tried-and-tested-real-estate-marketing-pointers-with-a-profitable-track-recordIt’s frustrating, isn’t it?

You work all day long — 12 to 14 hour days. You meet clients at work, at home, and even take them out to lunch just so you can get a moment of their time. You drive them around to property after property. You give them business cards, pens, and magnets with your name on them.

They don’t call. You sit there, staring at the phone. What’s wrong with this picture? Why won’t your phone ring? You check to make sure it’s plugged in and that you actually have service.

Everything looks good so far. So, what are you missing?

You’re Not Sending Enough Followup

Most real estate agents believe that they’re doing everything they can to follow up with clients. Here’s the harsh reality of it: you’re not. Your prospects are researching things on their own on the Internet every single day. When they’re looking to buy a home, they’re reading magazines about real estate, they’re chatting up friends who’ve been there on social networking sites. They’re shopping for professionals and trying to gauge the marketplace.

They’re going to open houses without you.

What do you do?

You send them more email. That’s right. You send them more email. Every single day you should be sending them something. Marketing expert Ben Settle says you should be sending daily emails to prospects if you want them to buy from you.

That might sound like a lot, but it’s not really. Think about it. Your clients aren’t going to buy from someone they only hear from once in awhile. And, they’re not going to buy based on a piece of marketing they got 6 months ago. They’re going to do business with someone they know, like, and trust. And, those people are going to be people who are around them and in front of them all the time — every day, in fact.

Sharpen Your MLS Listing Descriptions

Most clients and prospects will find your listings through MLS. So, it’s not smart to just throw something up there and forget about it. If you want to see what great listings look like, you can read about it here at DixonsEstateAgents.co.uk. Basically, you need to open with a punchy and compelling description of the property and then close the sale using effective ad copy.

Make a checklist for your property listings. Winging it might feel more natural to you, but actually writing it out will uncover so many more facts about the property that you don’t have at the front of your mind.

Once you’ve listed all of the facts about a property, it’s time to turn those facts into benefits. A benefit is something that a potential client will get from buying this home from you. So, a fact might be “the house has 2 bedrooms.” A benefit might be “it’s great for small families.”

A fact might be “the house has a wet bar” and the benefit is “it’s great for entertaining.”

You should be able to come up with literally hundreds of facts about the houses you sell and at least as many benefits. Remember, in a listing, you want to show benefits, not necessarily facts (outside of the basics, like square footage, rooms, and other pertinent information that you must legally disclose).

Update Your Photos

How do the photos look? Are they a little dated or are they taken with an old camera that doesn’t really capture the feel of the house? Maybe it’s time to update those photos. Photographs taken by phone are OK as long as they weren’t taken 10 years ago.

Today’s phones are so much more capable. And, given the right light, they can take excellent pictures. But, if you want even better photographs, you’ll have to upgrade to a DSLR camera.

Put Your Listings On Slideshare

There’s one way to really boost the pageviews of your listings, and that’s to put them up on slideshare. This is a site where you can present your listings as a slideshow. You can even put them together in categories for potential clients. Put up a slideshow for listings by month, or listings above a specific price. You can even organize listings by zip code.

This makes it easier for prospects to find listings that will naturally interest them. And, at the end of the day, this is what really matters. The listings need to be specific and relevant to the people you’re trying to sell. If a client wants to buy property in a particular zip code, it does no good to show him or her listings in a different zip. Ditto for prices.

Author

Cynthia Pittman entered the real estate industry several years ago, initially as a real estate agent. She enjoys writing property related articles which appear on real estate, personal finance or business blogs.