Our New Project to Help you Serve Others & Strengthen your Sphere
Become a Neighborhood Responder: 5 Step Plan
With the Coronavirus hitting all kinds of communities, businesses, and people, this an important time to serve – and a great opportunity to become a local hero in your market.
Discover has seen its fair share of crisis, and has seen why some agents die out as a result, and others flourish and even grow. Agents determined to survive and thrive during tough times give back, and become a resource. In doing so, they create a loyal following that provides enough business during the worst times and catapults them to the highest heights when conditions improve.
In this spirit, we are here to help you get the most out of your altruistic work within the community (to whatever degree you choose and can afford). This is good for the sake of doing good, and also great for branding an indelible mark in the minds of your clients and prospects.
STEP 01: Choose a cause
Pick a hyper-local charity or community organization you want to support, or develop a simple initiative to do on your own. Your cause should provide services or items to a specific group or segment most in need, in your local market. For example, find an organization focused on one of these areas, or start a good-works project of your own:
- Groceries, hot meals, or other essentials delivered to the elderly
- Care packages delivered to hospitals, for healthcare workers
- Magazines, games, and hand-written notes of encouragement delivered to patients
- Kids’ workbooks and school supply kits delivered to homes in low-income areas
- Free hotlines answering calls from distressed people
- Local school district’s hot lunch delivery
STEP 02: Contact your Rep
Contact your Discover Pubs representative (or just call the main line, if you’re new to Discover). Discuss possible scenarios and ideas about how to support your cause. How much of the legwork will you be doing? How can your market pitch in? If you’re supporting a charity, what will be your role, so that you can field phone calls? It’s important that your plan involves driving people to you first, so that they can ultimately serve the cause. If it’s easier, you can jot down your plan and email it to your rep instead of calling.
STEP 03: Request your CTA
Once you have chosen the cause you’ve decided to help and have spoken with Discover, your designer will create a customized Call to Action (CTA) for your 12-page publication. This will be published on your front page, and you can also use it anywhere else you market. Your CTA will be designed to reach people who have the resources and the will to help, and to show people who need help know how to get it. Most importantly, it will drive folks to contact you about getting involved with (or getting help from) your cause.
STEP 04: Spread the word
Mail your 12-page publication as normal (if you’re new to Discover, we’ll walk you through it, it’s easy). In addition, post your CTA on your social media, email it out to your sphere (with a short note about what you’re doing), and put it on your website. When your publication begins hitting mailboxes and your CTA circulates online and via email, you will receive calls and inquiries about the help you’re providing. Keep in mind, for every one inquiry, tens or hundreds of other people are seeing and appreciating your efforts. They won’t forget.
STEP 05: Be a local hero
Homeowners who need help or want to help others, who last month may have overlooked you, will get to know you better and see how you really are more than just an agent. This form of true do-goodery is the best type of branding that exists; it’s good for the soul, and in the long-run, great for business!
Smart business during a time of worry
The Coronavirus has undoubtedly been hitting everyone hard. In a time when people are suffering from lockdowns and even the rare loss of loved ones, it is perhaps not too hokey to remember a quote Mr. Rogers gave shortly after the 9/11 crisis Americans endured, and ultimately overcame:
When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ Because if you look for the helpers, you’ll know that there is hope. There is Hope.”
Never has such a sentiment been more relevant than now, as humanity faces calamity. But it’s important to remember that every day, experts have more information; and every day, the future trajectory becomes easier to predict and mitigate. So many cultures across the globe are practicing intelligent preventative measures; it’s hard, but it’s the right approach.
After the Coronavirus enters our rear-view mirrors (as it most certainly will, one day soon), people will look back on the actions taken by people – by leaders in the community, like you – when everything was at its most feverish pitch. Right now, agents can strengthen and grow their reach simply by serving the community, getting others involved in the effort, and sharing what they are doing.
Time is of the essence – we can help you act now
The need for help has never been greater; nor has the opportunity to be a hero. It’s important not to hesitate. And long after the Coronavirus is contained, you can continue your good works (perhaps with a new cause) long into the future. Many top agents have charitable works built right into their operations.
Contact Discover Today to get started on your path to becoming a Neighborhood Responder. We’re here for you at Discover. Together, we will get through this – and we’ll be better, stronger people in the end.