It’s three. Just three. You should have something going on in each of these areas every day.
Visibility – Targeting – Client Base Development
I know: it sounds simple. I tried to complicate it, tried to make it five things and then four, but ultimately, that’s it: three very clear Objectives.
Visibility
To be visible is to be seen. That’s what you want in your marketplace. You want to be seen and the more the better. In the real estate business, being seen is usually a function of signage: for sale signs, open house signs, directional signs, office signs, and on and on.
Think of it this way: every day, every homeowner in your marketplace decides which real estate company is biggest, strongest and best. Oh, they have no idea they’re making the decision — it’s all taking place subconsciously. But they’re making it nonetheless. As they walk and drive through their neighborhood they’re noticing signs: for sale signs, sold signs, open house signs, directional signs, bus benches, billboards, office signs, and they’re keeping count: who has the most. Whether you have 5 listings or 50, you want to be the company making the largest number of impressions with your signs.
So what do you do? You coach each seller to hold their own open houses, provide each with half a dozen directional signs and encourage them to put them out often. You put out directional signs yourself, pointing to your office. You put Market Blitz signs up wherever you can. You buy a VW Beetle and wrap it, parking it within eyesight of the busiest intersection in your marketplace. You rent office space that allows you a big, visible sign. You sponsor a Little League team and have your logo placed on the back of their shirts. Once a month, you put up an awning in your parking lot, hang it with Help-U-Sell banners and offer free lists of foreclosures to potential buyers and a selling consultation to potential sellers. In other words: you avoid being a secret agent. You actively seek and exploit opportunities to be seen as a Help-U-Sell broker in your area.
If you orchestrate the Visibility portion of your marketing plan well, every other piece of marketing you do will be enhanced. Really. People seeing your homes magazine ad or finding your listing on REALTOR.com will be more likely to respond because they’ve ‘seen your signs everywhere!‘
Targeting
It’s a basic marketing concept: getting the most bang for your buck. Your goal is spend your time, money and effort trying to reach the people in your market who are most likely to buy or sell real estate in the near future. When you do ‘Arounds’ near a new listing, you’re targeting (the neighbors are more open to your message because they’ve seen the sign two doors down). When you optimize your website with keywords relevant to your marketplace, you’re targeting (people in your marketplace looking for information about buying or selling will be more likely to find you). When you do a mailing to people who closed between 2003 and 2006 with minimal down payments, you’re targeting (this group is most likely to be upside down or in some other real estate distress that you might be able to solve).
Your task (in addition to being visible) is to always be targeting various groups that may have a greater or more immediate need for your service. When you call FSBOs and Expireds, you’re targeting. And targeting is the second prong in your three prong approach to marketing.
Client Base Development
Here’s a sad bit of history: during the early part of this decade, many Help-U-Sell offices generated so many leads that they ignored the back end of their businesses. The focused on closing new business and didn’t cultivate the happy past customers and clients they’d served. When the market turned, these offices had no strong, supportive base on which to fall back. Today, the offices that are surviving, even thriving, are ones that can say, ’30 – 40 -50% of my business is repeat or referral.’
Cultivation of your client base means staying in touch in a way that the customer finds meaningful. It means reminding them from time to time that you’re in the business and are ready to give their friends the same excellent service you gave them in the past. It’s a simple message,but it’s very powerful. And just like maintaining visibility and target marketing, it’s something you should be working at every single day.
Visibility – Targeting – Client Base Development