A glass of cold water

Spend a little time studying sales and marketing and it quickly becomes clear: the money’s in the offer.

It’s gotta be irresistible.

Ramit Sethi, a personal finance expert I follow, does this really well. He has dozens of micro-offers, but his main overarching offer is this: Live a rich life by learning how to lower your debt, invest smart, and earn more money.

I’m in. 

Real estate is a funny business, though.

Almost every offer in real estate is something around “find your dream home,” “get top dollar for your house,” “we’ll help you grow your business,” or “get our free demo.”

These aren’t bad offers. Most fulfill a need. But they’re not exactly irresistible when lined up against so many exact replicas.

Where’s the sex appeal?

Where’s my life-changing transformation?

Where’s that better version of myself I’m willing to pay money to get to?

Where’s the FOMO energy that has me scrambling for my credit card to make sure I get a seat before everything sells out?

Maybe these sound like snake-oil tactics. And yeah, maybe at face value they are overkill for a lot of real estate businesses.

But human psychology and emotional motivators are powerful fuel for impactful marketing, especially in real estate.

Zillow knew this when they created their main offer for launch in 2006: See what your home may be worth, for free, no strings attached. No one had ever done that before. It launched a brand that is now a household name. 

And now, if we look at what Zillow is doing today… they are creating an irresistible offer that’s something a homeowner would not often get from a traditional selling situation: certainty. We’ll buy your house today. You get to move on.

Sexy.

Irresistible for the right person (though probably not everyone).

***

Some ideas for irresistible offers in real estate:

Agent to homeowner:

Sell your home and get into a new one in 60 days or less without worrying about getting caught without a place to live.  (<===== I am fully aware this might not be possible to promise, but why not? This is what’s on my mind as a homeowner in a seller’s market — fear of selling my house with nowhere to go. What could your company do to create an offer that hits right at that need?)

Get the right price fast so you can move on with your life.

Know which home improvements to spend money on that will actually boost your sale price. 

Broker to agent:

Get repeatable methods for getting clients that won’t have you trading your dignity for dollars.

Get help covering your back when transactions take hard left turns.

Vendor to agent:

Get five hours of your time back every week.  (<==== specific, which helps it stand out)

Be proud of your website.  (<==== Might sound like an overpromise, but still intriguing as most people HATE dealing with their website.)

Know exactly what to say, when and where on social media.   (<==== Huge pain point for a lot of folks.)

***

These days, your offer is competing with 24/7 rage news and listicles. With multiple homeschool meetings going at the same time. With notifications pinging from the wrist, phone, laptop, home devices.

You gotta entice me with something good. Something I haven’t heard before.

Look, listings are amazing porn. But, like porn, they are everywhere now. 

And the promise of leads and business growth have become so common they’re now in the “what’s your sign?” pick-up line category.

Think about your offer as a glass of cold water in the middle of a drought. Something I want so badly I cannot look away until I know it’s mine to drink.

Bottoms up!