Innovation and Success

An Interview with Andy Clark of Keller Williams, Corona, CA .

CHP: Tell us about the front-page story you featured in September. How do you decide which front-page stories to feature, and what front-page content have you included in past editions?
AC: The front-page article we used in September promoted a community event we were putting on – an ice cream social. We were inviting everyone in the community to join us at a local park to enjoy free ice cream, bounce houses for the kids, a drawing for a portable DVD player, and more. We decided to support a shelter here in our city and take in donations for them from the ice cream social. We had an incredible turnout. There were about 300 people that showed up and we raised over $500 for the shelter. It was truly a win-win event. This was actually our first custom front-page article. But for future issues, our front-page articles will depend on what we have going on that month. We do events like the ice cream social once a quarter and we’d love to cover that.

 

CHP: Your team recently purchased a new moving truck for public use. How are you using your custom newspaper to market this service? How does this fit into your greater marketing strategy? Are there any other services that you have been able to draw attention to using your newspaper?
AC: The truck has been a great addition to our marketing. Most agents that have trucks will limit the usage to just their clients. We are unique in that anyone who wants to use it can use it. Right on the truck it says, “Use This Truck For Free, Even If You’re Not Our Client.” As you can imagine, this has created quite a buzz. We hardly see the truck anymore because it is always being used. I love it because it gives us the opportunity to market to and follow up with this person. Our hope is that when they are looking to buy or sell, they will remember the nice real estate team that let him use their truck. My guess is that they will.

Using the paper as a vehicle to market the truck was a no-brainer. The recipients of the paper are the exact people we want knowing about the truck. We want to constantly see it in our farm and we want people in our farm contacting us.
We decided to utilize some space on the front page to promote the truck and we also decided to place a full-page ad in the center promoting the truck as well. We felt so strongly that this truck would make the phone ring that we wanted to dedicate a lot of space to it. As you can tell, it has certainly paid off.

 

CHP: Have you received any direct listings from “Clark Team Corona Monthly?”
AC: Here’s the great thing about how we have the “Clark Team Corona Monthly” set up. We don’t use it as a farming tool. We use it as a lead generation tool. On the back page, we feature many of our listings. The format we use allows us to place 15 listings on the back. Above all of the pictures is a line that reads, “For recorded information on any of the homes below, dial 800-252-7583 plus the extension number, 24 hours a day.” Below all of the listings we list the addresses and we also give each listing an extension number. We average about 50 calls to our 800-number just from this source. Our staff calls each inquiry back within two minutes of them hanging up to follow-up on the lead. We’ve been averaging a listing a month just from that source. Just last week we had a lady call us and said she had received the paper and wanted to list. We get those calls every now and then as well.

CHP: Please share some community feedback you have received about this publication.
AC: The community feedback is awesome. Most people love the coloring contest we have. We offer out a gift certificate to Toys ‘R’ Us for the winner, and we also give free ice cream from Golden Spoon to each entry. At the end of the contest, we laminate each coloring page and stop at the houses to give the coloring page and ice cream certificate to the kids. It gives us an opportunity to talk to the parents we normally wouldn’t have had. And again, the hope is that when they buy or sell, they will remember the nice real estate team that went the extra mile to laminate their coloring page and give them ice cream.

Residents also comment on the market update we put in the paper. We are still in an appreciative market and everyone is always interested in how much his or her home has gone up in value.

 

CHP: Most of our clients purchase the basic 12-page package. Why have you chosen to publish a 16-page newspaper? How many pages do you customize?
AC: The reason we decided to use 16 pages is because we had so much to put in there. We love the articles that the paper comes with, and when we sat down to decide which pages to substitute, it was difficult to choose. So we decided that rather than substituting, we would simply add pages.

So far our customization is limited to the front and back pages, as well as the four-page insert. Again, we are moving quickly towards more customization.

 

CHP: The majority of the inside spread is dedicated to community advertisements. What strategies have you used to solicit advertisers?
AC: We started by contacting past clients and sphere of influence businesses. Our first step was to contact the businesses we have supported over the years – our lender, termite company, home inspector, etc. Then we moved to the past clients who had businesses. They were obviously easy to approach.

There have since been advertisers who drop out and we have needed to go in a new direction. Since then we take a partnership approach with companies that seemed to be a natural fit with our business – companies that offered goods and services that our clients would purchase. Examples are house cleaners, carpet cleaners, gardeners, pool contractors, flooring companies, window/blind companies, etc. I have about 50 categories written down that make sense with what we do.

We don’t approach them with a sales pitch. We simply say, “Hi, this is Andy Clark with the Clark Team and I sell a lot of real estate in your area. A lot of my clients look for companies similar to yours and I would love to be able to refer my clients to someone to fulfill their needs. Would you be interested in me sending you some extra business?” Most companies are very open to this approach vs. the ad sales approach.

 

Biography:
We are with Keller Williams Realty in Corona, CA. We sell about 100 homes a year for a sales volume of about $45 million per year. Prior to coming to Keller Williams Realty, we were with a small independent company in town. The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, written by Gary Keller, has certainly been an incredible revelation for us and has helped us grow and expand our business to what it is today.