Ok....while reading another blog I ran across a comment that sparked some thoughts in my head. The blog was talking in reference to vehicle signs and using them or not.
While reading the comments I ran across this one:
I had magnetic signs when I first started in the business. An uninsured, unlicensed driver hit me on purpose with an unregistered car just to collect insurance money - and of course I got the ticket (I was more likely to pay.) That turned me off magnetic signs permanently.
I agree that they can help get your name out there, but what is the quality of the lead you are generating? Are they:
- qualifed
- committed to the process
- loyal to you
Usually the answers are, in order, "No.", "No.", and "No!". I don't want to work with everyone - my specialty is luxury homes, and luxury homeowners do not drive around with notepads looking for people with magnetic signs on their cars so they can do business with them. Instead, they depend on their referral networks. Skip the signs, and the bumper stickers - get out there and meet people face to face.
Now the part that was really interesting to me was not the "somebody ran into me" part, rather the three questions that were posed about the quality of lead being generated by vehicle signage.
Now I do own magnets...but I think they spend as much time stuck to the side of my refrigerator as to my truck. I, too, have been down the road of vehicle signage.
I think as a new agent we are immediately inclined to go and spend a lot of money to plaster our faces and names on the side of our vehicles and I sometimes wonder if this is not an example of "ego marketing" as I like to call it. Do people really care who you are? Is the signage on the car going to make them call you to buy thier next house? Probably not. I can say that in the time that I have ran magnets and even the time when I had my vehicle's windows lettered....not once, NOT ONCE did I recieve a call from someone wanting to buy or sell. I did recieve a few others though...LOL.
I have long thought about this since a buyer once said to me...."some real estate people go to such extremes to letter their vehicles that it really makes them look desperate...not someone that I would call"...that stuck, that stuck hard. Thinking about it, I think the buyer was right, after all, who better to tell us what advertising works than the population we are trying to serve.
Like, I said, I do have magnets...I do put them on once in awhile...but funny as it seems, everytime I peel them off, business goes up!
Anyway, back to the response that I wrote this blog about. Read through the 3 questions that are posed in the response and ask them of your vehicle advertising. Is your advertising sending the message you would like? Is it time for a change?
Now...read the last line of the response again...commit it to memory. That is the most important line you will ever read when it comes to this business.
GET OUT THERE AND MEET PEOPLE! QUIT LETTING YOUR SIGNS TRY TO DO THE JOB. THIS IS A CONTACT SPORT! NEVER EVER FORGET THAT!!!!!
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JT - I used these during my first year in the business, then I realized that I honestly didn't want everyone knowing my name and phone number if I inadvertantly cut someone off in traffic.