Well that’s £1000 well spent!
Like most agents at this time of year, you may well be gearing up for (or already started) the traditional ‘awareness raising & valuation generating’ early New Year mailshot?
How much are you planning on spending? £300, £500, £1000? More? per office? You’ll be rationalising that you only need one instruction and it’s paid for itself hasn’t it? Even if you don’t get anything right now, it’s all good for the future. Sow the seeds today, for growth tomorrow and all that…
Or do you privately feel, that just like your last mailshot, you’ll be left feeling slightly damp at the gills that you won’t be called out to that many additional valuations? If any? Or maybe of the ones you’re called out to will more than likely be tyre kickers, that may at some point in the future, come back to you to sell. Or not? Brand building for the future is all very well, but you need instructions now!!
Above all, like every other agent up and down the country, whilst you’re handing over tons of cash and hoping that all your leaflets get delivered, you’ll probably be wondering if there are any other cost effective, measurable ways to drum up business, get your branding out there and get those phones ringing. Is there anything new – something cost effective and immediate that can help drive traffic and generate leads? Something that produces tangible results where the motivation for you doing it is not just because the ‘other guy up the street does it’.
A board that was just for Christmas?
Did you do a Christmas fayre sponsorship for the local school, or are you planning to do the the Easter fete or similar? That’s another set of boards (& slips), the board contractor’s costs. Your time in setting it all up! Your staff’s time fielding all those calls from locals who can’t (or can’t be bothered to) read properly. It says “Christmas fayre sponsorship – not ‘for sale’ stupid”! But again, at least your agency is interacting with the locals….
After every event, every board promotion, every marketing drop, there’s always the nagging feeling that although you’ve done it and it’s been crossed off your list, where is the bounce – the tangible uplift in instructions. I bet it’s negligible. And of course, I also bet that you don’t measure it. Most agents don’t. Do you ask where a particular valuation lead came from, every time? And even if you did get an answer, how accurate is it? It’s not top of a vendors list to remember where they saw your name or why they called you out. They just want their home valued!
At the end of the day, there are other options available that will produce a great bang for your buck and produce great results. Ones which will help generate leads and bring more business to your door (or phones) more or less immediately. – Where your primary motivation is not just to ‘shut out’ your competitors from doing it instead of you. You’ve just got to know where to look!
Have a great 2016!
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