Monthly newsletters to friends past clients and relatives
Seminars/shows network clubs/vfw/mall
Advertising homes online fsbo / new homes listings
Mail Market flyer to area (farm)
Advertise in local media
Open houses
Referral associates
Out of state marketing
Email marketing/cards newsletters
Adult schools
PROSPECTING BUYERS
Buyers, in general, are easier to find than sellers. Experts say if you spend 85 percent of your time prospecting sellers and 15 percent prospecting buyers, half your business will still be buyers. Reach buyers through:
Follow ups to open houses
Walk-ins
Referrals
Responses to online and printed listing ads
Responses to your Web site
Winning Tips for E-Marketing Buyers
Four winning ideas from REALTOR® Magazine Online's first Internet marketing contest
Web sites aren't just about style; they're about usability. Think about how a feature will benefit clients before you add it to your site. —Randy Engfer, The Hasson Company, Portland, Ore.
Have a system for following up on inquiries from potential buyers such as automatic e-mail responses or e-mail newsletters.—Allen F. Hainge, Allen F. Hainge Seminars, Springfield, Va.
Don’t just sell houses—promote your community. Make your Web site a resource for community information. —C. J. Cole, Venice Properties, Venice, Calif.
Integrate Web and e-mail strategies. Allow visitors to your Web site to subscribe to electronic communications such as a newsletters and listing updates. —Judy McCutchin, RE/MAX Preston Road North, Dallas
CALL-INS: Someone Calling You
· Be positive. Smile when you pick up the phone. Experts say the simple act of smiling subtly alters your voice and manner and makes you more approachable.
· Get a name. Otherwise you can’t follow up. Giving a name is the first sign that someone is serious about buying.
· Get a source. Find out what promotion got the person to call. Keep records to track marketing programs.
· Don’t sell. Your goal with call-ins is to determine if they are serious prospects and then schedule an appointment.
TIP: Use the positive-choice method to set up a meeting: “I can show you the house at 1:00 p.m. today. Or would 2:00 be better?"
TIP: If a caller is reluctant to give a name, offer a free packet of information.
Techniques for Better Telemarketing
· Be sure you are talking to the decision-maker; otherwise you’re wasting your time.
· Avoid word-for-word scripts. Use bulleted fact sheet so that you will remember key points.
· Keep the number of points you want to cover to 10 or less.
· Listen to the vocal tone of the prospect as well as the actual words to assess interest.
· Adapt your presentation to the caller’s interests.
· Listen to see if callers use their first or last names and reply in a similar fashion.
· Ask if the prospect is busy; if so, ask for a convenient time to call again.—From Telemarketing that Works, by Raymond Harlan and Walter Woolfson Jr., Probus Publishing
Keep it Legal: The cold-calling activities of real estate professionals need to comply with the requirements of the new National Do-Not-Call Registry after Oct. 1, 2003. Click here to learn more about the registry. If you are unsure about how the new rules will impact your telemarketing activities, it is recommended that you consult with your attorney before taking any action.
TIP: Telemarketing can yield results:
· A telemarketer working 10 hours a week, 50 weeks a year will make 10,000 contacts
· 2 percent of those contacts will be leads: 200 leads
· 50 percent of those leads will be qualified: 100 leads
· 50 percent of those qualified will be interested: 50
· 50 percent of those interested will actually buy or sell: 25
· 80 percent of those willing to buy or sell will actually close: 20
7 Tips for Effective E-mails
1. Use the “subject” line to state the purpose of your message.
TIP: Limit the length of the subject line to five words or less, otherwise it may not all appear in the subject line of the browser’s e-mail window.
2. Include your complete “signature” (name, brokerage company, telephone numbers, and Web site address) in every message.
3. Use autoresponders to acknowledge incoming e-mail messages, send reports, and capture inquirers’ e-mail addresses, suggests technology guru Saul Klein, president of InternetCrusade in San Diego, Calif.
4. Learn how to access your own e-mail through your Internet service provider’s Web site, so you’ll be in touch even if you’re out of town.
5. Never change or remove the file extension of any attachment that you send with an e-mail message. If you remove the extension—such as “.doc”—the recipient’s computer won’t know which software to use to open that file.
6. Include a hot link in your e-mail messages, so recipients can click directly to your Web site for more information.
7. Never send unsolicited e-mails; ask permission before adding a prospect to your e-mail list.
Plan One: For the Salesperson With Limited Funds
This plan is for salespeople with between $2,000 and $5,000 to spend on marketing. It’s based on repeated mailings of a single, strong direct-mail piece because this is the most effective way to allocate your limited funds.
