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Social Media and Online Marketing

for CRE Professionals

Spring 2013

eCampigns Week 4

Cindy Spivack Cindy Spivack International, Inc

cindy@cindyspivack.com 847-562-0030

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Study Guide eCampaigns

By: Cindy Spivack

Cindy Spivack International, Inc.

“Instead of one-way interruption, web marketing is about delivering useful content at precisely the right

moment when a buyer needs it." -David Meerman Scott-

“Content is King!” -Bill Gates -

Simply put: eCampaigns (email marketing) are a cost-effective way to market. It’s because you can send personalized, targeted, and interest-specific content (messages) to a large number of people. The value goes beyond its low cost, however. ECampaigns and email marketing has certain advantages over other forms of marketing. For example, you can measure the success of the campaign and replies are instant. And in fact, if you keep the design elements and personality consistent over time (this is called branding) each successive message will become more memorable. Consider using an email marketing provider for your campaigns (constantcontact.com, icontact.com, mailchimp.com, zoho.com, and etc…). Examples of emails you can send:

Newsletters Listings Relevant articles Announcements Success stories/case studies

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Q and A’s Tips and How To’s Press releases Open house Invites Business Letters

Best times to send email campaigns: Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday at 10 AM Today, let’s explore eNewsletters as a stategy… The Top 10.5 Reasons to Publish a Company Newsletter Today more then ever businessmen and women are starved for accurate and current information pertaining to their industry. Is seems as if everyone has an opinion and they are all different! For the most part, you can find an opinion to support whatever you’d like. For example, take a look at the Sunday newspaper and you’ll probably read about the commercial real estate market and its continued slide downward. Then on Tuesday there’s an article about the commercial real estate market and its amazing climb upwards. Turbocharge your marketing with a monthly newsletter and watch your sales increase magically. However Consistency is the key – once or twice each month is suggested. Below are 10.5 reasons why: A Newsletter Template that has been tested and deemed ultra successful and the tools you need to get it out

1. People buy from those they know, like, and trust. Publishing a newsletter allows your readers to learn more about you and then decide if they like and trust you enough to do business with you.

2. Industry newsletters provide your prospects and clients with valuable information they will appreciate.

3. It keeps you in front of your prospects on a regular basis. 4. A newsletter allows you to be perceived as an expert and people like to do

business with experts. 5. It you craft it with the goal of adding value to the reader it’s a win-win. 6. It can educate buyers, sellers, landlords and lessees about important

issues in commercial real estate or other business niches you may be involved in.

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7. You can highlight “featured products and services” and make other general announcements.

8. You can make requests for new business (those who learn how to shamelessly promote themselves and their business make more money).

9. It allows you to have a format for keeping your prospects and clients current.

10. It is one of the fastest ways to increase your credibility. E-NEWSLETTER MARKETING POWER

How To Use E-Mail Publishing To Attract Hyatt New Prospects, With Loyal Clients, And Grow Your Way To Success

Introduction As a savvy business owner, you already know that the "fortune is in the follow up." And these days, business owners like you and me have more options than ever when it comes to how we choose to follow up with new leads. We can:

1. Send a quick EMAIL to say "nice to meet you, here's a link to my website, and let me know if you'd like to discuss further, etc." 2. Give them a CALL and try to set up a meeting or initial consultation to find out if it's a good fit. 3. Add them as a friend on FACEBOOK and TWITTER, so they can get to know you and your services/products a little better.

All of the above might feel like a follow up, but if you don't get the RESPONSE you were hoping for, it's easy to dismiss it as a dead end— especially in our instant gratification society. in today's online environment, it's crucial that business owners recognize that a RESPONSE is multi-dimensional. A person isn't ready to buy until they scope out your website, read a few testimonials, find you on Yelp, and check you out on Facebook. And one of the most effective tools out there today that allows you to package ALL of the above into one polished package is... an eNewsletter. Okay, I know what you're thinking. An email newsletter? That's soooo 1999! But follow me for a moment... According to a 2010 study by ExactTarget, 56% of U.S. Internet users interact with brands only via marketing emails, compared to 1.3% who interact only via Twitter and 0.7% by Facebook.

