Anyone reading your marketing materials should be able to instantly recognize the intention of the effort. If not, you need to redo it until the intention is clear. You only have your readers’ attention for a few seconds, so make sure you are instantly understandable. Get the benefit to them right out front. If you try to build up slowly to your best benefit, you might be the only one who ends up reading it.
If you post real estate articles on your website but do not have the time or the ability to write as often as you would like, you might want to consider one of the article publishing sites on the web. These sites offer articles that you can republish on your site for free as long as you follow the terms of use that have been set forth. The leader in this field is EzineArticles In the interest of full disclosure, I have contributed a number of articles to this site.
Start a blog. This is a great way to get the people in your farm to look to you as the local real estate expert. You can use your blog to write about local events, recent sale information, general selling or buying tips, and just about anything else you can think of. This can be used as an addition to your webpage, or by itself. Make it interesting and current and informative and you will soon gain a loyal following.
You will want to establish a relationship with as many people as possible. Your career depends on it. Never go anywhere without a supply of business cards because you simply do not know whom you will meet. Get into the habit of passing out two cards instead of one. Ask the recipient to pass the second one along to a friend.
Draft a one-page sales letter and then use it as the basis for a hand-written letter you will eventually send to every person on your mailing list. Try to mail a few of these every day. This may seem like an unnecessary and unproductive use of your time, but every one of these will probably have the impact of a dozen other mailings. Ask around to people you know if they have ever received a handwritten letter from any agent. If the answer is yes, this tells you it must have been effective since they still remember it. And, if the answer is no, it provides more evidence of how something like this is remembered.
Advise your clients who are trying to sell their house to remove as many personal articles from view as possible. Absolutely no one tours a house without checking the bathrooms. If they are filled with personal toiletries, hanging clothes, or anything else that reminds them there is someone else living there, the prospective buyers will find it impossible or undesirable to live there.
Don’t get discouraged when you get little or no response from a single mailing. This is exactly what you should expect. It often takes many impressions before someone will respond. Before mailing anything, plan out all your subsequent mailings and think of this entire effort as a campaign instead of a mailing. A single mailing of anything will probably be just a waste of your time and money.
Get a good contact manager software program and spend the time to learn how to use it. The better programs will allow you to keep detailed records of all your contacts and keep track of what you send and when. You will want to use this type of software as the foundation of your mailing and contact list.
Make every effort to limit the sales letters you send out to only a single page. When the recipient opens the envelope and sees more than one page, they are more likely to “save it for later”, or just throw it out. Get into the habit of examining every aspect of every letter you send out to maximize the chances it will be read and acted upon.
Be sure to think of your contact list as one of your most valuable assets, because it is. The process of building your list should begin when you first become an agent and should continue throughout your career. Get into the habit of adding names every day and you will soon build a list you can continually mine for new clients.
Whenever you design an ad, write a sales letter, or send a postcard, make sure you tell the reader what they should do next. If you want them to call, visit your website, come to your open house, or anything else, you have to tell them to do so. This is not the time to be coy.
Are you constantly looking for ideas on what to mail to your contact list? You might try writing and mailing a one-page newsletter every month. You can use a template from one of the desktop publishing programs such as Microsoft Publisher and write about local topics of interest. Make sure you limit the size to a single page making it easy to write, easy to mail, and, most important, easy to read.
Drive traffic to your website with the use of postcards. Postcards are easier to design than an advertisement, they are easier to write because there is less copy, and they are cheaper to mail than a letter. Try to print these off of your computer; you can add the address right to the card, thereby saving you the expense and hassle of printing and affixing mailing labels.
Are you in the habit of taking notes when talking to your clients? If not, you might want to since it is very easy to forget the details of what someone else tells you when you are being told many things at the same time. Impress your clients by keeping a clipboard with a yellow legal pad for note taking with you and make sure you use it. Before you part, review your notes with your clients. This will give you one last opportunity to find out their true needs and desires and will go a long way in showing them you really are listening to what they have to say.
Whenever you do a showing, always ask the client what they liked and disliked about the house. This will sound elementary, but you may be surprised how many agents get excited about the potential sale and forget to ask. Get them to talk specifics while they are still in the house, if at all possible. This way you can address any concerns they have so you can narrow down the search for what they are really looking for. The time for excitement is after all the parties are happy and the sale is closed.
What is on the outside of the envelope you mail your sales letters in? Keep in mind that the only thing you want to accomplish with the outside is to get the recipient to open it. One of the most effective ways to accomplish this is by writing the address and return address information by hand. This makes the letter look like a personal message just for them and makes the recipient eager to see what is inside.
A great way to begin a sales letter is with a question. You only have a second or two to grab the attention of the recipient before your letter goes in the trash so make sure the first thing they see makes them want to keep reading. Asking a question gets the reader involved and urges them to continue.
Is your copy getting the intended message across to your readers? If you are trying to convey more than one message at a time, the likely answer is no. You only have a split second to grab their attention and convey your meaning. Be clear, be concise, and be succinct. “Why rent when you can own for the same price?” sends a clear message that everyone can recognize. “One-of-a-kind 4 bedroom, 2 bath and a 1 bedroom, 1 bath condo available now” does not. No one would believe these 2 properties would appeal to the same buyer, so why would an agent advertise them together?
Are you not seeing any results from your marketing efforts? Perhaps the people you are mailing to are unable or unwilling to buy or sell. For example, if you are prospecting for buyers from an apartment complex that is priced near the bottom of the local market, you are probably wasting your marketing dollars. These people will likely move up to a better rental before buying a house. Often, who you are mailing to is more important than what you are mailing to them.
Don’t waste your time and marketing dollars trying to unseat an agent who is getting nearly every deal out of a particular area. You would be wiser to choose another area where no one is dominant and then work to become the leading agent there. You should know that if you do try to go head-to-head with an already dominant agent, your efforts might actually drive clients to your competition since it will remind them of the name they see most often in their neighborhood.
