A Guide to Strategic Marketing for Top Producers
Dear Customer: Heat things up this month, and discover how to create your own firestorm of business!

Hot Summer Storms
Storms aren't always a bad thing. Sometimes they're exactly what's needed to quench a dry spell, change your direction or even offer a rainbow of hope.

As entrepreneurs, we all have the capacity to create our own positive career storms. We can whip up a whirlwind of activity to generate new leads, new prospects and new business - or we can sit back and wait for the skies to clear.

The choice is ours. Come on, let's go stir it up, create a little lightning and brighten things
up a bit. Are you in?

Prepare, Prospect & Profit
How to survive the surges of a changing economy
By Julia Escobar, ProspectsPLUS! Director of Corporate Marketing
What goes up must come down. Our current economy is a constant reminder of that adage. Every boom has a bust and, fortunately, every cloud has a silver lining. Your challenge is to be mentally and financially prepared for any market, find the hidden positives, and turn those positives into a profit center.

Entrepreneurs and small-business owners historically fall into three predictable traps on the economic roller coaster. First, they spend when times are good; increased confidence makes them want it all! They buy bigger houses, lease expensive cars, create the corner office shrine to their success, over-expand their businesses and, unfortunately, fail to save for the eventual rainy day.

The second trap occurs when the market slows or normalizes, and business is no longer booming. All of a sudden, as confidence wanes, quick-to-spend entrepreneurs realize the value of saving a dollar. What do they do? They drastically cut back on advertising, marketing, services and expenses. The result is that they become invisible to the buying and selling public and, consequently, find themselves on the slippery slope of fast failure.

What, then, should you do? The opposite of what everyone else is doing! Save during the good times, and spend (wisely) when the going gets tough.

Having a handle on your true expenses is essential in both good times and bad. As entrepreneurs, our first instinct with money tends to lean toward the "I'll just make more" mindset.

It's important to break out the budget
and make smart cuts in expenses, such as renegotiating phone service rates or sharing expenses with industry partners at networking and prospecting events. Then put capital back into the business by paying off debt, improving your income/expense ratios and strengthening your bottom line.

Don't be so quick to cut sales-generating activities such as advertising and promotion when the market tightens. Instead, take an aggressive stance by increasing your prospecting and marketing budgets, and
you'll soon reap the rewards of your
forward momentum.

Businesses that cut back often emerge smaller and weaker when the market recovers. On the other hand, businesses that spend the money to maintain their branding rebound even stronger - often capturing market share lost by those who left the business or are in a perpetual state of quit.

The third pitfall is that many salespeople fail to grasp the concept
of patience. Agents often are looking for a quick fix-immediate gratification for their marketing efforts. They send one postcard or place one ad and expect the phones to ring and their prayers to
be answered.

Consistency, repetitive recognition and the understanding that every marketing effort has a track-able cycle for success is vital to your staying power. After all, it takes at least seven contacts for a prospect to recognize your name and place it with your company and profession. Too bad most salespeople throw in the towel after three. When should you stop promoting and marketing your business? When you retire - and not a day before.

Weathering market changes and economic storms is nothing new. How you handle each storm - whether you are willing to seek out the silver lining and keep your mindset on building that forward momentum - will determine your success and survival. Take your cues from the top producers who continuously keep their eye on the bottom line, are never afraid to do a rain dance and always find themselves high and dry no matter the market conditions.

Would you like to bring effective sales strategies and skill-building techniques to your office? Call Julie at 866-405-3641 or visit ProspectsPLUS! and click on Master Marketing Meeting™ to schedule your FREE workshop today!

And the Winner Is... Jacque Lusk,
Keller Williams Realty
"I just wanted to let you know how much I have enjoyed the MLSmailings.com Just Listed/Just Sold program. When I first started out, I was unable to afford an assistant to help with mailings and follow up. This program allowed me to get my name out there at a very affordable price and save a tremendous amount of time.

I estimate that I get at least one call from each mailing, and have gained both buyers and sellers. I also use several of the brochures in my listing presentation. I just pull them out and leave them with the homeowner. I even got a listing because my client shared it with one of their friends.