Objective: Create enough of an impact over a relatively short period to obtain business quickly and create a steady cash flow that will allow for the longer-term marketing approach of Plan Two.
Month One
Develop a budget and schedule for your plan.
1. Decide how large your target market is. You need to know how many marketing pieces you need. To follow the sequence suggested below, you will need approximately 3,000 brochures.
Estimate how the funds will be allocated: for design and copy, for printing and photography, for mailing and postage. You can confirm these costs later.
2. Create a personal, four-color brochure that focuses on the unique selling proposition you have identified.
3. Look at other brochures, and analyze what you think is effective. Don’t limit yourself to other real estate brochures; good ideas can come from anywhere. List ideas and points you might want to consider for your own brochure.
4. Select a designer and copywriter to help you develop your piece. Sources: other small businesses in your area, local printers, a college advertising department, and the Internet.
5. Look at the designer’s and copywriter’s samples. Do they have the look that you want and that will fit your target audience? Most designers have a distinct style, so don’t select someone whose work you don’t like.
6. Ask for estimates to complete the brochure. Review estimates carefully to see what they include: will vendors make changes at no cost; is photography needed and is the cost covered; is the estimate made on a set number of hours or on the project?
7. Ask the designer to assist you in getting preliminary bids from one or two printers for the general type and quantity of brochures you want. Again, check to be sure what is included in the price: shipping to your office; changes made during printing; overruns?
Month Two
1. Work with the designer and copywriter to finalize your brochure. Allow at least two weeks for copy and two weeks for design. When everything it done to your satisfaction, sign off on the final copy.
2. Have brochures printed. This usually will take two weeks, but get a definite commitment date from your printer. Ask your designer to check the printing while it is in progress to avoid any problems.
3. Develop mailing lists for your brochure. Preprint envelopes or labels so that you will be ready to mail when the brochure is ready. Order envelopes and stationery if you need them for your mailing.
If the mailing is a large one, line up part-time help or contact a mailer so that the mailing can begin promptly.
Month Three
1. Mail your brochure to your sphere of influence with a nice cover letter telling them that you have just completed a new marketing brochure and would love feedback on whether the brochure captures your personality. Remember, this is not a sales letter.
2. Set up a database to track responses from your mailings. Assign a code to each group in your mailing so you can track response. Ninety percent of the real estate professionals we have created brochures generate three to five referrals from just mailing to their sphere of influence.
3. Mail 10 brochures per day into your farm area. If you don’t have a farm, send your brochure to 10 names from the reverse directory.
4. Again, enter responses into your database. Code the source of the lead and rate the quality of each lead from “A” (hot prospect) to “C” (marginal interest).
5. Hand out 10 brochures per day to people you meet. Always have your brochures ready to give out. If you eat out, put your tip on top of your brochure when you leave.
6. Twice a week, mail your brochure with a nice cover letter to the expireds and FSBOs you have located. In the cover letter, simply tell them you are a little different than most practitioners and that, if they like your style, you would love to help me. Then promise you will not call to bother them again.
7. Hold an open house every Saturday and Sunday, and greet people by giving them your brochure and a flyer on the property when they walk in the door.
8. Four days later, follow up with phone calls to everyone who signed the guest book at the open house. Again, code and add leads to the database. Rate the quality of each lead.
Month Four
1. Repeat Steps 2 through 8 from Month Three
2. Mail your brochure again to the prospects rated A in your database with a cover letter reminding them of your contact. Use a merge feature in your word-processing program to customize the letter.
Month Five
1. Repeat Steps 2 through 8 from Month Three.
2. Mail your brochure again to the prospects rated A and B in your database with a cover letter reminding them of your contact. Use a merge feature in your word-processing program to customize the letter to each group
3. Evaluate the results of your mailing. How many responses did you get? What groups responded most favorably? How many responses converted into referrals, listings, or sales?
Results: 95 percent of our company’s salespeople have generated between two and five transactions in the first 30 days after mailing and 10 or more transactions within 90 days of mailing.
Plan Two: For a Mid-Level Salesperson Who Wants Consistent Business
This plan will take a regular monthly investment of around $1,500 toward marketing and should be carried out for a minimum of nine months. In theory, you could follow this same marketing plan for the remainder of your career.
This plan is built primarily around direct mail because direct mail consistently produces one of the highest rates of return for salespeople who have a mid-sized marketing budget. This plan will work very well all by itself, but additional things like a supporting Web site and face-to-face marketing will provide incremental increases to the plan’s effectiveness.
