As a busy real estate agent, you’re looking for ways to grow your business. Aside from making a carbon copy of yourself or finding a time machine, there is a way to help you do more in less time: automate.
Marketing automation, also known as programmatic marketing, is the process of taking a marketing tactic and using technology to make it less of a manual process. Because the goal is to stay in touch with the connections that will send you most of your business -- more than 60% of a real agent’s business comes from friends, family and referrals from past clients. That’s your sphere of influence.
Regularity is good. Consistency is good. Value is key. But it’s about the right mix of touches -- how you reach out and what you offer when you do. And automation doesn’t mean you become an automaton.
But this isn’t about “setting and forgetting.” You can automate, but in a personalized way, advises speaker and technology-advisor Jeff Lobb. “Why not build a relationship with that person versus sending crap they have no interest in?” he asks. “You say you don't have time? Then you don't have time to make new sales.”
Andrea Sutton agrees. “Don’t be that agent who calls the first Tuesday of every month,” she says on the Ready Agent blog. “Try different activities to engage your sphere. Send personal, handwritten notes. Make positive comments on their Facebook posts. Send them a recommendation of a great new restaurant in town.”
These different activities and varied types of touches are what make up a good sphere strategy. “Memories are simply created when a connection is made, however brief it may be,” as famed coach Tom Ferry says. And there are many different tools available to help real estate agents automate and deliver on these touches.
1. Email newsletters
Email is ranked as the #1 preferred communication channel by consumers to find out about a new product/service and for post-purchase follow-up about that product/service.
How often?
1 - 2 times a month is plenty.
What should you say?
Newsletters can hold a lot of content. But many newsletter services populate the content for you, and that’s a no-no. As Geeky Girl Laurie Weston Davis points out, “Canned emails are about as good as canned vegetables. You can choke them down if necessary.”
So mix it up! Keller Williams agent Mark Slade does this with his newsletter. Include community calendars and local news, even funny YouTube clips. Feature a local business or a trusted service provider. You can tease the content and link off to your blog for the complete story or put all the information in your email.
What matters here is that it’s your content, specific to your sphere of influence. Don’t send seller content to agents. Don’t send agent content to home buyers.
2. Postcards
How often?
Postcards are often triggered communications -- a specific action initiates a mailing. An open house, a recent listing or sale. But with EDDM, you can target those to specific neighborhoods.
What should you say?
Direct mail is alive and well, but remember that people open their mail over the trashcan. Keep your message short, your graphics high resolution and always include your contact info!
3. Digital ads
How often?
Digital ads are passive and non-intrusive, so about once a day is right about right. Digital ads help you stay top of mind with the people in your network, without filling up their inbox, their mailbox or their voicemail.
With most people knowing anywhere from three to five different real estate agents, the pressure is on you to be the one they think of first for that highly valued referral. And when you’ve been in front of them on the web sites they visit every day, or in their Facebook feed, you’re more likely to be that agent.
Adwerx makes it easy with a simple ad builder that helps you broadcast the ad to your specific network, and only on the web sites they visit.
What should you say?
Use strong, benefit-driven messages that describe what sets you apart. Short, powerful calls to action that make it clear what you want users to know or do. And make sure you link to a landing page that reflects your audience. It should refer to how much you value repeat and referral business and offer something of value in return.
4. Phone calls
How often?
Frequency may vary depending on the relationship you have with your sphere. And coaches also vary, but one rule of thumb is to reach out to five people in your sphere everyday.
What should you say?
If you really aren’t sure what to say to each person in your sphere, try a script. But don’t feel tied to it, or the conversation will be stilted and do more harm than good. Scripts are ideas, conversation-starters and pointed questions to help you understand who might be thinking about buying or selling sometime soon.
5. Events
How often?
Events are time consuming and expensive, but can pay off in huge ways. Once a year is the minimum. Once a quarter is probably the maximum (unless you’re Steven David Elliot!).
What should you say?
This is more about what the theme of your event should be. There are dozens of blog posts with great idea such as event marketing guidelines from this post on Inman, a list of places to host such parties from Marketing Ideas for Agents, and great seasonal ideas from RealtorMag.
The right mix, or recipe as it were, is something unique and specific to you as a real estate agent. But it’s also tempting to automate every aspect of your connection, noted agents Ray Hustek and Carie Igel of Fathom Realty. “It’s easy to get lazy with technology,” they warn. The “But bottom line is this: it’s about the people you touch and the relationships you build.”
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