Some of my thoughts on Social Networking

I guess you know how much we are promoting Facebook, Linked-In and internet Social Networking.  For those of us that don’t want to spend our life on the computer, there must be an alternative.  And I am certain you’ve read some real estate articles that talk about getting back to basics. 

Where does all this fit together? 

I believe internet social networking may occasionally bring you a buyer or a seller.  It is also something that allows you to do it on off time, at home 

Then there is physical social networking.  This seems to be something we rarely hear about anymore.  Yet is an integral part of our business, always has been.  

 I have been pondering it and thought back to Brian McCardle when he worked out of the Blakeslee office.  Brian uses the internet minimally and rarely does social networking online.    However, while in the Blakeslee office, Brian was one of our top agents year after year.  (He is still doing well at the Hazleton location) 

Brian was never at home.  Brian spent little time in the office, usually in the evenings to do paperwork.  And he stopped taking floor time years ago.  

What is my view of what helped make Brian successful in generating sellers and buyers? 

He never had coffee from the office. He walked across the street to get a cup and talk to people.  He never brought a lunch or went home for lunch.  He ate out every day, not take out – but someplace where he could sit and talk to people.  If he wasn’t showing houses or listing houses, he was out looking at potential houses, knocking on FSBO doors, driving through neighborhoods, talking to neighbors.  Can you see a pattern here?  He got up, got dressed and went to work.  He didn’t do it once a day, it did it every day.  And he didn’t do it sitting at home or in the office.  

It is a tough year.  And I would like to suggest that you step up your networking a notch to get out and about and meet people.  

• Always wear career apparel with the company name or at least the name badge. 
• Get magnetic car signs.  You never know when you pull into a grocery store if the person parking next to you just found out they have to move and they need a Realtor. 
• Go to a different store at lease once a week in our marketplace – even if it is just to browse.  The dollar store, CVS, Aharts, Auto Supply Store, anyplace local. Be sure you have a magnetic car sign and a name badge on.
• At least one or two days a week, Get Up, Get Dressed and Get to Work – your workplace is the marketplace. Drive around to check out houses listed by the competitors – you might see a neighbor you can speak with. See a house that looks vacant, ask the neighbor about it.  
• Eat lunch out at least once a week, alone or with an associate.  Sit at a counter and speak with people.  Chat and Chew, Da’s Pub, Murphy’s Loft, Terra Cotta, Nick’s Lake House; not a take-out joint and not a private booth. 
• Continue to do your expired listings and FSBO’s on a daily basis, but maybe know on the FSBO door. 
• Join a group. Church Groups.  How about a charitable organization.  Business groups or your Realtor Associations.   

The bottom line is that sitting at home or sitting at your desk in the office is not putting your face in front of enough people.  This is a people business and without people there is no business