Mariflor’s recent mailing was a Call to Action postcard (shown here). To learn more, Click Here.
Congratulations, Mariflor Perez, on winning this week’s contest!
Mariflor had the following words to say about her success sending marketing out from ProspectsPLUS!,
“ProspectPLUS! always provides excellent service with high-quality materials and products. Their customer service is exceptional, showing their dedication to excellence. Working with them is a real pleasure as they consistently go the extra mile to meet their customers’ needs.”
– Mariflor Perez
Mariflor, thank you for your review. We truly appreciate you and your support!
Don’t Forget to Enter For Your Chance to Win a $75 ProspectsPLUS! Gift Card! (see how below)*
HOW TO ENTER: Just leave feedback regarding how using marketing from ProspectsPLUS! has impacted your business, and you’re automatically entered into our next contest.
*If you’ve already entered our drawing in the past and haven’t won, you don’t need to enter again. Your entry remains valid, and you still have a chance to win.
Don’t forget to watch for next Friday’s email announcing the weekly winner!
PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.
1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine
Homes & Life Magazine is a customizable magazine with rich, full-color content and a sharp, professional aesthetic. It includes compelling, direct response-driven articles written by real estate industry experts and engaging lifestyle content. Send out Homes & Life Magazine in Just Minutes – No Minimums Required. Or we’ll ship it to you. Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here
2.The Free 6-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan
The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 6-Month Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do and when. Four key market segments include niche Markets, geographic farming, sphere of influence, and past clients. – Click Here
3. The Free Interactive 6-Month Real Estate Business Review
The Free Interactive 6-Month Real Estate Business Review allows you to enter your business goals for the remainder of the year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closing, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here
4. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook
Ready to take a vertical leap in your real estate career? If you’re looking for inspiration…and the tools and methods to dominate a market and go to the top in real estate…you’ll find them in this free book. – Click Here
Barbara Jackson recently sent a postcard from the Call to Action Series, shown above. To see more, Click Here.
Congratulations, Barabara Jackson, on winning this week’s contest!
Barbara had the following words to say about her success sending marketing out from ProspectsPLUS!,
“Great experience working with ProspectPLUS!. The attention to detail is very impressive. I love getting the reminder emails when my postcards are being sent out on my scheduled postcard campaign.”
-Barbara Jackson
Barbara, thank you for this wonderful feedback. We truly appreciate you and your support!
Don’t Forget to Enter For Your Chance to Win a $125 ProspectsPLUS! Gift Card! (see how below)*
What Can You Do With a $125 ProspectsPLUS! Gift Card? Here are 5 Things:
Launch and pay for the first month of a Sphere or Farm Scheduled Campaign consisting of 130 jumbo postcards.
Send 130 jumbo Just Listed or Just Sold Postcards to a radius surrounding your listing.
Send 130 Jumbo Get More Listings postcards to an area where you want more listings.
Create a niche prospect list (empty nesters, move-up market, etc.) and mail 130 jumbo postcards.
HOW TO ENTER: Just leave a review regarding how using marketing from ProspectsPLUS! has impacted your business, and you’re automatically entered into our next contest.
*If you’ve already entered our contest in the past and haven’t won, you don’t need to enter again. Your entry remains valid, and you still have a chance to win.
Don’t forget to watch for next Friday’s email announcing the weekly winner!
PLUS: When you have time…below are some helpful tools to support your success.
1. The Free 12-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan
The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 12-Month Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do and when. Four key market segments are included, niche Markets, geographic farming, sphere of influence, and past clients. – Click Here
2. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan
The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for this year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closings, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here
3. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook
Ready to take a vertical leap in your real estate career? If you’re looking for inspiration…and the tools and methods to dominate a market and go to the top in real estate…you’ll find them in this free book. – Click Here
In recent months, more than 15% of home sales fell through nationwide, according to a Redfin analysis. If you’re a Phoenix, Las Vegas, or Tampa agent, you’re undoubtedly familiar with this, as these cities have the highest number of incompleted real estate deals.
According to a survey from Cinch Home Services, the top 5 reasons for these derailments include:
The buyer walked
The buyer’s mortgage application was denied
Seller backed out
Home inspection issues
The home didn’t appraise
Don’t wait for your deals to start falling apart. Being proactive rather than reactive will help avoid some more common problems.
1. Vet the buyer
According to the aforementioned Cinch survey, 42% of derailed deals in recent month’s resulted from a denied loan application.
Buyers’ agents should thoroughly vet their clients to ensure they qualify for a loan and are prepared to financially complete the deal.
Listing agents might want to consider requesting “… a recent pre-approval letter from the lender, written within the last 30 days,” suggests a Boulder, Colorado agent at realtor.com.
Additionally, ensure that the buyer has a lock on the interest rate. “Buyers that have a mortgage rate lock are more likely to close the purchase versus those that still need a rate lock,” according to zondahome.com’s chief economist Ali Wolf.
Jason Gelios, author of “How to Think Like a Realtor,” offers up some signs for a listing agent to be on the lookout for that might indicate that the buyer isn’t as strong as you might hope. These include:
A small down payment
Requests for credits or concessions from the seller
A pre-approval letter from an unfamiliar lender
2. Tighten up those contingency timelines
Not too long ago, we were engulfed in a hot, hot, hot sellers’ market, so much so that the word ‘contingency’ almost became obsolete.
“Now, the supply and demand balance has changed,” Aly J. Yale at money.com reminds us. “Buyers have leverage, ushering in a new age of contingency-laden deals.”
“Homebuyers now will agree to buy a house and be doing the inspection, and then back out because they found another home they love more,” cautions a Redfin agent in Las Vegas.
Before accepting a contract, counsel your client to counter with a request to shorten any overly-long contingency timelines. The less time the buyers have to shop around for another home while still under contract on your listing, the better.
