By BTS Brands
No one personifies the seedy underbelly that people associate with selling more than Blake in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross. Most business people are familiar with the familiar scene between the boss and his underling, Levene, who attempts to justify lackluster sales by saying, “The leads are weak.” To which, Blake eventually sums up the difference between winners and losers with a three letter initialism, “A, B, C, Always Be Closing!” You love to hate Blake, and nothing is further from the truth than his philosophies on selling when it comes to marketing commercial real estate properties.
Without a doubt, closing sales from lead generation activities is a critical component of CRE marketing, even though not all leads are the “best” leads —at least for today. Regardless of how you go about generating leads, whether that’s through email, newsletters or making the dreaded cold call, sometimes, you can feel like you’re fishing in a frozen pond. There are ways, however, to tip opportunities for success in your favor.
There is no need to rely solely on weak leads or cold calls to forge your success. Being successful means creating new relationships in the CRE community, best achieved by establishing a path that will guide clients to your doorstep. Here are four methods that can help carve that path.
Blogs: Blogging can be a lead generation machine by creating content that is interesting and inspiring. Working as a thought leader, design a blog that educates and entertains. This gets your message in the open, and if it evokes emotion, it is more likely to be shared. In fact, 92 percent of business blogs that update frequently have acquired at least one customer through their blog. Updating is as simple as adding comments, responding to readers, or offering links to your other sponsored events or social media platforms—in other words, creating relationships. A dedicated marketing team knows how to time these releases to generate the most buzz for you.
E-newsletters. Your newsletter lays out the breadcrumb trail your team needs. One study shows that 47% of buyers viewed 3-5 pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep, according to a Demand Gen report. Your newsletter can offer all these content pieces at once. Attach a calendar link to give your readers the opportunity to plan what is coming next from you so they can look forward to what to expect. As a result, their loyalty to you deepens. This design style keeps your clients interested and lures other active market influencers to tune-in to your operations.
White Papers: Part of a thorough mid-year marketing assessment will include evaluating the White Paper option in your outgoing documentation. Constructed to inform persuasively, this is a substantial offering (around 6-12 pages) presenting your knowledge and what you foresee for the market. This is a confidence-building presentation.
Automated e-mail follow-up: Time is of the essence, and probably your most valued commodity. Shaving time off your schedule is a daily bonus surely to be appreciated. Automated email follow-up is one of the most underutilized strategies available, and a strong marketing team understands that they can improve client follow by using it. An automated process like this will address all interested audience members and incorporate the key bullet points about the properties that you are promoting and selling.
Every commercial real estate professional knows that selling relies on relationship building. To build relationships, however, means generating interest with potential customers. Cold calling is a tried and true method, but it has become increasingly more difficult as a result of modern roadblocks like caller id and cellular phones. When you’re ready for a break from the lead generation grind, work with your marketing team and let the leads find you.
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