Why I decided to live in Pakistan

I have come to the conclusion that life is a great irony. More specifically, human life is a great irony. Other organisms do not give themselves options. They fight for survival, they jump at every opportunity, and they explore. All other species do this, without hesitation, because it is crucial to their survival as an individual and as a species. Humans, however, can choose not to follow the basic rules of life. Humans can be everything, and nothing, they need to be. Humans can be stagnant. Our great, evolutionary, and intellectual dominance over the entire Earthly populous has actually led us into our one main flaw: the ability to live without living. We humans act in ways that are not conducive to our environment, our population, and ourselves. We are given the gift of awareness of life and death, and we choose to ignore it. We act as if our life is timeless, forgiving, and inconsequential. And, it is when we realize that this is not the case, we panic. When we know death is near, we want to survive, jump at opportunities, and explore. It is in the idea of impending death that one decides to live. And that, truly, is the great irony of life.

It is in this great irony that we ask ourselves “what if” or better yet the question I been asked a lot lately is “why did I move to Pakistan & what do I see in it?” My answer is simple.

I was an immigrant. My family of six moved to America when I was twelve years old. It was a huge change. We came from a country where family was the most important purpose of life. We had all lived by each other. All of my cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas—we saw each other very often. We had fun in the summer, played together, and did all sorts of stuff together. It was a simple but fulfilling time. We were a true family. But, my parents left it all behind. I don’t blame them; America is the land of opportunity for some. They wanted a better life for their four children, and we have all grown up in American society but somehow we have lost our family in the process.

America turned out to be a harsh, unforgiving, and lonely place. My parents have sat over the phone in tears, hearing about a family death, unable to take the time off or collect the money to take us all to the funeral. We have missed weddings, graduations, birthdays, births—all of the important moments of life of the most important people of our lives. And, we could not share our moments with them, either. It breaks all of our hearts. Family is satirized as a dysfunctional joke in American culture; it is taken for granted. It is seen as dysfunctional to continue living with, or near, family, extended or not. However, family togetherness is something that is unimaginably rewarding to. America, in my opinion, is flawed for being so independent—but I digress.

I asked myself once what if I only had limited time to live what would I do and from there I realized why wait till the end to do something you are capable of now. So I decided to leave America. I have take what I have saved up and I have moved to my native country of Pakistan. I cannot express the amount of freedom and joy it would bring me to have the opportunity to be in Pakistan. No place has ever made me this happy ever since we have left Pakistan in the end of nineties. It is a life changing event for me, a moment I would hold dear for the rest of my lives, and I desperately need it. We are all drained, over-worked, and drifting apart in America and I hope my loved once can see my point and make the right decision. 

Unfortunately most of my immediate family has changed. We, the kids, are all grown up—some are married, and some are with kids. There are even some people in my family that have never met each other. I see this opportunity for those that we have fallen in love with, and the little ones that have been born, to see our history. I dream of finally sharing something so close to my heart—my true home with my own family, but we seem to have difference of opinion. 

In that perfect setting, I would finally settle peacefully with my family in Pakistan and work peacefully toward setting up a business not just for myself but rather something that everyone from my immediate family to the next generation to enjoy the fruits of it. My life would finally be whole. 

Family and togetherness, something we all lack in our modern American world, and I Usman Sayed has decided to take a stand and make the tough decision which most of us would like to but lack either the courage or the challenged that come with it. 

Thanks for those who have read this, I hope this helps answer some of the questions my friends and family have been asking me lately.

With Love,

Usman Sayed

Marketing? … How often do you change your Marketing?

Unfortunately Marketing isn’t like one of those kitchen gadgets or late infomercials- You know the ones “Set-it and Forget it”…. Many people take that approach to prospecting and lead conversion but most of the time that DOES NOT WORK-

Marketing must constantly change. I was recently reminded of this on a business. I had a great time, I was able to spend several days with some of the nations top marketing and sales minds… We had several closed door no invitation, no nonsense- just work – mastermind sessions…. It was very useful and the relationships made during those days will last a long time!

