Gary & April, this topic will hit a cord with many here I'm sure!  I'm with you I hate empty flyer boxes.  Wondering how many agents have started using texting, and if buyers find them useful?  I'm going to park here and see...

It drives me crazy too!  I'm obsessive about keeping my boxes full!  Having an empty box for a day or too happens....having empty boxes for weeks at a time is just laziness! If you're not going to keep it full...take it off the sign!  Ok...that was my rant for the day...lol

Ditto ditto ditto... not only does it make the agent look lazy, I think it also irritates potential buyers about the house itself!

What amazes me is how many agents put up their For Sale signs with boxes attached and NEVER fill them. If you don't intend to do brochures (which is fine), take the silly boxes off your signs!!!

We don't have flyer boxes here, but that is just plain sloppy agent work!

Empty flyer boxes drives me totally crazy!  In this day and age, there is no need for a flyer box anyway.  It's a waste of paper.  The buyer can get way more information about the property off the Internet than they can from a flyer, most of which are particularly well made anyway.

Someone from AR (forgive me, but I've forgotten who), said that he uses a rider that says "google this address" for more information.  If your Internet marketing is up to it, that's a great way to get the word out, both about the house and you, as a tech-savvy agent.

There seems to be a willingness to quickly place all the blame on the listing agent, but there might be shared responsibility here.  When we list an occupied home, we request the sellers let us know when the flyers are getting low so we can restock promptly.  If the sellers don't communicate to us, we don't know.  We've got better use for our time than driving around every few days solely to check flyer inventory.  We do try to be proactive and also restock when we show our own listings, and if the box didn't need them, we leave them with the seller for a reserve stock. 

Obviously vacant homes have to be checked periodically, but a vacant flyer box doesn't automatically mean the listing agent is being negligent or sloppy.  We've had cases of placing 50 flyers in a box and having them gone within a day or two (and it wasn't because 50 people took them, kids still make paper airplanes and not everyone is happy with a competitor down the street).

As far as flyers in general, as much as we all love the Internet and technical tools, not every buyer uses them.  Additionally, not every buyer is carrying pen and paper or has a smart phone to use when they go by a listing, so how are they supposed to remember 10689 Remember Me Drive until they get home?  Flyers are like any marketing tool, they have a place in the tool bag for the right situation.

I like the 'green approach' of Dylan's suggestion above.  Better yet how about a sign rider? i.e. www.123smith.com

Here is what we do.

Tape an additional flyer on the inside of a front window (near entance).

This way when the box goes empty buyers can still read the info.

I have come to loathe flyer boxes.  I still use them every once in a while but I explain to my sellers that they will need to let me know when it gets low.  Unfortunately, in my experience, nosy neighbors and those that couldn't qualify for the home are the ones that take them.  However, there is no excuse for weeks of empty flyer boxes.

How to text...

I have a basic question.   From a iphone how does one text?

I see the ReMax example above but do not know how/where to enter that address to send a text.

Could someone give me a 'step by step' example?

Thanks again!

YES! Thank you... if you have no intention of filling the box with fliers, don't have the box. It's not professional and it turns off buyers. But I love Dylan's suggestion. Honestly, having fliers is very old school and while texting for info might be beyond everyone's capability, putting a toll free number to call for info on a sign rider is more efficient and it help avoid the kids-grabbing-the-flier incidents. 

Here's a pretty good texting overview video on the apple site

http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-3gs/messages.html

I agree, of course, empty flyer boxes do look bad.  And you cannot always depend on the seller to call you to let you know it's empty.  There are, however, a couple of easy solutions.  One, don't list homes so far out of your area that you can't reasonably check the status of the box every week or two.  Two, simply email a copy of your flyer to your client and make it apart of your weekly conversation with them.  I have found that most people do have access to a printer at home or work and do not mind re-filling the box.  After all, they are just as interested in selling their home as you are.

BTW, buyers do like flyers to help them remember where the house was that they liked.  Driving around and around in a subdivision gets confusing and often they don't even know what street they are on when they are sitting in front of the house.  With flyer in hand, they can find it much easier on line when they get home.

no flyer boxes.   I used to put them out for new listings but over the years, with the internet, received less and less buyer leads from it to the point that it because a big waste of time and paper and color ink.   I would rather talk to them and they will call.   If the flyer box gets empty it makes people angry, another good reason not to use them.

