Broad Stroke Marketing vs. Targeted Marketing

Feb 18, 2010 I Don't Like to Work

By: Greg Clement

Once you know where to find leads for your real estate
investing business, how are you going to market to them
once you have a list?

There are so many ways to market to your list, some
expensive, some not so expensive, but which ones work?

Remember that when you’re putting your marketing plan
in place you want to have multiple means of generating
leads. You can’t rely on just one method because what
happens if that one method no longer produces leads or
what if you can no longer afford that method?

Then you’re left with no marketing at all and no means of
generating leads and you’ll have to start back at square
one. So make sure that your marketing plan includes at
least 2 or 3 of the methods that we discuss here.

First let’s talk about Broad Stroke Marketing.

Broad Stroke Marketing includes Television and Radio
ads, Billboards, Newspaper Ads, and Bandit signs.

While many of these types of advertising seem sexy,
they don’t produce the results that you need.

First of all, they’re expensive (except for the Bandit
signs – they’re only expensive if they all get picked
up by the city’s authorities and you get fined). TV
and radio ads can cost hundreds, even thousands
of dollars. Newspaper ads can also cost hundreds
of dollars.

While these seem like great marketing techniques,
they’re not. They don’t market to a target audience.
Yes, there may be a lot of people who see your face,
but how many of those people watching the TV or
driving by your sign are in foreclosure?

And how many that are in foreclosure will take action
and call you because they saw your ad?

And of those people, how many will be motivated
sellers and in the areas where you work? From
experience, I know not many.

These types of broad stroke advertising simply
don’t produce the type of results that they should
for the money.

This type of advertising is more like flushing money
down the toilet.

Now let’s talk about Targeted Marketing.

Targeted marketing includes direct mail, which includes
Postcards and personalized letters, cold calling, door
knocking, and squeeze pages.

The most important things to remember when direct mail
marketing are:
• Consistency – be consistent with your marketing
• Specific Call To Action – make sure your mail
pieces have a specific call to action
• Compelling Message - your message needs to
be compelling so the seller will feel the need to call you
• Only Send Direct Mail To Your Target Market
• Couple Direct Mail With Cold Calling and/or Door
Knocking

All of these methods are very effective because you’re
marketing to a targeted audience, which is going to
produce much better results than just marketing to the
general public.

You’re marketing to people who you know are in
foreclosure and through your marketing, you’re giving
your prospects a very direct call to action.

Using targeted marketing practices, you are personally
touching each prospect that you’re marketing to, which
is much more effective than putting up a sign or putting
an ad in the paper. You are directly telling your prospects
who you are, how you can help them, and what they
need to do.

Your message is clear, concise, and offers your prospect
a clear solution to their problem.

Targeted marketing converts your prospects to customers
at a much higher rate than broad stroke marketing. For
example, a squeeze page can convert your prospects at
a 30% conversion rate. This is the highest converting form
of targeted marketing without a doubt.

So when you’re putting your marketing plan together, be
sure to include at least a couple of the marketing methods
mentioned above to keep a consistent stream of qualified
leads filling your pipeline. And stick to the targeted marketing
methods as I know you’ll produce much better results.

Let me know which marketing methods you use that produce
the best results.

Popularity: 32% [?]

Tags: greg clement, Marketing, targeted marketing

Using The Right Words To Sell

Feb 11, 2010 I Don't Like to Work

By: Greg Clement

I’m sure you already know this – words can help sell and
words can hold you back. You were probably taught by
your mother to “choose your words carefully.”

At least I was. And I have heeded that advice my whole
life.

And especially since I have joined the real estate game
and started selling information have I learned that
choosing the right words can help my sales or hurt my
sales.

In particular, I hate to be hypey and I hate using hypey
words to describe my products. But if you’re selling real
estate, how do you stay away from using hypey language?

Isn’t that what it’s about – getting people excited to see your
properties?

How do you know which words sell best and which words
deter buyers?

When we were first getting started in real estate investing,
we used to look at the top real estate agents’ listings to see
which words they used to describe their properties. Many
of the top agents used similar, or the same, words in their
descriptions, while other agents used different, or very little,
wording in their descriptions.

We started using the same words that the top agents were
using and we found that our properties started getting more
showings and were actually selling faster!

I was thinking about this recently and found an article on
this exact subject.

A study was done in Canada by Paul Angelin who teaches
at the University of Guelph in Ontario that examined the
wording of more than 20,000 home listings from 1997-2000
to find out which words sold better than others.

They found that the term “motivated seller” took 15 percent
longer to sell while listings using the term “handyman special”
were sold in half the average time.

They also found that using terms that describe the attractiveness
of the property helped to sell the property faster than using
terms to describe its value or price. For example, “beautiful”
is more effective than “good value.” They’ve found that “must
see” is way overused and does nothing to sell a property faster.

Using “landscaping” and “move-in ready” generated lots
of showings and faster sales. However, they also found that the
terms “move-in ready,” “clean,” and “quiet” had no impact on
the sales price of the property.

Below is a list of words that they found can help your listings
and a list of words that have been found to hurt your listings.

Words That Help To Sell Properties Faster:

* Handyman Special
* Curb Appeal
* Move-In Condition
* Landscaping
* Granite
* Gourmet
* Golf, Park, Trails

Words That Can Hurt Your Property Sales:

* Motivated Seller
* Good Value
* As-is
* Clean
* Quiet
* New Paint
* Playground

It’s also important to describe your properties as they really
are.  You don’t want to use the term “move-in ready” if your
property needs paint, carpet, and a new kitchen. That is not
move-in ready and will deter other agents from showing your
properties in the future.

