Realty Innovator

Your headline and body copy have attracted the readers’ attention and sparked their interest. Now, you must compel the prospect to act and to do so immediately.

Your advertising is a sales presentation in print.  While print advertising should implement strategies used in your verbal sales technique, there are distinct differences between selling in person and selling in print.  You must appropriately adjust for those differences. 

You’ve likely been taught a variety of closing techniques, such as Alternative Choice Closes.  These closing techniques are about selling in person, not closing in print.  If you were selling in person, you could interact with the prospect, create dialogue, generate desire, and react to the prospect’s objections.  In print, you can only grab their attention, present your offer, and instruct the prospect to act.  You do this in a monologue, so you must communicate more precisely and powerfully.

If you are selling in person and do not close, your production suffers.  Nonetheless, in person you would likely still make a few sales, as some properties sell themselves.  In print, if you do not present a close, your advertising will fail you. 

If you have performed the sales process properly in person, the close becomes the next logical step.  You’ve probably conducted sales in the past where the close seamlessly followed pre-close steps that were smooth and natural.  You properly qualified the prospect, presented a compelling offer, and the close was a simple instruction such as, “please sign the listing agreement here,” or “let’s make a strong offer.” 

If the prospect gave you resistance, you attempted to close them again.  In print, the close is also a natural progression, with one very significant difference: you must close the prospect on your first attempt.  There are no second chances.

Closing Is the Key to Beating Your Competition

Successful real estate print ads do not sell real estate; the selling part is your job.  The ad simply satisfies a specific desire that a prospect possesses, and then lead that prospect to you.  If there is mass desire for your product, there are going to be many prospects attempting to capitalize on your product.  Your primary goal is to close them into action.

In Print, the close must:

• Succinctly and explicitly instruct the prospect with a call to action.  Many print ads fail because the action step is not clear. 

• Make the response mechanism simple.  Many ads fail because the prospect is confused as to how to respond.  If you’ve ever had trouble finding contact information in a print ad or web site, you can appreciate this.

• Reiterate the main benefit.  People scan headlines.  If they find the offer intriguing, they often skip to the bottom of the ad, so it is imperative that you reiterate your main benefit in the close. 

• Post Scripts (PS) get read and offer a great opportunity for an additional call to action.  Often you will see multiple Post Scripts in advertising, as the author knows Headlines and Post Scripts are typically read before the copy.

• Provide a finite window of time in which the prospect must respond.  Advertising an offer with an expiration date engages the prospect to respond in a timely manner. 

• Under-promise, over-deliver, and uphold the parameters of your offer.  Make your value proposition a true win-win, and if a prospect does not respond within the guidelines that you set, do not hesitate to refuse them.  You can not be all things to all people, and your time is the most valuable asset you have.  Respect your prospects’ time and work with those who similarly respect yours.

Tips To Help You Get Going:

• Use simple language.  People with large vocabularies are not offended by simple language, and for others, it’s the only language they understand.

• Instruct, instruct, and instruct.  Never assume the prospect understands the action that you want them to take.  Clearly and specifically instruct them.

• Write two closes and show them to an associate.  Ask them which one is more compelling.