I recently released my Spanish Listing Presentation Book, Presentacion del Listado. In the process of launching this new product, we put out press releases about it all over the country. Normally, when we do a release, it's posted in a few places and then that's it. Nothing much happens. But it seems that this was not to be the case here. It seems that offering Spanish language anything is big news and a watershed issue.
Within one week I got an offer to do three different interviews. One in Tacoma, Washington, one in Indiana and one in Waltham, MA (complete with photos of me in the office). These people were very pleased that I was offering this product.
Then there were the people on the other side of the coin. My PR person, Shannon Cherry, with Be Heard Solutions received the following two emails from editors in response to the press release: (If you'd like to read Shannon's take on these emails too, you can visit her blog at: http://mommy-inc.blogspot.com/)
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For reference, according to Shannon, this person is Wayne Dominowski of the Sergeant Bluff Advocate
From: advocate@longlines.com [mailto:advocate@longlines.com]
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2007 12:03 PM
To: pr@cherrycommunications.com
Subject: Re: New Spanish Listing Presentation Program for Real Estate Agents
I have an idea... how about everyone read, write and speak English? For your information, I will not publish anything that even remotely suggests we encourage another language in this Country, much less Spanish.
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From: Shirley Mayrand [mailto:thenews@scrtc.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2007 12:20 PM
To: pr@cherrycommunications.com
Subject: RE: Spanish Listing Program
I guess we should change the national language to Spanish since it seems no one thinks that the immigrants should have to learn English.
Shirley Mayrand, Editor
Edmonton Herald News, Inc.
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This is really distressing to me. It's not really a surprise that an editor's personal opinions would color the tone of their publication. But the fact that these two people felt secure enough in their positions to voice, in writing, a position that is so clearly racist in nature is terrifying.
Now, don't get me wrong. If I lived in a foreign country that spoke another language I would do my best to learn that language as quickly as possible. But until I did, I'd really appreciate anyone who could help me to better understand a complex legal transaction that I wanted to make.
I didn't think that by putting out a Spanish version of my listing presentation that I would be doing anything more than helping the agents in largely Hispanic areas market their services more effectively. I had no idea I was making a political statement, but clearly I was. And if I'm making a statement, let it be this: anyone, no matter who they are or what language they speak, has the right to understand the transaction they are about to enter into and to be able to develop trust with an ethical agent who will help them along the way.
Enough said.
Kelle Sparta is the author of The Consultative Real Estate Agent - Building Relationships that Create Loyal Clients, Get More Referrals, and Increase Your Sales, as well as being a speaker and trainer and coach specializing in the real estate industry. Kelle is the founder of Sparta Success Systems, a real estate training company that provides coaching, products, and training to empower agents and brokers to create lives and businesses they can love. To learn more about hiring Kelle as your coach, visit her website. For more information, visit her website at http://www.spartasuccess.com/. © 2007, Kelle Sparta.
