DOTOLI Group is a family-owned and operated residential real estate and development group based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Known for their knowledge and expertise of the Greater Fort Lauderdale real estate market, DOTOLI Group has built a reputation for offering an unparalleled experience to buyers, sellers, and developers. As part of Compass, the #1 residential real estate brokerage in the US and a Fortune 500 company, DOTOLI Group has access to cutting-edge technology and resources that enable them to deliver exceptional client results. In this case study, we will explore how DOTOLI Group leverages its expertise, network, and innovative approach to provide top-notch service and drive growth in the competitive real estate industry.
Challenge
The problem facing the DOTOLI Group is scaling its business by promoting its exclusive listings to a niche audience of the top 10% of income earners without wasting valuable time and resources on generating arbitrary buyer leads that don’t have intent and the ability to purchase the home aka asset that is being advertised. In a real estate business, the realtor with the most marketable listings employs the marketplace. In other words, listings are considered “showroom” inventory exclusive to the realtor contracted to sell that listing. In most cases, competitor realtors will bring a buyer to the closing table. It behooves DOTOLI Group to furnish their exclusive listings with their procured buyers. It’s a win for the seller (the seller will generally pay a lesser commission to the listing agent who brings the buyer) and a significant victory for the exclusive Listing agent, receiving nearly double the commission.
While Josh Dotoli and his team have established a successful track record and reputation within the top 10% of income earners nationwide, they recognize that traditional digital marketing techniques primarily focus on generating buyer leads, which rarely align with their business objectives.
As the group aims to grow and expand its market share, they prioritize promoting its inventory of listings which is a much higher-end that generates more revenue and minimize its attention on buyer leads with small house values. The challenge lies in finding ways to scale up their business while ensuring that their time and resources are allocated effectively to drive greater returns.
Solution
Our approach to serving clients is based on “less is more.” Instead of marketing to a broad audience that shows signs of interest in a particular neighborhood, we focus on promoting the exclusive one-of-a-kind listing we are trying to sell in that specific neighborhood.
We recognize that buying a high-end house is a complex decision requiring more information and content support than traditional realtor data feeds offer. To this end, our team treats each property as a unique client, dedicating 360-degree attention to every aspect of the listing. This includes creating customized landing pages, which include videos and 3-d interactive walk through that highlight each asset of the home. These strong campaigns underline the property’s features and advantages by spotlighting the asset that stands center stage!
Our Performance Max strategy allows clients to scale their marketing efforts without wasting valuable time and resources on low-value buyer leads. By taking this approach, we can generate strong audience signals and asset quality scores, resulting in more efficient returns on investment. It’s like throwing a cast net vs. a harpoon. A cast net will catch large quantities of smaller fish; the spear is used to capture Moby Dick.
Results
The hyper-focused approach implemented by the team resulted in significant cost savings, as the ad spend cost was reduced by 60%. In addition, the lead generation process became highly targeted, making leads easier to convert due to the extensive content exposure they had received. The team’s success in generating exclusive listings from big projects that required extra attention further strengthened their reputation. It contributed to an impressive return on ad spend, which had increased tenfold since 2019. In 2018 DOTOLI Group finished the year with over 16 million in gross sales, and in 2022 completed the year with more than 200 million dollars in gross sales. Overall, the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the team’s approach in driving more efficient and effective marketing efforts for their clients.
What we learned
In today’s competitive real estate market, it is essential to adopt a strategic and data-driven approach to marketing that emphasizes quality over quantity. By prioritizing quality over quantity and focusing exclusively on high-end listings, the team achieved significant cost savings, increased lead conversion rates, and secured more exclusive listings from big projects. When scaling up, the lesson learned is that less can be more, especially when focusing on highly targeted efforts that generate efficient returns for clients.
