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I finally ventured out into the world last week, mask firmly in place, to visit one of my favorite home goods stores.
As I write this in September, it was a bit surprising to find that store personnel had entirely cleaned out the massive garden area and employees were busily filling it with winter holiday décor.
In a way, it makes sense. With the pandemic still around, nobody really knows what our holidays will be like but many still have lots of spare time on their hands. Management is likely hoping they choose to fill it by getting a head start on decorating.
As I left the store without the comfy new home that I promised my oversized peace lily, I decided that maybe it’s a good idea for agents to copy the store’s “let’s get a head start” strategy.
If you send holiday greetings to clients every year, now might be a good time to decide what you’ll send, design it or buy ready-made real estate holiday card templates and determine a mailing schedule.
Even if you don’t typically send greetings, if you hold an annual charity program or something similar, let folks know about it, while simultaneously reinforcing your brand into their awareness.
Please. Don’t. Do. That. Sure, it’s cheap and easy. But, email greetings during the holidays most likely won’t even be opened. They will also:
If an email holiday greeting is the best you can do, consider not sending greetings at all. Instead, look for real estate holiday card templates that aim to impress.
Use the good old U.S. Postal service or, deliver your card in person. Either of these methods are far more personal than a dashed-off email with a greeting cut and pasted from the internet.
What will you say?
“Never mention ‘Christmas,’ ‘Hanukkah,’ or any other particular holiday,” says one completely clueless writer of an advice column for agents on this very topic.
She claims the need to be inclusive of everyone and warns not to alienate anyone.
Hogwash.
When I was an agent, I worked with a number of families who were quite religious, both Christians and Jews and I would imagine you do too.
Many of these folks are bitter over the removal of their God from holidays originally based on religion. Sending them a card that doesn’t acknowledge their “reason for the season” is far more alienating.
Dig deep for enough cash to buy a few different cards or postcards for these leads, former clients or those in your sphere. Be daring and actually wish them a Merry Christmas or Happy Chanukah (which begins the evening of December 10, 2020 and ends on December 18, 2020).
On a tight budget? Include a personal note in the signature area of the generic card, wishing them the “blessings of the season,” “Merry Christmas,” or “Happy Chanukah.”
In the sea of generic greetings that they’ll receive, yours will most certainly stand out.
It’s fine to include your branding, but don’t use the card to promote yourself or your business. Let your branding do that. Oh – and remove all that contact info. Just your URL will suffice. The rest is far too blatantly salesy.
When I was an agent, my sole marketing mission was to make myself stand out from all the other agents in my market. To that end, I didn’t send out my holiday greetings when everyone else did.
I sent two: one at Thanksgiving and then one to wish them a prosperous, healthy and happy New Year. I don’t imagine they received a lot of greeting cards during those two periods, so mine had a far better chance of at least being looked at.
If you prefer the traditional route, many of the experts suggest mailing early to ensure that yours is among the first they receive. No, not stupidly early like department stores setting up their blow-up Santa in September, but two to three weeks before the holiday is sufficient.
If you’ll be ordering online, it’s a good idea to get that head start that the department stores are so fond of. Order them a.s.a.p. We found a few places online that you might want to check out:
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