Should You Use Real Estate Direct Mail to Convert Leads?

Real estate direct mail plays a surprisingly influential role in how your prospects think of you. Consider the follow scenario…

Imagine you’re a homeowner thinking of selling, but probably won’t be making a firm decision for a few months. There are two real estate agents vying for your listing.

The first agent — let’s call him “Dave” — is generally good and has a decent track record. You had a terrific initial conversation with him. Now, because your timeline is long, Dave is trying to keep in touch so you don’t forget him!

How is he doing that? He’s calling and emailing regularly. Sometimes he pops by to say a quick “Hello.” He offers friendly advice and recommendations. He clearly makes an effort to get to know you and your family. He shows he cares.

The second agent — let’s call her “Jill” — is also good and has about the same experience as Dave. She also calls and emails, occasionally visits, and makes a real effort to be of service with her knowledge, information and advice.

Pretty much a tie at this point.

Yet, in the four months since you first met Jill, you’re starting to feel differently about her than you do Dave. For some reason, you trust Jill a bit more and look forward to her calls and visits.

In fact, you’ve pretty much concluded that Jill is likely to be the agent you’ll hire. You just feel good about the idea of working with her.

What made the different for Jill?

She did just about everything that Dave did, right out of the proverbial real estate lead conversion playbook. But she did one extra thing that propelled her ahead of other agents you were hearing from and quickly positioned her as the obvious choice.

She used direct mail as part of her lead conversion system.

Can real estate direct mail really make that kind of a difference?

According to an article by the Online Marketing Institute, looking at lead generation and nurturing across many types of businesses, direct mail has a very high lead conversion rate — even higher when used as part of a comprehensive lead conversion system.

There are many reasons for this, which has been written about previously in this blog. Done right, direct mail is tactile, eye-catching, engaging and guaranteed to be delivered. It is also has staying power.

A direct mail piece, packed with great content that your listing prospects want and appreciate, arrives at their door each month. If it’s good, really good, it gets read and kept. It becomes a welcomed guest.

In a way, a good real estate direct mail piece is you, visiting each month with a friendly greeting, great advice and helpful tips.

So, it’s no wonder that “Jill” in our scenario is likely to get that listing. Lead conversion direct mail gives her an edge over Bill.

Shouldn’t you have that advantage, too?