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Pretty astounding, considering all the hype around social media, right? Don't get me wrong, I love using social media to promote my business just as much as the next, but what recent statistics are continuing to tell us is that most people still heavily rely on email marketing to get informed about products, services, promotions, and updates. And business owners are responding... A 2010 StrongMail study found that marketing and business leaders still choose email marketing as the top area of investment growth (65%) in 2011, above social media marketing (57%) and search marketing (41%). Email is still very much a heavy hitter in the online marketing game. So, whether you're just starting, or you've been publishing an eNewsletter for years, the bottom line is: now is NOT the time to pull back on your email marketing efforts. In fact, it's time to start leveraging it in a competitive, savvy way. Why publish an e-Newsletter? An e-Newsletter is similar to sending an e-mail, but an e-Newsletter will provide a variety of information (like a print newsletter), whereas an e-mail might only provide information on a single topic. Before you dive into learning all of the how-to's, it's really important that you understand all the wise and different ways that publishing an e-Newsletter can benefit you and your business. There are literally dozens of ways that having your own e-Newsletter can help your business, but below I've listed my nine top reasons: 1. List building (your #1 steady growth tool!) - Publishing an e-Newsletter allows you to grow a list of potential clients that you can market to again and again. This means no more exhausting, time consuming one to one marketing. Instead you're now marketing one to hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands with each e-Newsletter publication. Okay, you still might want to market one to one to really close the deal with the occasional big client who promises big commissions. But you can see how an e-Newsletter can bring in lots of prospects to you without having to expend a lot of your valuable time and effort. This process has often been referred to as “building your herd”. Once you start doing this with your own e-Newsletter, your business will change. Much of the time previously spent on one to one marketing to collect new clients will be freed up so that now your valuable time can be focused on other important creative, moneymaking aspects of your commercial real estate business.

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Another way you can look at this process is with the well-known marketing model called the funnel. The goal in a marketing funnel is to convert your e-Newsletter subscribers into loyal clients. A funnel is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom and swirling inside the final are all of your services. Your objective is to get as many people into your funnel as possible, so you can repeatedly let them know about all the great services you offer. By the time a person reaches the narrow bottom of the funnel, ideally they are your loyal, lifelong clients who will use you any time they have a real estate service from the simplest to the biggest. 2. Effective promotion (your eNewsletter is typically your prospects’ first point of entry into your marketing funnel). In fact, effective promotion is a natural lead-in from reason number 1 above. It's probably not clear to you that an e-Newsletter is a highly effective way to promote your services. Rather than spending a lot of money on traditional marketing (which often just tells how great you are and boring to the recipient), your E-news letter can actually show your prospects how great you are by sharing your expertise with them. You're giving people a taste of you, and educating them on why they need your service. If you think about it, this makes a lot more sense than traditional advertising. Your e-Newsletter shows your prospects why you're an expert in your niche of the industry, with each and every e-Newsletter, and it does it in a way that is subtle and appealing (unlike traditional advertising, which can be like hitting people over the head). 3. Positions you as an expert When you publish an e-Newsletter you're essentially positioning yourself as an expert. By showcasing your knowledge and skills regularly in your e-Newsletter , you begin to be seen by your readers as an expert in your industry or field. The real key here is how you are seen through the lens of your e-Newsletter . And through that lens you can attract inquiries – lots of them. Also, if you speak to promote your business, or eventually you'd like to add speaking to your credentials, having an e-Newsletter makes landing speaking engagements effortless because your e-Newsletter spreads the word about your expertise for you! Nothing beats passive promotion when media and speaking engagements find you. And you can reap this benefit too when you publish your e-Newsletter and word of your expertise gets around.

