Publication: Valuation Insights & Perspectives
Publication Date: 22-MAR-07
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
Author: Seefeldt, Jan
Article Excerpt
ask a group of appraisers if they market their business or where their business comes from and chances are they might say "I don't" to the first question and "I don't know" to the second.
That's why this issue's Roundtable focuses on marketing issues to find out what works, what to do when business is slow, and what tips our panelists have for marketing your business. Our panelists are John Bredemeyer, SRA, president of Realcorp, Inc., Omaha, Neb; Brad Lindley, SRA, president of Associated Appraisal Services, Inc., Ogden, Utah; Karen Mann, SRA, president of Mann & Associates, Discovery Bay, Calif.; and Michael Roy, MAI, SRA, vice president of Lampe, Roy & Associates, Inc., Jacksonville, Fla.
What is marketing?
Mann, who heads up an office of six, confronts the matter of marketing head-on: "Marketing is not for wimps." It also takes guts, she asserts. "When you are discussing a potential project, sometimes it takes guts to ask for the assignment or for future work. Marketing should become your middle name. It needs to be a part of your day--every day." The way she sees it, marketing includes your "bragging rights" to what makes you special, and she encourages appraisers to develop a "30-second pitch" to give clients something to remember them by.
"Many people view marketing as advertising," comments Bredemeyer, "but it is so much more than that. Marketing strategies can be as simple as smiling when you answer the phone or as complex as a multi-product mailing. It involves the total package--all the way from the people who work with you to your customers. Marketing does not have to be a big-ticket item. Many times the simplest and least expensive efforts are the most effective," he says.
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What kinds of marketing tools do you rely on?
Mann says the Yellow Pages listing has been a constant; she advertises only in her areas and just recently upgraded her Internet Yellow Pages listing to cover a larger area. She says having a larger ad in multiple locations in the book is still a valuable investment. She also uses brochures, which are easy to include with an appraisal report or to mail to a prospect.
Bredemeyer also cites use of brochures, including ones available from the Appraisal Institute, along with direct mail pieces to create awareness of his firm's services. The firm...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.
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