Today's economic stress is pushing companies and business to the wall. Some sectors have seen drops of nearly 50 per cent!
If your competition is still in business, they may be laying low or licking there wounds. If you are a ‘nice guy' then it may be business as usual and treat the summer months as you have for the last few boom years. But if you want to gain a competitive advantage and use this slump to position yourself at the top, nice guys finish last...
Now is the time to turn up the heat, consider some of the following tactics;
Introduce extended terms. Offer your customers different payment terms, your rivals will either lose the business of customers that bite, or be forced to do the same, reducing their ability to generate much needed revenue. In the real estate world times are changing and attitudes need checking - today clients have access to the MLS listing, they have access to tax records, comparables and floor plans with a touch of a mouse button.
Play Scooby- Doo Our job has changed, guiding the sale not directing it. If your clients ask and probe about your commission structure be firm but open with them, everyone has a uncle or friend in the business and you do not want to lose an end to a hack for a small cash back option. You don't hang your license at assist2sell for a reason but be honest an open. Bird in the hand.
Boost your marketing expenditures. Raise your advertising and awareness. Pound your farm area, get twittering, think outside the box. Either your competitor will have to spend more, or risk losing the clients that you attract.
Lengthen the ‘tail' of the revenue generation. Add more after- sale services and spiffs. Take for example the Jarvis Group, a top notch realty brokerage that provides their clients with branded moving boxes, professional cleaning and a buying and selling guarantee that puts clients at ease and instills confidence. Another great example is George Porter's client referral rewards, he has created a tier system that offers larger and larger rewards to an individual for every client they send them topping out with an all expense paid trip to Palm Desert for a week!
Pursue your competitor's most profitable customers. A good business management team knows where their company makes and doesn't make money. Great management teams know this about their competitors. When I worked for Penske Automotive we had a yearly review with Roger himself, as we produced our numbers (which were phenomenal) Rogers only question "was who is in front of you, and who is behind you" We did not know the response and he sternly remarked that as a race car driver you always know who is in front and who is in behind. Needless to say we knew the numbers next year! With the current market situation there has never been a better time to call on expired listings, go after FISBO's and even knock on builder sites - I have personally seen a number of high profile sites change marketers this year and with MAC gone and Rennie losing favor there has never been a better time.
Sell against the competition. People love stability, they want to know that you will be around to assist them in the future and make good on your service level commitments. With so many ‘fly by night' agents and brokers flocking away from the business now is the time to push your track record and plant the seed of doubt to those looking at employing a low producing ‘uncle'
Go After The Best Talent. With many brokers and agents businesses at a standstill they are cutting back and dropping their best assistants like flies. As many of us know these ‘star old school agents' will wither without the protection and efficiency of a good assistant. In fact I know a extremely high producing Realtor who cannot even attaché a picture to an email! Without these assistants they are blind in the modern world. Offer these assistant terms and conditions that your competitor will have a hard time matching.
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