Well
– Advertising
I
spent a lot of time (and money) advertising the properties I had listed, often
to no avail. The Missus who spent her life in the retail business used to
compliment me on my advertising abilities. Well, that was a feel good
compliment that never sold many properties. Try as I might, I couldn’t seem to
attract the buyers. But then I glommed on to a little piece of information the
Real Estate Board made available to its agents. It was a list of advertisements
of properties that had sold (in the U.S.). I thought they were crumby,
insignificant ads that didn’t amount to anything in particular, but I took
their word for it that they had worked.
Well,
what’d I have to lose? I’d try one, just for the heck of it. So I did. Low and
behold, I sold a property. Now I was really confused. How would a Mickey Mouse
ad like that attract the right kind of buyer to close a deal? It was baffling
how it worked. Reluctant to give up my masterful ad writing until I had a
chance to prove otherwise, I tried it again. The traffic at my houses increased
significantly. What in blazes - ?
Well
it was time to have a serious discussion with my over inflated ego. This was a
much easier way to do business, even though I didn’t understand it. Try as I
might, I couldn’t fathom the phenomenon. It wasn’t until about a year ago that
I started seeing things like “Keywords” show up in online marketing schemes.
That doesn’t mean I understand them, because bless me, I don’t. One of these
days when it’s too late to make use of it, I’m sure I’ll figure it out.
Mind
you, now thinking back on it, once in a while I got lucky, even though I didn’t
realize what I was doing at the time. I remember a couple I met during one of
my many incarnations of the Cherewick property. It was at an open house they
wandered in to. We hit it off straight away and they told me what they had in
mind. The Cherewick house was too small and too dated for their liking. They
wanted to be within walking distance of the university since he taught
something there. But they wanted something a little more modern.
The
upshot was that I did find something that was even closer to the university. It
was a newer home and more expensive. In a few days, when I’d set up an
appointment, we went to have a look. It was pretty well perfect (except for the
price of course). I don’t remember how much over budget it was, but they both
had to swallow pretty hard.
At
that point I made my pitch to them which even now seems to have been
reasonable. Hadn’t they spent their lives working to assemble what material
things they had, raising three children and contributing to the community at
large? Wasn’t it about time they considered rewarding themselves for all their
hard work and sacrifice with a comfortable lifestyle that they could enjoy
while they still had their health? It was sort of a backhanded way of
complimenting them on their own achievements and a moment to reflect on that.
Well,
they decided I was right and they would bite the bullet for the higher cost of
the home. They did deserve it after all and so arrangements were made and they
took possession of the home. I made a point of being in touch with them about
three weeks after possession (after the expiry of the “buyer’s remorse time)
and found they had made the buy of a lifetime.
My
job was done.
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