Today I’m going to talk about how to become the Realtor of choice and how to have a steady stream of leads coming to your business. The first thing I want to talk about is how to unseat the Realtor that a person used previously.
A number of years back I heard Larry Kendall, one of the founders of The Group Incorporated in Fort Collins, tell a story about being at a local luncheon program where he sat next to a total stranger who had recently moved to town. The person raved about their Realtor and the service that that Realtor delivered.
Larry captured that person’s contact information, went back to his office and sent that person eight value added touches in eight weeks. The first was a Thank You Note and it ended with a personal phone call. He called that person at the end of the eighth week and engaged him in a conversation that Larry’s fond of calling Being in the Flow of the Person’s Life. He asked the person how he liked the town, how are you settling into the house, how are you settling into his job, and basically learned that he was loving it and loving his house. And then he asked the person who his Realtor was from only eight weeks ago. He couldn’t remember.
So touching somebody eight times in eight weeks can allow you to unseat or to gain Top Of Mind Awareness. And why is that important? The reason that that’s important is from the Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers, 2010, 68% plus percent of the people buyers and sellers talked to only one agent and 20% talked to two agents, so 86% plus or minus percent either talked to one or two agents.
So your job is to achieve top of mind awareness you want to be either Number 1 or Number 2.
Ø Dos and Don’ts For Building Your Own Personal 8 x 8
I’m going to give you some Dos and Don’ts for building your own personal 8 x 8. The first thing is you need a place to put the stuff that you’re going to send. Setup an expandable file older labeled Weeks 1 through 8.
Second print and store a lot of copies of the material that you’re going to send in each folder slot.
You don’t need to be creative.
One of the things I see hanging Realtors up all the time is that they feel that they need to be creative. Absolutely not true! You just need to have things that are value added and talk to the person about being in real estate. You need to send the same thing each week until you decide to change it.
Next you need to create an action plan for this system and put the action plan in your calendar so you know who gets what pieces on what week or what day. A good source for material is a Web site called www.epa.gov. They have at least four brochures which are available. They’re free or very low cost. The brochures are radon, lead based paint, indoor, air quality and mold. These are available at little to no cost.
So here’s a simple and powerful 8 x 8. First, a handwritten Thank You Note only three or four sentences high. It was great meeting you at the Chamber of Commerce after Hours. It was really exciting talking to you about your son’s soccer game and I look forward to seeing you again in the near term. Include a couple of business cards and put it in the mail.
For the next several weeks send information educating the recipient about real estate. Not about your cooking ability or that you know where the airport is and how to get there. If you’re inclined, you can call them on Week 5 and ask them: “Have you been getting the material that I sent?”
You know the answer is: yes and you know they’ll thank you for it. Then again Week 8 if you are inclined, give them a personal phone call and asks them how they’re doing etc. On Week 8 add them to your 33 Touch Program which I’ll discuss in a moment.
Ø Dos and Don’ts for your 33 Touch Program
There’re only two messages that want to be conveyed by what I’m going to suggest you send and one is: I’m still here, the second is: I’m doing business. You need to be consistent with the mailing or address side of your card as shown in the picture on the right hand side of the screen which is from a client of mine, Jerry Readle in Metro Denver. You want to include your full contact information. And again creativity isn’t required.
It’s just two messages: I’m still here and I’m doing business. Because here’s something you need to understand your friends thought about you and you got into real estate. They thought two things. First, I wish you well. I hope you succeed. And second is you’re not going to make it. And why did they say that? Because the average person they know who gets into real estate fails within the first couple or three years.
So two messages I’m still here, I’m doing business because what I’m going to recommend is you send 26 Just Listed/Just Sold cards, that’s one every two weeks every year until they ask you to remove them or until they die. You want to send How to Send a Referral card quarterly or more often teaching them how to send you business and why that’s important.
You can skip the time change card because all of our computers, everything about us reminds us that the time has changed twice a year. And important messages that might be relevant or time sensitive messages that you get from the public media, public press about things like energy tax credits and mortgage loans being a good price etc. And then last but not least send seven or so non-religious greeting cards. Some of us are not very religious so if you send cards that talk to religion I’m not going to be impressed.
Still not convinced?
Well I want to talk to you about how to calculate the return investment on this direct mail program which is actually pretty massive. Every 100 names in your database will cost you about $2,145 dollars. The way I calculated that is $100 times 33 touches is 3,300 pieces of mail times 65 cents, a reasonable price for a post card equals $2145 dollars. So that’s your investment. The revenue is five transactions per 100 or annually $25,000 dollars of revenue for every 100 names in your database assuming your average GCI is on average $5,000 dollars. So you have $25,000 minus $2145 or a profit of $22,855 or 10 times your money.
So call Reg Gupton a liar and say that it’s only five times your money. That’s still getting back $5 dollars for every $1 dollar invested. Another benefit is you’re working with people who know, like and trust you. I want to encourage you to embark upon an 8 x 8 program with people you meet to achieve top of mind awareness. And then lastly go to a 33 touch Plan which is mailing to them at least 30 times or more every year forever and you’ll get these kinds of numbers.
I hope this information has been helpful
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