I thought I’d share a timely article by Sales Consultant Tom Hopkins. Make sure you’re personalizing your holiday messages with your real estate contact management software. Moreover, you can use your real estate CRM to create variations of an email/ holiday message and send out each variation to different groups in your database!
The article begins here:
The holiday season is fast-approaching. That means, in addition to handling your usual work load, you will need to reach out to your clients with special messages or gifts as appropriate for your industry and clientele–and whatever holiday you’re celebrating. For some sales and business people, this is just another task–another item on their endless To Do list. Not only that, there are personal obligations aplenty so downtime to relax and recover is minimal.
So, how do you properly meet the needs of your clients, friends, family members and community without breaking the bank or burning out? Here are a few suggestions:
Be sincere. If you just send a pre-printed card with your company name stamped on it and a mailing label, what does that really accomplish? It may help you feel that at least you’ve done something, but is “at least” really going to make an impact anywhere besides your wallet?
Look at the list you’ve accumulated of people or companies you feel obligated to reach out to this holiday season. Is this the only time you’re contacting them this year? If so, a holiday greeting probably isn’t going to create much goodwill. You’d be better off to lay some groundwork to rebuild your relationship with them. With the rest, a little personalization will go a long way.
Customize your messages. It’s worth the extra effort to write a personal note to the people you wish to recognize at this time of the year. Don’t attempt to do it all at once. It’s early November now. Divide your list by the number of cards, letters or messages you’d like to send and prepare a few each day. Even if you use a service to send out cards and gifts (such as SendOutCards–the only one that I endorse) or another source, they all allow you to personalize messages on the greetings. You don’t have to write an epic message, but including something specific to the recipient in your message goes a long way to creating the feeling you want even if you’re sending everyone on your list the same gift.
Appreciate yourself. You work hard all year long to provide excellent service to your clients. Include some time for reflection on the lives or businesses you’ve helped become more efficient, save money, make money or do whatever it is your product or service provides.
Know that I appreciate you for your dedication to the profession of selling. Selling is an honorable profession that literally “makes the world go ’round.” You provide a vital service. You are a student of selling who constantly seeks ways to do what you do better, faster and simpler for everyone involved. Take time to appreciate your accomplishments. It will help you stay invigorated for those added items on your “To Do” list.