In a previous article I described some of my best marketing advice for building a successful business in 2010.

Here are FIVE more million dollar marketing strategies that will help you generate more clients and build a long-term viable business.

1. Use Education-Based Marketing To Prospect

No one wants to get “sold” yet everyone loves to buy. “Selling” implies manipulation; buying implies control. Use marketing that prospects will welcome, or even desire. Help your prospects understand the important tips, issues and secrets related to their buying or selling situation and you’ll win their hearts.

Use the pre-written special reports I provide in the Service For Life!^® personal marketing system (www.ServiceForLife.com) to attract leads with your marketing, give valuable information, win their hearts and minds, differentiate yourself, and generate them as a client. And don’t forget to follow-up. Even dead leads can go onto your database to receive Service For Life!^® each month.

2. Use Direct Response in ALL Your Marketing

There are many elements to direct response, but remember this:

No one will reply to any of your marketing without a specific, self-serving REASON to respond.

95% of the agent community is hopelessly ignorant of this fact and they keep using “image” advertising with the same lousy results. I’m talking about making an OFFER to prompt response from prospects:

• a special report
• an area analysis
• your “Maximum Home Value Audit”
• a “Free Home Package” of a listed home

Make sure everything gets an irresistible offer and call to action to prompt response.  See Step 1 of the 3-Steps System (www.3-steps.com) for more.

3. Sell With Emotional Benefits

Whether it’s a listing presentation, lead generation ad, classified, home ad, showing property, etc….people buy because of what the home, offer, etc., will DO for them.

Features are what something IS (3 bedroom, pool, tennis court, etc.), benefits are what something DOES for the prospect (save/make money, minimize time, beat other buyers to the market, reduce hassles, etc.). Know the difference.

People buy for the emotional benefits they perceive they’ll get – then they justify their purchase with features/logic.

4. Give Compelling Social Proof

People are skeptics. No one believes your own claims. You must give as much believable proof as you can of the benefits you offer. Generate testimonials from every client after close (you can even get them from friends or family at the outset), and make them believable by including:

• photo
• full name
• city, state
• quote
• story

Then use them everywhere: ads, listing packages, etc.

One agent I know created his “Little Blue Book” – a blue booklet overflowing with testimonials. He uses the testimonials and booklet in all of his marketing.

Other examples:  Use statistics to give yourself/your brokerage the competitive advantage.  Use media clippings to prove a point.  Get interviewed or write an article about real estate, then clip the article and use with farming, listing presentations, etc.  It will prove you’re a professional and expert.  Bottom line:  Give people more than your word to rely on.

5. Make Using Your Services Risk-Averse

Agents are afraid of risk reversal because they think their clients will take advantage of them. Just the opposite happens: Ten-times more people will use your services because of your risk reversal than will ever take advantage of you.

Examples:  “Easy Exit Listing Agreement”…

“If you buy a home from me and within the first year don’t like it, I’ll sell it for you for free” (seller commission would apply), etc.

If you’re not willing to stand by your own services, why should your clients? Your risk-avoidance is designed to let people know you believe in your abilities, and make the “yes” decision easier for them.

Agent Molly Schubert has generated lots of new clients from a simple yet powerful marketing technique.

She sends a monthly newsletter and includes a response mechanism with a unique phrase…”There’s So Much More To Serving You!“

This simple phrase (and description) shows why she is unique and highlights how she goes above and beyond for her clients, and you can see an example below. When people read this section of her newsletter, they call her to get the names and numbers of all types of service providers.

Molly uses this technique in her newsletter, but you could use this idea in a postcard, on your website, in a letter, or any medium you use to regularly communicate with your clients, pipeline, SOI or even farm.

This strategy bonds clients and prospects to Molly and she receives a lot of extra business. When I asked Molly about this idea she said she gets calls all the time from her sphere asking for a plumber, painter, etc. all because of this little phrase she uses. Here are just a few examples:

• A call in for someone to install a front door… resulted in a referral to help the caller’s daughter buy a home;
• A call in for names of painters… resulted in a referral to sell a home last August for approximately $7,450 commission;
• A call in for a chimney repairman… resulted in a referral to a buyer she is currently helping, and they also already referred their friends to her.

Here’s Molly’s description in her own words…

“If you have a list of ‘trusted’ service people that you use, now and then include something such as the following in your newsletter or mailings:

We do not just give out the list of names and phone numbers. We want people to call us. And they do! All the time. We even get people in our farm calling to see if we know how to get rid of pests in a home (not kids!), or bees.

You want people to be calling you, because if you help them with these things, they’ll remember you.”

Imagine having a group of 100 or 300 or even 500 people out in the market talking to others about you and your services?

Do you think their influential comments would make a difference in your production, getting you the “inside track” on new clients – especially in a tough market?

You bet it would.

Good market or bad, you need to be “firing on all cylinders” with your prospecting to generate the best clients possible. And we both know, referred and repeat-business clients are the very highest quality.

They qualify. They close. And they refer others just like themselves.

