Recently I worked on a project in which clients were trying to sell $50,000 beach-front lots in Latin America in what amounted to a barn-burning email series. We sent four emails over the period of two weeks. The last two emails came within 24 hours of each other.
While it seemed to generate some serious interest on the front end, at the end of the campaign zero sales were made. Two inquiries were made, but those fizzled out. And, in the end the campaign was thought to be a bust.
Buying and selling real estate requires more than a crafty and compelling sales message in an email series. It’s long-term. And it looks like this.
1. Build the Relationship First: Clients want to know you. They want to understand who you are. They want to know about your family. Your friends. Your work history and achievements. And they want you to know that about them, too. When you make building the relationship more important than closing the transaction then you will have more success.
2. Create Opportunities to Buy: The way you position a transaction is important. If a client or prospect feels like you are trying to sell them something, then they are going to feel pressured. They are probably going to back off. Instead, build up the value of the transaction so that they find it irresistible–and THEY want to buy.
3. Invest in Conversations: Ditch the sales pitch. Instead, invest time in creating and having meaningful conversations. This means you have to carve out time for these to take place. If you are always rushing from place to place, then you are not going to have meaningful conversations.
4. Be Interested in Your Client: Meaningful conversations usually grow out of you showing genuine interest in your clients. Stop, and listen to your client. Make sure the ratio of you listening is WAY higher than it is for you talking. Remember names, important events and follow up on previous questions you asked. When you ask about things you’ve talked about in the past you demonstrate to the client that you truly do care and think about them.
5. Believe That Your Are the Best at What You Do: If you aren’t, then get on the path to getting there. Work harder than your more experienced peers. Take the courses and classes that will elevate your game. Hire a mentor or coach. Become the best. And then believe you are the best.
6. Be Humble: A liberal dose of humility needs to be mixed in with that confidence. Don’t play hero, and try to sweep in and act like you can solve every prospect’s problem. Better approach every prospect with an eye to find out if you two are a good match–and, indeed, that you have the skill set and experience to help them. If you are honest with yourself, then you’ll realize you can’t help everyone.
7. Deliver on Your Promises: Trust is huge in sales. People want to work with people they can trust. Nobody wakes up and thinks “I want to work with someone who I can’t trust today.” Instead, we wake up thinking how to dump people from our lives who we don’t trust. Unfortunately, it takes a lot to build trust and very little to break it. So only make promises that you can and plan to fulfill. Otherwise you will drive prospects away.
By Real Estate Marketing Blog
Retrieved 28 November 2012 from http://www.realestategrowth.com/blog/archives/8-ways-to-get-clients-to-trust-you-with-the-biggest-purchase-decision-of-their-life.html
