I came across a really great article earlier in the week from Real Estate Staff writer Craig Rowe. In it, Rowe describes how he observed the successful marketing efforts of DirecTV and how their strategy can be applied to real estate. His observations presented a tremendous amount of value from that alternative perspective, which is why I'd like to share them with you today.

            Rowe shares his experience about the day he had to end his relationship with DirecTV; he wasn't necessarily frustrated with the service, but that he was "physically unable to continue service." Where he lives experiences a tremendous amount of snowfall, enough that this past winter it nearly ripped the dish and parts of off his roof of the house. Though he terminated service, the direct mailings and persistent efforts of DirecTVs marketing team continued to gently remain in front of him in the hopes of eventually winning back his business at a future point in time – which he is now very much considering when he moves into his new house later in the month.

            When Rowe looked back on the experience to better understand how they did such a phenomenal job of keeping him engaged without being overbearing to win back his favor, he found 3 primary drivers for their success:

1. Consistency – it works, it really does. He points out that while he grew tired of the phone calls, the phone representatives were never rude, always apologetic would cordially close the call when asked- as a result, Rowe never ended a phone call mad. What did he learn from this experience? "If your cold call prospect isn't ready to move yet, tell them that's ok – but never promise to not stay in touch." I like how he puts that, never promise TO NOT stay in touch.
2. A dedication to a direct mailing - this strategy helped to keep DirecTV in front of him. However, it was not the loud or flashy gloss type post cards that made it from his mailbox to the house and sometimes even opened, it was the low-key creative mailers difficult to recognize as marketing materials. Rowe suggests getting a little more creative with a direct mailing strategy above and beyond the "Just Sold" cards. Something that if we received in the mail ourselves we would not immediately throw into the recycling bin.
3. Incentives to communicate. Rowe joked that when they offered him a serious discount on Sunday NFL ticket if he signed up again, it made it that much harder to resist. Understandably, this can be difficult due to budgetary constraints, but getting creative and thinking of some type of free giveaway or deal for getting in contact with us can help tremendously – thanks to the internet generation, people love the words "deal" and "free".

While we are real estate professionals, Craig's article serves as a great reminder that this should not limit our learning to only that of other real estate professionals. Successful marketing comes in all shapes and sizes, and by paying attention to the methods other companies in other industries have used to earn our business, we can bring a unique flavor to our sales strategy for growing our own.

            Thank you all for listening. We're always here to support you, so connect get with us on Facebook or LinkedIn @mattweaverspeaks.

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            If you're in the South Florida area and want to meet for lunch, send me a message on LinkedIn and we'll get you an invite to our next luncheon!

            We also have our next Elevate conference upcoming in October in Boynton Beach, so if you're looking for a great seminar on how to grow your real estate business by leveraging key mortgage concepts, send me a message on Facebook @mattweaverspeaks to secure your seat today!

 

The views of this blog, podcast, and on this site in general are solely those of the authors, Matt Weaver (NMLS-175651) and Zack Lewis, and do not express the views or opinions of Finance of America Mortgage.