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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Does Your Website Have a Privacy Policy?

Ron & Alexandra Seigel — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:06:47 +0000

The Privacy issue continues to be a hot topic and one that has brought the warring factions of the Congress together. Just yesterday, web firms have agreed to install a “Do Not Track button”,and today’s headline in the Wall Street Journal is “Tech Giants agree to Deal on Privacy Policies for Apps.”

Some states such as California require that websites have a privacy policy. Luxury real estate buyers are usually privacy minded and guarded, when it comes to divulging personal information. We have included a privacy policy in our websites and the websites whose designs we oversee. They are written in plain English and not Legalese and are easy to understand. We find that our web visitors do read that page.

As a luxury real estate marketing professional having a Privacy Policy engenders trust between you and your website visitors. If you don’t have one, stay ahead of the curve and add it to your website. If you do, make sure you don’t need to hire an attorney to understand it.

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Marketing Luxury Real Estate: Focus is Your Crystal Ball

Ron & Alexandra Seigel — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:08:05 +0000

As a Luxury real estate marketing professional, have you taken the time to focus upon the source of your bona fide leads, i.e., those leads that have actually converted to sales or listings? What percentage of your overall sales volume comes from knocking on doors (cold calling), referrals, open houses, website leads, sign calls, your blog, networking (online or offline) or from some other source? By focusing in this manner you can strengthen what is working, and also spend less time and resources on those things that do not produce strong results. Focusing can empower you to predict the future of your business. Focus is your crystal ball.

Focusing can also lead to discovering new ways to attract more business by finding alternative approaches that can yield more desirable results. By staying focused you have access to more solutions. Your focus actually attracts answers that may be right under your nose. Being focused prompts you to ask better questions because you know more clearly what it is that you need to know. The need to know literally draws out answers from your environment and from people who have the answers or know where to find them.

Sometimes it seems that the answers to your most pressing questions are eluding you. But, once you get clear on what you need to know, the answers are sure to come your way. That is, unless you spend your time doubting yourself or the power of focus. If you get frustrated because your answers are not showing up as fast as you want them to you might want to consider just chilling out for awhile. It takes a mental state of relaxed focus and openness for the best answers to show up in your crystal ball.

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50 Top Luxury Real Estate Markets in the USA: Carmel, CA

Ron & Alexandra Seigel — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:41:29 +0000

Actor-director Clint Eastwood once was the mayor of Carmel. Edward Weston and Ansel Adams, two of the most innovative and influential 20th century American photographers lived here. Each of these men are considered true masters in their own right and faithfully represent the rich artistic history that is at the core of Carmel-by the Sea, the center point of California’s North Central Coast.

Over the years, the natural beauty of the area has inspired poets, writers, painters, and architects alike. Mike Canning, who represents Carmel’s legendary Butterfly House, says, “It is one of only 5 true oceanfront properties in Carmel. The home, designed by Frank Wynkoop, is anchored directly into the rocky shoreline and has panoramic views from Point Lobos to Pebble Beach. Captivating Carmel residents and tourists for decades, this oceanfront architectural landmark exceeds unique”.

To view slide show, click below

Click to read more …

50 Top Luxury Real Estate Markets in the USA: Hawaii – Part 3 – Why Kauai?

Ron & Alexandra Seigel — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:53:38 +0000

Kauai – The Garden Island

Elvis was married here in Blue Hawaii. Speilberg filmed Jurassic Park here. The magnificent scenery of the Garden Island of Kauai has been the backdrop for countless other famous films including South Pacific, King Kong and even Avatar. We asked the top luxury real estate marketing professionals who live and work here what is most beautiful about their island. Invariably, they said that the scenery was breathtaking, but it is the people of Kauai and the strong sense of community they create together, that is the true beauty of the island.

To view the slide show of the magnificent homes in Kaui click here.

In addition to the lush surrounding of Kauai, another common thread that was conveyed by all was a savoring of the slower paced, authentic Hawaiian lifestyle. Sarah Bernston said, “When you cross the one lane bridge into the famous Hanalei Valley you can feel the shift in the slower relaxed way of life”. B arbara Sloan says, “Kauai is often referred to as the ‘friendliest place in America’. Even though there is very little traffic here, people will go out of their way to yield the right of way”.

Michael Schmidt shared what it is like to work in Paradise. Essentially, he explained that there is a seamless continuum between work and play, between communing with nature and being engaged in the community. “Kauai is conducive to discovering and maintaining your own balance”, he said.

