Category: Sales

Layaway Comes to Real Estate

Sometimes innovation means going backwards. And sometimes it means moving an old concept to a new industry.

Much has been made lately about the return of the layaway plan — a long-out-of-fashion retail program in which an item is kept at the store while the customer makes payments on it. Until recently, the layaway had been almost completely replaced by the credit card; customers preferred plastic because they could get instant gratification.

The credit crunch has made layaway popular again — Kmart, which never dropped it, is now putting renewed emphasis on the program. Parent company Sears Holdings recently brought it back to Sears after a 20 year absence.

Now, with mortgages difficult to come by, real estate companies and home builders are marketing the concept. According to Business Week,

K. Hovnanian Homes and Beazer Homes are offering contracts that let purchasers deposit downpayment installments in a no-interest escrow account. (Buyers who back out of such plans will lose whatever they’ve accumulated.)

This is a terrific example of what Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer call “Swipe-and-Deploy” marketing. As a concept, layaway is nothing new. But by moving the concept from traditional retail to real estate, a couple of enterprising companies are generating publicity, interest, and buyers.

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Is Now The Time to Raise Your Prices?

There are plenty of people who will tell you that a recession is a great time to increase your marketing budget. Me, for instance.

But I was intrigued to read Paul Brown’s column in the New York Times, examining the theory that in addition to increasing your marketing, it may be possible — and even proper — to raise your prices when everyone else is lowering theirs.

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Request your free copy of Phil Bernstein’s white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.

Smarter Advertising in a Downturn

If you’re like most of my customers (and most of your customers), you’re probably taking a look at all of your expenses — including your marketing budget. A couple of years ago, perhaps, you could afford to spend money on things that might not work. Now, every dollar is precious.

In a time when belt-tightening is on everyone’s to-do list, here are five steps you can take to make sure your marketing dollars come back with friends attached:

1. Take a good, hard, look at your advertising copy. Does it give your prospects a good reason to contact you now? If not, you need to change it.

This is true even if your advertising used to work really well, because your customers’ problems may be different now than they were before. A good copywriter will help you focus your message on the things your prospects need today. Call me if you need one — I may know a guy.

2. If you need to cut back, reduce the number of places you advertise. Marketing guru Jim Doyle calls it the Principle of Focus: the smaller your budget, the tighter your focus needs to be. You may not be able to afford to talk to everyone — make sure that the people who hear or see your sales message hear or see it a lot.

3. EVERY SINGLE LEAD COUNTS. Make sure you have systems in place to convert every inquiry into a lead. This means that you get contact information from each one.

What actually happens when a customer responds to your ad? Your front line staff needs to know what you’re advertising, and what’s expected of them when the phone rings or someone walks in.

You are likely to be getting fewer leads than in the past, and each one has new reasons to hesitate. Have a plan in place to follow up on inquiries that don’t result in immediate sales — by phone, by email, by direct mail.

4. Test your systems. Don’t assume anything. Not long ago, I tried to call a jewelry store using the phone number on their web site. It was the wrong number, with two digits transposed. That little mistake may have cost them thousands of dollars.

5. Recognize that in an environment where consumers are hesitant and sales cycles are longer, consistency pays off.

There are two local car dealers who offer similar products at similar price points.

* Dealer One has been advertising on the same radio stations all year — three weeks a month, every month. Dealer Two has moved around from radio to TV to print and back again.

* Dealer One has been using the same overall theme with the same voices all year long. Dealer Two has had commercials written, produced and voiced by different people all over town.

* As the economic outlook got tougher this month, Dealer One stuck to his radio plan. Dealer Two launched a radio campaign, and then cancelled after a week.

* Dealer One is having a very good October.

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of Phil Bernstein’s white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.

Why Gary Keller Doesn’t Carry Business Cards

The first rule of selling, I was taught, is “Always carry business cards”. You never know when you might run into a prospect. Over the years, I’ve had occasion to hand people my card at the grocery store, on a light rail train, even (forgive me) at a funeral.

So it was interest that I read the following passage in Gary Keller’s book “Shift: How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times”:

When someone asks me for my card, my reply (as I smile, pull out my pen, and poise to write) is: ‘Thanks for asking. I’m sorry I don’t have one with me, but what is your name and address and I’ll get one to you.’ … Remember, you’re in the capture business.

His point is that it’s more important for a seller to get the prospect’s contact information than vice versa.

I’m inclined to think that in my world of business-to-business advertising sales, it’s still a good idea for the seller to have a card — the prospect likely also has one, and generally cards can be exchanged. In Keller’s world of residential real estate, however, his approach makes a great deal of sense, since the homeowner or potential buyer may not have a card.

Portland Real Estate Agent Craig Reger offers tours of foreclosures, short sales and bank-owned properties on the “Real Estate Investment Bus.” There’s basic information about the concept on his web site, but he doesn’t post the tour schedule. If you’re interested in knowing when it runs, he’ll be happy to tell you — once you fill out the contact information form.

In any sales environment, the principle is a good one. A lead isn’t a real lead unless you know who the prospect is and how to make contact.

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of Phil Bernstein’s white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.

Business Book Review: Take the Cold Out of Cold Calling

In 2008, there’s no excuse for walking into a sales call and saying to the prospect, “Tell me about your business”. The Age of the Internet dictates that you should know something about the prospect’s business before you arrive for the first meeting.

I’ve long since learned to look at the company web site, and to Google the prospect, when preparing for a meeting. What I didn’t know is that there are some simple, easy tricks to dig up additional information — from the search engines, and from an “Invisible Web” that the search engines can’t get to.

Sam Richter’s “Take the Cold Out of Cold Calling” is subtitled “Web Search Secrets for the Inside Info on Companies, Industries, and People.” I’ve had the book for a couple of weeks now, and have found myself referring to it often as I do my research. Among the tips I’ve already put to use:

1. Many decision-makers have someone screen their calls — but they read emails themselves. Having been unsuccessful in getting past the gatekeeper on the phone, I’ve used a technique from the book to smoke out an email address and then emailed the prospects directly. It’s gotten me two meetings so far.

2. Preparing for a meeting with a new General Manager at an auto dealership, I found a newspaper article on his previous dealership in California. This turned out to be a great conversation-starter. The article didn’t show up in Google or Yahoo, but the book pointed me to another source I hadn’t heard of.

3. I found out that my local public library offered free access to several “pay” information services, and that I could log on from my office computer.

You’ll find that not every technique works every time — you’ll go down some blind alleys as you try out the methods in the book. But if you want to be fully prepared on a sales call, the Internet is an indispensable tool. And Take the Cold Out of Cold Calling is an extremely valuable guide to getting the most out of the Web as efficiently as possible.

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call me at 503-323-6553.