In the previous post, we looked at five key strategies for keeping your luxury home marketing business on track during a slow market. Here are five more smart strategies to consider implementing:
- Ask for and reward your best customers for referrals of their peers
Don’t be hesitant about asking past clients for referrals. If you did a good job for them, chances are they’ll be happy to refer prospects to you. Just be sure you ask in a benefit-oriented way. “Do you know someone who might need my real estate services? You know I’ll work hard to do a good job. Can you think of anyone who is considering buying or selling?” When you do receive a referral, handle it with care and immediately reward the source of the referral. Don’t wait to see if a transaction closes. Immediately send a thank you with a small gift. If the gift is part of a set, so much the better. Start with two pretty coffee mugs or a silver mint julep cup and add another one with each referral received. This not only says, “Thank you,” it provides an incentive to refer again. - Target specific market segments
Trying to be all things to all people makes you an expert at nothing. Instead, focus on specific segments within the luxury market. Downtown condos and townhouses, waterfront/waterview properties, gated communities, properties priced above $5 million, or country club developments are all good examples of specific segments. While you may be able to combine several related segments for an effective luxury home strategy, only in very small markets (where you have to be a generalist to have enough business to make a living) can you focus on all price ranges and property types. Otherwise, brand yourself as a specialist within a specific property category or two. Your goal is to be known as the “go to person” in your targeted market segment. - Understand that every home has a story, and that your job is to tell it!
Effective marketing is about understanding what makes a home unique and being able to answer the question, “Where is the value in this home?” The ability to do this separates great listing agents from average agents. In other words, what is this home’s story and how can you tell it effectively? The copy you write about a home should tell the story and quality photographs should reinforce the story. Here is a headline and subheadline to illustrate:
European style home on a 2-acre dream lot, gated community
13,000 square feet with wine cellar, 5-car garage, and backyard “sports complex”
How many reasons to buy does this headline and subhead provide? Compare this to a property address used as a headline. Which do you think has more marketing power? - Look for value (pinch your pennies)
Today’s market demands that you run your real estate practice as efficiently as possible. Take a tip from other agents who are using technology to do more for less. Aaron Wheeler of Oakville Properties in California’s Silicon Valley, uses DocuSign.com to get legal document signatures no matter where in the world his clients might be. He has eliminated overnight delivery charges from his expenses and saved deals with the ability to collect signatures almost instantly. He also does one might call “soundbite market research.” He uses Twitter to test property headline alternatives. The headline which results in the most clicks on a property link, is the headline he uses in his promotion. - Become THE luxury home expert
If you’ve taken an Institute for Luxury Home Marketing training course, you know the single most important thing I believe you can do to build your business, regardless of market conditions, is to become THE expert. The most effective way to do that is to regularly analyze the market and create a Monthly Market Update Report which looks at activity in your local luxury market by narrow price ranges. Breaking the luxury market into price ranges and tracking key information -- including number of properties in inventory, number sold, days-on-market, and percent of list price for which properties ultimately sell – will make you an expert who is able to provide important information to your buyers and sellers. Remember that the luxury segment is primarily composed of bottom-line oriented business people who expect you to “know the numbers” with regard to real estate. If you can demonstrate you have your fingers on the pulse of the market, you’ll meet the important criteria of “Is this agent a true luxury expert?”
The economy has taken a tool on the luxury market, but this profitable segment will bounce back. In the meantime, by working smart, you can continue to do business and position yourself for future luxury market share growth.
