How Often Should You Mail to Prospects?

In a recent article, author Jim Gillespie poses the question Is Your Mailing Campaign On The Right Frequency?. In the article, he argues that frequency is more important than content, so it is better to send out short text on a more frequent basis than preparing a longer newsletter that you mail out quarterly. Shorter text just takes less time to read - and while you may be a great author, only those people who have an immediate need for your services or have been strongly considering buying or selling will read what you write.

Gillespie believes in sending mail to prospects every 2-4 weeks for a total of 12-24 mail pieces. Some real estate marketers will tell you to contact prospects at least 3-5 times per month. Personally, I like sending mail every 3-4 weeks. If you’re marketing commercial real estate, you may want to send every 4-8 weeks. Why? Well, it’s true that frequency and consistency is very important in any marketing campaign. It’s also true that you can send people so much mail so that you start annoying them. Contacting someone who has no need for your services once per week or more is a waste of your money and just adds to that ever growing amount of what they perceive as junk mail.

Additionally, people tend to decide to buy or sell around major life events, so if you can find out their birthday, anniversary, baby delivery date, wedding date, etc and market to them more frequently around those times, you’ll have a greater chance of catching them at the right moment.

Don’t get me wrong - content is also important, and the best way to get a response is to offer something that your prospects will find of value free if they contact your office, send back a reply card, or visit your website. Many people respond to ’soft offers’ - free things they can get without talking to you - because they may be interested in your services but aren’t ready for your sales pitch quite yet. That free offering must be of some value to them (not a sales pitch about how wonderful you are).

And never, ever send something without asking for the next step in the process! As mentioned above, usually that’s for more, free information, but be sure to include a ‘hard sell’ component in there as well. Always tell them that they are free to contact you to set up a consultation or to ask any questions.