Objective: To establish consistent, permanent, name recognition and deal flow that will generate new and repeat business at a level of income desired.
Months One and Two
1. Develop a budget and schedule for your plan.
2. Decide how large your target market is and whether it is large enough to meet your goals. To make this program economically viable, you need a target market of at lease 1,000 homes; 3,000 homes are even better.
3. Estimate how the funds will be allocated: so much for design and copy, so much for printing and photography, so much for mailing and postage. You can confirm these costs later. To carry out this program, you will need between 10,000 and 12,000 marketing pieces ever 90 days.
4. Create a series of four-color, high-quality marketing materials that focus on the unique selling proposition you have identified. These materials should promote you—not your company, not your listings, but you personally.
TIP: To determine if you’re marketing materials truly focus on you, look at each piece for 15 seconds, and then write down the main thing you remember about it. If you remember anything but your name or your marketing slogan, start again.
Materials should include:
- A four-color brochure, with envelope if needed
- A 4-inch by 6-inch, four-color postcard, printed with the same four-color image on one side and with different promotional messages
- Stationery, business card, and envelopes, all of which have the same design elements and marketing them as your brochure and postcards
- All pieces should complement each other and use the same basic design elements, marketing theme, and approach
- See Plan One for timing your work with designers, copywriters, and printers
5. Develop or compile several reports of value to customers that you will be promoting on your postcards. Offers could include quarterly reports on average sales prices in the area, tips on improving your home for sales, suggestions for winterizing your home, and so forth. Chose offers that will be of interest to your farm group, such as trends in real estate market prices, which remodeling options add the most value to your home, and so forth. For some ready-made tips sheets to offer your farm, click here.
6. Leave the back of some cards blank so that you can print news about yourself—awards, speaking engagements, educational achievement—or “Just Sold” listing on later cards.
Month Three
1. Mail two postcards a month with changing messages to your farm area. Keep track of the messages you send and try not to repeat an offer more than every three months.
2. Mail one brochure a month to your farm area.
3. Hand out 10 brochures per day to people you meet. Always have your brochures ready to give out. If you eat out, put your tip on top of your brochure when you leave.
4. Twice a week, mail your brochure with a nice cover letter to the expireds and FSBOs you have located. In the cover letter, simple tell them you are a little different than most agents and that, if they like your style, you would love to help them. Then promise you will not call to bother them again.
5. Assign codes to each promotion and enter responses to your mailings into your farm-area database. Code the source of the lead and rate the quality of each lead from “A” (hot prospect) to “C” (marginal interest).
Month Four
1. Again, mail two postcards to your farm with different messages.
2. Repeats Steps 2 through 6 of Month Three.
3. Develop a budget for developing or redesigning your Web site to reflect your new marketing identity. A relatively straightforward Web site design of 25 to 30 pages will require approximately 125 to 150 hours of work. Allow two to four months for the completion of your site.
4. Look at other Web sites and list features or navigational ideas you particularly like. Don’t limit yourself to other real estate sites; good ideas can come from anywhere.
TIP: Ask your Web designer to build in a template into your site that will allow you to add copy with little or no coding. This feature makes it easy for you to add material in certain areas without incurring the expense of a designer each time you want to make a change.
5. Select a Web designer to help you develop your site. Sources: other small businesses in your area, the college computer or advertising department, and the Internet.
6. Look at other sites the designer has created. Do they have the look that you want and that will fit your target audience.
7. Determine which programs the designer will use in creating your site. You want things current, but not cutting edge.
3 SAMPLE MARKETING PLANS
Plan Three: For an Already Successful Salesperson Who Wants to Become a Star
This plan will take a sizable investment of $10,000 or more toward marketing and should be done over at least six months. It relies on a combination of newspaper and cable television spots. It would be possible to achieve similar results, but would require monthly mailings to approximately 8,000 homes a month. When mailing sizes exceed 4,000 pieces a month, newspaper and television offer a more cost-effective alternative for the bulk of your promotion. However, limited amounts of direct mail, e-mail farming, and a Web site are also essential components of this plan.
TIP: Even though this plan focuses less on traditional direct mail, you will still want to have four-color personal promotion brochure and compatible stationery, envelopes, and business cards.
To benefit fully from this plan, you need to have assistants in place to handle some parts of the transaction. Otherwise the larger volume generated by this level of promotion will be wasted because you will not have time to service your new clients adequately.