There was great information shared amongst these top minds but…. The lesson at hand was not learned in any of those sessions… As a matter of fact it was quite odd when I realized it…

I usually don’t get to enjoy these business trips- being away from my family, makes it tough but- this time I decided to ask them if they wanted a quick weekend in New York… The answer was obviously yes…. and they understood that, they would be on their own most of the time… however during some of the time that we did get to spend together- Is when this great realization of marketing came about…

Recently I took a visit to the Washington Zoo… One of the most extraordinary attractions in the country…  But enough about that-

The bottom line is – you have to adapt to your client base and your prospecting base… The same ad’s and types of ads that you did last year, or even last month might not be effective today…

Your message might be the same but the media might have to change… In any business you have to be especially concerned about your advertising dollars…. Keeping a budget and remaining in the budget are crucial to success… I always suggest highly targeted marketing rather than exposure marketing. I like to refer to it as “sniper” marketing instead of “shotgun”… In the Real Estate Business such as (Insurance, Real-estate Title, Home Inspection, Mortgage Consultant, Termite, Moving, Credit Repair, Tax Services, and even house cleaning) a good example of sniper markeing is targeting realtors who actively work with clients who have recently been bought, sold a house or been denied credit for a loan. Whereas an example of shotgun would be to target all people in a certain neighborhood.

The neighborhood approach might be good if you’re a Pizza delivery or a lawn service but- if you’re a specialized business you need to have a targeted sniper approach… With the sniper you attack less people but you can spend more $ per person because you know that they need your service…. It is better to send 10 marketing pieces to the same client that you know needs your service than it would be to send 20 random pieces….

So, I’m sure your wondering what made me think of this at the Zoo????

What do you think of this use of advertising dollars???

WOW!!!  That could be your add dollars being destroyed… I guess they figured since they don’t use it- find a use for it-Many people will have the same response… That’s right… A “Perfectly Good” advertising medium – (The yellow pages) is being used for filler in a cage!

Yellow pages used to be the premier advertising solution….. Think for a second- when was the last time you opened one? Does your target market open the yellow pages? Do they shop on the internet? Do they rent? How old are they?

Regardless of ad type- and I don’t mean to pick on the yellow pages, (they’ve made me a lot of money over the years).. My message is – Know your clients and constantly adapt your marketing around them… There is NO “One size fits all” and certainly no “Set it and forget it)…..

If you target via the internet, understand there is a whole world beyond pay per click… If you do direct mail, there are ways to get double digit response rates…

Study your market!

Good Luck. 🙂

What does client retention really mean?

Ok, as I promised… I would elaborate on some unique retention programs… BUT you must first understand the basics…

Make your clients and referral partners feel special! If they feel like the same commoditized “unit” at your service as they would at the next, then there’s no reason to come to you…

Think of different ways (not expensive ways) to make your client realize that you are thinking of them…

For example… I always tell my consulting clients to send New Years cards instead of Christmas Cards… and it’s not because I’m politically correct… I said Christmas… because for the past 50+++ years everyone called the “Holiday season” the “Christmas Season”, regardless of what holiday you celebrate… and that’s ok…. I’ve spoken to hundreds, if not thousands of people who celebrate alternate holidays- I celebrate many holidays!!!… and still call it the “Christmas Season”… Ok… Enough of my P.C. rant… The bottom line is- I don’t say send new years cards for the wrong reasons..

The reason that I suggest New Years Cards is because of competition… There’s less competition on New Years… No one else is sending cards (Or at least not too many…)
If less people are sending New Years cards, then your news years cards WILL STAND OUT!!!!!…

A Legendary Marketer once said… Send a Thanksgiving Card… No one else will… So for the next several years I sent, Birthday, ½ Birthday, Anniversary, New Years, Valentines, and whatever cards I could find… I still send out about 4 – 500 cards a month, depending on the month…

Handwritten thank you notes… In a previous message I discussed the importance of delegating … These are tasks to delegate and automate… I certainly don’t lick or handwrite the envelopes….. I found an automated system to do it for me… My automated system actually seems as if I personally wrote it…You can easily use an automated system to do it… I just suggest that GET IT DONE… BUT YOU DON’T DO IT!!!

