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Dear Mr. Internet,
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How can I use the Internet to work FSBOs more effectively? |
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Rob Johnson
Century 21 Realty Group Companies
Indianapolis, IN
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Dear Rob,
I achieved some of my earliest real estate successes listing For Sale By
Owners, so the subject is near and dear to my heart! However, instead of
manually scanning newspaper classifieds and pasting the ads on index cards �as I
once did, today's Internet-savvy sales professional has a myriad of online tools
to help convert all those "No Thanks" to "Thank You," with a fraction of the
effort.
The first step in tapping into this proverbial pipeline of new business is to
have new FSBO ads delivered to your computer�s "door" each day. Here�s how...
Your Automatic FSBO Ad Clipping Service
Warnock's By Owner is an online service that daily scours newspaper
classifieds, home sale magazines, and real estate listing Web sites in over 300
major U.S. market areas to find all the new FSBO ads posted in the last 24
hours. For a monthly fee of $39.00 (as of this writing), you�ll receive daily
lists of these ads via e-mail or fax. The lists can even be delivered in ASCII
text, comma delimited format for easy upload into your favorite contact
management system. (When I think back to the work I had to do
to acquire this kind of information in the "old days", I could cry!)
A typical Warnock�s list includes the first time the ad ran; the medium.
newspaper, magazine, etc.; the owners� name, address, and phone number; and a
very brief description of the property. The briefness of the description is one
of the few ways that the service falls behind clipping your own ads. Membership,
which can be cancelled at any time, also entitles you to a free month summary of
the number of FSBOs in your area and how they advertised.
But just having the list of FSBOs won�t do anything for you; you have to put
that information to work. There have been whole shelves of books written on
marketing to FSBOs. Their consistent theme is that telling them about your
incredible marketing and negotiating skills will not often get you very far.
Providing solid, valuable information and insight to help them sell their own
home, will. These old principles are just as true for FSBOs you acquire via the
Internet as they were when I pasted names on cards.
Any campaign you put together targeted for FSBOs will ideally focus on
genuinely helping them to achieve their goal. This way, when (and if) they
finally come to realize that they need a professional, you are the one they will
call. It is strictly a number's game, and the way you play it is to
maximize your list-to-lead percentages using systems that set you apart and do
all the work for you.
Your FSBO Marketing Machine
Even before you start receiving your leads for
Warnock.com, you need to set up an effective system that will help you
initially contact and then communicate regularly with FSBOs to gain their
confidence and eventually their business. Setting up your FSBO marketing machine
requires four main steps:
- Hire an assistant to organize, contact, and track the leads from
Warnock.com. A virtual assistant is ideal for this task, since the leads
from Warnock can be sent anywhere via e-mail. To find a virtual assistant who
might be able to help you with this kind of project, just go to the �Real
Estate Support Specialists� directory at the International Virtual Assistants
Association�s Web site (IVAA.org).
- Set up a drip e-mail system that periodically
delivers high-value tips on how to sell your own home (i.e. "Sell Your Own"
ideas). To get some ideas on how to set up a drip e-mail campaign, see the
May 2002 edition of "Ask Mr. Internet!" for an in depth article on this subject.
- Have your assistant contact each lead to get permission to include the
FSBOs in your e-mail tip campaign. Your assistant�s approach in the original
call should focus only on getting the prospect to opt into the campaign to
help them sell their own homes, not to promote your services. Make sure your
assistant has a good "phone presence" that will appeal to FSBOs. Also ,and
this is very important, determine if your assistant has to hold a real estate
license in your area to do this sort of prospecting.
- Use your assistant or your own contact management system to remind
yourself to contact the FSBO leads via phone at certain "milestone" points
along their marketing process. For example, following up with FSBOs after
an open house to ask how the event went. Keep each message in the campaign
specifically designed for the FSBO market, and include questions about the
process in each message.
For example, use the post-open-house milestone to offer some advice on how to
make open houses more effective. And don�t forget to ask when the homeowner
intends to do next, so you can decide how to follow up next time with
appropriate materials. This technique is a powerful, yet non-intrusive, way to
lead FSBOs to the conclusion that they could benefit from professional help
�yours! It�s also possible that some FSBOs may call you to list their property
simply because they received your ongoing selling tips.
It seems that relatively few sales associates want to
bother with FSBOs these days. Perhaps they think that it takes too much time and
effort to work them effectively. But with the help of some online tools and a
little creative marketing, you�ll see your FSBO lists turn into a steady stream
of new listing business. The "good old days" were never this good!
Article Resources
Warlock's By Owner - online resource for up-to-date FSBO leads delivered
daily via e-mail or fax for over 300 U.S. markets.
IVAA.org - official site of the International Virtual Assistants Association
where you can find a number of VA directories, including those certified as Real
Estate Support Specialists.
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