From $58 to $180 Million
in Sales in 18 Months
with No Budget Increase
Solution
Positioning, Messaging, Website, GTM Strategy & Execution, Fractional CMO Services
Industry
Real Estate, Professional Services
Project Duration
~ 18 months
The Client
This Texas-based real estate team had unknowingly hit the wall at $58m in gross property value sales volume after nearly ten years in business.
With a high burn rate and steadily increasing staff turnover levels, they’d exhausted the potential of the current business model and systems. In order to get to the next stage without imploding, they needed a new strategy, new tools, and new systems for growth.
The Challenge
The real estate team was successful, but had been experiencing serious growing pains after a strong initial 7-year run fueled by a booming local real estate market. As the boom slowed, holes in their business model became painfully obvious.
Their ad-hoc systems combined with little accountability created an environment where they were constantly reacting to the market versus having a strategic, proactive approach. As such, each team member was in “survival mode” and had their own way of doing things, causing interpersonal friction and bogged-down infrastructure.
This created a situation where the wheel was re-invented for each new client or inquiry every day of the week. As a result most of the company resources were geared toward putting out fires and treading water instead of increasing efficiency and charging toward the next goal. The booming local real estate market had allowed them to succeed in spite of this – but it wouldn’t be enough to get them to the next level.
The Solution: Full Positioning, Messaging and
Go-to-Market Strategy Overhaul
After an in-depth analysis of their past business, current infrastructure, and future goals it became glaringly obvious they needed to get back to basics and focus on building a strong foundation that could sustain future growth. Here’s a high-level breakdown of the growth tactics we implemented:
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Brand Positioning & Growth Strategy
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Deep-dive Competitive Analysis
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ICP Audit and Analysis
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Updated Positioning and Messaging
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New Conversion-Focused Website with Updated Branding
Go-to-Market Strategy & Demand Generation
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Built out CRM, Sales Funnel, and Marketing Workflows
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Inbound Marketing and Content Strategy
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Social Media Strategy for Company and Team Members
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Paid Media and Cold Email Outreach
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Educational Webinars, Workshops, and In-Person Events
Strategic Sales and Expansion Strategy
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ABM and Strategic Sales Playbook
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Gamified Referral Program
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Customer Loyalty Program
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Recruitment and Territory Expansion Strategy
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Full-suite Sales Enablement Tools and Sales Collateral
Phase I: Define Goals and Revenue Targets
After a deep-dive into the past client history to determine revenue history and product/service fit, we were able to identify both the short-term and long-term goals to hit our goal of 100% revenue growth in one year.
Customer Insights Research:
- Customer communication
- Deep-dive customer interviews
- Win/Loss Analysis (Top 5 Wins/Losses)
- Firmographics
- Buying Committee
- Account Qualification
- Account Segmentation
Phase II: ICP Teardown and Account Segmentation
The real estate company viewed their ICP as “anyone looking to buy/sell real estate”, however, after a deep dive into their past performance it quickly became evident they had four key ideal client profiles that were each being served very differently by the team.
- First-time Homebuyers – potential for high LTV
- Past Clients/Experienced Homebuyers – established trust/relationship
- Relocation Partners – multiplier effect, 1 contact could create 10 sales opportunities
- Realtor Referral Partners – transactional in nature so less time-consuming/low-touch
As you can imagine, each one of those client profiles has wants, needs, and expectations that are vastly different.
Experienced homebuyers want a tough negotiator, first-time homebuyers want a patient educator.
This similar, yet different wants, needs, and expectations is also true for the two types of Partners that were generating business for the team.
While both Partners expect a high level of professionalism, one is undoubtedly more high-touch and time-consuming than the other. A Relocation partner could easily want weekly communication, whereas a Referral partner only cares about deal threats and a closing date.
Phase III: ICP-Driven Demand Generation
First-time Homebuyers
Goal: Education and empowerment
We want them to feel confident making what would most likely be their largest purchase to date AND inspire them to become lifelong real estate investors with our firm.
Tactics:
- Educational Workshops hosted at high-traffic areas near apartment communities where renters were most likely paying comparable rental rate to potential mortgage payment.
- Campaigns targeting the newly engaged showing how much home they could purchase for the average wedding cost.
Past Clients/Experienced Homebuyers
GOAL: Build Trust and Reinforce Expertise
Tactics:
- Content strategy that emphasizes the importance of home ownership to build net worth and financial stability for your family.
