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Mr. Internet is the alter-ego of Michael J. Russer, an Internet speaker, trainer, author, and consultant. You'll see his column on REALTOR®Magazine Online every month and in the magazine quarterly. Send your questions to help@askmrinternet.com.
Recent columns by Mr. Internet:
Tips to Get Them Talking
Auctions Offer a Boost to Online Listings
Get Published | | One form, many uses
Let the Template do the Talking
Creating standardized responses can make online communication more efficient.
DEAR MR. INTERNET:
As my online leads increase, so does the time it takes to respond to all these e-mails. Is there some way to keep my responses personal, but cut down on the time it takes to reply to inquiries?
Sam Miller
RE/MAX Stars Realty
Mount Vernon, Ohio
DEAR SAM:
For real estate professionals such as yourself who are successfully growing their online business, handling e-mail leads effectively and efficiently can be a major issue. Fortunately there’s a way to send the perfect response for most e-mail situations with a simple click of the mouse, provided you are using Outlook 2000 or other professional e-mail software that allows you to use multiple e-mail signatures.
Chances are, most of the e-mail you receive fit into one of a few categories of inquiries. As a result, you can save response time if you create standardized e-mail "templates" for each type of inquiry. For example, if a visitor to your Web site sends a message requesting more information about a particular property, you could use a special "first response" template like this one from the June 2000 “Mr. Internet” column, as a reply.
Sample Template
Hi (name):
Thanks for stopping by. You’ll find the information on [type in property address] you requested attached for your review.
[Type in personalized paragraph to respond to specific questions as needed.]
In the meantime, I understand that you’re in the information-gathering stage of your home search and may not be ready to “open up” about who you are or what your current needs are.
Because I respect your privacy, I won’t be sending you more information unless you request it. But when you’re ready to explore your real estate needs further, I’ll be happy to assist you. |
The secret to creating powerful and effective e-mail templates begins with keeping the end in mind. Make the templates general enough for to apply to a variety of clients, but specific enough to address the inquirer’s concerns.
· Choose a category of e-mail inquiry you receive on a regular basis —the more specific the better. (See the list below for some possible topics.) Now use word processing software to write a general response for the situation. Use square brackets to set off variable information, such as the recipient's name, the property address, and any specific questions in the e-mail. This lets you easily identify what needs to be personalized when you bring up the template.
· To format your message so it’s easily readable by most e-mail users, set your font to a 10-point Courier or Courier New and set your margins so that you have 5.5-inch line length. These settings will ensure that your e-mail’s lines will not exceed 65 characters. Longer lines often produce unintended line breaks and make the message hard to read and unprofessional looking.
Once you've completed your template messages, have someone else review and edit it for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and style. Also be sure to include your full e-mail contact information and signature marketing line at the bottom.
There are several important things to keep in mind as you save your newly created template to your hard disk:
1. Name it descriptively so you can instantly identify it.
2. Save it as a text (.txt) file with line breaks so that the message will always look the way it should to recipients.
3. Bring up the dialog box that allows you to create signatures in your Outlook e-mail program. Then create a new signature based using the template text file you just created. Although the exact location of the signature dialog box will vary depending on your software version, it is usually located through the “tools” pull-down menu in your e-mail program. If you can’t locate it, try using the “help” file to find the location of the signature box. (See the September 1998 “Mr. Internet” column for more on e-mail signatures.
4. To respond to a request, just call up the appropriate signature file with the click of a button on the message window in Outlook 2000. Then type in any specific information needed in the places indicated by the brackets.
Once you have created your e-mail templates and saved them as signatures, they become a powerful marketing tool. You can develop a template for every conceivable e-mail message category. Just a few options include:
· First-response queries
· Agency disclosures
· Property descriptions
· Package on the way notice
· Response with MLS info
· Rental info request
· Prelisting packages
· Testimonial request
· Agency bio
· Newsletter delivery
· Referral requests
· Anniversary of purchase
Some Net-savvy real estate professionals, such as Chris Newell of RE/MAX Blue Springs in Milton, Ont., use more than 30 e-mail templates to help them respond quickly, consistently, and with powerful results.
Receiving a lot of online leads doesn't mean you have to be buried by the process of responding to them. Instead let templates do most of the work for you.
Tip of the Month
Having broken links on your site is, at best, a professional embarrassment. At worst, it could mean potentially lost business. Unfortunately, the process of finding bad links yourself (before your visitors do) can be very tedious, especially if you have a large site.
The fastest, easiest, most comprehensive tool I've found to handle this task is Xenu’s Link Sleuth. This powerful utility is free, and it downloads and installs in just minutes. When I ran Link Sleuth on my main site www.russer.com site, I found more bad links than I care to admit. Now you have no excuse to check your site's link integrity.
Article Resources: Outlook 2000
Arguably one of the most powerful e-mail software programs available. NOTE: you're likely to find the best price for Outlook 2000 from an online discount retailer rather than buying it directly from Microsoft. | |
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