After you meet with a  new referral partner, send them a handwritten thank you card… Ask yourself how many other companies that provide the service that you do, approach that referral partner on a daily or weekly basis? Then ask yourself how many of them send a handwritten thank you note after a call or a visit? I think you know where I’m going with this…

Client retention and referrals should start at the initial call… ask for a referral at the time of application…. Yeah before even qualified that person…
It was always easy for me… I would simply explain that my business was based on referrals and ask who do they know that could benefit from the valuable advice that I gave?

I always said “Valuable Advice” because I wanted to be an advisor, not a broker or salesman… People trust advisors and distrust salesman…

Put yourself in that “Advisory” role when talking to your clients or potential clients… It is usually a good idea to start a conversation with probing questions… don’t go straight for the sale…. Make sure your clients know that you are interested in hearing them … so LET THEM TALK… When they TALK you should LISTEN!!! They will tell you a lot more than you’ll ever need to know but… let them go… A good salesman knows he has 2 ears and 1 mouth… which means he should be using his ears twice as much!!

When you’re an advisor, you truly understand the situation, and the client must be confident that you will advise regardless of financial gain for yourself… THAT is NOT A PITCH!!! You must truly believe that … Don’t take every client unless you can help them! This business has enough unscrupulous individuals doing that… There is a lot more money to be made by providing a great service at a reasonable rate…

There are alternative ways to make money from clients that you can’t help…. If you know them, great, make the best of them… If you don’t, let me know and I’d be happy to make some suggestions…..

I went off track a bit…… I was up to the part about asking for referrals day one…
Don’t just stop there… KeeEEEEp asking for them, every conversation… EVERYONE knows someone with BAD CREDIT!!! Offer valuable informative info, white papers, free reports, articles for local newspapers etc…

Those items will assist in long term relationship building…

Create good looking Gift Certificates (Ones that look valuable, not the nonsense that you’d print on your regular penny copy paper)…. Make the gift certificates look valuable then give them to potential referral partners… Give away a $50 cert for a “Comparable Market Analysis” or something similar based on your business…. Rather than a FREE Consultation that has no value, (because it’s free)…. Make the certificate look valuable and it will be perceived as valuable… Then your referral partner will see additional value in you and your services….

If you only remember one thing from this e-mail… Here’s what it should be:

PERCEPTION IS REALITY!!!!

What Should Your Focus Be?

As a company owner/manager you often wear many hats… You wind up cleaning the floors, answering the phones, worrying about customer complaints, completing accounting statements, making deposits +++++

But most of us forget to focus on the most important part of our business… marketing and client retention…

For today, I’d like to talk about creation of systems and delegating activities to increase your income.

First, I need you to stretch and take a deep breath, because what I’m about to say is going to be tough for many to grasp and agree with… It took me a lot to realize that some of the thoughts and statements of the Guru’s is right… no matter how much I wanted to fight that my way was right….. I continued to learn that it wasn’t—

First, take accountability! Make a “short” list of the things that you do best… Then make the LONG list of things that would be better for other people to do….. Then categorize the items based on the dollar per hour that you would have to pay someone to do that task. Whether it be mowing the lawn, dropping the deposit at the bank or getting a cup of coffee at Starbucks… calculate how much you would like to make per hour, then realize how much it would cost you to do a certain task if you were making that much…

The example that I heard several years ago is what opened my eyes… An attorney was talking to one of his friends and was instilling this same advice- The attorney explained to his friend that he had to have a talk with his assistant… His talk had to explain the importance of her new duties.. her new duties included:

Getting coffee at Starbucks every morning
Taking his car to the car wash
Picking up his dry cleaning
Etc…..

He had to explain to his assistant the value of time, and that it was better for him to give her a raise and a car allowance than it would be for him to spend the time doing it….
In his example he said, a cup of coffee cost him about $229… Wow… How could it cost that… the answer is simple- his billable hourly rate it $450 (+ $4 for the coffee) and he would have to spend about a ½ hour to park his car, get out, and wait in line for his coffee….

