many agents to choose from. They can deal directly with a FISBO and/or they can go directly to an agent listing a property in The Real Estate Guide or Harmon Homes. Today, buyers and sellers can successfully complete a transaction almost entirely over the Internet.

Too many agents languish in relative obscurity and suffer because they have nothing special to offer, nothing that makes them appear special and allows them to stand out as different. It's essential to focus on your Unique Selling Position. The name seems old to me now, and I have decided to re-name this essential business building ingredient and call it 'Your Essential Professional Positioning Statement'(TM), or 'YEPPS', for short!

Bad slogans don't help

I've visited several places on the WWW where people have posted a list of real estate 'slogans' for agents to use as tag-lines or signatures. Please don't!

Most of the real estate 'slogans' I've seen don't show, point out or give your prospects or customers any of the benefits of working with you. Most 'slogans' are fluff, using a buzz word here and there hoping they sound current enough to pique someone's interest. Anyone's interest.

For instance:

"The REALTOR® With A Fresh Approach To Real Estate".

That's nice!

But, as a consumer with a pressing real estate need or concern, a problem I don't seem to be able to solve on my own, a gnawing that keeps me awake at night and causes large lapses of concentration at work, the above slogan isn't going to cause me to sit up, take notice and pick up the phone.

What actually is a 'Fresh Approach'? Does that agent bring flowers to the closing? Do they have one of those hanging pine trees in their car?

Are those compelling solutions for most consumers?

Or, how about this one:

"All REALTORS® Weren't Created Equal".

What does that slogan tell me about how their services are going to ease my pain, or solve my problem? Does it mean that particular agent is better, or worse, than the others I might run into?

'Your Essential Professional Positioning Statement' should tell your prospects and customers exactly what it is that you do and how you are different than all other agents. To be the most effective, it should make them an offer and give them a Guarantee of some sort.

But in order to make them an offer you have to know who they are. What's their particular pain? What causes them to stay up and night and pace the floor?

Is it their listing that hasn't sold after 7 months?

Is it their fear of not dealing with a reputable builder who uses only quality subs, quality materials and offers a real, 'take-it-to-the-bank' warranty that they have proven that they stand behind, 100%?

Maybe it's a first time buyer with credit problems and little cash? Or, a couple in their 60's who still aren't quite sure how the '98 Tax Laws will affect them if they were to sell their family home and move into a mid-town condo?

Who are your customers?

Only when you know exactly who your best customers are and what their biggest real estate concerns are can you write an effective and compelling Professional Positioning Statement.

And by taking the time to develop your own 'YEPPS' it gives you a huge competitive advantage. To be effective, you have concentrated first and fore most on the needs of your customers. What can you include in your own 'YEPPS', based solely on solving the needs of your customers, that will cause them to respond when they are ready? Will your positioning statement give your prospects and customers a reason for doing business with you, above all of the other choices they have?

Concentrate your focus and thinking process today on what makes you unique. Not your company. Not your broker. You.

First, complete this exercise:

The MediaWorks's Niche 'YEPPS'-O-Meter:

1. Who do you most enjoy doing business with?

• Which group of buyers or sellers do you enjoy spending time with the most?
• Are they the most profitable customers/clients you could spend your time with? Why?

2. Which of the real estate services that you offer do you enjoy performing the most and are you the best at delivering?

3. Which of the real estate services that you provide do your customers appreciate the most?

4. Do your customers know the real value of those particular services?

5. Which of the services that you deliver cost you the most to perform? The least?

6. Within the past year, why have your customers chosen you over other agents in your town?

7. List the reasons you lost customers to other agents.

8. Where do you really outshine your competitors?

• What are your strengths?
• Your weaknesses?
• How are you unique?

9. From your customer/client's viewpoint, what is truly unique about your real estate business.

• the services you perform?
• the order in which they are performed?
• the way you deliver the services?
• the speed at which you deliver your services?
• the way you communicate those services to your customers/clients?
• the number of times a day you check in with your answering service or check your pager, or maybe the speed with which you return all phone calls?
• the service Guarantee you offer?
• the way you 'bundle' your services or offer 'un-bundled' services?
• the fees you charge for your 'un-bundled' services?

10. Can you provide greater value your customer/clients will appreciate by expanding on your services?

• By decreasing some services?

11. What services are your customers requesting that you don't provide.

• Why don't you?

Your 'YEPPS' statement should clearly identify you, speak directly to your chosen customers and prospects, and state how you solve their most pressing needs.

"But wait", they all cried at once! "I deal with so many different kinds of customers/clients. How am I going to know what each of their most pressing needs are so I can write an effective 'YEPPS'?"

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KEY QUESTION &
A VERY KEY POINT
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If you honestly don't yet know who your best customers are, what their most pressing real estate needs are, and what you have to offer them to get them to respond to you, you don't have much of a chance of writing a very compelling 'YEPPS'.

I didn't want to say it, because every agent needs a compelling 'YEPPS' so that your prospects and customers can tell you apart and find you. But it had to be said.

And it's worth repeating: If you don't yet have a clear and specific demographic and psychographic description of who your best customers are, how are you going to reach them?

Why should you increase your share of business if you fail to offer any appealing promise, unique feature or special service?

Where are you going to concentrate your marketing efforts so they will have the greatest impact with the least amount of money spent?

Where do your best customers congregate?

What do they read?

What are their most pressing real estate needs or concerns?

What 'offers' can you make them that will solve their problems and causes them to sit up, take notice, raise their hand and call you?

Remember, the 'YEPPS' is the nucleus around which you will build your success, fame, and wealth, so you better be able to state it. If you can't state it in 15 words or less, your prospects won't see it and they surely won't remember it. Whenever a customers in the need of real estate services, remembering your 'YEPPS' should bring your name immediately to mind.

Prospecting is looking for customers. Positioning is having them find you!

Good marketing requires that you give customers rational reasons for their emotional buying decision. There is a formula for success, and having your own unique, compelling 'YEPPS' is truly an integral part of that formula.