Why being the first to the starting line is important for your business - by Denver Gibbs

If you are running the Boston Marathon the goal is to be the first to the finish line. But when it comes to developing new customers on a local level, it pays to be the first to the starting line. Here’s why.

Like politics, all business is local, and new customers from the local area are the lifeblood of any growing company. This dictum applies to both retail establishments and service providers. Which is why getting your business in front of new members of the local community is essential. “New movers” are a wide open market in need of connections and services, but not yet tethered to any provider.

America is a nation on the move. The typical American moves 11.7 times during their lifetime, with the need to establish new roots and new routines with each move. In the past two years alone, due to the rapid rise in the number of companies allowing people to work remotely, millions of people have “untethered” from the office and made the decision to relocate, creating even more opportunities to capitalize on the new movers market.

“Nobody’s Customer”

The average new mover develops 72 new business relationships within one year of moving. They need to find home services like a landscaper, HVAC contractor, fuel delivery company, and plumber; along with local shopping options, new favorite restaurants, and professional services like dentists, doctors and lawyers.

New movers have money to spend. According to a study conducted by the National Association of Home Builders, new movers spend nearly $11,000 on various appliances, furnishings and property alterations alone during the first year in their new home.

But initially, they are not bound to any local business. They are nobody’s customer. Which makes them an ideal target for marketing a wide range of services and products. If you manage to get their attention before the competition, you can create long-term customers - studies have shown that new movers are 5 times more likely to remain loyal customers than current residents.

A Narrow Window

New residents are making those 72 new business relationships immediately after moving in. Therefore, it is essential to reach them as early as possible to introduce your services and make your case for their business. Yet traditional new mover data suppliers cannot deliver the in-depth profile information you need in less than 30 days. That is not quick enough to get in front of a new neighbor during their prime decision making time.

We thought that was a shame. The data was there. We have the technology to extract it. All it took was months and months and months of work to reconcile the dozens of ways the information we needed was classified, sorted and stored. But the result – LocalLeads365.com – was worth the effort.

We can now deliver a complete profile of the purchaser of a new residential or commercial property in Massachusetts within 24 hours of the official filing of the sale. Information a business can use to identify and target new movers in their market area quickly and easily. Users can use search criteria to determine the type of property transaction they want to target and get data statewide or filtered down to a single zip code.

For residential sales LocalLeads365.com tracks names of the buyer and seller, property location (with Google map and image), structural data (year built, bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, lot size, heating fuel type, HVAC, etc.), parcel data, and historical sales data.

For commercial property sales LocalLeads365.com delivers corporate data, ownership names, parcel data, frontage, structural data (square footage, roof type, heating type, etc.), location (with Google map and image), applicable zoning and land use codes, and historical sales data.

Putting the Data to Use

What will you do with this instantly available information? If you already have a new movers marketing program in place the data from LocalLeads365.com will help you accelerate the process and beat the competition to the prospect’s door. Or you can take advantage of our built-in marketing program to create and deliver a customized direct mail letter or postcard. All through a convenient campaign dashboard on our website.

Don’t get left behind by your competitors. Be the first to say hello to your new neighbors and you are much more likely to create a valuable long-term customer.

Denver Gibbs is CEO of LocalLeads365.com, a web-based provider of real estate transactional data in Massachusetts.