You've had a smooth transaction, your clients are grateful, they get the keys and you get your check. Now what?Ever wonder what's expected, what's not, what's acceptable and just flat out WHAT TO DO NEXT?The answer is simple....everybody loves gifts, are you kidding? Below are a few gift ideas that have gotten huge responses:
WineCountryGiftBaskets.com - a great assortment of wines, cheeses...that type of thing in beautiful presentations, that are very affordable. You could also use HarryandDavid.com but I believe they are a little more expensive.
HomeDepot.com - now that they have their new home, it's time to either start work or finalize the finishing touches either with hardware or landscaping items.
Gift certificate to a nearby restaurant.
Have a painting done of their new home. There are many artists that you can find online that can work off of a picture even and it becomes a part of the home instantly and last a long long time.
Set them up on a wine or beer club so they receive a wine or beer selection from you every month (great for keeping in touch and reminding them that you're still around...and you don't even have to do the work!)
We all know that the marketing conditions are...well...not what we are used to. Not bad, just different. Now it's time to really get to work!
Communication should be the biggest key in your relationship with your clients these days. You probably wonder, well what am I supposed to tell my seller that I haven't already told them (now that you've had their home on the market for 60 days)? I just thought I would share a few tips and secrets that I have found sellers really love and keep them up to date with what's going on:
- email any graphs or statistics of active, pending and sold homes in the city their home is located, monthly. This way they can see that it's not just their home, or their tract, that is moving slow, it's the whole city (not to mention the whole nation).
- if their property is on Realtor.com and you are a member, you can go into the back office and go to the reports section (I believe you have to have a slight upgrade to your Realtor.com membership to do this) and you can either print out or email a report directly from Realtor.com. This report will show your client on a monthly, weekly and daily basis how many people are viewing their home and clicking on virtual tours.We send these out monthly.
- always mail sellers all of the print advertising that has come out and highlight/flag their property so it’s easy for them to find and they don’t get distracted looking at other agent ads.
- find interesting articles, or stories that may affect their community and email/mail them to your seller's. This way, you not only look like you are on top of what's going on, but that you care what's going on.
- remind agents about your listings more often. It's helpful to go to office meetings and pitch your properties, even if it's more than once and ESPECIALLY if you have a price change.People forget, they need to be reminded.
- SHOWING FEEDBACK (ugghh...I know), BUT!!!!! there is a great website called HomeFeedBack.com that I have recently started using. You load your property info (minimal), photo, virtual tour link and basic information on this site. Then when you get an agent card or run your lockbox to get the agent showings, you simply enter their info onto this site and it will send the agent an email automatically where they will answer questions that you have already pre-selected and it will email back either only you directly or you and your seller. This is great because the seller can interact with this website and have their own sign-in and check in on what's going on when they want. They can also load the agent cards themselves so the contact to the agent gets out quicker. It's fun, it keeps everybody in the loop and it seems to be working. Everybody loves feedback!
Also, a great marketing tool that not too many people use yet is HomeCards.They are business card sized brochures of your listings and sellers LOVE THEM!They always think that they can sell their home the best so they pass them out at community events, friends…and not to mention, you can carry all of your listings with you at once, they’re great when you're out networking or simply the unexpected. I can't begin to tell you the positive response I have gotten with these and the relief of having brochures of my listings everywhere I go, instead of trying desperately to describe a house to somebody.
Good luck all, the market's a changin' but so is our capability of communication, advertising and technology...let's take advantage of it AND USE IT!
DOES ANYBODY ELSE OUT THERE HAVE SOMETHING THEY'VE FOUND REALLY EFFECTIVE WITH THEIR CLIENTS?
Here is my situation. We all know it's a tough world out there and people are very critical, just a fact. At what point should people know to not advertise their own mugs along with their valuable marketing pieces?
The other day I came across a photo of a guy, who was not only looking the opposite direction of the camera, but his mouth was all of the way open as if he just saw a UFO coming around the corner….and no...it was not a joke.
