You do a good job of promoting your business, right? You have a website, place ads in publications that your target market is likely to read and you support your community through key sponsorships.
You have a strong cadre of clients, influencers and prospects because you’re a great networker. So, why do you need to create and maintain a professional profile on LinkedIn?
Is this social networking thing ever going to go away?
It’s not going away, and LinkedIn is a fabulous tool for your business networking. If you utilize only one online network for your business, make it LinkedIn.
But, why?
LinkedIn is the largest professional network in the world, that’s why. Your network is using it, your competitors are using it, your prospective employees are using it, your local media is using it, and you better be using it, lest you fall behind.
Here are the key steps to creating your LinkedIn presence:
Create a strong profile. Tap into your marketing team’s writing skills to create a professional summary of your skills and description of your business. This is an opportunity to promote your business and establish yourself as a thought leader within your business. Use your resume to list your job history, education and highlight industry and community organizations in which you participate. Be prudent in listing any organizations that are personal.
Establish a presence. Once you’ve created a strong profile, begin building connections. Here’s a shortlist of people you need to invite to connect with you: coworkers, former coworkers, everyone in your network, former college friends (again, with prudence). Also, you’ll receive lots of invitations to connect with other professionals. Be sure to connect with them. Avoid “spammy” looking connection requests. They are not in your best interest.
Build and maintain relationships.
Scroll your LinkedIn news feed to stay abreast of your connections’ news. They’ll post when they change jobs, when they receive awards, have articles published, etc. Congratulate them. And, be sure to post your own news. This is an opportunity to grow relationships … relationships that may someday lead to new business.
Help others learn about you and your company. LinkedIn is a terrific recruiting and marketing tool. Encourage your teams to use it.
One additional note: educate yourself on the various security features of your LinkedIn account to mitigate unwanted email, connection requests and various other barriers to your privacy.
Kerr County Abstract & Title Company (Kerr County Abstract) was recently awarded $1000 from Alliant National Title Insurance Company to donate to charity. Kerr County Abstract chose to give back to their community by donating the $1000 to Hill Country Veteran Center.
“Kerr County has a large population of veterans and spouses of veterans,” said Bekah Dunks, escrow assistant for Kerr County Abstract. “They are near and dear to our hearts, and we wanted to give back to them.”
The $1000 award came about through a marketing workshop that Alliant National conducted in Dallas in the Fall of 2017. Bekah Dunks and Caroline Wilson from Kerr County Abstract attended the workshop.
All attendees learned about the “Four R’s for Success.” Nikki to add a description here. Each of the 80 title companies in attendance were challenged to try at least one of the four R’s. Kerr County Abstract accepted the challenge and implemented the following:
Retain Customers – Kerr County Abstract showed appreciation for their existing customers by sending 50 handwritten thank you cards to them.
Revamping – Kerr County Abstract reviewed their existing marketing strategy and revamped it based on marketing tactics learned in Alliant National’s workshop.
Kerr County Abstract & Title Company is the original title company in Kerrville, Texas, having opened in 1924. Since 2001, the company has been owned by Bob and Diane Green. Diane has long been a familiar face at Kerr County Abstract and began her career as the company’s receptionist.
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How do you make it your sole focus to anticipate and take care of their needs? How do you create a base of loyal fans who refer you to everyone they know?
Of course, you do need to display your customer-centric core values prominently on your walls and make those values part of your daily vernacular at work.
You also need to immerse those values into your company culture every day. Make those values come to life in the eyes of all employees.
One way to bring the values to life is by tying them to employee performance within your company. Options for marrying performance to a customer-centric value system include:
Creating a customer survey process and inviting customers to review employees based on a number of metrics (all tied to your customer-centric core values);
Create a “living the values” award and ask employees to vote for their peers;
Develop a “secret shopper” system to periodically test employee responses to typical customer requests;
Build the customer-centric core values into each employee’s annual review rating guide.
Another key means to bring those customer-centric values to life is to lead by example, such as:
Make the values at least a small portion of every single internal meeting in your company;
Follow the customer-centric approach you’ve created—for your external customers and internal customers (aka employees);
Make yourself available and approachable any time an employee has a question related to the core values;
Create a “daily devotional” core value email to hit employee inboxes at the start of each work day;
Communicate best-practice examples when you see other employees “living the values” during their daily jobs;
Offer constructive feedback when you see opportunities for employees to improve on their customer-centric approach.
Additionally, research shows time and time again that employees stay in jobs where they feel connected, valued and engaged in meaningful work.
Breathing life into customer-centric values, along with the tips offered above, offer employees that chance to feel like they belong. Research also shows that happy employees provide the very best customer service.
So, remember that your customer-centric core values statements are just that—words—until you bring them to life with action.
What’s your story? And how do you deepen your story to make it more effective, strategic and competitive? Here are five essential things to look for to deepen your story and make it more compelling:
Your Big Why
Why does your title company exist? Why do you go to work every morning?
Of course, we know you need to make a living, but going deeper than that, what drives you and your company? What is the purpose behind you and the company you lead?
Look for a BIG why (not a small why), something like you believe that home is the most important place on earth or that you believe in homeownership as part of the American Dream.
What you’re trying to do here is demonstrate your sincerity and passion for what you do – and motivate your employees and customers around a unifying cause.
Your Title Company’s Achievements
These have to be highly-valued to be effective. Giving to charity, being in business for 10 years, serving the community, and producing happy customers are not highly valued achievements.
What have you done that is great? Unusual? Look for that.
Your Title Company’s Principles
What matters to you most? What values guide your company’s behaviors?
Pick three and have some wonderful “specific” stories about how your team was influenced by your principles and acted in ways that really helped your clients get ahead.
Your Value Story
Why is your title agency more important, useful and worthwhile to use? What do you offer that other title companies do not? Remember that people assess value on the edges or margins of common offers.
More convenient office locations? 24/7/365 closings anywhere, anytime? Best follow-up? Higher tech? CE classes for REALTORS? E-closings?
Your Reason to Act Now
What bad things could happen to the people who do not use your services? What risks are they taking? What compelling reasons can you give without speaking badly about a specific competitor? Learn to bring these forth.
The competitive reality is that a title company needs to be in continual Story Deepening bringing forth the importance of their products and services, speaking their competitive advantages and superior value to customers and prospects. If you don’t, who will?
Your company has an unlimited supply of stories to share. By incorporating a steady narrative based upon your company’s purpose and guiding principles, you can take advantage of strategic storytelling to gain a competitive edge.