5 Proven Email Strategies for A Bigger Piece of the Pie
by Dan Gooder Richard, Gooder Group
Tips from the 14th new rule of online marketing:
Old Rule: Content is king.
New Rule: The right customer-focused content is king.
The real estate industry has enjoyed four consecutive years of record sales volume and skyrocketing home prices in many markets. Due to the growing population, historic low interest rates and a healthy economy, the rate of home ownership climbed steadily to 69 percent in the third quarter of 2004 (latest figures), contributing to the record total of 7.7 million single-family homes sold in 2004. How big was your piece of that escrow pie? How can you improve your percentage?
Widely publicized email address and customer-focused responses are key.
Here are five winning email strategies that will help you increase your cyber-market share as you receive inquires about your service.
1. Use any and all methods to get your email address in front of real estate agents, loan officers and potential customers. Make it easy for them to contact you; prominently promote your email and website address in all offline and online marketing ads and materials (avoid small type at the bottom). Keep your customer email information current and work to minimize undeliverable bounce-backs at all costs. Nothing kills a potential customer faster than invalid contact information—there goes your chance at being the first escrow officer or settlement agent contacted. Being out of touch is being out of business. Prospects won’t give you a second thought.
2. Respond quickly and personally to all email inquiries. When someone sends you an email they expect an immediate response. Your best response to all email inquiries is a personally written email reply. Craft your first-response message to answer specific questions and address the special circumstances of each inquiry. For example, if you can match a prospects’ needs with your services, i.e., available evenings and weekends, fluent in Spanish. While this sounds cumbersome it is not as time consuming as you think. Here’s the secret:
A saved-signature program makes fast and personal replies easy. Save your first-response emails in a folder under “Signatures” (MS Outlook). All you need to do next time is click the appropriate signature then personalize the salutation and customize the first one or two sentences. Be sure to include your complete contact information in the message signature file. Soon you’ll be able to respond personally to any inquiry you receive .
3. Focus, focus, focus on your customer. Always send customer-centered responses to email inquiries. From your very first communication through the closing, focus, focus, focus on what your customer wants and needs at each stage. Avoid focusing on yourself. With your years of experience behind you, you’ll be able to anticipate questions and have accurate, up-to-the-minute answers ready.
4. Keep the interactive communication flowing. Don’t stop now. You’ve responded quickly and personally to your prospect’s first email inquiry. Assume you are the first (and only) escrow expert this prospect will need to contact so make sure you keep the advantage.
Automated drip email keeps you ahead of the game. This time-saving, production-maximizing, loyalty-building system converts cyber-prospects into real world customers. Drip email marketing systems follow up without fail, automatically sending out scheduled, customer-focused, and personalized emails until the real estate agent or loan officeris ready for the next transaction.
There’s still work to be done: We know that having a web presence is only part of the battle, and the race is on to become the first and only escrow expert that local real estate agents, loan officers and potential customers contact. Widespread promotion of your email address is critical. Fast and personal email response is critical. Continual consumer-focused follow up is critical. Persistence is critical.
The critical difference in 2005 is doing it better than your competition.
Copyright Gooder Group. All rights reserved. Dan Gooder Richard is author of REAL ESTATE RAINMAKER® GUIDE TO ONLINE MARKETING (www.eRainmaker.com) and REAL ESTATE RAINMAKER® Successful Strategies for Real Estate Marketing, published by John Wiley & Sons. Dan is also founder and president of the Gooder Group, www.GooderGroup.com, a Fairfax, Virginia-based publisher of marketing materials for real estate professionals and lenders. Dan is a member of the National Advisory Councils for GoGetLoan.com and GoGetRealEstate.com. For more about Dan, visit GoGetLoan.com/Get/DanRichard.