Listen to the Radio Ad from StarFM!!!
Sunday, June 23rd, 2013 from 11am to 4:30pm
Come on and see the awesome cars, hear the great music, and come by and visit us at the Sutton Tent!!
This post is not about Real Estate, although my Real Estate company, Sutton Group-Showplace Realty Ltd. is embracing a new program to benefit local businesses, charities and non-profits and the customers. We are excited about the things that this program can accomplish. Go to http://www.iswirl.ca to learn more. If you want a card. Its free. Give me a call or an email and I will get one to you. I am the Vice President of the Chilliwack Downtown BIA and the Chairman of the Marketing Committee. This is my first draft of the Year in Review that I am reporting to the members of the BIA…. I thought that I would share the struggles and the triumphs with you….
BIA Marketing Committee – Year in Review
Well 2012-2013 was an interesting year indeed. We continued to promote our GETMOR program and use social media and newspaper and radio to reinforce that message. We had numerous discussions and brain storm sessions about the message that needs to go out to the people of Chilliwack about the Downtown. Let’s face it. The Paramount Building being torn down, was big in the news; the Bank of Montreal chose to leave us; making it very difficult for a very prominent part of our downtown to seem vibrant. We had “Pink building issues. “It’s the Right Place to Be” was becoming a non-truth, well visually, anyway. It didn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel right.
All Downtowns go through this. Study them. Check them out. I invite you to. We are in a transition stage where it becomes the most painful. But I Believe we are going to experience a sunrise soon. It is coming.
Don’t get me wrong. Let me explain. The Downtown area is wonderful and there are a lot of great businesses. There is so much potential. Strides have been made. We have come a long way.
We adjusted how the events occurred so that they would truly benefit the downtown businesses and actually get people walking through the doors. The whole board spent a lot of time thinking about how to truly benefit the businesses in every venture that we put energies into. We brought in some marketing specialists from StarFM and brainstormed some more. We didn’t reach a conclusion there either. The answers were just beyond our fingertips.
Our website is full of great information and it is easy to navigate. We had a few businesses move into other areas of the downtown and experience more success. That was good for them but what does that say? There has definitely been a shuffle. Mill Street is slated for some development and we had numerous meetings concerning that. This is exciting and scary at the same time for some people. I think that it is great. The City is stepping up and spending over $½ million dollars into our downtown. Super. Has any one of those businesses that are affected by that thought about how to wrap some marketing around that or are they focussed on the fact that it might be hard for someone to get to their business for 60 days? Can it be positioned as a positive? Is it up to us? Should the marketing committee focus on that? or would we be criticized for focussing on a small part of downtown and not the other parts of downtown?
We revisited our Strategic Plan. We are on track with every single thing that is in our control. However, there are a number of things that are not in our control and that is frustrating for all of us.
However….remember this quote from, Anthony J. D’Angelo “if you have time to whine and complain about something then you have time to do something about it”…..well let’s figure that out.
I found myself struggling this year with the Marketing Committee as I was not sure how to honestly put across a message that was compelling enough. I was not sure how to position the downtown in the minds of the public. This weighed heavily on my mind. We struggled in our marketing meetings. So we defaulted to the basics and took care of the details and carried on. This report for this year is about struggle. It is about deep thought. It is about discovery.
Bear with me….
I then had a meeting with Kevin and his marketing person from the Hawk FM. We had a 45 minute meeting that really turned the lights on.
THANK YOU.
That was it! What if we were known in the downtown as the Downtown that says “Thank you”. A simple Thank you.
What if all of our media simply reinforced the idea of being Thankful. This is a law. A simple truth. I believe this with all of my heart and soul. Be Thankful first. Always be thankful. Count your blessings. You really don’t deserve to have more unless you are thankful for what you got. True? Yes. It is true. What can be the follow up to the words Thank you?
- Thank you for supporting my family.
- Thank you for supporting local businesses
- Thank you for being a downtown shopper
Thank you….we are people just like you. Just making a living. We have families just like you. We coach soccer teams. We go to the same Church as you. My kids are on your kid’s volleyball team. We are normal people. You are supporting your neighbors when you shop downtown.
