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I am about to say something VERY controversial...

By Lisa Duke

Real Estate Agent

August 13, 2011 08:11 AM

AOL stinks! Not a big fan of MSN either... why?

When I send property blasts to my fellow Realtors, I am very unhappy when they "report" me as spam. Do they know they are "reporting" me or do they just have a button that says "spam" that they push thinking that is somehow sorting out their inbox?

For one thing, if you are a Realtor, you are an entrepreneur. I have respect for you by taking the chance to control your destiny and essentially be your "own boss." Conversely, I wish you would show me the same respect.

How many folks among us have had a client who *thinks* they know what they want, you plug in their requirements into the MLS, and they just can't seem to find what they are looking for? I have a girlfriend who does this ALL the time- she drives around instead of relying on the MLS because oftentimes, she will find something she likes and if it doesn't fit a criteria she thinks she wants, she will change her criteria.

This is where my email blasts come in. What if my property is in your client's price range? It may not fit into the mold but give it a try!

I also run a side business geared towards Realtors, subcontracting certain work for which I send email blasts- what if you need me?

Don't get me wrong, I TOTALLY understand having more emails than you know what to do with. But my emails are embedded into the bodies of the email- it takes 5 seconds for you to read my email and move on. You don't have to report me as spam.:(

Finally, I also purport that emails from AOL or MSN (among others including gmail) are unprofessional. I don't mean to offend anyone, but you can easily create an email address that reads "John@JohnSmith.com" and have it routed to your AOL address. That won't solve MY problem but it will make you look more dignified while you practice.

Is there B2B marketing that is more effective and less "offensive"? Are you top-of-mind? Let me know!

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Nancy Pav

Century 21 Redwood Realty - Ashburn, VA

Nancy Pav, Your "GottaHave" Realtor

Hi Lisa,

I don't think I would report your email as spam but I would ask to be removed from your list. I find that I get so many emails on a daily basis, many of which I never asked for, I hard it find to manage. And because of all of the unwanted emails, many times the ones I want get lost in the shuffle. Due to that fact, I often open the email, slide down to the bottom and hit unsubscribe.

Just this week, I was working on promoting a listing to agents and I called them. Now, I know that it's impossible to call every last agent but I was targeting those agents who had sold in the neighborhood.

Aug 13, 2011 08:20 AM

Cindy Jones

Integrity Real Estate Group - Woodbridge, VA

Pentagon, Fort Belvoir & Quantico Real Estate News

I don't report an email blast from another agent as Spam. I either delete it or unsubscribe from the general list. I think a private email "blast" is more effective than one that goes out to hundreds or even thousands of agents at once.

Aug 13, 2011 08:26 AM

Phil Hillerman

Crye-Leike Realtors® - Rogers, AR

Crye-Leike Realtors®

Hi Lisa, I wouldn't report you as spam. If I was getting too many emails from you I would just filter them to a folder. Most of my email is presorted so I can get the important ones first. The rest I review and delete when I have the time.

As for email addresses. I understand what you saying about having professional looking addresses, but to tell you the truth I don't find it to be a deal breaker. I have both and no one really seems to care, at least not my clients. This may change as everything does. Hope you have a great weekend!

Aug 13, 2011 08:38 AM

Lisa Duke

High Point, NC

I would much rather you unsubcribe than report me as spam. Thanks for the input, guys!

Aug 13, 2011 09:40 AM

Jose Rivas

Nottingham, MD

Lisa, I receive several open houses, broker's open, new listings, price reduction, mortgage rates, preservation companies, inspectors, loan officers, etc. from agents everyday, I filter them to my spam folder, my email program only recognize the email addres, so all their emails go to my spam folder.

The problem is when one of them send an offer on one of my listings, guess what, that offer will also go to my spam. In this day and age, some things are not cool, unsolicited blast emails is one of them.

There are so many ways for people to look at your listings or visit your business like social media, and forums like active rain and others.

Also some email blast companies when you go down to unsubscribe they will take it as spam.

Good luck

Aug 13, 2011 10:37 AM

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Lisa Duke

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