Do You Have This Type Of Marketing Plan?

If you don't have written goals, then you have no goals. You already know that, you've heard people say it 100 times. But besides your written goals what other types of written plans do you have?

You should have your daily "to do" list that you write every day. And, here's one of the most important things you need to have written down and planned out: YOUR MARKETING PLAN! Marketing as you’re well aware is the lifeblood of your business. If I were to ask you right now the exact date that your next batch of letters is supposed to go out, would you be able to answer me? Too many people don't have a written marketing plan and they wonder why they haven't closed a deal in a few months. 

Investors come up to me at meetings, or I'm doing a conference call and they all say "I don't seem to be getting any leads or closing any deals, what should I do?" I immediately ask them if they are mailing 1,000 letters a month, putting out 100 signs a month, driving for dollars and emailing craigslist ads....of course we all know the answer to this--The only thing people have to offer up is excuses. 

Here's how I do my planning (and if you haven't done this yet, do it ASAP): I like to use an Excel spreadsheet. On this spreadsheet I have listed all of my marketing campaigns. So, if I'm doing an expired listing mailing, an absentee owner mailing and a general mailing from driving for dollars, I will have all 3 of those listed. I will have my absentee owner mailing set 8 months out (because I'm going to mail people a total of 8 times). I will know that on May 15 I have 1,000 absentee owner letters going out and that on May 23 I have 250 expired listings going out, etc. 

There should be absolutely no guesswork when it comes to your marketing plan. It should run like a well oiled machine. If I were to call you out of the blue and say "Investor, tell me the next date your absentee owner mailings are going out?" It should take you about 30 seconds to open up your Excel spreadsheet and give me the answer. 

As I'm always telling people, there are no real secrets to real estate success. Just now, I have given you one of the most important ways to ensure you generate a steady, reliable and predictable income year after year............a written, detailed marketing plan.