Shockingly Easy Tips to Sell Luxury Real Estate
As you may recall, in my video blogs over the past two weeks, we talked about making our marketing more effective by expanding our appeal to potential clients earlier in their timeline for making a decision to purchase or sell luxury real estate. We discovered a process that is easy to spot in late night TV ads:
- State a problem
- Suggest a solution
- Present the benefit of the solution
- Provide evidence that the solution will be effective and actually work
- End with a call to action
Two additional optional steps are to:
- Up the offer
- Use scarcity as a mechanism to inspiring desire and increase motivation
Last week, we talked about how to write a compelling headline for a marketing piece or report that could create interest in your real estate services.
Of the four magazine covers that we looked at, my favorite is from a recent cover of Oprah’s O Magazine: “The One Diet Tip You Have Never Heard Before: Fast, Smart, and Shockingly Easy”. For our purposes, one twist would be “The One Home Selling Tip You Have Never Heard Before: Fast, Smart and Shockingly Easy.”
The next step is to actually write an article using that headline. I am thinking of writing an article talking about the fact that, in my opinion, the concept of staging needs to be redefined for today’s buyers. Buyers today are skeptical. They don’t want to be “played” or manipulated. They are not interested in that which is contrived. Of course, homes should be in perfect condition when they go on the market. At the same time, they should look loved and not staged.
I was showing a luxury home a few weeks ago that was staged to the max… incredible furniture, apple pie in the oven and birch logs blazing in the fireplace. The buyers were there for the third visit and they were skeptical: What is going on here? Is the seller desperate or are they hiding something? What’s up?
Compare this to another house that I am showing quite a bit lately. It’s a little bit older and out of date; the kitchen and bathrooms need replacing and the heating system is not what buyers want today. At the same time, this house shows signs that its owners absolutely loved it. Even though things are out of date and need to be renewed, refreshed and replaced, everything is in perfect condition. Even the front door light is spotless and was like that the first day I arrived.
It is fun to see the smile on the faces of people when they walk in the door… even if the house isn’t right for them. They feel at peace because of the sense that the previous owner really and truly loved this house. We did not do any staging, nothing contrived, unnatural or unreal. However, the house is “spit-shined”, polished, and in perfect condition.
This house is the basis of the report I am working on using our new headline. It will discuss the concept of making a house looked loved as opposed to overly staged. Making it look believable. Making it look like the previous owners cared about it.
When I finish the article in about a week or so, I will post it here on my blog. In addition, I will use the headline as a hook for a TV interview I am doing next week. I will let you know about the reaction to the headline from this fairly large television audience.
In the meantime I would love to have you comment on this blog, and click the LIKE button on the video on Youtube and on my Facebook Page. I would also be very grateful it you would please pass my newsletter on to your agent friends around town and throughout the country.
Also, let me know how you are doing with your headlines and writing. I have had several emails from people saying they were focusing more on this and I would like to hear from all of you. Send me some samples of the reports you are working on, the headlines you are working on, and if you need help actually making the document come to life, send me something and I will take a look at it.
In the meantime, thanks for your kind attention!
