Grow Your Business Through Collaboration with Peter Buchsbaum
Francesca: Today we are going to talk about collaborating with local businesses. This is reaching out to new people who will be beneficial for your business. I am going to give you a little bit of background on how Peter and I met as an example of collaboration.
One day I received an Instagram message from Peter, and I saw this fabulous bow tie in all of his pictures. He reached out to me and asked me about meeting up for coffee to figure out a way to partner on a video series. We both know that video is truly important to get in front of people and actually be able to communicate as opposed to just posting a picture and a caption.
Peter: I had, I think, posted something you had made a comment as to the content was good, and so I reached out, which did make everybody in my office laugh, too. They're like, "Well, Pete, it's Instagram. You don't really talk to people." I still contend that while it may take video, it also is a phone, right, so you can actually pick the thing up and call people. Your world is bigger than you think it is.
The video has been intriguing for me, because I am finding that the newer generation of buyers today love the video, they do not have to read. They can listen to it while they're in the car, they can do whatever, and they get snippets of information. So we started doing a lot of video, a lot of posting on Instagram, obviously Facebook, and it's, again, a piece of the puzzle. It is not the whole puzzle, just a piece of the puzzle.
One of the thrilling parts about meeting you is that I get to be a mixture of both old and new. That's really what I do think is the fun part for me. So, you are correct. Years ago I went door to door. I went house to house. I started my career in the real estate business, so I was always in people's homes. Now, the best way for me to get into somebody's home is through a video or Facebook Live, for him or her to see whom I am, that I'm a real person.
Francesca: Through collaboration, you are able to pull out each other's strengths. For example, whether you choose to collaborate and do a video, you speak at someone's conference and you're giving value to the other person's audience as well, so I'd like for Peter to tell us a little bit more about one of the collaborations that he's involved with at Schlicher Kratz.
Peter: I have a very good friend who teaches at Schlicher Kratz, and he teaches sales people how to get their license. He puts them through the training program. He has me come in and do a little segment on mortgages, because mortgages are something they have to learn throughout the class. I helped him a little bit in terms of what the reality of a mortgage is, but I also helped him with different ideas on how to build business. We go through a list of different ideas on how they can regenerate without spending a lot of money, because they're new, spending money is not always the easiest thing in the world. So that collaboration has led to a myriad of other collaborations. I do some functions in small companies where we do lunch and learns, and we bring a real estate agent with us. I do series of events with insurance people and their renters, that I introduce real estate agents to. The collaboration is there's multiple collaborations.
I think it's a great opportunity. I get to meet agents that aren't agents yet. I'm spending a lot of time for people that may not pass the test, but if they pass the test, I'm the first mortgage guy they met.
Francesca: When you're a realtor and you're out there with local businesses, you get on Instagram, for example, and you say, "What do I do? I have all these restaurants and schools and people that I have access to that I've never had access like this to before," so pay attention. I want you to add those people on Instagram, and communicate with them. Send them a direct message, because people are on there and they're going to receive it and respond to it.
I work with people who are ready to take that step and break out of their box, reach out to different people, and through this process we're able to connect with local businesses. For example, I had a client host an open house. We connected with these interior designers and florists. At their open house, they had these beautiful presentations. If you're someone who's ever been to an open house, because we all have been to one, often times they're boring. The realtor is sitting in the living room, there's pieces of paper, there might be some snacks and that's it. How about going to an open house where your local florist sets up a presentation, or you have a vision board about how to style your home. This realtor is bringing the guests more value by collaborating with local businesses for their open house. Not only are they helping themselves but they're helping these other businesses because they can say through this realtor, this is how we receive new business. It's smart for us to keep a great relationship with this, because you're collaborating with someone. Yes, it's fun, but you also want that end result, that goal that you're looking to meet with the other person.
