According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the vast majority of real estate agents gain most of their leads through referrals. These real estate referrals generally come from satisfied home buyers and sellers. It is through making solid relationships with these customers that much of your future new business will come from.
Real Estate is a business centered on relationships. Realtors need to realize that it's not just leads that your after but cultivating those prospect leads into relationships so you will gain plenty of referrals in the future. You don't want to think that you just get a lead, make a listing, and sell a home without creating a relationship with your prospects.
The NAR says that 50% of potential real estate clients already know which agent they want to call first. This knowledge comes through recommendations from family, friends, and co-workers that have had a positive relationship with a specific real estate agent. Thus, a solid referral based upon a solid testimonial.
The moral of this is that regardless of where you gained a lead, whether through your website, homes magazines, newspaper ads, the yellow pages, or wherever, you need to build a solid relationship that continues through the realty process to the sales and beyond. This results in a satisfied customer and future referrals through word of mouth.
The bottom line is how many relationships can you develop from your leads? And once you have developed a solid relationship with your real estate lead, how can you build the value of that relationship so that it will lead to more business through referrals?
This should be a big part of your realtor marketing scheme. Keep in mind that real estate is a relationship business and this will give direction to your marketing plans. And remember, people want to do business with people they can trust and feel good about. This is the heart of marketing based upon a realtor relationship.
That's what good marketing does for a realtor. It creates a positive environment for you and your real estate business that allows others to view you as trustworthy. Once you've imbedded that concept into your prospects mind, you continually nurture it. This will lead to future referrals when the client is working with you in an atmosphere of trust.
How does direct response marketing fit into all of this? A solid relationship comes from being specific to the needs of your prospect. Therefore, you need to target each aspect of the real estate market independently. Speak to the prospects in those niches directly and in the language and terms they understand. In other words, match your message to your market.
Use headlines and copy in your real estate advertisements that appeal to your prospect's self-interest. And provide them with a quick, easy solution to their problems that is hassle-free. Give the prospect pertinent and timely information that aids them in their real estate quest. Since headlines are what gives ads their effectiveness, use them to provoke the prospect's curiosity and compel them to get in touch with you for selling or buying property.
In your copy, use the old formula of stating the prospect's real estate problem. Then agitate the problem in the mind of the prospect using emotions that they experience with this dilemma. Finally, provide them with the solution and make sure that you leave them feeling that you are the answer to their real estate needs.
Emotional copy propels the prospect to take action. I'm sure you've learned in your real estate classes that the prospect is "begging to be lead". Emotional appeals lend a hand in this and make the prospect think that you know what they're going through. They begin to trust you as you give them a means to satisfy their emotional problem.
This makes the prospect feel confident and comfortable calling or contacting you. You develop this atmosphere that enables a prompt action on the part of the prospect through your realtor marketing. Thus begins the real estate relationship.
An important aspect of your marketing is to get the prospect to make the first step and contact you. It is a priority in this age of the National Do Not Call and anti-spam laws that the prospect calls you and thus makes it possible for further contact and the cultivation of a solid real estate relationship.
Remember, everything related to real estate is a process. During the real estate process, there are many chances to create a relationship with your client that will lead to customer satisfaction and future referrals to your real estate business.
How do you build this relationship with your real estate clients? By continuously keeping in touch with them. You need to contact your clients, both past and present, at least once a month. This can be done through an email autoresponder to make it simple for you and less time consuming. A monthly real estate newsletter is a good way of staying in touch.
You can offer thins to your real estate network through recorded information. This is a good way to make it easy for prospects to pick up the phone and respond. There are many offers that you can provide past customers that will make them want to hear from you and keep in touch.
Just be sure that you provide solid information that will be of use to them. Don't give them dry, impersonal garbage or shower them with spam. That's not cultivating a good relationship. Once you've established a good rapport with a prospect or client, nurture it and it will pay off in future dividends and referrals.
