In this article I will tell you the behind-the-scenes story of my work.
Surely you have been pestered by one or more real estate agents, either in person or over the phone, to ask if you were interested in selling your home. As you continue reading this article you will discover why this practice is the foundation of the real Italian state.
It was 1950 when the first real estate franchises appeared in the boot, at that time the effective means of communication of today--computer mail marketing etc--did not exist--business opportunities came exclusively from in-person contacts or paper communications.
From the famous Leprechaun salesmen, to classic door-to-door Treccani encyclopedia representatives, sales techniques boiled down to physical contact with various homeowners, ringing doorbells or calling poor housewives on landlines.
Although communication methods have evolved today, for some schools of thought this is the most immediate and effective method of finding local information on potential real estate sellers.
Most large real estate agency brands invest the first few weeks of training their employees to teach this research technique to newcomers to this market.
You should know that some franchises in order to have a territorial capillarity assign each agency's office a specific area if not even individual streets in a neighborhood with the specific task and purpose of contacting all owners of real estate units located in that specific area and with the prohibition to operate outside of it.
Poor co-workers, often newly graduated boys with no experience, are sent to do this thankless task, "forced" to a very specific set of contacts per day, e.g.: talk to 30 people in person, ring 50 doorbells make 100 cold calls etc. This economy of large numbers inevitably leads to a result.
If I call 1,000 people in a month a percentage (however low) will statistically give me information about properties for sale. From that information I will then be able to turn another low percentage into acquisition appointments and , part, into sales assignments.
This mode of work leverages large numbers and focuses fundamentally on finding the product, namely the property. With the proliferation of real estate agencies, this activity has intensified, becoming more aggressive and systematic. It is not uncommon in central areas to be contacted several times a year by multiple agencies to source this type of information.
I personally believe that this technique is still the most immediate and effective method for those who have no other arguments to present to a homeowner to intercept his or her sales need, although today technology allows us to connect with people in a completely different way.
Given that people are less and less present in the home during the day and given the systematic disuse of landlines, door-to-door is a technique that will increasingly fade away. The online possibilities are endless and the creation of content that can connect a homeowner with a real estate agent are already a reality that can be touched upon.
The fact that you are reading this article is clear proof of this. Today, people, subjugated by call centers of all kinds ( energy, phone promotions, banks etc), do not want to be disturbed in their privacy but prefer to inquire online about what is best to do in certain situations (in this case, selling home) .
This explains why agencies contact you to find out if you are selling your home.
What do you think? What kind of approach would you prefer?
Tell me about your experience by leaving me a comment and if you found the article helpful share it!