What about letting the buyer's agent fill the box? I'm an investor and I have allowed a buyer's agent to do an open house on a property where he/she prepared their own flyer but I require that they send me a copy and include somewhere on there seller contact information.

April - It sounds like I get the same feeling that you do when I see an empty brochure box...especially if it is one of my listings.  We have a system that nearly eliminates this challenge on our homes.  What we do is print 40 color brochures and 10 black and white ones.  We put the color ones in the front of the box and the black and white in the rear of the box.  We don't expect our sellers to count the brochures because this is counter productive if the box traffic is slow because that can demotivate the seller.  What we do is ask the seller to eyeball the brochure box and when they see that the color brochures are gone (black and white remaining) to call us and we will immediately reprint and refill.  This system pretty much eliminates empty brochure boxes and for the vacant homes especially in the winter it makes it easy for us when driving by to know if we are good without wading through a foot of snow because we can see from our car if we are down to black and white brochures...it's time to refill.  

What great feedback!  The texting idea is clever however won't work for everyone. 

I'm not sure everyone realizes the potential staying power of whatever it is you put in the box that someone might take with them.  It needs to be just interesting enough to get them to your website. 

In my opinion the For Sale sign is our handshake and the brochure is our business card.  It's not just this home we're selling.  Think of how it feels when the opportunity to hand your business card to somone arises...and you don't have one on you?

Flyer boxes seem so 90s. According to the 2009 NAR whitepaper 94% of first time home buyers (in Temecula are there anything else?) use the internet to search for their home.

Apple's new Ipad and other innovations like it will only serve to increase the "mobility" of the home search. I don't know if you saw the AR blog about using Google as your "flyer box" but it seemed to me to a great alternative plus you got top of page one Google exposure (the most valuable real estate in the world).

Here's the link to the AR blog. I tried it when I first read it and it worked.

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1226610/google-this-address-sign-topper-303-139-clarence-st-it-works-

I do understand the posting, though, and if you have a flyer box, it needs to be filled. But what does someone do with the flyer, throw it out or recycle?

IMHO, I think flyer boxes are  90's also, and all that paper waste. It may be more environmentally friendly to use "Google" or texting.

I have been giving the "DriveBy Technologies" green brochure box idea some thought.  I actually like the idea of having my Dee Sign clear view brochure boxes to have a DriveBy Technologies text message graphic glued to the inside of the brochure box.  This could somewhat combine the technologies and the text message feature would solve the challenge if a box ever did go empty.

I like to leave a few black & white copies of the flyer in the back of box.  This makes it easy for me to drive by & see if the box is getting low before they are completely out.

The best way I've found to solve that is leave a hundred flyer copies for the seller, so they can refill as needed.  They've seen the wisdom in that.  Sometimes it the neighbor kids, who take them all out and make paper airplanes.  Or, it's the rain that gets in and ruins them all when someone leaves the lid open.

I understand the strategy behind having no box at all.  But when I have buyers in my car, commenting how much they dislike when there are no flyers, then I do admit they still have value.

Some of my buyer clients like to preview neighborhoods and the flyers help them know if something meets their needs.  I don't think there is a perfect soluntion yet, as we have tech-savvy and non-tech savvy clients out there - we need to serve the both.

The flyer box and the address url seems to capture both audiences.

This is my biggest pet peeve as a mortgage banker. There are so many great tools out there to use in conjuction with a mortgage banker.  Texting, 800#'s, use the team aspect to make sure everything is full

Dave

Gary & April:  I've not a new twist, fill it with YOUR listing flyers LOL!  If the agent is 'too busy', why not give the seller a supply?  This practice stumps me.

Well, since the majority of respondents claim that they don't accompany showings (see previous posts), it seems pretty obvious that the listing agent  never visits the property and therefore never restocks the listing flyers!

Hmm.  Just another argument why lisitng agents SHOULD accompany showings.