WOW!!! What an eye opener!!!

Now most of us, don’t expect our hourly wage to be $450 BUT— if you want to make $100k per year – that coffee will cost you $29 for your ½ hour….

The real problem lies in a recent study of executives… The study found that a high percentage of executives “Actual Work time” is less than 1 hour per day…

So if you’re actual work time is < 1 hour … then how much is that coffee really costing you?

Find a team and work it!!!

Find the strengths of the players and work their strengths, don’t try to make yours or your team member’s strengths into what you want them to be. Focus on the important aspects; trust, commitment and loyalty… The other skills are useless if you can’t count on them….

With these statements in mind, mold your day around your strengths. Mold your day around the activities that are income producing activities. Don’t try to find busy work, revert to your list of strengths and delegate the list of weak points….

Marketing and client retention should be at the top of the list, because without that you won’t have much else to worry about… now don’t say that you don’t need marketing because your business is based on referrals…

A business that is based on referrals is probably the most intensive marketing task… you must continue to WOW your referral partners and continue to provide excellent service to keep that flow of referrals coming….

Provide your clients with options that keep their best interest at heart… Find complimentary revenue generating opportunities… After all most of us didn’t tell our mom’s and dad’s “I want to own a credit repair restoration company when I grow up”
Many of us are transplanted from another business that has changed, and to many Credit is a tool for other sales…

It has been proven that it is far more cost effective to retain a client than it is to procure a client….. so, focus on ways to provide a valuable service to all of prospects that you come in contact with…. I certainly don’t want to stray you away from credit repair!!!!
I suggest having the answers to your client’s financial needs… that may be as simple as writing an article- or making a referral for another service….

The bottom line is- structure your time to focus on the tasks that create income for you. Delegate the tasks that cost less to complete than the hourly wage that you choose to earn…

Calculate your desired hourly earnings by taking the annual salary divided by 2080
Ex. $100,000 / 2080 = $48.08

Online Marketing

Advertising your business online is a must nowadays. But.. the more you talk to online marketing companies = more confusion… Online marketing companies will soot words and acronyms like PPC (Pay Per Click), adwords, adsense, oragnic SEO, article marketing, press releases, link building +++++

By the time you’re done talking to an internet marketer most people are lost… I know I used to be! One of the biggest mistakes that I typically see in internet marketing is not focusing on a niche’.

When starting out, or even if you’ve already establised a typical business model it is easy to get overwhelmed, and easy to go over budget! Think about narrowing down your marketing to a local area can help

But many businesses that market online tend to focus on too broad of a picture (trying to target the entire U.S.).  In reality, most credit repair businesses do the bulk of their business within their local community, typically within a 50 – 100 mile radius.

Research shows more and more people are using the internet to locate local businesses. For example, if you want to find a “Restaurant” in McLean, Virginia, you will go online to a local search engine and type “McLean Restaurant.” People are doing the same for other businesses.

A study by ROI Research Inc. indicated that online searches influence 20 – 30 percent of purchases made locally.

So how do you get your businesses listed online for your local market?  This article provides you with a list of search engines you can use to get your name out to your local market.

1. Website: Google Adwords

How to use it: Adwords will allow you to target local online customers by setting pay-per-click advertisements to appear when people search for a particular city or state.

As the name implies you are going to pay every time someone clicks on your listing.  So, if you operate a real estate business in McLean, you would pick keywords like “McLean Real Estate” or “McLean Realtor/Broker.”  Then when someone Google’s the term “McLean Realtor” your web site listing will show up.  There’s no minimum spending requirement for Adwords and your daily budget is up to you.

2. Website: Google Local Business Listings

How to use it: Google displays local businesses in the middle of the web search results.  You can list your business with Google’s business center, and your listing will be included in search results for free. In the image below, you can see I searched for “McLean Realtor / Broker” and it includes the local businesses on the top. Although businesses don’t need a website to be listed in Google Local, it’s a good idea to have a properly optimized website.

