Knowing Isn’t Doing, Rod Santomassimo’s new book, is a “must read’ for any entrepreneur or business owner. In early 2020, before anyone had heard of COVID-19, I was searching for answers. My business was flat, my pipeline unpredictable, and I was just spinning around on the hamster wheel.
After 40 years in the commercial real estate business, I was at a loss for answers. Every day I would pray for God to "direct my paths" [Prov 3:5-6] and I waited for a response. In March I received a note from my friend Rod Santomassimo about a pre release of his new book that was available in limited copies. I have known Rod for nearly 14 years and have read his other material, so I knew the book would be great. I went online and ordered the book and got one of the first copies.
Once I started reading Knowing Isn't Doing, I was certain the answers to my prayers were right there in my hands. I couldn't put it down. My wife, Gayle, could tell I was suddenly supercharged with new energy, and a passion for my business. As I processed my way through the book, actually more like a course in how to start, organize, and run a successful business, I decided to write out my new plans.
I went to the garage and pulled out a roll of white Tyvek paper and laid it out on the granite kitchen counter top. This got some looks from my wife like "what in the world are you doing?" Overall, I now have 18 linear feet of Sharpie covered Tyvek with detailed, actionable plans. If you have ever read any of Tony Robbins early material, you will remember on his trip in Russia he wrote out extremely detailed life plans on the back of a map.
Here are a few things I've done since reading Knowing Isn't Doing:
CLEARLY DEFINED MY 4 IDEAL CLIENT TYPES [AVATARS]
I carefully thought about the question - who is my IDEAL CLIENT? For me this turned out to be 4 client types [Avatars as Rod calls them]. Generally for me, these are buyers, sellers, landlords, and tenants. I named them Buyer Broker, Don’t Leave Money on the Table, 3 Rings, and Rubik’s Cube respectively. Then, I dug a little deeper on each one. For example, for Don’t Leave Money on the Table, I created a very specific profile. My ideal seller client has owned their office, flex, or retail property for more than 5 years. Their properties are worth between $5 million to $15 million. Any owner of property worth more is probably going to list with the “big boys”. If they recently bought it, they are not likely to sell. I did this for each of my 4 Avatars - in writing.
BUILT A BRAND NEW WEBSITE
I decided that our website was 2 dimensional, out of date, and not driving any business to our company. We hired Belt Creative to design a completely new website that integrated with our new CRM - Active Campaign. Our new website, launched September 18th, includes blog posts, testimonials, integration with our CRM [Active Campaign] and lightning fast access to our listings.
COMPLETED THE MASSIMO MATRIX
One of the coolest parts of Rod’s new book K.I.D. is a content building tool called the “Massimo Matrix”. This is a grid, or matrix, where you identify the key concerns of your ideal clients down the side and the various client roles across the top. At the intersection of each is an issue, problem, or concern that you need to address to create compelling client relationships. These intersections are also the place where you write content for each of these issues, concerns, or problems and how you will solve them for your clients. Our company has 4 Avatars, in 2 markets. Each Massimo Matrix had about 30 blocks. So, that is 4 x 2 x 30 or 240 messaging pieces that I wrote for my blog posts, brochures, social media posts and printed materials. I carefully, and thoughtfully, wrote one for each.
CREATED CONTENT PIECES AND LEAD MAGNETS
As I just noted, I wrote more than 240 content pieces to share with my 4 client types. Together with our graphic designer, Kamila Buscavage, we developed, designed, and produced 4 lead magnets to share with my clients via email, our website, and social media. This sets the stage so that by the time I talk to them, or meet with them, they understand our value proposition.
ACQUIRED A NEW CRM WITH SALES FUNNEL CAPABILITY
During my 40 year career I have used several CRM applications for commercial real estate. The best ever was RealHound. But that wouldn’t work with our new platform. We acquired Active Campaign, integrated with Lead Pages, and tied it in to our new website. I have written messaging pieces for our nurturing campaigns for each of our 4 Avatars in both markets. So if you are a tenant rep prospect in Florida you will get a different set of emails than if you are in Virginia. Once again, if you do the math - 4 Avatars x 2 markets = 8 different messaging pieces.
CONNECTING WITH AVATARS VIA EMAIL, SOCIAL MEDIA, DIRECT MAIL
Our messaging materials will be emailed to the members of the Chamber of Commerce in both markets. Belt Creative built a unique landing page for each Chamber of Commerce that will direct people into our sales funnel depending on the type and location of each respondent. We designed social media pieces unique to each market for Face Book and LinkedIn. And we created social media posts and postcards with unique QR codes for each Avatar in each market (8 total). The lists for these postcards were created in CoStar using specific filtering profiles for each type in each market. And of course, anyone can dive right into one of our sales funnels by pressing a yellow button and typing in their email address. This simplifies and automates the process so I can do more productive things with my time.
CREATED HIGHLY FILTERED SPECIFIC TARGET LISTS FOR EACH AVATAR
For example - I ran a highly filtered sort on CoStar of my ideal client for “Don’t Leave Money on the Table". This only included owners of retail, flex, & office properties, purchased 5 years ago or more, valued at $12 million to $15 million, in both geographic markets. This yielded a list of 298 results. Some of these were multiple condos at the same project. The end result is a prospect list for me to call of about 150 properties.
Thanks to Knowing Isn't Doing, our company has a specific, detailed plan, with a new marketing platform, that supports our mission to our clients, so we can deliver great service, and valuable information, at lightning speed. Knowing Isn’t Doing is way more than a book, it is literally a treasure map. It is a guide and blue print for anyone who wants to start, or restart, a business. It is one of the few books I have read where the author gives you specific, actionable plans, to get the results you want and develop margin in your life, so you can enjoy the fun stuff.