I think that out of all the products that you can buy, this program has been one of the most profitable and affordable for me. We lead with revenue at Keller Williams, and this product is a great example of how you can do that."

Jacque will receive 500 FREE postcards, including postage! You could be our next winner! Just e-mail us your testimonial today to be entered in our monthly drawing! Don't delay, act today!

IVR System Makes Implementation Simple
Looking for software setup and assistance information? Call our new prerecorded voice mail at 941.465.4251 today, and select a topic from the menu. You can...

• get assistance on installing your ProspectsPLUS! software
• register your software
• learn about categories & campaigns
• send postcards to us for printing & mailing

Call 24 hours a day! Long-distance charges may apply.

We're Growing!
Our swiftly changing economy has created
a need to expand our team of account executives in specific market areas across
the country. We're looking for self-motivated professionals for both our ProspectsPLUS! team and our Opportunity Knocks team, which
serves a wide range of vertical markets.

If you know anyone who might be interested in an exciting opportunity to bring extraordinary products and services
to the marketplace, expand their skill set to include platform speaking, and work with one of the fastest-growing companies in the industry, then contact our Director of People Strategy, Jonathan Lunsford at 941-465-4249 to learn more.

You also can visit the careers section of our website HERE .

Book Review
Better Than Good
by Zig Ziglar
Master motivator Zig Ziglar brings us a powerful new book steeped in practical and spiritual vision. Zig shares how to throw wide open the doors of what is possible when passion and purpose become part of our goal setting and our lives.

August Master Marketing Tips!
Kick up the heat this month by putting smart marketing to work
for you!

Are You Ready for Some Football? Look to www.postcardsplus.com for our football series - a great way to score big with your prospects! Simply pick your favorite team, and mail today to be first in the door (and on the refrigerator) with the home team schedule!

Home Business Month - Do you have any clients with a home-based business? Get them out of the house with an invitation to breakfast or lunch, or at least send a card letting them know that you admire their entrepreneurial spirit!

Here are a few more dates
to remember when prospecting
this month:
National Air Force Day - Aug. 1
Friendship Day - Aug. 3
National Coast Guard Day - Aug. 4

National Aviation Day - Aug. 19
Make Aviation Day take flight! Order inexpensive toy planes to send to your sphere or local FSBOs with a message that reads, "Soar to Sold! I make sure the marketing of your listing gets OFF THE GROUND!"

For a complete list of this month's calendared events,
View the August Snapshot

Discover Landvoice, an innovative lead-generation tool that finds FSBOs in your marketplace. All ProspectsPLUS! customers receive 33% off during their first quarter of use! Click on the logo above for more details, and start receiving a daily
e-mail that lists every FSBO in your area today!

Do you have your 2007-2008 Master Marketing Schedule™?
This FREE 24-month calendar is
an invaluable guide to keeping
your marketing fresh, innovative
and timely. Request yours today!

Call Julie Escobar at 866.405.3641 or visit ProspectsPLUS! and click on Master Marketing Meeting™
to schedule your FREE Master Marketing Meeting™ today!
Find out more...

ProspectsPLUS! Support Center
Did you know that we now archive all past issues of the Master Marketing Newsletter online?

Simply visit ProspectsPLUS! and click on Featured Articles and Past Newsletters. There you will find a library of helpful articles and ideas.

Brokers and managers, this is an excellent resource when choosing topics for office meetings! Agents often visit this page for fresh ideas on boosting productivity! Bookmark
it today!

How can we help you? In an effort to constantly bring the very best marketing tools and solutions to our customers, we want to hear from you! E-mail Julie with your ideas for new campaigns for today's agents!

Need technical assistance? We can be reached at 800.287.5710
Mon.-Fri. 9:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. Eastern Time. We also now have Spanish-speaking customer
support personnel!

If you have
any technical or implementation questions, we'd be glad to help.

Just give us
a call at
800.287.5710.

Thanks for using ProspectsPLUS!
Contact Us