Short Sale Door Hangers: To Door Hang or Not to Door Hang....that is the Question!

I'm not a door hanger fan but my eyebrow rose thinking about the possibilities.  I'm thinking if you printed one of your BEST short sale blogs on them and the website address of both the blog specifically geared towards short sales as well as the your general website, it would give them new information weekly to draw upon.   I'm sure quite a few logged on to your site but the info never changed.  It was a one-time permanent short sale pitch. If they were to keep checking in, I believe with the counsel of the blogs in addition to you reiterating to them their need to contact you, they would. 

I'm writing this to myself as well. lol

I am not sure how I would feel about this if I were a homeowner in a bad position and unable to make my mortgage payment. First, I think I may be a little embarrassed and secondly I may feel preyed upon, like how did this company know I was behind in my mortgage payments?

I certainly am not trying to downplay your marketing strategy, just playing a little devils advocate?

Hi Jessica -- Have you read Gary Keller's books?  They describe in detail how you have to impress a consumer 20-30 times before you become top of mind.

You may never know the impact of this piece. Someone may not be in immediate need of your services, however, they tuck this door hanger in with some of their other papers... two months down the line, they come across the piece and need you. They contact you. Or.... they think of someone they know. Two weeks later they run into that "someone" and tell them about you and your services.

I think it is a great idea, but maybe if you use the doorhanger to advertise all of your services, not just short sales, it would give them a reason to go seek out your blogs and who knows from there...

I have a 5-6% response rate when I advertise to Notice of Defaults in my area. My letters (not door hangers) are personal. My goal is to sit with them to see how they can keep their home. To make them aware of local FREE HUD approved foreclosure counselors.

You come off as someone who, without knowing their situation or goals, want to list their home. Since this looks like a blanket marketing plan instead of a targeted plan, I would advertise how they can do a short refi, loan modification, short sale and buy, debt elimination, forbearance agreements, etc. I will give them all their options. Let them trust you first instead of coming off as someone who just wants to sell their home. 

This is my honest opinion. Also, if the home is tenant occupied and the tenant sees the door hanger, it might generate some unwanted attention. However, depending how you can handle confrontations, that might be a good thing! ;)

Great Blog!

Wow! I'm surprised at such a low response rate! I have never tried door hangers, I opt for more targeted marketing. For example, if you had put those same door hangers on doors of homes that were in some stage of default, as compared to all homes in a area... how much better response rate would you have had?  Then narrow that down some more- How much better would it be if those actually made it to the home owner,  I'm sure many ended up on rented homes etc where the decision maker is not present. I'd opt for something more targeted like direct mail to homeowners who are in default such as Satar mentions above. I wouldn't say it's a complete waste as there's no doubt those gained some name recognition as 5,000 homes saw your name but the response rate is wow.... low.

Jessica, I sent you an email regarding my direct marketing. Hope you had a great Monday!

Hi Jessica...great post and I really enjoyed reading the comments.

There is some great feedback here and reading Gary Kellar's book is one I'd like to second.  I recently read this book myself and found it to be super informative with very specific stats on how many times per year a prospective client needs to hear from you.  With that said, it is important to protect your investment by staying in front of these people over a period of time.  From the comments above, it appears you have a blog/website to direct prospective clients to, which is a real benefit.  Educating your prospects with your expertise in Short Sales will help you to build a relationship with you.

With regards to the door hanger design itself, I agree with toning it down and possibly making it look a bit moe simple.  Most people will only quickly glance at what you have dropped off and having too much small text on a marketing piece will put people off or have them put it off until they have time to read it.  By the time they get around to reading it if they have set it aside, it may no longer be of interest to them. 

I really do encourage you not to give up like most do.  Just the fact that you were the one who hung in there with consistent marketing will set you apart.  Gary goes in to great detail in his book, The Millionaire Real Estate Agent.  GREAT BOOK!!!

Nadine Larder
http://www.PrinterBees.com
Specializing in Real Estate Marketing

Jensica,

Great door hangers.

How do you handle address specific distribution?

Companies I've contacted only will distribuite to "farms".

Short sellers are address specific, especially in the foreclosure timeline.

Thanks,

Cindy

Hi Jessica,

Have you looked into Lee Honish.  He specifically covers marketing for short sales.  Does weekly calls.

Very avaible for questions.  His take is mail markenting takes between 8-16 hits to get a responce from each person.

Big commitment.

Cindy