The details of your sales process are more important today than ever before.
In my local area, there are over 70,000 agents trying to capture the attention of the consumer, and when there is that much competition, everything you do should be well thought out and executed with precise intention.
“Winging it” is not a strategy for success!
Even the simple stuff can be leveraged into leads…and results.
So let’s talk about something really simple.
Like FOR SALE signs.
I’ve said for years that if you don’t tell people what you’re doing, they’ll assume you’re doing nothing. And when a For Sale sign sits in front of a property for days, weeks and sometimes months…looking exactly the same, day-after-day-after-day….well, that screams to the neighbors that there’s nothing going on!
How can you turn something really simple (like FOR SALE Signs) into story-telling marketing messages that promote you, your skills and your expertise?
Here is a simple, 4-step process to follow regarding sign riders on your listings:
- As soon as you have a signed listing agreement, place a FOR SALE sign and a COMING SOON rider in front of the property. Be sure to follow the Clear Cooperation policy of NAR, your local MLS and your Broker!
- As soon as you activate the listing in MLS, it’s time to remove the COMING SOON rider from the signpost. Your listing is now available and “For Sale”.
- Within 24 hours of accepting a contract, place an UNDER CONTRACT rider on the signpost.
- Once you are through the contingency periods, replace the UNDER CONTRACT rider with a SOLD! rider.
But Dennis… that means I have to drive to the property, take some tools with me and swap out a sign. Why all the hype?
Because signs and sign riders are excellent storytellers. They communicate to the neighbors what is going on with the property.
Trust me…the neighbors are reading the signs.
Just recently, I received a call from the next-door neighbor of a home I had listed for sale. On the call, he said: “I watched you put up the COMING SOON rider…then I watched you remove it about 2 weeks later… then I watched you put an UNDER CONTRACT rider a few days after that. I told my wife that you certainly knew how to sell homes!” Then he asked me for an appointment to meet and discuss listing his home for sale!
In this case, the sequential story-telling of the sign riders generated a new listing lead for me.
Signs are simple, basic story telling machines!