Transforming Your Direct Mail Results in Commercial Real Estate Brokerage

Direct mail is a useful tool in Commercial real estate marketing.  You can do it for a number of reasons; however you can and should follow some solid rules to lift your conversions from the mail out.

It is very easy to waste lots of money and time on a poorly targeted letter campaign.  If you are going to send letters to attract more Commercial property clients and prospects, then get the process right from the very start.

One thing should be said here; email has taken over the world of communication and marketing, so traditional letters can now have a much greater impact with clients and prospects.

I heard a discussion recently between two agent friends about the need to get marketing correspondence out at the start of a new year.  The mail out was to be to the database and the businesses locally.  Listing stock was low and the market was asking for more good quality listings.  At the time local investors were ‘hunting’ for quality properties.  So the solution under consideration was to ‘send out more marketing letters’.

Maybe you also want to try the direct mail process?  Before you start, here is a valuable observation for you:

‘Many agents will send out several hundred or perhaps a thousand letters in a single batch and only get one or two calls back’.

Scary isn’t it?  How discouraging would that be when you have spent all the time, money and effort to get the direct mail sent out?  I think that ‘very discouraging’ is an understatement.  So if this marketing process is for you, then you had better follow some rules to make it work for you in a positive way.

Try some of these:

  1. Correct detail – Don’t send out your letters unless your contact information is correct.  Incorrect spelling and old addresses for the contact will destroy your results.  Have someone check the contact detail and spellings before you create the correspondence and send it.
  2. Target your segments – The letter that you create should be specific to a location, a property type, and a specific message.  In that way it will have a greater chance of being read.  Generic ‘Would you like to sell?’ or ‘Would you like to lease?’ letters are a total waste of time.  You can and should to much better than the generic approach.
  3. Tell a specific story – Property related stories from the local area will encourage readership.  If you can write about a recent listing, a sale or lease, or a new property development then do so.  Build on your successes locally by writing about them.  Provide valuable information and show that you are an expert in your local area.
  4. Business Card – Put your business card in every envelope and with every letter sent.  The business card is the most powerful marketing tool you have and it costs next to nothing!  If the letter is ‘trashed’ there is a reasonable chance that the card will be kept.
  5. Simplicity – Design your letter to fit on a single A4 page.  Keep your message to 3 or 4 paragraphs, and 4 or 5 dot points.  That will then help covey the message.  Most adults will not read a letter unless something captures their attention.
  6. Introduce your Call – Make follow-up calls a few days after your letters will have been received.  Your letter should introduce the fact that you will be calling to talk about the local property market.
  7. Blue Ink – Sign all your letters personally in blue ink.  In that way people will know that you are not a ‘marketing machine’ without a genuine intent.
  8. Contact Ease – Make it easy for people to call you if they wish.  Get a ‘toll free’ number for just that very purpose.  Also provide your email address or a special email address that will segment the people from your mail-out.

So the ‘direct mail’ process is not hard; it is just very special and specific.  Follow the rules and you will get better conversions.

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