Although, Wai’ale’ale area is known as the wettest spot on earth, with its average rainfall of over 450 inches, the perimeter of the Island along the coastline gets relatively little rain. Kauai has more sandy beaches than the other islands and there are many superb beachfront homes here. “This is an excellent time to purchase an oceanfront home”, says Jim Pycha. “Given all of the amenities of our island, there is incomparable value in Kaui”.

There is also a deep sense of value and genuine respect for the environment among the people of Kaui. Debra Blachowiak believes that, “it is all about the fresh water—water is the gold of the future. Just about anything can grow here which allows for a sustainable lifestyle”.

“The lush landscape on Kauai offers some, who prefer a more rural lifestyle, the perfect opportunity to realize their dreams”, according to Rick Shaw. But, if you seek a vibrant nightlife, you may need to take a 20 minute flight to Honolulu because “the sidewalks in town on Kauai roll up around 6pm”, Rick says. On Friday nights, however, “the Hanepepe Artist Walk is a popular attraction that features local artists, musicians, shopping and food booths”.

Broker/Owner, Scott Lindman, often visits his friends on the mainland, friends who live at a faster pace. “For them, owning a second home on Kauai offers a place to completely recharge”, he says. For Scott, business as usual on Kauai means, “scheduling regular “board meetings” with his agents and staff, surf boards, that is. Successful agent, Sean Ahearn, a transplant from Boston via the San Francisco Bay area, says he usually starts his day on his stand-up paddle board and is often joined by his “frients”, clients who become his friends.

Hanna Sirois, says, “Kauai is a restorative place where you can escape and take the time to exhale”. “Celebrities who live on Kauai are not fussed over”, says Neal Norman, “it is their opportunity to stay out of the limelight”

Kauai is a great place to raise a family, too. Kids get to go barefoot in grade school. Children are raised to be independent here, to “paddle their own canoe”, as Mark Tanaka puts it. He says, “It feels safe here. Neighbors throughout the island keep an eye out for your kids.”

Kauai may very well be the perfect blend of natural beauty, community and an authentic lifestyle. But, it is the appreciation of this splendor that is at the core of the Aloha Spirit. Yvonne Summerfield expressed it this way, “We feel extremely blessed to live on this beautiful Garden Isle. Ben Welborn came to Kauai as a youth on vacation with this parents, and has called Kauai his home ever since. He says, “I love this beautiful island and feel very grateful to live here. I am a Kauai Boy at heart”.

Photos Courtesy of the Agents & Brokers Interviewed

See: Part 1 (Oahu) and Part 2 (Big Island)

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: The Inner Game of Market Leadership – Part 2

Ron & Alexandra Seigel — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:07:36 +0000

Here is success secret that you can apply not only to marketing luxury real estate, but to all aspects of life, as well. It is an essential pillar of what we call the inner game of market leadership.

There are two types of action: effortful action and inspired action. One is definitely more fun than the other. Inspired action just feels better. But, why is that so?

Effortful action is the result of a mindset that is riddled with self contradictions and/or self-doubt. You want to list a luxury home but, the sellers insist on an unrealistic sales price. You have the notion that there is a scarcity of potential listings and you take it against your better judgment. Then, to make it more palatable, you justify this choice by telling yourself that it is a trophy listing, that it will help you get more listings of this caliber and attract more buyers.

Every action that you take to market this home can potentially be effortful because of your internal contradictions. You say to yourself, “I just closed a deal on another house because I acquired a buyer who was originally interested in this over-priced listing, so it was worth it”. But, then you dread having to fight with the owners to lower the price.

It is entirely possible this is your M.O. (modus operandi) and you actually enjoy this listing game plan. For you, it is fun. But, if you are taking overpriced listings because you believe that there is a scarcity of business, this approach will be fraught with effort, even if you do not readily admit it (to yourself).

We once met a luxury real estate marketing team that had no less than ten over-priced homes listed. Suddenly, they were perceived as “players”, as potential challengers to the incumbent market leaders. Between themselves then knew that this perception was just temporary, that it had no foundation. They knew that these homes would not sell anywhere near the listing price. However, the bottom line with this team was that they were completely worn out mentally and physically.

Contrast this to a market leading client of ours who refuses to take on overpriced listings. He has built his reputation on accurately assessing home values and consistently beats out his competition because of it. But, that is what it looks like from the outside.

In his inner game, he knows that people like to do business with people like themselves. His ideal client is not the unrealistic seller, the one who needs to be flattered going into an overpriced listing and beaten down in price going out. By not wasting his time with these people he is able to attract more clients like him. Those clients appreciate his realistic price assessment and his willingness to walk away without the getting listing.

