Agents are buying "leads." Offices are launching newer, slicker and more informative web sites. And, the market is down. You're probably thinking, "Tell me something I don't know." This may disappoint many of you; because what I'm going to share is something you all know but may not be paying attention to. The results of your efforts.
I have always found that if you are willing to market, you should contact anyone who responds. Those having less than spectacular success have often had to admit to "screening" respondents. They prequalify without information. Professionals, who made a decision to succeed, qualify after contact. I'm talking about Internet marketing results.
If you market via the web, or have an email address, there is no doubt you're going to get a bunch of junk. I average 40 -- 50 pieces of useless junk touting everything from e-Bay riches to countless Nigerian business opportunities. But, in my junk pile I have found important and highly profitable emails placed there by mistake. The more you publicize your contact information on the web, the more "stuff" will fill your box.
You really need to look through your junk mail before throwing it out. I know you get a lot of it, but consider this. Much of that mail is sent because it does get results. If you read some of them, you may pick up some marketing techniques or ideas you can use. There are some principles that you can copy to be even more effective in your marketing.
However, there is a much more selfish reason for this article. I want you to read the mail that may be mis-catagorized in your email box because I may have sent you some. Relax, not many of you actually received mail from me but those who did haven't responded.
You see, after nearly 25 years in New England, I am relocating to the coast of North Carolina. And, I am going to do it the same way I did when I moved here. I will rent a place for a year while I really get to know the area. The places I looked at were easy to find. I searched the web and went to different Real Estate Offices. They had some pictures and brief descriptions of properties that fit my needs. They also had something I feel is important. They made the effort to contact them very simple. The contact form was attached to the property so they knew exactly what I was looking for.
Yet, the return contact mechanism must be broken in that area. After trying to contact seven different agents in three different offices, I've received a grand total of one response. That response was an auto response letting em know they got my email. It also promised to have an agent contact me within 24 hours. I'm not sure if they meant consecutive hours or not because as of the writing of this article, I hadn't heard from them.
Look, every agent knows not to prejudge a potential client until they get some information. But, when it comes to emails, many of you may be too quick on the delete trigger. You may be missing potential commissions and never even know it because some serious buyer has a cutesy email address. Or they put the wrong word in their subject line and get filed under spam. You don't have to read every piece of junk that comes to you, but you should at least glance at the subject lines to see if something doesn't belong.
The bottom line is, if you've made the effort to publicize your web site and email contact information, you can't complain if you're getting a lot of mail. That's the equivalent of running an ad in the paper and then hoping only a few people see it. When you make an effort to create exposure for your office, your properties, or yourself, you never know who is responding or who those respondents know.
There is one thing I know. By the time you read this, I will be living on the beaches of North Carolina. By the time you read this some one will have earned a commission for arranging the lease. And by the time you read this, some of the agents I contacted will be complaining about the market and I'll still be waiting to hear from them.