#geofarm

[thelonesgroup]

Improving Your Call-to-Action

There's a skill to marketing and today I want to talk about calls-to-action. A call-to-action (or CTA) is when you prompt your reader to do something. So, if you are sending out a market update mailer, your call-to-action might be something like, "Call me if you want to learn more about the market or get quarterly updates on how your property is performing."

Clients who are using our Club Zebra mailer content or who are part of our LeadMagnet service don't have to worry about this - we take care of crafting a solid call-to-action for them. However, if you are creating a marketing piece on your own for the mail, for social media, for an advertisement, or anywhere else, you need to think about what your call-to-action will be. What is it you want your readers to do?

When creating a real estate marketing piece, it is important to think first about the action you want the reader to take and work backwards from there to create your content. It is easy to think about marketing this way when you have a specific action you want the reader to take. For example, if you are having a client appreciation party and want your clients to RSVP after reading an invitation, that is pretty straightforward.

What about when you are mailing each month to stay in touch and your message has gotten stale? If you are saying something like the following message after message:

"Contact me with your questions!"

"Email me to get an updated home value!"

"Send me your referrals!"

Then it is definitely time to get creative!

Are They Ready?

Remember, if someone isn't ready to buy or sell, no call-to-action - except an offer of an unexpected bucket of money - will likely inspire them to pick-up the phone to buy or sell. Therefore, calls-to-action from your regular client or farm communication shouldn't be based on the expectation that someone is ready to buy or sell. Instead, they should be about providing something of value, being of service, and building the relationship. Keep this in mind when forming your prompt.

You may also want to think about what would make you take action if someone was marketing to you. For example, let's say you want someone to reach out and have a conversation to build the relationship, how about something like this:

"I am currently scheduling Equity Reviews with my clients. Click here (with a link to a scheduling app or QR code) to schedule your Equity Review."

If you want to provide something of value to a farm area, consider something like this:

"I have created a "Farm Area" multi-page quarterly report that I would love to get into your hands. Email [email protected] or call 555-555-5555 and I will drop it by your house!" (you can also mail it as you prefer)

Literally, you can create a quarterly report using data from your MLS in mere minutes. In fact, we just did a video tutorial this week on how to create snazzy graphs in Excel using MLS market data AND provided an Excel template for Club Zebra Members. (Click here to check it out!

If getting your own marketing done and creating calls-to-action aren't your strong suit, we’ve got you covered!

Check out our LeadMagnet program or email [email protected] for more info.

What Can You Offer?

What else do you have of value? Go through your listing and buyer materials and see what you have that would be helpful to someone and would be a stand-alone piece that you could send along to someone. For example (we have added links to our Club Zebra resources for our members, but you may have versions of these supplied by your brokerage):

Lender Referral List

Contractor List

Moving Checklist

Countdown to Moving Day Checklist

Preparation for Selling Checklist

Interest Rate & Monthly Payment Worksheet

House Hacking Calculator

Future Value Calculator

Investment Cash Flow Calculator

Promote an upcoming class

Or maybe even resources on your webpage such as:

Mortgage Calculator

Dream Home Finder Form

A customized home search of their neighborhood to let them know when something comes on the market

Another idea? Offer a customized open house tour package for past clients who, you know, "aren't really looking but could use something fun to do on a weekend." You would be surprised at how many clients who "aren't really looking" turn into, "okay we're ready to sell" clients. You can also offer themed open house tour packages throughout the month - condos, historic homes, mid-century modern, homes with income potential, etcetera.

When you think about it, there is a wealth of items that you can offer your clients or a farm area! Get creative, think about the types of items your audience may want, and revamp your call-to-action!

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By Denise Lones CSP, M.I.R.M., CDEI - The founding partner of The Lones Group, Denise Lones, brings nearly three decades of experience in the real estate industry. With agent/broker coaching, expertise in branding, lead generation, strategic marketing, business analysis, new home project planning, product development, Denise is nationally recognized as the source for all things real estate. With a passion for improvement, Denise has helped thousands of real estate agents, brokers, and managers build their business to unprecedented levels of success, while helping them maintain balance and quality of life.

