The Power of Attraction

As one of Mumbai’s top real estate consultants, we always need to ensure a steady stream of clients for ourselves. In the end we have two main options as to how to get those clients to the doorsteps of our office.

Option 1: We can go and find them and invite them to use our services

Option 2: We can attract them to us.

Option 2 is a definitely more attractive and appealing option not just to us but to everyone in business. We believe that attracting customers to us not only helps us stay in our comfort zones but also works out better for us in the long run. What worked in business in the past does not work today simply because of one thing – the internet. The internet has changed how consumers find and obtain information. People do not have to wait to be advertised and sold to and rely on bogus and often false information and testimonials provided by salesmen and marketers. Instead people go online and do all the research that they can including reviews, non-biased and objective opinions of whatever product or service that they are considering to rent or buy. The customers of today are uninterested in being pitched to. Sales paradigms have long shifted from a chase-and-pursue strategy to an ‘attract’ strategy. We have found over the years by analysing our sales leads that we are much more effective in closing sales leads when clients approach us rather than the other way round.

For a client who comes into our office after seeing a targeted ad in a nice publication or through our website, they are ours – and there is no question about that. In situations like these, helping the client find what he / she wants and closing the sale is easy. On the other hand, say I contact Symbiosis College and inquire if they would like me to talk about giving a guest lecture, they will refuse the offer 99.9 % times – even if I am offering it for free! Option 1 is a drain on your resources, time consuming and a waste of time and money. Let us look at both the option in a little more depth.

Option 1

Option 1 is sales in the traditional sense. You advertise, you market yourself, self-promote, you network and ask or beg for business. But in today’s increasingly noisy, chaotic and complicated world, it is getting seriously hard to capture the attention of the buyer who is already bombarded with tons of information and dozens of offers everywhere he looks. So being the adaptive species that we are, we humans are getting smart at turning off all the noise around us. If you follow Seth Godin like me, you would be aware of the term ‘Interruption Marketing’ which he coined to describe old school advertising. The phrase means what it says – you have got to interrupt a potential customer from whatever he was doing to make your pitch and just hope he / she is in the right mood to listen and get interested in what you are offering. Seth Godin goes on to say that Interruption Marketers are like ‘hunters’ which is close to ‘Pursuers’. And Seth also suggests that traditional Interruption marketing is hardly an effective way to capture your target audience’s attention. At Gupta and Sen, we honestly believe that traditional Interruption marketing is just plain uncomfortable for us. And that is not beacause we are self-concious, egoistic or even insecure but it is because we just do not want to do unto others what we do not want done to us! And we truly believe, no on on this planet likes to be marketed or sold something that he / she may not be looking for at that point of time. We fear being irritable pests and it is likely that our targets would feel it too.

Option 2

Option 2 comes naturally to us because it is indeed the 21st century’s paradigm of prospecting and selling. You create a service or a product that people are likely to want and the ones who are interested in it will come to you to get it or at least learn more about you and what you are selling. Your phone rings or your email buzzes and you have a great new client! It is someone who is pursuing you rather than the other way round. He / she wants what you have to offer and is ready and more than willing to hear your sales pitch! We believe that when potential customers seek us out rather than vice versa, it is a matter of tremendous confidence. It is no coincidence when we approach such clients with more ease, authority and confidence in our own abilities. The real challenge of course is to create an attractive brand, product or service that will bring in potential home buyers on one hand and also sellers on the other hand so that we can work our magic in between the two!

Today’s consumer is getting weary of being chased by sellers and are responding positively to attraction-based marketing. At Gupta and Sen, we have created a service that people want based on our years of experience as service professionals, packaged it in an attractive form through good design and put it out there through intelligent and scientific marketing techniques. People choose to come to us and as a result our closing ratio is much higher than our peers in the business. We have what clients want, they seek us out and that gives us tremendous credibility right from the very start of our client-partner relationships. If you are real estate broker, remember that an attraction-based model of business IS the way to go in the future. So pull up your socks and start creating a solid, credible and reputable brand right from today!

Chloe Dodd
Chloe Dodd
Real Estate Agent at Gupta & Sen
Chloe is a real estate advisor with Gupta & Sen. With a combined experience of over 15 years in varied industries, she is a vocal and knowledgeable ally for buyers and investors who want to make informed choices when buying a property in India. With superlative communication and marketing skills, Chloe handles our PR, real estate marketing strategy and client management.
Chloe Dodd
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