I Made This Mistake but You Can Avoid It

For many years I thought marketing was about selling things to people.  I thought it was about telling people how great my service was, explaining how smart I was, showing them the benefits of hiring me and then closing the deal.

That's what many of the books I read on marketing told me to do.

Boy was that a big mistake.

Over time I came to learn that marketing professional services, particularly real estate marketing, is not about benefits and closing the deal.  Marketing in professional services is about three things.  Those three things are: 

1. Building a Relationship with Your Prospective Client/Referral Source
2. Educating the Prospective Client/Referral Source
3. Differentiating Your company from All the Others

Here's what I mean:

Building a Relationship

This is the primary purpose of real estate agent marketing.  Working with a agent is a personal decision.  The prospective client must know you, like you and trust you before they will work with you or refer you. 

You get people to like you by being yourself in your marketing. It is about creating authentic relationships with people who may not use your services or refer you for years.  Being yourself means using common language and conveying information in a natural way.  If you blog, write in exactly the same way you speak.  Speak like a human being.  When you are networking, talk about life and not about the real estate conditions.

People want to trust their agent but they also need to like him.  Be yourself and be interested in your client's life outside of the matter you are handling.  First develop a relationship and the business will follow.

Education is a Great Real Estate Agent Marketing Strategy

This is an important component of your marketing but you need to be careful about how you do it.  You want to teach your referral sources and prospective clients about what you do and about the market conditions but you do not want to come off as condescending.  

You do this by presenting your information within a story.  Nobody appreciates a lecture but everyone loves a good story.  Teach people how you can help them by telling them a story that illustrates your learning objective.

Differentiation

Many people use common characteristics as points of differentiation.   Look around the Internet and you will see this. Those things are important and they should be included in your marketing but those things are not enough.  Here are a two ways to truly differentiate yourself .

Differentiation Through Communication

Set up a system and a schedule for communication with your clients. Give them regular (weekly, biweekly or monthly) updates on their status.  Schedule these calls, send these emails, even if there is nothing new to report.  Do this because this is important to the client.  But schedule it in advance.  Then explain to future clients (and to referral sources) that you have this process in place. 

The number one reason agents get fired is because of a failure of communication.   Show the client right from the beginning that you are different in this area.

Differentiation Through Your Fee Structure

Look at how your competitors are charging their clients and do the opposite.  If they are charging a flat fee you must figure out how to include more services (or a longer term relationship) in your flat fee agreement.   This is not a race toward becoming the cheapest agent in town.  It is a race to providing the best value.   You can charge more than everyone else you just have to provide more value to justify that fee.

Communication and fees are two of the easiest ways to differentiate yourself from the others.  There are hundreds more.  Find some and use them in your marketing.

Agent firm marketing is not the same as marketing a box of detergent.  Do not get the two confused.  Agent marketing is personal.  You must give it the time and attention it deserves. 

Have a great week.

Regards, 

Eileen Burns

http://TheOnLineAdLady.com