[thelonesgroup]

The Secret to Targeting a Geographical Farm

Many agents who think about targeting a geographical farm choose that farm based on what they think will produce best results, but without verifying that research this may not actually be the case. Other agents like the idea of farming their own neighborhood because it is convenient and people may already know them from that farm area, but you still have to do the research required to verify that the farm you live in is a viable farm in terms of sales.

There are many parameters one should consider before selecting an area:

Total Number of Homes Consider both the logical size and the cost to market. Choosing a farm with 400 homes can be cost-prohibitive. In fact, I recommend a geographical farm of 300 homes or fewer if you are just starting out or on a budget. However, you can always choose a smaller farm in a larger area to focus on.

Average Sales Price The average sales price in the farm is important because it will show you the commission the farm has brought in the past and you can get an idea of its potential in the future.

Average Commission What you will have earned per home sold, depending on your fees.

These numbers are easy to figure out. However, take it a step further and go back at least three years (and preferably five) and to find the following numbers per year:

Number of homes sold in that area per year

Average days on market (the length of time it took a home to sell)

Listing agents and selling agents that were active in the farm.

It is very important to analyze the existing competition in the farm. Is there an agent (or agents) already selling 30% or more of the homes in that area? If so, remove this farm from your list of possibilities. However, if you note that in year one, that number was 30%, year two they only sold 22% and last year they sold 17% of the listings, this may be an agent who is not doing a great job of staying in touch with this farm. If the rest of the numbers indicate cultivating this farm is the best fit for your goals, don't take this farm out of the running.

For example, if there were 10 sales, then there was a potential of 20 sides and 20 agents could have been involved in those transactions. If you have one agent that listed 9 of these properties, then there would be a possibility of 11 other agents involved in those sales. You are trying to see if there is one or two agents who are already dominating that farm area. If there doesn't seem to be a dominating agent, then you have a great opportunity to market to this farm.

When you pull these numbers you may be surprised to find the neighborhood that you thought would provide the greatest results is not the farm that does. What if the neighborhood with the appealing vibe actually has a very low number of listings and high days on market? Perhaps the neighborhood you lived in has only sold a total of five homes in the last three years but there are over 150 homes in that area, giving your neighborhood a very low turnover.

Once you have gathered this information, create a table as in the example below.

In the above example, Farm #2 is clearly the preferred choice. Although you cannot expect to earn ALL the commission available for that farm, Farm #2 gives you the highest chance of earning due to the high turnover, along with the lowest days on market. Additionally, in terms of the expense of marketing, this farm is right in the middle.

One thing about your budget to keep in mind: I am always asked about what the magic number of addresses an agent should have when mailing to a farm area. There isn't a magic number. Although mailing to a larger number of homes will indeed give you better coverage, it is a better idea to stick with a smaller farm area to start and stay within your budget comfort zone. Rather than breaking the bank, start off smaller and comfortable and build from there.

Want to read more? You can learn more about Geographical Farming for free in Club Zebra by visiting this link: www.thelonesgroup.com/customer/vault.asp?op=item&vid=1086

Or if you would like to listen to Denise talk more about Geographical Farming and how she set up her system that helped her reach unprecedented levels of success, here is the link which is available for Club Zebra PRO members: www.thelonesgroup.com/customer/vault.asp?op=item&vid=1161

  By Denise Lones CSP, M.I.R.M., CDEI - The founding partner of The Lones Group, Denise Lones, brings over two decades of experience in the real estate industry. With expertise in strategic marketing, business analysis, branding, new home project planning, product development, and agent/broker training, Denise is nationally recognized as the source for all things real estate. With a passion for improvement, Denise has helped thousands of real estate agents, brokers, and managers build their business to unprecedented levels of success, while helping them maintain balance and quality of life.