Real Estate: Getting Appointments, Handling Creative and Managing Expectations

I've always had a problem with real estate companies using too much print and not enough broadcast. The weekend newspapers are full of real estate advertising. We typically get a much smaller percentage of that category in broadcast. It's a shame. And at the same time, it's a heck of an opportunity.

Let's discuss real estate for a bit. Let's focus on creative ideas AND better ways to get appointments with real estate decision makers.

First of all, getting appointments. Most of you know that when I'm not on the road speaking at your conventions, I work with salespeople (and a few Chiquitas) on the street. So, I'm out with clients virtually every week. One of the best ways I've found lately to get appointments with a variety of decision makers is to open with a HEADLINE, as I've told you before. And here's a great way to do that.

Look at the product and service categories that are NOT well-represented on your station...REAL ESTATE, for example. Remember THAT ALL MEDIA ARE GOOD. Radio is good. Television is good. Newspapers are.......um......(gulp)....well, they're...um...(hem, haw)...OKAY, THEY'RE GOOD TOO. All media are good. So that means that MY lake (however many thousands of people watch or listen to your station in a given week) is JUST AS GOOD as any other lake out there, including the newspaper, Yellow Pages, etc.

Okay, so I explain that bit of info to my client. Then I say, "Look...there's nothing wrong with advertising in the newspaper. It's a great (&%$#*&@C) medium. But don't you think that in your particular product/service category, that the newspaper lake is being a little OVERFISHED? Look at your situation in the paper. Every one of your competitors are advertising in the same medium. You're having to compete with all of them. And then over here, I have another perfectly good lake with thousands of fish...some of which WILL come to the surface to eat what you're selling THIS WEEK, and yet we don't have ONE SINGLE fisherman from your product/service category throwing a line in our water (Or, we only have a handful). It looks like it would be a good calculated risk on your part Mr. Client, to cast GOOD BAIT and CAST IT OFTEN ENOUGH to give a percentage of our listeners/viewers who are ON for real estate, the opportunity to know WHO you are, WHAT you do and HOW to get in touch with you! Look...it makes LOGICAL SENSE. Drop fishing lines in a good lake that's not being OVERFISHED and your ads will stand out more to those people who are ON for your product or service."

I've gotten many appointments with local direct clients this way. Hey...IT REALLY WORKS! BUT WAIT...THERE'S MORE!

Media salespeople, use this technique for getting appointments with ATTORNEYS, ELECTRICIANS, PLUMBERS...ANY PRODUCT OR SERVICE CATEGORY THAT IS UNDERREPRESENTED ON YOUR STATION. Once you show a client a "hole" in his competitor's advertising or marketing strategy, YOU have an OPPORTUNITY to help your client take advantage of that hole. And ladies and gentlemen, there are holes of opportunity EVERYWHERE.

Now, for some discussion about REAL ESTATE CREATIVE. Years ago a friend of mine (I'll call him Richey) gave me some valuable information involving real estate sales. This friend was in the auto sales business for over twenty years, but his hobby was buying ugly homes. He would buy two or three houses a year, pay 50-percent down and finance the other 50-percent with five-year notes. He bought about 40 houses over the years. Then he'd fix them up and rent them out. He did so well that he retired from the car business. Now he smokes marijuana, goes fishing and sells a house or two when he needs some money.

Here's what Richey said about selling real estate and it makes perfect sense.

People don't buy logically. We'd like to think we do, but we don't. People buy based on emotion, and then try to justify their decisions with logic.

Now, what gender do you think makes the vast majority of decisions when it comes to choosing a new place to live? Male or female? According to Richey, it's WOMEN. In fact for Richey, women made the final decision 75-percent of the time. Like I said, Richey bought distressed, ugly houses. He looked for bargains and he got them. Then he put some money into them. Not much, but some. But it was where he put that money that made all of the difference. He'd start with the façade. He'd repaint and repair any front siding that looked bad. He made the lawn look better and added a bush or two. Next, he went to the kitchen. Typically he gutted the kitchen, put in new cabinets and new appliances, and he always added a kitchen ceiling fan.

