Do you BCC?

"Do you BCC?" That kind of sounds like a song from the early 90's. The process of sending email to prospects using the BCC feature could be considered naughty in many cases.

I am kind of shocked by the number of agents that use this BCC feature of their outlook or another email program when following up with homebuying prospects. When you send a generic email to yourself and BCC a bunch of people, what you are essentially doing is saying, "Hello Mr/Mrs HomeBuyer, I am following up with you because I want to make a sale and want to touch every contact I have because my manager may be watching, but you are not important enough to me to personally send you an individual email. I have other things that are more important."

There are a lot of software programs and services available to handle mass emails. Many of them provide tracking statistics of opens and clicks. If you are looking for tips or training on how to be a better e-sales agent, ask your manager or the person that handles your marketing for some assistance.

The 3% Discount

Have you, as an onsite sales agent, ever offered a discount based on the fact that the person does not have a cooperating broker? Knowing that the builder will not have to pay the 3% if they buy from you? Myers Barnes has a great post on his blog about how to kill your broker coop program

Search Engine Marketing 101

I ran across this article on Search Engine Marketing. Pretty good information about the search engine models. I agree with most of the article. I disagree with the multiple submissions to websites. I rarely ever submit to google through their url submission form. I think its much better for Google to find your site linked from a similar highly relevant website.

Check out the article by clicking here

Move - Who are they?

If you are selling homes, you have probably heard of Realtor.com. The parent company is now called Move - They changed their name from Homestore, Inc. last year as a rebranding initiative. Their site provides a lot of advertising opportunities.

I recently ran across this blog at Inman News

History of Move at Inman

Self Training - Do you read enough?

Hopefully if you are in new home sales, you have at some point been told to read as many new homes sales books as you can. I know I have read a lot of them.

These books offer a wealth of information to assist new home sales agents as well as marketing directors in the advancement of their career in the new home industry.

Some of my favorites are those by Myers Barnes, Bob Schultz and Bill Webb.

My Recommended list of sales training books.

Cost of Traffic Units

How do much do you spend to get a person to walk in the door of your sales model? I know that's a loaded question. In many cases the actual number is all over the place. A lot depends on how you categorize costs. What is included in that number? Most companies will agree that print ads, magazine ads, internet advertising, radio advertising, billboards, sign placement, and tv advertising would all be part of that number. This number is usually referred to as the media budget. How about creative costs? The creation of these ads are all cost associated with running the ads. Some companies include them, some include them in another part of the budget.

What about incentives? bonuses? giveaways? Are they put in the budget with the other costs of generating traffic or is that put somewhere else in the overall budget?

How about real estate agent costs? In most parts of the country Real Estate Agent Coop is a must. The Real Estate Agents have the buyers, so therefore they need to know about your product. Are agent lunches and Realtor events included in the cost of generating traffic? Do you figure in any extra commissions and bonuses in those costs? Its all part of the cost to sell homes.

Advertising on the Internet is CHEAP compared to most other forms of advertising. Are you doing enough to get your community exposure on the Internet?