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Real Estate Marketing -- The Talkability Factor
By Brandon Cornett

You won't find "talkability" in any dictionary. But it has everything to do with your personal marketing program. This article explains what it is and how it can help you grow your business.

Let's start with a definition:

Talkability (noun) - 1. The ease with which a product or service can be talked about. 2. The likelihood that a product or service will be talked about.

Ever experience a product or service so incredible, so above and beyond the norm, that you couldn't wait to tell someone about it? That's talkability. Talkability is more powerful than "noteworthy" and more interesting than "interesting." It lives in the "remarkable" neighborhood.

So what does it have to do with real estate? Well, if you realize that most real estate business comes from referrals, you'll begin to see the true power of talkability in helping you grow your business.

Increasing Your Talkability Factor

To increase the talkability of your services, you must offer something so unique it's virtually impossible for people to keep to themselves, something they cannot resist talking about. A first step is to ask yourself the question, "If I were my own client, what would be remarkable to me?"

This is the fun part. It's called the "What if" game. First, turn off your internal critic, that little nagging voice that says things like "That's silly" or "That will never work." Next, make a list of "What if" statements about your services:

What if I found a way to offer free interior design consultations to buyers, redeemable for 30 days within move-in?

What if I offered "around the town" tours to relocation clients, showing them local schools, shopping and recreation?

What if I offered sellers a free "Curb Appeal" consultation from a local landscaper?

What if started a monthly home-buying seminar and promoted it on the news?

What if I took a photography course and offered clients professional home photos for their listing?

What if ... what if ... what if.

The point is to keep going until you exhaust your imagination. If you produce nine ideas and keep only one, you haven't lost anything. You've gained a great idea that will create talkability.

When you're screening ideas and deciding which to keep and which to cut, imagine somebody telling their friends about each item. Does it seem like something they would want to share? Can you imagine them saying, "Tom, you won't believe what my agent did for me..."?

If so, you've achieved talkability.

Marketing Alone is Not Enough

A remarkable service with average marketing will outsell an average service with great marketing. Remarkable products and services have talkability, so even with average marketing their messages will reach farther and wider than the average product with great marketing.

Talkability Success Stories

If a product or service has extremely high talkability, it hardly needs any marketing at all. Red Bull and Starbucks had high talkability when they launched (still do).

As a result, they grew to epic proportions with virtually no initial advertising. Red Bull only started advertising a couple years ago, and Starbucks still does virtually no advertising. Yet people couldn't resist talking about these products. These products surfed on waves of talkability.

Those are products. Now let's look at a service with talkability. Here in Austin, Texas, there's a barbershop called Sexy Scissors. Their name says it all, and their motto drives it home: "Hot stylists. Cold beer. Great haircuts." They have sports on all the TVs and a beer keg built right into the receptionist's desk!

See what I'm doing right now? I've succumbed to the talkability of this service. As a result, I'm giving them free publicity. Whether or not you agree with their "angle," you have to acknowledge the talkability of it. Can you imagine the number of men who've said, "Hey, Joe, have you heard about that place called Sexy Scissors?"

Has it worked? Well, as of this writing, they're building a new location in Houston and putting out the call for additional franchisees. I predict their growth will continue for years to come.

I'm not suggesting you start a sexy real estate service. (Although, if you're in Los Angeles...) I'm suggesting you find a way to put more talkability into your service. Think of it as a way to recruit an army of marketers for your service. The higher the talkability, the more people there are to spread your message.

About the author:

Brandon Cornett has worked as a writer and advertising manager within the direct mail industry. He now dedicates his time to helping agents and brokers improve their personal marketing programs. His free newsletter is available at: http://www.ArmingYourFarm ing.com.

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