- Just listed
- Price Reduced
- Pre-MLS offer
- Reduced Again
- Open House
Those are just a few excuses to send endless listing emails to my inbox. This got me to thinking- after the sweetdigs debacle and the argument about reviewing others listings at open houses, isn’t an email as listed above permission to market an agents listing in whatever way I see fit? I think it is.
I’m thinking I’ll be reviewing the emails that come to my inbox unsolicited on our site. These emails come to our domain into my inbox which I believe gives me the right to to use the images, verbiage, face pictures as I see fit. So think before you slam dunk my inbox with five emails on a single day, only to have another agent in your office do the same thing.
My suggestion is that a team should create a hotlist and do a single email maybe bi-weekly or monthly, but if not, I will begin saying it as I see it. Market to me at your own risk.
Points I will Review
- Photography
- Verbiage
- Layout
- & whatever else I see fit.
What say you?
Lani
September 18, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Oh man, I can’t wait for this series!
Shailesh Ghimire
September 19, 2007 at 12:06 pm
This ought to be interesting. I’m on the lending side, so I’m not familiar with this flood of e-mails you guys might get. Judging by the “Bad MLS photo of the day” series, I’m assuming these e-mails will prove to be very interesting.
Looking forward to it.
B. R.
September 19, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Shailesh, it’s no joke, I’m getting upwards of 30-40 a week. I used to keep them, but once I realized that it was getting out of hand I tried too delete when I got them. Now I get one every time my inbox send/recieves. Whats most interesting is that they have my email from ABOR. I do not recall giving anyone permission with ABOR to profit from my email. If more agents react, then maybe it will curb. But I doubt it.
Jonathan Dalton
September 19, 2007 at 7:49 pm
I use the e-mail flyers on occasion because they are the least costly seller appeasement tool I’ve found. Inconvenient? Sure. But your deleting effort is a small price to pay to keep my seller happy. 🙂
Not to mention I’ve gotten calls off of them, as much as that would seem to defy the odds. (Assuming I send them out on a Thursday for pre-weekend consumption.)
I didn’t give ARMLS permission to make money off my e-mail yesterday, but these flyers are but a drop in the SPAM stream I navigate each morning.
Good talking to you today, sir.
B. R.
September 19, 2007 at 8:42 pm
We do mailers to our buyers, and to our mailing lists we gain by sponsoring giveaways at local eateries, banks, subscribers, bridal shows, mba grads (they’ve chosen to sign up) etc… Our list continues to grow and it really costs us nothing- 99% of our marketing is targeted which saves us money. If I’m in your market and your price size and amenities fit my search, I’ll see your listing, tour, and your pics.
You have a chance of gaining more interest from a free craigslist ad then you do a realtor email. But I do understand your need to make sellers happy, but I think you could accomplish the same goal by having a monthly/weekly hotsheet put out by the office manager of ALL listings by the office, then you could repeat the same home if you wanted too and get in front me of more often in a more organized way.
just my two.
you too Jonathan!
Chris Lengquist
September 19, 2007 at 9:20 pm
Wow! You read them? I’m impressed.
I look forward to the series. Though you must realize it could get ugly for you when you piss off the wrong person there in Austin.
I can picture it now. Joe Seller does a Google search for his listing and finds your review. Oh, I’d pay to see that moment in time. 🙂
Jonathan Dalton
September 19, 2007 at 9:26 pm
The hot sheet would work assuming the office was willing to pick up the expense. We’ve seen cost reductions taking place over the last few months, so I wouldn’t expect it.
Now, can a group of agents get together and do the same thing? Probably so. It’s only a matter of finding the right provider as most don’t have templates for multiple properties.
B. R.
September 20, 2007 at 12:03 am
Jonathan, 360degreepix.com a company I use here in Austin can whip up such a template pretty cheaply. I would imagine you guys have a nice fat database of buyers & mix that with some verticalresponse.com and bang, you could do it dirt cheap. just a thought
Steve Belt
September 20, 2007 at 1:53 pm
B.R., this is absolutely great. If I only receive 30-40 a week I’d be surprised. I never considered it as “content” before, but I’ll be sure to give it at least 2 milliseconds thought with that regard before I click delete.
B. R.
September 22, 2007 at 11:14 am
lol good job Steve, it’s fast becoming a movement!
Thomas Johnson
September 28, 2007 at 9:06 am
New listings spam as blog content. How about reconfiguring the email as a craigslist post or a zillow,iggy’s or what ever. As Russell Shaw says: it’s about lines in the water. Is a spam transmission considered permission to promote another broker’s listing? Easier to get forgiveness than permission, especialy if there is some kind of implicit permission granted by sending the spam.