As a Realtor, you face challenges that are “built into” the business of real estate.
When people embark on a major financial transaction, they are wary and reluctant to work with a stranger. In most cases they go to an agent with whom they have an established relationship, or they’ll ask for a trusted source.
Less than two per cent of the general population is involved in buying or selling a property in any given year.
Based on these realities, you are swimming upstream when your marketing efforts are primarily focused on promoting to complete strangers. Ninety-eight per cent will have no immediate use for your services.
Here’s a vastly more effective marketing strategy that you might want to consider.
Instead of promoting your services to strangers, focus on building a large sphere of influence. This will establish you as the “agent of choice” for hundreds or thousands of prospective clients. They will know who you are and what you do when the services of a Realtor are needed.
A survey carried out by Ansible Marketing in 2015 revealed this as the strategy employed by virtually all of today’s top producers.
Most take years to develop the sphere of influence that will feed them a steady stream of business. They join social, service and sport clubs, they do volunteer work and they are active socially. This method works, but it’s very time consuming.
The secret to building and sustaining a sphere of influence is having a process in place that enables you to stay in touch on a regular basis. Research has established that two contacts per month is the minimum required to sustain meaningful relationships.
Now, through the use of email, you can build and sustain your own sphere of influence faster and easier than ever before. As your sphere of influence grows, so will your business.
Here’s how email can help:
- Build a large email database. There are many sources you can use to harvest contacts, including friends, family, colleagues and old school buddies, as well as social media like your Facebook page and your LinkedIn contacts. You must follow the regulations set out in the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL).
- Start sending highly engaging, twice monthly personalized email messages to everyone on your contact list. The quality of the content provided in your email messages is the key to success in building solid relationships.
To be effective, your messages can’t be all about real estate. They must address topics that are interesting and valuable to those on your contact list. Remember, you aren’t trying to sell real estate directly. You are creating a sphere of influence where thousands of people will know who you are and what you do.
If you tried to stay in touch by getting together for a coffee or through phone calls, twice monthly contacts with your entire list would be impossible. But through the process described above, as the months roll on you will be steadily building your reputation as someone who’s considerate and thoughtful, a salesperson who’s helpful and not pushy, and most importantly, who’s available when someone needs realty services or a referral. You will be the one who gets that call!
To implement this strategy, you will have to outsource the content for your outbound email messages. There’s no way a busy salesperson has the time or expertise to research, write and edit high quality content to send out in twice monthly emails to all of your contacts. Thankfully, this writing can be outsourced easily – and at affordable rates.
All you need is a new mindset. Instead of paying for printing glossy fliers that too few people will read, you’ll be buying content that the people on your contact list will thank you for sharing with them.
Taking into account cost, time and effectiveness, it’s clear that you can get the best value for your marketing dollar by developing a large sphere of influence, keeping in touch with everyone on that list by regularly sharing useful, interesting and fun information, and being the “go-to” person when anyone needs a Realtor. It’s easier, and more effective, than traditional methods.
Ron Hume is the founder and president of Top-Tier Realty, a company that provides digital marketing services to Realtors. One of Canada’s most respected marketing authorities, he is a recipient of the American Marketing Association’s Donald D. MacAskill Award for Marketing Excellence. Email Ron Hume.
