ATTENTION: Real Estate Brokers, Mortgage Brokers, Financial Planners, Insurance Brokers (and other small business operators)
Would you invest $15.28 to secure $10,000?
If you answered ‘Yes’ read on. If you said ‘no’ then read on to discover why you are washing tens of thousands down the toilet.
In real estate, mortgage lending, insurance underwriting and even financial planning, there is an extended period between when a sale begins and ends. During this period there is much tension and stress for most parties involved.
It has always been my view to ‘over communicate’ during this period to ensure a satisfactory outcome is achieved for all parties; mine in particular.
This is why I developed and use the “Reed 5 Step Customer Care Programme”.
Communicating with a transaction’s parties is easy to do and in the same vein, easy not to do. At the end of each week I send an email to all concerned giving them a status update on the progress of the deal. People like to be informed.
While this is ok and essential, I go one step further to provide some ‘outrageous’ communication. I want to ensure my name is on the mind of all parties involved and to ensure the process concludes in a favorable result.
Outlined below is my 5 step process based around my own business of selling real estate in Queensland, Australia. Obviously you’ll need to adapt this approach for your business which may include adding some steps or increasing the time line.
Step 1
Once a purchaser has signed a contract to purchase a property, a card is sent congratulating them on their purchase. The card should arrive in 2 -3 days. The heading inside the personalised card reads:
Congratulations!
You Have Already Won
The card then briefly outlines what the process is from here. I then conclude the card with:
Thank You
We Appreciate You Choosing Us
Step 2
In the first 5 business days the purchaser has the option of opting out of the contract. This is referred to as the ‘cooling off’ period. It is also during this time that they normally have the property inspected by a build and pest inspector. Once again this can be a tense time for all parties, so Card 2 is sent on day 5. I use a few different headlines here:
Your House Has Passed With Flying Colours
14 Grange Crescent Says ‘Thanks’ For Believing In Me
Step 3
In Queensland most properties are sold subject to finance which is usually required to be satisfied within 14 days of the contract date. This is probably the most stressful period for both the buyer and the seller; not to mention the real estate agent, finance broker and lawyer. My 3rd card reads:
Sit back, relax and have a latte on us
Congratulations on your finance approval. You’re now half way (assuming a 30 day settlement) to owning your new home at 14 Grange Crescent, Ascot. Why not sit back, take a breather and enjoy a coffee on us… etc etc.
I include a Starbucks gift card with the greeting card. I would also send a card and coffee voucher to the seller as well.
Step 4
With settlement of the property occurring in 30 days of the contract date, I’d send my fourth card in this series with the headline:
Welcome Home
I also include a little gift for the purchaser; usually something for the home. If the purchaser is an investor, I might include a book on real estate investing or something similar.
I also send a card to the seller and include a gift basket in appreciation for their choice of selecting my agency.
Step 5
Within 2-3 days of the card and gift packs arriving to both the purchaser and seller I send my final card asking each party for a testimonial letter. I usually help each party by providing a few questions they can answer about our service during the transaction process.
Once again I normally enclose another Starbucks card to thank them for sending a few words to us.
Not everybody does it but we usually get over 50%. These testimonial letters are gold and help us secure more business.
Naturally during the sale process we are talking to all parties as well as providing email updates. We also send the lawyers and finance brokers involved some Starbucks gift cards as well during the process. Lawyers and finance brokers are great referral sources for our business.
Now, in reading the above you can see this ‘outrageous’ process secures us a lot of ‘$10,000 sales’ (average commission for our area but of course this can be much higher. $15,000, $20,000 or even $50,000) for a token outlay of around $15 – $20 plus gift baskets. We have very few contracts fall over. Communicating with all parties lowers their stress levels and increases our chances of the sale concluding favorably.
The biggest investment in the process is time and effort.
But we’ve come across a service that simplifies this for us. We are able to choose from over 10,000 quality, physical cards, upload a message in our own hand writing, include a photograph; all for under $1. We simply click ‘send’ on our computer and the company prints the card, puts a stamp on it and posts it for us. We don’t leave our office. The service is global with printing facilities in the US and Australia.
We can even select gifts with this company and they’ll send them for us. We can choose from gift cards, books and magazines, personal development, car care, gifts for him, gifts for her, home, office and many more. Yes Starbucks cards are included!
The process can be automated so that cards and gifts can be sent at future dates. It’s easy.
Adopt the above 5 step process and secure more business. Enjoy!