In this Mentor Mondays, Jeff Petsche explains why a classic real estate marketing tool, the Buyer Love Letter, is not only a good general tool to have in your kit, but is especially useful in today’s market, where housing inventory can be painfully low.
It’s important, as a buyer’s agent, to be proactive looking for inventory. You don’t want to have to sit around and wait for other people to post listings. By contacting prospective sellers, you have the potential to create inventory, and get your buyers into their dream homes.
So, raise your hand out there if there’s no inventory, you’re working with buyers, and you can’t find that listing for them. I understand, total frustration is kicking in. Problem is, you’re going to the MLS, and you’re looking at what’s available, just like every other real estate agent out there, and then you’re going to the property and you’re competing against multiple agents with multiple offers, etc. You guys know the story because you’re feeling the frustration, and I feel your pain as well.
I just received a marketing piece on my doorstep from a local agent in town from RE/MAX. Very highly respected agent, been in the business for about 20 years, and it just goes to show that the basics still work. Here’s an agent that has 20+ years of experience, and she is dropping off a marketing piece that a lot of people don’t really think about, and going back to the basics because the basics do work.
Now what is she doing? She’s representing a buyer in the flier. And in the flier what’s she’s basically mentioning is that the property down the street, 123 ABC Street, just closed. “My buyers, Jane and Kim,” (or whatever your buyers’ name; in this case it was actually James and Susie),” James and Susie missed out on this particular property. They submitted an offer, but unfortunately their offer was not accepted for one reason or another.” So, it’s a little bit of a love letter, if you will. A lot of agents like to call these my “buyer love letter.”
It builds up the emotion of the seller as to the buyers that are out there, they’re struggling. They’re kind of making it personal by naming the buyer in the actual marketing piece. Or whatever letter that you provide when you submit offers, and you put your little buyer love letter together and it’s got all of your buyers’ information there.
In this case, it’s a marketing piece, and basically she’s soliciting sellers. She’s soliciting homeowners that may not think about what the market is doing in terms of the benefit of them selling a home right now, and she’s letting them know that she has a buyer looking to buy. And buy specifically in this neighborhood. She’s referencing a property down the street that closed escrow. She’s referencing that her buyer submitted an offer on that particular property. And for whatever reason just got outbid or just didn’t get the property. So she’s really competing, or, I should say, she’s sending a compelling message to the homeowner that I’ve got buyers looking to move into the area. They lost out on a property, “boo hoo, woe is us, we need some inventory. We need a home. If you’re thinking about selling, give me a call.”
That’s when then your expertise comes in when you sit down with these individuals, these sellers or these potential sellers or homeowners who have no idea what the market’s doing. They’re not really staying up on market conditions. And now you get to go into the home and not only do what you do best, and that’s give your presentation and educate your potential client, but letting them know, I’ve got buyers ready to go. She makes a comment in here that “call me today, I have buyers ready to go, save money on commission because you’re dealing with one agent not two agents etc.” And I think you kind of know where I’m going with this.
So, if you’re one of those agents out there who’s kind of looking for that piece of property for your buyer, and you’re having no luck. The inventory’s low, you’re getting outbid, all of these things are happening to you, put this love letter together. Put it in a marketing piece, and market to the neighborhood, the area that your buyer’s actually looking at moving into. And I guarantee you may get some success. I’ve used this technique myself, I’ve gotten several appointments this way, I’ve actually secured some listings, and I’ve actually gotten the buyer and the seller together.
Now, it doesn’t always work, meaning this: You may get some interest, you may get some phone calls, and your buyer may even look at the property and not like it. It happens. But at least now you, now you know there’s a homeowner out there who’s looking to actually potentially sell the house. Ok?
So, I hope you found this tip useful. Don’t be afraid to go out there and market to these neighborhoods that your buyers are looking at. Don’t sit on the computer and the MLS just waiting for the hot sheet to pop up, and active properties to pop up, because every other agent out there is doing the same thing, and you’re still going to be going up against a lot of competition out there. Go create your own inventory, use this love letter to your advantage, personalize the love letter by making note of this property sold, my buyers Jane and Dick, Jane and Doe, Jane Doe, or Jane Smith, whatever your buyers’ names are. In the marketing piece, make sure that you make comments of your buyers’ names, and get that interest going with your seller that it’s a very compelling piece of information, not just some random marketing piece like most agents are doing.
I hope you found this tip helpful, I hope you take it to heart, and remember, it’s your business, and what you do with it is totally up to you. Until next time.
