The Power of Marketing

In today’s world of almost constant inundation of marketing for one product or another, I get a kick out of some of the “marketing advantages” that companies exploit to market their product. Two of the biggest in play right now (based on how often you see the commercial) are how deep you can submerge your cell phone and whether it takes 15 minutes or 7.5 minutes to get a quote on car insurance. Both of these are legitimate advantages of that product but should you really be making decisions on your insurance carrier based on how fast you can get a quote (although I can make a rough estimate of what you home is worth in about 7.5 minutes). Furthermore, is the reliability of your phone determined by whether or not it can be submerged in the Marianas trench or not?   I am not advocating for or against any of these companies but they assume that your decision making process is based on a very shallow decision making process.

    I recently received a flyer on my door (in Rancho Santa Fe) that appeared to have several sales that the agent had made in the area. Upon further research, I determined that the agent sending the advertising or his company had not been involved in any of the sales they were marketing. When we advertise our sales in this newsletters, they are strictly sales made by the Al Gage Team and does not even include the sales made by other members of our company which is, by the way. the largest or second largest company in the West Valley depending on which statistic that you use.

The marketing advantages that we rely on and hopefully you will as well are:

1. Track Record-Over 1000 homes sold in the Avondale Area. This one speaks for itself.

2. Experience– Almost 30 years of experience in the West Valley market. In that amount of time, I have experienced or advised on almost any possible outcome of a transaction and am often consulted by fellow competitors when a unique situation arises.

3. Integrity-My family has been in business in Avondale since 1956. I also make my living almost exclusively in the Avondale area so protecting my reputation in the community is vital.

4. Numerical Marketing-We mail a minimum of 7000 pieces of mail including every listing that we take. In general, every home receives at least three passes in the newsletter plus the postcards that we mail for a total of almost 22,000 exposures to potential local buyers.

5.   Our Internet marketing includes Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow and several other syndications.

6. Agent to agent marketing-The old adage that 10% of the agents sell 90% of the property still holds true. We have and maintain a good working relationship with the other top agents in the area.

7. Technical expertise and competence-We recently closed a series of transaction that involved a total of 6 parties to 5 transactions. This led to approximately at 2 hour closing window toward the end all of which closed without a hitch——except the moving companies ability to meet the same time frames.

8. Negotiating experience and ability-Although I am not a fan of the 16 counter offer negotiating plan, I am experienced at reading my fellow agents and determining when there is additional money available to my client at the negotiating table.

9. An experienced and reliable team of closing professionals. Over the years, I have developed relationships with my Title Representative (Patty Miller-Driggs Title, my lender (Rita Marie-Pinnacle Capital Mortgage Corporation) and numerous members of the trades from a handyman to a roofing contractor and an AC contractor that make the repairs to be done pursuant to a transaction as smooth, painless and inexpensive as possible.

These marketing advantages are, for the most part, provable facts not just marketing hype. If you are thinking about selling or buying a home, you should at least interview the Al Gage Team before making a decision.

There are many important decisions that you must make in response to marketing materials that you receive most of which are impossible to evaluate. If you watched television for several late night hours, it would be a tough decision between what questions to ask you doctor at the next visit regarding side effects that seem much more severe than the potential cure compared to which attorney to contact in response to any of previous medical treatments you have received. The decision of whether to call our team is much easier and fact based. Like the commercial says, “that’s not how this works, that’s not how any of this works!