We are a home decor etailer using offline marketing methods to promote our products and ecommerce website. Many of the products we carry are appropriate housewarming or home closing gifts. Real estate agents could therefore become a key audience.
We have been afforded the opportunity to set up a lunch and learn session in a real estate office for 2 hours. Our objective is to show the agents that our company and our products can add value to them and that our gift items are appropriate for their clients.
Question
1. How can we cut through the clutter of other FREE lunch and learn sessions and attract as many agents as possible to this session?
2. How can we help them to see that we can be a value add to their business?
3. What strategies can we use to pique interest and get them engaged while on site? What can we do that’s different and unique with a limited budget.
Some agents have an interest in the lunch only.
Note: We don’t speak at this. We simply set up a display in a boardroom and wait around for agents to come in and out.
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Jay’s Answer: (Temporarily) Redecorate the boardroom using your products! Create a vignette of a living/dining room, and show your products – not in a catalog – but physically.
For dessert, create a cookie bag, and put your materials in with the cookies. Or, create your own fortune cookies. Or, have the cookies baked in the shape of your logo, etc.
What you’re offering isn’t a value added service to their business – it’s a thank you gift. You’re not making it easier for them to sell homes, find buyers, or find sellers. The after-gift can be nice, but it’s the treatment during the home transaction that their clients remember. If you can show statistics showing that people remember their agents more favorably, give better referrals, etc. because of your gift – you’ve got something very strong to offer.