Daiwa House sells a "monthly vacant home check service."
But their real target is work where over 1,000 times more money moves.
This business model can be applied directly to any type of business.
"We spend on ads but don't get good customers."
"High-priced products are hard to sell."
Especially for those facing these issues, here is an explanation.
◼︎ What kind of service?
Once a month, they visit, ventilate, run water, organize the mailbox,
did simple cleaning, and send a photo report via email.
They partner with ALSOK,
so it includes 24-hour monitoring and emergency response.
The fee is about ¥15,000 per month.
Are they doing this just for ¥15,000 a month?
No, that's not it.
What Daiwa House really wants isn't revenue from monitoring.
What they most want to do is
"buying vacant homes" and "renovations."
The average selling price of one vacant home is about ¥18 million.
That's over 1,000 times the monthly monitoring fee.
◼︎ It's extremely difficult to acquire vacant home sales leads through ads
Finding people who want to sell their vacant homes
is incredibly hard.
For people searching "sell vacant home,"
many companies are simultaneously running ads. It's a complete red ocean.
Just inquiries from appraisal sites cost about ¥10,000 per lead.
Since only a small fraction actually hire you, the ad cost per closed deal becomes tens of times higher.
So, they target people who have vacant homes but
"haven't started trying to sell yet."
The entry point is the service:
"We'll check your vacant home once a month."
More than half of people who sold their vacant homes took over two years from owning it to starting the sale process.
During that time, by reporting on the house's condition monthly,
you wait for the right time to sell.
When they finally think "maybe I should sell," the first company they consult is the one sending monthly reports.
You find sales opportunities before competitors, avoiding bidding wars typical in advertising.
That's how it's designed.
From this example, there are three key takeaways:
**1. Separate the product you want to sell from the entry-point product.
- Direct the entry point toward people who haven't acted yet.
- Get information not found online every month from the entry point.**
I'll explain each step so you can use them in your business today.
◼︎ 1. Separate the product you want to sell from the entry-point product
Transactions worth millions aren't requested out of nowhere.
So, first connect with customers using an "easy-to-request product" priced around ¥10,000/month.
The entry-point product doesn't need to make big profits on its own.
**Its role is to create touchpoints with customers.
The profit comes from subsequent products.**
In any business, finding new customers is the hardest part.
Once a relationship is built, you can offer other products.
It's much easier than cold outreach.
If you're currently selling high-priced items directly,
just preparing a low-cost entry product will significantly ease customer acquisition.
I usually charge ¥300,000/hour for consulting, and designing "entry products" is often what I help clients with.
Even if they just take that advice home, it easily pays for itself.
That's how impactful it is.
◼︎ 2. Direct the entry point toward people who haven't acted yet
People searching "want to sell vacant home" are already being contacted by many companies.
Competing there means
battling on ad costs and purchase prices.
But no one is contacting people who say, "I'm not ready to sell yet, but I worry about my house."
If you provide an entry point while their concern is small, when they make a big decision, they'll consult you first without competition.
Job-hunting services also target people at the stage of
"I don't plan to quit immediately, but I'm curious about my market value."
They propose things like
"Why not diagnose your salary first?"
or "Sign up because scouts might reach out."
Targeting only those who "want to change jobs now!" is difficult.
Most job-hunting service commercials reflect this strategy.
◼︎ 3. Get information not found online every month from the entry point
Another value of monitoring is obtaining the "current state" of the house monthly.
"The roof is deteriorating."
"Water leak marks appeared."
"Garden trees are encroaching on neighbors."
This is information not available online or via AI.
Even owners living far away don't know this.
In an era where AI can look up anything,
information that requires on-site visits has value.
Because you have this info, you can suggest
"Now is the time to repair" or
"Sell now before damage worsens" at the perfect timing.
Moreover, even with one entry point, multiple revenue streams branch out afterward:
- Roof/wall repairs
- Renovations for rental purposes
- Estate clearing
- Sales/purchases
One customer generates repeated sales, and after the first time, no ad costs are incurred.
By the way, Daiwa House's monitoring doesn't include grass cutting or tree pruning.
These detailed tasks are areas local companies can capture.
Even if you're not a gardener, you can build a business
"securing work and connecting gardeners."
Companies collecting this "information not found online" are rare.
For example, MEO support for physical stores.
If you see a restaurant posting "Opening Soon," wouldn't you want to approach them first?
"Who would collect 'opening soon' stores?"
"We can't afford sales staff salaries for that."
If you thought that...
Actually, there's a method to gather people who move locally, anywhere in Japan, on needed days, with needed numbers—without hiring a single salesperson.
I'll share that method too if there's demand.
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