|
Our firm recently completed a research and design project the objective of which was the creation of a new residential brokerage business model. While the project identified a wide range of exciting new directions for the residential brokerage none was more impressive or offered more profit potential than the emerging concepts of micro-channel marketing. The fundamental basis of micro-channel marketing rests in the ability of the broker to know its customers well enough to be able to predict or anticipate their home-related needs. The technological basis of this new
solution to the challenge of maintaining long-term customer
relationships is commonly called data mining. By way of review data mining
involves the following elements:
As your brokerage begins to
incorporate this informational technology it will become aware of a wide
range of socio-economic developments that are creating opportunities to
enrich, enhance and expand brokerage program, product, and service
offerings far beyond current “we just sell dirt” levels. These
opportunities have been discussed in previous columns under the general
heading of lifestyle or home service marketing. Increasingly the challenge of home
service programs will shift from actually arranging the service to
having the skill to match a specific service offering to a specific
customer’s needs. In
order for this “matching” process to be economically feasible it
will be necessary to avoid the costs of traditional “blanket”
marketing techniques in favor of a process that allows the broker to
anticipate and fulfill client needs it without obtaining specific
permission from that service. This
new approach to marketing is called Permission Marketing. It the subject of a book by the same title written by Seth
Godin who is Vice President for Direct Marketing for Yahoo! The socio-economic basis for permission marketing lies in the fact that on one hand today’s consumer is having more and more difficulty fulfilling the promise and potential of the modern life style. On the other hand few consumers have time to fulfill their needs by wading through the blizzard of marketing materials that assault their every day lives. Accordingly a substantial percentage
of American consumer’s lives fall short of their potential because of
a lack of information regarding services that can provide balance and
quality. The essence of micro channel or permission marketing is the
creation of a trust and interactive dialogue between the customer and
the service vendor that allows the vendor to provide the exact products
and services necessary to provide fulfillment without q specific
interaction for each service. Some forms of this type of marketing
have been around for many years. One
of the originals was the Columbia record club whose client relationship
allowed it to forward a new record every month that the consumer could
decide to keep or return. The
club had the customer’s permission to send the record without asking
each month. Today certain home services are provided on a advanced
permission basis. Lawn
maintenance services are delivered on an “as needed” basis. The
concepts of these very simple customer relationships are being expanded
to include more sophisticated products and services. Ultimately the basis of most service relationships will be
based upon the idea that permission is granted to have the necessary
work done within the boundaries established by the relationship. Understanding the needs of one’s customers well enough to reduce marketing to a very personal “mini channel” of communications and provision will be the way of the future for the successful residential brokerage. This ongoing interactive relationship will be both profitable and satisfying. Begin to lay the groundwork for your company’s data mining operations now. Begin to look at each customer relationship as a long-term investment that if properly nourished will pay substantial dividends. |
