If you’ve ever bought or sold a house, you know there’s one word that best describes the process: easy. Ha, just kidding! Navigating the housing market, from the initial “hey, let’s go house-hunting” to the final 473 signatures at closing, is a tricky process. There’s paperwork. There’s negotiation. There’s number-crunching. There’s even more paperwork. It’s a nerve-wracking experience—and that’s before the property tax increases start pouring in.
But that doesn’t mean everything housing-related has to be that way. Selling promotional products to the real estate market, for example—that’s about as easy as it gets. You just need to know what products buyers want most, how to use those products effectively and how to break into the market. And lucky for you, we’ve got advice from the experts on all that and more. Read on for nine tips to get you started.
1. Try useful items
Jodie Carlson, president of Proforma Elite Texas Graphics, Longview, Texas, explained that because so many real estate clients depend on referrals to drive business, they tend to want products that people will use often. She listed cell phone chargers, cell phone wallets and lip balm as a few of the big sellers. “These are items that [realtors] give to their home buyer/seller at closing to thank them for giving them the opportunity to work with them on the biggest purchase they’ll ever make in their life,” she said. “It is important that the realtor gives them something they’ll use because this is how the referral tree grows. They’ll tell their friends about the wonderful job the realtor did and use that cell phone charger or wallet daily. That puts the company’s name out there for everyone to see.”
2. Think kitchen and household
For obvious reasons, some of the best giveaways for people buying a house are items they’ll actually use around the house. Steven Flaughers, president of Proforma 3rd Degree Marketing, Akron/Canton, Ohio, suggested kitchen items—particularly wine openers, utensils, magnets and jar openers. “These come in handy and they stay in a kitchen drawer virtually the lifetime of the house,” he noted.
He also mentioned calendars. “I find calendars to be the most useful,” he said. “Whether they are used as mailers, integrated marketing or handouts, calendars are year-round marketing, with the average person looking at a calendar two-to-three times per day at least. This keeps an agent [on top of their mind] all year.”
3. Get creative with apparel
Apparel works great for just about any promotional market, and real estate is no exception. But don’t stop with a basic T-shirt or cap—try jazzing things up with some different decorating techniques or custom designs. “We provided a rhinestone creation for one of our realtors who makes it a priority to donate a portion of her commission to help save animals from being euthanized,” said Carlson. “We worked with her to redo her real estate signs to include her motto: ‘Your Pet Friendly Realtor.’ We wanted to take it one step farther so we worked with In Your Face Apparel in Dallas to come up with a unique design that she could put on various clothing items, from jackets, blouses and T-shirts in rhinestones.”
4. Go with goody bags
And then there are swag bags. A staple of the trade show scene, they work just as well in real estate, allowing realtors to neatly bundle branded promotional items with brochures, business cards and the host of other printed items used in the market. The bags also work for any real estate-related events. “Our main client is a title company that uses promotional items to reach out to realtors to win their business once the contract is signed on a home,” explained Carlson. “Title companies provide the real estate industry with the required training courses that enable them to maintain their licenses. When realtors attend these events, they are presented with a nice bag of branded goodies from the title company.”
5. Offer printed products
We touched on it above, but it’s worth repeating: The real estate market uses a zillion printed items, presenting plenty of opportunities for big add-on sales. “Don’t forget to go after their print as well. All of these companies use a ton of print, so don’t limit yourself to just being their promo person,” Carlson said.
“They print items that they hand out to prospects who are looking at a particular area to live in, rate cards, sell sheets and more. Just think about the last time you purchased or sold a home and went to the closing—how many papers did you sign?” she continued. “I bet they were given to you in a nice vinyl folio with someone’s name on them, to store for safe-keeping. Go after that business as it can easily triple your sale with that client and make you their sole go-to person for everything they use.”
6. When in doubt, provide samples
Actually, scratch the doubt part—offer samples whenever possible. “We had sample cutting boards and cork coasters made at a minimal charge and presented them to several mortgage brokers we were trying to partner with to win their business,” said Carlson. “The items sold themselves because we took the extra step to have their logo put on them.”
7. Promote online presence
If you’re looking to enter the real estate market or to boost your existing roster of real estate clients, Flaughers suggests focusing on potential clients’ online presence. “Promote the agent’s website,” he said. “That is their portal to the world and their online personality. There are more than one million agents in America and they all have one common problem: how to out promote each other and promote their sellers’ homes,” he explained. “If you can show an agent or a brokerage how you are going to do this through printing, promotional products, multimedia services and even apparel, you are going to win the business every time.”
8. Never stop networking
Another way to break in? Good old-fashioned networking. “I sold my home and the lady who assisted me at the title company went above and beyond to get my home closed in a short timeframe,” said Carlson. “I asked for her boss’s name so I could commend her on a great job, and that was how I got my foot in the door to meet with upper management.”
9. No, really: Never stop networking
The real estate market comprises more than just agents—even businesses tangentially connected to the market can benefit from similar products and sales approaches. “If you think of a brokerage, they use home inspectors, electricians, plumbers, roofers, construction and lending firms. It’s a true plethora of potential business,” Flaughers explained. “They all work hand-in-hand for the common goal of the home seller or buyer. If you can network correctly, you can be the go-to person for all things in regards to the broker. You know their brand and want to protect it, thus they would want to refer you to the other areas of business that they work in.”