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4. Regular contact with prospects and clients (they need 7 to 10 touches before they buy). An e-Newsletter is a perfect way to stay in touch with your clients and prospects on a regular basis. In marketing, there is a “7 to 10 rule” which means that most people will never be ready to buy from you in the first contact. You usually need to touch people at least 7 to 10 times with your marketing message before they'll buy. It's the later contacts that seal the deal. And most of your peers never seem to get past touch one!!! With this important rule in mind, clearly, you need to be in front your prospects all the time. It's not your prospects job to remember you're still alive and in business. So when the time comes that one of your prospects is ready for a service from a commercial real estate professional, you're already right there in front of him or her, and top of mind, so that it's you they hire. Publishing an e-Newsletter keeps you on your prospects radar screen in a way that's not obnoxious. You’re building trust in a relationship with them because as shown in number three above, you're the expert while subtly yet constantly reminding them about you. And the more you touch a reader with your marketing message through your e-Newsletter, the better your chances are to seal the deal and make the sale. 5. Wide exposure (your eNewsletter can be forwarded all over the world!) As I'm sure you know, e-mail can be easily forwarded. It gets around, and that's a good thing where your e-Newsletter is concerned. By publishing via the medium of e-mail, your e-Newsletter allows you to spread the word effortlessly, far and wide, about you and your service. Your prospects and clients spread the word for you! And, you've heard of 6° of separation right? Even if you write just a halfway decent e-Newsletter, your readers will pass it on to friends and colleagues all over the world. Often your e-Newsletter can be passed on to some very important people, within just one or 2°! 6. Means to capture visitors to your website (via your opt-in form) Offering people the opportunity to subscribe to your e-Newsletter is the ideal way to capture the e-mail addresses of your visitor to your website. I cannot stress the importance of this benefit enough; but, naturally this means you have to have a web presence such as a blog or a website that allow you the means to have an opt in.

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Let me give you an example: if I visit your website or blog today, but I'm not ready to hirer from you today, you've already lost me forever when I click away. This is the case with 99% of your first-time visitors. That's right, 99% of your first-time visitors to your website or blog will take a look around and then go away, not having done anything. All visitors to your website are very valuable to you because they are pre-qualified sales leads -- because they took the time to find you and learn about you. If you don't figure out how to capture these people and get them into your funnel you might as well watch hundreds or even thousands of dollars bills fly out of your window. So what you want to do is invite your visitor to receive your free e-Newsletter featuring helpful information and useful tips on the topic of commercial real estate. When they opt into your free e-Newsletter you've now got them in your funnel to market to over and over again, automatically with every issue of the e-Newsletter you sent out. You can clearly see how valuable this benefit of capturing all visitors to your web site or blog is. 7. Fast, easy, and inexpensive to publish An e-Newsletter is cheap and easy to publish, especially when compared with a print newsletter. With an e-Newsletter you don't have to have a fancy design involved unless you want there to be, no printing, and no postage costs. It costs just pennies to put together and publish an e-Newsletter. Plus you get the word out immediately–much faster than with traditional snail mail newsletters. And one more BIG BONUS – it’s really easy to take action – your prospect just has to hit the “reply” button. 8. Good will—the info you provide helps others One of the best reasons for publishing and E-news letter is because it's good for your clients. You’re providing useful, interesting content that is focused on their needs; it benefits them. In essence you're spreading goodwill, especially if your e-Newsletter is a free subscription. And I'm sure you're already realizing, whatever you do that benefits your readers will ultimately benefit you. Take it from me, it really means a lot when you receive authentic, heartfelt feedback that the information you're providing is truly helping others. It feels great. You’ll see what I mean when you start receiving the same kind of wonderful things in feedback from your readers. 9. If you choose to archive your issues, you add value to your website as a

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resource Besides including on your website the option to sign up for your free eNewsletter,

choosing to archive your articles added value to your website as well. When you archive your published articles, you’re providing helpful information not just to your subscribers but anyone who visits your site.

Most people search for the information long before they are ready to buy. As you

archive your e-Newsletter articles, you're creating a valuable resource, not just for your own clients to be able to look up older articles of interest, but for prospective clients too. A prospect who bookmarks your website will likely also refer others to your website, and chances are, many of these people will sign up to receive your free e-Newsletter, and when they do, as was shown above, you've captured them and got them in your marketing funnel.

As a recap, the whole point is to use your e-Newsletter to attract new prospects

and build a relationship with them so that in the long run, you convert them into loyal clients who will use your service. Your e-Newsletter is a promotional tool, part of your marketing strategy.

NOW, MOVING ALONG… Be aware and plan around the bumps in the road Above I covered my top nine reasons that publishing your own e-Newsletter

benefits you and your business. However, before you embark on this exciting new adventure, as with any journey it helps to be aware of any bumps in the road beforehand so you can avoid them. I often refer to this as removing the obstacles.

Oftentimes, I have a client who has the best intentions and starts an e-Newsletter. But too soon runs into potholes and gets stalled by the side of the road because they didn’t see certain big issues coming. Poor planning can throw a monkey wrench into the mix and prevent you from continuous execution. Therefore, be a smart commercial real estate professional, and be enlightened so you can plan your route around any foreseeable issues. Here are the main bumps you need to be aware of:

1. Content. You’ll need to stay on top of having enough content to maintain your e-Newsletter. If you plan to write your own content, you’ll need to store up a backlog content and ideas, and schedule time every week or month to write and prepare your content. Or better yet, use the done for you newsletter that I give you each month and add to that.