3. Website: Yahoo! Local Listings

How to use it: Unlike Google, users have to select Local Listings as an option in Yahoo. Yahoo created this to promote local businesses. You can choose from a couple of different plans including a free listing. The one thing I recommend is to put the word “Real Estate” in your listing. For example if your company’s name is “Smith & Co.” add the word “Real Estate” next to it, such as “Smith & Co. – Real Estate.” That way people see you are in Real Estate business.

4. Website: City Search

How to use it: Although City Search is not free, if you have the budget it works well.

They offer online advertising tools to get your ad listed on MSN, Yahoo!, Google, and Ask.com. The service works a lot like Google Adwords, where you pay-per-click.

5. Website: Craigslist

How to use it: Craigslist gets an estimated 10 million unique visitors per day (that’s a lot of people). You can take out an online classified ad for your local city. Posting on Craigslist is also free. But, be careful not to go crazy, or they will mark your stuff as Spam.

6. Website: AOL’s CityGuide

How to use it: AOL’s CityGuide provides local entertainment information to AOL members. If you advertise with AOL you can target consumers based on lifestyle and market.

7. Website: Local.com

How to use it: Local.com has 10 million + monthly customers which you can target.

You can choose a basic free listing or pay-per-click.

8. Website: YellowPages.com

How to use it: The online equivalent of your yellow pages phonebook, yellowpages.com is a large directory for businesses. You can get a basic listing for free.

List your business on the above web sites and you will be generating local business in no time!

For e-Marketing solutions please feel free to contact me and explore your options.

FICO (Fair Isaac and company)

FICO

As a progressive and innovative company, Fair Isaac and company (now known as FICO) revolutionized the credit reporting industry. FICO developed a solution through risk model scoring that was impartial and consistent. After years of development, the model was released in the 1980s. It was the first version of the rating system we know today as the FICO score.

The system was embraced by the lending industry and credit reporting companies for two reasons. First, lenders were under scrutiny from congress to eliminate the current system that resulted in discrimination. Second, the credit bureaus had lost their credibility and needed to do something to stay in business. While the system was embraced, it was not done because of the benefits it offered the industry. Something had to be done to keep business moving forward, without further government regulation. This is the first of many instances where a consumer credit industry makes decisions based on what is best for the industry, not the consumer.

With the introduction of FICO in the credit reporting arena- individual credit bureaus could use FICO’s mathematical algorithms to create a credit score in addition to a credit report. This scoring method allowed for faster underwriting because lenders could simply make their underwriting decision based on a score, rather than having to read and understand a credit report. This change in credit review made things easier for lenders, but horrible for consumers.

As a result, consumers are now judged as numbers not as individuals. In addition, the underwriters no longer need to have the in-depth credit knowledge needed to fully analyze a consumer’s TRUE risk factor. Minor blips like a $30 collection can now lead to a 100–point drop in a FICO score.

As the FICO score became so ingrained in the credit and lending industry, lenders were able to implement strict scoring requirements that left no room for interpreting these minor blips. Regardless of the fact that lenders didn’t want to make any manual adjustments anyway, as the correct adjustments would likely not benefit them. The deflated credit score based on the blips allows the lender to impose higher rates and fees to the consumer, which increases bottom line profits for the lender.

The practice of making a credit/underwriting decision based on a score, rather than full review of a credit history is harmful to both consumer’s and lenders. Ultimately the consumer is hurt because they are less of a risk than the FICO score actually indicates, therefore their cost of credit should be less. Consequently, lenders believed that the speed of approvals warrants the use of a scoring model for automated approvals. As recent history proves, with the mortgage and economic debacle, it is clear that if a full credit review was used, losses could have been significantly minimized. It is not uncommon for a 17, or 18 year old with one credit card, and no prior history to have a high credit score. Although this new credit individual may have the best intentions, without a proven history of credit worthiness it is difficult to understand how a lender could approve a loan, simply based on a credit score.

