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You've
heard a lot of advice about why you need your own website, why you
need to do virtual tours for your listings, etc. If you're still
one of those agents who has been reluctant to take this step or
haven't seen positive results from "going cyber" because you think
that a "virtual agent" isn't as impressive as one in the flesh,
then this tip is for you.
You
do use a phone don't you? You give out your phone number in the
hope that customers and prospects will call you. Do you always answer
it yourself, 24 x 7? Of course not! You either have voice mail,
an answering machine or an assistant / receptionist who takes many
calls for you. You do this because most consumers don't walk into
a real estate office every time they want some information on your
services - they use the phone. You've adapted your desire for face-to-face
contact to meet the consumer's need for information delivered over
the telephone. None of us can afford to meet every customer face
to face for every interaction. We need to rely on the help of other
people and technology tools to help leverage our time when we can't
be there. Leveraging our time doesn't mean delegating our credentials,
our personality or our attention to quality or details.
If
you use voice mail, a cell phone or a pager, then you're already
in Cyber Space. Hopefully, you've chosen the right Cyber tools that
permit you to stay in touch, announce to others that "you'll get
right back to them" or invite them to contact you at home or somewhere
else if their need is of a more urgent nature (if only to them).
Even if you use the human touch of an assistant to take your messages,
then you need to trust this third person with presenting you in
the professional, responsive light that you desire.
Once
you do understand what other people want and expect from you in
person or virtually, then you will have a better understanding of
what is important in other virtual communication tools such as websites,
email notices, virtual tours and the like. Your voice mail announcement
doesn't (I hope!) drone on for minutes about how many awards you've
won, what CRS or GRI stands for and how many classes you took to
earn it because people just want to know they've reached you and
you'll get back to them quickly.
A
website is a similar marketing and communication tool. Don't spend
most of your effort and web design on your own personal accomplishments
that consumers don't care about. Show them results! Display a list
of recent homes you've sold or helped someone buy. Expound on how
quickly your listings sell or for what percent of asking price.
Focus on your strengths such as: particular neighborhoods, price
ranges, etc. If you've sold $50 million in the past 10 years, that's
great, but most people consider this ancient history. Visitors to
your website may already live in your town or may be relocating
from thousands of miles away - you don't know. Show them interesting
information - photos and virtual tours of homes you've recently
sold in addition to current listings. Show them a neighborhood tour
so they see more than just a house itself. Tell them about the schools
and economic issues in your market.
You
never know what the hot button is for a particular visitor to
your website, so you need to let them find pertinent information
quickly and without frustration. You also need to make it easy
for them to contact you by as many points as feasible - office
and cell phone, email address, a brief information form sent to
your email address and your fax number. As you design your website
or review features of a "template" website, think like a consumer
of real estate, not an agent.
Don't
fear the Internet, take advantage of it just like your original
Cyber Space entry - virtual phone messages. Make your website
and all e-marketing tools attractive to consumers, easy to navigate
and easy to contact you on their preferred method. Then they'll
really look forward to meeting the real you!
In
future e-marketing newsletters we'll cover other marketing and
photographic tips. Stay tuned! Did you miss an issue? Click here
http://www.visualtour.com/emarketing_archives.asp
to peruse through back issues!
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