Jan
27
Here’s the deal: Over the last 50 years, buying and selling a home has gotten complicated. There are so many bylaws and regulations–things you can say and you can’t…
It’s overwhelming just thinking about it. No wonder most people opt to have a real estate agent help them buy or sell.
But let me ask you a question: How often have you promoted the fact that you can make the buying and selling process easy? If you answer “Not much,” I think it’s about time to change your tune. Let me show you what I mean.
Here’s Bruce Horovitz from USA Today:
“If 2009′s hottest sales pitch was all about buying stuff on the cheap, 2010 marketing will increasingly stress less as more, as in fewer parts, additives, or ingredients.
“While the trend is taking hold in many product categories, including health and beauty items, nowhere is it more apparent than with things we eat and drink.”
Now, a simple food is hard to do. You can’t really make a mass-produced product like vegetable beef soup or macaroni and cheese taste as good as something that comes fresh from your kitchen.
So you work a little advertising magic. One way to do that is put forth in a book called Simplicity Marketing. Here’s Publisher’s Weekly comment:
In an age when Crest toothpaste comes in 45 varieties, consumers long for companies that make life easier by reducing choices, claim Cristol, a marketing consultant, and Sealey, a former global marketing director at Coca-Cola.
Playing off the four “P”s (product, price, promotion and placement) that many marketers use to hone their strategic thinking, Cristol and Sealey have come up with four “R”s.
The four Rs are Replace, Repackage, Reposition and Replenish. Let’s look how you could use this formula to craft your marketing message in 2010 to attract the prospect that’s interested in simplicity.
Replace is simply a short way of compressing two products into one. Think 2-and-1 shampoo and conditioner. In a real estate context this could mean offering to help people buy their next house while you sell their current one. I’ve seen agents drop their commission with the promise that their clients commit to letting the agent help find their next house.
Repackage could mean simply handling just one part of the transaction–like a discount shop.
Reposition just means promoting you yourself as standing for simplicity itself. Remember Honda’s slogan: “We make it simple”? You could do the same.
Replenish basically means you perform and provide the same high-level of service before, during and after a transaction. In addition, if you have a team, this means that they will provide the same level of service before, during and after a transaction as you would.
The bottom line is this: Promote the fact that the process of buying or selling a home with you will be simple, easy and carefree.
Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add. And if you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.
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Jan
22
People are self-interested.
That means they don’t care about the car you drive. How many houses you sold. The number of awards you’ve won. What school you went to. Who you work for or how long you’ve been in the business.
All they want to know is this: What’s in it for me?
The sooner you recognize that, the sooner you’ll jump-start your leads, pump up your production and revive your career.
Listen. I can’t think of any better piece of advice to give you as a real estate agent–heck, as a person–than what I’m about to share.
In fact, follow this piece of advice and I guarantee you that not only will business pick up for you–but your life will gain an increasing amount of happiness, confidence and fun.
Because what I’m talking about is really the secret for good living. It’s paradoxical and goes against the grain of what people will tell you. But here’s the deal: It works.
Follow this advice and the following three rules that follow from it and your leads and production will take a leap forward the moment you start.
The piece of advice is this: Don’t focus on you. Focus on people. Here are some rules to help you live that out.
Rule One: People Hate to Be Sold–But Love to Buy
People want control. Buying suggests control. Being sold is just the opposite. People feel under pressure. Out of control.
And what do people do when they feel out of control? Either fight or run. You want to avoid that.
So how do you put people in the buying mood? Simple. You identify their problems and desires…and then show them how you can solve those problems and satisfy those wants.
The Problem-Agitate-Solve formula is a perfect example of this.
If you want to attract sellers, tell them that you can sell their home for the most money in the least amount of time. Two things sellers want: A fast sale and high value for their home.
Thing is, if you don’t think you can do that for someone…don’t offer to. You’ll set yourself up for failure…and that’s not good for your reputation.
Now, if you want to attract buyers, convince them that you can help them buy the most home for the least amount of dollars. Convince them that you can get them in a home they never dreamed they could afford. Show them that you can find the a family-friendly neighborhood…or an urban, upscale home near the theater and museum.
The point is, find out what they love and want…and tell them you can help them satisfy those desires.
Rule Two: Emotions Drive People’s Buying Decisions…Not Logic
Even though top-notch trainers spout this one a lot, few people really get it right .
Regardless of what your client tells you…no one buys or sells a home with logic. No. People buy or sell on emotional reasons. That’s why it’s so important to connect with people’s emotions.
How do you do that? Start with the seven deadly sins: fear, greed, vanity, lust, pride, envy and laziness.
Some people want to keep up with the Joneses [envy]. Others want to be better than the Joneses [vanity]. And still others want away from the Joneses [fear].
