We all have needs. We all have bills to pay, mouths to feed (in my case 5 mouths to feed – I know, it is not easy!), and some have university to pay for. I get it. Today, I want you to consider setting that aside, and instead start working in a vision. Ask yourself, “Is my real estate business driven by my vision or my needs“?
That’s right, what if you started working according to a vision, instead of working according to your needs? I recently went through this myself and earlier this year, I realized I was working according to my needs and not my vision. I had a vision, but it was blurry. And most importantly, it was secondary to my needs. Over the next 48 hours I got super-focused on what my vision was going to be. I want to share the exact formula of how I produced my vision and magic that happened once I did; but before I do that, I want to help you get a better understanding of the power of working according to a vision, vs. working according to your needs.
Most of us are used to responding to needs and do everything we can to meet those needs as they arise. This is not inherently bad, those things absolutely need to be addressed, but at what cost? This endless cycle is one reason why people never step into their true purpose. We’re too busy thinking about our needs. We find ourselves focusing on one closing, because ‘if this doesn’t close, I can’t pay my bills.’
Or we got lost in the middle of a hard transaction and lose focus on what we need to do to move the needle of our business. We easily find ourselves stuck focusing on our needs instead of on our vision. Most inventions, scientific advancements, and dramatic accomplishments were done by people who didn’t focus on their need, but rather on something that motivated them. People who are visionaries are focused on the future, not now, and especially not the past. They are looking forward and working in that forward vision.
Focusing on your needs instead of living according to a grander vision is like running around to put out a bunch of small fires. If you are only living to meet your needs, your focus will constantly be on those fires. This is stressful and often means many people never reach their full potential.
When you live according to a vision, the fires bow to that vision. It’s fun to work on the things we love, right? We find we have more creativity, passion, and energy; things are usually lacking when we are stressed about meeting the immediate needs in front of us. I am positive there are greater things for you to achieve…stop chasing fires and start chasing your vision!
Making Your Real Estate Business Driven by Vision
Here Is A Top Agents Exact Business Vision. Put your vision into these three pillars.
The first pillar: What am I going to do to stay in touch with my sphere of influence? The people that know, like and trust me. That one is easy, Service For Life! I mail to my database, and I get about a 10% return – if I have 300 in my database, that means I will do about 30 transactions a year from people in my database or referrals from people in my database.
The second pillar: What am I going to do to chase business? I decide whether it is going to be open houses, geographic farm, door knocking or Facebook Advertising. I am going to focus on being the best I can be for one at a time. If I pick Open House, then I go and study and produce the best plan. I am going to be the King of Opens! Once I have mastered the first then if I am going to run the next, say Facebook Advertising to generate leads. Again, I go study and produce my best plan.
The third pillar: What am I going to do to attract business? I decide whether I am going to create a podcast, show, blog, book, and more – it’s going to be called I Love ______ (your hometown). I am going to help people who are new to ______ (your hometown), get connected to other people, places and events happening in the city I love!
The magic. Now this is the cool thing – not only did this give me a vision, but it gave my coaching clients a vision! We all made this our vision. Now it’s your turn. What is your vision for your business?
Let me ask you a simple but very important question? “Do you find yourself consistently inconsistent in your real estate business and personal life?” How do we hold ourselves accountable and stop procrastinating? How do we break that consistently inconsistency trend in business and life?
One simple answer is to get an accountability buddy. Think back to school. What motivated you to finally finish a paper? Was it a love of learning? Knowing how valuable this skill was going to be in the future? No. It was probably a looming deadline and the threat of a failing grade for turning it in late.
During school, we have built-in accountability. For grown-up goals like starting a business, losing weight, or writing a book, there’s typically no accountability for us to get it done. Accountability buddies can help us make meaningful progress. Surrounding ourselves with people invested in our success is the best way to make progress on our goals. Follow these steps to set up an accountability buddy.
Accountability helps you stay focused on your goals. As a real estate agent, you have a lot of competing priorities. You need to find new clients, nurture existing relationships, manage your listings, and close deals. It’s easy to get distracted or overwhelmed by all the demands on your time and attention. But when you hold yourself accountable for your goals, you stay focused on what’s most important. You set clear objectives, create a plan to achieve them, and track your progress along the way. This helps you stay motivated and on track, even when the going gets tough.
Create a schedule and commit – Decide how frequently you’ll meet. Once a week is a good starting point. You’ll have time to get things done in between your meetups (either in person or on the phone), but not so long that you start procrastinating or forgetting what you agreed to. Then set a time and commit. Put it on your calendar and don’t let anything get in the way.
