Targeted Mailings
Direct mail is a great way to reach more people, faster. The key to a successful direct mail campaign is the list that you are mailing to. The type of list you need to acquire depends on the type of business you want. You could mail to lists of people who have owned their house for 5 years, people with bad credit, people with great credit, people with kids of college age, people in foreclosure, or just about anything else you could think of.
Determine first whom you want to mail to. Look in the yellow pages under mailing lists or list broker and these people will help you find the right list. There are also companies that cater to the real estate and mortgage industries. For example, there are companies that can help you get lists of people with certain interest rates, or with a certain amount of equity.
After getting your list, you need to write a letter that tells the consumer why they should take the action you want them to. What benefits are in it for them? Sell the benefits of what they will get by doing business with you. Make it a personal letter, coming from you, not a large company. Then make it easy for them to contact you. Offer them something for responding quickly. The more time goes by after they read your letter the less chance they will ever contact you.
Hand address all your letters if possible, and use real stamps, not bulk mail or postage meters. Make your letter seem personal. You do not want it looking like junk mail.
Mortgage Companies (This is my favorite part...lol)
Up until the late 1980's Realtors were the #1 source of business for the mortgage industry. Realtors controlled the buyers and could get them to go to any mortgage company they wanted. It's still that way with most buyers. But the mortgage industry since then has started marketing directly to consumers. That's why nowadays mortgage companies are great sources for buyers.
Mortgage companies all want to work with Realtors. (hint, hint ;-) Most of them still depend on Realtors as their #1 source of business. If you are going to be in the business, you will need your clients to go to a mortgage company. Don't make a rookie mistake and not use this leverage.
Many trainers teach that you should not tell your buyers what mortgage company to use. This makes some sense, but if you do your homework and choose a good one there are many more benefits than pitfalls.
First of all you do not want to recommend a large company where you don't know anyone personally. Almost all real estate firms own their own mortgage and title companies. They want you to send them business. But do these companies ever send you business? I doubt it. What you need to do is find a broker or a particular loan officer that can work with your clients individually and provide great service. This person needs to be available to you and keep you constantly updated through the entire loan process.
And when people approach this person looking to buy a house and they do not yet have a Realtor, expect that person to recommend you. You send them business and they send you business.
A good mortgage company will also have great follow up systems to handle prospective prospects that are not yet ready to buy. If at all possible delegate your follow up duties to the mortgage company. Let them do the work, but make sure those prospects are returned to you once they are ready to buy or sell.
Summary
We've gone over some ways to jump-start your business very cheaply and quickly. The purpose of this report was to get your mind flowing with ideas on how you can generate leads in a hurry. Take these techniques, use them, improve them, and succeed with them. They have worked, are working, and will continue to work.
Don't get fancy and spend money on things you don't need right away. Spend 70% of your day prospecting for leads, calling your sphere, cold calling, passing out cards, etc.
Do these things religiously and I guarantee you'll have enough business to keep you very, very busy.
Warning: Once the leads start coming in and turning into sales, do not stop prospecting. The leads that you generate are all future business. If you have no leads you will have no future income. Don't get so busy putting out fires that you ignore prospecting and marketing.
For more ideas and inspiration read the following:
How to Sell Anything to Anybody by Joe Girard
Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson
101 Ways to Promote Yourself by Raleigh Pinskey
Good Luck and Good Selling!!!
NN
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