By now, it's evident. Becoming skilled on the Internet will
enhance your business in ways that will bring you more customers,
more money, and more growth.
That's all very well and good for you as a REALTOR®. But how
do you translate that into benefits for your customer?
Yes, certainly you have your web site, and certainly you
include crucial related links to provide your future client
valuable information such where to find local town businesses,
discover news sources, hunt down school profiles and more.
All very vital. What else is missing?
Why, feedback forms, of course!
Feedback forms are a great way to compel customers to contact
you with their relevant informational needs. You can customize
the forms and provide the following:
- Fields to enter their name, address, when they plan on
moving, the number of rooms and bathrooms they'd like, the
square-footage, and the like
- Buttons that allow customers to pick their home price (between
$100,000 and $200,000, between $200,000 and $300,000, etc.)
- Buttons that let the customer dictate the best way for you
to contact them
How does this affect your customer?
Your customer visits your site, and decides
to use the form you provide that allows her to specify what kind
of house she's looking for, how many bedrooms, baths, and location.
After clicking "Submit information", you'd then receive e-mail
that contained all the customer data provided!
This is an excellent way to build up your lists for call
backs and follow-ups, and takes care of your generic, usual
house request. Consider
http://www.pili.net/find.htm as an
example. Additionally, you can add check boxes for folks to
request school and local newspaper information, as the
enterprising REALTOR at
does.
But what if she was looking for a particular quality that
you don't list on your feedback form?
For example, one person might have the square footage, desired price
and style down pat. But she might consider it to be imperative that
the house have stairs that can be converted to a riding chair so
her elderly mother can navigate between flights.
Do you have a specific area in your form that describes stairs?
Probably not. But you can include a text area that
states, "please enter any special needs you may have concerning your home
search here."
Give some specifics before your text box. Add information that
will compel your customer to give you as much critical data as
possible.
Adding forms to your website is very easy. Even if you don't
have a form yet, you can find a very simple script to create it
at
Matt's Script Archive. Your website designer should be able
to incorporate it with no problem at all.
By doing the above, you're now making it easier than ever for
your client to communicate to you electronically! Take advantage
of it.
Published: March 11, 1999
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