Help your buddy (and yourself) set better goals – Then we have a broad goal like “get healthy,” the failure comes in not knowing where to start. What do we do this month, this week, today, to make that happen? If we can’t answer that simply, how are we supposed to act on it? Create SMART objectives that follow these guidelines:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-oriented
Be honest with each other – My friend recently told me about an event he attended. A group of women were brought in to give direct feedback about how they perceived a group of men’s clothing and demeanor. Try to imagine what happened. “The guys were crying,” my friend said. “Nobody had ever given us this kind of brutal feedback.” My friend realized he’d never received brutally honest feedback on how he interacted with women. We should subject ourselves to uncomfortable situations where we take on the “beginner’s mind” and force ourselves to grow. An accountability buddy gives us the rare opportunity for brutal honesty.
Ask great questions – Smart people ask questions because they know it’s the best way to get to the true heart of a matter. When you say you were too busy to work out this week, what are you really saying? Chances are you had time to watch Netflix or go out for drinks, so what really held you back? Maybe you were nervous about walking into a new gym. By asking great questions, you and your accountability buddy can break through invisible barriers.
Gamify accountability with your friends – I love bets. There are myriad psychological studies about public commitment, which is highly persuasive. If you tell a group of people, you’re going to stop smoking, you’re highly motivated to hit that goal. You can do this with your accountability buddy, too. If you each set a goal, bet who will hit it first. Or you can keep score of who completes more of their weekly tasks. Make it fun!
Accountability helps you build trust with your clients. Real estate is a relationship business. Your clients are trusting you to help them buy or sell one of the biggest assets they’ll ever own. They want to work with someone they can trust, someone who is honest, reliable, and committed to their success. When you hold yourself accountable for your actions and decisions, you demonstrate that you take that trust seriously. You show that you are willing to do whatever it takes to help your clients achieve their goals, even if it means admitting when you’ve made a mistake.
Accountability helps you learn and grow. No one is perfect. We all make mistakes from time to time. But when you hold yourself accountable for your results, you turn those mistakes into opportunities for learning and growth. You ask yourself what you could have done differently, what you can learn from the experience, and how you can improve in the future. This helps you become a better agent, a better business owner, and a better person.
If this was so easy, we wouldn’t need to be held accountable and we all need to find that accountability. That consistently being inconsistent happens to us all. I challenge you to take one step towards accountability this coming week and in a few weeks email me wade@agentsboost.com what changes you have noticed from those steps you have taken!!
The greatest document created for the real estate industry in the last ten years, must be the Buyers agreement. Think about it… agents would never think of marketing and promoting a seller’s home without a listing contract but why do so many agents spend a ton of time and money working for a buyer without a buyer’s agreement? Why did they create this document but forget to train the real estate professional how to present the value proposition to their buyer to want to sign it prior to buying their next home?
Agents take the time to sit down with a seller and present…
Why them?
Why their company?
The benefits to selling their home before asking them to enter a listing contract.
Does it not make perfect sense for an agent to take the time to sit with a buyer prior to their home buying search and present to the home buyer the same as the seller? What would it mean to you to have your buyer under contract exclusively with you and your company instead of driving them around and showing them a large number of homes, burning your own gas, buying coffees and lunches and then they call you to say “ we didn’t want to bother you on a Sunday and saw the perfect house at an open house and bought it.
We wanted to thank you for everything you did and hope this house plant will look good in your office as a token of our appreciation.” I know this happens because it has happened to me. To protect yourself from the “house plant” scenario I encourage you to sit your home buyers down and share with them the benefits they receive from entering into the buyer agreement.
Tell your clients… “just like my sellers hire me to sell their home by authorizing a seller agreement, I also get my home buyers to hire me as their exclusive buyer’s agent and authorize this exclusive buyer agreement.”
The worst thing they can say is “no thank you” and you still can choose to work with them or not, but this is a great qualifying tool for any buyer and should only take less than an hour for a buyers consultation and prevent the 3 days, 20 showings, 1 tank of gas and end up with an office plant as a token gift outcome.
“10 Home WWIFM The Buyer Benefits To Them Having A Buyers Agreement.”
The Doctor/Patient Advantage (Client Confidentiality)
Let’s say your client is going from house to house and agent to agent, sharing their personal and financial information with everyone. When they do put in an offer, how does it affect their bargaining power if the Seller’s agent already knows everything about them? It is critical they share this information with only one agent, so it won’t work against them later. Their Buyer Agent is on their side, not the Seller’s side… make sure they understand the importance of this.
