eric rochow

If you want to grow a relationship with people in a town, it would help to start with a little research.

Here is an email I just sent out to everyone who subscribes to the Colebrook News, the email newsletter and community website I help run for the town of Colebrook, CT. I’ve put in additional comments in [brackets]

Hi everyone,
I was in the post office on Saturday and noticed a wicker basket on the counter with these nice postcards in it. A picture of the Town Hall and the title “Welcome Neighbor!” are on the front of the card and on the backside:

Need Information about activities at the Senior & Community Center, or Colebrook School? Having a tag sale? Would you like to post pictures of your event?

www.colebrookneighbors.com is a new user friendly website set up for you to use. And best of all…it’s all free! Stop by the site today and get started. Announce what’s happening here in Colebrook or with our surrounding neighbors. Spread the word about the new place in town. Let everyone know, its a great place to visit!

OK, I’m just a bit curious what this is all about. No contact person listed, no name, no organization listed, and that last sentence “Spread the word about the new place in town” What ‘new’ place? [ Colebrook has 2 retail buisnesses, no stoplights, no pay phones ] It reads like a generic boilerplate sales pitch.

I go to the colebrookneighbors.com site, and its certainly a robust site, and at the bottom of the page is an advertisement for Sullivan Real Estate; I also noticed along the left side of the page, buttons for Colebrook Jobs, etc. If you click on the Colebrook Real Estate button, it brings you to Sullivan Real Estate.

Buried at the bottom of the page, if you click on the “about” button, you are brought to ConnectingNeighbors.com, which states:

“If you want to give your real estate business a shot of adrenalin, then become a Neighborhood Expert with Connecting Neighbors. In three years, I have had 100 transactions in an area I had been trying to crack for years.”

Connecting Neighbors, a division of Reply! Inc., is the country’s leading provider of Internet-based neighborhood marketing programs for real estate professionals. …

The Connecting Neighbors Program provides real estate professionals - known as Neighborhood Experts - a reason and way to connect and build meaningful relationships with residents in their target market. Home sellers in the neighborhood turn to their Neighborhood Expert because they understand their knowledge of and commitment to the neighborhood makes them the only real estate professional who can truly meet their needs. Furthermore, the program directs homebuyers interested in the neighborhood to the only real estate professional with a true local edge - The Neighborhood Expert! The Connecting Neighbors Program includes the following elements:

• A Neighborhood Website that allows residents to connect with one another, read community news, post free classified ads, share pictures, and more.

• A Neighborhood Newsletter that features information specific to the neighborhood and is emailed to residents each month.

• A personal Neighborhood Marketing Coach assigned to help announce and promote the program to neighborhood residents.

• Quickshow multimedia presentations to engage and welcome residents to their Neighborhood Website.

• MLS data integration (where available) to constantly provide up to date real estate information.

• Relationship Manager feature (where available) for Members to manage all of their communications with their new prospects!

Connecting Neighbors is an exclusive program, as we only allow for one Expert per neighborhood. No other Neighborhood Marketing Program can give you all of these benefits and deliver results like Connecting Neighbors.

First, I have nothing against realtors, I count several among my friends, and second, I have nothing against companies using the internet to build relationships with potential customers; community development & social networking on the web is part of what I do professionally.

I don’t blame Sullivan Real Estate for wanting to reach out to potential customers, its just that there is a lack of transparency here.

Their real intention is not made clear from the beginning.

For me, any sense of trust or goodwill toward Sullivan has been lost, as I have now seen the man behind the curtain.

Several people have already asked me if colebrookneighbors.com is part of The Colebrook News, and it is nice, but its not Colebrook, actually its quite generic. If you want to be a part of that site, I have no issue, I just wanted everyone to be aware of the bigger picture regarding this site, which is not readily apparent on colebrookneighbors.com.

The agenda behind The Colebrook News has been clear from the beginning: to secure a steady supply of Sandy Adam’s Carrot Cake for myself - its the only reason I edit the News every week

OK, This Wednesday, the real Colebrook News, the Labor Day issue. Remember this Saturday morning, THE COLEBROOK FAIR, Stay away from the carrot cake, its mine.

thx, eric.

___________

True, several people thought I had cooked this up. What bothers me the most, and has been second by several, is that this company didn’t bother to check if there already existed a community website in Colebrook, and the lack of transparency in their effort to drive residents to their site.

Instead of creating goodwill, they have townspeople wondering what they are doing.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to help a town and helping grow your business, you just have to be careful.

Many times, the simplest efforts are the best. The Dunkin Donuts in the neighboring town donates all the coffee for our Colebrook Lions Pancake Breakfast, and we make sure everyone is served coffee in a Dunkin Donuts cup.