Ten more things you can do right now

Our appraiser marketing site has valuable information, tips and resources just for appraisers trying to drum up new business. It also has 10 Ideas You Can Implement Right Now. But there aren't only 10 things you can do today to boost your marketing efforts! Double your pleasure:

1. Pay attention to how you and your staff answer the phone. It's often the first impression new and prospective clients have of you. Script something professional and friendly that leaves new callers with a great perception of you and your company. Practice it, even read it off a card near the phone for a while if you have to. Use it.

2. Watch a free webinar on appraiser marketing tools. Go here to watch a recorded version of our marketing webinar. You'll get advice and tips specific to your business and specific to your software. Walk through the WinTOTAL/XSite/XSellerate toolkit, including Blogging, the “Past Owners” plug-in and the Property Publishing Wizard.

We have many other webinars geared to the way you work, many touching on important marketing tools and concepts. See a full list of our online courses here .

3. Keep your name in front of clients. Use any excuse or no excuse. Call or e-mail when it's been a certain number of weeks since their last order. Send greetings for every holiday. Forward interesting housing or mortgage related news articles you find online.

4. Send plenty of extra business cards along with every hardcopy report. Ask your client or the recipient to pass some of them around.

5. Subscribe to mortgage trade magazines, newsletters and join the local mortgage bankers and/or mortgage brokers association. Know your client!

6. Ask your clients why they use you. The answer you get most often is what differentiates you from your competition. Then you can market that differentiator everywhere — on your website, in your yellow pages ad, on the phone, even in your voice mail.

7. Use an e-mail signature and attach it to every e-mail you send. Include your website address, phone and fax numbers.

8. Write a letter to the editor about local market conditions or other housing issues. You get your name in the paper, and better yet, you may get a call next time the real estate editor is looking for a source. All of this helps brand you as a housing economy expert in your area — the very best free publicity you'll ever get.

9. Donate to a worthy local cause or sponsor an event. Then publicize it. No, it's not tacky, it's plain vanilla, completely expected marketing.

10. Do what you say, and say what you do. If you get most of your business because of one or two things, then redouble your efforts to do them and do them well. And let everyone and her brother know you do them and do them well. If you don't proclaim your differences, who will?