Real Live Marketing in Action: Show Them You Care.
April 25th, 2007 Real Estate Marketing Landon Ray
You’ve heard the news: NAR reported Tuesday that existing home sales plunged in March, the worst drop in 19 years. This is a big story.
You have an opinion about the news. It’s time to buy, it’s time to sell, it’s all hog wash, it’s not in our area, it’s only the sub-prime market that’s affected… I don’t know what your thoughts are on the subject, but my bet is that you’ve got some.
Your clients/sphere/farm/prospects may have heard the news. If they have, they may have an opinion or they may wonder what it means to them.
Here’s the deal: You are their real estate professional advisor. It’s your responsibility, and a serious marketing opportunity, to deliver this news to everyone you can and to comment about it.
You’ve all had the marketing mandate rammed down your throat hundreds of times from marketing coaches and managers – deliver items and content of value to your herd. Everyone agrees it’s a good idea, but then decides to deliver recipes or impersonal pitches that are meaningless to the recipient and only serve to position you as ‘just another salesperson’.
This is an opportunity. It doesn’t matter that the news is good or bad. It matters that it affects everyone who owns or is thinking of buying property.
Here’s what I suggest:
1.Find a newspaper article from yesterday’s paper (if you can’t find an actual paper, just print out this businessweek article. But a real paper is better.)
2. Photocopy it.
3. Write on it: “Thought you’d be interested in this…”
4. Handwrite, on another sheet, your succinct thoughts on the subject. How does this affect your area, your niche, your clients?
5. Fax these two sheets to everyone you know that owns or is thinking of buying.
This is real marketing. You are powerfully positioning yourself as a trusted advisor (you’re not hiding the bad news, you’re bringing it!) and someone who’s really thinking about your client’s best interest as you go through your day. The actual newspaper is important; it lets your recipients know that you were thinking about them as you read your paper in the morning.
When the stock market crashes, I get a personal call from my broker (hopefully letting me know everything’s ok.) When a law is changed that affects my business, I want a personal call from my lawyer (though I probably don’t get it – his mistake.) Likewise, when a major news event occurs in the real estate industry, I want to know that I have someone looking out for me.
Last note: if you don’t have fax numbers, get them for next time. This time, take that photocopy, pop a sticky note on it with the ‘I thought you’d be interested in this…” and stuff that and your brief handwritten thoughts (photocopied is fine) into a real envelope and mail it.
This is what we mean when we say ‘deliver valuable content’. Have your clients in mind and opportunities like this will begin to show up everywhere!
