Business Cards For The Real Estate Entrepreneur

Writen by Thomas McGiveron

You would think that developing a business card would be easy. You put the name of the business, email, phone number, fax, website and whatever else you think is pertinent and/or applicable. Obviously, if you have no website or fax, well then chances are you're not going to include such items…Duh. So, you sit down at your desk and jot down some ideas and before you know it, if you actually put some effort into it, you realize it is not as easy as you originally thought. Well, just like any other type of advertising, business cards take some thought for development. The first thing we struggled with was, "Who is this business card for?"

This is a great question that requires follow up questions such as, "Who's going to read them?" and "What purpose will they serve?". Once you establish the purpose of your business card, then you have to come up with things to say that speak to the people you're giving them to. The people you give your business cards to should probably be considered customers. You want your customers to be able to quickly see what you are all about. Think about the different people you may run into in your business travels. You may attend a chamber of commerce function and want to specifically market vendors or contractors of some kind. You may want to let them know you're provide contracting work that meets their investment goals.

On the other hand, you may be driving neighborhoods and want to let people know you "buy houses with no hassles". On a seperate day, you may want to visit some apartment complexes and drop some cards around that let people know you offer great deals on seller financed projects or lease options. You also may want to bring all these cards to investor meetings or chamber of commerce meetings to give everybody a taste of what you're all about!

So is the answer, to have numerous business cards that represent all of your business interests to all different types of "customers"? Maybe, that depends on your focus which relies on the answers to the questions above. To save money you might consider making your cards double-sided. On one side of the card, you sell property and on the other, you buy property. There are also things to consider like if you want the card to be very professional and informative or very colorful like an advertisement. If you have a website, or plan to have one, it's very important to include this on the card as well. Your website should be featured on just about everything you put out there for the public to see.

You'll have options for what type of paper to have the cards printed on as well. Many businesses choose to use yellow cards with black lettering. This is prominent and stands out. Most are just white with whatever kind of letter color. If you know a graphic designer, you may choose to have them design one for you, put the predesigned card on a disc and bring this to the printer. The printer will like this, as it cuts down their time spent designing the card for you.

The issue of price and which printer to use will be something to consider as well. Depending on your local area, Kinko's prices may be reasonable. We decided to use Minuteman Press. They charged us $95.00 for 1000 double-sided cards. We have color on one side and black and greys on the other, set against a white card. We designed them first, put them on a disc and gave it to them. They came out perfect. In our case, the content became the issue, as we put things on the cards that really didn't describe our business accurately. That's our mistake. Now we're not talking any type of illegal or false advertising, we just put things on the cards that we don't particularly like.

What not to put on a business card: Titles. If you're just starting out and you started a Corp or LLC, you may consider yourself "President" or some variation, but this title is a hefty one to place on a business card. It implies that you have all the answers. If you do, well then that's great. But seeing as this is a site devoted to the noob investor, well then we'll just go ahead and guess that "you ain't all that" just yet. So needless to say, something like, "Tom Smith, Member" should suffice. This accomplishes two important objectives. It implies that their is more than one person in your business - that can seem professional. Secondly, it lets you off the hook if you are at a function or just talking with a fellow investor who asks you a question you can't answer on the spot. As a member, you can say, "I'll follow up on that with my partners." As "President", this will not fly. You'll look incompetent. This is probably not a novel idea and may be discussed in many places, but we thought it pertinent to this article.

The rest of what not to put on the card depends on your intentions for the card(s). The best thing to do is prepare your investment strategies first. Really narrow down what it is you want to do. So much goes into developing a business/investment strategy that business cards really should be low on the list of priorities. If you must have them right away. Keep them very simple. If your business will be real estate investment, then your name, company name (if you set one up already), some contact information and maybe something like, "Real Estate Solutions" or some variation will suffice. This keeps it broad enough so that if you decide to rehab and sell residential, or rent, buy foreclosures, flip, buy commercial, etc…you will have a card with general information on it.

©noobdogs.com

www.Noobdogs.com offers a place for fellow new investors in real estate to answer questions and get good, sound information they can understand. www.Noobdogs.com is owned and operated by AmeriCountry Realty Group LLC. Founded in 2006 by Tom McGiveron, a Behavior Specialist and entrepreneur, noobdogs.com is becoming the premier site for new investors to achieve success in personal development and real estate investment.

