Coach Darryl Davis wrote that one postcard just posted after one sale is not a campaign, but the equivalent of a coin toss. Marketing works on the principle of effective frequency.
If you have some budget for marketing and want a farming system that operates almost on autopilot, this is for you. Once built, it costs less to produce, requires little creative energy from month to month, and quietly establishes you as an expert in your field. But that only works if you respect one rule first.
Must be consistent.
One postcard just listed after one sale is a coin toss, not a campaign. Marketing works on the principle of effective frequency. People usually need to see your name and face several times before they take action. Sending one email is not a system. It’s a repetition.
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3 characters
Forget about designing something new every month. Create the three templates once and rotate them forever. It’s a letter rather than a postcard, but I’ll explain why later.
Letter 1 introduces you. A short and warm letter with your photo on letterhead: Hello, I have listed the houses in your neighborhood. That’s it. Letter 2 shares new inventory. All new homes just listed for sale in this area. I don’t claim that you listed them. Just display them on your stationery. In Letter 3, share your recent activities. All listings and sales made in that area in the past 30 days will be listed on your face letterhead again.
Then loop. The fourth month is letter 1 of the new address. Month 5 is letter 2 of current inventory. Month 6 is letter 3 with updated sales. The same three templates, new addresses appear over and over again. The interval between drops should be within 30 days.
Why punch above its weight?
Characters 2 and 3 are the quiet genius of the system. They will never claim that you were responsible for all of their activities, but when they arrive with your face on the letterhead, it gives the impression, consciously or not, that you are the expert behind the neighborhood movement. Gain local fame without bragging.
A letter or postcard?
Postcards are cheap and easy, but that’s exactly their weakness. People throw postcards at first sight. A letter requires a small promise to open it, unfold it, and read it. That small investment gets noticed. Attention is the whole game. Industry direct mail research consistently shows that letter-format emails perform better in return on investment, and engagement is the reason.
How to actually land each letter
A system is only as good as the pieces that move through it. That’s why some content rules are important.
Make it personal, not corporate. Write like a neighbor, not a brochure. First name, friendly tone, real photo. People respond to people, not logos. Give one clear reason for saving. A snapshot of the local market, quick tips on preparing your home for sale, and a quick list of recent neighborhood sales. Utility is what keeps the letter from becoming a discard pile. Make contact easy. A cell phone number, a simple call to action, and ideally a way to find out how much their home is worth. Remove all friction.
Start with a farm that fits your budget and is large enough to actually sustain you for a year. If you stop after 2 drops, everything you spent on the first two doses will be wasted. It’s much better to faithfully mail to 300 homes for 12 months than to mail to 1,500 homes twice and then disappear. Track simply. By taking note of where all your calls and leads are coming from, you’ll know exactly what your farm is getting back in a year’s time and can expand with confidence.
You can also layer your system. Letters do the consistent heavy lifting in the background, and when you list or sell on your farm, a gentle knock on the door or a hand-handed note to a neighbor directly amplifies the same message. Email maintains a sense of intimacy, and a personal touch turns that intimacy into a conversation.
A note to be patient as most agents will quit at this point and most farming campaigns will die. The system rarely sends emails during the first 90 days. The agent then gets upset and decides that the email doesn’t work and stops working. It works, but it works on a timeline of perception, building impressions one iteration at a time.
Decide in advance that you’re going to commit to it for a year, budget accordingly, and judge your program in 12 months instead of 3. Winning experts on farms are simply the ones who keep emailing when their competitors have given up.
Final tip: Stay geographically in your lane. A tight, well-defined farm that you control is worth much more than a vast area where your name appears and disappears. Choose an area that you can own and own it.
Setup is easier than you think. The post office will do the heavy lifting for you. Create the three templates once, then every month just give them a new address and say, “Send.” That’s right, letters are a little more expensive than postcards. I’d rather pay a little more for a piece that gets read than save a penny for a piece that gets thrown away. Build it this month and let consistency do the rest.
Daryl Davis, CSP, is a nationally recognized real estate speaker, bestselling author, and coach with over 40 years of experience in the industry. For more information, visit darrylspeaks.com.