The Instant Information Advantage (No Communication Delays)
When your client is relying on the internet, newspapers, or magazines as their source for house listings it is important, they remember these systems all have built-in delays. These delays can be from a few days to a week before the listing actually makes it to them. How many of the hottest real estate deals or best buys make it that far before they are sold? Very few. Get your home buyer on the inside track with the most current and up to date information.
The Insider Advantage (Buyer, Meet Seller)
A great many hot properties are sold exclusively by sleeve or pocket listings, before they are even activated on MLS (Multiple Listing Service). These pocket listings are often sold well before the public even knows about them. In these cases, the Sellers who wanted to sell and Buyers who wanted to buy were introduced and made their transaction through the Direct Client program. Emphasize to your home buyer the importance of them having access to these types of home listings.
The Inbox Advantage (Convenient Auto Email Updates)
As an agent, I have the technology to be notified of a new listing on the MLS system by the minute, and then quickly notify my Direct Clients. I can use my privileged access to this listing data to get you in to see your perfect home before most of the other potential Buyers even know about it. Be sure to show your buyers the power of this.
The Invisible Listing Advantage (Find the properties that aren’t for sale)
As part of a large sales force, I am constantly in contact with other agents. They may have Potential Sellers: homeowners who would sell if they had a Buyer. We call this the “water cooler transaction”. I mention I have someone looking for a special kind of property, and the other agent has a property that fits like a glove but isn’t even on the market! Yet another benefit for your buyer to enter into an Exclusive Buyers Agency Agreement.
The Active Agent Advantage (Buyer Agents are prospectors.
Personally, I won’t just wait for listings in the Direct or VIP program: I’ll go out and find my buyer’s perfect home! I will prospect by telephone, direct mail or pound the pavement door-to-door, investing as much time as it takes to find their ideal property. Why wait weeks or months until it is listed for sale? Show them you are serious, if they will show you, they’re serious to work with you.
The Accountability Advantage (Contractual Obligations – For Me!)
Direct Clients hire me under contract, just like Sellers hire me under a listing contract. This ensures my Direct Buyers receive benefits other prospective Buyers do not. When we enter into this contract, I am required to perform specific duties within a fixed time, or the agreement is null and void.
The Easy Exit Advantage (Fire Me Anytime!)
If my buyers are unhappy with my services for any reason, I give them the opportunity to correct the situation. If the problem continues, then I promise them an unconditional release from our contractual agreement with no questions asked. This removes the risk factor from your client.
The Guaranteed Communication Advantage (I Promise Not to Disappear)
My home buyers can expect a regular delivery of prospective homes to consider and ongoing communication from me. I’ll keep them up to date on the hottest new listings, so we can beat the rush and get them in to see these properties before other potential Buyers. This way they will see the best buys first! Give your buyers the sense they will be treated preferentially if they agree to sign the Exclusive Buyers Agreement.
The Transaction Coordination Advantage (I’ll find the property, then help them own it)
There will be a large group of professionals involved in completing your buyer’s transaction: bankers, insurance agents, inspectors, appraisers, utility workers, and lawyers just to name a few. All these professionals do not have time to contact each other and facilitate your buyer’s purchase. It’s a huge benefit for your home buyer to have an agent they trust, who will coordinate all these services on their behalf. Sell this benefit then ask them to sign the agreement.
I hope you see the advantages of having your home buyers enter into the Exclusive Buyer agreement with you as well as the benefits the client receives as well. Try it out and measure the effectiveness of the response you receive.
Bonus Item – Click to download Platinum Home Purchase Plan ( Value Proposition For The Buyer ) What you do and what Value You Bring. Literally your buyer presentation ( see attached )
You’ve heard a million times that running a successful business is a matter of consistent cause & effect. You shoot a video, and it gets a bunch of likes, and maybe some of them turn into transactions. You make your phone calls which leads to more deals which lead to more money. It almost sounds too simple, doesn’t it?
Well, technically it is that simple when you run the right plays – it’s just also hard and requires a lot of willpower. If cause & effect were easy to recognize and control, there would be no suffering alcoholics in the world. They’d all say, “Taking this drink will cause negative effects in my life, and therefore I will not do it.” But we all know it’s not that easy, and doing the work it takes to be successful is the same basic concept.
In this blog, we’ll talk about your motivation to keep controlling The Law of Cause & Effect even when things get hard. Let’s dive right in…
Step 1: Start with the “Effect” – This is the same thing as starting with your “Why.” Know what you want and picture it so clearly that you can almost feel it within reach. Get super honest with yourself about what you really want to create in your life, because that’s the only way it’s going to motivate you through challenges.
Write it down.
