Thou shall market to others as you would want them to market to you!
I have been self employed since 1991, four years selling real estate and the past twelve years as a home inspector. For most of my self-employment history, I have marketed to others as I would want them to market to me, much to the chagrin of a few national trainers. At first I did as I was told and made those chilling Cold Calls and believed that when a person said NO that they were really saying YES! I had drunk from the glass of marketing Kool-Aid, but it was just not working well for me.
My father was still alive back in the mid 1990's and he was a very wise man. He saw that I was becoming frustrated over the lack of success I was having in my marketing. He had me market to him and a seven of his friends whom he had not told that I would be doing this. I called them, I sent letters and I sent cards. Keep in mind that these men were all in their mid 60's to early 70's and had all been successful businessmen. One was a former (4 terms) US Congressman, several were retired government workers and a two were former airline pilots. I did this for eight weeks, every week I mailed them a letter or a postcard. I called them three times during those eight weeks and I never used my father's name. At the end of those eight weeks my father had the men over for their monthly game of Bridge, Yep they were his Bridge Game buddies!
My dad asked them all if they had been getting some mailings or calls from a local real estate agent. Only two of the men recalled ever getting anything in the mail! All of them recalled a phone call. From that point on I started calling in person, and not cold calls. I called folks that I had met in person or that we had mutual friends. It paid off more than I could ever hope for. I also stopped the mass mailings and only sent personal notes to folks. I still market this way. I send about 10-20 letters a month to past clients and folks that I meet. I send letters to Realtors who I meet at inspections and those that give me their card.
In today's market we have email and it is so tempting to send email blast to anyone that you have an email address for. This in my opinion is the Kiss of Death to any marketing campaign. Just think of how and what you do to unsolicited emails and how you feel about them. If you are like me I have fantastic email filters that catch a good portion of unsolicited emails, aka SPAM!
I say all of this in an attempt to show that folks respond better to one on one contact, and to Market to Others and You Would Want Them To Market To You!
Comments (3)Subscribe to CommentsComment