This past weekend I had a booth at a Senior Expo. It was held at a religious institution in our neighborhood. Typically, I would not attend one of these expos and I definitely wouldn’t have a booth.
There are two lessons I want to share with you related to this.
First, What I just said is OK—it's OK not to do certain types of marketing you may be uncomfortable with. Know what your likes and dislikes are. Know what you are good at and what you are not good at. Focus of course on what you like and are good at and the business will follow.
Why? People can instantly sense your enthusiasm level. It’s your passion that they see. If you are just not interested in being somewhere or doing something it will show.
Now back to this particular event. It was the first time this institution was conducting this event and I was participating simply as a favor to a friend. There were about 100 or so people who attended and there were about 30 vendors.
Was it a waste of time? Honestly, there were no new deals to be had from the folks in attendance. This is an affluent area and many don’t have the challenges some less affluent people have.
(Lesson: Know your market and its demographics.)
But here is the bigger story. I met no less than 11 referral sources I would not have typically met nor had an opportunity to speak with elsewhere.
Yes, I could have called and introduced myself to them and marketed to them. But this was so much easier. We were all there as service providers and now had something in common.
When you think about your marketing efforts it may not always be about getting a new deal. Often times you may find some “hidden” benefits as well. Sometimes those hidden benefits are even more important than the obvious ones.
Brian Sacks and Sue Haviland are the co-founders of Reverse Mortgage Success. They have been in the industry for over 25 years and have closed over 5,000 transactions. Sue and Brian originate reverse mortgages each and every day and share their real world experiences with you at
