The Productivity Junkies email list  heard about my niece. I was helping her with a project for her marketing class.

I asked her last night how that went…

Turns out she got an A – .

Not bad. I don’t think I’ve ever got anything over a B in my life.

But I guess the project didn’t win any prizes in the competition.

Sorry about that Courtney… I guess I don’t know as much about marketing as I’d like to think.

But the reality is… grades schmades.

I’m not sure how you can “grade” or even “judge” marketing.

The only way to “grade” or “judge” is to TEST. And that means it needs to be shipped. It needs to put out into the wild and see what results it returns.

Many people, maybe yourself included, are “judging” marketing based on what YOU like, instead of what your audience will actually respond to.

Marketing is not about you.

Marketing is about them.

David Ogilvy, the original “Mad Men” said, “If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.”

Are you worried if your blog post is cool enough?… Are you concerned if your tagline is cute enough?… Are you stressed about making your marketing creative enough?…

Stop it!!! It doesn’t matter. What matters is results.

Enter the conversation in your target prospects head. Market to them. Not to your own likes, dislikes or tastes. And then see what results you get. Your results will tell you what to do next.

To quote David Ogilvy again… “Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.”

To recap…

You can’t grade or judge marketing… You can’t go with what you like or feel or your gut.

You gotta test it!

One last quote from David to drive this puppy home… “The most important word in the vocabulary of advertising is TEST. If you pretest your product with consumers, and pretest your advertising, you will do well in the marketplace.”

Daily it seems….

I get some variation of this question…

“How do you come up with ideas to email every day?”

Hot Showers & Cold Chairlifts.. that’s how.

I’m serious. I have no problem coming up with ideas for stories to combine with my marketing.

The ideas are all around you and me.

The fact is, I have about 200 ideas started in my Evernote. And I actually came up with 3 more just this morning.

I woke up. Took Pearl “The French bulldog” out to do her chores. Came back in and took a hot shower. 2 ideas right there.

Then I started packing… the only sound was the coffee maker bubbling and sputtering.

And BAM! Another idea. Let me just add that sucka to Evernote.

The challenge, for me at least, is NOT ideas. Ideas are all around.

Inspiration is waiting to be seized.

The real challenge is finding the silence to allow the idea to show up.

An idea is just a whisper. It’s quiet and soft. It’s behind you. It’s in the next room.

It’s not shouting at you.

An idea is unsure and uncertain. It might be a bit insecure. It’s not going to shout “Pay Attention To Me!”.

It’s confiding an intimate secret with you. It doesn’t want anyone to hear but you.

To make sure I can hear these confidential murmurs… I need to escape the noise.

The noise of TV, of social networks, of crowds, of debates, of the internet.

A hot shower does that for me.

And… a cold lonely chairlift climbing the mountain for a snowboard run.

That’s how I let my ideas find me.

As one my favorite bands, Billy Pilgrim says, “I do my best thinking when I’m by myself. I do my best drinking when I’m with someone else.”

You probably shouldn’t listen to Marketing And Productivity Radio, because we can be quite silly on the show.

I don’t think I let you know about the new show last week so I’ll include that link in here today also…

Don’t forget, these shows are in iTunes. So you can listen on your iPhone, iPod, iPad, iTouch, mobile device, etc.

If you like to listen that way, go to iTunes, do a search for Marketing and Productivity, look for a big green M.

—— Episode 7 —— 

http://marketingandproductivityradio.com/episode-7-creepy-referral-marketing/

In this show we talk about…

• Creepy referral marketing that gets you leads from Facebook
• How to increase your IQ
• Who wins in a fight: Facevook vs Email marketing
• What Joe Stumpf says about consistency
• Why you should be more like 50 Cent
• A secret way to get more mileage from your content
• Why you should create more content and skip social media

http://marketingandproductivityradio.com/episode-7-creepy-referral-marketing/

——- Episode 8 ——-

This is the newest show, this weeks show…

We get really silly in this one… but we have serious discussions about the “future”, creating the world you want to live in, distractions, mindset and money…

I even explain the problem of “Thinking Big”. “Thinking Big” can cause you big problems.

Take a listen below….

http://marketingandproductivityradio.com/episode-8-developing-the-millionaire-mindset/

Let me put my coach hat on for a second here…

A couple weeks ago, I told you to go for a walk and listen to the show…

One of my coaching clients told me she did exactly that. Well, not exactly. She went for a bike ride.

Nothing wrong with gettin’ a bit of physical activity while listening to the show.

Stay Productive | Keep Focused | Be Consistent
– Darin “Just Call Me Beaker” Persinger

P.S. >> Did you leave a review on iTunes?
I’d appreciate that if you did.

P.S. #2 >> Did you go for a walk or bike ride while listening to the show?
If so, send me a tweet @darinpersinger and let me know….

He’s not an archaeologist or PhD of any kind.

No formal education beyond the age of 14.

He’s just a guy that likes to dig around in caves and go spelunking on the weekends.