Unfortunately, his picture was on a brochure for a gorgeous home he had listed (a stunning $3 million dollar property) and now I have no recollection of the house details, pictures, address...nothing. I was so shocked that somebody could confidently place their photo, which was clearly taken while he was sitting at his desk with a jumble of paperwork in the background, on such a beautiful high-end marketing piece.
This may come across a little too controversial; I am not at all intending to be rude. However, let's think about it….if you don't have a professional photo or at least a really decent one....don't attempt to use just anything. Don't crop your head out of some other random shot; don't get your camera out and take one of yourself (you know who you are out there). Take pride in yourself and your marketing. First impressions go a long way whether we want to believe it or not.It could be a matter of a sale, listing or referral.
Ask around to other agents in your office where they had their photos taken or simply use a logo, it's relatively inexpensive and it can go a long way. Just don't make it go soooo long that you're still using your picture you took in your 20's when you're in your 50th year of business...be real, be classy, take pride in yourself and your business.
Yes, this is a proverbial "purple elephant" discussion but somebody should speak up.
I had the pleasure of doing some business in the past with Rory Siems and he invited me to Active Rain....loving it by the way!
He is an agent with Prudential California Realty and does business in South Orange County. I just wanted to tell you, as I was waiting to meet with him, I heard him on the phone with a client and I was amazed with the amount of knowledge he had of the area and surrounding cities. Not only that but he was patient, kind and went out of his way to do things for these clients, I couldn't believe it....there are good people out there after all, you just have to find them and I have worked with quite a few agents in my days...
Now I am hooked on his blog posts, as I am sure a lot of you are and I just wanted to tell you that if you have clients relocating to the South Orange County area, I would definitely send them Rory's way...not to mention, he also has a lot of useful tools on his website and is always willing to help anybody, a great mentor.
Thank you everybody for taking interest in the HomeCards product...THE BUSINESS CARD WITH VALUE. Below is an overview of the basic idea of the revolutionary miniature, business card size brochures of your property listings called HomeCards. We are confident that this product is both effective and will be widely used as a unique marketing tool for agents.
**For Active Rain members, if you mention the promo code RAIN I will take 10% off your first order**
The concept is so simple:
1. Since they are business card sized, you can carry all of your listings with you at the same time, 24 hours a day without the hassle of large bulky brochures.
2. They are a high quality card stock with FREE UV coating so they are durable and last a lot longer than the standard business card.
4. Potential buyers will hang on to these cards a lot longer than the standard business card since there is useful information on it...real estate, and perhaps their future dream home. Not to mention, it fits directly into their wallet and not in the backseat of their car where it is destined to get dirty, crumpled up and tossed away....you know how that goes.
P.S. These are also great to give to your sellers to post them at their community bulletin boards, pass out at their local events and show their friends what a great marketing tool their agent provided (hint hint)!
So what's stopping you from ordering your business cards with value today? The turn around time for these cards for a final proof is 24-48 hours (depending on customization and expedience of receiving all of the correct information). After approved, the product is shipped within one business day, you choose which shipping method you prefer.
After working in Real Estate and specializing in marketing for over 10 years, the latter of the time for a top agent, I finally came up with a marketing tool that works!Over the last year the HomeCardsOnline team has finalized production of their first line of HomeCards and have had an overwhelming positive reaction.Needless to say, we were very pleased with both, the quality of the card, as well as the outcome and success of our product.HomeCards are business card sized brochures of your listings that can be directly placed right in to the interested parties’ wallet and/or pocket.Just like a typical letter sized brochure, the HomeCard also has agent contact information on it as well.Interestingly enough, this HomeCard can work in at least two ways.First, when prospective buyers pick up these cards, they keep them very handy due to their interest level in any particular home you may have the card available in.Second, since these are in fact business card sized brochures, they tend to have a long life right in the prospects wallet.We have gotten a lot of feedback from agents that they got calls from prospective buyers that they had forgotten about and reappeared because of the HomeCard in their wallet.
These high quality cards are available in different formats. You can choose from one of many colors to fit your branding, company or housing contrasts. These cards are printed on a high quality stock and offer an optional glossy coating and tend to last a lot longer than your standard business card.As our company grows, we are always listening to new ideas.Please let us know what you would like to see from our company and we will take our “next step” to real estate marketing.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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