Get Better Results Using Video Email
I wanted to share a tool that will help you stand out from the competition. Video email is an easy way to juice up your follow-up campaigns and get better results.
With a small investment in a webcam and a free account from www.eyejot.com (ad free and customizable 99.00 per year) you can look like a rock star to your prospects and customers. (update, use the DISCOUNT PROMO CODE: techie-talk-proplus to get it at $79 a year. Thanks to Derek Schaire for that one)
Click Here to see the full email message and template or you can view the video below.
What are some ways that you could incorporate video emails? Post your ideas in the comments.
Guest Post: Industry Best Practices Prospect Code List
By Erik Cofield
Every company, especially builders, should have a contact management system. A more advanced contact management system allows you to manage the relationships of your customers and is referred to as a CRM (Customer Relationship Management).
In these types of systems, including BuildTopia’s BTSales, one should have defined codes for all contact types, and stages of those types.
The list below is a basic list. For example, It can be even more sophisticated to include a code denoting the source from which the lead came. From the list below, instead of 08-B, one could have subsets such as 08-B-Web and 08-B-News, denoting a source of web and newspaper respectively.
The idea is always striving to push a prospect to a number 1. At a glance one can understand where in the buying process a prospect is, simply by looking at the number. For example, with the list below, a 9 is not as good as a 7, and a 7 is not as good as a 5, and none of them are as good as a 1.
Be careful not to use terms that are subjective in their identification, without the clarification.
Not every team member will think of terms such as “interested” or “immediate” in the same way, so those terms must be defined for whatever works for your company. The term “immediate” must be defined by a number of days so you entire team is using it the same way. Otherwise, your reports are meaningless.
Keep in mind your codes can, or even should, be alpha numeric. In the list below, Do Not Contact could be replaced with a high number, near the end of your total number, such as 99-DNC. The Bought Elsewhere could be numbered 98-BE, and so on.
In this residential construction specific example, a number 1 is the highest goal.
Having a numerical system so anyone can have an immediate feel for how important and relevant each contact (prospect) is, ultimately, will tie back in to your sales goals, and your profitability.
01 – Homeowner Closed and in communication Post Closing/Settlement and is in warranty
02 – Buyer Active Communication Prior to Closing/Settlement
03 – Design Center Communication Re: Selections
04 – Under Contract Newly under contract, but not yet approved or not a Buyer Active yet
05 – Be Back 2nd or multiple visits scheduled and kept
06 – Onsite Appt. Appointment scheduled and kept
07 – A Prospect Immediate Buying Interest (<90 days), and are ready, willing and able, but not a 6 or a 5 yet
08 – B Prospect 3-6 Months Buying Interest, maybe 2 out of 3 of an 01 prospect
09 – C Prospect 6-12 Months Buying Interest, maybe only 1 out of an 01 prospect
10 – D Prospect D for delayed. Still active, in process, on a long term follow up schedule
11 – Web Lead Registered via our website, but has not yet been engaged or qualified
12 – Unassigned The default people type code for all leads, not coming through the web
13 – Buyer Cancelled Communication post Contract Cancellation, is back to being a prospect, but held out as a separate type of prospect.
All Prospects This people type code cannot be applied to prospects. It is instead used to create campaigns that apply to all new prospects.
Do Not Contact Do Not Contact
Bought Elsewhere Bought Elsewhere
Erik Cofield, CGA, has leveraged technology and provided business management consulting for all sizes and types of builders, developers and remodelers since 2000, including volume, multi-family and custom, to help them improve their business. He is a Vice President with BuildTopia (www.buildtopia.com), a widely used international construction management software company. He can be reached via ecofield@buildtopia.com. Check out the blog at www.buildtopia.com/blog. Click on Articles
Video Post – Homebuyer Use of the Media
Another short video clip reviewing homebuyer use of the media. Not only are shoppers using online sources more – but marketers plan to increase their spending on “online sources” by 10% this year – you can see the eMarketer article here.
(I really didn’t know the guy had a bad back, I felt bad)
Video Post – Understanding Your Internet Shopper
I recently had the honor of speaking at the BMC West Conference in San Diego. I thought I would share a few clips of the seminar on the blog. I hope you enjoy.
This first clip explores the shopping habits of today’s home buyer.
