A. My original “beta testers” asked this question when they first started using it years ago. And it’s a good one. Read closely because this is important. I have a 2-part answer…
The FIRST part is this: There are a number of ways you can send out Service For Life!® spending $0.00, including our “Email Strategy” (we give you all the details and resources when you subscribe), and by using our special “Sponsor Program” (covered in a separate question).
But it’s also a tremendous tool to use in other areas, including sending through the mail, door hangers, public displays and more. So let me answer that question too…
I understand your concern for money. But the problem you’re facing is NOT that you’re spending too much money with your marketing. The problem is you’re getting NO RESULTS. Consider this…
If you knew for every $1 you spent on marketing you got back $2 or $5 or even $20 in sales, you’d spend marketing money day and night, because it’s making a strong return on your investment.
So the real problem you’re facing right now isn’t the amount of money you’re spending, it’s the return you’re NOT getting on your hard-earned dollars. And while we cannot “guarantee” your success, or any success or ROI you’ll get using Service For Life!, we specifically designed Service For Life! to get opened and read, deepen relationships, and motivate response and referrals for your business. Because of these built-in strategies, we believe Service For Life! has probably the highest chance of being successful over any other “referral” marketing tool you could use from a ROI perspective.
That said, I also understand you have a limited budget and you want to invest your money where it will have the greatest potential to bring you clients and increase your production. Is Service For Life! that tool? I cannot answer that because every agent uses it differently. However, I can help you understand the finances revolving around any form of contact system you use.
So here’s the SECOND part of my answer…
Let’s Do Some EASY MATH: Let’s say your going to send about 300 issues a month to either your Power List (past clients, friends, family and acquaintances – all of them homeowners), OR a specific farm where you specialize (don’t forget, there are dozens of ways you can use Service For Life!, and many of them cost you $0.00 more than your membership investment).
Step #1: Calculate your monthly investment to send Service For Life!. If it costs about $1.20 per issue on average (print, stuff, post and send), you’ll invest about $360 per month to send 300 issues. Write that number on a piece of paper. (REMINDER: You can send Service For Life! spending very little or no money – I’ll explain more in these FAQs)
Step #2: Calculate out the average length of home ownership in your area. Recent statistics by the National Association of Homebuilders say it’s about 13 years on “average.” Write that number on a piece of paper.
Step #3: Calculate how many transactions will come from your contact list or farm area EVERY year. It’s easy: simply divide the size of your Power List by the average home ownership length in your area.
For example, if you have 300 people and the average home ownership is 13 years, then about 23 transactions will come from that group EVERY year on average (300 ÷ 13 = 23). And this does NOT include referrals these folks will be sending you – it’s just direct business that will most-likely come from the group.
Step #4: Calculate Your Break-Even and Return on Investment. Take Your monthly investment to send Service For Life! and multiply it by 12 – to get your annual investment. Then, divide the total cost by the average commission you make from selling a home to determine how many homes you’ll need to sell in a year to “break-even” for your Service For Life! system.
Using our example: $360 x 12 = $4,320 per year to send SFL by mail (that’s to make 3,600 contacts – sending up to 500 emails and our Social Media version cost you $0.00 more). Now, if your average commission on a $180,000 home is 3%, that’s $5,400 (if it’s a $300,000 home, it’s $9,000; a $600,000 home, it’s $18,000, etc.).
Now, divide the total cost of sending it for one whole year by your average commission. In this example, you’re dividing $4,320 by $5,400 and you get 80%. This means…
You Only Need To Sell Less Than ONE home (Out Of The 23 That WILL Sell From This Group) To Finance The ENTIRE YEAR of Your Service For Life! Marketing System!
Remember, that’s ONE deal out of 23 to make a profit. Do you now see how and why this tool quickly became the mainstay marketing tool for my “beta-testers?”
What’s more likely to happen?
Think about this: If the average homeowner owns their home 13 years, then of those 300 people, 23 homes will go on the market EVERY YEAR on average.
Of those 23 homes, you need ONLY ONE to profit with Service For Life!. We all know the agent who gets the business is the one who’s built the closest relationship, who’s kept in contact, who’s brought on-going value to people, and who’s demonstrated competence and the level of commitment each month – so WHO do you think should get the lion’s share of those 23 homes that will go on the market?
Hint: it won’t be the agent who sends out a recipe card or pumpkin seeds every 3 months OR the agent who does nothing but thinks people will automatically think of them because they did business in the past.
It’ll be the agent who’s THERE!
How many of those deals do you think you’re likely to get if you’re the one who’s there? (Certainly not all of them, but probably more than ONE).
And imagine what happens when your list grows? So too does your GCI.
IMPORTANT NOTE #1: Remember, unlike other “slick and snooty” newsletters who charge you for every issue you send out, you pay a FLAT RATE for Service For Life! to be written for you each month. You can send 10 or 10,000 issues, you pay nothing more for the actual newsletter (you’ll only pay additional printing and postage depending on the number of issues you send each month). I wanted to give you the flexibility in how you’ll use it.
IMPORTANT NOTE #2: Did you know you can actually send out Service For Life! for Spending $0.00 extra? We provide you with all the instructions for EMAILING your issues, plus a special Sponsor Kit with your subscription – you get a proven sponsor solicitation letter, instructions, a phone script and a sample ad agreement. It’s all done for you.
So the REAL Issue isn’t whether you can afford it, but can you afford NOT to use it?