Storytelling is a good marketing tool. But do be sure that your story fits your audience and is not simply self-serving.
Several months ago, a letter arrived from the agent in this region who insists that she knows the 3 northern Counties in Idaho “inside out.” I think she’s foolish for making that outlandish claim, and 
I read her letters for entertainment.
Sometimes she comes up with “$40 words” that don’t remotely fit the sentences. That makes it fun to see what bit of nonsense she’ll come up with next.
One letter was all about her deciding to save money and give her teen son a haircut. Apparently she watched some videos, then bought scissors and electric clippers and got to work.
The haircut turned out terrible when she slipped and shaved a furrow on the back of his head. She comforted her son with the fact that he does like to wear hats and hair does grow.
The story did have a point, but…
The point of the story was that you should not try to do things yourself. You should hire an expert. And of course, when it comes to real estate, she is the expert you should hire.
What was missing in that story? It had no relevance to real estate. It didn’t point out a real estate mistake that someone made, and it didn’t tell a success story. It also didn’t offer any reason why she would be the expert her readers need.
The bottom line: Do use storytelling as a marketing tool, because people enjoy them and they’re very effective at driving a point home. But tell them with a purpose and make sure the purpose is relevant to your target audience. In other words, don’t tell a first-time-buyer story to your senior relocation list.
Share stories that give specific advice or show how you solved a problem or saved a client from an expensive mistake.
You can also use stories to transmit warnings. For instance, you could tell a story about a couple who lost their life savings because an email from a title company was hacked and they sent their home purchase deposit to a scammer. Those horror stories are out there to borrow if you go looking.
I have a couple of others you can borrow if you like…
A gentleman I knew passed away and left his custom-built house to his two daughters. The house was nice, but the basement was completely unfinished and the upstairs was in kind of rough shape. This old bachelor had a big furry dog and he never brushed him. Nor did he ever vacuum his carpets. A neighbor offered to buy the house as-is, but the daughters said no. They decided they could make a lot of money if they did a thorough cleaning, installed new carpeting, and finished the basement, so they did.
Then they went back to their respective homes in other states and left the house in the care of a real estate agent who lived in a neighboring town. He
told them not to winterize the house, but instead to leave the heat on. But it snowed a lot that winter, and he didn’t hire anyone to plow the driveway, so the fuel truck couldn’t get in. (Nor could any potential buyers, unless they wanted to hike uphill through deep snow.)
The pipes froze and broke, and when Spring came, the well pumped enough water to warp the plywood under the now-ruined carpets and bring the basement ceiling sheetrock down to float in about 2 feet of water. The house was, in a word, trashed.
You may be wondering if they sued the real estate agent. No, they didn’t. He had been a friend of their Dad’s, so they let him get away with what I would have considered criminal neglect.
To make this situation even worse, they had decided that since they owned the house outright, they didn’t need to insure it!
You could use that story to talk about how you check on unoccupied homes every X number of days. And if you live in cold country, to assure the owners that you will have the house winterized and the driveway plowed. Of course, you can also use it to remind people to keep houses insured!
Can you use a “warning” story that isn’t your own? Sure, as long as you say it was something that happened to a friend.
Here’s another one:
We sold a mountain cabin that ran on solar power, but the buyers wanted to add electricity. There was a right-of-way for ingress and egress, but not for utilities, and the land they needed to cross was owned by 4 siblings who had inherited it from their father. They were all in other parts of the country and had never even seen the property. They all sounded agreeable, but… One of them was married to an attorney, and he put the brakes on everything. When the paperwork from the power company arrived, he said no. He wanted money.
This could have been a disaster for our real estate agency, if not for the fact that there were several witnesses when the agent representing the buyers advised them not to close until they had all the required signatures on that right-of-way. I believe the final payoff to the siblings was in the neighborhood of $10,000. The agent should have obtained a signed disclosure stating that the buyers were going forward against her advice, but she did not.
This situation could be used a warning to any agents you might be training: Be SURE to get a signed disclosure any time your buyers and sellers decide to proceed against your advice.
It could also work to tell prospects that you will be looking out for their interests and will advise them not to close if you see disaster warning signals. Whether it is with the paperwork or with the house or property itself, you’ll be alert to potential problems.
Storytelling as a marketing tool is also good if you can show how you solved a problem.
For instance: We once had a sale involving a divorcing couple who were warring. The husband didn’t really want to sell, but the wife wanted money, and he couldn’t afford to buy her out. When she moved out, the wife took a painting that the husband claimed was his, so he refused to sign the closing papers. She refused to return the painting until he had signed. We solved that by having the closing attorney hold the painting until the documents were signed.
Do you have a story about how you solved a similar problem? If so, tell it!
Do be careful not to reveal names or locations when you use storytelling as a marketing tool.
It’s best to muddle the facts just a bit, so no one will recognize the people involved.
