E-mail provides an easy and cost-effective way to deliver correspondence to your prospects and clients. To be as effective as possible, create a list full of addresses of recipients who want to receive your mailings. However, make sure that new prospects have given you permission to send them your mailings.
One database should include the names and addresses of all prospects that have given you permission to send them e-mail messages. When you send e-mail to this set of people you’re trying to generate interest and confidence and to coax them into a working relationship with you. The text in their messages is sales-oriented and articulates reasons why they should immediately take action in the real estate market. Mailers may focus on appreciation rates, inventory levels, interest rates, and projections of future rate increases. Additionally, each mailer should include a concise statement about the value of doing business with you, why they should hire you, and the benefits they’ll receive from working with you instead of the competition.
A second database should include the names and addresses of past clients and those in your sphere of influence, which includes friends, family members, and professional associates. When mailing to this group, tone down your sales message. You still want to provide an update on current and emerging market conditions, and most certainly you still want to convey the value you deliver, but you want to do it all with a softer, more personal approach. Your purpose when mailing to this group is to generate referrals. By sharing marketplace facts, you provide them with information they can use in their conversations with their friends.
When mailing to your prospects, put the following advice to work
- Send a monthly newsletter: Choose a template from your word processing program or one of the countless third party resources. Then all you have to do is fill in the text area with your customized message.
- Develop content that is solid, helpful, positive, and valuable: Nothing shows a lack of intelligence or attention to detail as correspondence with poor spelling and grammar.
Avoid e-mail blasts that send the identical message to a long list of addresses. The exception is when you’re sending a newsletter or news flash to your full list. In all other cases, work to personalize the notes you send. Your clients are well-versed in e-mail and know exactly how much (or little) time and effort goes into a communication that involves absolutely no personalization. Subconsciously, they’ll translate the mass mailing as a definition of the quality of your relationship with them.
