4 Secrets The Pros Use To Make Money With Direct Mail
Even though the internet is all the rage these days, agents are still using direct mail with fantastic success.
The key is to get your mail opened, read, and acted upon.
If you’ve struggled to get new clients with direct mail farming, chances are it’s because your mail was seen as “junk mail” and trashed before ever opened.
Here are 4 essential secrets direct marketing pros use to get past this junk mail hurdle and make big money with direct mail, and how you can use the same strategies for your real estate prospecting…
SECRET #1: Make it “lumpy mail”
Have you ever heard of “lumpy mail”? Lumpy mail is the process of inserting “something” into an envelope or doing something “unique” to make it stand out, involve curiosity and get opened. It’s also known as a “grabber”.
The “thing” you include must tie-into your message inside. For example, one agent mails their farming pieces in a small brown paper bag with a stamp. Inside, the letter headlines, “Here’s Why There’s No Free Lunch When Selling Your Home…” The letter talks about “you get what you pay for — so why would you use a discount broker and steal from yourself?”
The letter then talks about the risks of using a discount broker, all the ways the agent can net the homeowner as much or more than a discount broker, makes an irresistible, completely risk free offer for a “Free Home Audit” and a “Free Special Report”.
The agent also uses a few great testimonials and statistics about their success (proof). The letter is then followed-up by a second and third notice. Can you see how that gets noticed and acted upon?
SECRET #2: Make it “personal”
Another way to get your mail seen is to make it so personal, the reader thinks it’s just for them. Here’s what to use on the envelope to make your mail look personal:
- Hand addressed
- Return address is personal with name
- Commemorative “live” postage stamp
- Monarch size envelopes
All of these have a personal appeal vs. junk mail – and they get opened.
SECRET #3: Make it “blind”
Have you ever received a letter with just a return address and no business name?
This works great when farming to new areas – your prospect’s curiosity will help your mail get opened.
Here’s a blind envelope template you can use when farming (click the image to download the template)…
3-Steps To Use Your “Blind Envelope” Template
STEP 1: Save the document to your computer
…
Click the image or download this 6×9” BLIND ENVELOPE template by Clicking Here.
STEP 2: Personalize it with your information…
DO NOT put your name or your broker’s name at the upper left-hand return address. You can disclose your broker at the END of your letter inside of the envelope. Just use your return street address.
STEP 3: Direct impression right on to your envelope…
You can add merge fields to the template and then run the envelopes through your printer to “direct impression” the return address and the recipients address (or send the template to your printer with your mailing list). But DO NOT use mailing labels.
Curiosity is one of the strongest human emotions – if you don’t have a relationship with a mailing list this can be one of the best ways to get your mail actually opened instead of being quickly identified as “just another promotion to throw out”.
But remember, curiosity alone won’t help you build a stable business. You also need to be marketing to a hot prospect, give compelling proof, a great offer, and call to action.
SECRET #4: Make it “multi-sequence”
Multi-sequence contact always out-pulls single contact. This applies to follow-up with leads or with farming an area.
Direct mail pros have found that you may spend 2 or 3 times more to send out a sequence of 3 letters, but because the response rates are so much higher your ROI is also higher.
To send a multi-sequence mailing successfully…send your first mailing, then a second notice about 7 days later, then a third notice another 7 days later. You can continue to send additional follow-up mailings or contacts until it’s no longer profitable. But first start with a 3-step sequence rather than the usual one-and-done mailing agents usually do.
I’ll write more about “multi-sequence” mailings in an upcoming article, but for now realize that you’re leaving money on the table by not continuing to follow-up with a sequence of mailings.
One last piece of advice from a 35-year direct marketing veteran…
Instead of spending hours each month toiling over how to put together real estate promotions to use with these mailing secrets…use pre-written templates that work. Check out the numerous examples that appear in our archives, organized by category (on the right side).
You can put together a “swipe file” of direct mail promotions that you have at the ready… or use a collection of proven templates like this toolkit of real estate sales letters for just about every situation you could face in real estate… click here to learn more.
