I’ve written about our signs before. Counting the custom rider and the rental for the post, a configuration like that shown to the right costs about $275. The post rental is per house, of course, as is the cost of the rider. The top and middle signs are re-usable, but the weather is not kind to them. We don’t want our signs to look beat-up, so we rotate them out as soon as they start to look worn.
We’ve been playing with four-color ink-jet sign printers on the riders, and I’ve known all along that someday we would be able to do custom signs for each of our listings. That day may be today. We’re meeting with a sign vendor who has a massive six-color digital ink-jet sign printer. If I can get the kind of UV and scuff-and-scratch protection I’m looking for, we may make our move now.
This is Seth Godin from November of last year:
If you’re in any business where the cost to enter as a competitor is very low, you’ve got this problem. The minute there are big profits being made, competitors will flood in and steal them. This is why there are five times as many real estate brokers in San Francisco as in Steubenville, Ohio. Because the houses cost five times as much, the commissions are five times as great, so brokers show up in enough volume that everyone goes back to making exactly the same amount of money.
The only way to win is to break the rules. To play by your own rules, creating a market in which the cost of entry is very high, or even impossible. If you’re the only one, then you win, by default.
Mr. and Mrs. Homeowner, in addition to everything else we’ve talked about, I will produce huge, stunning, traffic-stopping, custom yard signs for your home in less than 24 hours. Is there any other Realtor you’re talking to who will make you this offer?
Further notice: Doable. Two days turnaround, which is fine. The funny part is, our current sign philosophy (which is version 2.0 for us) is losing the CRS Marketing Ideas contest, even though it is the only actual new marketing idea in the whole affair. In a week’s time, we will have version 3.0 of our signs, and we will be as lithe as a ballerina — completely untouchable. We will have kicked our competition in the teeth for the third time when they haven’t even made it to the dentist for the first kick. The Realtors don’t get it, but the clients all understand…
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foobeca says:
“huge, stunning, traffic-stopping, custom yard signs for your home in less than 24 hours.”
Wow, for only a 6% commission too. Talk about adding value. What about the HOAs that prohibit such things?
If everyone listed houses with you, I’m sure there wouldn’t be 52,000 listings in PHX.
August 3, 2006 — 12:30 pm