Farming Your Crop Of Clients

When I was working in real estate many years back we used a term called “farming”. If you refer to the term “farming” from Wikipedia:

The term farming covers a wide spectrum of agricultural production work. At one end of this spectrum is the subsistence farmer, who farms a small area with limited resource inputs, and produces only enough food to meet the needs of his/her family.

In real estate we used to be allocated to an area with around 2,000 properties that we would prospect, manage and sell our services to. Being focused on one area I would become the expert and people living in the vicinity would come to me for advice to sell or buy their property. This does not happen overnight and requires a lot of time and effort to “farm” an area, just like a farmer would spend time harvesting his crop. A farmer would spend many hours on the field planting the seeds and making sure the land was fertile and then wait many months before anything would start to happen. The same is true in business and I experienced it first hand when I was working in real estate. It took me almost 6 months before anything happened and I constantly kept marketing and promoting myself in the area using the same proven techniques. I did have doubt over the first few months because nothing was happening and I asked other successful agents for advice, but they kept insisting to stay persistent and focused on the same area.

The result was many sales and referrals. In the beginning I received 4 properties to sell totalling to commissions of about $50,000 for the month. Happening all at once, I didn’t really know what to do and showed I cared and respected them. The later months sales continued to grow and I kept doing what I did – farming the area.

Farming Crops Are Just Actions To A Result

You will find very many similarities with running an Internet business to farming an area in real estate. The key to succeeding in farming your crop of clients is to present a consistent image to your target market. The more they see of you, the branding of your business will stick like glue and they will forever remember you. But to get there you have to take action. It’s not about randomly firing out advertisements and sending out emails to people for the sake of emailing. You have to formulate a strategic plan that will market to your targeted audience and provide value. For example whilst working in real estate, the way I created a brand for myself was to write an article for my weekly letterbox drop. Firstly I gave great real estate information to people in the area and secondly I made sure my face was next to the article so when they read it my face was marketed with the information. Hence when they wanted to sell or buy a property, they would come to me because they started to see me as the expert in the area.

Here’s a three step approach to farming a crop:

1. Work out which is your target market.
2. Formulate which type of marketing would be best to present to them.
3. Take lots of consistent action to market your business.

Consistency Is Key To Farming

I have probably mentioned it many times already in this article, consistency is key. To succeed in your Internet business you need to provide value to your clients and show that your business is constantly available (not you personally, your business). This means constantly marketing and providing valuable content that will generate traffic to your website. Emailing them at least every month with great information and asking for referrals after every transaction. This will ensure your farming efforts will continue to grow with the same amount of work or even less as it gets easier.

Become The Expert

When you have strong rapport with your clients it is easy for you to become the expert in the targeted area. They will come to seek advice and ask for referrals for related areas which you may not cover. This allows you to establish strong links with affiliates or business partners to offer other services and products which you can receive commission as well. It keeps your clients happy and your business will continue to grow.

Farming your crop of clients is a very effective means to grow and sustain a long term business because you establish strong links with clients and also raise your business to become the expert in your industry. If you haven’t decided how to market your business, start growing your farm and take action today.

Tyrone Shum
Business Farmer

Mixing Breakfast With Business

This morning at 7am I went to Chatswood for a business networking breakfast event (and yes it was early for me). I was pleasantly surprised to have breakfast and network with such fantastic and motivated business owners from across the northern part of Sydney. We had a delicious breakfast served at a restaurant called D’Foreigner that provided excellent food and service. Lucy Martin from Juice Plus and a NEIS panel interviewer invited me a couple of weeks ago after my panel interview. I attended as a guest and was very excited to meet other people who were in business as well. 17 people attended the breakfast and everyone had an opportunity to exchange contact information and talk about their business.

What Is the Leads Club?
This breakfast event was not just any ordinary breakfast where business people come along. It was a very organised and systematised approach to helping both members and guests come together to share their businesses and to help each other generate leads. Hence the name the Leads Club.

Over the years I’ve been involved with network marketing and running other people’s businesses and never once have I been invited to an event like this. I’ve attended Toastmasters, local chamber of commerce events and many other networking seminars and this one has been the most effective for me. The first thing that struck me was how smartly organised and upfront they were about this meeting. Graeme Inglis from Smartline, who chaired the meeting today stated at the beginning that “we are here today to talk about our businesses and to provide leads or referrals on to each other“. By saying this at the beginning I felt more comfortable to approach the meeting from a business perspective and be open to share my business without any hesitation, knowing that I will be able to help others and vice versa.

How Can A Leads Club Benefit You?
For me I could see lots of benefits by attending the weekly meetings and becoming part of the club as the service I provide is quite applicable to most businesses. Though, there are some factors to consider and how a club like this may benefit your business:

1. Am I offering a niche product or service that is suitable for local businesses? e.g. I ran a Dragonboat business that sold paddles to Dragonboat club members. Unless you know or are involved in the sport it would be quite challenging to get leads from other local businesses.
2. Can I generate leads faster from other sources? If so, should I still attend?
3. Does this lead generation technique fit into my business plan?

If you are interested in getting more information about the leads club in your local area, visit Leads Club Australia or contact Catherine Lonergan on 0407 899 988 or via email catherine@leadsclubaustralia.com.

Tyrone Shum
Breakfast Marketer