Luxury Real Estate

Courtesy of Mark of Luxury Real Estate Vacation Rentals

For vacation rental managers, there is much to be said for developing your product and growing your inventory of great properties. There are enormous benefits to strategic growth from top to bottom within your organization. Are you doing your best to differentiate from the competition in your region? Are you giving prospective owners good reason to consider trusting your company with their vacation rental property?

At this year’s VRMA (Vacation Rental Managers Association) Annual Conference in San Antonio, TX, All Star Vacation Homes spoke more on this subject and provided a framework useful for vacation rental managers who are seeking to acquire great properties.

The new vacation rental membership with LuxuryRealEstate.com is also a huge tool for managers to utilize when attracting new luxury inventory. With a built-in referral network of over 2,500 luxury brokers and agents, and with the branding of “Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate” in your corner, the membership is an enticing program that fits well within your marketing presentations to prospective owners.

Tips shared at the conference -

Know the benefits of strategic growth:

• Stronger top line revenues and cashflows
• Improved job security and morale
• More productive staff
• Facilitate purposeful attrition
• Elevation of standards
• Better investor / banker relations
• Stimulates innovation
• Success attracts success

Prepare your employees:

• Give your homeowner “presentation or pitch” to everyone within your organization (even new hires). This will do wonders for creating the company culture needed to acquire great properties.

Identify your customer:

• Who is your target audience?
• Where do they hang out?
• How do we get in front of them?

Marketing formula:

• Interrupt
• Engage
• Inform
• Call to action/close

Going back to the basics:

• Answer the phone (this is likely the first point of contact with your customer, you must make a great first impression, in a prospective owner leaves a voicemail you must call back immediately)
• Powerpoint presentations and Marketing collateral must communicate and cater to the prospect type and mental state of your customer (know the “hot buttons”). If you can take your marketing collateral and replace your name with your competitors, it is not effective in showing the differentiators within your organization.
• Personalized email and direct mail campaigns (the personal touch makes all the difference, try marketing devices using an image of the owner’s home, invite prospective owners to a personalized url with a personalized landing page providing your presentation and a call to action)
• Research shows you need at least 7 touch points with potential clients in order to successfully engage them and bring them to the call to action (don’t call them to action right from the start, feed your message slowly)
• Use a customer relationship management tool (CRM) to track your leads, goals and the effectiveness of your campaigns
• Host webinars (30-40 minutes at most, usually personalized but groups work too) in order to really walk owners through your company’s process and give your projections
• Develop good relationships with HOA’s and brokers in your area to facilitate leads

5 Major Tips:

• Have a goal every year
• Expedite leads quickly to the right people within your organization
• Follow up (easy to say, hard to do, takes discipline)
• Utilize your resources in your region (i.e. your real estate community of brokers and agents, pay for leads that convert)
• Keep an open mind to mergers and acquisitions as a means to acquire properties (there are pro’s and con’s, but it’s always an option)