Real estate marketing is stuck in the seventies I swear! For the love of pete, please, please, please stop offering a CMA as your big free offer! There are so many other things you can give as lead magnets or offers!
What Is A CMA?
Because things are called differently around the world, a CMA is a “Comparative Market Analysis” or a “Competitive Market Analysis”.
This is where you show the recent selling price of each comp, square footage, number of bedrooms, condition, lot sizes and other metrics of similar sold property in a neighborhood or town (depending on the size of the populations).
Because of CMA software, it is super easy for a real estate professional to pull that info about similar properties in the area and put their prospect on a “drip email campaign” to automatically send that every now and then from most MLSs.
So why I am so hateful about CMAs?
The Top 5 Reasons You Should NOT Offer A Comprehensive CMA As Your Free Giveaway
Here are a few great reasons for why you should give away something besides just a “normal” free CMA!
1. All Real Estate Agents Are Giving CMAs
I have talked with HUNDREDS of agents and the first thing that pops out of their mouth when I ask them what their free offer is, (said all chirpy), “a free CMA”.
If EVERYONE is giving something away for free, it has no value!
You should be picking a free giveaway that targets buyers or sellers depending on who you are prospecting for primarily AND also your real estate niche that is your target market!
2. “CMA” Is Industry Jargon
What if I told you, “Sign up for my stuff and you can have a free PDQ!” Said in a chirpy voice or not, you probably have NO idea what that is because I just made it up.
Many homeowners do not know what CMA stands for and so you are just spinning your wheels. They are not going to say they don't know, they are just going to be confused and confused people don't sign contracts.
Even worse, they do ask and you start talking about subject property and comparable homes and their eyes glaze over.
Remember that they are only selling their home on average every 6 years and so they DO want to know about the local market and comparable sales, they just don't need a vocabulary lesson to get it!
3. There Are So Many Valuable Things You Could Give Them
Real Estate Marketing has moved on! There are scads of things that you could give them like:
- Moving guide
- Free relocation guide
- “Thanks for listing with me” pack of coupons from local moving companies, handy men and organizers
- Brochure about how to get their home ready to sell
I KNOW, it is easy to do a CMA for them, that is why you are offering it. If your offer is easy and everyone is doing it, it has no value!
4. You Could Call It Something Cool Instead
If you have to give a CMA away, why not call it something that people actually want like:
- Spy On Your Neighbors, Find Out What Their Homes Are Worth
- Get Monthly Updates On What The Homes In Your Neighborhood Sold For Last Month
- How Much Could You Sell For TODAY? Your Home May Be Worth More (or Less) Thank You Think!
Additional Resource :: 100 Great Free Giveaway Titles
All of those are something that homeowners might actually care about! You have to know that they cannot extrapolate your acronym (CMA) to what it actually does.
5. It Is Lame
Offering a CMA makes you look boring and sad. With just a few of the agents in your marketplace offering something better, your little “Get A Free CMA” offer looks worse than doing nothing at all!
Now, I am not saying you have spend a fortune or have a fancy gimmick (one of my favorite examples is the agent in Florida who has separated himself from the competition by planting a flat of flowers around his sign posts to make them look less icky on the high end properties he lists).
With a good portion of the population thinking that agents are akin to used car salesmen (there are almost 3 MILLION results when you search “used car salesmen realtors”), hearing “get a free CMA!” sounds just like “nobody beats a dealing doug deal, nobody!”
BONUS! What About A Video CMA
Now, if you follow my blog you know I am super excited for real estate agents to get into doing video (100 Video Ideas For Realtors).
So if you are bound and determined to give away a free CMA, make it fun by doing at least the first one as a video… and don't fret, this can be a screen capture and you don't need to be in it!
How much more impactful would it be to get a CMA where the agent explains what all the terms in there mean, how they effect pricing and why the sellers should ask questions of the agent… this is how real estate leads come in hot rather than just a warm internet leads!
You could even include an analysis of current market conditions and why the sales prices they see are different from listing prices!
I LOVE Real Estate Agents, Heck I WAS An Agent
Now this may sound a bit harsh but I am just telling you for your own good!
My besty is a real estate agent and it is what I tell her, another besty is an agent too, same song and dance.
Having a powerful message and offer that you can explain to potential clients is vital. Getting prospective sellers onto your real estate marketing list is vital.
Looking like all the other agents out there is the LAST thing you should do! Stop following the pack, stop offering a Free Real Estate CMA and start doing REAL MARKETING!
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR REAL ESTATE AGENTS
- Check out all my Real Estate articles! – https://marketingartfully.com/category/realtor-marketing/
- Get 100 Free Marketing Ideas for real estate agents – http://100freemarketingideas.com
- Listing Agent Marketing Membership Site – http://reagentmastermind.com
What Is A Real Estate Marketing Autoresponder or Drip Campaign
Friday 21st of June 2013
[...] my post last week, Realtor Marketing – Stop Offering A CMA | Comparative Market Analysis, I plead to stop offering a CMA. EVERY Realtor on the planet wants to make that their free offer [...]