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I want to start off with a few critical points about direct mail. Direct mail as a source of generating business in the real estate industry has been argued about for many years. I personally know agents that are selling 300+ homes per year using mostly direct mail and agents doing the same using no direct mail. Like anything else, direct mail requires a plan.
When you follow the above plan in its entirety, success will follow. You must understand that alterations to this plan will not lead you to the success that I feel you deserve.
First, most real estate professionals approach direct mail in the wrong way leading them to enormous expenses with little return.
Second, success with direct mail is through consistency so if you are not willing to make a commitment for a minimum of 12 months then don’t start the first month.
Third, it is better to start small and be consistent then use the shot gun approach.
Fourth, there is no such thing as a direct mail plan without a prospecting call plan to proceed. Direct mail can raise awareness of your abilities yet it is the prospecting call that turns that awareness into business.
THE FOLLOWING PLAN IS EXACTLY WHAT I DO TO DOMINATE A PARTICULAR COMMUNITY…
1. Choose the communities for which I want to dominate the market share for closed sales.
Residential
A. Your Community E. Your Community
B. Your Community F. Your Community
C. Your Community G. Your Community
D. Your Community H. Your Community
Condo
A. Your Community F. Your Community
B. Your Community G. Your Community
C. Your Community H. Your Community
D. Your Community I. Your Community
E. Your Community J. Your Community
2. You must determine the following…
A. When is the starting date of this campaign? 1-1-12
B. When is the ending date of this campaign? 12-31-12
C. What is the duration of time between mailers? 30 days
My plan consists of me doing a total of 12 mailers per year to each of these communities. Obviously, your budget will influence the above community choices as well as the duration of time. The key is to commit the full 12 months even if it means lowering the amount you send. You must be strategic about this plan.
3. You must determine what you will send the entire 12 months before you send the first piece.
Time and time again, these campaigns get stalled in month three because the agent did not know what to send the next month. Lack of preparation is sure to cause failure.
4. You must add the mailing dates to your calendar to assure that they get mailed on the appropriate day.
Do not attempt to remember when you are supposed to send the monthly campaign. Schedule and it will exist…if not in your schedule then it doesn’t exist.
5. Determine where you will mail and when.
I suggest that a portion of these mailers go out on the first week of each month. Another portion should be mailed on the second week and so on. Be consistent. The same community needs to be mailed the same week of each month. The next point will explain why you stagger your mail campaign.
6. Do not institute a mail program if you are not willing to follow it up with a prospecting plan.
This is the critical point that too many real estate agents miss. In order to maximize the return on your investment, you must call behind your mailers. The mailers are a great way to generate interest yet it may not generate a lot of calls. Of course, you will get calls which turn into leads yet you will get more leads by following a mailer with a call.
Some direct mail professionals say that following up with a phone call after a mail campaign often increases your return by 20-35%. That is a significant increase considering the expense of the mailer does not change yet the return on your investment does.
So, not only do you schedule the mailers, you must also schedule the date that you will make these calls. A phone call should be scheduled every 90 days to these communities.
When you follow the above plan in its entirety, success will follow. You must understand that alterations to this plan will not lead you to the success that I feel you deserve. Can you make money with mailers without this plan? Yes you can yet this plan will put you on the path to something extraordinary.