Here’s a quick little strategy to start building your “influence pool” of people out in the market raving about you and your services…

Have you ever been drawn in by a good story?

Not “Once upon a time” stories, but real-life stories that come out when people ask, “What’s going on in your life?”

Using stories can be a powerful tool to subtly influence people to think of “you” when they think real estate. They draw people in, create credibility, and stir them to action on your behalf.

People don’t know about your business unless you tell them. Here are 4 Steps for using the power of stories to program your friends, family and clients to send you ongoing referrals – without looking like you’re begging with hat in hand.

STEP # 1: Choose the Best Time to program for referrals

When’s the best time to subtly program people for referrals?

For a current client, DURING a transaction is the best time to ask for referrals. In your discussions with current clients there will be plenty of time to subtly program them to think of you when they learn of anyone needing real estate services.

It’s also a time when “real estate” is high on their mind.

When you encounter an objection when working with prospects or clients, tell how you handled the situation in the past (and specifically how there was a successful outcome).

When talking with friends and family they are inevitably going to ask you, “How’s business?” People you know are interested about what’s new in your life, what you are working on right now, etc. This is a perfect chance to tell them how you get your business.

Try opening like this…

“Actually business is great. I have 3 clients in escrow and 4 more I’m working with.

Since the majority of my clients come by referral, I regularly have people call me asking me to help their neighbor or brother, or someone they know at work.”

Then tell a story about a current client, how they came to you and what you are doing for them.

STEP # 2: Set the stage quickly and use specifics

Here’s what to include:

• Who you are talking about (give specific names)
• Where they came from (include their location)
• How you came to represent the client (i.e., a friend referred this person)
• What they were intending to do (i.e., the type of home or lot they were intending to buy or sell)

Be specific, but don’t go into too much detail here.

The most important part of this step is to tell HOW you received business. Give people a feel for how you operate in your real estate practice.

If you tell stories about how past clients came by referral, people will understand exactly how to help you. They’ll be “programmed” to think about you the next time they know someone who needs a caring and competent agent.

What do people know about HOW you do business?

Give them a way to help by telling them how others have helped you, referring you business.

STEP # 3: Keep your focus on THEM

People are intrigued by stories when they can relate – if they’ve been in a similar situation, or could be in one.

People are self-interested and want to solve their own problems and fulfill their desires first and foremost.

So think about your audience, and what’s most important to them right now. Then share what you can do for them in a unique and beneficial way.

Whenever you experience a difficult situation in real estate, or even while showing homes, give an example of someone else who faced the same situation or problem as your clients, and how you helped them.

This not only gives your clients confidence in your abilities, but you can also improvise and program for referrals by explaining how they reciprocated this great service by telling others about you.

Whenever you hear someone talking about real estate and a relevant past story is triggered in your mind… simply state how you used your resources to solve a problem for a past client.

This subtly “programs” the listeners to think of you when they (or someone they know) face a similar situation in the future.

These types of stories get passed around and shared, and suddenly you have hundreds of people telling their friends and family about you with no additional effort on your part.

Here are a few types of stories to showcase your service to get you thinking:

• Tell a story about how you helped a first-time homebuyer navigate the home-buying and financing process
• Tell a story about how you guided people through tough economic times by helping them pick an under-valued home, or by helping a seller get top dollar during a past down market
• Tell a story about how you helped an investor find a great income producing property under his deadline

One secret is to name a specialized process you used such as a “28-Point Maximum Home Value Audit” you used to help a seller understand exactly what their home was worth.

STEP # 4: Conclude with a Positive Result (and a subtle call to action)

Describe with clear details how the clients were satisfied. Communicate how the person benefited by speed of service, money saved, or money made.

Then describe how the clients reciprocated this gratitude (in the form of referrals of people they knew).

This strategy programs people to know what to do…how to take action on your behalf…to tell others what you do for clients and how people regularly send you referrals.

Want an example? Try this…

Notice how this story also says how quickly the client’s needs were met. That’s an excellent way to use specifics to communicate benefits of using your services.

Where else can you program for referrals?

You can put the referral programming power of stories in to your testimonials and include them in all your marketing.

Include stories as powerful testimonials in your:

• Newsletter
• Pre-Listing Packages and Presentations
• Buyer Packages
• Just Listed/Just Sold Postcards
• On your website
• On the back of your business cards
• Inserts into info-tubes

Try using short story referral programming in several areas of your practice, and you’ll be astonished how much additional business you’ll generate automatically – and most will come without you spending one thin dime.

One of the most important (yet less talked-about) skills for success in real estate is knowing how to communicate and read clients when you’re face-to-face.

How many times have you worked hard to generate a listing appointment, researched the market, toured the home, created a stellar pre-listing package…only to learn the clients hired another agent?

Some agents have a natural knack for reading other people and knowing what to do in a pivotal sales situation. For others it’s a mystery. The good news is, bonding with clients and creating skills for closing deals can all be learned once you understand a few basics.