Your job is to spot the dominant emotion…and stoke it.
How do you do this? Ask questions and listen. Then ask more questions. And you know you’re getting close to a dominant emotion when they start to share feelings.
It’s that dominant emotion you’ll need to focus on when you need to close a deal.
Rule Three: People Use Logic to Justify Their Buying Decisions
Don’t stop with the emotions, though. Once they close the deal, their rational side will kick in to start questioning their decision. That’s when you need to cut off any kind of remorse right away.
Here’s a couple ways you could do that:
“Hey, we couldn’t pass up the $8,000 tax credit on this house.” Emotional reason: It’s 125 square feet bigger than Joneses.
“Hey, it’s almost $200,000 more than we wanted to spend, but we couldn’t pass up the finished basement on this baby!” Emotional reason: I wanted a bigger house than my boss.
“Sure the mortgage payments will spread us thin, but it’s close to better schools.” Emotional reason: The neighborhood was getting dangerous.
You get the picture? Good. Now, master these three rules and your career and life will gradually get better and better.
Like what you read? Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add.
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Jan
15
What a couple of easy tips to help you make a home look attractive to a buyer? Then you’re at the right place.
Understand, most buyers are looking for things in a new home that they DON’T have in their current homes.
Maybe it’s nothing more than a master bedroom. Or a fireplace. Or simply space. Then again, they may be nosing around for a showcase living room…you know, a living room you’d find in a major magazine.
If you can make the whole house look that way…then you should be looking at multiple offers. Here are a few steps
1. Everything should be clean. The furniture. The window sills. The appliances. All parts of the house should pass the white glove test.
2. Simplify. Every room should be expansive and airy. No clutter. If it’s a living room, keep the sofa, coffee table and flat screen. If it’s a bedroom, keep the bed and a dresser. That’s it. Put everything else in storage.
3. Remove family photos. Nothing personal, but you never see family photos on the walls of the homes in home design magazines, do you? You only see art.
4. Borrow some great paintings and large photographs of nature or an urban region from friends and families. And decorate the walls.
5. Paint. You can work some serious magic if you paint. This is a must do. But keep it neutral.
6. Bed linens. Borrow or buy some plump, fresh linens and pillows for the beds.
7. Remove the blinds and drape over-sized curtains from poles.
8. Invest in some large rugs. Rugs are great for covering up spots and anchoring a room with some depth and color.
9. Minimize the landscaping. Too much of it and you’ll give the person who doesn’t like to landscape an excuse to put this home on the back burner. Yes, good landscaping creates great curb appeal. Too much of it, though, and you create fear in some people.
10. Buy a kick-ass cool front door. Buyers are going to spend a minute or two at your front door while the agent fumbles with the lock box. You want that first impression to growl and say, “You know you want to come in.”
Staging a home might sound like a lot of work. But it’s worth every penny. In fact, you might stage the home and not want to leave. Better yet, you might sell the home in record time. Which is what you want.
Like what you read? Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add.
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Jan
6
A Sure-Fire Way to Keep People from Using the Competition
Filed Under Real Estate Marketing | Leave a Comment
Most people don’t give much thought to customer retention. They usually spend all their time worrying about the next deal. The next lead.
What they don’t realize is how much business they could KEEP if they simply followed up with past customers.
Let me ask you a question: How would you react if you got a call from the guy who sold you your car to make sure everything was going okay?
How would you react if your dentist called you the day after a root canal to make sure you were out of pain?
How would you react if a manager at a nice restaurant phoned you up to let you know they can reserve a spot for you on Valentine’s Day?..
How would you react if the gal who cuts your hair sent you an email with a survey, looking for comments and suggestions?
Some business people tell me that’s looking for trouble. I’m sorry, but I couldn’t disagree more. In fact, I think it’s looking for just the opposite: rapport, loyalty, satisfaction and repeat business.
See, if follow-up turns up a lot of dissatisfaction, then obviously you need to make some serious changes because the dissatisfaction was there whether you discovered it or not.
But more than likely that won’t happen. If it does, simply apologize and thank them profusely for being honest and promise them that you will make that change. Then…and here’s the kicker…ask them if they would give you feedback in the future as you make these changes.
People love to give their opinions, so you’re usually going to get a yes.
Danny Kennedy said it best:
Recognition and appreciation can be very powerful and very inexpensive as a marketing strategy. It is true that comprehensive follow-up and follow-through may reveal some inadequacies in your business operation and that’s good if you use those discoveries as impetus for improvement.
Of course every business, no matter how well managed, will have to deal with dissatisfied even angry customers from time to time.
Sometimes the customer is justified in his complaints other times he is not. But the mere handling of the dissatisfied is just another way to get people to love you and avoid using the competition.
Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add. And if you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.
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