I’m opening up the mailbox and answering YOUR questions!

I’m usually not a big fan of swiping copy…

That is, taking words that are largely someone else’s, and using them for my own.

I think my aversion is especially strong because in high-level financial direct response, it’s just a no-go.  You can’t do it and write relevant copy.  I also think that it’s usually a pretty dumb strategy because good copy is good because it’s a perfect fit of message to market.

That said, today, my main recommendation is going to be a swipe…

It’s Mailbox Monday — the day where I answer your questions…

And today’s question is a good one…

Roy,

What would your approach or strategy be for getting listings for luxury vacation rentals?

What marketing materials would you look to create to increase conversions?

My service is for 2nd home owners who want high ROI and no time involvement in management.

Currently I’m sending cold email then meet in person, and also looking to send direct mail campaign.

C

I’m going to make a bunch of assumptions here…

First, it seems like he has a targeted list of prospects.  Or at least access to this list.

And from his comments, he gets their email and direct mail addresses.

That’s great.

Those are very superficial details, but they’re important.  If we’re trying to market to the great unwashed masses to get these leads, we’re going to have some trouble.  Because the number of people that own second homes in vacation areas is small enough that mass advertising would be an epic failure.

Here we’re dealing with a situation that’s somewhat like what I do.  I have a short list of potential clients to reach out to.  I can reach out to them directly.  And really it takes that personal conversation to close the deal.

The challenge here it just to get the conversation started

I’m basically going to swipe Dean Jackson’s More Cheese, Less Whiskers approach (here’s the original ILM podcast episode about it).

Back story: dean was working with a client who did postcard marketing for restaurants around birthdays.

They were doing all the traditional things, creating pretty emails, and sending them to a list they had of 3,600 restaurants…

And hearing nothing but crickets…  (Not even clicks to their website.)

Then, Dean tried to do something very different, in line with his ultra-short email strategy (called 9-word emails).

He put the restaurant title in the subject line.

And in the body of the email he wrote, “Do you do birthday parties?  Jim” (because Jim was the client or salesperson’s name).

Dean said not to send it to all of them.

So, naturally, the client sent it to all of them.

They got HUNDREDS of replies.  Starting a conversation about birthday parties.

Now, if you want to help a restaurant book more birthday parties, wouldn’t it be a good idea to start a conversation with them about booking birthday parties?

Of course, you have to pivot and eventually make it clear that you have something to offer.

But where the previous email approach was getting zero response, this one got hundreds.

Applied to the vacation home rental business

You could simply put the address of the house in the subject line — they will be curious about any email with their house address in the subject line.

Then, I’d write something like, “Do you have rental availability this summer? [Your name].”  (Edit as necessary, but MAKE IT LOOK PERSONAL and even a little informal.  Don’t put your freaking corporate signature under it.  Don’t do anything more than ask this question and include your name.)

For anyone on this list who is renting out their homes, this will start the conversation.  It will get them thinking and talking about rental.  And it will tell you a bit about how they currently handle the process.

If they direct you to a rental agency, you know you’ve got competition.

If they are handling it themselves, you might have a real prospect.

If they take a while to reply, they’re probably overloaded and don’t want to deal with it (good for you).

If they reply quickly and are on it, maybe they actually like doing it, so you’d have a different conversation.

The thing is, no matter how they reply, you’ve just started a conversation.

Why this works

I really like Dean’s Cheese and Whiskers metaphor.  He says a mouse is genetically programed to go toward cheese, and away from whiskers.  The more something seems like cheese, the more the mouse will go toward it.  The more it seems like whiskers (a cat), the faster the mouse will run and hide.

Value for your prospect is their cheese.  If you’re selling to businesses, that’s business they get.  So with the restaurant it was booking a birthday party.  With vacation home rental, it’s rental availability for a booking.

Whiskers are salespeople.  We tend not to like to get pushed around by salespeople, so the moment you come across like a stereotypical pushy sales guy, they’ll run.

So your approach needs to feel more like cheese — it needs to actually BE more like cheese — and less like whiskers.

Give value first, then guide the conversation to the point where them doing business with you is natural.

Where to take the conversation from here

So let’s say someone says, “Yeah, we have availability there this summer.  What dates were you looking for?”

You reply, “Glad you have availability.  I’m working with a few other vacation homeowners in [TOWN], managing their rentals.  Could I send you 3-4 extended rentals per month?”

And, stop.

Now, imagine you’re on the receiving end.  You got an email asking about availability in the summer for the home you want to rent out, but you find it’s more of a headache than you want to do so.

You said you have availability, because the idea of affording the house was based on rental income.

And the person basically says they work with other homeowners with you and has just offered to send 3-4 more extended rentals per month during the summer?

(If you do weekend rentals, etc., change it.  This is just an example.)

If you’re in this situation as the homeowner, you’re suddenly very intrigued.

You’re probably going to start asking questions.  You’re going to want to know more.

So, back to your side, selling the services.

Your job in this moment is to NOT be a sales shark that smells blood

It will be so tempting.

Don’t do it.

Rather, put together a quick video explaining how you help vacation homeowners maximize their earnings from the house, without effort, when they’re not using it.

It should be quick and easy to understand.

Basically, lay out the problem that a vacation home can be a burden once you realize how much management is involved renting it out.

That you have the solution, in the form of a management company that handles booking, cleaning, basic maintenance, and more.

Preferably, show some happy clients, reinforcing the idea that they make more money and have less hassle from their vacation home after hiring you.

Throw in at least one or two that say, “And every time we get there, it’s even cleaned for us — we love it!”

When you get an email asking questions about sending renters their way, you reply with a note along these lines:

“I’d love to send some renters your way this summer.  By the way, here’s a video about what we do for the homeowners we work with: [link]

“Because we need homes in the area, you wouldn’t have to pay a setup fee, and we get paid when we rent your house.

“Can we meet within the next couple weeks so I can put you on our summer schedule?”

And you have a conversation about meeting.

Note, we’ve very carefully walked toward the selling here…

In the end, I dropped in a little bit of an offer, because they need to know it’s a sales conversation of sorts, and you’re not JUST sending renters their way.

But in this scenario, it’s really a win-win, so unless you charge exorbitant fees or have a slimy business model (which I hope isn’t true if you’re my reader), it should be really easy to get them to say yes to having a conversation.

They’re only going to go through this entire process if they want more bookings and don’t know how to get them.

So you’re in pretty good shape here.

Test this, and let me know how it works.

Side note: about direct mail

Maybe there’s an opportunity here.  You could test dollar bill letters.  You could test a FedEx envelope.   You could test all sorts of things.

But I’d try the above first, and see how it works.

I do think the biggest emotional part of this sale is that the vacation home feels like far less of a vacation home once it’s also a business.  If you can tap into that in any more direct copy you write, that’ll capture the sentiment that will move the segment of the market most interested in your services.

Yours for bigger breakthroughs,

Roy Furr