Five Proven Email Strategies
To Get a Bigger Piece of the Pie
by Dan Gooder Richard, Gooder Group
Tips from the 14th new rule of online marketing:
Old Rule: Content is king.
New Rule: The right customer-focused content is king.
The real estate industry has enjoyed four consecutive years of record sales volume and skyrocketing home prices in many markets. Due to the growing population, historic low interest rates and a healthy economy, the rate of home ownership climbed steadily to 69 percent in the third quarter of 2004 (latest figures), contributing to the record total of 7.7 million single-family homes sold in 2004. How big was your piece of that pie?
The 2004 National Association of REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers reveals that 74 percent of all buyers used the Internet when shopping for a home (up from 71 percent in 2003, and 41 percent in 2002), yet only 7 percent of buyers and 1 percent of sellers reported finding their agent through the Internet in 2004. This gap is a huge opportunity to increase your online business. NAR’s 2004 study also shows that 65 percent of buyers and 73 percent of sellers used the first agent they contacted. That’s great news if you’re the first agent consumers in your area contact. If you’re not, how can you improve your chances?
Widely publicized email address and customer-focused
responses are key.
Here are five winning email strategies that will help you increase your cyber-market share as you receive inquires about your service.
1. Use any and all methods to get your e-mail address in front of consumers. Make it easy for home buyers and sellers to contact you; prominently promote your e-mail address on your website and in all offline and online marketing ads and materials (avoid small type at the bottom). Keep your customer e-mail information current and work to minimize undeliverable bounce-backs at all costs. Nothing kills leads faster than invalid contact information - there goes your chance at being the first agent contacted. Being out of touch is being out of business. Prospects won’t give you a second thought.
2. Respond quickly and personally to all e-mail inquiries. When someone sends you an e-mail they expect an immediate response. Your best response to all e-mail inquiries is a personally written e-mail reply. Craft your first-response message to answer specific questions and address the special circumstances of each inquiry. For example, if you can match prospects’ needs with information on local schools or links to virtual tours, so much the better. While this sounds cumbersome it is not as time consuming as you think. Here’s the secret:
A saved-signature program makes fast and personal replies easy. Save your first-response e-mails in a folder under “Signatures” (MS Outlook). All you (or an assistant) need to do next time is click the appropriate signature then personalize the salutation and customize the first one or two sentences. Be sure to include your complete contact information in the message signature file. Soon you’ll be able to respond personally to dozens of inquiries in minutes.
3. Focus, focus, focus on your customer. Always send customer-centered responses to e-mail inquiries. From your very first communication through settlement, focus, focus, focus on what your customer wants and needs at each stage. Avoid focusing on yourself, your reputation, or your company. With your years of experience behind you, you’ll be able to anticipate prospect questions and have accurate, up-to-the-minute answers ready.
4. Don’t stop now. You’ve responded quickly and personally to your prospect’s first e-mail inquiry. Assume you are the first (and only) agent this prospect will need to contact so make sure you keep the advantage.
Automated drip email keeps you ahead of the game. This time-saving, production-maximizing, loyalty-building system converts cyber-prospects into real world customers. Drip email marketing systems follow up without fail, automatically sending out scheduled, customer-focused, and personalized emails until the real estate agent or loan officeris ready for the next transaction.
5. Give those fence sitters a little encouragement. Now is the time to turn hesitant home shoppers into imminent homeowners.
Send short e-mails to prospects that don’t seem to be moving toward the finish line. Remember: the older the prospect, the more competitors have dropped out. Be persistent. Ask questions that suggest an action, such as “Are you pre-approved?” “Do you want to visit some new listings?” “Can we meet over coffee to personally answer any lingering questions you have?” “Do you want to meet with a loan officer?” “Need out-of-town relocation kit?” Don’t give your prospect any reason to look to your competition for information or services you can provide.
Need to provide another nudge? Send a time-sensitive offer that has an expiration date. For example, “Register now for a free independent home inspection on the home of your choice.” Or, “Sign up by July 31st for our free seminar on how to sell for top dollar in today’s market” might do the trick.
NAR’s 2004 study confirmed what we’ve suspected: Most of today’s home buyers and sellers are Web savvy, using the Internet easily and often as the preferred method of early fact finding and communication. That’s great news for those real estate professionals who have kept pace with consumers’ growing demands with easily navigated websites filled to the brim with up-to-date information. But now we know that having a top-ranked website is only part of the battle, and the race is on to become the first and only agent or broker that area consumers contact.
Those real estate professionals who want their share of the more than 7+ million single-family homes (resale and new) likely to be sold this year know there is still work to be done: Widespread promotion of your e-mail address is critical. Fast and personal e-mail response is critical. Continual consumer-focused follow up is critical. Persistence is critical.
The critical difference now is doing it better than your competition.
Copyright Gooder Group. All rights reserved. Dan Gooder Richard is author of REAL ESTATE RAINMAKER® GUIDE TO ONLINE MARKETING (www.eRainmaker.com) and REAL ESTATE RAINMAKER® Successful Strategies for Real Estate Marketing, published by John Wiley & Sons. Dan is also founder and president of the Gooder Group, www.GooderGroup.com, a Fairfax, Virginia-based publisher of marketing materials for real estate professionals and lenders. Dan is a member of the National Advisory Councils for GoGetLoan.com and GoGetRealEstate.com. For more about Dan, visit GoGetLoan.com/Get/DanRichard.