If you are using e-mail as a communication tool, you are already primed to make it your number one marketing method. An e-mail newsletter costs you nothing, and it can keep you in front of your sphere of influence, according to Allen F. Hainge, CRS, , an RS Council Senior Instructor and principal of Allen F. Hainge Seminars.

"E-mail is a marketing tool that can double your income and decrease expenses by about 40%," advises Hainge. "The purpose is to keep in contact with your sphere of influence. The newsletter goes out at the touch of a key and within four minutes, everyone to whom you have it addressed will have it."

Hainge believes the biggest difference between heavy hitters and average agents is that top agents prospect their contacts on a continuous basis, many with expensive mass mailings of postcards and newsletters. He says, "Most agents don't have the budget, the organizational skills, or the assistants to do mass mailings." E-mail can be a great equalizer and an advantage not only for experienced agents, but agents who are just getting started.

Hainge can speak from experience. "It used to cost me about $4,000 to do a mass mailing. Consequently, I didn't do them as often as I would have liked." So he countered the costs with a free e-mail newsletter - "Real Estate Computer News & Views." "We started the e-mail newsletter a little over one year ago, and now we e-mail every Monday to over 4,000 real estate folks worldwide. It is a way of keeping my business in front of people by giving them information that they are interested in."

The concept is exactly the same for agents. "They can contact their sphere of influence as often as they want and the only cost is their Internet service provider's fee," suggests Hainge.

How It Works

It is important to collect everyone's e-mail address that you come in contact with so you can build your customer base.

If you don't already check your e-mail regularly - start. Hainge knows from agent responses in his seminars that most agents don't check their e-mail regularly. "The consumer is sending them e-mail and the agents don't reply," says Hainge. "Top sales associates are using technology and using it regularly, and they will more likely get the business because they answer e-mail promptly."

Judi Wolfson, an Allen Hainge Seminars CyberStarTM, says, "I do a tremendous amount of business on the Internet, and often because I am the first one to answer a consumer inquiry.

Build a list and then put the list into groups. Jot down three or four paragraphs on something of interest and then they mail it to the appropriate group. You can put your contacts into groups, such as homebuyers, sellers, out-of-town referring agents and in-town agents. Content is not a problem - you can find something to interest them in the newspaper, on the Internet or any number of places," explains Hainge.

"There are three ways to send the newsletter off. The preferred way is to do it through their e-mail program. They keep their e-mail list in their address book and send the e-mails to that list, but the drawback to that method is that each message goes out one at a time. That takes a long time."

"The second method is through a listserve. This is someone who maintains the list and to whom you send the newsletter when it is ready to go. Mine charges $15 a month and when I add a name, I just e-mail it to his computer. When I send out a newsletter, I send it to an address he gives me, and in four minutes, 4,000 people around the world have it. The point is, if I use a listserve, with one click, the message goes to everybody."

"The third method is the best way to go for agents and that is to use a personalized e-mail software package such as NetMailer or WorldMerge. What these programs do is allow the user to use merge codes. When you do a group email message, you put in the code, such as or , and the merge code goes through the e-mail list and personalizes the mailing. The receiver will get a personalized message, such as "Dear Mary, How are things in Los Angeles?" Again, the only drawback is that the message is sent one at a time, but it is well worth it. The person on the other end is getting a message that makes them feel special."