I had a good laugh at the picture of the box. Thank you for that! I stopped using flyer boxes last year and am now getting many more calls on my listings, which helps me to either sell the listing or generate leads for myself. When I did use them, I would always leave extra flyers with the sellers and told them to call me when they put the last ones in the box so I could bring them more. I never had an empty box on a property and I never had a box on a vacant property. Thanks again for the great post....I going to reblog that one!

It's going to depend on the professional (or not) who has that box hanging up with flyers (or not) in them.

If you have a flier box you need to keep it full.  However, I do not do the box.  Web Site and Call Capture.

Gary and April,

Well, it's pretty obvious that I'm going to be somewhat biased in my response here since I own a company called FlyersToYou! LOL! However, let me also state that prior to starting this company, I was a top-selling agent for many years in Southern California.

It kills me whenever I see empty flyer boxes. Yes, I know...many of the sign companies automatically put a sign post in that has a flyer box already attached...but if you're the kind of agent who doesn't use them, request from your sign company to NOT use a flyer box on the post.

If you are going to use flyers, print at least 100 at a time and stack them criss-cross-wise into sets of 20. Put the first set in the flyer box and tell your sellers to refill the box as necessary (only 20 at a time). When they put the last stack in the box, have them call you so you can reorder. The printer we use prints same day and overnights the flyers to anywhere in the country for free....so it's not likely that the listing will be "flyer-less" at all. For vacant properties, go next door and ask if the neighbor has a teen who wouldn't mind earning a few bucks by ensuring the box is always full. You'd be amazed at how favorable the response is (you'll wind up listing that home eventually).

Now...for the naysayers regarding flyers being so 1990's. You're totally missing the point. Sorry to be so blunt, but it's a fact. Yes, buyers are using the internet to search for homes. But if you think flyers were EVER designed to attract BUYERS...you couldn't be more wrong.

Flyers are a LISTING TOOL....NOT A TOOL TO ATTRACT BUYERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll explain.

Statistically, 80% of homebuyers will purchase your listing as a result of the property being in your local MLS...and they'll more than likely already be working with another agent. Those are the facts, period. So why use flyers at all?? Because none of the surrounding sellers in the neighborhood were present at the time you gave your listing presentation. They weren't there to hear about your experience, your knowledge, and your marketing strategy. They can only judge you based on what they see, and they'll quietly compare you with all the other agents with signs up around their own neighborhood.

If you don't do flyers at all, but your competitor does??? You just became the lazy or cheap agent in their eyes. If you do dayglow green flyers, when your competitor does full-color very professional flyers? Your competitor will be chosen when it comes time to list their homes. And with all due respect, if you use "I practice green real estate" signs but no flyers, I hope you drive a Prius to back up your concern for the environment, otherwise the word "green" becomes "cheap" in the surrounding sellers' eyes.

A flyer is a marketing tool to attract more business, period.

Ask Dee Messing, one of our top customers. From one flyer, she got a call from a couple who didn't even like the house that she had listed (it was $499,900). They already owned a home similar to that one. Instead, they were looking for homes in the 1.2 million dollar range, and driving various neighborhoods prior to enlisting the help of an agent. By at the end of the day, they had collected a handful of flyers and the nicest one was Dee's. So, they called her...said she was the type of agent they wanted to come list their home in Murrieta. She did. It was $569,000. Oh...and she helped them find their new home in Temecula for $1,099,000. All because the "lookie-loo's" liked her flyer the best.

If I see another agent quote that x% of homebuyers begin their search on the internet (with regards to why they no longer do print or flyers), I'm going to scream. A professionally laid out flyer is merely a tool to garner EVERY SINGLE LISTING IN THE ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD. It really has nothing to do with gaining another buyer prospect!! Those will come from all of your new listings being in the MLS! And on the rare occasion that you get a call from someone who started their search on the internet and found your listing on Realtor.com, go sell them something.

Just my two cents. :P

Dave

Dave- you hit the nail on the head with your response.  Thank you.  It was the long version of what I was getting at.  The public is judging...all of the time.

