Have you ever marketed your services to Agents and had the unfortunate experience of attracting one that led to a horrible experience? Maybe they tried to negotiate your fees, or worse yet, at point blank asked you to cut your commission on a deal? And when you inquired if they were cutting their fees too, they acted insulted?
Although one thing alone won't ever fix this, it is possible to acutely minimize this mistake. It begins with marketing. And good marketing includes a website. But just not any website, an agent-focused website. It's specifically designed for them to learn about you and how you conduct business.
This week's issues discusses the importance of an agent-focused website.
Your Agent Marketing Hub
An agent-focused website serves as your hub that all other marketing strategies are executed. It can connect all your marketing efforts geared toward Agents.
Your objective will be to have Agents visit your site to learn about your services, to be educated on how you conduct business and to shape their perception of you as an expert.
It has many added benefits:
Instant Visibility - The Worldwide Web gives you credibility. With a site, you look professional and established.
Develops Familiarity - Agents who are skeptical can learn about you from reading your site helping them to become comfortable.
Shortens the Cycle - If an Agent can learn about you more quickly, when you meet they'll already be comfortable, and relationships materialize faster.
Marketing Collateral - It helps your agent-clients refer other Agents to you more easily. It gives other Agents a place to learn about you before they call.
Constructing Your Site
An agent-focused site is an interactive brochure. You can communicate more information in a site than you can on paper. That means it can save you time and money.
Too often loan officers eagerly take Agents out to lunch before they really know if the Agent fits their profile. It's not until after the expense of a lunch and several phone call attempts with no response that they discover the Agent isn't serious about a relationship with them. Your site should be the first step in your marketing, by directing Agents to it first you can delineate between serious and curious Agents.
Consider three major things when constructing a site; design, content and most wanted action.
Design
It's about simplicity. This means you don't need a large trust to fund it. Too many sites looked like congested intersections. Instead, think of design like a newspaper's front-page article. You have an attention-grabbing headline, a sub heading that supports the headline, the rest of the article and single graphic that visually communicates the essence of the message.
In fact, each page follows suit. The less complicated you make it, the more they'll visit other pages in your site.
Content
Your site is a chance to state for the record; who you are, who you work with, how you conduct business, your guiding beliefs, and how you're different. Your content acts as a resource to inform and educate.
Home Page - This is where you communicate precisely who you are, what you stand for and how you're different, so the visitor can know instantly if your type of services is suited for them.
Who You Work With Page - This page is for those who think they need your services, but is not sure. It describes problem-based scenarios, which Agents relate to best.
How You Work Page - This page tells the visitor what it might be like to work with you. Here you can educate them about your guiding beliefs and values, you can describe the type of results they can expect, or you can describe your uniqueness.
Case Studies Page - If you want to cement their perception of you as an expert, back up your claims with actual client case studies.
Testimonials Page - Although these don't replace case studies, it can demonstrate that others were happy using your services.
Articles Page - The mark of an expert is that they've written something on their subject matter.
About You Page - It's the equivalent of your resume, but includes a personal connection.
About Your Team Page - Here you introduce your internal team. Agents know many hands are involved in each transaction. You can add to their comfort and show that there's more to your team than just you.
Additional Resources Page - This is an extension of your internal team. Strategic alliances can sometimes prove to be valuable to an Agent.
Contact Us Page - This is where you tell visitors how to contact you and how you begin working with clients.
Sign Up Form - If someone visits your site, reads your content and decides they like you, you want to capture that visitor's email address before they leave your site.
Most Wanted Action
To get an Agent to take action you have to actively engage them into thinking about how your service can help solve their problems. The better you can do that, the more likely they'll take your most wanted action.
Follow these four steps:
1. Be personable and personalized. Write informally as if you were having a conversation.
2. Address their problems and needs. An Agent will take action the more they can relate to you. The better you describe their problems, the more they can see that you understand.
3. Give them a sense of hope. Describe the benefits they'll enjoy once their problem is fixed.
4. Tell them what they need to do to enjoy those benefits.
Thanks for support,
Jeff Nelson
Salesachievers
Helping loan officers attract more clients
© 2004, 2005 by Jeff Nelson
All rights reserved
