... I like the idea of having an SMS sent to me with the sale price on a house that I have inspected. It also means you get a mobile number, so I hope you don't abuse that...
Wylie, we only contact people if they either want to buy, so that means calling/emailing regarding new properties we have that may suit them, or if they have previously had an appraisal through our company & are looking to sell in the future.
Become a regular at your local coffee shop. When working as an agent, i met alot of the community at the coffee shop
Alabex, a good point. I am addicted to caffeine & therefore I am friends with our local barista.
As for cold-calling, I agree that the success rate is so low as to be non-economical for agencies in this day and age. I thought a great idea by a local agent recently in Northmead was an agency-sponsored suburb "garage sale day".
When we ask why they chose one agency over another, the overwhelming response seems to be that the agent was "well-known" or they had some connection to them, either via a friend selling or a community network eg: kids sports clubs.
Also agree with the others re: sales results. Boasting (and rightfully so in most cases!) about outstanding results that your agency has achieved should really bring in more business. Though I can see all the results on databases the buying public can't and so I believe it's a useful tool to show potential vendors (and buyers) when scouting for new llstings.
Jacque, thank you for the welcome. I quite like your garage sale day idea!
Also it seems to be a consensus that involvement in local community events greatly increases the chances of being called.
I have decided to show some of the marketing material we produce. I have attached our last quarters sales report, which I believe, home owners would find very useful.
Mike, if you choose to ignore my request to and place junk mial in my letterbox that asks you not to, how much respect does that show for me ?
OTehr buseinsses seem to be able not to breach this and survive, if you insist that you need to sdo this, it maske s me wonder - why ?
Jaycee, sorry it seems we simply have a difference of opinion. As I mentioned before I feel 'junk mail' is subjective & we also use Australia Post to deliver some material.
I personally believe that if you are letting junk mail influence your decision this much then you could end up having to disregard your best local pizza place, handyman, dog walker, politician or many other various businesses/organisations.
Noone likes doorknockers and cold callers - look how many retail shops and factories have "No Hawker" signs near the door.
And you don't think flyers are a goer, so that only leaves TV, radio, internet, newspapers and magazines.
The newspapers and magazines are an easy one; get the Vendor to pay for your ads.
BayView, TV & radio are probably too expensive & not targeted enough for us, we currently use the internet & newspapers.
When we advertise in a newspaper a property ad does have our logo & contact details displayed but the main purpose is to attract buyers to the home. Also we track the success of a newspaper ad & weigh up the cost to benefit ratio, this can sometimes mean we recommend an owner against using print media.
door knocking is probably not the best use of your time, you're not selling overpriced vacuum cleaners. time for me to shut up.
Ed Barton, I thought it was funny the way your post was written, almost like you simply wrote down your thought process. We find sms works very well, it is unintrusive & we do recieve replys/calls back.
**Clip Long List**
Mike, hope these may be of some assistance. All the best for the future
Frizzle, some great tips, fortunately I feel I already follow most of your points.
I did have a little think about whether I would ever ask an agent who knocked on my door inside for an "on the spot" valuation. Answer is a big NO. At least not unless I had just cleaned.
If am always tempted by the "I will be in your neighbourhood on Tuesday between 8am and 5pm"
Wylie, interesting we actually can look past mess but in another post you mentioned looking past work being conducted. This can be difficult as depending on the type of work it can be tricky to see the quality of the finished product.
I'm surprised you like those particular drops, I would have thought it just meant people knew when to NOT open their doors!
Look at ways you can intergrate promotional items into any of their fund raising activities.
Chilliblue, a great idea. We do some of this at the moment.
No we don't, though I'm more than happy to assist current clients and family/friends with their choice of agents if we're familiar with the particular suburb/area.
We might pass on a nice bottle of wine or champagne to say thank you!
Thank you all again for your comments, I would love to hear some opinions on our sales report.
Michael