Fuzion Web Blog

Everyone knows a story about a coworker who made a fool of himself at a company holiday party. All the excitement and high spirits turned that well-meaning celebrant into a loud-mouthed, in-your-face pariah. No one wanted to engage with this person, and colleagues began to flow toward the exit sign.

Some big-box retailers were like that “crazy office-party crasher” last holiday season as they bombarded customers with promotional emails. As the weeks wore on and their attempts became more desperate, they ratcheted up their markdowns and their email frequency, sending out 40%, 50%, and 60% off promotions almost daily. By January, they were practically giving stuff away.

Be careful this holiday season. Excessive holiday email isn’t just bad behavior — it shows a lack of strategy, and it’s ineffective.

There’s no getting around it, people are busy. If you can make their home search or the listing process an area of calm in their hectic lives, you’ll guarantee rave reviews, referrals and future business. How can you accomplish this? How about providing anxious sellers with automatically updated activity reports that show all of the things you are doing to promote their home? Or, how about answering your buyers’ desire to understand pricing in a specific neighborhood by providing current market reports, in real time? Tool’s like Top Producer’s 8i’s Seller Reports, and our Market Snapshot make it easy to do so.

Contact your customers after your deal closes and find out what they think of your service. You can do this by phone, or even an electronic survey. Why? If your customers are happy, you can ask for referrals. If they’re not, you’re the first to know and have a chance to set things right going forward.

Calendars, note pads, and fridge magnets are popular ways to stay “top of mind”, but to really get your contact’s attention, give them relevant, personalized information that they’ll use. How about a market report showing the effect of their recent bathroom renovation on their home price? Or maybe an update on the home prices in the neighborhood they’ve been thinking of for the last few years?

Stand out as the REALTOR - and you always include that in your signature line - who takes pride in her/his community and actively participates to make it a better place for everyone.

Don’t let your customers go too long without thinking of you. A good rule of thumb is to connect with your contacts every four to six weeks, whether it’s by postcards, letters, e-mails, or phone calls. If you have too many people in your database to keep up that schedule, you might want to consider a contact management system like Top Producer 8i or Market Snapshot that will preschedule your communications, provide templates, and auto-send communications.

Relationships aren’t built in a day, and they aren’t built on one conversation. Take the time to really get to know your clients, and record their “hot buttons” so you are ready with the perfect opportunities. Based on your customers’ preferences, send special mailings promoting neighborhoods, home types, or even just home maintenance tips. The key is to make it personal.

Don’t let your customers go too long without thinking of you. A good rule of thumb is to connect with your contacts every four to six weeks, whether it’s by postcards, letters, e-mails, or phone calls. If you have too many people in your database to keep up that schedule, you might want to consider a contact management system like Top Producer 8i or Market Snapshot that will preschedule your communications, provide templates, and auto-send communications.

Maybe you’re wondering how to drum up business - get your foot in the door at major corporations or among prospects that can benefit from your products and services. One technique that has always been effective for generating new business and marketing partnerships is networking.

Start by identifying the group or “groups” you want to target. Search for these groups online and off. Start with the major online social networks and join respective networking groups. You can often do so by sending an email or sending a request to join.

After you’ve been accepted into a group, don’t enter like a bull in a China shop. Rather, make comments on occasion, try to connect with a few individuals vs. everyone, and provide value through comments or information that may be relevant to the group.

Consider advancing your networking strategies off line as well. You can call your local chamber of commerce or search online for groups that meet locally to discuss your expertise or area of influence. Networking face-to-face can pay huge dividends.

No matter what type of networking you’re most comfortable doing, get started. The key to any successful networking strategy is to try a number of things until you determine what the best fit is for you and your business.

Create a small business marketing plan to identify and capitalize on your strengths and opportunities. Your marketing strategies should also take into account factors such as your weaknesses (and possible remedies), external threats (competition, economic factors, etc.), your marketing mix strategy (products/services, promotional goals, pricing strategy, and distribution decisions), media strategy, sales and expense budgets, target market analysis (know your customers), and readily available marketing tools, as well as marketing strategies and tools that you need to research or acquire.