Dee is in our market area...now I'll have to go see what her flyers look like! LOL

I made a decision years ago to no longer use flyer boxes.  I use a cute large sign with my phone number and web site in large, easy-to-read print.  On some listings I use a 2nd small sign with a text number where they can get immediate information on their phone plus their single property web url.

I have so many listings spread out that it became an all-day job to keep those boxes filled - not to mention the printing costs.  I now have a loan officer that provides me with flyers but I still don't have the time to drive from listing to listing and I honestly never felt that one of my listings was sold from a flyer.  I get just as many sign calls as I did with flyers.

I've tried every flyer box out there and when it rains they get ruined.  So during a rainy season there's no way the flyers hold up.  My business decision was to nix flyers and boxes just like I nixed print ads.  Not worth the ROI.

Our office policy is, at the very least, all boxes get filled Friday for the weekend.

I, like you, notice the realtor that doesn't fill their flyer boxes.  Shows their work ethic.

That's because agent's that take listings out there(I used to live and work there) think it's too far out to fill the boxes.  9 miles from town to Glenoaks road, then with traffic, and driving in a big circle yadda yadda...I don't like empty boxes either! Many buyers take flyers when driving by, from the house(with other agents info on them, so I would recommend having nice color printouts of each listing/consumer flyer with you to hand them when they are interested)etc.

Having one flyer securely protected and fastened in the box or too the post sometimes solves the problem when all of the removable flyers are gone, but I've had secured flyers broker and boxes destroyed because some poor misguided soul just has to have the last one.

Yes, the information should be available and the box seem to make that promise.

Solution...and a great little technique for getting the listing in the first place:

During your presentation, show the sellers that you've put a pdf of the flyer (1 side, 2 sided, multi-page, any way you want it) up on Issuu.com.  Tell them that your research shows that a flyer is an important sales tool and that you want them to never have to wait for you to fill it.  Instead, when the box contents gets low, they can (presuming they have a color printer at home) print copies and fill the box.

An extra touch and sales technique that I'll bet your competitors aren't using....one that many of my CyberStars(r) use.  And....Issuu.com is free.  Just take your document (Word, Publisher, any scanned document), save it in pdf format and 

CyberStar(r) Linda DeVlieg of Albuquerque, NM, has several good examples of marketing via Issuu.com.  You can see her seller's presentation (her listing presentation) on Issuu here.

It's a beautiful day here on the lake in Reston...hope it's a beautiful day wherever you are, too!

I post tips from Linda and the other CyberStars(r) on my blog....click here to view it and to subscribe.

Allen F. Hainge, CRS

Senior Instructor, CRS 206 Technology Course

I'm a little shocked that there are Agents that ask their client to copy/print flyers.  Really??  Would never occur to me.

Great post.  I agree with Dave (#30) completely.  The idea of paying the teenage neighbor to keep the flyer box for a vacant listing stocked is well worth the few dollars it would cost.

A same-day printer that overnights anywhere in the country for free?  Would you mind sharing who you use, Dave?

I wouldn't have my client copy/print flyers.  Most people have color inkjet printers, so the ink will run as soon as any moisture comes in contact with the flyers.  In a wet climate, that would be a major problem.  I prefer to control the quality of ink and paper, since it's my reputation that's at stake.

Aloha:  I have flyer boxes and multiple listing flyers.  It's been my absolute best SOURCE of business for the past 5 years.  I get more buyers and listings because of it than any other advertising I do!.  The secret is: make a trip once a week and fill all the boxes the same day (my husband does this for me).  I've had people call me to say they are having me do the listing because my signs are always UP and the boxes are generally full.  I've had buyers contact me because they decide I MUST know the area if they keep seeing my name everywhere!  I've also had neighborsor kids who remove all my flyers every week (I finally gave up on the box and the sign and the owner understood).  But overall....it's the cheapest way to get your name out there.

I let clients do whatever they want with the flyers.  They can copy and insert them or not, however I've never requested it.   In the tropics when it rains it pours and so the flyers are apt to get damaged anyway.  The secret is to get the right flyer box that doesn't leak.  The best one I've found is the cheapest (win/win) ones that are plastic and not the hard kine of plastic.  Less than $7 each and do the best job.

