Keeping in touch with real estate buyers and sellers in St. Petersburg Tampabay.
I cannot speak for the whole country but here in St. Petersburg Tampabay the real estate market and how you do business has changed a lot over the last few years. Buyers find you on the internet and not in magazines anymore, sellers compare realtors and their web presence online before they call you for a listing appointment.
Knowing this, finding new clients is relatively easy the challenge is staying and keeping in touch with real estate buyers and sellers in St. Petersburg Tampabay. People that you have sold a house to years ago, a lead that came in 9 month ago, a renter that might be ready to buy soon etc. I found that one of the best ways is to send out a newsletter every month. A custom made newsletter, written by me, the Realtor, about the St. Petersburg Tampabay area. I talk about local news, changes in the real estate market, home and condo sales statistics, local events, computer tips, household tips and I also include a link to a post that I have written or a page on my website.
I e mail this newsletter to everybody I have ever met and I also post this newsletter on one of my blogs.
Been doing this for about 2 years now and so far I have only very positive feedback for buyers, sellers, old leads, friends and other prospects. I get stopped at the local coffee shop someone thanking me for my newsletter, I run into someone I have not seen in ages and they tell me that they LOVE my newsletter, leads that are long forgotten call a year later saying thank you for keeping in touch, we are now ready to buy and one goes the list. I also include links to my posts in snake mail letters that I send to my farm area.
When I get an e mail inquiry about a neighborhood or condo association that I once wrote a post about I include the link in my e mail response.
I am looking forward to see more ideas that will help me keeping in touch real estate buyers and sellers in St. Petersburg Tampabay.
Below is one example of my newsletter so you get a better picture.
- If you think about buying or selling a house or condo in the Treasure Island Florida or the St. Petersburg Tampabay area, please give me a call.
- Ask me about waterfront homes or condos in St. Pete beach, Treasure Island, Madeira beach, Seminole and St. Petersburg Tampabay neighborhoods.
- Find out what we can do to sell your home or condo and what the value of your property is.
- Check out great real estate deals or visit condo associations like Seminole Isle.
- We also work with Short Sales, bank owned and foreclosures .
- Find a property or go to my website for more real estate information or simply contact us. 727 410 7777
Anne Hensel | Real Estate Broker in Teasure Island St Petersburg
Call today 727 410 7777
When I was still selling, e-mail hadn't yet become a big thing in our small town. (We're always about 5 years behind times) so the newsletters I wrote went by postal mail.
And I had the same kind of experiences you do - people would stop me in the grocery store to comment on something I'd written. Even more interesting - if I was late getting it out, some of them would call to ask if they'd been taken off my list.
I don't think anyone gets too excited about the "canned" newsletters, but they like hearing your personal messges.
Anne
Your post is right on target, a successful career is build on staying in touch with our buyers, sellers, and prospects.
Good luck and success.
Lou Ludwig
Marte. I completely agree with you. My newsletter does not "look" nice but people appreciate that I do NOT use one of the fancy pre made formats.
Lou
Thank you for the good wishes.
Our Pinellas County Realtor association is down from 10500 Realtors to under 6000. I am still around and I think a big part of the reason is staying in touch with clients.
Anne, this is part of my business plan for next year - we do a paper newsletter, but I think email is the way to go!
Anne,
Newsletters are great, postcards are great too,but now everyone is on the bandwagon, and doing it, so it to some extent has lost its original impact, and people hate reading the same thing over and over, SO..... I have found that getting out there and meeting them face to face is good, along with emails as we all do the email thing hundreds of times a day it seems.
Of course, in some neighborhoods you will not find anyone home as both family members work, so emails are a great way to talk with them after they can relax for a while from their hetic day!
Debbie Flay