One of these weekends, Jean-Marie and a couple of friends went digging around inside a cave in southern France. They discovered a crack in a wall with a constant flow of air of sneaking through. They picked at the crack to open a narrow hole. As they clawed and crawled through the opening, it exposed a drop below them.

They lowered a rope ladder and lowered themselves 30 feet to the cave floor.

Jean-Marie Chauvet and his friends started to investigate their new surroundings. Shining their flashlights, the beams of light found walls. On the walls, they found…

As Chauvet remembers, ”I kept thinking, ‘We’re dreaming. We’re dreaming.”

What they found was the oldest cave drawings in existence.

Over 80 radiocarbon dates have been taken, with samples from torch marks and from the paintings themselves, as well as from animal bones and charcoal found on the cave floor. The radiocarbon dates from these samples suggest that there were two periods of creation in Chauvet: 35,000 years ago and 30,000 years ago. – source wikipedia

Hundreds and hundreds of animal paintings have been identified inside the cave, with at least 13 different species. (Think of it like a giant full sleeve tattoo. It’s hard to tell how many drawings exist, as they flow from one in to another).

Horses, cattle, reindeer, cave lions, panthers, bears, owls, cave hyenas and rhinos. Animals that have not been pictured in any other type of cave art.

What is truly fascinating about these cave drawings is the detail… the structure… and style of drawings.

There is 3-D quality to the drawings, especially when a source of light, aka fire, is in flickering in the cave. The drawings seem to have movement and tell a story.

These 30,000 year old cave drawings are trying to teach you something about your content creation and marketing.

It doesn’t matter if you are writing a blog, doing video, podcast, pictures, ppc, email marketing, postcards, etc…

These drawings tell a story…

The drawings aren’t a “How To… In 7 Steps”. It’s a story.

All ancient drawings tell a story.

It doesn’t matter if it’s cave drawings in the South of France…. Egypt hieroglyphics inside a pyramid… Or Mayan art on stone, stucco or wood.

There is a story.

There is no “7 Steps to Killing a Woolly Mammoth” cave drawing.

There is no “How To Build More Fires, More Quickly” cave drawing.

There is a story.

You are hardwired… it’s in your DNA to listen to stories.

You are programed to be a storyteller.

To increase the effectiveness of your marketing and content creation… tell more stories.

Getting focused is not the answer. It's a generic response people say when they don't really know that they should be "focused" on. To find out what you should be focused on visit http://phocuscoaching.com

It was given to me at a basketball camp.

The advice was about focus and concentration and it had to do with me missing free throws.

But that advice still sticks with me today and still applies to my every day activities in my business.

Watch the video… and find out what my childhood basketball hero taught me about getting focused and concentrating harder.

Getting more focused… or concentrating harder is not the answer.

Well, I mean it’s an answer, but it’s not a very good answer. It’s a generic answer.

What should you be focused on?

What should you be concentrating on?

If you are not 100% sure, you might need PHOCUS Coaching…

If I was you, I would go for walk (The sun is out in the PNW, so that’s what I’m going to do)… and listen to show by downloading this on to your chosen MP3 player or
just listen to the audio off the website on your phone…

http://marketingandproductivityradio.com/

In this episode…

• The best ways to use facebook for business development
• The best social network to focus on first
• Is Jonathan a fan of Pandora or Spotify
• 2 things you should look for in picking out a IDX
• Learn why Jonathan is doing less “stuff” but making more $$$
• Get the scoop on my issue with the celebration ADD Culture we’ve become

http://marketingandproductivityradio.com/

P.S. >> Check out the review Susan H. in Corvallis, OR says about Marketing and Productivity Radio Show…

“Super Awesome–listen twice!”

“Darin and Jonathan consistenly deliver the insight needed to keep your work less cluttered and more impactufl, long before this podcast. To have it now delivered in this format is even better. Thanks for helping plant the seeds to help my business grow!”

You should leave a nice comment and review inside iTunes also and you will be as cool as Susan H.!!!

Thanks Susan H.!!!

No you don’t. There is no such problem as too many real estate leads.

It doesn’t exist. Just like Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny or a good Ben Affleck movie.

After an event that I spoke at the other week, my father was relaying to me a conversation he had with an agent…

“How’s business?” my father asked.

“I have too many leads right now. I have more leads than I can handle. The last thing I need is more leads!” was her response.

“Oh… fantastic… so how’s that working out for you?” my dad followed up with.

“Well, nothing is closing. Buyers aren’t writing offers. People aren’t calling me back.”

“So do you want some help with that?”

“No… that last thing I need is more leads. I’m already too busy.”

So there you have it!

Luckily this conversation was not with me… I’m not sure what I would have said or hopefully I would have just said nothing, turned and walked away.

She is too busy to make money and close transactions.

The problem is, I hear this a crazy amount of times per week, just with variations on the language.

I don’t know if people are…. how do I find kind words… delusional or just misguided.

If you are not making a professional level of profit, there is something wrong in your business. Period.

As I’ve said in the past,

“You should be generating more leads than you can handle. If you can create this problem in your business… If you can create the problem of more leads than you can handle, you will have a lot less problems in your business.”