- Investor Workshops and Meetups to introduce real estate investing to past clients with equity in their homes as a way to build passive income and generational wealth.
Relocation Partners
GOAL: Build Relationships with HR Execs and Become Trusted Partner
Tactics:
- Create and execute an Account-Based Marketing strategy targeting the Top 10 Employers in the Austin, Texas area to introduce Relocation services and explore partnership opportunities.
- Build custom Relocation Programs for Employers that includes educational materials about living in Austin, current state of the real estate market, guidance on schools and lifestyle-focused neighborhoods to support their recruitment efforts by selling potential employees on the benefits of relocating to Austin.
Agent-to-Agent Referral Partners
GOAL: Become “Go to” Referral Partner for Realtors outside the Austin area. Identify areas with a high level of referral activity for potential satellite locations.
Tactics:
- Educational Webinar series highlighting top-performing agents and back-office team members to share knowledge and winning playbooks designed to inspire and teach fellow agents how to grow their businesses profitably.
- Exclusive invites to industry events, private parties, and special recognition in marketing outreach to thousands of agents across the country looking for Referral partners.
Phase IV: Go-to-Market Strategy Execution
With the new foundation for growth firmly in place, it was time to execute on the campaigns and tactics detailed in the GTM Strategy.
Here are just a few of the campaign highlights:
Recognized Expert and Community Leader for Real Estate Investments
- Engaged current investor clients and established relationship with investor community via in-person events
- Attendance for educational seminars averaged 125+ and informal happy hours averaged 25+
- Leveraged experts and influential members of the real estate community to share their expertise regarding fix-and-flips, financing strategies, property management, etc to help expand brand awareness and reach more prospects.
Positioning Update and New Conversion-Focused Website
- New website was mapped to the buyer’s journey with personalized lead magnets guiding prospects down the sales funnel until they were ready to engage.
- 374% increase in traffic (unique visits to site)
- Implemented Lead Generation System For Home Valuation And “Come List Me” Seller Leads promoted both through organic social and paid ads.
- 2016 Leads: 56 vs. 2017 Leads: 214 for a 282% Lead Growth Rate
Built Agent-to-Agent Referral Engine and Doubled Referral Lead Flow
Created and launched an Educational Webinar series to increase Agent-To-Agent Referrals and recruit for expansion teams.
We actively engaged agents across the country to suggest topics, participate as a guest, and share their thoughts to ensure the audience was highly engaged.
- Webinars consistently generated 500-1000 RSVP’s with 60% show-up rate
- Built a gamified incentive program that provided added benefits to Partners that made the most referrals.
Agent-to-Agent Referral Programs Helped Identify Ideal Locations for Expansion
Within 9 months, we had identified three ideal satellite locations with a high percentage of residents relocating to Austin and a pool of talented local Realtors eager to join our rapidly growing team
- 3 Satellite Locations and Expansion Teams Created
Gamified Referrals from Past Clients to Dramatically Increase New Business
In real estate, it’s very common to choose your Realtor based on a strong referral from a trusted friend or family. However, all too often those recommendations come after a potential prospect has already been looking for help and has quite possibly already engaged with another agent.
We knew we needed to make referrals top of mind if we wanted to significantly improve this valuable lead source.
To accomplish this, we utilized the following tactics:
- “Friends of” program that incentivized past client referrals. In some cases this was simply free popcorn at a client appreciation movie night, other times it was an invite to an exclusive event with influential members of the community.
- Community Discount Card that gave the past client exclusive discounts and various other perks at local establishments. The more referrals they made, the more perks they could receive.
Trained and Empowered Agents to Build Personal Brands to Support Company Brand
- Developed and consistently implemented optimized 33 Touch program with daily, weekly and monthly outreach
- In 2017 had 112 Closed Transactions categorized as “Sphere/Past Client” vs 97 as of July 2018 – a year’s worth of closings in just 6 months.
Implemented CRM, Marketing Automations, and Omnipresent Outbound Campaigns
- Email Strategy Overhaul Results
- Subscribers grew by 244%
- Open rates increased from 17% to 29%
- Designed and created all marketing, sales funnels, text message campaigns, etc. while training Admin & Agents on their use.
- Strategized and managed paid media campaigns on Google Adwords, Facebook Ads and Instagram to generate more Listing leads.
The Results
In 18 months, the organization had gone from struggling to get out of its own way to being flush with cash and on the verge of opening several new branches and ancillary businesses.
Annual property sale volume increased from $58 million in 2016 to $180 million —totaling 258% growth in about 18 months.
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