Picture the scene - your phone rings. You answer. They ask about your fees, you answer the question and say goodbye.
What are you missing?
In my travels over the last few months I have been utterly surprised by the amount of missed opportunities. Times have been very hard in estate agency over the last few years and we have all had to cut back in various ways. It is changing, there is a chance for many of us now to grow again, but if we easily miss opportunities then we won’t.
We are bombarded daily with so much information, advertising and sales people, we can easily forget who we spoke to. It is therefore essential that we keep in touch with any potential client that comes our way. Who are our potential clients?
Any telephone call or visitor is a potential client, whether they are looking to buy, rent, sell or even asking if they can clean your windows. You never know what position a person is in, or going to be in, in the coming months.
Clients are often candid with information and could possibly not be telling you the full story, so never take things on face value as you don’t know what you may be missing. No matter what the enquiry you must take down the person’s details: name, full address including postcode, email address and as many phone numbers as possible. Don’t forget to check whether they have a correspondence address.
Imagine you are launching a new service, have a discount or need to inform people of an open house – how are you going to tell them? Yes you have the people on your database you are working with at the moment, but they already use you! You may pay for traditional marketing activities such as a newspaper advertising, but how targeted is their readership?
You need to contact, what I like to refer to as the 3P’s of Clients
Miss out one of the 3P’s and you could be missing out on a large amount of business.
But how will you target potential clients if you don’t have their details?
Is just having their basic contact detail enough? What about add a little personal touch? Yes another P!
Every year I receive an email from a company wishing me happy birthday and giving me a small gift voucher. To be honest I don’t always use it, but that personal touch ensures that I remember them. Now I am not saying send all your 3P’s of Clients a gift voucher, that’s a sure way to go out of business. But what I am asking you to think of is those small details that will tell the client you have remembered them. It could be as simple as remembering where they live, the name of their child or what they do for a living. You remember them and they are more likely to remember you.
Make sure you’re not missing any opportunities and making it as easy as 1,2,3.
Make 2014 the year your agency Thrives not just Survives.