Credit scores DO NOT take into account income in any way, therefore based on lending practices of the past, a person without employment could qualify for millions in credit simply based on a score calculated by a computer. If lenders were forced to analyze complete credit reports, in addition to the FICO score, the consumer would be charged rates and fees representative of their credit worthiness. Instead, a $30 collection account can cost thousands of dollars over the years that it exists on their credit report, regardless of whether or not the company reporting the item can produce documentation to show the validity of the alleged debt.

The industry’s first steps toward reporting consistency.

Realizing the value of information sharing, the credit bureaus established a trade association called the Associated Credit Bureaus (ACB) in 1906. The ACB’s purpose was to facilitate the goals of each bureau and create synergies among the local credit bureaus across the country. The membership quickly grew, but ACB did little other than lay the foundation for the current monopoly on the credit industry by the “Big 3” credit reporting agencies that exists today.

By 1960, the ACB’s members expanded across the country. Due to the fact that computers were not yet available and the information was still in hard copies, credit bureaus covered only a few cities at best. It was during this time that credit cards began to gain popularity. The credit review systems in place cost the credit card companies and other lenders to make poor lending decisions, which ultimately led to lost revenues from un-creditworthy consumers who had been extended credit as a result. Either the system needed to be changed, or the credit bureaus would be out of business.

It was around this time that the Federal Government had been receiving an increasing number of complaints that cited discrimination for home loans. As the Federal Government regulated the banking industry, they took action and enacted the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) in 1971. The FCRA forced the credit reporting agencies to reform the existing system of collecting information and assessing credit worthiness. Over time, the information in consumer reports became more reliable, but they were still light years away from being an accurate reflection on the consumer’s ability to manage credit.

Best Practices for Sending and Delivering an Email

Before You Hit Send, Things to Consider for Maximum Success

Does it matter when you send it? Will that affect how many people read it? How exactly can you track how many people receive and open the email? If you want the greatest Return On Investment, you need to pay attention to the following:

• Days of the week

• Time Of Day

• Send all of them at once? Or split into separate groups?

• Sending the same message more than once

Here are some very simple rules and best practices regarding email marketing, specifically for the real estate industry:

Days of the week:

Statistically, the best days of the week to deliver emails are:

• Tuesday, Wednesday and/or Thursday are optimum.

• Mondays aren’t terrible, but avoid them if you can.

• Fridays are the worst weekday, especially in the real estate industry.

The worst days to send email marketing:

• Weekends and holidays. Only half the number of people who would normally read your email will do so.

Time of day:

Best time for your emails to arrive is:

• You want all of your emails to arrive in people’s inboxes during normal business hours locally, wherever they are.

• Emails should arrive AFTER 10am, and BEFORE 5pm, in their time zone.

The worst time for your emails to arrive:

• The absolute worst time to send emails is overnight.

When you think about your own habits, you’ll probably understand why. People come in to work in the morning, and have dozens of emails sitting in their inbox. That’s when they generally just go through and delete anything that doesn’t require their immediate attention. If an email comes in later while they are at their desk working, they’ll be much more prone to giving it a few seconds to see what it’s about.

With these delivery guidelines in mind, you can figure out how fast you should be sending out your emails.

With an email delivery service like ours you can send out up to 500 emails every 15 minutes.

If you’re only sending out 1,000 emails, then it’s no problem for all of them to be delivered between 10am and 5pm, right? So you can send them out at, say, a rate of 250 every hour. But if you’re sending 15,000 emails, you should make sure to send out the max per hour. Or, split it into separate days so that all are delivered in that 10am to 5pm window.

We realize that the next obvious question here would be, “Why shouldn’t I always just choose the maximum rate of delivery? Why would I ever choose the slower option?”

The answer to that question is really super-technical but the gist of it is that, if you’re using a professional delivery company, choosing a slower delivery rate can mildly improve deliverability. And even though it may only be mildly more effective, why not take the option that gives you the greatest potential to get more emails through – right?

So as a rule of thumb, choose the slowest option that will get all of your emails delivered between 10am and 5pm.

