at the risk of p!$$ing on my profession... (this is long winded but i hope some of it helps)
there are a lot of agents out there who have absolutely no idea of how to market a property...unfortunately in QLD all it takes to get a sales ticket is about 6-8 hours contact time and a couple of assignment you can knock over in an hour or so if you're any good.
a lot of marketing success comes down to what you are trying to achieve for the type of product you are promoting...for instance in our area we have 250k units all the way through to $2M and a whole range of stuff in between. You market each and every one of them differently depending on your target market, property type and price bracket.
The Internet is certainly one of the best tools for marketing around now given its relatively cheap and its gets your property into peoples homes at their convenience rather than rely on box drops and papers being delivered etc.
I must disagree vehemently with some of the paper comments - In Brisbane we are finding that it is still worthwhile to get picture ads of properties into the Quest local rags property sections as they are cheap to do and very popular with most people being delivered free etc. The courier mail gets classified one liners from us advising of open homes unless the owner REALLY wants to have a big photo ad in there - very costly...and that is only (usually) for the very high price stuff where you are looking at attracting people outside the local papers distribution etc.
To cover your point about neighbours and box drops - we encourage both on a standard, average price house for the area. The reasons are simple enough, in suburbia here we find that it helps to get the neighbours through - they all want to know what money buys what in their suburb and they all have friends - I have lost count of the number of houses i have sold to friends of someone who lives nearby and mentioned the property...but its a fair few...
To cover the concerns about security etc., we usually run two agents at inspections where we expect large numbers or large exclusive style properties where one agent can't cover the house effectively. We also get the names and full contact details of everyone entering the property - no details, no entry - again when we explain its as much for the security of property in the house most people are happy enough. And if we suspect their using dodgy details we write down their rego's as well.
A good agent will also control the numbers going through at any one time - i have often asked people to wait a minute or two or walk the outside first to allow other to leave - most people understand and don't mind at all - in fact when you explain the reasons they appreciate that someone takes so much care in the property.
The box drops - yes they help profile (but only just) - what they do is notify the area that the house is there and helps get numbers through as per the above
Anyone who truly believes that agents make lots of money from having their picture or logo in the paper or in box drops has not done the hard yards in the industry as a sales person (IMHO)...you can spend thousands and thousands getting ads done, buying bus stops and doing flyer delivery and you might pick up one listing if you're lucky - people come to the opens for the house in the brochure - not the agent who's selling it. I have never met anyone who has come to an open of mine because I am selling it - they come because they are interested in the house. It wouldn't matter which agent had it, so long as it is marketed right - they will come.
For an agent to make a real quid in this industry (over 200k?? and Brisbane - can't speak for anywhere else)... the only way is networking and contacts. As you meet people who want you to keep in contact you build up a database of clients - you manage that database properly and you'll win. I heard a statistic (from a higher earning agent who never spends any money on profile) the other day that a database of 1000 people properly managed will yield on average a listing a week. No bus stop sign or flyer will ever do that.
So!! in short, it depends on how good your agent is and what sort of property you are marketing and where (demographics etc)
I expect i will be shot down for some of the above - but its a free country and this is my humble opinion and it works very well for us...
hope it makes sense
cheers
UC
p.s. re the desperate vendor ad - its not my style, but i bet it got a lot of people through the door, a good negotiator would've been able to capitalise on the high buyer interest and get a good price!!
