SELLING: Sales Shorts

Festival of leads
Mickie Andrews, ABR®, and her family, owners of Coldwell Banker Andrews & Assoc. in Nashville, Tenn., round up an average of 300 leads each year by sponsoring an annual pony ride and raffle at the local chamber of commerce festival.

By signing up to receive a free photo of their child astride a pony or enter the drawing, parents provide CB Andrews with their contact information. Andrews mails the framed photos to parents several weeks later, along with her personal brochure.

At the event, the company also provides a tent where parents watch their children, sign up for the drawing, and view listing information.

Andrews says her company spends between $500 and $900 on the event each year, depending on the amount of sponsorship she receives from builders whose listings she displays in the tent. Holding the event over six years has had the cumulative effect of increasing awareness of the company in the family-oriented suburban community, Andrews says. “It’s absolutely increased business—by about 30 percent.”

Walking ads
Why not let Joe Public lighten your marketing load? Jesse Herfel, a salesperson with Keller Williams Integrity First in Mesa, Ariz., prints roughly 500 $4 T-shirts a year featuring his sales team motto and contact info. He passes them out to clients, friends, and family; throws them from his team’s float in an annual community parade; and gives them away at a four-day local musical event that draws thousands. A lot of people don them immediately, thereby advertising his services all over town.

The T-shirts have been well worth Herfel’s $2,000 annual investment over the past three years, he says. “I attribute about 10 to 15 sales to the shirts and I’ve generated dozens of leads.”

The gift of time
For nearly three years, salespeople at Century 21 M&M and Associates in Modesto, Calif., have been giving timeshares around the world as closing gifts and listing incentives. In a twist, one associate, Ricardo (Rick) De La Torre, has ramped up his referral business using the perk. He offers a one-week vacation to anyone who gives him a referral that results in a sale.

Century 21 M&M buys blocks of unsold timeshares at a discount from timeshare company RCI, a subsidiary of Century 21’s parent company, Cendant. Employees and affiliates of Cendant’s three real estate brands can buy the timeshares, which don’t include airfare.

Since he started the program, De La Torre’s referrals have dramatically increased, he says. In fact, they make up nearly three-quarters of his business. All told, he gives away about 25 vacations a year. “People love it,” he says. “They’ll call me and ask, ‘Are you still doing that timeshare thing?’”

Do you have an innovative, business-boosting selling or marketing tip that you’d like to share? Please tell us about it at greatideas@realtors.org.

QUOTE

Better a thousand times careful than once dead.
—Proverb