* by Bernice Ross
Inman News Features
Okay—you’re not a computer geek—what good is a bunch of information in a Web-based database?
You probably know how to drive people to your Web site and have them complete a series of questions in exchange for obtaining a coupon or some other item of value. The beauty of this process is the user opts in to receive your services. You don’t have to worry about spamming, because users register on your Web site and give you permission to contact them.
Furthermore, by target marketing based upon the user’s specific interests, you greatly increase the probability they will be open to receiving future communications from you. This process of uncovering what your visitors want and then target marketing to their specific needs or interests is known as data mining.
“Data mining” is a billion dollar business. For example, most agents think Cendant is primarily a real estate organization. In truth, Cendant is one of the largest data mining companies in the world. They can tell you who will be most likely to buy a Rolex, a Ferrari and a million dollar home and when they are most likely to buy it. Other organizations “mine” your data when you swipe your super market card for a discount or use a gasoline credit card. The point here is information about your visitors is literally worth its weight in gold.
Once you have gathered the data using the techniques we discussed last week, the next step is how to effectively target market to different groups within your database.
For example, if you ask your Web visitors if they own a pet, you could target market by offering them useful information about caring for their animals or a coupon from a local pet supply. If a number of your visitors live in a specific neighborhood, you can send them customized comparable sales data as well as information on upcoming community events. If a number of your leads are in the same profession, you can provide them with information relevant to their profession, not just real estate.
The primary reason for working with a database as opposed to just your e-mail information is that a database allows you to sort people on a number of search characteristics simultaneously.
For example, say the local park is having a Halloween parade where kids can bring their pets. You could search your database for people who have children and pets in a specific location. When you contact them, send them a link to your Web site where they can print out an “e-coupon” their kids can redeem for a pumpkin or some other Halloween treat. Take pictures of the event with your digital camera and post the pictures to your Web site. Follow up by sending a link with the pictures to everyone who received the first contact.
This gives you four separate contacts with members of your database, one of which was face-to-face when you handed out the Halloween treats.
Another way to use this approach is at property tax time, especially if there has been an increase in assessed valuations. You can e-mail each homeowner in your database and offer to assist them in determining whether or not they are eligible to reduce their property tax valuation. For those people who contact you, send them an updated CMA plus the guidelines for working with the Tax Assessor on how to obtain the reduction.
A third strategy is to customize that CMA based upon your prospect’s other interests. For example, if you’re sending a CMA to someone whose children attend a local elementary school, you could also include a schedule of PTA events or school activities in conjunction with the CMA. In each of these cases, the goal is to make the person receiving the information feel as if the information and service you are providing has been customized for them.
Finally, and this is the most important point of all, you must be willing to ask for the referral and to “data mine” for those individuals who are thinking about buying or selling their home now. Here are three strategies for doing this:
• In your initial questions, ask visitors whether or not they are thinking about buying or selling a home in the next six months.
• Alternatively, ask whether or not they know of anyone who is thinking about buying or selling a home in the next six months.
• You can also ask whether or not the visitor would be interested in receiving a complimentary CMA. When the user clicks on this button, the system e-mails you their contact information. Follow up by scheduling a face-to-face appointment to drop off the CMA.
If you’re not gathering this data, Cendant, MSN, Yahoo! and a host of other competitors are actively gathering and “mining” it. If you want to compete with these global giants, remember, you DO have the home court advantage—use it.
— Bernice Ross is an owner of Realestatecoach.com and
can be reached at [email protected].