Marketing

When the market turns down many agency leaders wisely cut expenses. But there is a right way and a wrong way to do this. Cut the wrong expenses and you will quickly lose profit.

Some expenses can be cut without affecting your income. We call these ‘fat’ expenses. Things like publications you don’t read. Stop expenses like this and you will be more profitable.

Other expenses are ‘muscle’ expenses. Cut these and you will lower your income. Marketing is one such expense. Downturn or not, cut down on marketing and you will miss out on listings and new managements. Marketing is a classic muscle expense.

The best offices Pittard® works with are ‘marketing machines’. You can set your watch by the precision of their marketing. They are little marketing factories.

There are three ways to market your business and, as the leader, it is ultimately your job to ensure that marketing in these three areas is a regular occurrence.

1. 1. Print

Print covers leaflets and direct mail. The best offices regularly cover their service area with leaflets (preferably delivered under doors and not into letterboxes) and direct mail – letters hand-delivered by walkers. (Post is too expensive). Direct mail is personally addressed, with as few generic greetings as possible.

Blanket your service area with some form of print media every month.

1. 1. Digital

Digital marketing is email, SMS and social media marketing.
The best offices regularly hit their clients’ email inboxes, phones and social media channels with good information that their clients will want to read. Home Alerts with new listings are always of interest to buyers. Current market information interests property owners, investors and buyers.

1. 1. Personal

This is face-to-face or voice-to-voice marketing.

The best offices stay in touch with clients and potential clients by phone or door prospecting, and regularly follow up all leads.

Follow your own advice

How often have agents told sellers at listing presentations, “You can’t afford to keep your property a secret”?

We should follow our own advice. Our agency shouldn’t be a secret either.

Profitable offices don’t keep themselves a secret. They market constantly.

Always be sending out good messages to your client base. Make your office a marketing machine.

You can starve waiting for word-of-mouth to bring you sufficient business to achieve your profit goals.

PS Pittard periodically broadcasts a webcast entitled How To Make Sales In a Tough Market. This webcast is free and designed for agency principals. It is by invitation only, as we cannot accept some agents owing to contractual obligations to our current members. For more information and to check your eligibility, please follow this link.