Ten Ways Technology Can Increase Your Sales
1) Acquire email addresses of all prospects and customers.
Work constantly to build your network and acquire email addresses. Request email addresses! Email marketing is incredibly profitable and effective when done right. Do not email requests more than every two weeks and follow all regulatory guidelines outlined in the CAN-SPAM Act.
The main aspects of the law include:
a) Do not use false or misleading header information; It must have a valid From: address.
b) Do not use misleading subject lines: The subject of your email must be related to the content of the email.
c) Give your recipients the option to unsubscribe: Provide your customers with an email address or a link that allows them to stop receiving email messages from you. Honor their requests.
d) Identify your email as an advertisement.
2) Develop and distribute a monthly electronic newsletter.
Electronic newsletters allow you to deliver valuable information to your clients on market conditions, area news, subdivision updates, industry trends, active listings, and more. Your email newsletter should allow you to build a long-term relationship with your customer by providing value-added information on an ongoing basis. You should stick to roughly 80% value-added information and 20% advertising. Content is king!
NOTE: If you distribute a large amount of email through your company’s email server or your Internet service provider’s email server, you have limited distribution capabilities. If you send large amounts of email, your email service provider may shut down your Internet access because it thinks you are sending spam. You can get around this limitation by scheduling your email newsletter delivery in 15 minute increments. SmartSerialMail allows you to schedule your email distribution based on a predefined schedule and send large amounts of email over an extended period of time.
3) Customize, customize, customize.
As I mentioned before, content is king! However, content alone will not win the day. Your content should be personalized based on the interests of your customers. Break down your clients in your database according to their area of interest. For example, you can deal primarily with real estate investors. Some investors may prefer to invest in single-family homes, while others may prefer to invest in multi-family properties. You should develop two separate e-newsletters with personalized content for each group. You will create more value for your clients, increase your promotional effectiveness, and be better informed about the various types of products within your real estate market.
4) Use software to stay organized.
Every day we try to achieve more in less and less time. Most people try to achieve more each day by working harder. You shouldn’t work harder. You should work smarter to increase your productivity by taking advantage of new technologies. This is called leverage (doing more with less effort). Specifically, you can use the calendar and contact management capabilities within Microsoft Outlook or purchase a customer relationship management program such as ACT or Goldmine. All these applications work very well. The key is to learn one and use it fully. You will become more productive and successful.
5) Know your market – Research and analysis.
Good market research and analysis can make you and your client very wealthy. The role of market research includes: financial viability, location / site analysis, and market analysis. You must be able to identify supply and demand by product type (single family, multi-family, office, industrial, warehouse) within your market. This will allow you to unlock hidden investment opportunities for your clients.
There are many companies that offer market research and analysis. You can also buy market research reports online.
6) Automate your business.
Automation is the mechanism that you should try to achieve throughout your company. Ask yourself “What are the routine tasks that I do every day?” Then ask yourself, “How can I automate these routine tasks to be more productive?” The answers to these questions can change the scope of your entire business!
You can use new technology to automatically send emails on a pre-defined schedule, run and distribute reports throughout your organization, and remind yourself, your team, and your clients about scheduled meetings.
7) Use a virtual office.
A virtual office allows you to work as efficiently as possible from a remote location from your office. Virtual office technologies give you access to all of your computer’s files, software, and resources through a secure connection to the Internet. You can literally work effectively from anywhere in the world that has access to an internet connection.
If you have a small business (less than 75 employees), I recommend Microsoft Small Business Server. This server provides your organization with an all-in-one solution for file / print sharing, email, firewall, and remote access. The cost is very affordable and can grow as your organization grows.
8) Go global.
Today we live in a global economy. The condition of our economy impacts the condition of the economies of other countries and vice versa. Globalization can present enormous opportunities for real estate professionals. For example, the US dollar has declined substantially relative to many other currencies around the world. This allows foreign investors to buy real estate in the United States at a substantial discount. Additionally, the median cost of a single-family home in the United States is much lower than the median cost of a single-family home in many other developed countries.
You can use the Internet to reach these global markets through search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, and virtual meeting software. Search engine optimization enables your potential customers from all over the world to find your website. Your prospects enter keywords (Myrtle Beach Real Estate) into a search engine like Google and your website appears on their screen. Pay-per-click advertising is a form of Internet advertising where you pay every time a potential customer clicks on your ad. The best provider of this service is Google AdWords. Virtual meeting software allows you to make a presentation to a potential client who lives anywhere in the world. A virtual meeting program includes: http://www.gotomeeting.com
9) Measure promotional effectiveness.
Remember the old saying “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” This is true today more than ever. You must take advantage of technology to measure the effectiveness of the promotion. You can use your database management system to track the effectiveness of the promotion. For example, most customer relationship management software allows you to enter your lead source for your contacts and then run reports on the number of leads generated from each lead source.
You can also use phone call accounting systems to measure promotion effectiveness by tracking the number of phone calls received for specific numbers. You can purchase a unique phone number for each of your marketing campaigns and set the phone number on your phone system for tracking purposes. When your lead responds to the marketing campaign and calls the unique number, the call accounting system tracks the number of calls received and gives you an accurate report of the leads generated. You can then track the lead through the remaining sales cycle to determine your cost per lead, cost per sale, and overall ROI for your marketing campaign.
10) Integrate technologies.
The technologies I described are very powerful individually, but when integrated they can revolutionize your life and your business. For example, you can simply learn to use a customer relationship management system and you can grow your contact database, but you have very little influence.
Real leverage occurs when you integrate your customer relationship management database with monthly email newsletter campaigns, search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, live website chat, and virtual meeting software. The combination of these technologies will dramatically increase the number of leads generated, reduce the amount of time it takes to get the lead through the sales cycle, and provide you with a mechanism to identify the most effective marketing campaigns. Market research and analysis will allow you to better serve your potential customers when analyzing their needs. I recommend that you learn more about these technologies and implement them immediately.
Please let me know if you want more information on any of these technologies. We have Microsoft certified professionals with more than 50 years of experience in applied technology. We can provide you with a wide range of services, from online computer repair to database design, server installation, network installation, website development, and search engine optimization. Contact us today to schedule your free technology evaluation.