“My Best Farming Technique” is the “tried and true” method known as Direct Mail Marketing. I’ve been participating in this method for all of the 40 years of my participating in the real estate business as a listing agent. Of course, 40 years ago, very few participated in this Direct Mail Marketing. Networking was the method of choice for Broker/Owners. It cost them no money!!
My first Broker/Owner discouraged me from mailing postcards until my first call came in from my “very first mailing.” I had no money in 1978, so my program consisted of 5-5-10. That equates to 5 on each side of the listing and 10 across the street. How do you like those odds??? I never stopped mailing from that day forth.
I decided in my first year of real estate that “listings were the name of the game.” They haven’t failed me nor has the method I used to make my phone ring. Fast forward to present day, or this could result in a mini-version of a real estate book!
For the past 20 years, my direct mail marketing routine has expanded significantly. Every month I mail to all of the single-family homes throughout the entire town of Franklin MA (7,700) and I offer a Free Market Analysis. I also complement that Free Market Analysis postcard every month with “Just Listed; Sale Pending; and Sold Another One” postcards. As each status occurs, 500 postcards are mailed using the subject property as the nucleus of the circle. A total of 1,500 postcards are dedicated to each listing to announce all of the status changes.
The “Sale Pending” postcard is my most valued. No other agents in my area mail that status change. It’s mailed after the purchase and sales has been fully executed, and the sale pending rider is placed on the sign. The statement of “we can do this for you, too” is on the postcard. It’s the trigger. That’s all any homeowner wants to know, and that’s the statement of the agent saying they can find a buyer for the potential homeowner.
Direct Mail Marketing is also the method I use to target potential buyers for subdivisions. After the market crashed, I secured 4 Active Adult Communities to market. I purchased a database of names and addresses for towns within a 20-mile radius of Franklin. The names were of folks who were 55 years old and owned a home. I mailed consistently inviting them to attend our weekend open house events. All of the subdivisions were different price points, and we had all of them. When you have all the toys, and you market properly, you can’t help but succeed. We sold all 4 subdivisions in a timely fashion in a tough market.
Direct Mail has kept us in listings in this extreme sellers’ market. Now, I post all of my postcards online, too. It’s a smart move to integrate marketing. I use both online and offline, and they complement each other. My goal has always been to not miss a beat and capture the attention of the entire marketplace. The key to success with this method of marketing is consistency. It’s not a “one shot deal.”
This blog post was written as a submission to the ActiveRain Challenge - My Best Farming Technique (Sponsored by SmartZip). If you would like to share one of your favorite farming techniques (and earn up to 10K ActiveRain points as well as a chance to win a free ticket to a Ben Kinney Training event) head over to the blog post announcing the challenge.
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