The most important aspect of motivation is knowing why you’re doing the things you’re doing and exactly how each action will serve you. If you want to lift weights but don’t have the energy or motivation to do so, it’s probably because you’re thinking about the boring, exhausting challenge of the lifting (the cause). Instead, you should be thinking about the healthier body and increased energy you’ll get (the effect). It’s amazing just how many things people do regularly without ever stopping to question WHY they’re doing them and what benefits they will bring.
Step 2: Make It About More Than Yourself – Who are the closest people in your life? Your husband/wife, boyfriend/girlfriend, mom/dad, kids? What will motivate them to hold you accountable? Notice, this isn’t the last step because we haven’t even talked about the actions you’re going to take.
This is so important that nothing can stand in the way of it. Write down four amounts of money you want to make throughout the year, a dollar amount to achieve by the end of each quarter. Now, write down something that you will do for your loved ones if you achieve those desired numbers. Will you take the kids to Disney? Buy your mom a new car? Treat your partner to a romantic getaway or buy a new home?
Step 3: Draw a Line from Actions to Their Corresponding Effect – Take the desired changes you want to see and the money you want to make and work backwards from there. What direct actions will lead you to those goals?
How many transactions?
How many appointments to get a transaction?
How many leads to get an appointment?
How many hours a day are you working your lead gen?
What lead gen systems are you running?
Take it all the way back to the first action. Use the plays that you know work or ones that are proven to work for other agents. For instance, the 2,300+ of our coaching members who are participating in my $100k in 100 Days campaign have sent the same text 375,000+ times because it keeps working repeatedly. Make sure that you can trace a line directly from your first action all the way to the result. When you do this, you’re creating a followable SOP for achieving your goal. Database 110% Community Focused.
Step 4: Do the Same for Distractions and Harmful Actions – A big part of what I want to do here is to get you to see The Law of Cause & Effect in every action you take throughout the day so that you can stop yourself from falling off track even when the going gets tough and your defenses are down.
With that in mind, look at your common habits and break down the step-by-step effects they have on your life. Watching TV – staying up late – feeling groggy in the morning – not making calls – performing poorly during meetings. Not exercising – gaining weight – loss of energy – health issues. Going out to a bar – less money – hangover – poor performance. Scrolling social media in the morning – being distracted throughout the day – forgetting things – slowed progress. Now, I’m not saying that you should never enjoy your life, but you need to be aware that even your smallest actions have ripple consequences.
Step 5: Set Up Accountability – By now, you should know exactly what actions you will take on a day-by-day basis to achieve your goals and what can get in the way. So, let’s go back to Step 2 – those rewards you’ll give your loved ones for holding you accountable to your goals. Write down the number, the reward, and the daily actions it will take to achieve them. Then show that piece of paper to your loved one.
Make it very clear to them that this isn’t a lottery you’ve entered; it’s a simple matter of cause & effect: “If I do all of these actions, I will make this amount of money and then you will get this gift.” Even if your spouse or kids never cared about how many phone calls you made before, I bet they’ll start asking about them all the time now.
Step 6: Remind Yourself Every Day of The Law of Cause & Effect – Take your own personal “desired effects” and post them on the wall of your office so that you can see them every day. Just take a moment every morning to read what you wrote, close your eyes, imagine it, and use that to motivate the actions you’re about to take.
And before you pick up the phone, shoot a video, or do anything on your to-do list, remind yourself of exactly what effect these actions will have in bringing your plan to life. Ideally, we’d always understand the chain reaction that each one of our actions will set in motion. It takes consistent vigilance but trust me, it’s so much better than living life as a passenger through the chaos. I hope this has been helpful. If you’re serious about mastering your willpower and running actions that consistently drive results, the proven solution is right here.
We are still experiencing low inventory levels across North America, and it seems that we are going to see this for a while.
Sellers don’t where they are going next and worried that they would list and sell and then be without a home. So, ask yourself what’s your goal in 2024?
More buyer leads, more listing appointments, better brand recognition and market share? No matter which of these you’ve set your sights on, there’s one sure-fire way to help with each of these: listings. In addition to generating new real estate buyer and seller leads, listings also offer the opportunity to showcase your brand and expertise with valuable, relevant content. So, if you believe that More Listings = More Leads and you want more of both, you’re in the right place.
Read on for 19 strategies to generate listings from your past clients, sphere of influence, cold leads, and more.
Call your past clients and sphere to share some good news. –Let’s start with a big one: this tip can help you with every single person in your database (and ones who aren’t even in there yet). Bring value to the table right away with an interesting stat about the housing market. Here’s a great one to start, with a great angle built into it: The value of the US Housing Market increased by $1.9 trillion in 2020. That’s a 6.2% increase! Want to know how much your house’s value went up as part of it?