Ask yourself something. Would we even need a marketing committee or a budget if all the businesses spoke the same language? If the feeling was the same in all businesses. If people left your business and felt compelled to come back because of their positive experience. Experience and Emotion far outweigh money or discounts.
Imagine……if every single business in the Chilliwack Downtown BIA committed to a consistent message in every single thing that they did. I mean everything. Newspaper ads, Radio, Signage, Brochures, Social Media, Websites, Emails, Newsletters, etc., and through management and staff at the point of sale. Imagine if everyone spoke the same message:
THANK YOU FOR BEING A DOWNTOWN SHOPPER. (And then a simple smile.) J
What if there was a picture in the window of every business of the owner of the business and his family. With a speech bubble that said those words?
And then….add to that…What if there was actually a way to say thank you that actually had monetary value? But only when a transaction occurred. What if people were seeking out your business because it was positioned to do that in a very affordable way but the accumulation of that with all of your neighboring businesses amounted to a big thank you? And what if your customers start telling people about it. What if other organizations began to frequent your business simply because of your new cause….to say Thank you! What if. And what if it didn’t cost you a dime until the customer paid you money. And instead of discounting all the time and offering “deals”….you get full retail and write off the gift as a marketing expense. And the gift was calculated based on a minimum purchase amount. Making it workable for your businesses numbers and ensuring profitability. This approach turns marketing on its heels. Before it was pay first TO advertise discounts and then give the customer a discount when they come through the door. Pay money to advertise to give more money away. This is actually normal. And we all accept it. I refer to it as the “Pay and Pray” method. WHAT IF…. The marketing machine drives new people to your business and engages your existing customer base to come back to the area more often because of the rewards they receive. Say hello to http://www.iswirl.ca The GETMOR program was great but this program adds so many other reasons for people to come to your business. This was the answer. We could have incorporated the GETMOR message with the Thank you message but this is so much more compelling and it is proven….Money is being generated right now for downtown businesses, the BIA and for Charities. It is working. The customers love it. The businesses that are already on board are seeing increases in their sales….and guess what……it is totally measurable. We can measure the success on a daily, weekly, even hourly basis!!
I will have stats for you at the AGM in June. The answer is here. I encourage you to embrace it. We now have something to market. To shout about. To get excited about….We were on the right track with GETMOR and this is just a spring board to that program.
This is truly a win (Customer)-win(Charity or non-profit) –win(Business)-win(iswirl) – win(BIA) program. Everybody truly wins and it only happens when the transactions occur. Is that ok? I should think so.
And it came right after the idea of simply being Thankful. Simply that. Thank you. Thank you for being an awesome business owner.
Kelly Johnston
Chairman of the Chilliwack Downtown BIA Marketing Committee
Vice President of the Chilliwack Downtown BIA
These are just a few easy things that are simple and should be implemented immediately. Anybody can do these things. I am introducing my Club 100 classes more than anything in this video. Realtor Training is so important and if your office is not doing any real proper applicable and valuable training then you need to look for an office that does. I do not charge for my training at my office. My philiosophy is that if I can educate and motivate and elevate then my REALTORS will do more deals. I get my compensation off of deal fees….Do more deals and we all win together. That is truly win-win in my opinion. All REALTORs are always invited to attend my sessions. Even if you belong to another office, that is ok. You are always welcome at Sutton. Check out my BLOG site as well http://www.suttonlysuccessful.com.
Hey Everyone. Sometimes you need to laugh at yourself. I made a video recently that I hope people will want to share with others for a laugh but truly does show the kind of office that I am building. We really have a great office full of awesome people and we are always looking for the right type of person to join our team. If you are serious about building a successful Real Estate Career and are willing to work at constantly improving yourself and your business; if you are committed to making a difference in your community, here in Chilliwack and you are excited about your future and are driven to make it great…then I want to talk to you…http://
This is a FREE Event at Sutton Group Showplace Realty Ltd., for Friday, February 8, 2013 at the Sutton Downtown Business Centre Lobby. Your Business Card is your ticket.
Big Prizes to be won!
Be there at 4:30 and we expect things to go to 6:30 or a little later if we are having fun. Wine, Cheese, Food and other refreshments will be served FREE of charge. Come on over and hang out with us at Sutton and learn about the important elements that you need to incorporate in your website in order to win more business and create more leads and activity on your business website.
