The marketing I teach agents is designed to elicit a direct response from their prospects. When agents following my system place a property ad, instead of listing the agent’s cell phone or office phone for more information (meaning the prospect will have to jump the hurdle of speaking with an agent to get the information they’re after – a fact that will suppress the number of people who will call in the first place), prospects are driven to a pre-recorded telephone hotline which enables them to efficiently capture, sift and sort their prospects. The reason for this is larger than the scope of this article, but it’s important to frame this to focus in on the topic at hand which is that fact that some of the agents new to my system are unclear about how they should structure the hotline script for their listings. They're uncertain whether they should specifically identify the street address of the listing.
When I first started to develop the systems I'm using, I also debated this issue with myself. In hindsight, the issue is very clear to me.
To start with, you have to understand the strategy behind both the ad and the hotline script. The purpose of the ad (the ONLY purpose) is to compel prospects to pick up the phone and call you. The purpose of the hotline script is to compel prospects to take the next step by identifying and qualifying themselves (i.e. to leave a message.) The question of whether to include the address of the property relates to the first job -- i.e. the job of compelling the prospect to leave a message.
You do this partly by hitting their emotional hot buttons by painting an irresistible word picture of the property which makes them crave to see the inside of the home, or at least to want more information about the home, but if you go on to then give them the specific street address, they no longer need you to satisfy this craving. If you tell them exactly where the property is, they can get any agent to take them through it, and then you're out of the loop (i.e. you work to generate the lead, but run the high risk of losing it to another agent.) For this reason, on my Property Hotline system, we never give the street address. Instead, we give them the general sense of the area (i.e. this Aurora Home, or this Newmarket Home), and let them know that they can receive a free information package about this listing by leaving their contact information.
The offer of the information package accomplishes a couple of important things. Number one, it is non-threatening. The prospect can request the information (i.e. complete listing details including the address) without having to speak with an agent. As I've said many times, prospects do not want to be sold. If they have to call an agent to get this information, they are far less likely to make this request fearing that the agent will engage them in the typical cat and mouse game. By offering them a free information package, we make it very easy and non-threatening for them to raise their hand as a prospective buyer.
As my students also know, the purpose of the ad is not to sell this particular property (since it is rare that a buyer actually goes on to buy the specific property he or she called in on), but rather to generate a good buyer lead. When a buyer leaves his or her contact information to receive the free information kit, you’ll give them a call to let them know the information package has been sent, and then you’re able to make a universal and non-threatening offer that the buyer is happy to respond to. (My students are able to offer what we call our Buyer Profile System.)
So you can see that by leaving the street address out of the hotline script, you force the prospect to contact you which enables you to initiate a relationship. This is the goal of all your marketing.
We hold many free, half day seminars across the country for agents who want to learn more about my system and you can search the current schedule here.
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