Finally, if you’re sending out the emails yourself, you need to have software that can send them out in batches. If you just try and send it straight from your mailbox, your ISP will notice that your email address is hitting servers over and over again with emails. And of course, as we now know, they’ll think you’ve become a spammer and they’ll block your emails. But if you send out your emails in batches, then the servers will only get hit once with each batch and they won’t cut you off.

Reinforce your message

Keep in mind that you can’t expect to send an email flyer about a property once and have it sold the next day! Just like with all forms of advertising, you need to reinforce your message. So, plan on sending a flyer two to three times for optimal results. You don’t want to send the same email more than once a week but 2 or 3 times in one month is perfectly acceptable.

And, of course, if you use an email service like ours, you can remarket to people who’ve shown interest. Because you can track your emails, and get statistics on who opened, forwarded or clicked on a link in your email, you can then set-up a campaign to remarket that property to the more targeted list.

Let Us Handle Your Next Marketing Campaign!

Usman Sayed, eMarketing Specialist

The Art of the Email Flyer

Not surprisingly there are best practices that increase your odds of success, both in terms of getting your email through to the intended recipient as well as getting that person to read your email.

In this Blog, we’ll go over the most common mistakes made in writing copy, the best way to write everything from the subject line to the body of the email, and explain that:

• The subject line is more important than you thought

o Mistakes to avoid

o Items to include and not include

• You should choose your words carefully in the body of the email

o Personalize where possible

o Include a call to action

o Include all important details

Words really do matter!

The way you write your email can impact if your email is effectively delivered and whether or not it is read once it does arrive.

Statistically, the subject line is the most important line in the whole email. The subject line of your email should tell the recipient what’s in your email, not try to sell your email.

So, what are the most common mistakes made when writing the subject line?

1) Too! Much! Punctuation! Avoid exclamation points, dollar signs, percent signs, questions marks, slashes, dashes, commas.

2) Ever see an email with LOTS OF CAPITAL LETTERS in the subject line?

It feels like the sender is screaming at you. And what’s worse, you get the feeling they’re not being completely honest about whatever it is they’re yelling!

3) Misleading information. If it’s not true, don’t say it. It’s against the law. The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 specifically prohibits misleading information in the subject line.

4) A subject line that’s too long greatly decreases the odds that the recipient will even take the time to read it because, after all, who is going to spend that much time reading a subject line in an email from a person they may not even know? That was a mouthful. Surely there was a more succinct way to say that.

• You should try and limit your subject line to 50 characters or less. More than that and it may get truncated upon delivery.

5) Spam Trigger words should be avoided

• In the real estate world, there are certain words that are technological and psychological spam triggers. Even if your email gets through the filter (the technology part), the person who gets it is likely just going to delete it (the psychological part).

These words include: Sale, Free, Money, Income, Mortgage, Opportunity, and the newest one… Pre-Foreclosure.

• There’s a more complete list of spam trigger words in the appendix of this document.

• Just to be clear, you generally need more than one of these words to trigger a spam filter. Filters use a point system to add up all “offenses” (it’s actually a fairly complex algorithm). If they pass a certain level, the email won’t make it through. You need to be conscious of this so you know what to avoid.

Here’s the best way to write a subject line for a real estate marketing email:

1) A friendly, short sentence explaining why they may be interested in the listing.

• Include information about a high split rate, or some unique or desired feature of the house.

• Remember, you don’t have to say everything in the subject line.

2) Include your company name. It helps.

• If you don’t put your company name in the subject line, then make certain it is in the “from” or “display” field.

The Body of the Email

Some of the same rules that apply to the subject line apply to the body of the email.

Excessive punctuation, words in all CAPS and of course, spam trigger words are things to avoid. All of those things trigger spam filters and, if the email does get through, will likely just annoy the reader. Those tactics don’t work.

So what does work? What are some tried and true methods of writing real estate marketing emails that are effective?

1) Personalize it. If you’re using the function that will insert the recipient’s name into the email. If you’re using another service, find out if they offer that option.

2) Think about what action you want the recipients to take once they get your email:

o Do you want them to call you?

o Email you?

o Forward the note along to any interested third-party?