Women were immediately drawn to a house that looked good from the street. And by the time they got to the kitchen, they were sold. Most commented on the ceiling fan. Now...is it logical to make a decision worth thousands and thousands of dollars in rent on a $150 ceiling fan? No...but it happens all of the time.

So, Richey teaches us two important things about advertising real estate:

1. People don't buy logically. They want to think they do, but they don't.
   


2. Because people don't buy logically, I can create desire by telling stories about certain product features or benefits.
   

Here's a story about manufactured housing that fits in nicely with the point I'm trying to make about real estate accounts. That is,

• Create commercials that stick out through the CRAPOSPHERE(TM) with commericals that create desire in those who are ON for a new place to live AND



• Manage the client's expectations about results on your station and possibly double, triple or quadruple what the client thinks he should be spending with you.

A couple of months ago, a client in the manufactured home business came to one of my seminars. (For more info on Weyland seminars, click http://www.paulweyland.com/seminars.html). This manufactured home client told me that he'd tried broadcast a few times, but IT DIDN'T WORK. After hearing the seminar, he had a better understanding of why his broadcast advertising wasn't working for him and he was very eager to try broadcast again, but much differently than before.

Here are the facts. He was spending about $4,000 at a time on a station. That was supposed to last for a month, in a market where the average spot costs $100. He ran radio erratically. He was never convinced that he was getting a good return on his investment. His average sale is $60,000 on a double-wide. His gross profit margin is 40-percent. FOURTY PERCENT!

This account is a work in progress. We are working on better creative, managing his expectations about results and quadrupling his budget.

1. CREATIVE- The client was running spots that sounded just like all the other mobile home/real estate accounts on the station. Instead of focusing on what people really want in a new home and trying to create desire for those selling points, he and his marketing department were totally consumed with explaining FINANCING in their copy. It was boring, very complicated and very hard to listen to. And at the end, he had to run those horrible disclaimers...you know, where the announcer, in a hushed and speeded-up voice says in effect, "We just lied about everything we just said in this spot. We're lying, lying, lying."

We have begun working on creative concepts. We found some customers who had purchased homes for a variety of reasons and we are inviting them to the station to explain why they bought. Here were the reasons:

1. Island kitchen with bar seating and brand new appliances
2. garden bath
3. walk-in closets

Not one of the women we contacted so far said that they bought based on financing.

So, here's the hole. Nearly every single real estate advertisement and spot we hear and see look and sound the same. Everybody's pitching financing, but nobody is pitching island kitchens, garden baths or walk-in closets. So, we bring in satisfied customers. In fact, these customers are so satisfied that they become evangelists for our client. I take them into the production room and ask them provocative questions about what they like most about their homes.

Evangelist number one goes crazy immediately about her kitchen. She says that when she entertains, her friends and family all gathered in her kitchen. She hated her old kitchen she says, because it was too small and she didn't feel it was a very attractive place. Then she starts beaming as she describes her new kitchen. "Look, I have an island kitchen and countertop. I can seat six people in stools around the island. I have all new appliances. And, I have a ceiling fan in the kitchen. I LOOOOOVE my new kitchen!" she says. And you know, her excitement is infectious. She's not reading anything. She's just talking. And as she talks, her enthusiasm creates desire in others in similar situations.

Another woman is nuts about her "garden tub". Imagine her story. "All day long at work, and then on the way home, all I can think about is getting out of these work clothes, lighting some candles, opening a bottle of champagne and getting into my garden tub. I LOOOOOOVE IT! It really makes my day." The garden tub sold her on buying the $60,000 manufactured home. NOTE: I saw the same acrylic garden tub recently at a builder's supply store. It cost less than $400.

