According to a study by the National Association of Realtors, 72 percent of homebuyers use the Internet to search for listings and services, and more than 20 percent of homebuyers first learned about the home they purchased on-line. These numbers will only increase as the average homebuyer grows younger and more Internet-savvy.

The Benefits of a Website

The Internet reaches a global audience of more than 200 million people every day, and that number is growing by the month. At any moment, a homebuyer in another state or even another country - beyond the reach of any local advertising you may do - might visit your website looking for that perfect home.

An effective website is one of the most dependable ways to reach your target clientele: affluent homebuyers.

According to a study by the California Association of Realtors, homebuyers who find their home on the Internet are wealthier and purchase more expensive homes than non-Internet buyers. On average, Internet homebuyers spend $452,000 on a home while traditional homebuyers spend $310,000.

The California Association of Realtors study also found that Internet homebuyers make their purchases nearly twice as fast as homebuyers who do not use the Internet. That's because Internet homebuyers have the luxury of checking out prospective homes on-line before arranging for an in- person visit, which saves you time by making viewings more targeted.

Finally, researchers have found that homebuyers who use the Internet are more likely than non-Internet buyers to use a real estate agent to find their home and complete the buying process. They also express greater satisfaction with their real estate agent when the transaction is done, which means repeat customers and referrals for your company.

Adapted from Realty Times article by Brian Losh, July 2005

Success and profitability is all about creating loyal and driving interest, repeat business and referrals.

Since it is roughly six to twelve times less expensive to sell to an existing customer than it is to acquire a new one, the value of customer loyalty and repeat business is just too compelling to ignore. According to Bain and Company a 5% increase in retention yields profit increases of 25 to 100 percent and repeat customers spend, on average, 67 percent more than new customers.

It's All About Communication Communication is a critical part of any relationship. Take a lesson from small businesses that long ago grasped the dynamics and importance of building customer relationships through communication. They nurture their customers over time by learning and remembering individual preferences and interests. They acquire this customer information directly from customers through personal interaction. And they keep in touch with customers on a regular basis ensuring their organization remains "top of mind."

Statistics show that it takes six to seven contacts before you can turn a prospect into a customer. All that contact can be expensive and time consuming. That's where email marketing becomes a critical part of any organization's marketing efforts.

Email Turns Prospects and Visitors into Loyal Customers Email marketing enables you to proactively communicate with your existing customers instead of passively waiting for them to return to your Web site call you. With email marketing you can solidify existing relationships, initiate new ones and convert your one-time visitors, buyers and members into repeat business and long-term customers or contributors.

No matter how your visitors, prospects and customers found you; perhaps you paid for search engine placement, sponsored a newsletter, placed a banner ad, distributed a flyer or sent a postcard; email marketing adds to your bottom line because it allows you to maximize your investment in those expensive and time consuming marketing efforts and improve the return on investment (ROI) of every dollar you spend to obtain new business and develop profitable customer relationships. According to DoubleClick, good email marketing wins over consumers: Well-executed permission email marketing campaigns can have a positive impact on consumers' attitudes towards companies. Also, 67% of US consumers said they liked companies that, in their opinion, did a good job with permission email marketing. 58% of consumers said they opened those companies' emails, while 53% said that such emails affected their personal buying decisions.

Why is Email Marketing the Answer? Email marketing is one of the most powerful marketing tools available today. It is easy, affordable, direct, actionable and highly effective. When you add email to your marketing mix, you spend less time, money and resources than with traditional marketing vehicles (e.g. direct mail or print advertising) And, with email marketing, you can communicate more quickly which means your time- sensitive information is disseminated in minutes, not days or weeks - and you can see the results of your efforts instantly.

Email marketing is at it's most effective when used in communications to your existing customer list or sphere as a means of customer retention.

Communicate More Information, More Often Email marketing is an affordable way to stretch a tight marketing budget. It can cost as little as fractions of a penny per email! With a response rate five times greater than direct mail and 25 times the response rate of banner ads, email marketing is the most effective way to increase sales, drive traffic and develop loyalty. Unlike direct mail, there is virtually no production, materials or postage expense. So, with email marketing, you can easily and affordably create more communications that are valued by your customer.

Educate Your Customers Information and education make your customers and prospects much more valuable because they are more likely to buy when they can make an informed decision. Why force prospects to look elsewhere for the important information they need? Your email communications can gently lead a prospect through the sales process, provide important data and drive the prospect to your website for more details and/or a purchase.

For most businesses, a well-educated customer uses products and services to their greatest advantage. And, guess who will be the first in line to buy when something new becomes available?

Studies show that both senders, and recipients increasingly prefer email marketing. According to DoubleClick: Permission-based email is far and away the preferred method of online communication for consumers. 75% rated it as their preference, with only 25% preferring postal mail and 0% choosing telemarketing.

Foster Long-lasting Relationships Email is an easy and inexpensive way of establishing early and long lasting relationships with your prospects and customers. And the benefits of these relationships are far reaching. When you inform and educate prospects and customers, they begin to perceive you as capable of addressing their needs. Even better, they may look to you as an expert. This develops trust, opens the door to two-way communication and allows them to share their pain points with you.

Using the information you gain from your prospects and customers, you will be able to better serve their ongoing needs, hone your unique selling proposition and slowly close the door on your competitors. In the process, you may discover hidden sales opportunities that you may not be addressing.

Adapted from Constant Contact, Michelle Keegan 08/05

When guerrilla marketers think of economizing, they don't necessarily think of trying to save money. What they do think of is getting the absolute most from any money they've invested in marketing. They realize there are two kinds of marketing -- expensive and inexpensive -- and they know that expensive marketing is the kind that doesn't cover the investment they've made in it, while inexpensive marketing pays rich rewards for their investment. Guerrillas have the insight to know that economizing has nothing to do with cost; it has everything to do with results.

The most common method of economizing is also one of the most overlooked -- marketing to existing customers. It costs one-sixth as much to sell an item to an existing customer than to sell that same item to a non-customer. The price of discovering and convincing likely customers is astronomical when compared with the price of doing the same with current customers. Database marketing has lowered the cost of guerrilla marketing and yet some business owners fail to even try to make repeat sales.

Jay Levinson and Amy Levinson, 08/05

RE/MAX Associates in Colleyville

This month it is our pleasure to feature RE/MAX Associates of Colleyville TX in our client spotlight! With just under 50 associates within their company, they are not our largest partner, but they are by far one of the most spirited. To take full advantage of all the recent SMART enhancements and maximize adoption by agents, RE/MAX Associates partnered with our team and committed to a training schedule for their agents.

“Let’s kick it up a notch!” is how Broker/Owner Mary Burge began our training session. Like many of our customers she realizes the amazing power of the tools the SMART Solution provides her company and associates, but has been guilty of underutilizing the solutions many unique features. The associates of RE/MAX Associates were excited by the new lead report, that includes information on returning visitors. The client history is also a great value when following up with web leads, and can be found in the contact manager.

We’ve turned the “Client Spotlight on RE/MAX Associates to measure the results of their renewed web excitement. Keep up the great work, and happy web hunting!