Wednesday was a twenty three hour day for me. I took the first flight out of Denver to Chicago and the last one of the day back home. It was all part of a effort to speak at the inaugural SPARKt conference, a real estate and social media workshop put on by Kit Mueller in the Windy City.
More and more, speaking about social media is what I do. It’s one reason why I let lenderama’s contributors do most of the posting here recently. I’m a firm believer in the power of social networking tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. They offer tremendous opportunities to grow a sphere of influence, and to do it from the comfort of your own home, at 2:00 AM, in your pajamas.
However, my favorite social network has always been In Real Life (IRL). Maybe this is why I never had any problem calling on real estate agents while I was a loan originator, or on loan originators while I was an wholesale account executive. IRL is where relationships are the strongest. IRL are where faces are matched to voices.
Wednesday, I had the opportunity to meet several online colleagues, and turn them into IRL friends. I was lucky enough to meet fellow lenderama contributor, Peter Thompson. That was a treat in it’s self. I met Hilary Marsh, and spent the better part of the afternoon talking with her about all things NAR Social Media. In addition, it was awesome to reconnect with long time friend Dan Green for coffee in the morning and a cocktail before my flight out.
I bring all of this up because it’s in times of economic downturn and sour weather that it’s easiest to shelve IRL. It’s times like these when we tend to let real world relationships wither, or never make the effort to grown new ones. Don’t feel so bad. All of your competition is doing this as well. So, if you really want to stand out, it’s time to grow those real world relationships again. Host a holiday happy hour, go make some calls to your client base. Don’t even ask for their business if you don’t want to. Now is just a great time to touch base with them and wish them a happy holiday. Gas is cheap again folks. Get out there.
On behalf of the entire SPARKt crew and attendees, thank you for the awesome job! Look forward to seeing more of your magic IRL at REBarcamp in NYC.
Thanks!
- Kit
And I , for one, am hoping to join, your IRL network come January at NYC Connect! Online networking is great, but it will never totally replace the real thing baby!
I think there is just a difference with online networking vs IRL networking.
Your online network is more public, and can be exposed for everyone to see. People assume you are more important when you have a big network. It’s interesting… if you flaunted your network in the real world the way you do online, people would probably be turned off. Online, though, it has the opposite effect.
Your real life contacts are the ones that are most likely to help you when you need them. These are the people that you should ensure you contact via phone, snail mail or in person on a regular basis. Your interactions are also much more conversational, so you can really build relationships.
Wow, you couldn’t have said it better. IRL is definitely my favorite as well.
Todd, you know I’m all about the I to the R to the L!!!! I had the distinct pleasure of meeting you IRL at REBarCamp, RE Connect SF, and REBlogWorld. Sharing tweets with you at midnight is fun but I’d much rather be sharing over-priced drinks at that time of the night. And the great thing is the fun just continues because we can build on the inbetween IRL with blogs/Twitter/Seesmic/etc. etc. etc. and then we get to meet up again in NYC and the IRL is even stronger! Can’t wait! BTW, did they like my ugly mug in your preso?
Todd – Yay! Glad I’m a part of your epic IRL network too. Because of that, I wouldn’t hesitate to refer people in your direction!!!
I have tried to explain to people who have not had the pleasure of meeting online friends yet – that there is just something more about the relationships you can “top” with the IRL meeting. I appreciate the people that live in the computer – but there is still something missing.
Nice write up! It is especially important to keep your IRL connections with your local network of people and business contacts – for sure!
#IRL
True that. There’s nothing can replace the power of a simple handshake, as far as building relationships is concerned. I’d say that an in-person handshake is equivalent to at least 6 months of trying to build the same relationship online.
No truer words are spoken! We gain so much from the IRL network, the power of people in person generates a synergy that cannot be duplicated.
Welcome home.
kk
Todd
Great points, IRL is the best method. I like the web, but IRL is my strong point. Typed words have no inflection and can often be misunderstood.
Dave
Nice work man..keep it up.
Great Stuff.. IRL important stuff for many people because they gain much more from IRL.
And I , for one, am hoping to join, your IRL network come January at NYC Connect! Online networking is great, but it will never totally replace the real thing baby!