New Homeowners Prospecting by Mark Rosenthal

I would do both. Get to them anyway that you can. People are starting to slowly buy homes again. I still that one day this market will open back up. This was a goldmine in it's day. This is a good niche to target, the problem is that their is less and less new homeowners these days.
 
Mark,

As a pretty new member to this forum, I must let you know that I am inspired by the things you say and the good info that you are willing to share with other agents. I read on a previous post on here somewhere the info you wrote about prospecting to firemen with the accidental death policy, but approaching them first from a standpoint of paying tribute to them. I know that some may view it as a cheap way in, but I think that you probably do have a true, deep regard for the folks that keep our homes safe, and so I had a lot of respect for you when I first read that. Thank you again for your willingness to share!
 
Mark- you are a genius... Sir you give agents like me starting out in the business motivation. I really think if it wasn't for this site and posters on it, I wouldn't be able to make it.

On a question- What's the best way to find new babies? You may try Babys r us regisrty.

Search the registrys. Expecting mothers post what they want for gifts when the baby is born and for showers from friends and family in the registrys at stores like Babies R Us and others... Type in a last name and named will come up. Getting the contact info is the challenege.

lol stumbled on this idea while shopping with my girlfriend and her mom one day... As an agent, I'm always thinking and prospecting. I mentioned the idea to her... She thought it was sick and wrong... :D
 
Markingriffin said:
This is something I did years ago, when everybody was buying a new home. It may still work today, on a smaller level. I wanted to share this with you and hope that you might get some ideas from it.

I used to target new homeowners and find a reason for them to allow me to come and see them. Remember, I say that half of the job is getting your foot in the door.

First, I had to find the new homeowners’ information. I first did this by going to the court house. I would go to the probate office and ask to see the land deed property transfer book. It is open and public record for anyone to look at. I would always start in the back of the book, where they just put in new homeowners deeds. I had done this for many years, before finding a better way of doing it. Later on, I used www.gaassessors.com here in Georgia, to access the local tax assessor’s website. I learned how to do a sales search on most of the websites. This gave me a list in excel of everyone that just bought a new home in my area and also showed me their deed info. I knew how much they paid for the house and who is all on the deed. It even has a picture of the house on it, which helps me find the new home. My friend used to own a lead company, and this is how the lead companies get the new homeowners addresses also.

Okay, now I had the new homeowner’s information, and I had to think of a reason to contact them and a way to help them. I remember when I first moved into my new home, all of the churches and people around my house came to welcome me. I use to wonder how the churches and the people knew that I just moved in, but now you know how they knew that I just moved in. I decided to be like a one person welcoming committee, and I would offer them help with some of the problems that new families have when moving into a new homes. Think about just moving into a new home, or a new city. I did it, and I can still remember the stress from all of it.

This is what I came up with to help them.

I would start off by calling them. Hi, I’m Mark Rosenthal, and I’m your local insurance agent. I would love to come out and welcome you to the city of Griffin and bring you some free gifts and meet with you. I want to come bring you some coupons for a free Large Papa John’s pizza, a free dry cleaning, a free teeth cleaning, a free oil change, 10% off at about 20 places to eat and local services, and a ton of free things. I also brought them a big kit that I had made full of important info that I though could help them. It contained the phone numbers to poison control, the police dept, fire dept, and all the phone numbers they need to have utilities turned on. I also had a secret yard sale book that the lady’s loved. I had some fresh homemade cookies that my wife made. I would also stop by Sam’s Club and buy a couple of things. Like a free long distance calling card or some free Tide Washing Detergent.

