Posted by David Bennett
Mon, 05 Jun 2006 21:22:00 GMT
Do you find it difficult to describe the services you provide to consumers? You’re not alone. The real estate industry is rich and complex and there are many service models, many aspects to a transaction, and many ways to approach each situation. In order to communicate the value of your business as a whole, you first need to find the common thread that runs throughout everything you do.
To help you get started, consider the triangle below:
The top level represents your brand value, your value proposition and your key marketing message (or messages) that apply to your business as a whole.
The lowest level represents the individual components of the services you provide to your clients and customers. For example, on this level, are such items as advertising on the internet, placing a yard sign, holding an open house, negotiating a contract, doing a CMA, etc.
The middle levels depend on your business model, standards, and levels of service. For instance if you list properties and sell properties both, the second tier might contain listing services, buyer services, property management, price opinions. The third level might be oriented toward your niche: sellers, buyers, investors, second homes, commercial, etc.
Each level should be a combination of the marketing messages from the level below it. The highest level should convey, obviously not in any detail, a description of what you do.
You can choose at which level you want to being selling to your potential clients and customers. The ultimate is to sell them at the highest level the first time around – that is give them the big picture early in your relationship. If you get stuck selling your value at the lower levels all the time, you will find that you have to constantly re-sell something every time you do business with that client/customer.
The reality though is that although you want to sell yourself at the highest level, clients/customers may often know what they want at the lower levels. Therefore, you do need to have your marketing message at all levels.
How to apply this to your business:
- Create a triangle and start at the bottom with the lowest component level services you could offer.
- Could any of these services be grouped into an easily describable higher level service? If so add this description to the next level. Do this until you have grouped all the lower level services. If a particular component doesn’t fit in anywhere, reconsider whether you should offer it. By the same token, if a higher level service group is incomplete, you probably need to add an element at a lower level.
- Repeat this process until you get to the top of the triangle.
- Now use the Key Message Marketing formula to create your messages for all the levels.
Posted in Develop Key Message, Model to Create a Value Proposition, Elements to include in your value proposition
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Posted by David Bennett
Mon, 05 Jun 2006 20:37:00 GMT
People don’t buy good service. They buy help for their problems.
Calm the Fears
The two biggest fears people have when making a buying decision are:
(1) they’re wasting their money by not getting the solution they really need, and
(2) they’re not going to get the kind of results they want.
The successful sales associate will address these fears at the outset and calm them by demonstrating the specific value of the proposed solution.
The problem is value propositions often view services with an internal focus. Tired of seeing credentials and histories, one customer tossed out an interesting challenge. "If you want to sell to me, address the things I wake up worrying about: Am I getting the best price or a good deal? This is a huge purchase. How can I be certain I’m not getting stuck with a dog? If you can help me with concerns and solve my problems, I’ll buy from you or let you sell my home."
The closer you can come to answering the customer/client’s concerns before they even ask about them, the more carefully they’ll consider your value proposition.
Show Me the Payback
A value proposition is the message that differentiates you from the competition and tells why your solution will help solve the customer’s problem. There are two principles to follow when crafting your value proposition.
- Focus on what the customer cares about. Suppose you have some data showing that your listings are sold with the fewest days on market and that they close on time. That’s only valuable if the customer wants a quick sale. If what they really care about is getting top dollar, you need to present the data that supports your claim you are the one that can get it for them.
- Quantify the value proposition with numbers. For some reason, they’re more persuasive than words. Even if the consumer doesn’t really buy into your analysis, the fact that it’s quantified tends to give it impact.
In trying to show value to customers, don’t mistake features for benefits. A common example of this tendency is to focus on your listings, your sales, your great service as a reason for the customer to buy from you.
Let’s say you have twenty years experience and hold the GRI, CRS, ABR designations. Their response may be, "So what?" Unless you can demonstrate you can find them the home that is perfect for them to buy, it’s meaningless. And even worse, a lot of other people can claim the same thing.
Stand Above the Rest
To stand out, you need to focus on your differentiators—things you do differently or that nobody else does—but always show how those differentiators deliver value to the customer. Differences based on processes or systems or methodologies are generally longer lasting and harder to overcome than your technology tools, your education or your experience.
Draw Them a Picture
Help them see how you are different. Pictures, charts, success stories can strengthen your image in your customer’s mind.
- Documented success stories make you believable and that leads to a more compelling value proposition.
- When you can present your data graphically in charts, you’ll add punch.
- Pictures talk even louder than numbers.
Finding the Payback
- Show the impact on revenue: The difference between selling with your assistance and FSBO sales. (The median selling price of FSBO homes was $210,000 compared with $255,000 for agent-assisted home sales.) or the effect on value of unrealistically priced homes
- Show what costs they will not incur by using your services – advertising, marketing, holding open houses, etc.
Quantifying the payback is more persuasive than just claiming your services are a good thing. If baseline measurements aren’t available, that’s okay. Offer an estimate or a projection based on market averages. Even if they dispute your numbers, you’re still discussing the overall value of your unique offering.
By connecting your payback analysis to what really differentiates you from competitors, you’re in a much stronger position: They can’t use the easy "Me, too" comeback.
Posted in Key Message, Develop Key Message, Elements to include in your value proposition
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