Data is King (continued)

Hello readers,

I have to apologize for taking so long to get part 2 of this blog to you. I've been on some RR for the summer with my kids and refused to use my computer for work. So here it is and I hope you find this information useful.


Last blog I talked about the importance of data and backing up your data, as well as knowing how to format and get access to your data.

So, what do you do with it now that you have it in a format you can use?

Use some standard marketing and advertising tools...

1) Learn to Mail Merge - MS Outlook, Eudora and most other email programs, along with almost all sales contact managers have a feature called "Mail Merge." This tool lets you use your existing contacts in the program, or import new contacts and then create a mailing list, print it out onto letter head, envelops and whatever else you need. Learning to mail merge is extremely important because you get to know how good or bad your data really is and what formatting your data guys (or marketing team) need to do for each major mailing. If you haven't done this before...create a CSV file from your data and then go to your contact management program and use the HELP feature (or hit F1, usually that will work) and search for "mail merge"

2) Email - You can do emails almost daily with your new mail merge tool, I wouldn't recommend it but if you have customers/clients that want to hear about the latest and greatest properties/offers then mail merge and email are a Godsend. You can use your mail merge feature and actually set up your contacts into groups i.e. your farm and send out specific weekly, monthly, quarterly or annual emails to the groups. Holiday greetings are also a great way to keep yourself in front of the contacts in your farm. Make sure your clients/customers are OK with you sending them email; if they asked to be removed from your list, be sure to do it...getting "black listed" can hinder you from contacting hundreds if not thousands of your clients/customers...all because of one email.

3) Direct Mail - Now that you know how to mail merge...start doing it. Using good-old-fashion direct mail (post cards, media kits, newsletters, Birthday/Thank You cards, etc.) is a great way to brand yourself as a Realtor and build your client relationships. You can use inexpensive online sites to get full 4-color mail pieces, or go with a traditional printer which will charge you several hundred dollars more. I'd look into these two sites, they have the best rep for online printing: http://www.vistaprint.com or http://www.overnightprints.com . Now if you’re budget would allow, you should look into a company called Hobbs Herder Advertising. They are one of the top advertising agencies for Realtors. Run by founders Don Hobbs and Greg Herder, this organization really knows customer service and goes far beyond excellent personal advertising and will also teach you how to master marketing overall.

4) Voicecast - use our myAgentPHONE system to send your new mail merge an automated, recorded voice message about your latest properties or about an upcoming event by calling every phone number at once. Imagine how much effort it would take to call 200 people to tell them the same thing. With myAgentPHONE’s Voicecast You can also use the system to call purchased voice-casting lists to introduce yourself to potential clients. The great thing about voice casting is that it's "instant," and can produce tremendous results. Stay tuned for more great ways to use Voicecast.

5) Targeted product offerings - once you master the mail merge you'll realize how easy it is to reach out to your customers/clients or potential customers/clients. You can start to focus on your customers/clients needs and find products/offerings that match your clients specifically and if you have enough contact you can start to create all of the above marketing/advertising material around specific customers. Give them exactly what they want and design products/offerings that fit the exact needs of specific groups you have created. Knowing your customer and then specifically targeting your advertising can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars every month.

6) List sales - I wouldn't recommend this, unless you have a relationship with your clients that permits you to do this but some people go after new customers/clients in order to build a database of contacts and then they turn around and sell those "contact"/leads to associated vendors (movers, storage companies, etc.). If you have a close relationship with your customers, I wouldn't suggest selling their data. For the most part I believe this is a bad idea but it’s common so I figured I would list it.


I'm sure you have your own ways of marketing, networking and branding but some of these can help supplement some of your existing efforts. Especially the voice casting services, if you haven't tried it before, you really need to. We (myAgentPHONE) have seen companies generate thousands of dollars of revenue in a matter of minutes by using the system. It's fast, easy and can easily be done in a professionally and tasteful fashion.

Until next time,


Damien Zamora
CEO/President
myAgentPHONE
dzamora@myagentphone.com