To Succeed, Put Your Real Self Into Real Estate Messages

The rage in real estate communications these days focuses on the rise of Internet-based social media. Can you survive in the business without a Twitter account and a Facebook page? Sure, although probably not as successfully as you will with them. Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In, instant messaging and similar applications are big for real estate because, in large part, that’s how seller- and buyer-clients prefer to be contacted.

Even the staunchest social media supporters, however, use the U.S. Postal Service almost daily to send letters and other so-called “snail mail” pieces like brochures and flyers. They know not everyone has a computer and online accounts and, even if they do, not everyone checks them daily (or hourly, or constantly, as fanatics will).

Besides, Roy Saunderson contends, some forms of communication are better delivered in ink than in pixels.

Saunderson is president of the Recognition Management Institute, a consulting firm that helps companies improve their employees’ motivation. A hand-written note or letter, he reported in the April (2010) edition of Successful Meetings magazine, can become “a keeper – a memento that will be read over and over again” by clients and customers. His article, titled “Write On,” offered 10 ways to create simple yet effective personal communications. Here are the first five:

  1. Put yourself into the note. Write it personally, rather than have an assistant do it.
  2. Hand-write it. Don’t just type it; invest time in the message. It’s the chief reason people will keep and re-read it, research shows.
  3. Write with purpose. Tell the recipient – the client, the customer, the brokerage, for example – specifically what they did that impressed you or merited your thanks.
  4. Always be positive. There’s no sense having them keep a message of ill-will, is there?
  5. Like a Boy Scout, be prepared. Have blank note cards, envelopes and stamps handy. That way you’ll always be ready to make someone’s day.

Real estate agents who rank among Pennsylvania’s top producers often say the most effective hand-written communication they will ever offer – the one that gets them new referrals from existing clients – is an annual anniversary card sent to their buyers … commemorating the day they closed on their new home. It’s a yearly reinforcement of the agents’ ability to get results.

Stop reading. It’s time for you to send someone in your circle of influence a personal note.

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