New Marketing Ideas - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

1Neil · 09-07-2009, 01:41 AM

The commercial retail & general TI market has dried up here, so I was thinking of distributing brochures & e-mails to mortgage lenders and realtors to try and tap into the bank repo market. So what do you think? Is this a dead horse.

Publisher1 · 09-08-2009, 04:37 AM

The bank and repo market may not be dead, but I'm not sure how effective "distributing brochures and emails" will be in making inroads.

Relationships are vitally important here and cold inquiries using any form of mass communication will likely be ineffective. You need to be much more focused and targeted (especially with Realtors, as only a few are going to have the connections and business which matter to you.) This may be a case where picking up the phone or sending a highly personal email to the right person does a whole lot more than "marketing".

1Neil · 09-08-2009, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Publisher1

The bank and repo market may not be dead, but I'm not sure how effective "distributing brochures and emails" will be in making inroads.

Relationships are vitally important here and cold inquiries using any form of mass communication will likely be ineffective. You need to be much more focused and targeted (especially with Realtors, as only a few are going to have the connections and business which matter to you.) This may be a case where picking up the phone or sending a highly personal email to the right person does a whole lot more than "marketing".

Thanks for the imfo, I was going to use the brochure as an ice breaker. I probably should have my web page up and running so they have something to reference. I was going to do my marketing face to face.

onenia · 09-09-2009, 09:28 PM

Quote:

The commercial retail & general TI market has dried up here, so I was thinking of distributing brochures & e-mails to mortgage lenders and realtors to try and tap into the bank repo market. So what do you think? Is this a dead horse.

You have nothing to lose at this point. It's better to do something than sitting around waiting on the phone to ring.

Go for it!

Publisher1 · 09-10-2009, 07:21 AM

If you are going to do a brochure, you will need to spend money on good design and printing. Printing isn't too much of a problem, you can do an online thing and use high quality colour copiers to print as you need. Design can be another issue if you aren't familiar with how to get it done at low cost.

The problem is that the brochure isn't necessarily a great ice breaker. What is a good ice breaker is some useful information and ideas for the people you are trying to work with -- and that comes from understanding the type of information they need and want to help them be more successful in their work. Of course that expression can be some insights about what you do best. I suppose you can put this in a brochure, but websites and emails are much less expensive!

i'm all in favour of marketing but this is one where your relationships need to be built and brochures won't break the ice unless you truly are defying the odds.

born2fly · 09-13-2009, 11:51 AM

If that is the market you are looking to persue I recommend before you spend a nickel, join or attend a local REIA group meeting. That is where you are most likely to find the right people for information on REO's in your area and if it's worth your time trying to go after them. You may also want to consider short sale properties.

scrapecc · 09-13-2009, 02:46 PM

I kind of did this. I took a bunch of flyers to several real estate offices, I got several calls, a few bids couple jobs and a referal. I spent a whopping 3 hours to do this.