Go to http://www.realtyninja.com to learn more about this awesome company!
Call the office to RSVP – 604-793-9900
See you soon,
Kelly Johnston -
Sutton Group Showplace Realty Ltd.
Is made up of other habits. The Right habits. Sometimes we have to replace other “bad habits” with new Good Habits in order to make a transformation in our lives…
Read what John Maxwell has to say:
Robert Ringer, author of Million Dollar Habits, explains it well: “The world is saturated with intelligent, highly educated, extraordinarily skilled people who experience ongoing frustration because of their lack of success. Millions of others spend their lives working hard, long hours only to die broke.… Success is a matter of understanding and religiously practicing specific, simple habits that always lead to success.”
The secret to your success can be found in your daily agenda. Let’s look at five tendencies you need to become a habitual winner.
1. Winners are passionate about what they do.
OK, I’m fudging my definition a little bit. I’m not sure passion is a “habit,” but I have to start there because it’s the cornerstone for everything else. Passion is the fuel and energy of life. It is the catalyst for self-discipline. It puts the fun in working. It’s impossible to succeed without it.
Here’s the common mistake: People look for outside influences to motivate them and fuel their passions. People ask me all the time, “John, who motivates you?” It’s the wrong question. They should ask what motivates me. If you have to wait for someone else to motivate you, you’ll spend a lot of time waiting. What gets you excited? What fires you up so much you have a hard time sleeping? What can you do that uniquely adds value to the world?
So why, then, do so many of us ignore our passions and chase money? Money isn’t a motivator for most people, no matter how often we equate achievement with wealth. I remember taking a job at a church in San Diego. I was there about a week and a half when the comptroller came to me and said, “I’m bothered by something. You don’t know how much money you’re making.” I didn’t know and it didn’t matter. I went to that church because I had a passion for the job, not for the money I’d earn. If your work matches your passion, then it isn’t work at all. I like to say I’m a “workafrolic,” not a workaholic. It’s true—I can hardly distinguish work time from playtime. You can become one, too. If you make money at it, great; if not, then at least you’ve dedicated your life to something meaningful.
2. Winners value the process of winning.
People in the habit of losing overvalue victories and undervalue the process required to win. They want the thrill of the breakthrough, not the toil that comes before it. People in the habit of winning are the opposite: They find value and satisfaction in the preparation process.
Several years ago I led a group of friends and donors on a two-week trip to South and Central America. At the time I was working on my book Talent Is Never Enough. Since I knew I would spend many hours on the plane, I made copies of the outline and asked everyone for his or her input. We discussed what worked, what didn’t, and what could be improved. When we got home, one friend said, “John, we worked for you this entire trip! It was a lot of fun discussing ideas and contributing to your book. But more than that, I learned something important.” “What’s that?” I asked. “You got all the work done because you were prepared. I’m never going on a trip again without having a plan.”
3. Winners focus on their strengths and not their weaknesses.
If you want to be successful, you’ve got to work on your weaknesses, right? Wrong! If you want to develop a habit of winning, you need to cultivate your strengths. Everybody does a lot of things badly, but everyone can be the world’s best at something. The trick is to find that something.
Now, there is one important question you must ask: What weakness is blocking my potential? Focus on the traits you can correct, such as developing a positive attitude, improving self-discipline or acting with more integrity. When it comes to skills, you don’t have much say—you’re naturally good at some things and not others. So focus on your strengths and stop obsessing over your weaknesses. Otherwise, you will be clawing your way up to average. Nobody pays for average. Nobody wins with average.
4. Winners focus on winning on the inside more than the outside.If you want to win, you need to work on the inner you, not the exterior self you show the world. Remember this: If your inner core is weak, your outer self will eventually crumble, too. If it’s strong, that inner fortitude will shine through.
You can start by developing these three attributes:
Trustworthiness: You cannot win without earning the trust of those around you.
Discipline: The greatest competition you’ll ever experience will be between your disciplined and undisciplined minds.
Attitude: Believe you will win and you make it possible to win. Believe you will lose and you make it impossible to win. (Read more about John C. Maxwell’s thoughts on attitude in his piece The ‘Big 5′ Challenges People Face.)
