With the summer buying season winding down as students return to school and cooler weather starts creeping up on us, it’s more important than ever to get (and stay) in front of new and existing clients. A home buyer seminar is a great way to do this.
Real Estate Is a Contact Sport
As in other businesses, much of the success you have in real estate depends on the amount of time you spend face-to-face with people.
Postcards and emails are excellent ways of maintaining relationships, but there is no substitute for a captive audience.
A home buyer seminar gives you a chance to tell them why they need a good real estate agent and why you’re the one they should be working with.
Assembling Your Team
Having a team of professionals you can present as part of your services will go a long way in adding to your credibility.
And having a mortgage professional, a real estate attorney, a home inspector and possibly a credit repair specialist rounds out the list of services you can provide to potential clients.
Even if your clients wind up using professionals other than the ones on your team, the message you’re sending out by having them available speaks volumes about how far you are willing to go to help your clients.
Another benefit to having a team is that all will share in the marketing expenses.
The larger the budget, the larger prospective audience you can reach out to.
Where to Have It
Using a neutral location to hold your seminar is a good idea.
Holding it at a real estate office sounds great in theory, but potential attendees may perceive this as some type of hard-sell presentation and may opt to pass on it.
Good ideas for reasonably priced or even free locations include community centers and large conference rooms in libraries.
Unless you have a large budget to spend, keep it simple at first; you may have a low turnout the first time around.
Once you get an idea of what turnouts you can expect, you can do the seminar on a larger scale.
When to Have It
Because most people work in the daytime hours and during the week, the times you can expect a large audience will be limited to nights and weekends.
Friday nights are probably out, as most people want to wind down from the week and may be less inclined to spend the evening at a home buyer seminar.
Monday through Thursday nights are best, and the period from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. works for most. Any later than that and attendees may pass you up in favor of bedtime – theirs or the kids’.
Who Do You Invite?
For a maximum turnout, you want your invitees to live as close as possible to your seminar location.
People living in apartment complexes and rental properties are an obvious target audience.
Your MLS likely provides rental listing information, and you can target renters whose leases will expire in coming months.