Estate Agency Canvassing
If you are an Estate Agent and use canvassing to communicate with local households, then these 5 insights can help you achieve more listings for your agency.
Insight #1 Replace ingrained habits
STOP copying other agents. This is an ingrained bad habit. It's like drinking from the well of pooled ignorance.
No one cares about you.
That's the top and bottom of it. Think customer first. That means how you can help them, by giving in order to get them to raise their hand at the critical time. When they come to sell their home.
Relegate the Bumpf
So, relegate all this bumpf about the TV ad you are about to run, your swanky offices, the number of branches you have, and all that jazz.
You do not have to follow others. You do not have to treat canvassing like it was TV advertising. It isn't. Nor should it be. Just because people know who you are does not mean they'll call you.
So how do you wean yourself off following the canvassing herd?
Insight #2 Understand your customer deeply
Get to know your customers really well. Talk to your colleagues in the office and make up a composite of your ideal customer profile. Get granular. It'll help when you write your copy.
Pause for a moment BEFORE you decide on your next canvassing postcard and reflect on the customer problem that you’re actually solving. Do the majority of recipients want to sell their property in the next month or two? You already have done the sums I am sure. Of course they don't.
What's Their State of Readiness?
The answer lies in understanding the prospective customer and what their state of readiness is right now. Think of their current pains. The more accurately you can describe theses pains the more your customers and prospects will feel you automatically have the solution to their problems.
But, if you are used to doing self-image adverts, the recipient will not feel that you are relating to them personally. Big mistake.
So what else can and should you do to get much more from canvassing?
Insight #3 Replace self-image advertising with UVP advertising
Does your prospective customer understand the answer to this question (that they ask of themselves?). "If I am your ideal customer, why should I list my house with your Estate Agency instead of any of your competitors?"
This is a brilliant question to ask of your business. We call it a unique value proposition. Think of the answer in two ways. In what ways does your Estate Agency have APPEAL and in what ways do you have EXCLUSIVITY? How can you make these into an irisistible offer?
Test Your Offer on Your Next Postcard
Is the fact that the Agent makes extensive use of social media that irresistible customer benefit? No. That falls right into the category of so what? Okay, let's try another.
Fully trained staff? Well that's encouraging, but its what is called a hygiene factor - a customer and prospect would expect that, so it is not irresistible.
To help you here, I think you should walk outside the front door, close your eyes and open them again as a prospective customer. What are their fears, concerns and unfulfilled desires?
Here's a thought. Customers are thinking "How do I sell my property for the most money in the least time?" Or are they thinking "How will I sell my property for the most money in the least time, when I come to sell? AND (importantly) What should I do now to make this happen?"
If you can answer these questions you are on your way to creating an irresistible customer offer.
Insight #4 Don't ignore response rules
Make sure your canvassing message is clear, compelling and has a strong call to action.
Does your current mailing suffer from these problems?
1. Your offer is tucked away. It's weak and very easy to miss? What, no offer? Bonkers! There should always be an offer.
If your offer is 'FREE VALUATION' how likely is your prospect to look shocked and immediately call because theyve never ever heard of this offer before? 10 a penny.
So think hard about what kind of offer will act as bait to catch the fish you want. Do customers and prospects have a specific reason to contact you, even if they are not ready or interested in a free valuation of their property?
2. On your last postcard was there a reason to respond right now? People procrastinate. Prospects might even be interested in having a valuation, but they put the postcard down, put it off, to do the next time they look at it.
But, they rarely get back to it. So to prevent having loads of the 'almost persuaded', consider what could make it irresistible to make that decision. Now. Right away.
And the answer is not that it is free, right? Because you've done that to death and people aren't queueing around the corner.
You want my listing. I'm not ready to instruct, yet. What do you say to me?
Try thinking of a non-threatening incentive. That is only available for so long.
Insight #5 Personalise
Personalisation. OK, hobby horse, but typically, personalised mailings outperform non-personalised.
Source clean data and personalise each postcard you send. This is not expensive, but would need to be tested against your current methods.
You might be thinking, how expensive per postcard?
And just in case you do not want to target individuals personally. Then let's introduce you to The UK Affluent Address Database. This is the most comprehensive set of address only data that you can access for affluent homes in the UK. It lends itself to your Estate Agency selecting a 'wealthy' area to do canvassing within.
Watch this short video that explains The UK Affluent Address Database.
CAN WE HELP YOU?
Which aspect of your current estate agency canvassing strategy could benefit most from these insights? Reach out to us at Finely Fettled for specialised estate agency profiled data and postcard solutions.
Contact Finely Fettled here.