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2. Putting it together. Depending on the length of your e-Newsletter you’ll need to schedule about 1 to 2 hours per issue to prep your eNewsletter for publishing. Or better yet, outsource it.

3. Managing your e-mail list. We’ll cover this more later. But you’ll need a

way to add and delete subscribers from your e-mail list.

4. Growing your subscriber base. You’ll need to continually come up with new ways to grow your list. This is a big chunk of marketing focus that contributes towards any commercial real estate professional’s success.

5. Advertising. This is optional for your e-Newsletter, but as your e-mail list

grows, you might want to consider selling ad space in your e-Newsletter. Before you set out to publish an E-news letter, ask yourself how you will manage the following…

• Maintain a regular publication schedule • Provide original content within the timeframe of your publishing schedule • Provide content that speaks to and addresses the needs of your particular

prospects If it seems like a lot, don’t worry. Publishing your own e-Newsletter is actually simple. You just need to know the formula. As we continue, we will address the bumps listed above, but these are challenges to be aware of in terms of time and resources to be investing in to get your e-Newsletter off the ground. I’ve been publishing my newsletter for a long time now. I’ve been through this process and I figured out all the secrets to navigate around the bumps, potholes, and turns and I’ll share all of them with you. If you truly want success then let’s get started planning your e-Newsletter now… This is where the real planning begins. Define Your Goals In general terms, what are you selling? ________________________________________________________________ What are your reasons for wanting to publish an e-Newsletter? List 3 or 4 goals here: ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ From the goals you listed about, choose your MAIN OBJECTIVE: __________

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Describe your ideal reader: ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Describe the top 3 emotional benefits you want your target audience to feel when they read your e-Newsletter: ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Differentiate Your e-Newsletter from the Competition Study your competitors’ e-Newsletters. Sign up for 3 e-Newsletters of competitor companies and study them for two or three months – what do you like, what don’t you like, and why/why not would you forward it to your friends and colleagues? Study at least 3 others that are not competitive (any businesses different from yours) and determine what features you like and dislike about them. How can you make your e-Newsletter stand out from your competitions? ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Aim for Success! Determine your e-Newsletter’s point of view (Who will it be written and sent from? You or a spokesperson from your company?) Title your e-Newsletter (convey what it’s about or what benefit the reader will receive) Apply for an ISSN (Google – getting an ISSN #) List your e-Newsletter with e-zine directories: (Google e-zine directories) Start a website or blog (if you don’t have one already – and make sure you’ve got an opt- in form on every page!) e-Newsletter Content Checklist Create your “Content Outline Template” (in a Word document)—Use it for planning and creating your content for each issue. Write your content and drop it into, or list it in, your issue outline. (Content that does not change, or seldom

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changes—such as “Unsubscribe” info —can be placed in the template so you don’t have to re-create it for every issue. Once you’ve completed your content outline, you’ll be all set to drop your content into your template and publish your e-Newsletter Your outline may contain the following elements: Masthead. Make it crystal clear to your reader who you are and what it is they are looking at when they open your email. Your masthead should include your... • e-Newsletter title (even if it’s already in the subject line of the email) • Name (yours or that of whoever you've chosen for content point of view) • Email address (from which the e-Newsletter is sent) • Web URL (your home page) • Publication date • Volume number and issue number (optional)—The issue number will change with each issue, and the volume number will change annually • Publishing schedule (how often you publish, e.g., “every other Tuesday”) • ISSN number (if you have one) Subscription reminder statement—reminds the reader why they've received your e-Newsletter. Issue Title or Headline—(If you include more than one article, consider using a Table of Contents instead—see next component). Table of Contents (TOC)—If you offer multiple articles or items, list the title of each in a mini table of contents (TOC) at the top. Note from the Editor/Publisher—an introduction and overview of each issue. Main content (tips, articles, etc.)—Limit your content to three articles at most. Subscribe/unsubscribe info—Provide very clear "Unsubscribe" instructions near the bottom of your e-Newsletter for those who want to be removed from your list. You may also want to include "Subscribe" instructions (maybe near the top) in case your e-Newsletter was forwarded to someone who wants to subscribe! Your contact info (usually at the bottom of your e-Newsletter, but you can strategically place some of these items throughout your e-Newsletter, such as in a company promo section)—your e-Newsletter should always include: Your name, Your title, The name of your business, Your phone Your physical mailing address (a MUST per the CAN-SPAM law – always put this at the bottom of, even if you’ve placed this elsewhere)