There is no effortful action required when you have an accurate price in an active market. That does not mean that proven negotiation skills are not required. Under these circumstances, negotiations are usually based on inspired actions making the transactions challenging at time but much more fun.

At times, it takes resolve to keep your self-doubts and scarcity mentality at bay. Maintaining an abundant mindset requires consistent focus, and that takes practice. But, the rewards of inspired action that flow from this state of mind, vs. effortful action are plentiful: pure joy, loving what you do, enhanced health and a grounded sense of well being. This is what it feels like to win the inner game of market leadership.

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing: The Inner Game of Market Leadership – Part 1

Ron & Alexandra Seigel — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:17:50 +0000

This is the beginning of a new article series for luxury real estate marketing professionals who have embraced the personal quest of gaining or sustaining market leadership. Here we cover the “inner game” of market leadership.

We have all heard or experienced firsthand that winning the game of golf or tennis, or sports in general, is more mental than physical. True, it is important to have the right physical attributes required to win. But, what matters most, the determining factor for beating a worthy opponent is mindset. In marketing luxury real estate anyone with the means can outspend their competition. But, out-thinking your opponent requires tremendous focus and momentum.

Cultivating and maintaining peak performance in business and in life involves having the right attitude which is the starting point of the inner game. It also requires the alignment of your thoughts and inspired (vs. effortful) action. A negative attitude diminishes your perspective. It is the indication that your thoughts are not aligned. Effortful action follows the misalignment of thought.

Your attitude is a reflection of your belief in yourself or lack thereof. If you do not believe you can become the market leader or if you believe that you cannot hold on to the leadership position that you have achieved it will taint every other thought you have about your luxury real estate practice.

The bottom line on gaining and sustaining market leadership comes down to sustaining the “I Can” belief overtime, without allowing the contradiction of that thought to have any power. Like the children’s story, “The Little Engine that Could”, it is a matter of creating a focused momentum of belief, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can”. Then, you must notice and appreciate any and all evidence of progress that supports this belief, until you can say “I thought I could”, I thought I could, I thought I could”.

Again, the experience of achieving this state of mind necessitates total concentration. That is, ignoring those who may attempt to distract you, discourage you, or try to convince you that you are not worthy of success. Additionally, there is almost a magnetic pull that you must defy, a pull to conform to mediocrity, a pull to not change the status quo. But, once you break free of this “force field”, another magnetic force field draws you nearer to your goal. That is when momentum propels you faster with even less effort.

You are never too old to listen to the wisdom and optimism of that story about the momentum of belief in yourself. It is a key component in the inner game of market leadership.

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Economist Fine Properties Fair October 18-19

Stefan Swanepoel — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 22:28:47 +0000

Stefan Swanepoel presents a webinar with tips on buying international real estate at The Economist’s Fine Properties Fair – online October 18th. Chat with numerous real estate experts and get information on global properties you might not find anywhere else.

Economist Fine Properties

Also browse a collection of unique second homes, vacation estates and luxury rentals in top locations like:
• St. Maarten
• St. Kitts
• Boca Raton
• Miami
• Dominican Republic
• Turks and Caicos
• Belize
• Portugal
• Australia
• Canada

Personal & Company Branding: When You’ re Hot, You’ re Hot !

Ron & Alexandra Seigel — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:17:18 +0000

Photo by Wellesenterprises

When you’re hot you’re hot. When you’re not, you’re not! So is the the world of personal branding as a public figure. But, when you are not hot, how do you make a comeback? Your reputation is at the core of your brand value as a luxury real estate marketing professional. And, the importance of managing the perception of your personal brand in the minds of your target market cannot be underestimated. The story of Tiger Woods is a case in point.

Rolex, the Swiss watch company just signed Tiger as its newest brand ambassador. It has been two years since his public relations debacle occurred, a fiasco that cost him dearly in terms of lucrative company endorsements. Most of his sponsors dropped Tiger or did not renew his endorsement contracts. But, with a well crafted co-branded marketing message, “Partnership for a New Challenge”, Rolex has committed to help him redeem his well deserved reputation as one of the greatest athletes in the world.

This story illustrates just how much is at stake when it comes to public opinion and how much the media can amplify your reputation. The same media that helped to build Wood’s reputation tore him down. It will be also be instrumental in building him right back up again. But, what is behind the story is even more important.