At no point and time, should you ever step on the brake, shut down the funnel, turn off the machine… whatever other metaphor we can come up with here… of lead generation.

Are there other segments of your business to work on?

ABSOLUTELY!!!

There are 4 Core Areas of your business, that I’ve identified that I go over with my 1 to 1 clients and members of Levels Coaching.

And all 4 need to be rocking… or you’re in trouble.

And from the sound of it, the “I have too many leads lady” only has 1 area of her business working, the Lead Generation Area.

And guess what she wanted to do with the 1 area of her business that was working?

She wanted to shut it down!

YIKERS!!!

Don’t shut down the lead generation, marketing segment of your business, ever. Never. Ever. Never. Ever. Ever.

And go to work on making sure the other Focus Areas are tip, top, tight, locked and loaded.

If you want to know what those other 3 Focus Areas are…

You can get access to them when you sign up for the Levels Coaching Biz Dev Model Video and PDF Blueprint.

Click the link that reflects where you are in biz right…

• If you are doing less than 12 transactions a year clicky here
• If you are doing 12-24 transactions a year put your mouse arrow here and click
• If you are doing 24-36 transactions a year if you dare click on this link

Stay Productive | Keep Focused | Be Consistent
– Darin “I want more leads” Persinger

P.S. Seriously… There is no such thing as a “Too Many Leads Problem”.

When you starting thinking like that, talking like that… the universe will listen and stop sending you leads.

You might have a “I have too many unmotivated leads” problem.

You might have a “I don’t know how to convert all these leads” problem.

You might have a “I have too many leads that don’t qualify for a mortgage” problem.

You might have a “All my leads are mean and grumpy and I hate working with them” problem.

You might have a “None of my leads listen to my advice and wisdom” problem.

You might have a “All my leads want me to show them a home at the drop of hat” problem.

You might have a “All my leads are completely unrealistic about the value of a home” problem.

You might have “My systems and time management skills suck and I can’t manage all my leads” probem.

But I promise you… there is no such thing as a ” I have too many leads” problem.

Click the link that reflects where you are in biz right…

• If you are doing less than 12 transactions a year clicky here
• If you are doing 12-24 transactions a year put your mouse arrow here and click
• If you are doing 24-36 transactions a year if you dare click on this link

There is now more student loan debt than auto loan debt.

There is more than a trillion dollars of student loan debt floating around out there.

Do you think someone that is so far in debt is going to actually buy a home right now?

Do you think they will qualify for a mortgage, that they will have the debt to income ratio…

And yet… I see gooroo’s and EX-perts doing webinar trainings and blog posts about using Facebook ads to target “college graduates”.

Cool tool, that facebook ad targeting thingy… but wrong market in my opinion.

I would be going 180 degrees in the other direction… I would be targeting the first time home buyer that doesn’t have the college degree, that doesn’t have a trillion dollars of debt.

But that’s just me. I tend to go the other direction of whatever any body else is doing other there.

And guess what? It seems to work for Members of the real estate coaching program  Levels Coaching….

Listen to a recording of a Live Coaching Call we did last week…

There is no optin… you don’t have to sign up…

just click there to listen –> Real Estate Coaching Live Call

Stay Productive | Keep Focused | Be Consistent
– Darin Persinger

P.S. >> Be cautious of the the “technicians” that are good with the tactics and tools, but don’t really understand the importance of defining the right target and crafting the right message.

Just because someone can swing a hammer and hit a nail, doesn’t mean you should hire them to be the architect of your dream home.

What you will hear in this live call…

Wins & Successes Agents Share On The Call…

• 30 leads generated in the last week
• websites are converting 23% of traffic to leads
• 2 closings, 3 offers in last 5 days for one agent
• 40 leads generated in last week
• showings to 6 different clients
• 2 under contracts
• took listing, another listing appointment scheduled
• picked up 3 new buyers
• 20 leads generated in last week

You will also learn….

• what to do when your website/landing page is converting well
• what the the 50% –  18 month rule is
• the importance of thinking bigger, not just thinking big
• the car pool lane metaphor and how it impacts your world
• 2 questions to ask yourself to gain clarity in your business and world
• 10 questions that you need to answer to know exactly where you are at in your business

Listen to the live call below and then sign up to get access to the FREE Business Development Model below….

Get Access To The FREE Business Development Model….

If You Are Doing Less Than 12 Transactions A Year — CLICK HERE

If You Are Doing 12 – 24 Transactions A Year —- CLICK HERE

If You Are Doing 24 – 36 Transactions A Year —- CLICK HERE

They shared with the Members of Levels Coaching on to be more effective with their marketing and productivity on Facebook.

Or as Laurie said, “Using Facebook as a tool, not as a toy.” CLICK TO TWEET

One of the tips that Lisa and Laurie gave the Members of Levels Coaching was a Facebook update to share, to start to get engagement.

I wanted to share with you this video.

In this video I go deeper with the idea of what to do with the engagement and conversations you are having on Facebook.