By Ron & Alexandra Seigel, Partners--Napa Consultants, International
Stay Focused and Be Consistent
As branding and marketing consultants for top producing luxury real estate marketing professionals throughout the country we have identified two of the biggest challenges that agents face when trying to build a high volume practice. The first challenge is discovering one's winning marketing strategies, the best formula for lead generation. The second is staying focused and consistently repeating the winning formula.
One of our clients was earning about $15, 000 a year in another industry. Now, six years later, she is making close to $1 million a year in her real estate practice as the highest grossing individual agent in her marketplace. What is her success secret?
She discovered her winning marketing strategy. She stays focused and consistent. For one thing, she only goes "fishing" for business where the fish are biting. That is, she determined the neighborhoods where the homes were selling fast and started farming just in those areas. This is a simple but often overlooked strategy.
What made her what we call a "breakaway brand" in her marketplace was her consistency of direct mail to homeowners and her consistency in advertising her listings through media channels that proved successful. She became a master of marketing listings in particular areas.
Do you track where each of your leads are coming from? Are leads coming from referrals, phone calls from signs, advertisements, direct mail campaigns, or the internet? When you test a new lead generation method do you analyze what your return is on your investment? Experimentation with marketing strategies is very important. But, without measuring the return on investment, you are missing a very important step on your way to mega productivity. Discover what is working. then, keep working it.
Once you have identified your winning marketing strategies you must have the discipline to repeat them over and over again. This is very difficult for creative people.
After, Neal Simon, the famous Broadway play writer, rehearses his cast and the show opens he attends the first several performances to experience, first hand, how the audience reacts to his story and jokes. He tinkers with the script until he is satisfied that it is his best work-the winning formula. Then the show is considered "frozen". The cast, the stage crew and lighting crew must repeat this formula over and over again to deliver a consistent experience.
Great brands are built by providing a predictable, reliable user/consumer experience. This holds true in every price range of products and services. There is plenty to be learned and applied to a successful real estate practice by observing the best practices of name brand products and services that have endured over time.
This is part of a series of articles entitled, Luxury Real Estate Marketing Essentials. It is dedicated to luxury real estate marketing professionals worldwide.