Do you have a "secret sauce" ?

All good cooks have their favorite recipes, and these recipes often begin or end with a secret sauce. That "secret sauce" is the difference between good and delicious, between delicious and delectable, between... well, you get the point!

After 33 years in real estate, I finally found the right ingredients to make MY secret sauce:

• A fabulous website (if I do say so myself). Many thanks to Tom Glynn at AgentImage for all your help and encouragement during several weeks of photo selection, content writing, etc. You were amazing! EVERYONE compliments my website, and I know it contributes to my success.
• Consistent follow-up, using an Action Plan I created in Top Producer. The effectiveness of my follow-up is due in large part to lessons learned from Michael Russer, who taught me to always ask myself (from the perspective of a consumer) "What's in it for me?" Each and every follow-up email provides the recipient with a helpful real estate tip and a related link. I've been surprised and pleased at how effective this has been.
• Negotiating skills developed through years of training and experience. I know, you can't buy that - but it is one of the ingredients, so I have to mention it.
• Online advertising such as iHousespotlight.com, ContactAgents.com, Crofton.com, MarylandInfo.com, MilitaryAvenue.com and others. I don't believe it matters exactly where you place your online ads - only that you DO place online ads that direct consumers to your website. It's a fact that many hits to my website come from another online ad, so the website would be less effective without them.
• Blogging - It's been said that someone has to know you, like you, and trust you before they will do business with you. A perfect stranger can develop the "know, like, trust" relationship with you through reading your blog. This is where ActiveRain and Blogger come in. If you write informed and interesting blogs, people will get to know you, like you and trust you so they will hire you.

Yes, these are the ingredients of my "secret sauce"... but there is no recipe, per se - no fixed formula for putting them together. As I look back at my recent business successes, not one of these ingredients was missing from a single case. Even the referral from a former agent I worked with 30 years ago was brought to fruition through a combination of my website, follow-up, negotiating, online ads, and blogs.

Now that I've told you about the secret ingredients in my secret sauce... what's in yours? What factors consistently work together to make YOUR business a success?