Boyd Butler Blog

Maybe things are a bit slow. But with this quiet time comes opportunities to get other things done. Here’s a list of 50 marketing tips which are low-cost or no-cost and will guarantee extra
business to your agency.

Each tip can be implemented by anyone within the firm and some take less than a minute to do.

1. Create a top 27 Tips guide for homebuyers to get top price when selling and offer this free from your website, newspaper adverts and flyers as part of your marketing arsenal.

2. Offer zero commission on sales if the owner buys from you as well.

3. Offer a guarantee of selling within a certain time period or you continue to market for free.

4. Arrange last minute pay-per-response advertising in newspapers/magazines and online with partners. Only pay for qualified leads which you track/record, e.g. with Admeter.co.uk

5. Use small classified adverts (ask for them as a freebie as part of your advertising deal) that appear throughout the newspaper getting prospects to request a free report or high value information-education based report.

6. Record video testimonials with satisfied sellers and put these on your website and on a DVD for prospects. Use the Flip HD or Kodak ZX or i-phone.

7. Take photographs of all successful sellers, print them off and put them on a glory board in your offices.

8. Use the same photographs, a picture of the property and selling price in a folder that all staff carry around with them when viewing properties. This acts as great proof you are great at your job.

9. Track all leads that come in to your offices whether offline or online. Automate this and review it on a weekly basis. Look for trends that you can capitalise on by doing more of and save money where marketing is not working.

10. Highlight your services and everything you do by illustrating visually everything you do for sellers. Do not assume sellers know everything you do.

11. Show how many people you have on your waiting list. Use big numbers on the wall in the office. Use the number in adverts, online and on the phone. This makes sellers feel secure.

12. When someone calls for a valuation, send a marketing pack to them in a Fedex-style package (design a silver envelope that is Priority Express without the charges!) Make sure this pack pre-sells the prospect.

13. Collect all testimonials and photocopy them. Use them in all your selling practices. Don’t be afraid to include 50 letters/emails in a box that you send out.

14. Get more Google Places reviews for your agency. These show you are good and will be seen by prospects.

15. Come up with promotions that show you are unique. “If Man United wins the FA Cup you pay zero commission.”

16. Offer a premium, paid-for, notification service, letting buyers know first of any new listing that is relevant to them.

17. Compare all portal advertising for number, quality and value of leads that come in and make decisions on the results.

18. Record all incoming calls and review the performances of staff and how they convert leads.

19. Develop systems such as telephone scripts and improve them over time to increase results.

20. Offer a newsletter with tips about looking after your property that is sent to all leads. Make this a valuable newsletter which keeps your former, present and future clients in touch with you.

21. Set up a partner network of services that you can supply to home owners. Carpet fitting, kitchen fitting, builder, plumber etc. Don’t refer to anyone you wouldn’t be happy to use.

22. Ask your partner network to refer home owners to you to sell their homes and give them a special deal and sales tool (e.g. flyer).

23. Illustrate how many houses you sell by placing red dots on a map of your local area showing how many houses you have sold over the last three years.

24. Set up voice broadcast messages to keep in touch with all your database and send messages for Christmas, Summer holidays, stamp duty changes, etc.

25. Set up partnerships with solicitors who handle probate so that you get to sell houses of deceased home owners. Reciprocate with conveyancing referrals.

26. Categorise properties according to interest factors. E.g. great for kids, school catchment areas, great for pets. Use people’s passions to sell properties.

27. Automate referrals to surveyors, mortgage lenders and others by using SMS text messages to every inquiry you receive.

28. Set up a YouTube channel for your agency and do some 2-3 minute marketing videos on
each property you have to sell. Use ScreenR and PowerPoint to do this free.

29. Set up a Twitter Account and tweet each property for sale and each one sold.

30. Set up mini-sites for Yahoo and Bing search engines so that you can get people requesting your marketing pack.

31. Make sure your Google Places (Google Local) listing is optimised. Videos, reviews and local links to your website help you do this.

32. Use audio CDs full of testimonials and educational material to send to prospects. People spend a lot of time in their car when they can listen to your messages.

33. Get a relationship with the editor of the local newspapers/radio stations so that you become the “go-to” person for quotes when there is any story on property.

34. Set up a sponsorship of a local charity/ hospice/ kids team and make donations. Get publicity from this and use the partnership in your marketing materials.

35. Set up a competition to pay back one commission on a house sale per month and use this to get prospects to list with you.

36. Use any memberships of property organisations or qualifications on your marketing materials.

37. Sponsor primary school newsletter to parents. This can often be done for less than £100 and gets you known as “official estate agent to x school”.

38. Give all staff 500 business cards (10,000 only cost £100 to print). Set a competition to see who can get most prospects to call from their cards. (Use trackable numbers.)

39. Get celebrity endorsements. The newspaper editor, radio show host, local celebrity should say “Agent X is someone I can recommend to get the best price for your home and deliver a great service.”

40. Show partners, such as new-build property companies, your marketing results. Show them how hard you are working on their behalf.

41. Send sellers a weekly report summarising viewings, enquiries, offers by email/text.

42. Renegotiate the price you pay for your supplies such as paper, print, electricity, etc. Use a no-win-no-fee agency to do this for you. Use any reductions for marketing.

43. Work with shops near your location to build up a database of local residents’ email addresses/ mobile numbers. For every visitor you get, send them to the DVD rental shop for a free DVD or to the restaurant for a free bottle of wine. The shops send house sellers and buyers to you.

44. Write a guide about “How to Sell Your House When You Get Divorced” and let solicitors co-brand it and give it to their clients.

45. Create a hot “fixer-upper” list of properties and text it out to builders/ property developers.

46. Join with other estate agents in cross-selling properties and splitting commission.

47. Offer a buyers’ service and negotiate with other agents on behalf of the buyer.

48. Work with house-buying companies to guarantee a purchase of a property for a fixed-price if it has not sold in 12 weeks.

49. Write down all objections you have ever had from a potential seller choosing your service and come up with a list of answers which prove concerns to be unfounded.

50. Find your unique answer to the question, “Why should I choose you to sell my property?”

If the phone isn’t ringing – do something.

Because action is genius.


Boyd Butler is a marketing consultant.
Boyd@BoydButler.co.uk