Just because you sold them the home doesn't mean you'll be their next agent and it's not for the reason you may think.  87% of buyers are satisfied with the service they received from their real estate agent and say they'll use them again but in reality, four out of five don't.

Doing a good job is the foundation for repeat and referral business but obviously, it isn't the determining factor.

According to the Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2011, 61% of sellers and 50% of buyers select their agent because they had done business with them before or by direct referral.  Half of buyers and almost 2/3 of sellers have this relationship with their agent.

Since most people know more than one person in real estate, they actually have a choice of whom to use in their next transaction.  Our objective should be to create and maintain top of mind awareness to increase the probability of repeat and referral business.

InTouch is the automatic contact system for top of mind awareness that provides content by direct mail and social media.  For less than $10 a week, InTouch will email an article to your contacts, link it along with four other articles to your Facebook and Twitter accounts and post the same article to your blog each and every week of the year -- all AUTOMATICALLY!

Let me tell you a story about my longtime friend, Dick Dillingham who is a very cool person.

We were having lunch today when he told me about coming back from Calgary last week.  While he was talking with the flight attendant about a myriad of unrelated things, Dick found out she was a single parent who was planning to move to a smaller home in a few years when her son graduated from high school.

He offered to send her the comparable sales in the area and she gave him her contact information.  He sent her the information as he promised and she called the next day.  "What a difference a day makes" she told him referring to American Airlines filing for bankruptcy.  She decided that now was the time to be moving and was ready to put her home on the market.

You may be thinking that it was easy for Dick because he's a cool person.  He is but not for the reasons you may be thinking.  I deceived you a little because I'm telling this story in writing and not face-to-face.  Dick isn't cool; well maybe but Dick is KOOL - a Keen Observer Of Life.

Dick likes talking to people and is always looking for opportunities.  Initially, he was offering the comparable sales as a way to show his willingness to serve.  His strategy is to first add names to his database and gradually, build trust that will lead to business, either directly or through referrals.

He certainly didn't expect things to have such an immediate pay-off but occasionally, they do.  You must be aware how many opportunities are out there and make yourself available to take advantage of them.  And of course, it helps a lot if you're KOOL.

Another cool idea is InTouch, the automatic contact system.

The housing market has been in a downward trend for four years.  There is some speculation that inventories will not reduce any time soon which will be necessary for prices to rise.  However, there are other factors that can increase the cost of housing, specifically mortgages.   FHA accounts for a large percentage of the current housing loans and is expected to be even more prominent when the Qualified Residential Mortgage Guidelines go into effect next year.

1. Rising rates are almost certain, due to looming inflation fueled by higher gas and food prices and the enormous amount of deficit spending
2. FHA loan limits have been reduced – they are lower than conventional limits in most markets and FHA has suggested that they might be reduced further.
3. FHA might increase the down payment to 5% or higher in an effort to have a more secure loan that will have less likelihood of going to foreclosure.
4. FHA might decrease the amount of seller contributions in a similar move to require the buyer to have a larger investment in the home and therefore be a more “qualified” borrower.
5. Congress may decide to increase the up-front MIP to build up the FHA reserves.  The annual MIP has been adjusted twice since October 2010 when the Up-Front MIP was actually reduced.
6. Due to tougher conventional requirements, demand for FHA loans could exceed maximum annual insurable limits.  If Congress is having a hard time raising the limit on national debt, they might not even consider raising the limits for FHA.

In an effort to solidify the lending industry, qualifying is becoming harder for the buyer and more expensive at the same time.  Many of the rules changes could go into effect next year.  In addition, market factors could easily play a role in increasing buyer’s costs.  Waiting will very probably require a larger up-front investment for buyers in the future. 

How excited would you get if I were to give you $100 for every name you added to your database by a week from today?  The only requirement is that you must know the person.  How many hours a day would you work on it?  Would you work every available hour of the day?

If you added 50 names, it would be worth $5,000; that's like making a sale.  You can probably add a lot more than that.  100 new names would be worth $10,000 and 200 would be worth $20,000.  It would absolutely be worth the time and effort.