I have text call capture to be way more effective than a color flyer.....and less expensive (free).  With text call capture you stick a rider on your sign with direction to text #99999 to #88888 to view photo's and see price.  With-in 15 seconds the photo's are sent to their cell phone and your contact info ends up in their cell phone.  THEN, you instantly get an email alert that someone requested info and you 'capture' their phone number and can call to introduce yourself!!!  Free lead....or an opportunity to set a showing apt..

70% of all people buying a cell phone in next 3 months are buying a smart phone with Internet access.  If you aren't adapting to the technology and using it to your advantage then you stopping yourself from being successful.  paper flyers are OK, but TEXT call Capture is better...in my opinion....and you can claim to be 'green'.

I offer this TEXT Call Capture service to my Realtor partners to use for their benefit.  You should all be talking to your Loan Officer about this as well.

Great post Gary & April!

I work for a company called Goomzee, one of the nation's leading text-message marketing companies for real estate.  Many of our top producer clients still prefer to use flyers for the exact same reasons mentioned (branding yourself as the local neighborhood expert).  We have, however, seen a growing trend amongst tens of thousands of agents we service around the US who ditch their flyers altogether, and they don't look back.  Many report that the money they're saving more than pays for our solution (twice over actually) and they are still revered as the sophisticated neighborhood expert,  often moreso.

One solution that was mentioned was to make sure you always have one permanent flyer in the box, just in case others are all gone.  This can solve a lot of problems as well.  I'd be curious if any of the posters above keep track of time, fuel and paper/printing costs and can share some ballpark estimates of flyer costs.  If anyone has questions for me, shamelessly of course, please let me know.

406.542.9955 (office line)
http://www.goomzee.com

I've tried just about everything I can think of to keep flyer boxes full short of driving by my listings every day (not an efficient thing to do in a city as large as Houston where listings can be miles apart). 

I've tried driving by my listings once a month, once every two weeks, once a week, giving my clients hundreds of copies for them to refill when the flyer box gets low.  I send them a .pdf file so they can print and fill the box with their own when the supply gets low. 

I beg my sellers to tell me when the flyer boxes are empty.  They rarely, if ever, call to tell me they are sans flyers.  Somehow they just expect me to know that the box is empty and complain later that I didn't fill it often enough.  I think it is a valuable tool for buyers and for listing agents, but at some point the home seller needs to take a more active role in selling their home and pick up the phone when they run out of flyers.  I'll be happy to bring some by or put some in the mail.

I personally think the call for info or text for info is much better than a flyer box, especially here in the rainy season.

Selling a home is a cooperative venture with the seller.  Every time.  Whether it is giving them the option and ability to re-fill an empty flyer box or expecting them to make their beds every day.  I see no difference.  And I think when you engage the seller client to take an active role in the process, they feel more in control and are less apt to be hyper-critical about things such as an empty flyer box.

I'm with Vickie on this.  I gave away all my flyer boxes.  It's hard to keep flyers dry in rain or snow.  You give away too much info that causes potential buyers to decide against exploring the property further.  You can't create quality brochures with beautiful photos because they are too expensive, since you have to keep tossing out soggy flyers.  It just makes you look bad and beside they are kind of tacky.  I think they cheapen the look of the home.  A For Sale sign with my name and cell phone number is all I put out.  If they call me, I have a much better chance at marketing the home than any flyer can do and I can send them gorgeous photos of the home, if they give me their e-mail address.

It is NOT a flyer.  It is a giant business card with your name on it!  Why wouldn't you want people to take it with them?

I have flyers printed by Expresscopy on Bright red paper (so drivers can see there is something in the box) drop shipped to the seller.  The seller feeds the box, and lets me know when we are getting low, and I order more.  Neighbors take them and call me, buyers take them and call me, and some don't call me but call the 800#.

I spend a bit more on the nice flyers, but it is a good point in the listing presentation, the sellers like it, I don't include the price so they never become obsolete.  

Why not use flyers, and 800# and text?  I want all the leads I can get!

Wow - it's obviously NOT 'just you'! My favorite is when the empty flyer box is attached to a sign that's leaning over, about to fall down. Somehow, that seems more ridiculous than when they've already fallen.

