What Are Your Target Sellers’ Thoughts?

To be effective with your marketing its essential that you look at the world through the eyes of your seller prospects; those motivated sellers that you want to attract. Instead of asking, “what can I tell them about me and my knowledge of real estate and creative financing?” , ask yourself, “what can I offer my seller prospects that THEY want or need?” The answers to these two questions are very different, and they elicit two very different responses when presented to your seller prospects.

And this brings us to positioning . Most Real Estate Entrepreneurs and Investors haven’t the faintest idea of what we are talking about when we talk about positioning. So, what is positioning?

Positioning is the place that seller prospects allot for you in their minds when they manage to comprehend what you are about. Basically it’s the label they put on you so that they can have a shorthand reference that tells them the essence of what you mean to them (for better or worse).
Everyone does this. We reduce things down to their most basic meaning for us, so we have shortcuts to decision-making and so we don’t have to think too much about anything. This is why the USP is so important. You are going to be labeled by your seller prospects anyway, so you may as well give them a label that clearly conveys the benefits your offer so it’s easy for them to choose you when the need arises.

To elaborate on this idea for a minute let’s look at some examples from other industries.

For example, “Coke”. What do you think when someone says “Coke”. Probably something like ‘the real thing’ or ‘the original cola’. And now, ‘Pepsi’. What are you thinking? Most likely,
“the Pepsi generation”, or “new, modern, today, that globe in Pepsi colors, Michael Jackson”.

Let’s go further:

When I say Volvo, what do you think?
Safety, Tested. Safe

When I say Mercedes, what do you think? Luxury. Prestige. Classy.

When I say Rolls Royce, what do you think? Highest quality. The ultimate in prestige.

When I say Dominos, what do you think? Maybe, there are no words, and your mouth is just watering in anticipation of pizza, mouth, now, mmmm.

When I say Disney, what do you think? Mickey. Fun. Family. Laughing. Good.

When I say Yugo, what do you think? 80’s, cheap, red, falls apart.

When I say Levis, what do you think? You think jeans, original, tough, authentic.

When I say Federal Express, what do you think? You think delivery, overnight, guaranteed.

So, positioning. It is the notch that you carve out in the minds of your seller prospects. It’s the meaning that you have for them, it’s the label they have assigned to you so they can understand what you mean to them.

If you don't want to compete with other investors based on what you do being a commodity (i.e. you all offer the same thing, say the same things, look the same, act the same, etc.), then think about what you can do that will position you as being unique, the only one who does what he/she does. Then craft your USP around that unique offer.

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Ben Innes-Ker is a full time real estate investor and author of the Motivated Seller Magnet - Automatic Lead Generating System. He is constantly fine-tuning his marketing and business systems to make his investing more profitable with less effort, so he can spend more time enjoying life with his wife and 2 young children. He shares these unique profit making systems with his Power Marketing Members.
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