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• Your email address • Your website URL Copyright notice—optional, but it's advisable to protect your work Other optional e-Newsletter components you might want to consider including are: Personalized greeting—it’s recommended to greet your reader by his or her first name using your email publishing service’s first-name field Subject header line (of the email in which your e-Newsletter will be sent)—Your subject header line should... • Include your e-Newsletter title [ideally in brackets] • Relate to your issue's topic or main article Add-to-whitelist request—ask your reader to add your email address (from which the e-Newsletter is sent) to their whitelist (“safe sender” list) or address book so your e-Newsletter won't end up as spam. Conditional permission to forward your e-Newsletter—Encourage people to "pass on" to interested friends, colleagues, and clients/customers, but with clear instructions that they must keep the entire issue intact and not change it. Audio/video links—insert a link in your publisher's note or content for your readers to hear/see a message from you. A great sales tool!

Sample Newsletter follows…

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SAMPLE NEWSLETTER Subject Line: The Secret to Getting Things Done DONE 4 YOU NEWSLETTER – April 2013 Welcome to Commercial Real Estate GEMS. You are receiving this edition of my eNewsletter because you are involved with commercial real estate as an owner, user, or investor. I trust you will enjoy this issue and get a “gem” or two out of it. Thank you for taking the time to spend a few minutes with me. Feature Article: The Secret to Getting Things Done Resource: Basecamp.com Commercial Real Estate Update: Real Estate Business Prospects for 2013 Personal Note: Insert a Note Announcements: Insert One or Two

“Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.”

-Thomas A. Edison -

The Secret To Getting Things Done

One of the greatest satisfactions in life comes from getting things done and knowing you have done them to the best of your ability. If you are having trouble getting yourself organized, if you want to increase your ability to think, and do things in order of their importance, remember there is only one way: TAKE MORE TIME TO THINK AND DO THINGS IN ORDER OF THEIR IMPORTANCE. Set aside a big chuck of time each week as self-organization time and carefully identify what is important and what needs to get done each week in order to earn commissions. If you can’t identify it, you certainly can’t do it! Then, each morning expand on the day ahead of you by detailing (preferably with pen and paper) exactly what you need to accomplish from the handful of emails, to the calls and even the meeting you have planned for the day. DO NOT SCIMP HERE.

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“Failing to plan is planning to fail”

The secret of staying out of overwhelm and not having enough time lies not in working more hours, but in proper planning the hours you have. The secret to getting things done is so simple that I’m sure you’ve heard it before – break it down into very small easy-to-handle steps, then do one thing at a time. Small tasks can be tackled all at once, one at a time. Big tasks (or tasks that seem big) need to be deconstructed into smaller, achievable steps. Set a timer for 30 or so minutes Do just one thing. Focus. Do it until it is finished. Keep doing this everyday slowly increasing the timer to 60-minutes. Before you know it you’ll be getting more done than you can possibly imagine. Make it a habit and…watch out world… Resource: Basecamp.com Do you find yourself wishing there were one spot where you could keep track of not only your tasks and projects but those of your team members as well? How about keeping track of project discussions, files, and status updates from beginning to end—all in one place. Do you wish you knew exactly what has been done and what remains? Well, now you can. Try www.Basecamp.com – the worlds #1 project management app… Sign up today and get a 60-day free trial! Commercial Real Estate Update: The following article is an excerpt from the newly published report, “Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2103” published by The Urban Land Institute and PWC:

Real Estate Business Prospects for 2013

Real estate continues to meander along a slower-than- normal recovery track, behind a recuperating U.S. economy, dogged by ongoing world economic distress. But for the third-consecutive year, Emerging Trends surveys indicate that U.S. property sectors and markets will register noticeably improved prospects compared with the previous year, and the advances now gather some measure of momentum across virtually the entire country and in all property types. “Decent” though “relatively disappointing” job creation should be enough to coax absorption higher and nudge down vacancy rates in the office, industrial, and retail sectors, helped by “next to no” new supply in commercial markets. Robust demand for apartments holds up despite ramped-up new construction, and even the decimated housing sector “turns the corner” in most regions.

