Learn how to sell more vacation homes in ten minutes. Sounds too good to be true right? Well, it is actual possible if you read on…
How to sell more vacation homes
If you want to close more deals, you need to know your customer. First, find out buyer motivations for owning a second home. Customers may be investing to earn cash flow or they may just want a place to call their own on family vacations.
My name is John and if you don’t know me, I have helped hundreds of owners realize financial freedom through vacation rentals. My experience in the vacation rental industry has helped my real estate agent and broker partners generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra commissions. I help real estate professionals by educating them.
Why do people buy vacation homes?
- To earn rental income
- Status symbol
- A place to call home on vacation
- Need more space than a hotel room
- Friends are doing it
Before you try to find buyers or sellers, please remember what motivates your client. Now next, the leads…
How to find leads for vacation home sales
Next, you need to know how to find your clients or you won’t be selling second homes anytime soon. You need to know where to look. We are going to discuss the following sources:
- Referral partners
- Current and past clients
- Pay Per Click (PPC)
- Direct Mail
- Social Media
Referral Partners
Other professionals in the space are your best partners when it comes to new real estate leads. Accountants know when their clients are ready to sell, so do property managers. Same when people are looking to buy. Even cleaning people can provide you with vacation home sales leads. Tap your partner network to maximize your opportunities, and leave no stone unturned.
Current and Past Clients
Your clients have friends. It does not hurt to call, email, or touch base and ask how they have been doing. Naturally, they will let you know if a friend is in the market to buy or sell. Remember, when you finish a sale to maintain the relationship with your client. So many realtors sell a home and never speak to the client again. This is a huge mistake and is costing you lost commissions!
Pay Per Click (PPC)
Ever heard of Google? Welcome to pay per click marketing. If you have the budget, this tool can earn you a six figure income if you understand how to harness its power. By targeting the top keywords in your area (think farming a specific community – so keyword for “Best Community Vista” would be “Sales Best Community Vista” and so on…) you can completely dominate what prospects see in a search engine.
Direct Mail
So, how better to get in front of your customer than in their mailbox? You can spend $0.50 USD to contact a customer within the United States. With a sales letter or marketing flyer, you can guarantee that your customer reads your mail. You can use the property appraiser for your county to find the owner name and mailing address. Most importantly, include a strong call to action, asking your customer to contact you. For added bonus, handwrite the envelope it goes in. While this might take more time, wouldn’t you open a hand written letter because it creates curiosity? Expect a 4% response rate if your list is targeted and your marketing piece is effective.
Social Media
Next, let’s get social. While social media demographics trend younger, you cannot neglect having a strong social media brand on FaceBook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and other channels. If your customers are on it, you should be too! While I will breakdown social media marketing for realtors in another post, please take these following tips to get started:
- Create a presence on FaceBook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest
- In your bio, be clear who you are, what you do, and how to contact you
- Add existing contacts in your professional network
To conclude, finding leads for home sales is no easy task. But, if you are armed with the proper playbook you can generate a significant pipeline that will never run dry. For example, Margaret, a realtor in my partner program was able to close an extra deal a month. That is 12 extra home sales a year, doubling her full-time salary. Do you desire this kind of lead flow? If you want to excel at marketing, attract more clients, save more time, and close more deals, let’s have a discussion today. Contact me here to learn about how we can partner together, you will definitely close more vacation home sales.
