How We are Getting a 1,450% ROI on One Simple Marketing Letter

Forget gimmicks, bait and switch tactics, and stealth lead capture.  People want sincerity. Over the past few years, we’ve tried multiple lead capture signage and Call-To-Action marketing, and have realized minimal to zero results.  I wanted a way to interact with our target market in a real and genuine way. In the past year, this has been my main focus when writing new marketing content for our team.

Let me tell you a story about how I created a genuine marketing letter that has yielded unbelievable results and great client satisfaction.

One July day, my top sales agent came to my office with a concern about low inventory in the market.  Her buyer wanted to purchase in a very exclusive townhome development but there were no units available for sale. This spurred a conversation about current market struggles with low inventory and homes selling within hours of hitting the market. Buyers are struggling every step of the way. It came down to the question of how to find homeowners that are interested in selling but don’t have their homes listed. How can we effectively find and market to these potential sellers?

I broke it down to the simple problem at hand. Her buyer wanted to purchase a townhome in a specific development.  I needed to get a message to these homeowners that we were working with a buyer interested in their home! Not looking for a pre-made postcard or a generic sly-dial voicemail, I wanted to reach them with an honest and sincere message that we have a real, pre-approved buyer that may want to purchase their home – a message they could believe and not feel they were getting sucked into a marketing ploy.

And, of course, I wanted it to be quick and cost effective. 

I want to prepare you…this is not a world shattering idea.  In fact, it’s the opposite.

It is a simple handwritten letter. 

I took a piece of our team letterhead and hand wrote a one-page note. I explained that our buyer, Sarah, is looking to purchase a townhome in their development. If they’ve considered selling, we’d love to talk to them and see if their home would be a good fit. THAT’S IT!  I didn’t add any market statistics, or even offer a market analysis. There was no call to action, no website to sign up on…nothing.  Just call me if you’re interested.

And what do you think the response was?

Off this one letter that went out to about 100 townhomes we got five calls and two listings that Amber sold in less than three months. Now, she wasn’t able to find a home that worked for her buyer off this mailing…but, let’s be honest, the goal is to get listings.

Since this first letter, we’ve completed 12 more mailings like this one and sold six homes with an ROI of 1450 percent.  I love the numbers of this, but more than that I love that it’s a sincere message and we aren’t tricking anyone into calling us or using cut-rate marketing plans to suck in clients. My favorite response to this letter was a gentleman that called and said he had no interest in selling at the moment but that he simply loved our letter and he was so impressed with our out-of-the box thinking and going over and above to help our buyer that when the time comes for him to sell we will be his first call.