Premium Pricing And Service Excellence

Writen by George F Franks III

My friend Melissa related a story to my other day. I asked her why she goes to a local hardware store that is more expensive for whatever she buys there than the hardware mega-stores. Her response both surprised and interested. Melissa stated that unless she knows exactly what she wants, she will go to the local hardware store even though it is more expensive. She went on to say that at the local hardware store there were plenty of people to answer her questions and that they were very knowledgeable. At the mega-hardware stores, she said she can never find anyone to help her and when she does, they usually are not able to answer her questions. For customer services people who were available and knowledgeable she said she was willing to pay more than she would at the mega-stores.

This got me thinking about premium pricing and service. Not the over the phone service. That is a whole other topic. But about face-to-face service in the areas of retail, food service, hospitality, personal services and financial/professional services. These are all areas where in spite of the mantra of "excellence" and "quality" the levels of services have spiraled downward over the past several years. This begs the question, what does it take to truly have excellence in the face-to-face service and only then have the ability to premium price.

The best people. This is a bit of chicken and egg. If people are paid minimum wage, are given no benefits, provided little or no training and given no development or career path then employers get what they pay for. That translates to poor service, bad attitudes, staff that is not knowledgeable and constant turnover. What does it take then to get the best people in any service industry or field?

Pay. Full time people should be paid a living wage. But if the wage is at this level, then the performance expectations and the criteria for employment must match.

Benefits. Full time people after an initial period of time (often six months) should be given a package of benefits. It is not unreasonable to include in this: medical and dental insurance, vacation, retirement savings plan and incentives for longevity and performance.

Training. The U.S. Government spends a significant portion of the defense budget on training. Men and women who protect and defend the country need the best and the most current training available. They need to know their jobs inside and out. Is there any reason why this should not be the case with any individual working in a face-to-face service job. Customers are the heart and soul of any business. So why do we insult them daily by providing little or no training. And the concept of "on-the-job" training has often become the only training. Training is a key area to improving service and retaining the best people.

Development. Most individuals not only want to learn, they want to grow. Whether it is expanding a current jobs or development toward a different or bigger job, professional growth is essential. Anyone looking at doing the same tasks day-in, day-out forever can only respond by providing poor service and always looking for greener pastures.

Career path. Where do the supervisors, managers, districts managers and executives come from? If the answer is they are hired "off the street" that is the wrong answer for this challenge. As part of development, service employees need the opportunity to move both across and up in an organization no matter how small or how large. With the required training and education, anyone who does a great job should have the opportunity to move into the management ranks of a service business.

These steps are not those of a "bleeding heart liberal". They are service industry business imperative to improve the level of face-to-face customer services. Only by providing the highest levels of service and any business expect to achieve customer loyalty and premium pricing. Otherwise, the battle for the basement will continue with service business providing rock bottom prices, accompanied by poor service, high employee turnover, dissatisfied customers and slim margins. The choice is yours.

George F. Franks, III is the founder and CEO of Franks Consulting Group, a Bethesda, Maryland based management consulting and leadership coaching practice. George is a member of the Institute of Management Consultants (USA) and the International Coach Federation. He can be contacted at: gfranks@franksconsutlinggroup.com Franks Consulting Group is on the web at: http://franksconsultinggroup.com George's weblog is: http://consultingandcoaching.blogspot.com

Business Directories For Marketing

Writen by Brian Blunt

When most people hear the phrase, 'business directory' they think of a 700 page yellow phone book with business and residential listings. There are also business directories designed to promote a specific type of business on the internet.

There are many companies that sell advertisement space on a business listing database. A business is placed into a particular category and when a visitor enters a website they have full access to several business categories to choose from. For example, if a business falls into the category of 'restaurants' and they are interested in searching for a particular restaurant; there is a listing of various restaurants to choose from.

This is an excellent form of marketing for a business. A listing in a business directory can increase business tremendously especially on a web site with a high traffic volume. There are several business directories online that will promote your business for free while some will charge a one time fee or a monthly fee. You can find a list of them simply by conducting a search.

Most business directories have limited information about a company such as an address and a contact number. Where as there are many internet business directories that have an expanded search such as address, contact number, fax number, website address and email address.

Some company's will offer advertisers the option of linking their websites so that when a visitor selects a particular location with a website listing, they will link directly to that website. This is a good option for a webmaster who wants to track how much traffic he or she is receiving through their listing. This information will help tell them if it's a successful venture or not.

Another form of a business directory that is a good marketing tool is direct marketing. Many research firms rely on direct marketing lists to match their leads with various business directories. This is like a form of free publicity which is always good for a business, especially a new business. Business directories have been proven to be successful for many business people's marketing campaigns.

Brian Blunt administrates the Business Lists business directory and is also an editor at the Platinax Business Directory.