Today’s consumer has more information than ever to compare you and your services to your competition. Winning the customer for life is the aim of the game, and by incorporating a few guidelines; you can be assured of building a strong foundation to create a profitable relationship for future business and referrals.

Get active!

The number of contacts you can make daily determines success in sales. Contact with more people, and serving them with exceptional service and friendly follow up in a professional manner spells success for the bottom line. Be pro-active and enjoy the freedom of the free enterprise system.

A well-planned, outside sales call on existing and prospective customers is the manner in which we gain visibility, initiate and advance meaningful business relationships and put more sales on the top line. However, just waiting for “walk-in” traffic, relinquishes your prospecting model to a accept minimal number of prospect contacts, and puts you at the mercy of the marketplace…and worse, you are not in control of business development. If you don’t have a database of your own to draw from, find another agent who is retiring or moving out of an area and make an agreement to contact his or her sphere and work a referral program.

Everyone benefits from pro-active marketing. Making “warm” calls is easier, more fun, and offers valuable service information to the receiver when done in a win-win format.

Develop a contact system

One of the easiest sales calls is to a past customer. Create a systematic contact program to rotate through your database with a personal phone call to this valuable group at least once or twice a year. Begin this program by making the calls to five past clients a day until you’ve contacted each customer in your database.

Use a simple script like: “Hi! Just checking in to see how you are doing and to find out if there is a way for us to support you today”.

This simple and friendly contact creates a personal opportunity to nurture your past relationship and an opportunity to “ask” for business. If they aren’t in need of your service at the moment, ask if they can refer a friend or neighbor that you can offer your services. Include services like risk-free market analysis for estate, insurance or home equity reasons.

Suggest using your expertise on what specifically adds value if they are thinking of updating or remodeling Either option gives you an opportunity to build your business and profile yourself as offering value added services.

Use the Internet to cut costs

It is unfortunate, but many feel they can “cost-cut” their way to success to gain a better bottom line. No business has problems that more sales won’t cure. So take action now to advance your pro-active sales effort, without spending direct marketing dollars.

The first step is to create and implement new and unique marketing ideas that are punctuated with cutting edge, value-added services that entice your customer to use your services. The miracle of the Internet offers you a 24 hour, 7 days a week virtual office that can work while you sleep!

Get a website that offers automatic response systems to frequently asked questions, reports on things you should know about making improvements to your property, or hot tips on what to ask when re-financing a property.. Offer a discount coupon for home-related services that you have arranged in advance with local service providers.

Design your site with an automatic viewer sign up for these free reports or your quarterly newsletter with valuable updates and information.

Be sure to feature your website address, and information on all your own advertising, brochures, business cards and marketing pieces to “drive” business to your site and begin enjoying passive profits.

In any event, the savvy business entrepreneur uses every opportunity to business develop daily and offer their services and expertise in a way that offers a unique opportunity for their clients and customers.

Published: February 27, 2002

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