Growing Her Business by Shrinking Her Marketing Focus—That’s Music to Viki Benbow’s Ears.

It can happen at the International Sportsman’s Expo at the local convention center. It happens in the frozen foods aisle at the corner supermarket. She hears it often when she visits a client’s home for a listing presentation—people love singing Viki Benbow’s radio and television jingle to her.

Viki Benbow — Tripled her income with her marketing campaign.

Sound of Marketing Dollars at Work

Viki Benbow never quite gets used to it, despite the fact that it occurs so often. Perhaps one should say she never tires of it, because she knows that’s the sound of her marketing dollars hard at work branding her and bringing in lots of money. The jingle is a catchy tune that tags on at the end of her cable television ads and her radio spots that play during special hunting and fishing programs in the Sacramento, California area where Viki calls home.

Turning a Passion into Income

For this 32-year real estate veteran, the jingle and ads are part of a concerted niche marketing campaign that targets hunters, fishing enthusiasts and other aficionados of outdoor activities. Viki, who is an avid outdoors enthusiast herself, has turned that passion into a lucrative real estate market.

She Built a Business then Lost it All

But some background information might give some perspective. Viki was a successful agent throughout the 90s—she had ranked in the top 10 agents among the 350 Coldwell Banker agents in Sacramento, CA. Most of her business came from repeat clients and referrals, and truth be told, she took it for granted that business would just always be there.

But then, Viki’s husband was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Suddenly she found herself devoting her time to taking care of him and spending time with him. Despite trying to “scrap and put deals together,” Viki simply couldn’t keep working. Her savings account dwindled and her real estate career was off the radar. After her husband passed away, she found herself trying to regain her place in the business.

After Stepping Through the Gateway

In 2001, Viki found herself in Las Vegas, attending the Hobbs/Herder Gateway. At the three-day conference, Viki returned to Sacramento with three things: One, proven systems and strategies that would ensure her business never again stumbles regardless of circumstances; two, she purchased a Hobbs/Herder personal brochure and marketing campaign; and, three, she found a renewed confidence in herself that fueled her personal renaissance in real estate.

Capturing Viki

After their initial discussions, Viki and her Writer determined a suitable direction upon which to build her campaign. At the heart of her campaign is her personal brochure that focuses on her unique personality—painting a picture of how she is equally comfortable in a duck blind on a chilly morning or at home preparing a sumptuous formal gourmet meal for guests. This personal brochure not only perfectly captures who Viki is, it also serves as the cornerstone that propels her niche marketing targeting fellow hunters and fishermen.

Where Do We Sign?

The results speak for themselves. She can point to isolated examples such as the two different fly fishing clients who went to her website on different occasions, connected with Viki through the fishing photos displayed on her site, then each contacted her and both turned into closed transactions and over $25,000 worth of income! She can also point to the big picture. Since she has launched her campaign (brochure, direct mail PowerKard, Houseflier and subsequent television and radio ads), Viki has surpassed any of her previous sales figures, and in 2005, she ranked 14th of the 1,300 agents in the Greater Sacramento area. After tripling her income over the last few years, her goal for 2006 is to earn $750,000 in gross commissions, followed by $1 million in 2007.

And best of all, she’s enjoying her career more than ever. “I love being able to work with like-minded people,” explains Viki. “Often, I go to a listing presentation, and the first words out of my prospective client’s lips are ‘we are going to interview a couple of other agents.’ I start talking about our mutual interests in hunting and fishing, and before I know it, they’re asking me ‘do you have some papers for us to sign’?”

A Special Connection

And that is the magic of focusing on a niche market. By shrinking her market focus to concentrate on hunters, fishermen (and fisherwomen), Viki, who has become known as the real estate huntress, has steadily grown her market share and increased her income. The truth is, people love working with likeminded people. There is a special connection that not only lures and attracts prospective clients, but helps Viki close more deals at her listing presentations.

Viki estimates her listing presentation success rate as 98 percent, and better yet, she is now able to pick and choose the clients with whom she wants to work. She says for the first time in a long time, she is having fun with her business and loves going to work every day. With a steady flow of leads coming in, she can afford to pass on people who she feels might be difficult or simply will not be a good personality match.

Identifying and Building the Niche Market

The first and most important step for Viki was to identify her niche and find creative ways to reach them. Like a traditional “farming” agent, one key way was through direct mail. Viki did research, did the legwork and through affiliations with several hunting, fishing and outdoor groups and associations such as Ducks Unlimited, she started cultivating a mailing list. The other key was that by joining these groups, her networking with her niche market increased.

To further target her marketing efforts, Viki researched several advertising media to reach her unique niche. She is currently running her cable television spots on the show Fun Fishing, a half hour fishing show on local Comcast cable. She has three different spots completed, one is her sitting behind her desk, and the other two show her out in the wilderness on a fishing boat. Viki says the spots that film her actually fishing are more effective at connecting with her niche. It physically shows her partaking of their shared pastime of fishing, and further bonds her with prospective clients.

In addition, Viki runs spots on a radio show, California Sportsman, which plays on major sports radio channels. Four times a year, Viki is shown being interviewed on how she got into fishing and hunting, and the rest of the time she runs a special radio spot. Both the television ad and the radio spot feature the ubiquitous and catchy Viki Benbow jingle.

The Infamous “Jingle”

“I was visiting the International Sportsman Expo last year,” says Viki. “I’m walking down the different aisles, looking at the various booths and someone says, ‘there’s Viki Benbow!’ And then I hear two or three men singing my jingle to me. That’s when I know that people, the right people, are hearing my marketing message.

Cost of Doing Business

And that’s the story of Viki Benbow, a Sacramento Realtor® who built a strong business, lost it, and then grew it back stronger than before through her powerful Hobbs/Herder personal marketing campaign and her unique niche focus. She wonders how many more times she’ll have to hear her own jingle sung back to her, but then shrugs and points out if that’s a cost of growing her business, it’s a cost she’s more than happy to bear. “I know that the Hobbs/Herder personal marketing campaigns and their business systems work,” Viki says. “I also know that if I utilized everything from the Gateway seminar, I’d have way more business than I could handle!”