Whatever your call to action, let them know! Don’t assume they know what to do next and make sure you give them all the information they need to actually do it (for example, include your phone number if you want them to call you or allow them to email you directly from your flyer).

3) Finally – and this may sound like a no brainer – but make sure you include all pertinent details regarding the listing. And that includes the price.

Let Us Handle Your Next Marketing Campaign!

Usman Sayed, eMarketing Specialist

The Benefits of Using an Email Delivery System

Using an Email Marketing Company versus Doing-it-Yourself

When deciding whether or not you should subscribe to an email delivery service to create and/or send your emails, there are a few things you must know. In this blog, we’ll cover the following:

• If you have the email addresses already, can you send the emails yourself?

• How Outbound ISPs Work

• How Inbound ISPs Work

• Edge Networks, Receiving ISPs, Firewalls

• Blacklists

“Why Can’t I Just Send Out My E-Mail Marketing Myself?”

Why do you even need to sign up with a company to send out your email marketing? After all, you’ve collected plenty of email addresses yourself or have found a company that will sell you a list. And you’ve already paid for software that helps you create flyers. So you’re all set, right?

The reality is that sending out mass emails, from either your personal email address or your business address, can be very damaging to you and your company’s web presence. Without getting too technical, here’s what happens:

Since spam is a concern for Internet Service Providers (ISPs), they have to find ways to combat it. Believe it or not, your email passes through quite a few gatekeepers as it goes from your computer, through the virtual world, and lands in someone else’s inbox. And each step along the way, it can be blocked.

Let’s review how the different ISPs work and how they can block your emails, sometimes without you even knowing.

Outbound ISPs

One way to stop individuals from sending spam is to figure out how many emails the “average person” would send in a day. If you send out much more than that, your outbound ISP may assume that your computer has been taken over by a hacker and turned into a spam machine, and they’ll cut-off your ability to send emails through! They’ll simply block anything you send out. Better safe than sorry, they figure. And you’ll never even know your emails didn’t get through.

Edge Networks, Receiving ISPs, and Firewalls

Edge networks sit on the outside of receiving ISPs and filter incoming traffic for spam and viruses, among other things. They could block your email from getting through, especially if they come in at high rates or have badly written code (yes, there is such a thing as well written code and badly written code, and most of us never know the difference).

Even if the outbound ISP sends out your email, and it gets through the edge network, the receiving ISP can stop your email from getting to its intended recipient if you don’t follow best practices.

Nowadays, most companies have firewall systems in place that may not let your email in (think of a firewall as a spam filter on top of a spam filter). And if you’re sending to an individual’s email, they may have their own personal filter software too.

So, if the ISP said it’s okay to go through, what else could be stopping your emails from being delivered?

The Accidental Blacklist

Getting blacklisted is no laughing matter and can happen innocently enough. If someone else using the same server as you sent lots of spam, the whole server can get blacklisted. That means that no emails going through that server will get delivered. So you’re left scratching your head, wondering why some of your emails just aren’t getting through.

If there are enough spam complaints about emails from you, or someone with your company’s domain name, your URL or email address can be blacklisted. Once this happens, emails from you or anyone from your company will be blocked.

The harsh reality is once you get blacklisted like this – whether or not it was you who caused the problem – it’s very, very difficult to get whitelisted again. And you’ll quickly find that not only are your marketing emails going nowhere, but since any email sent from your email address is getting blocked, your everyday communications with your clients and prospects will no longer get through. Just imagine trying to run your business without any emails getting through to clients. It could be devastating.

In severe instances, your entire URL can get shut down. So, Joe@mymailserver.com can get the whole site http://www.mymailserver.com shut down by accident.

Another reason emails get blocked could be because a filter scanning the text in your email found too many words that were too salesy. We’ll get more into how to avoid this problem next.

So as you can see, when using email as a marketing tool, it’s very important that you use a company that has strong, continuing relationships with as many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as possible, and sends your emails through servers that are not blacklisted.

Let Us Handle Your Next Marketing Campaign!

Usman Sayed, eMarketing Specialist