When the WSJ Ranked #1 Mega Team NYC (and #8 in the US!), with over $4 Billion in homes sold, looks for new marketing tools, the ones they choose must be best-in-class.
So, when Cindy Scholz, one of Compass' founding agents and a Partner at the Hudson Advisory Team, chose Scout to help her source an off-market deal for one of her buyers (in one of the most priciest zip codes in the nation), the stakes were high and there was no room for error.
According to Scholz, the key to success in the cutthroat world of multi-million-dollar listings is building strong relationships and being personable. It's a skill that Cindy excels at but can often be a challenge when translating that personal touch to marketing, as those skills rarely scale.
As is usually the case when selling in the priciest zip codes in the nation, the highly affluent residents who live there have seen and heard it all - with constant texts, phone calls, mailers, and social media ads vying for their attention 24/7.
This is exactly where Scout helped set Cindy apart and position her to go above and beyond for one of her clients. By working with Cindy to craft the perfect outreach campaign and target the right homeowners with pinpoint precision, Cindy was able to impress her clients and secure a $4M listing in the process.
Providing a White Glove Approach
Cindy's specific form of personal outreach thrives on Scout's automated email campaigns. "Many people dismiss email as impersonal and challenging to execute effectively," says Drew Fabrikant, Scout's CEO. However, he also sees this as the greatest opportunity for differentiation. "In a world crowded with low-level players and spammy content, the bar is not that high, which presents a significant opportunity for differentiation."
If you follow best-practices, personalize your outreach, and think about how you can cater to your customer, rather than make it about yourself, email can be a gold mine. There's also a lot of strategy and sales psychology that goes into it. "Too often, the most difficult part about outreach is that we know so little about our ideal customer that we default to talking about ourselves, which is the fastest way to lose a potential customer" he added. "When you shift the focus to someone other than yourself, you stop coming off as the center-of-the-world and as more of a team player that others want to work with."
Scout was built with this in mind and ensures that every user who onboards to use their product knows that - and puts in the time to understand their customer and craft a unique message in their genuine voice. One of the reasons that Cindy felt comfortable with Scout was the 1:1 tailored onboarding, which helped her to deliver the white glove service that her clients have grown accustomed to.
Personalization is Key
With the personal element of sales and marketing, ensuring that the prospect is at the center of the outreach is a must. Specifically, with top-of-funnel and cold outreach, it can be easy to disregard this, and if you make the message about you or what you're doing, you're going to turn them off to you or your service.
One of the greatest outreach hacks actually isn't a hack at all - it's just about doing enough research to be able to mention one or two things about them that will make the prospect say "wow, they really took the time to think about me before they hit send." The same way that a skilled tailor measures every stitch, a marketing savant should be able to stitch together facts or information to create a bespoke message.
With the data to customize every aspect of Cindy's message, from the prospect's name to number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and even square footage, she was then able to get personal with the message, down to details about a particular neighborhood - something she knows quite a bit about, being featured in publications like The Real Deal and Vanity Fair.
The reason that most people aren't more personal at the initial point of outreach, and the biggest roadblock, is twofold: 1) the data isn't very easy to come by, and 2) using it in the right way takes time and patience!
The way that Scout is able to help is by providing access to a robust database that covers information about the home and the homeowner to customize each message while making use of predictive analytics to save days of research. And for Cindy, in a market where many of the homes are second and third residences, having access to contact information that wasn't specifically tied to a home address was crucial.
Consistency Matters
When it comes to real estate, building a relationship takes time and often making the first point of contact is the hardest. In fact, statistics report an average of 8 touches, just to get in touch with a prospect for the first time!
For Cindy, ensuring that her outreach wouldn't stop after the first touch was the key to really connecting. As the saying goes, "Persistence is the key to unlocking the door of success." And in Cindy's case, the door to success lead her to connect with countless homeowners including one who was so impressed with her outreach, track record, and personal touch that a $4M listing came shortly thereafter.
The Right Tool For The Job
In Cindy's words, "Scout has been one of the few tools implemented to show quick results... and [clients] appreciate the personalized touch."
Scholz's story is proof that cold outreach, when executed properly, is far from dead. The market is full of conflicting advice and a bunch of fancy tools, but with the right approach and the right software like Scout, you can still reap tremendous rewards.