One of the first lessons I learned back in 1981 when I started my career was that if I have all the listings, I’ll have all the sales.”
- Dale Ross is a real estate agent serving the Greater Houston, Texas area.
- His career as a premeir Realtor began in the Houston and Katy areas in 1981.
- Seven-time Top 20 Real Estate Agent in Houston, TX.
- The Dale Ross Realty Group is consistently named as one of the Top 20 Real Estate sales groups in their region.
The Goal
Break into a higher value market
- For the first 15 years of his career, Dale Ross farmed a small, lower-home-value market. He used postcards as his primary marketing tool, initially mailing 200 each month and eventually mailing 1,800 every three weeks.
- After building a solid reputation and a steady lead flow in his farm, Dale was ready to expand into a higher cost market. But he was not a familiar name in this neighborhood, and he’d have multiple heavy-hitters to compete with. To stand out, he created a newsletter that cost him 80¢ apiece to mail (in 2004!) and 20 hours to complete.
- After a while, Dale realized his newsletter wasn’t sustainable; it was expensive, time consuming, and too easy for his competition to replicate. He needed an easier, more cost-effective tool that no other agent could copy.
The Solution
In 2005, Dale Ross turned to Discover Publications. He learned that he could mail a turn-key 12-page publication for less money than his DIY newsletter (at the time, his per-unit cost was less than 50¢). He also found that:
- His publication had more space; he could showcase his entire inventory of listings, statistics, multiple calls to action, and even paid advertisements
- His publication was ultra-professional; it made him look like the big deal he wanted to become in the new, higher-end market
- He got much better engagement from his publication compared to his newsletters or postcards
- His publication contained information prospects cared about and wanted to read, rather than strictly promotional content that often went straight in the trash
- His front-page articles resonated with homeowners; he always opened with a joke, and prospects would often tell him how much they appreciated his paper
