Professional Services» » My Realty Success

Choosing a Form of Contact – Final Strategy

Rebekah — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:00:14 +0000

I’ve recently reviewed four different ways to stay in contact with your past, present, and future clients. However, using a single form of contact might not necessarily be your best option. And, based on your level of familiarity with different technologies, you might rather choose one option over another. Those agents who are more technologically oriented will probably gravitate more to the email option, while those agents who have been in the business for years will most likely choose newsletters or phone calls. I would like to suggest the following combination of options. Use the email option once a month to reach your entire database. Send snail-mail newsletters or postcards every other month to those either in your local area or those from whom you have received mailing addresses. Make telephone calls once a quarter to your top clients or to those clients who you feel need that personal touch. Having three different mediums of contact allows you to touch people in different ways and to bring in more transactions and referrals!

Choosing a Form of Contact – Email

Rebekah — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 08:00:06 +0000

In our last few posts, we’ve talked about using snail-mail newsletters, postcards, even telephone calls to stay in touch with our past, present, and future clients. With the advent of technology, there are a number of new ways to stay in touch. I for one am so thankful for email as it allows me to stay in touch very effectively with my friends and family across the country. You can utilize this tool to stay in touch with your clients as well. This is the least expensive of any of the previously mentioned options, as you already have the Internet and an email account. Developing ezines or email newsletters is much easier than with print newsletters. There are many sources available online. If you use a service to help manage your email list, they will be able to provide you with statistics such as how many people opened your email, how many clicked on links inside your email, etc. In addition, when meeting people at open houses or when visitors come to your website, asking them only for their name and email address makes them feel more comfortable and less likely to be bombarded by phone calls from desperate real estate agents! As you get to know them through your emails, they will begin to trust you and seek you out when they have a real estate need. As with the phone calls, though, a word of caution: be sure that you do not SPAM. Send only to those who have given you their email address.

Choosing a Form of Contact – Phone Calls

Rebekah — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 08:00:13 +0000

So far we have discussed advantages and disadvantages to using snail-mail to distribute a newsletter and/or postcards in order to stay in constant contact with your clients and prospects. Today, let’s examine a more personal way to maintain this contact. While this strategy can be overused, there is definitely a place for it in today’s Real Estate industry.

Many agents like to show a personal touch to their clients. Often, taking the time to make a quick phone call alerts your clients that you are not too busy to talk to them. An additional benefit is that you can solicit any concerns or issues that you might be able to solve. When calling, you may choose to use a script to make sure you stay on track and ask any questions you may have. When enjoying a conversation with a client, we sometimes get distracted and miss telling them something important or asking them a necessary question. Just a quick word of caution if you choose this option: make sure you only call those with whom you already have a professional relationship. If someone chooses to give you his phone number, then that is tacit permission to call. This option can be very time consuming if you have a large client list. In addition, if you call your clients every month, they may start to be annoyed. Be sure to use this strategy wisely, and you will see great benefits.

Choosing a Form of Contact – Postcards

Rebekah — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 08:00:13 +0000

In my last post, we talked about using the snail-mail newsletter to stay in constant contact with your clients and prospects. Today, let’s examine a similar strategy that we can use to keep us in front of our customer base. Remember, marketers state that our prospects need to view our message at least 7 times before taking the action that we would like them to take. Let’s talk about another easy way to do this: sending out postcards.

This option also uses the postal service. Many agents do this when they have a new listing, or recently sold a home. You can do this just because each month to your client base. I recently saw one company which created unusual holiday postcards for agents. Your clients would receive your postcard in the mail when no one else was sending any. Another company produces postcards that feature a seasonal recipe. Or you can create your own! This option shares many of the good points about newsletters, but also shares a lot of the disadvantages. The biggest difference is cost as the postcards are less expensive to produce and mail.

Choosing a Form of Contact – Newsletters

Rebekah — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:06:53 +0000

So, you know that you need to stay in touch with your clients and prospects, and you have your database all set up and ready to go! Now what? You need a plan, a simple strategy to keep contacting your past, present, and future clients. There are four basic elements that you can include in your strategy. Let’s talk about the first one, and maybe best known, the newsletter.

The snail-mail newsletter is usually what comes to mind when one thinks about staying in contact with past clients and current prospects. There are literally dozens of sources to purchase newsletters to send to your clients, or you could put together your own. Sharing a content rich newsletter with your clients and prospects helps them know that you really care about them and desire the best for them. In choosing to send a newsletter through the mail, you are personalizing your contact. You are showing that it’s worth your time and money to do this. But is it? If you are currently sending out a monthly newsletter to your database, are you seeing returns? Are your clients responding with transactions or referrals? If you are thinking about starting a newsletter, you might want to consider the following. Once you have your purchased or developed newsletter, one for each address, you will then need to fold, stuff, seal, stamp, and mail. With increased postage rates, this is becoming a more and more expensive option. And unless you are very unusual, you will always have a handful of letters marked “Return to Sender”. However, folks do respond to mail-outs or no one would be doing them! Disadvantages: cost, no way of knowing if they opened your letter or tossed it, difficult to follow-up.