Blog / Prospecting
Prospecting Corner your greatest move, Johanna Baker, Jamie Doman
JOHANNA BAKER - DOWELL INTERVIEWS JAMIE DOMAN OF MCGRATH REAL ESTATE, CENTRAL COAST
When considering the last home you will live in, many people find the process daunting and even scary, but it does not have to be that way.
After three years of building relationships with vendors selling their homes to move into lifestyle villages, Jamie Doman from McGrath Central Coast joined forces with the Real Estate Academy and Tarragal Glen Retirement Village to create an audio CD program to help people in this position.
WE’RE JUST CUTTING OUT THOSE OTHER 49 AND GOING STRAIGHT TO THE ONE PERSON WHO IS INTERESTED IN DOING IT.
This audio program was launched in early February with a marketing campaign in the local newspaper Central Coast Express Advocate, on Radio Five-O-Plus and in more than 50 seniors’ clubs throughout the Central Coast region. AMP Capital Meridien Lifestyle, which manages Tarragal Glen, will also distribute the CD at four lifestyle village expos throughout 2010. Interested parties can register for a CD via the Your Greatest Move 1800 number, website or at the expos.
“The CD was born out of my relationship with a retirement home,” Mr Doman explained. “I’ve got a long-standing relationship with people who make the decision to move into a retirement village and most of them have a property to sell. I identified that a few years ago and I’ve built those relationships.”
The CD includes interviews by Real Estate Academy owner and founder Lee Woodward with Tarragal Glen sales facilitator Tracey Frost, Tarragal Glen residents Bob and Cecily Roberts, whose home was sold by Mr Doman, and the agent himself. Ms Frost explains what is available to prospective residents and talks through the process involved in buying a 99-year lease within the village. The Roberts touch on their experiences, including their initial fears about moving into a lifestyle village, as well as their need to downsize and how easy the process was once they had committed to it. Mr Doman explains the process in selling a home and how he can help his clients into their chosen village as quickly as possible.
“It’s all designed to assist people moving from A to B, with all the steps along the way,” Mr Doman said. “The Roberts talk about how easy they found the process and all the fears they had – are they too old, not old enough, what will their family think and are they going to shut themselves off from the world. I talk about how we can project manage their sale and liaise with the village in order to make that transition from residence to lifestyle village,” he added.
Excited about the new direction his business might head as a result of Your Greatest Move, Mr Doman said it could mean big things for him as he could potentially expand his database of sellers in new areas. “I see it being a massive boost in the way that it may be a marketplace I may not have been able to tap in to. We might pick up a couple of people who have waterfronts at Wamberal or beachfronts further down the coast that I might not have come across. I think a lot of these people might have older homes that have not been on the market for 30 years,” he said.
Although produced by the Real Estate Academy, McGrath and AMP Capital, the Your Greatest Move CD is not branded, so it is seen more as an information product than a sales tool. “It makes it a bit more passive,” Mr Doman explained. “Fingers crossed it fills up their village as well as gives me new clients. If it sends me 15 clients in addition to my business, or if it sends me more, great. If it sends me one, it’s one more than I had. If I get one lead every two days, to me it’s a success.”
When playing the numbers game as real estate agents do, speaking with warm prospects is a much easier scenario than cold calling. “I can sit on the phone for three hours and make 60-70 calls and not get one lead. They’re calling you, so they’re lukewarm already. They’re thinking of selling,” Mr Doman said. “The reality is, you make 50 calls to get a lead, depending on the quality of what you say. We’re just cutting out those other 49 and going straight to the one person who is interested in doing it.”
The Your Greatest Move sales process has been developed on a 90-day strategy and will be managed from the McGrath office. “When someone rings in I put their details in and the computer looks after the rest. It tells me what I have to do to make sure that follow up is done consistently. The village just gets an email to say on Day 7 you have to call and on Day 12 you need to send an information pack out,” Mr Doman explained. Prospects receive 6-7 contacts in the first 30 days and then one contact every three weeks. The contacts are strategically from both Mr Doman and Tarragal Glen, offering information and answering queries.
This structure was developed bearing the older market in mind. Many people considering selling their home to enter a lifestyle village do not have an understanding of current property sales practices, as they may have lived in the same property for 30 or more years. “When they first bought that house 30 years ago there was no Internet, no sign boards, no market campaigns. The agent just took a sign out of the boot of his car and sat in his office and waited for someone to come in,” Mr Doman explained. “Things have changed and with older clients you do have to tread a bit slowly. They need some education and someone to hold their hand and walk them through,” he added. Instead of making the move to a lifestyle village an overwhelming and dreaded experience, this CD explains the process and shows prospective sellers that it can be their greatest move.
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