I am an Investor, so I am a buyer and seller.  I never want to see an empty box.  Gary/April stated a flier is the equivalent of a business card, and they are exactly correct.  People are more likely to keep a flier than the piece of paper they wrote your website on. 

I am also a business consultant.  What gets me is too many people commented about what works for them.  I agree fliers are dated, and I personally would rather not have them.  What works for you and me is irrelevant.  What does your customer want?  What does your buyer base want? 

Someone said "94% of 1st homebuyers search online."  Of course, everyone searches online, but we do not buy online.  We buy in person. 

Someone else said "80% of buyers buy because of the MLS."  Yes, people use Realtors and Realtors provide listings from the MLS.  The thing is homebuyers drive around by themselves.  They drive around before and after they select a buyer's agent.

A Realtor is like a small business owner and should conduct business as such.  Think about what your customer wants.  Save money, but not at the cost of potential leads. 

Drive them to a website or force them to call for information.  Why?  To capture their information?  All because they want to know the price of a house? 

Concerned about wasting paper?  Print on recycled paper.  Print less in your office.  Recycle at home.  Find out ways to make a difference, but not at the cost of losing business.

What does your customer want?  You should provide fliers, websites, automated numbers, texting, blogging, etc.  Do you want to reach the entire market or just a segment? 

Several people commented it is too much effort to drive and view your properties?  To those people I ask, do you care what the house looks like?  Check up on the property.  At least call your clients and give them a status update.  While talking with them, ask about the flier box.  Do not leave it on them to call you. 

Who is the client and who is the one working?  Do not say you have too many houses to service.  Take on less business, become more efficient or hire help.

Can you imagine if McDonald's stop supplying ketchup, because the owner does not feel enough people use it? 

Sorry I went off topic of the blog, but the point of my rant is look at your customer and give your customer what they want.  Forget statistics, ask your clients.  Someone above commented that her clients ask about and want fliers, so she has them.  My hat off to her.  She listens to her customers and gives them what they want.

There are points to be made for and against flyer boxes, but If you have them keep them filled. If you believe in flyers an empty box is worse than no flyers.

Flyer boxes may be "Oh so 90's" but so are some buyers. Not everyone texts, and not everyone uses a computer. And not everyone answers their phone immediately when a potential buyer happens to be sitting in front of a house and wants to know more.

Also, some signs just lead buyers to an office phone number. I've called on signs and talked with people who couldn't even figure out what house I was talking about, let alone give me any information.

Why not use a box that has a place for one permanent flyer with the loose ones behind it? The buyers couldn't take a copy, but at least they could find out something more.

I HATE empty flyer boxes, but I've been there. I had a house that was just a few blocks from where I lived so I drove by it daily and it was still empty a few times. I started wondering if kids were taking them. I only keep them up for about 2 weeks when I use them and I only use them in certain "walking" locations.

If you have more than just a few listings, filling flyer boxes is absolutely exhausting.  I'm surprised agents use them at all seeing as this is the 21st century.  We use a 1-800 # sign on each listing, which captures the caller ID, and allows us to follow-up.  We also use a texting service which allows them to text for more info, also capturing their info for follow-up.

I couldn't agree more - if you are going to use a flyer box KEEP IT STOCKED! I do use them occasionally (depends on the property) and I never use them in the winter because they get ruined from the weather. That is annoying also when you a flyer box with wet matted paper.

I think a combination of flyers and higher-tech strategies like a 24-hour 800# or getting information via text message would be good if you can keep the flyers stocked.  This way you get both the tech savvy buyers plus the old school buyers that don't utilize high-tech.

A big problem here is wet flyers, since we have only a couple months of dry weather each year.  Has anyone had any experience with water-resistant paper?  I know there are products out there, but I haven't had experience with them.

I just chuckle when I see those empty boxes. I personally don't use them. I used them long ago and would see 60 flyers disappear within days and no phone calls about my listing. I used to joke that they were taking the flyers so that they could have a piece of paper to write down addresses of the homes they really wanted to see LOL

i will have to agree....empty boxes look bad and what about the agent taht got the listing and now does not care enough to keep the box filled...how do these worthless agents get this business