Some Background:
My fiancee has a Real Estate Appraisal and Property Management company, his dad has owned it for 30 years and they have a great reputation...He is now wanting to pass it off to his son. He has a few good, solid clients...but he only did enough to pay his bills, no more. So we are taking over just like a new business!

I have been in INSIDE sales for many years in the medical field.
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As a lot of you know, the RE market is crazy slow right now and we want to take this time to add some new clients. I have been inside sales for the past 7 years, but HE isn't really the 'salesy' type, so I thought I would go out and spread the company name.

Any good marketing ideas anyone can share with me to build his business? Gimmicks?? Once we can get them to try him out, they'll LOVE his work!

Just need a foot in the door!

Thanks in Advance!

I'll be honest, I'm not a RE expert. But, one thing I find really compelling is the story behind your company. The father has owned the company for 30 years and is now passing it on to his son. As you said, they have a great reputation. In an industry full of scams and apathy this kind of model really says "integrity" quite loudly. It's an old gimmick, but it sounds like your fiancee and his father have worked hard to maintain a good image. I would remind people of this in any marketing model you deploy.

MG1

I would agree that "the story" of passing along the business to the son could draw people in. I would suggest writing a press release about that transition and sending it off to local newspapers or magazines or other places that you think the story might take up some interest. People love to read stories like that and it automatically impresses the company name on their minds and makes it more "personal".

Mindy Lepp
http://www.saltedwebsites.com/
$50 off your website if you mention Idea Cafe!!

you need to become the Experts in this area since its been around so long.
you should NETWORK, NETWORK NETWORK.,
since you are comfortable talking to people, go to biz events, chamber commerce events, all other like BNI, etc.

you should also offer to be a speaker at an event,
tips on how to sell your home in 30 days, or staging of your home tips. whatever makes homes sell .
give talks.
give flyers with this info.
have a website with that sort of info for people.
create a newsletter with content, also include the highest price house of the week!
showcase fun stuff,
crazy celeb houses,
weird additions, or creative concepts, anything to make people look forward to your information.
you will be the name they remember and trust.

participate in college lectures, how to buy a first home.,
maybe speak at senior centers, or give flyers, how to do a reverse mortage. or
rental tips for college kids.

contact new moms and give home safety tips for infants.

there is a ton you can do.

tell your husband to take a SALES 101 CLASS somewhere, he wont get far without those skills. you can only do so much.
HE HAS TO BE A PARTNER, NOT A BYSTANDER.

good luck

hi wanna help, found this.. tips on marketing..

Unusual Places for Ads wherever a space is zoned for advertising and
it?s blank, there?s an opportunity to get your message out. The side of a van. The side of a dumpster.Wherever.

Word of Mouth / Viral Marketing ? The key here is create something that people will want to share. Yes, the ?tell a friend? scripts are good online. But surely there?s something you can think of to really
?wow? them. You want to make them say ?Wait until Jane sees this!?

Ad Magazines. Magazines that are little more than a collection of space ads. They are usually local, and the ads in them usually aren?t
direct response. By putting your direct response ad there, you stand out over all the other ads. But the downside is that these magazines tend to be less niche focused (although there are certainly exceptions, with the real estate and automobile-themed magazines and
newspapers).

Flyers ? Who says you can?t hire a high school student to stuff mailboxes or stick ?em under windshields? Obviously if you are selling a high-priced financial course, it would be better to target the windshields of a fancy hotel than your local Wal-Mart.

Radio/TV/Infomercials ? You might be surprised how inexpensive you can get these types of slots,especially if you use remnant advertising. Study the best infomercials, for example (the ones you see over
and over again?they must be working or they wouldn?t keep airing them), to get some ideas on how they are constructed.

Space Ads ? If you?re going to do a space ad, it will generally get better results if you use the same layout as the editorials.

Postcards ? Yes, postcards are a form of direct mail, but it warrants its own category. Postcards are cheaper to produce and mail than full-blown direct mail packages or sales letters, and they are great for generating leads.


Hope it helps! Goodluck!

-joy

I work in a mortgage office so I can give you tips first hand on how to attract our business:
knock on doors: go out and visit the mortgage offices in your area, and bring food! donuts, muffins, candies MLO's respond well to snacks
Let them know who you are, and what you do. Alot of times the mortgage originators are very busy and won't want to devote alot of time to listen to your spiel (sorry sounds harsh but its true! there's nothing we like less than someone taking up our time when we could be out drumming up business of our own.) so keep your pitch short and sweet and give them a flier to read later that has more details. While most mortgage companies alow their originators to choose their own appraisers, they generally have to place their orders through a service that can track the orders and ensure that appraisals are completed in a timely fashion and prevent fraud. For example National City Mortgage (my employer) places their orders through NAS (Network Appraisal Services), but each originator can choose 3 appraisers to put on their preferred list and most of their orders are delegated among those three.
In a perfect world everyone would like to have time to meet and greet, but most people in the sales world do best with email. So you could make a monthly email including some of the tips that were suggested in a the other replies.
and finally, go to some of your current clients and ask them to recomend you to their friends and colleagues. It never hurts to ask, as long as you don't nag!

Nikki