On the back of some tricky times for sales agents, marketing strategies have been playing a more important role than weโve seen for many years.
Tulo Sila, leading sales agent from Upstate on Sydneyโs Northern Beaches, has started to generate some impressive results for his vendors, thanks to the ability to increase his marketing budget.
Mr Sila has been utilising marketing platform ListReady, which allows agents to access up to $35,000 in upfront funding for marketing, with payment being postponed until settlement.
โItโs really awesome,” he says. “I canโt speak highly enough of ListReady. Theyโre quick, theyโre fast and it really, really helps.โ
Mr Sila has found the ListReady model was a perfect fit for the demographic in the Northern Beaches.
โIโve been working with an owner who had been in their home for 60 years and we see that type of vendor a lot,” he explains.
โTheyโre asset rich, but cash poor so they just donโt have the money to have the best possible campaign. We were fortunate enough that ListReady was able to lend my owner $35,000 and it allowed them to do more than what they ever thought they could.
โThey were able to have a really, really strong campaign knowing that at the end of the sales process, they can look back and say, โwe did everything we could to get the best possible result,โ which is pleasing.โ
Prior to the campaign, the marketing budget meant that the vendor was only able to present the property as well as they afford; painting and gardening would have been out of reach.
To market a home effectively, Mr Sila feels that it is these small things that ultimately make a big difference to potential buyers.
โFor me is always about creating that instant connection when people walk through the door,” he explains.
“So I think a coat of paint goes a long way. And sometimes I really do believe in styling and dressing the property. Some owners have some really nice furniture so we just have to add a few things in there. Those are the sorts of things youโre able to do if you have the budget.
โThe majority of the things that people mainly do would be just to eliminate any hurdles that people may think of when they walk in.โ
In terms of the marketing side of the budget, Mr Sila says it always comes down to the property and where the buyer is likely to come from.
โFor me personally, and for our team here, we really try and drill down on each particular client and on the property. You might know that property, in particular, will be well suited to social media.
“So you know that with the audience for that particular property, most of their demographic will be online. So thatโs where we would focus our budget.
โWe actually have a social media team. So for a property, I might say to the owner, โdonโt worry about doing the paper, because your buyerโs not going to come from there. Letโs spend this money and do social mediaโ.
“So then Iโll sit down with the social media team, and come up with a strategy.โ
Mr Sila and the team from Upstate will present the vendor with a list of items they could potentially spend their budget on, giving them the flexibility to choose where they want to focus.
He also believes that having ListReady available for vendors early in the process is invaluable.
โI just used ListReady on a property in North Curl Curl. The owner couldnโt spend a cent without ListReady and now theyโve literally just done their dream campaign and itโs cost them next to nothing.
โThey were able to put in all the furniture, the styling and the guys did some painting and just a cleanup.
โThe $35,000 theyโve spent will probably give them $300,000 back.โ
This type of targeted approach has been one of the real benefits to having the additional marketing funds at their disposal, according to Mr Sila.
โWe had an over 55s property for sale, that went to auction last weekend and it was the same thing.
โWith over 55s, generally youโre thinking thereโll be grandchildren that come over and visit so we worked with a stylist and created a playroom just to increase the appeal.
โThe owner said, โif you can get me a million dollars it would change my life.โ It sold for $1.205 million and the money that they spent on it was less than $10,000. It made a huge difference.โ
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