3.Consider a pre-sale home inspection
Nearly 40% of failed real estate deals can be blamed on home inspection results.
We get it: Many agents hesitate to recommend a pre-listing home inspection to their clients. Some say it’s because it presents additional disclosure items. Whatever the reason, the truth about the home will come out in the buyers’ inspection report anyway.
Be proactive so your client has the full picture of what she’s facing when the buyer’s inspection results come in. This allows your client to fix or replace anything you’re sure will be an issue for the buyer.
At the very least, you’ll have time to strategize how to handle negotiations if there are problems with the home.
PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.
1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine
Homes & Life Magazine is a customizable magazine with rich, full-color content and a sharp, professional aesthetic. It includes compelling, direct response-driven articles written by real estate industry experts combined with engaging lifestyle content. Send out Homes & Life Magazine in Just Minutes – No Minimums Required. Or we’ll ship it to you.
Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here
2.The Free 12-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan
The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 12-Month-Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do and when. Four key market segments include niche Markets, geographic farming, sphere of influence, and past clients. – Click Here
3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system
The most effective thing you can do to build a real estate business is to become more visible, more likable, and remembered more often. The BusinessBASE™ not only checks these boxes but is also a business-building machine. In two easy steps, you can begin to build a robust sphere of influence that will provide you a lifetime of repeat business and referrals. –Click Here
4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan
The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for this year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closing, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here
5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook
Ready to take a vertical leap in your real estate career? If you’re looking for inspiration…and the tools and methods to dominate a market and go to the top in real estate…you’ll find them in this free book. – Click Here
Before you launch your next direct mail marketing campaign, make sure to add these rules to your list of must-do’s.
Rule #1 Provide a Compelling Call-to-Action
Retailers have an easy time with calls-to-action. Offering a percentage off, free shipping, or buy-one, get-one-free are all popular examples.
What about real estate agents though? What kind of call-to-action can you provide that might compel a recipient of your postcard to contact you for more information?
The following are a few examples that are attention-getting and have the potential to engage homeowners and get them requesting more information.
• Free Downsizing Review and Strategy • Free Home Equity Analysis • Free Vacant Home Sales Strategy • Free Home Price Analysis
The Call to Action Series of postcards is shown above. To learn more about sending a one-time mailing, Click Here. To learn more about sending a recurring campaign, Click Here.
Keep in mind, however; the number of hoops you force your prospects to jump through to take advantage of these offers does impact the response rate, according to Bob McCarthy at DMNews.com. The more they have to do to receive that offer, the lower the response rate.
Rule #2 Utilize Standout Designs
“One strategy we use to get our highest response rates is to make the call-to-action the centerpiece of the direct mail piece,” McCarthy claims.
Whether you choose to include an image representing the free offer or use text to describe it, mention it boldly and repeatedly. Your message (its length and graphic requirements) determines the size and style of the medium.
Plan on keeping it plain and simple? A standard-sized postcard may do the trick, although jumbo, panoramic, and mega-sized postcards stand out in mailboxes, which makes for a genuinely lasting impression.
If it is graphics-heavy and you include substantial copy, using one of the larger postcard sizes (jumbo or panoramic) becomes even more important.
Choose a font that is easy to scan as people sift through their mail. As direct mail experts, we recommend using a sans serif font, such as Arial, rather than Times New Roman or another serif font.
Consider varying the font size throughout the text. For example, you can highlight important items with a larger version of the font you choose.
Additional design tips to keep in mind include ensuring your headline is bold and compelling, yet short and specific. Use lots of white space to make the piece appear to be easily digestible.
Subheadings are important, as they help guide the reader through the text.
Don’t forget to use high-resolution photographs, and avoid placing text over photos. Last note, ensure that your call-to-action stands out and that your contact information is easy to find.
Rule #3 Track Your Results
Tracking your results is vital to long-term marketing success.
In fact, the only way to continue to improve your marketing results, and achieve a higher ROI, is to understand what has worked and hasn’t worked in the past.
Of course, the easiest way to track your marketing is to make it a habit of asking each person who calls how they heard about you.
Another way is to make your free offer unique for easy tracking. When you receive incoming calls you will know immediately what marketing piece inspired their call based on the offer they inquire about.
One more popular method used by agents is to create a dedicated landing page on your website. The URL should be unique to the campaign, so you are able to learn your exact response rate (number of responses divided by the total number of pieces sent).
Marketing experts vary when quoting an “average response rate” for direct mail.
The most recent figure puts it at 9%. How close or far you are from that figure depends on how closely you follow the guidelines outlined above.
PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.
1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine
Homes & Life Magazine is a customizable magazine, with rich, full-color content, and a sharp, professional esthetic. It includes compelling, direct response-driven articles written by real estate industry experts, combined with engaging lifestyle content. Send out Homes & Life Magazine in Just Minutes – No Minimums Required. Or we’ll ship it to you.
Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and, it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here
2.The Free 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan
The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 12-Month-Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do when. Four key market segments are included, niche Markets, geographic farming, sphere of influence, and past clients. – Click Here
3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system
The most effective thing you can do to build a real estate business is to become more visible, more likable, and remembered more often. The BusinessBASE™ not only checks all of these boxes, but it is a business building machine. In two easy steps, you can begin to build a robust sphere of influence that will provide you a lifetime of repeat business and referrals. –Click Here
4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan
The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for this year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closing, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here
5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook
Ready to take a vertical leap in your real estate career? If you’re looking for inspiration…and the tools and methods to dominate a market and go to the top in real estate…you’ll find them in this free book. – Click Here
6. The Take a Listing Today Podcast
Watch the ProspectsPLUS!, Take a Listing Today Podcast for actionable content to help you get more listings. – Click Here