Be honest when describing your properties, but choose your
words carefully… as my mother always said.

Tell me what words you have found that help your listings or
if you’ve found any that really hurt your listings.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Tags: greg clement, real estate, writing effective copy

Lebron James gave my 7 yr old a basketball

Feb 3, 2010 I Don't Like to Work

By: Greg Clement

BUT, it almost didn’t happen…

How do YOU overcome fear?

A good buddy of mine, Scott Scheel, gave me his tickets
to the Cavs/Memphis game last night. They’re 2nd row
right next to the visitors bench, so they’re decent seats, lol.

I took, Jonah, my 7 year old with me and we got to the
game a little early (early bird gets the worm) to watch
the players warm up, I mean they were right there
in front of us – so cool.

Seeing a starry eyed 7 year old brought me immediately
back to when I was a kid.

A Cavs hostess walked up to us and asked Jonah if he
wanted to go on the court and be a “ball boy” and the
following is the conversation:

HOSTESS: “Hi, would you like to come with me and
go on the court to be a ball boy before the game starts?”

JONAH: (shaking his head) “NO.”

HOSTESS: (a little surprised) “NO? Are you sure?”

JONAH: “No, no I don’t want to.”

ME: “Jonah are you sure? I mean Lebron James could
give you a basketball. You have to go out there”

JONAH: “No, NO, No.”

ME: (to the hostess) “give me one sec and let me talk to
him real quick.”

Then what happened next is actually pretty remarkable
and it hit me like a ton of bricks at the end of the night.

I’m big on (usually) not forcing my kids to do things they
don’t want to do.  Like, I wont force them to ride big roller
coasters, or jump off big diving boards – stuff like that.
And I was on the verge of letting Jonah decide that he
didn’t want to go out there.

I asked him why he didn’t want to go and he said he was
scared because I couldn’t go with him.  I then said, “Jonah,
you have to go” in a sort of pleading way, and he said he
didn’t want to for the 5th time.

I then made the decision for him.

I know as a parent what’s good for him, and I can’t expect
him to always know at 7 years old.  I told him basically to
man up and go out there and I removed any type of begging
or pleading from my voice.  I wasn’t mean or demanding,
I really just told him, “YOU’RE going dude – you’re gonna
love this.”

The minute he “knew” he was going he jumped up and
walked out to half court. When I “burned the bridge”
he then had to take action.

So he’s standing out there as a few players walked out
of the tunnel and handed the kids next to him an NBA
ball.

Then I saw LeBron walk out with 2 balls in his hands
and start walking right to Jonah and the girl next to
him.  As he reached out I took this pic.

Jonah didn’t say a word, he was speechless.  LeBron
handed him the ball, Jonah didn’t say anything and
LeBron turned to warm up.

To say he was on cloud 9 the rest of the night would be
a huge understatement.  I mean it’s like Joe Montana
handing a little kid a football before a big game, it was
crazy.  As people kept asking him all night where he got
the ball from you should have seen him retell the story
in his way.

And while it’s realllllllly cool that my 7 year old son now
has a memory that will last a lifetime (on the way home
he said “Dad, you can have the ball when I die” and my
heart melted) this story isn’t about him.

It’s about you.

Jonah almost missed it because he was scared of taking
action – he didn’t know what to expect.  But when he did,
he was soooo glad he took that first step.

I know there a lot of very successful people reading this
right now but I also know there are even more who haven’t
even scratched the surface of what they can really do.

What’s one thing in life that you aren’t doing that you
KNOW you need to? One thing that would produce HUGE
results for you and your family…

I am thinking of a few for myself right now…

P.S. And of course if you have a cool story of catching
a ball at a big game OR overcoming fear I’d love to
hear about it below

Popularity: 71% [?]

Tags: greg clement, kids, motivation

Guidelines Aiming To Ease Short Sales

Jan 8, 2010 I Don't Like to Work

By Ruth Simon, The Wall Street Journal

The Obama administration laid out final guidelines on
Monday that should make it easier for some financially
troubled borrowers to sell their homes.

The guidelines are designed to encourage the use of
short sales, transactions in which the borrower with lender
approval sells the home for less than what is owed on
the loan. The program also makes it easier for borrowers
to voluntarily transfer ownership of properties through a
“deed in lieu of foreclosure.”

Short sales can result in higher prices than foreclosures
and can be less damaging to local neighborhoods,
in part because homes aren’t left vacant and exposed to
vandalism. But these transactions are often difficult to
complete.

Under the plan, borrowers will receive $1,500 from
the government if they sell their homes for less than the
amount of their mortgages. Mortgage-servicing companies
will also receive $1,000 for each completed short sale.

The program is open to borrowers who may be eligible
for the government’s loan-modification program, but don’t
end up qualifying, or are delinquent on their modification,
or request a short sale or deed-in-lieu transaction.

The short-sale program is the latest addition to the Obama
administration’s $75 billion foreclosure-prevention plan,
which includes incentives for mortgage companies
and investors to rework troubled loans. The government
first said in May that it would include short sales in the program,
but it has taken months to finalize the details.

Under the new guidelines, second-mortgage holders can
receive up to $3,000 of the sales proceeds in exchange for
releasing their liens. Investors who hold the first mortgages,
meanwhile, can collect up to $1,000 from the government 
for
allowing such payments.

Borrowers who complete a short sale under the program
must be “fully released” from future liability for the debt,
according to the guidelines.

Popularity: 100% [?]

Tags: greg clement, Real Estate Investing, short sale