A simple definition of marketing is the opportunity to tell your story.  Tell your story often enough and it becomes your brand.  Telling your story describes what makes you different from all the other agents.  More importantly, it defines how people benefit from doing business with you.

Let's say that your story is how you make your customers and clients better homeowners.  You suggest maintenance tips and ways to increase the value, equity and enjoyment of their investment in their home.  Your story and the service you provide will distinguish you from your competition and create lifetime customers and referrals throughout the year.  

Once you understand the benefits of telling your story, you need a marketing plan that will make it work.  According to the NAR Profile of Buyers and Sellers, 87% of buyers would recommend or use their agent again.  Unfortunately, only about 14% actually do.  The fallout occurs most often because the agents don't stay in touch.

The most cost effective strategy for lead generation is to establish a database of people and brand your as their real estate professional.  To create top of mind awareness with them, you'll need to stay in touch on a regular basis which means much more frequently than you're doing now.

Let's explore some things that can be put into place that will help achieve our goals.  When possible, we need to set up systems to insure they'll consistently be done.  Many times, we start a project and get distracted to do something else, only to unintentionally discontinue what we had just started.

Database

A commonly quoted statistic is that it costs five to seven times more to get a new customer than to keep an existing one.  This economy of lead generation alone should justify working your friends, relatives, past customers and their referrals.  NAR has confirmed year after year that the majority of sellers and buyers select their agent this way.

In a competitive market, a customer database is essential to sustained success whether it is is maintained in an email program, contact manager or spreadsheet.  The goal is to keep the contact information current and send frequent messages to maintain top-of-mind awareness.

The challenge is for the messages to be interesting enough to be read and not ignore or block them.  The topics should be based on making them better homeowners which will directly benefit them and further your branding endeavor.

Customers' loyalty, repeat sales and referrals are the goals of database marketing and it's essential that he customer must benefit from the contacts.  The communications can vary between mail, email, social media, phone or in-person.

Facebook & Twitter Postings

Instead of posting about what you ate, how crazy drivers are or linking to the latest cute animal video, consider linking to articles on websites that would make your readers a better homeowner.

Copying an article is a violation of U.S. copyright laws and is plagiarism.  However, it is acceptable to link to the site where that article resides and even make a personal comment about it.  Instead of being the author of the information, you will be the purveyor of the information.  You will still be helping your readers be better homeowners.

If your purpose in participating in social media is to build your business, then, you need to put a business "face" forward and show your "friends" that you're the professional who will help them to understand the financing alternatives, investment aspects and tax advantages of homeownership.

Blog

There is no better way to tell your story than in a blog.  You control the content and you write about things that support your point of difference.  The benefits are that it brands you according to what you write about.  Blogs increase search engine visibility and optimization.  Blogs can lead to media attention when reporters search for sources of information and your name returns in the results.

Blogs are basically free and are considered valuable content by search engines.  It is beneficial to have your blog located on your personal website because it will drive traffic to increase exposure to your business.  WordPress and Blogger are two of the most popular platforms.  

The challenge is to post relevant material on a frequent basis and this is probably what keeps most agents from starting one.  If you're conscious about providing the weekly content, you'll be inspired by advice that you give a prospect or client that would also appeal to your readers.  There will be times that you write several articles and "bank" them until they're ready to be posted.

Summary

Marketing is an opportunity to tell your story.  Tell your story often enough and it becomes your brand.  Telling your story builds top of mind awareness which is the cornerstone to repeat and referral business.  Your story should have a value that clearly defines exactly what buyers and sellers can expect when they work with you.  As long as the value they're receiving exceeds the price they're paying, people will buy.  You'll be providing a valuable service and building a business that will last a lifetime.

If you don't have time to create your own custom solution based on the suggestions in this article, you need to see what InTouch can do for you.

Top of Mind Awareness | Pat@PatZaby.com | www.PatZaby.com