People are very quick to judge others. Often, those who have the most secrets to hide are the ones who are the most critical of public figures. But, what about the inner conflicts that Tiger Woods has had to deal with? The opportunity for personal transformation under intense, self-induced circumstances like Mr. Woods created for himself, can be nothing short of life changing and life giving.

No one can truly put themselves in Tiger Woods’ golf shoes. He was famous beginning at a very young age. Could it be that he needed to deconstruct his life, a life that may have been built to a large extent on admiration from others? We need to be less critical and more allowing of others, giving them the room to find themselves, to reinvent themselves.

Branding can be a mental shortcut. We get lazy and forget to give people and companies a fresh chance to demonstrate who they are today, each day. What does it say about Rolex, who was willing to stake its international reputation on giving Tiger Woods a fresh start as a partner in a new challenge?

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, your reputation is built with each transaction you complete. Your personal brand is not only your trademark it is your “trust mark”.

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Personal & Company Branding: A Surefire Way to Challenge the Market Leader

Ron & Alexandra Seigel — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:07:35 +0000

As a luxury real estate marketing professional, what is a surefire way to to challenge the entrenched, incumbent market leader in your marketplace or niche therein? This is a similar question that countless international tech companies have been asking as they attempt to challenge Apple in the category of tablet computers.

iPad owns 70% of the tablet market in the USA. Many companies have tried to challenge Apple in this arena. Yet, only one company is poised to make a dent in Apple’s market share. That company is Amazon who recently launched their line of Kindle Fire tablets.

The best brand strategy for a challenger is to sharply position your product or service (in the case of luxury real estate marketing) as the opposite of number one. This gives consumers a viable alternative to the market leader and summarily dismisses the rest of field of competitors. That is exactly what Amazon is attempting to accomplish.

As the world’s greatest online retailer Amazon understood something that has eluded most other tablet manufacturers: So far it is consumers, more so than businesses who are using these devices and they are using them to consume apps and media (books, magazines, movies, TV shows and games). Tablets are predominantly virtual vending machines!

In addition to Amazon’s strength as a retailer, they also provide out-sourced, cloud-based web services on their very powerful servers. Netflix, for example, uses Amazon’s web services to run their website. Leveraging this capability for their new Kindle Fire, they were able to bring down the cost of manufacturing their tablets to less than half of ALL of their competition.

In fact, Amazon is able to sell their Kindle Fire line at a slight loss because they are able to make up the difference many times over with the sale of apps and media. Equally important is the fact that all of the media that you purchase from Amazon is stored on their servers (i.e., in the cloud) not on the hard drive on your Kindle which is another cost saver in manufacturing.

By lowering the price to a point where other tablet manufactures cannot compete, those who do not have their own app and media stores, they have potentially catapulted themselves to the number two position. Amazon has also framed the choice for consumers as a two company contest between the iPad, with premium features, and the more basic Kindle Fire tablet, simply based on on price.

Both Apple and Amazon have a tremendous competitive advantage over the rest of the tablet manufacturers. They both understand that once you store your apps and media in their cloud, your likelihood of switching clouds is minimal. It is just is too much trouble to switch for most consumers.

Finally, Amazon’s other strength is their worldwide customer base. The Kindle Fire has come out just in time to gain major sales traction during the 2011 Holiday season.

Amazon has even changed the game for Google who supplies the Android operating system to most manufacturers of tablets including the Kindle Fire. Google has a strong potential customer base, they have cloud based services, and they have an app store. But, they are not strong in media sales and they do not yet have their own tablet device.

Other potential iPad challengers have their own operation system. But, Microsoft, who has a cloud based service (Office 365) and Research in Motion, who is spending $100M to purchase a cloud based web service company, are simply late to the party. Neither have an substantial app or media store.

The moral of this story, for luxury real estate marketing professionals, is twofold:

The best way to gain and sustain market leadership is to identify an uncontested or under served market niche that you can serve,with passion and better than anyone else in the world (your marketplace), by adding extraordinary value. That is what Apple did with the iPad.
Here is a surefire way to challenge the incumbent market leader: First assess your strengths and your competitor’s vulnerabilities. Then, take aim at that the weakest vulnerability with full force and concentration. Position yourself as the opposite of market leader to create an either/or choice for the consumer. That is what Amazon did by focusing on price.

We are not recommending that cutting your commission is the way to challenge the market leader as a luxury real estate marketing professional. Market leaders in real estate often get complacent and have plenty of other vulnerabilities. The key to challenging the entrenched incumbent is to create a truly viable alternative that positions you firmly as the number two choice and summarily renders the others a distant number three at best.

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