SELLING: Sales Shorts

‘Wrap’ star
Denise A. Madan, CRS®, GRI, a salesperson with Prudential Florida WCI Realty in Coral Gables, Fla., is wrapped up in her marketing efforts. Madan had been using magnetic signs on the sides of her car but wanted something more memorable. At an art festival she came across the work of a local artist, Tony Mendoza, who was offering to do portraits of people’s homes. Madan fell in love with one of his paintings of an old Spanish-style home in the area, purchased it, and then called a local sign company to have it made into a car wrap for her Toyota Scion. The wrap cost about $1,000.

“You can’t miss my car; there’s not a space on it that’s white,” says Madan. She also has her name, phone number, and Web site URL on the car’s sides, top, and back. “It’s been a great marketing tool,” she adds, noting she’s landed a few deals as a result of the wrap. She also won first prize at a Scion owners’ convention for “Best Use of a Company Vehicle.”

The name game
What’s in a name? Judy Casey, ABR®, CRS®, would say that hers is synonymous with “networking.” The sales associate with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Glenview, Ill., used her name as the foundation of a referral network that includes 55 practitioners and covers 22 states. Casey was in a CRS® class when she noticed a number of the students shared some variation of the name Judy—Judith, Judi, Judie, Jude. She envisioned a “Judy referral network” to not only generate additional business for participants but also reinforce the practitioners’ name with consumers. She contacted practitioners with similar names to see if they’d be interested in joining.

On the first day she distributed the list, Casey and another practitioner each received a referral. “It was fun to have that happen right off the bat,” says Casey, who isn’t otherwise compensated for maintaining the list database. She plans to send out monthly reminders so that members keep the “Judy Network” in mind. And her idea is soon to be copied: She says a former colleague is planning to set up a similar network for people with the name Joanie.

Brewin’ up business
Sitting at an open house can be a grind, so Courtney Morris, a sales associate with Alain Pinel, REALTORS®, in Saratoga, Calif., decided to perk things up. When sellers agree to list their homes with her, she offers to bring in a latte cart and professional barista the morning of the first open house. “Since coffee is so popular right now, it seemed like the perfect thing to drive traffic to the open house,” says Morris, a former barista herself. “The morning hours are most effective for offering coffee because people are going to get up and get it anyway,” she adds. Besides potential buyers, the coffee klatches attract neighbors and community residents who help Morris with her word-of-mouth marketing and grow her farm.

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

MORE ONLINE
For more marketing ideas, access the Personal Marketing section at REALTOR.org/realtormag under Selling.