10 Tips To Double Your Business In 2010: Tip 7
Today’s tip is to plan your mailings for the entire year.
You need to be in front of your clients via mail a minimum of once a month, but ideally 2-3 times a month. Mail to your clients serves many purposes:
~ It allows you to ensure that you are in regular contact with people. The reality is that we tend to call those that we are most comfortable with and some clients can fall through the cracks if you are only calling.
~ The consistency of mailing on a regular basis shows professionalism and reliability, which is important to your clients
~ Since your phone and face to face conversations will tend to focus on FORD topics (Family Occupation Recreation Dreams) versus real estate, the mailings allow you to provide proof of your competency in business.
I can tell you from experience that mailing is important. I have had times in my career where I have stopped mailing and experienced big drop offs in the amount of business that I did. Along with seeing many of my clients pop up as listings with other agents. Not fun!
What do you mail? Your mailings should be a mix of science (articles about real estate, your listings and sales, etc) and art with things about what is going on around the community, fun facts and more.
It is important to plan all of your mailings a year in advance though because even if you are just mailing once a month, 4 weeks can go by really quickly and then all of a sudden it is time to send out a mailing and you haven’t a clue what to do. If you can automate them as much as possible that helps a lot. My newsletter is in a template form and there are certain things that go on each page so it is pretty easy to put together a 6 page newsletter because I have been doing it for so long. The same thing with my postcards. I have a template that I use so each time I plug in a new picture on the front and then new verbiage on the back, but I do not spend time creating a whole new layout each time I do it.
My plan this year involves one mailing a month and then I supplement that with open house invitations and just sold postcards that also go out to my clients. Here are my mailings for the year:
January ~ Newsletter
February ~ Favorite chocolate shops for Valentines Day goodies
March ~ Commonly overlooked tax deductions
April ~ Newsletter
May ~ The best area farmers markets
June ~ Favorite restaurants to eat on the deck and enjoy the sun
July ~ Newsletter
August ~ Best ways to enjoy a summer day in Seattle
September ~ Market recap, how is the year going?
October ~ Newsletter
November ~ Santa letter and Thanksgiving letter
December ~ Christmas cards
If you have a template many of these mailings can be pre done. With the exception of the newsletters I send pretty much everything else out in a postcard format. When I have some down time I will often go in and create 3 or different postcards at a time so that they are ready and waiting when I need to order them. Then I just upload my current list of clients when the time is right and out they go.
2 Comments
Leave a Comment
Signup to receive Nicole's blog posts via email weekly:
Other Posts
Letter to My Younger Self
Today is my birthday. For me, birthdays are a beautiful mix of celebration, anticipation and reflection. This post is dedicated to reflections. Things I wish I could tell my younger self. Imposter syndrome is normal! You’ve spent so much time doubting yourself. Feeling like everyone else knows what they are doing while you’re still trying…
Read More
Managing the Adrenaline / Emotional Roller Coaster of Real Estate
Closings, getting mutual on a contract, receiving a referral – there are lots of wins in real estate. Each one brings a shot of adrenaline that feels amazing. However, those moments are often short lived, with a lot of space in between. If you aren’t careful that space can fill with self doubt, insecurity or…
Read More
Why Proving Yourself Is A Bad Idea
I competed on a listing this week that I didn’t get. It was a great one too – awesome house, great clients. It was one I really wanted. When I got done pouting I took a few minutes to ask myself, ‘where did it go wrong’? Our first appointment was amazing! The second one, not…
Read More
The Secret To Success: How Awareness Transforms Everything
‘The first step towards change is awareness. The second step is acceptance. Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness.’ – Source Unknown Last week focused on letting go of the need to play catch up. The only thing that matters is focusing on the present moment. The…
Read More
Don’t Try To Catch Up – Just Start Where You Are
I’ve spent the last few days in Virginia at my favorite real estate conference, Genuine Hustle, where I had the honor of presenting a session on asking powerful questions. It’s the most authentic, vulnerable, supportive and all around amazing group of agents that I’ve ever spent time with. They haven’t released the location or dates…
Read More
This Phone Call Brings In The Most Referrals
Can calls really translate into referrals? Are some more effective than others? When we work with clients it’s easy to go into ‘get it done’ mode. We focus on getting from contract to closing as quickly and smoothly as possible. And to be fair, that’s a big part of what our clients hire us to…
Read More
What if EVERYTHING is Working Out For You?
What happens when you have a ‘set back’ ? Does it send you into a tail spin of fear and insecurity? Do you brush it off and move on? Or – Do you view it as confirmation that you ARE on the right path, realize it wasn’t the right opportunity or situation for you, and…
Read More
Don’t Do This Alone
I was lucky enough to be invited to mastermind with these amazing agents for a few days this week. We talked business, but it was so much more than that. We talked about being intentional with our lives, the hours we worked, the struggles we face, our investment strategies (owning rental real estate of one…
Read More
Collaboration Over Competition, This Is Your Chance To Learn From The Best
What if you could stop over thinking how to run your business? What if you knew exactly what other agents do to attract clients? This is your chance! Season 2 of Secrets of Attracting Clients starts January 27th and I’m super excited for this years line up! We have 12 amazing sessions, all with ideas…
Read More
How Lowering Your Bar Can Help You Reach Your Goals
January holds a special mix of big dreams and deep insecurity for a lot of agents. If you find yourself toggling between the two – know that you’re not alone. We usually associate big dreams with big actions. So we make long to do lists as proof of our commitment to increasing our income. Often…
Read More
Love your mailing ideas. I do a fare amount and also with a good mix of art & science. So far just do post cards and of course the HUD 1 letter, xmas cards etc. Newsletter is next on my list. I REALLY like your Valentines idea. I may have to steal that one!
By all means, please do use the Valentines one. I got the idea from someone else and then implemented it too. Have fun with the newsletter! They can be a lot of work, but clients love them and once you get a template set up they are not too bad.