Today I want to give you some very important tips for making a great first impression, reading your clients and understanding their motivation, handling questions and objections, and recognizing buy signals.

The First Meeting…

According to Patti Wood, author of “Success Signals – Body Language in Business” most face-to-face buying decisions are made within the first three to five minutes of the call. That means 85% of the buying decision is based on not what you say, but what you do non-verbally.

So how to you create non-verbal signals that quickly bond clients to you?

The first step sounds obvious, but many agents blow it: SMILE! No, not some fake, wishy-washy smile, but a sincere gesture projecting your openness. Make sure you’re looking your prospects or clients squarely in the eye.

The second step is to use open body language. Open body language happens when you reveal the palms of your hands, keep your arms unfolded, hands away from the face, and project an open way of receiving your clients.

Another way of showing openness is in your speech tone. You don’t want to seem too excited (a give away for an inexperienced or hype-driven salesperson), and you don’t want to sound like a dud either.

You want to greet your clients the same way you greet your spouse (on a good day, that is!). Be happy to see them, but be sincere and keep your bearings.

The third step is to use the right kind of handshake. The secret of a great handshake is not just in the firmness of your shake (a must!), but in the percentage of palm-to-palm contact. Opening your palm to someone is akin to opening yourself to them.

Finally, a great way to bond with clients is to match your body language with that of your prospect or client. Matching body language is a non-verbal way of telling your clients that you like them.

The idea is that people prefer to do business with those similar to themselves. Watch the body language of people who disagree and you’ll see what I mean (they “mismatch” their body language).

Once you start mimicking your client’s body language, you’ll notice that they start to subconsciously mimic yours. That’s when you have the opportunity to open up – uncross legs and arms, lean forward, and speak directly – and they’ll open themselves to you.

This is a prime signal that you’ve built trust and rapport, and you can guide the direction of the relationship.

Handling Questions and Objections…

Every client presents us with tough questions and objections. That’s the nature of our business. While giving an accurate answer is important, don’t forget about non-verbal ways you communicate to advance the sale.

So how do you handle questions and objections effectively? Here’s a 3-Step process I learned more than 25 years ago, and works nearly every time.

The first step in handling questions or objections is to use “silence” as your ally – and this applies to the phone as much as in person. Before you jump to an answer, allow your prospects to completely finish their point – then pause.

This alone shows that you are in control of the situation and desire to hear-out your client. Plus, it gives you ample time to think through your answer.

The second step is to harmonize with your client. They’re obviously concerned about their issue, otherwise they wouldn’t be asking the question. I want you to indelibly mark your mind with these words: “I understand.”

Always answer objections with “I understand,” then, paraphrase the question or concern the client just asked you back to them.

Why are you doing this?

Because, 1) It helps you uncover the “real” issue from an emotional as well as rational standpoint, 2) It validates the concern of the client – a bonding tool, and 3) It allows you to compartmentalize objections or questions so you can handle them easier without causing confusion.

The third step is to answer their question, then follow-up your answer with a question back. Walt Disney used to say “there’s a real question behind every question.” Frequently clients will ask a question that highlights only a symptom or example of their objection, and you need to sort out the real issue from the symptom.

As an overly simple example, let’s say your client begins to ask about the details of a home’s alarm system. A novice would explain just the features, while a pro would realize that the wife wants to feel safe when she’s home alone with her children – and match “security” benefits to features in her answer.

By asking a question back, you are ensuring that the issue they raised has been handled, and you are maintaining control of the situation.

Recognizing Buy Signals…

Nothing happens if you don’t close deals, and knowing when to ask is just as important as knowing how to ask.

You probably know that when a clients starts contemplating furniture placement in a home they’re viewing, they’re getting pretty hot for the home. But there other non-verbal buy signals you should watch for…

The most important non-verbal buy signals come from three areas: Head Gestures, Facial Gestures and Body posture.

When a client tilts their head to one side, it can mean that they’re very interested in what you’re saying. When you see this behavior, make sure you’re making an important point advancing a sale.

A head titled down means they’re being negative and judgmental. Head titled back means they’re exhibiting a superior attitude. A client who is open and accepting will generally keep their head neutral. Look for head gestures the next time you’re in a listing presentation or showing a home.

When a client strokes their chin, it means they are considering making a decision. It’s an important time where you can help the process. Rolling eyes, looking over the top of their glasses, rubbing their nose, or even placing their thumb under their nose with their index finger pointing upward are ALL negative, dismissive or critical actions.

When a client leans their body forward and leaves their arms open, it indicates interest and agreement. This is the very best time to ask for a sale. If they lean back with arms crossed, it shows a lack of interest. Leaning forward with arms crossed can indicate potential aggressive behavior. When a client leans back and opens their arms, they’re showing cautious interest.

You’ll also notice that, when a client mirrors your body language, it’s a tell-tale sign they’re in agreement with you. That’s your prime opportunity to advance the sale.

How do you get better with detecting buy signals and body language?

The same way you get to Carnegie Hall: Practice, practice, practice.