If you are reading this I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that you’ve probably wondered what it really takes to succeed at geographic farming? Am I right? It’s not a simple answer. But one thing I can tell you is that if you don’t become the ambassador for your community, you are drastically reducing your chances of succeeding.
I’ve trained thousands of agents on how to succeed in geographic farming and interviewed hundreds of agents who are crushing it in theirs. One of the biggest things I’ve learned is that the agents who put the community first in their business usually succeed far more than those who don’t. The agents who become ambassadors take market share and make an impact.
So how do you become an ambassador?
It starts with caring. Whether or not you live in the area you farm, when it comes to becoming the ambassador in your area, I like think of it kind of like adopting or fostering your neighbourhood. It may not be “Yours”, but you can take care of it and give back. The key is that It needs to be a two-way street. When you care about something, you can’t just expect to take and not give back. This caring will ultimately lead to people caring about you and your business.
In reality you should start by giving FIRST… Long before you ever expect a return from it. (Not that you can’t get returns quickly… I can definitely teach you how to do that!)
I’ve said it many times, your community cares that you care about them. If you don’t care enough to give back to the community, you are leaving a lot of relationships on the table and a lot of future business. If you are farming at a large scale, they are going to know who you are. They are going to see what you do. So wouldn’t you rather build a business that is clear to the community that you care about them? I know I would.
The great thing is that once you start having success, your business can start to further fund your efforts to give back to your community. I call this rule “Fund your farm from your farm”. It’s like taking seeds from your crop each year to plant your next years crop. Crazy how that works eh?!
What does an ambassador look like?
Now, you may be wondering what it looks like to be an ambassador for your community. You may think you have nothing to offer. You may wonder what kind of an impact you could ACTUALLY have. And many agents, just like you, feel this way.
Lets start with the basics. It’s actually quite simple but it takes a bit of a mindset shift. The best way to become an ambassador is to stop treating your farm like an ATM. Stop thinking of it from a purely transactional standpoint. Once you have this mindset shift, it becomes a lot easier to see opportunities to give back.
And how do you do that you may be asking? Could you get involved in some community events? Maybe you could start your own? What would happen if you started REALLY supporting local businesses? What impact could you have if you started creating content that resonated with the community that actually brought enjoyment, entertainment, education and energy to the community? What if you stopped thinking about just telling people about the homes you list and sell or telling them how great of an agent you are and instead, you provided much more value to them?
Many agents have an issue with this approach, and I don’t blame them. They’ve been taught a certain way and that may be all they know. Or maybe they don’t want to get involved and only are looking for a transactional based business. And if that is what you are after, that’s ok.
But if you REALLY want to take your farm to the next level you must evolve and grow. You can’t do what everyone else is doing or what everyone else has done. That breeds mediocrity. Mediocrity doesn’t breed success and mediocrity doesn’t bring change to the community you serve.
This post isn’t meant to go into specifics of HOW to do that today as I’ll be covering that in later posts but its meant as more of a WHY.
Change your mind set and get into action!
I want you to start to rethink your farm and how you can bring value to it. I want you to change your mindset around your approach (If you haven’t done so already). In the future, when you are making decisions about your marketing and strategies in your farm start with this question. “Is this going to add value to my farm?” That is the first step to becoming the community ambassador.
What are you waiting for? Go get started. Because if you don’t, someone else probably will!
Happy Farming!
Ryan Smith – Founder/Creator
Launch Your Farm
Be sure to check back on our blog and show to get awesome information about geographic farming!
Blog – http://www.LaunchYourFarm.com/Blog
Show – http://launchyourfarm.com/category/interviews
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