Discussing advertising payment with clients

The Tough Sell – Getting Your Clients To Agree To A Marketing Plan

Discussing advertising payment with clientsOne of the core elements of any advertising or marketing niche is this – you can’t sell a secret. If your target audience don’t hear about what you’re trying to sell, it’s unlikely that they’ll ever become part of your sales funnel.

Many agents, however, argue that VPA is a difficult and somewhat convoluted subject to try and sell to their clients, who are already trying to protect their profit margins. They are, therefore, reluctant to part with any more cash when listing their home.

In this article, we’re going to take you through the key objections that clients have in regards to purchasing VPA, as well as how you can manoeuvre around them.

The 2 key objections

Many real estate agents with years of experience under their belts agree on these two facts – financial difficulties and confusion over responsibilities cloud a client’s need for VPA.

Although most buyers have an understanding of the importance of a marketing plan, they simply don’t think that they should be the ones paying for it. Although some agents might be prepared to weather the costs themselves, this doesn’t lay the foundations for a healthy relationship between agent and client.

If an agent is staring down the barrel of $15k in commission, they’re going to be more likely to work in their best interests to get the property sold. If they think that a strong marketing plan is the best way forward, that’s probably what they’re going to do.

Additionally, changes in buyer behaviour are ever more rapid, which has left marketing at its highest demand in history. 20 years ago, a successful marketing plan revolved around ads in the local newspaper and signs up in some shop windows, whereas now, it’s all about digital marketing. For many buyers, online comparison sites are among the first places they’ll check when starting their property hunt.

If it comes down to financial difficulties, most agents will have a tougher time in demonstrating the value of a marketing plan. If it comes down to the vendor not seeing the value in marketing, however, it’s up to the agent to change their opinion.

Explain the options to your client

One of the key elements of any agent-client relationship is sitting down and discussing the importance of advertising and marketing. If they’re looking to sell a medium-sized 2-3 bed home, their audience is likely to be young professionals. In this case, the best channel for them to advertise through will be online, as this is where they’ll spend the most time when looking for properties themselves.

If the client is looking to sell a multi-million dollar family home, the target audience for this will likely be sourcing their properties through print media. Explaining these two distinctions to your client is crucial, as it’ll help them to understand the importance of a targeted marketing and advertising plan.

Be clear about the results

If you’re requesting that your client submits to hefty up-front marketing costs, it’s down to you to demonstrate the benefits and anticipated results.

Firstly, you need to explain to them that swapping out a standard marketing plan for a comprehensive one can yield as much as 15% on the end sale price. From this perspective, your client doesn’t necessarily have to understand the marketing process as much as the end results that they can expect to see.

If your client isn’t willing to expose their property to a wider target audience, they’ll never know if the final offer that they accept is the best one possible. Your job as an agent is to remove this doubt from their mind by delivering them satisfaction in the form of a robust marketing strategy.

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