Okay, I know you are dying to know how I got all that free stuff to give to them and I’m going to share my secret with you. I started calling businesses and talking with them about new home owners. Let’s start with the dry cleaning place, so that I can show you this example. In Griffin, there are about 10 drying cleaning places. They are all the same to me. The truth is, people stick to the first company they use for the first time. Like me for example, I have been using the same place for years. I’m not even sure they are the cheapest anymore, but I’m too lazy to go looking at other places. Let’s not forget that all these business that I call are spending tons of money on advertisements and to target the new home owners. Why not allow me to do the work for them? I tell them what I’m doing, and I would like to bring their coupon to the new homeowner. After using their service one time for free, they will be a customer for life and won’t try the other places. The same idea works on all the places. I picked one pizza place and I stuck with it. Have you ever bought a coupon book from a kid doing a fundraiser? The business will do this for just about anyone that is going to help advertise them. All you have to do is ask them and tell them what you’re doing. Most of these things didn’t cost me anything. I got those important phone numbers out of the phone book, along with the free map of Griffin that I gave to them. But, I made it look nice.

Let’s get back to my approach, now that I told you my secret. So far, I had found the new homeowner and had a reason to contact them. After contacting them, I gave them a reason for me to come out and visit them and welcome them. Let’s not forget that I did tell them what I do for a living. I’m the local Insurance Man. I bet the only one in town that came out to welcome them and bring them free gifts.

Next I show up to their new home, and I start showing them all of their free gifts. Let’s not forget what it feels like to just move into a new home. They don’t know anyone, and they don’t know how to cut on a lot of services like the trash service. I’m giving them all the numbers to the places I think they will need. I could spend a long time going over each thing that I give them, but trust me they are grateful. I’m going to get back to the insurance part now, and let’s not forget I already know what they paid for the house. Most of the time, I’m inside the home and they are showing everyone there what I have brought them. They are always very proud of their new homes and even show me around the home. I start asking them questions. This sure is a nice home; did you get a good deal on it? Where did you move from? How do you like the city of Griffin so far? I ask where they work. I want to know if they both work, to know if it takes both of their income to pay for the home. Notice I don’t call it a house, because it is now a home. Most of the time, the people are very friendly and open to my questions. If the husband is not at home, I would ask her what she is going to do if something happens to the husband today. Will she be able to keep the home by herself? I start telling them that I’m in the business of protecting families and making sure that if something happens to either one of them, that the rest of the family can maintain their current lifestyles. I ask them if they have any life insurance yet and start telling them about what I do. Most of the time, I don’t try and sell them right there on the spot. I’m just doing some fact finding right now and I need to go back to my office and runs some quotes. I work for a number of life companies to make sure that I’m giving you the best prices and best product. They respect this, and most of them go ahead and set up a future appointment. Not to say, that I won’t sell them right then, if I think that is what they want to do. I always have my laptop with me and the apps with me at all times. I’m kind of hitting them off guard, and I want to come back when they are ready for me to sit down and just talk about insurance. I’m not saying you have to do it this way, but it is what I did most of the time. I’m skipping a lot of the sales talk, because most of you know what to say and do and I don’t want to bore you with things you already know.


After making the sale, I always asked them for referrals. I did this many different ways. I would ask them what kind of a job I did today protecting them or helping them. Would they recommend me to a friend or family member? Sometimes I would ask them, if my boss called them later, would they tell him that I done a good job. Most of them would laugh and start trying to reinsure me that I done a great job and they loved what I done for them and they would recommend me. I used to work for a company also that had a referral cards, that they client filled out for a drawing to win a big screen television. The more names they gave me the more chances they had to win. I always left them with about 10 cards, so they could give them out for me.

Back in the good days, before all this crap we are in these days, this was the golden market and I did well in it.

I think that one day; this idea will work again, or on a smaller level still work today. Sooner or later things will have to get better and people start buying new homes again.

Now you know where I came up with the name markingriffin on the forum.
Click to expand...


I'm going to bump some old threads....This was a good one.
 
Rick Deckard said:
I'm sorry to hear that. I hope I wasn't being insensitive. It still is a terrific thread and many young folks new to the business could learn a great deal in here.

Thoughts and Prayers.
Click to expand...


You're new and didn't know, just filling you in.

You should check out his websites, he's got a lot of ideas. The links are in his signature at the bottom of his last post.
 
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