Customer number number three has not yet been contacted. But we are told that she is a shoe nut. She owns hundreds of pairs of shoes. She had a storage problem in her old home. Now, she has voluminous walk-in closets where she can showcase her collection and more easily find the shoes she wants to wear today. Imagine the enthusiasm she'll impart to others with storage problems, as she relates how her problem was solved by purchasing from our client.

We'll weave stories based on what these customers have to say about their favorite feature of their new home. We will stick with one idea per spot. We won't be tempted to shovel "ten pounds of crap into a five-pound bag."

We have decided that we never have to mention the words MANUFACTURED HOUSING in the spots. Why rub that in? The price alone, as well as the fact that we'll say the client can deliver the home anywhere is enough to imply that fact. We will not have to run a single disclaimer because we will avoid talking about financing. The client agrees that it is THEIR job to qualify and sell the customer. Our job is to create enough desire to generate traffic for our client. Isn't that the way it should always be? Why did the broadcast business ever get away from that to begin with? Why do we waste precious seconds of time telling people crap they don't want to see and hear...in fact, stuff they automatically filter out anyway...and then waste precious time with disclaimers, explaining that we just lied about everything we just said?

ESTUPIDO.

2. MANAGING EXPECTATIONS ABOUT RESULTS

As I mentioned earlier, before this client attended my seminar, he was not convinced that radio was doing much for him. In other words, he wasn't convinced that it was working. His expectation about results was far different than what he felt he was actually getting. In fact, this client had always expected that crowds of people would appear when he ran commercials.

When he told me about his average sale and his gross profit margin, I was stunned. Gross profit margin on manufactured housing is much bigger than I thought. At 40- percent, with a $60,000 average sale, how many manufactured homes would he have to sell to break even on a one to two thousand dollar weekly schedule? Do the math. Or, just download the Paul Weyland Training Seminars Mediator(tm) (http://www.paulweyland.com/mediator.html) and take a look. Say he's running on a station that cumes 100,000 12+ per week with an average spot cost of $100. The client was spending about $2,000 per week. One single sale would equate to .001 percent of the total cume. Imagine running 20 spots in a week, with a desire-evoking commercial. Do you think it might be possible that we could generate enough traffic to result in one single sale? If we did that, the client's return on advertising investment woud soar into the 1,000% category. Unbelievable.

Where did the client ever come up with his earlier idea that he'd have to make a dozen sales in order to break even? Is it conceivable...I mean, IS IT POSSIBLE... that he pulled that figure RIGHT OUT OF HIS REAR-END? Now, we're talking about doubling or quadrupling what the client is spending...AND, we're talking about a long-term contract, to boot. The client is aware that he's trying to reach out and sell a percentage of those people who are ON for a new place to live. If he fishes our lake with better bait and casts that bait enough times for people to hear it, it looks like a good calculated risk that he'll do much better than break even. And at the same time, he's beginning the process of BRANDING. So that later, when other people are ON (people are ON and OFF for different products and services at any given time), they might consider our client among those they will shop. Everybody wins.

One more note on real estate. The newspaper in our town always features a "HOUSE OF THE WEEK". It's one of the nicer homes for sale in the area. There are photos, paragraphs on features, notes on the builder and the architect, etc. Why couldn't your real estate client feature a HOUSE OF THE WEEK? You know, feature one home where the realtor is doing an open house anyway. Run a spot per hour on your station directing people who are out shopping for houses over the weekend to come to this specific open house. This is not a remote. It's a spot campaign. Discuss any unique features. Describe bathrooms and kitchens and yards in your spots. In other words, drive traffic to that one location. Once viewers or listeners come in, give them brochures and photos of other homes for sale by this realtor. Hey...nobody else is doing it. Talk to your client about the logic of doing something that will stand out from the competition and create desire for the client's product or service.

If you have good campaigns you'd like to share, mail them to paul@paulweyland.com .