5. Winners persist on their path toward success.
Quit, and you’re guaranteed to lose. Persist, and you’re on your way to finding success. You have to persist on the right path, however. If you refuse to quit that high-salary, low-satisfaction job, well, we’ve already addressed that mistake.
I remember the first time I spoke before an audience. It was 1966 and I was 19 years old. I knew right away that speaking was one of my strengths—I could tell people liked me and there was a good chemistry, but I had a long way to go to become good. So I worked at improving. I withstood my critics. I moved past rejection. I learned from my fumbles and failures. And when I found something that worked, I focused on improving it. How long did it take me to nail the art of public speaking? Ten years!
We seem to love stories of overnight successes, but the truth is there aren’t any. If you want to be a consistent winner, you’ve got to work at it every day. Success comes from developing the habits of winning.
If your business needs help winning, give us a call. We’re here to help!
Kelly Johnston
Sutton Group Showplace Realty Ltd.
“I received this information from Drago Adam of the Adam Advertising Group on Monday January , 2013.”
Value Proposition….it is the most important thing to talk about when promoting your business to anyone. If you are able to provide and communicate the best value proposition then you take yourself out of being a commodity and becoming something of value. However, it cannot be just “words”. It has to be real. EASY comes true. It is easy to get the business once you have taken the time to create the absolute best Value Proposition. Ensuring that your competition is not even close. Ensuring that you make yourself a “no brainer”. The hard part is being creative. The hard part is putting yourself in the shoes of your target market. Giving them what they want. Making it affordable for your business plan, while creating great impact. Making it easier to make a lot of money does not come by accident or happenstance. Do not get complacent. Do not rest until you are fully aware and absolutely certain that you provide the absolute best Value Proposition for your target market. Then you will win every time. And it will be easy.
In order to prove that I lead by example….read the following….ask yourself if I am making it easier for my REALTORs to win in the marketplace….
Our Cottonwood Mall Kiosk – great location and very functional. We are the only office in Chilliwack that has a kiosk in the Mall. In fact, we are the only office in town that actually has two locations….Our Sutton Downtown Business Centre Downtown and our Mall location. We are also the only office that displays all of our listings on TV screens in both locations. We are also the only office that provides a weekly updated catalogue of our clients listings. We are also the only office in town that has leveraged relationships with local business people in order to create win-win bonuses and incentives for our clients, through our amazing VIP Card program.
We are the community Real Estate office here in Chilliwack and no other office can make that claim.
We are also the only office that hosts 2 client appreciation events per year for our clients FOR FREE!. We are the only office that puts together Open House Blitz combo ads and out of town ads to promote our clients listings….We are able to work together for the benefit of everyone and we are able to promote our clients listings to a larger reach of people simply because we understand that working together is more powerful. We are the only office in Chilliwack that is part of our Chilliwack Downtown Business Improvement Association and is active in the events that are available to the people in Chilliwack FOR FREE. We are the only Office in Chilliwack that provides elite Club 100 training for its agents FOR FREE. This is a program that was designed by the owner and created to elevate the REALTOR‘s role in peoples lives. We are the only office that has a Spirit Committee that meets monthly volunteering their time to create great events for the REALTORs, the Community, the Downtown area and for our Clients….they have a budget and they manage that. We are the only Real Estate office that is a major sponsor of the Chilliwack Arts and Cultural Centre with FREE tickets to our clients. We are the only office that give away FREE tickets to the Chilliwack Chiefs Hockey team to our Clients….We are the only Real Estate office ever to win the Chamber of Commerce Award for Development Excellence for our office.
That is 13 “we are the only’s”!!!! We stand out. We work hard to make our office great for the REALTORs and the CLIENTS that they represent.
Seriously….why would you want to deal with any other office other than Sutton Group Showplace Realty Ltd.?
This Value Proposition has been in the works for almost 6 years and now we are here….and we are just going to keep adding to the pile. We offer more to our clients and we do more for our clients to market their homes. It is a fact. Then add to that the fact that Sutton is the largest and most productive Real Estate Company in Western BC and there you have it…no brainer.
I thought that I would simply take the time to put this stuff in writing because it is important….it is the most important.
Make a great Day!
Kelly Johnston
