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By Barrett Niehus
Prospecting for leads is by far the most difficult part of being a Realtor or
small business professional. In fact, lead development is by far the most
expensive and time consuming aspect of your job. However, you level of
success in lead development will determine if you succeed or fail as a real
estate agent or small business professional.
So how do you develop leads? Well top selling professionals realize that they
need to touch as many people as possible without spending a fortune or taking
up a lot of their time. They also realize that they must make some form of
contact with a prospect as many as eight times before that contact will even
consider doing business with the professional. Many of these professionals
use direct mail to recruit prospects, and direct mail tools to close their
deals.
The fundamentals of direct mail are very simple. At is most basic level you
are sending out message with an invitation for a prospect to contact you. The
key is targeting your specific audience, and making your message stand out
against all of the other junk mail that you prospects receive. In addition,
you must expose your prospects to the message enough times to make them
consider taking action.
The first step in creating a direct mail program is to determine where you are
going to focus your message. What type of client are you specifically looking
for? How old are they, what are their interests, fears, income levels, etc.
With this type of very specific demographic information you can customize
your message to invoke them to call you. Next, determine how many people you
are going to send your message to and what geography you are going to focus
on. Keep in mind that a direct mail piece with more than a 1% response rate
is considered exceptional, and that statistically, post cards get more
attention than envelopes in peoples mail boxes. Essentially this means that
if you mail 500 pieces and you get five phone calls, you are doing
exceptionably well.
After you know what your customer looks like and the area in which they live,
create your marketing message. It should invoke emotion and request a
response. The most effective messages offer something for free such as a free
home report, assessment, or giveaway such as a software program or product.
Other useful messages show what has just been listed and invite prospects to
"cash in" on their rising home values.
Now that you have your message designed contact a local or internet based
direct mailing list seller and rent a list of prospects addresses. You will
be mailing to this list more than once so make sure you get repeat mailing
discounts. All of these list brokers have test addresses in the lists they
sell to make sure you only mail the agreed number of times. Many of these
list sellers will offer mailing services as well, and some will even provide
design and printing services. Companies such as PurePoscards.com (http://
PurePoscards.com) and MailersClub.com (http://MailersClub.com) are excellent
resources to get both mailing lists and design services.
Use the design services as needed and remember that statistically, an enclosed
letter with blue ink and a first class stamp will get the best response.
Letters and postcards follow with lower responses. Regardless of the type of
mail that you are sending, it is important to realize that you are hoping for
at least a 1% response to your campaign.
Mail your message to the list and see what happens. Plan on mailing at least
two more times to get your desired response, but feel free to modify the
message and the medium. It is just important to provide your target customer
with repetition so that they become used to your message and will consider
doing business with you. It is through repetition and a message that stands
out that you will get your client’s attention and earn a response to your
marketing.
Direct marketing is a very effective tool for realtors to grow their
businesses. It can create a significant number of leads and a significant
addition to your cash flow, However, direct mail must be done with proper
planning and the right expectations for response. Never has a single one-
time direct mailing been successful. Alternatively, real estate professionals
who practice repetition in their direct mail and their marketing grow wealthy
while they leave their competition behind.
Paul White is a 42 year old former teacher. He now helps people all around the
world to become wealthy online. Whatever you are selling, visit the popular
site: http://www.profitmountain.com (http://www.profitmountain.com) and if
you subscribe to Profit Mountain`s FREE wealth building newsletter, you will
also receive FREE advertising for the next 12 months! (Worth $200!) as well
as loads of other things!
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