The active realtor is writing letters all the time. Letters are used to find prospects, inform clients, and in closing deals. Realtor's letters can also take on a new face in the internet age. This is the use of real estate sales letters on the realtor's website.
Not many realtors have considered the fact that the internet is a sales tool. Direct marketers have been using the internet for this purpose almost since its beginnings. The smart realtor has to consider using the internet and the realtor website to pre-sell the prospect on a particular home or property.
What do I mean by this? Simply this, use your web pages to sell your listings. And take heed of how direct marketers use online sales letters to do their bidding. The internet has given realtors a means to break from tradition. And since research shows that most prospects begin their search online these days, take advantage of this.
I advise my realtor friends as to the distinct advantage of having their own personal realtor website that is separate from their agency's site. There's good reason for this. The main ones being that they can use their website to prospect for leads and to pre-sell their listings.
Your personal realtor website gives you the flexibility to break away from the traditional MLS style of listing your properties. Your agency does enough of that. It allows you to get personal with the potential buyer without having to originally meet face-to-face.
When I tell this to realtors, they usually respond with something like "What the heck are you talking about. A listing is a listing, whether its in the printed media or on the web". But that's not the case. Printed ads cost money. Therefore you don't want them to take much space. Photos cost more that print, so you only want one.
On the web, space is cheap. You can put up as many photos as you wish. Have you ever looked at a direct marketer's sales pages? If printed out, some can be as long as 20 pages. And with your personal real estate website, you can present your listings in a different form from the run of the mill MLS that traditional realtors use.
So, where am I going with this and what does it mean for you? ...
I suggest that you set up a web page with all your listings. Each listing should have a "link" to a sales page for that property. And here's the weight of this line of thought: The sales page should be in the form of a direct marketing "sales letter".
You're saying to yourself "What the heck is that?" You've received many sales letters through the mail. Direct marketing letters have been sent to people since the beginning of the 20th century. They're nothing new. In fact, you've probably thrown many of these in the waste basket over your lifetime.
Remember the letter you received telling you that your family name has a "coat of arms"? It went on to sell you a beautifully framed rendition of your personal family coat of arms to hang on your wall. That was a direct marketing sales letter.
Letters like this beg you to make a direct response by either buying or not. Web sales letters are the same. You either click and buy, fill out a form, email or phone for more information, or click away from the web page. A direct response is illicited. In the case of a real estate listing, it would be to fill out a form, email, or phone for more information.
Each listing should have its own page. This page should have a strong headline to get the reader to read the ad. The listing should be presented emotionally and with the benefits to the buyer in mind. The features of the property are covered in your agency's listings, and they are secondary to a sales letter that is trying to get the prospect to contact you.
Use the sales letter to create an emotional bond with the prospect. This will go a long way in pre-selling them on the property and dealing with you as their real estate agent. Use psychological detail and the prospects benefits when describing the features. "End of the road seclusion" "Imagine you and your spouse relaxing by the fireplace" "The peace and quite you deserve by having the kids bedrooms on a separate level"
Cater to the wants, needs, desires, and dreams of the prospective client. These are the things that sell. People buy with their emotions, then use the features and details to justify their purchase. Remember this important point as most listings are simply a photo and features. It's the photo that sells through the emotions, not the printed features.
Place photos of the house and property at appropriate places within the sales page. Generally, you will have the main photo near the top of the page. But photos can be placed within the ad to emphasize emotional benefits and features.
The features of the property aren't a total "no, no". But place them near the bottom of the page. I prefer them to be "bulleted". Why near the bottom? Most prospects will only be interested in the features once they believe they should look at the property. If they read to the bottom, you've generally pre-sold them on the idea to contact you to see the listing. They'll be in contact with you soon.
Break up the written content of the page with sub-headlines. These are used because people that visit web pages generally "scan" them. Just as you probably scan the headlines of a newspaper. Sub-headlines will draw the prospect back into reading your advertisement.
Finally, you want to make the prospect take action. The easiest means is to have them click on a link that will allow them to send you an email. But any link like this should also have your phone number so they can call you immediately if the sales page has got them excited.
This all sounds involved and time consuming, but isn't it worth your time if it results in a sale. Once you've written a sales page, others become easier. Soon, you can write them in your sleep.
You can write a few sales letters that can be used and modified for sales pages in the future. Just fill in the blank types. You can also hire a ghostwriter to do this task. Ghostwriters can quickly be found for such tasks and they are more inexpensive that you might think. Websites like www.elance.com are on the internet just for finding freelance writers.
A realtor website with personalized sales pages for each listing will increase your sales and bring you new clients. A realtor friend of mine reported a 400% increase in the sales of his listing by creating his own real estate website like this.
Imagine what your personal realtor website can do for you?