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Improving fundamentals eventually should prod rents and net operating incomes onto firmer upward trajectories, building confidence about sustained—albeit tame—growth and buttressing recent appreciation.

Although these gains seem modest and out of step with recent boom/bust cycles, restrained progress ultimately fits real estate’s income-oriented profile. Even though “it’s easy to be cynical: everybody seems to want what they can’t have” (“rent spikes,” “high yields with safety,” and “fully leased buildings”), interviewees seem to come to terms with the market’s “muddling-along pace,” expressing “cautious optimism” while abandoning hopes for “a big bounce.” Real estate’s “make-things-happen” entrepreneurs will stay “frustrated” and hamstrung in creating value—“the IRR [internal rate of return] model isn’t what it used to be”—but buying, holding, managing, and bumping up property revenues usually wins the real estate game. What’s that story about tortoises and hares? “We’re the dull sister of the investment world; earning a 5 percent to 7 per- cent return is what we do best.”

Lingering doubters need to ease up just a bit: the world’s problems “actually benefit [U.S.] real estate, even though we don’t deserve it.” Low interest rates give the real estate industry breathing space, and money “pours in from overseas” seeking refuge. Real estate assets, meanwhile, continue to command attractive spreads over fixed-income investments and offer considerably more stability than stocks.

Still, caution reasonably should rule decision making, given significantly greater potential for economic skids than any chance for an accelerating property market rebound. And chastened credit markets, still grappling with bloated portfolios of legacy problems, wisely and necessarily stick to reinstituted, rigorous underwriting standards. Although anxious investors feel more compelled “to chase yield” as core properties in the gateway markets reach for gulp-hard price points, “there’s no premium for taking risk” when Europe bounces from crisis to crisis, China ebbs into an export slowdown, and the United States delays in dealing with its own debt conundrum. In con- sidering solutions, worrying about what will happen “is perfectly appropriate.” The “uncertainty” about global economics and government policy is “the industry’s biggest issue, because weare so capital intensive, and it’s totally out of anyone’s control.” All the improving signs can appear “offset by the unknown,” weighing down sentiment.

This uncertainty may inhibit “exciting big-ticket projects” and constrict enthusiasm over scaled-down profitability compared with the pre-crash days, but the industry still can find plenty of roll-up-your-sleeves enterprises to bolster recently capital- starved properties and ensure enhanced future performance, including renovation, rehabilitation, repositioning, releasing, and refinancing. Successful players “continue to adapt”: what worked last year may not work next year. Tenants continue to shrink space requirements to improve efficiency, relying on technology rather than extra square feet. Office landlords should consider embracing flexible design features, green technologies, and Leadership in

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Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) systems or face the consequences. Obsolescent suburban office space now follows nearby left-for-dead regional malls into value-loss oblivion: many of these properties will be converted into something else over coming decades. Surviving shopping centers appear ripe for reinvention to integrate better with e-commerce and logistics supply chains, which continue their headlong transformation to accommodate less storage and more direct shipping to end users.

Promising signs of green shoots in desiccated and oversupplied housing markets should not tempt homebuilders into new projects too soon. But the potential for some measure of new housing construction over the next two to three years is real and would be a welcome boost for the economy and other real estate sectors.

Indeed, industry players must not lose sight of recent progress while steeling themselves for an ambiguous future, requiring new visions and tamped-down expectations. “We need patience.” Liquidity returns, but deleveraging takes much longer than expected, and weighty global problems will be a persistent drag. The world debt crisis took decades to create, the housing bubble followed 15 years of unimpeded growth, and the commercial real estate collapse derived from years of easy credit.

“It’s only reasonable [a full-blown] recovery will take more time”—a process less than firmly anchored in all that confounding uncertainty.

PERSONAL NOTE: Please insert a note from you. Be sure to make it personal - about you, your business, or your personal life. For example, if you just finished an unusual deal or took a great vacation, if you have a funny story about one of your children, a hobby or even about a particular struggle you are currently experiencing (people really like this one) – write about it. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Insert an announcement or two this month – have fun with it. How about a great listing you have or a request for a referral. PUT A STRONG CALL OF ACTION.

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