Scott Jenkins

In the heart of the town of Stratford on Main Street sits Sterling house behind it's antique iron gate. If you live in Stratford you probably drive by it almost every day. It's a true community center that gives a lot more to the community than it takes.

Donate A Basket Of Food To Sterling Houses Food Pantry

Put on your to do liat at least one good deed. There are lots of local food banks around Stratford CT but Sterling House is as local as a local organization gets. Taking a ride up to Target on Hawley Lane can yield a basket full of canned, powdered, boxed, and other non-perishable food items.

Explain to your kids what you are doing and bring them with you to the grocery store. Let them pick through the soups and cereals that they think other people will enjoy. After leaving the store drive over to Sterling House. Let the kids help carry the bags up the steps of the side entrance.

In the hall on the left hand side you will see a donation box for the food pantry. That's it. Easy. I think this is a great way to teach philanthropy to your kids in an inexpensive and thoughtful way. My kids enjoy it and I hope you and your children will too.

Imagine for a moment that you are looking for a home and you are not a real estate agent. Take off your real estate agent blinders. Try to remember what it was like before you got your license. Let's go back, however many years or months that may be.

Do you remember how you felt about real estate agents? I hope so. I do. I was scared to death and so are your prospects. They want nothing to do with you. They would rather do away with you completely but you are a necessary evil.

We all know the statistic about real estate agents being a small step above used car salesmen. Don't ever forget it. Embrace it and do everything in you power to break down that barrier.

But how?

You have to give people what they want and not what they are expecting from you.

They are expecting you to pressure them, call them incessantly, and sell them a home. Do exactly the opposite. Give them what they want. Not what they are expecting.

They want honest information. Give it to them. Create reports they can use. Foreclosures are hot right now. Let them have foreclosure listings.

Tell them how to find homes for sale without you. Give them the tools to do it.

Tell them how to sell their house without you. Give them the tools to do it.

You can do it with email. You want them to open your emails more than once. Don't give them what they are expecting with the first email you send. Give them what they want. They will remember you for it and open your next email, and the next, and the next as long as you keep giving them what they want.

They will think of you and you alone when they think about real estate agents. They will tell their friends about you.

Give them what they want over and over again and they will give you what you want. Their trust!

Scott, what about the autopilot?

Right, the autopilot. Use an autoresponder. Create a dozen or more quality emails packed full of information they want and send them to them throughout the course of a year or more. The longer the better. Create your emails and tell your autoresponder (check out http://www.aweber.com) to send them one of your emails every few weeks.

Now we are marketing on autopilot. Are you? I am. See my CT foreclosure page to see how I am implementing my own advice.

By Scott Jenkins

Do you see any benefit to this For Sale By Owner webpage?

Why in the world would I create an article on my website that does not benefit me directly?

Because it's good public relations!

I believe that everything I do does not have to directly benefit me with a sale or a new listing. I think that sharing what we know as real estate agents with others is paramount to good public relations and our own personal growth.

I bet you are just busting at the seams with good advice. We tend to forget that what we know and what comes naturally to us is like trying to squeeze water out of a rock for others. Give your readers the water! Let them have the content that they are looking. By giving people what they want they will come back over and over again for more.

Share you knowledge. Make it readily accessible to others on the web, in your print publications, in your joint ventures, and through your email list. I truly believe that having website content that is useful and doesn't shout "call me now" or "contact me to find your dream home" will benefit not only your readers but you in ways that you have not even dreamed of.

Here's the link again in case you missed it. Seven Easy Steps To Sell Your Home Without An Agent

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Quick story. An amazing experience I had the good fortune of being a part of.

I went to a wake on Friday night. Wifes great aunt. Run of the mill old lady wake. Constant slow flow of mourners. I never met her and she had been in a home for a long time but I was there for my wife and to pay respects.

There was an old woman in the receiving line. She is old enough that everyone ignores her. She is nested in betwen two of the plaid printed couches. The tan rug coordinates perfectly and the melancholy tone of the room resides over everything and everyone.

It is obvious this woman has no idea where she is or why all the people are gathered here for a heavy hearted event. The wheelchair she is slumped over in is hospital issue. This wake is likely the most happening night on the town that she has had since the nineties. I feel awful for her.

The end of the night is here and her most direct relatives are paying their last respect. No way I am walking out now. Tears are flowing, a nearly empty box of kleenex is being passed around and the only dry eyes in the house are mine.

The kneeler is pulled aside so it sits directly in front of the flowers that proudly display "Mother". The old lady is wheeled up right in front of the mahogany coffin. She has no idea where she is or who is in that box.

"That's my sister. She looks just like her father," she says. From there everything she said was in Slovac, or maybe it was Polish. The language didn't matter. What she said didn't matter.

The emotion in her voice rang true. I cried. I was touched. I am touched. Permanently.