Posted by BrendaTx on 12/24/05 2:11pm
Msg #84541
Merry Christmas - Marketing Tips for you
#1 STAY IN THEIR DESK DRAWER
Business Cards often get thrown away. Business cards and postcards are nice, but they don't get attention like something "useful" will.
Make your name stay in their desk drawer.
Since business cards are not all that useful, figure out little lightweight things that are and put your "brand" on them. Business cards and postcards go into the trash can. These little tricks will put you in the "desk drawer" or in the employee lounge of the title company.
Go to a wholesale club like Sam's. Purchase a box of individually wrapped dosages of Tylenol, Alka-Seltzer, Advil, and/or Excedrin.
Purchase a package of return address labels.
Create a sheet of labels similar to the following:
Cure your loan signing headaches!
Call on MyWebsite.com*
xxx-xxx-xxxx
====
*Do not want to rile up anyone by promoting myself.
Then you stick them on your little packages and keep them in a basket for returning with packages.
#2 IF YOU HAVE A CONTACT NAME at the title company - do this:
Take a regular white business size envelope and put a contact's name on it. Put a few of these little packages of headache cures into a flyer. Wrap a piece of paper around them. Insert these into the return envelope. It will appear that you are delivering an important envelope back to your contact. It will get to them.
#3 KEEP YOUR BRAND IN FRONT OF THEM. Use a "lumpy" package.
From time to time you get a good client who deserves something extra. Go back to Sam's Wholesale and purchase six decks of cars for about $7.00. Make a label that says:
DON'T GAMBLE WITH YOUR LOANS!
Call Your Name **
Serving Brazos County, Texas
xxx-xxx-xxxx
Note: You should remove the cellophane wrap from the cards before applying the lable, but do not remove the seal that keeps the deck fresh.
** Where I have Your Name - put your "brand" whether it's your name, your company name, website, whatever.
Lumpy packages get OPENED and perused. A deck of cards will be saved and lay in the desk drawer for a long time.
You'll get thank you notes for these! I do.
===============
More about lumpy packages at http://www.ducttapemarketing.com. I have done this for awhile. Glad to find a site that agreed with me.  This is a repeat from my newsletter this month-- but lumpy packages do actually work.
| Reply by Giselle_CA on 12/24/05 2:27pm
Msg #84545
Brenda,
Thank you for your thoughtful tips. Merry Christmas
and May God Bless you!
| Reply by SSEmobile on 12/24/05 4:32pm
Msg #84551
Those are great ideas Brenda! Thanks for sharing.
Happy Holidays to you and yours!
| Reply by Carla_MD on 12/24/05 5:39pm
Msg #84555
Thanks alot for the great ideas. The timing could not of been better since I am looking to quit my full time job and pursue loan signing. I've been surfing the web looking for marketing ideas to get my name out there. Job well done.
| Reply by Anonymous on 12/24/05 6:23pm
Msg #84558
Loan signing full time? I hope you've built up your business part time. This is not the business to just jump into. Too many people doing the same thing and failing because they think it is a way to make lots of money fast. I sure hope that you do not quit your job. This is not easy work to get going. Plus doesn't Maryland make you have all kind of extra licenses and such.
| Reply by JanetK_CA on 12/26/05 7:50pm
Msg #84618
Carla, I think the "anonymous" above makes some good points. This may be all old news to you, but just in case (and for anyone else who might be considering this move...) I recommend that before you go full time (especially in the current market!) that you have a good 12 - 18 months in cash reserves put aside. And if you ever get to the point where you're down to 6 months or less, that you start looking for a job (or however much it will take to keep you afloat for the average job search in your area for your field.)
Even if you've been at this for a while, your expenses are likely to be greater than you might think. For one thing, you'll now have to pay self-employment taxes in addition to regular income taxes. Many of your expenses will go up along with the number of signings you do. Have you researched what your health insurance will cost you, for example? You can probably go on COBRA for 18 months (if it's the same in MD...), but what about after that? It can be a bit of a shocker and, trust me, you don't want to be without it!!
I'm on the other side of the country from you, so I clearly have no axe to grind with you. But if you've been monitoring this board for any length of time, you've seen the posts from people crying about how slow business has been for some. The entire real estate industry will be doing some housecleaning and cutting back over the next few years, and that includes us. You very well may be among the survivors - but your chances are much greater if you are prepared for what you are getting into. You are the only one who knows your circumstances, so this isn't intended to tell you what to do, just to help make sure you proceed with your eyes open - for whatever it's worth...
Best of luck!
| Reply by John_NCal on 12/25/05 12:29pm
Msg #84576
Re: Great tips! Thanks and Merry Christmas 2 u 2! nm
| Reply by TCMN on 12/26/05 2:26pm
Msg #84601
I use those types of marketing tools - gd tips to share n/m
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