You know your market better than we do, so if you’ve got a more interesting or relevant stat about your area, lead with that. Regardless, find an appropriate angle to pair with your stat and you’ll start having better conversations that lead to more listings.
Send this email. –Here’s another stat for you to share with your past clients, sphere, and seller leads, and it’s a doozy and has generated a ton of interested replies and appointments. For the subject line: Zillow was WAY off! Or The Assessment Authority was WAY off!!! Here’s the message we wrote: Did you know that the CEO of Zillow sold his home for 40% less than the “Zestimate”? They have a disclaimer on their website where you can see exactly how INACCURATE they are. They just make it hard to find. With that in mind, if you are considering the sale of your home, (or the address of a home you want to buy), reply to this email right now with your home’s address and I would be happy to send you a “Zactimate.”
Post an Instagram Story poll. –This might be the easiest tip to act on – you can open your phone and do it right now. Add to your Instagram Story with a poll asking: “Are you planning on selling your home this year?” Obviously, you’ll get more “No’s than “Yeses but any Yes or more in-depth answer provides an easy opportunity to follow up via DM.
Go live on Facebook from a neighborhood entrance. –You’ve probably heard you should be investing in video. If you’re ready to take the plunge but haven’t figured out what to film, here’s a tried-and-true way to get yourself out there: Head to a local landmark or the entrance of a neighborhood in your area. Give the details about two properties that recently sold nearby. Add a CTA that lets your viewers know they can email or DM you to inquire about other sold homes or check their own home’s value. That’s it!
Start each day prospecting for sellers. –Generate more appointments and contracts with the 5-5-4 routine and it’s easy to duplicate. Every day, you should have:
5 conversations with people you don’t know, new potential prospects.
5 conversations with your hottest prospects
4 conversations with your sphere of influence
What do you say on the phone with your sphere? Try “Have you had any thoughts of selling?” and “Do you know anybody that’s had thoughts of selling?” Tim’s sphere is so used to answering that now they start thinking about who might be selling any time Tim pauses in the conversation.
Search Zillow’s “Make Me Move” listings (and FSBOs)Here’s a strategy to help prospect seller leads that you can be sure want to sell their home. In fact, they’re already on Zillow. Head to Zillow.com and search for homes for sale in your area. Clear the “Listing Type” menu and only keep “Make Me Move” selected – now you have a list of seriously interested sellers to start some conversations with. Once you have the filters selected, not only will you see the current Make Me Moves but you can ALSO subscribe via email to get alerts any time more are added!
Use Realtor.com (or your MLS) to find upcoming expired listings.Just like the tip about Zillow above, this technique is available to anyone thanks to technology and public records. Use Realtor.com’s home search and sort by “Newest Listings.” But you’re not here for the most recent listings on the market, so scroll down and click on the last page of search results. Take a screengrab of the listings with a low photo count and a high number of days on the market – you can show the seller the difference between how their home was marketed before it expired and how you can help show it off now. Now you’ve got a list of some upcoming expired and can start your prep work on how you’ll approach them.
Take advantage of the “instant offer” trend. –Instant Offers have, understandably, made some real estate agents worried. Open Door and Zillow Offers make a compelling argument to consumers who are motivated by convenience. But that’s not their only motivation… Instant Offers are all but guaranteed to be low-ball offers. If you’re in a market where homes are moving fast, you can turn an “Instant Offer” into a seller looking for a home value report. How? We like what the Wertz Group does by asking “Does your home qualify for an ‘instant’ offer?” Be prepared to respond quickly: many sellers want the most money they can get, but these companies are proving there is still a huge market for people who value speed.
Refresh your listing presentation and process.Focus on current marketing strategies in today’s economy and offer the solutions to the challenges of the sellers. Add pre-emptive offers, multiple offers and coming soon strategies and information that we never had to have before.
Sell your services. –If you ask the average real estate agent what’s more important between buyers and sellers, they’ll typically say sellers. But when you look at their websites, the first thing highlighted is a home search. Stop sending the wrong signal, start selling your services. Every real estate website should have a page that sells its services to potential home sellers. Selling your home is a daunting process, so give your prospective clients the peace of mind that you have a tried-and-true plan to list, market, and sell their home.
Establish a Seller Success Series. –When you’ve used all the tips on this list, you’re going to have a lot of happy sellers. You can turn those into even more listings, by turning the corner on a common business practice and making something truly compelling. He’s leveled up his reviews by turning his wildly positive customer experiences into evergreen content that sells every new person who comes to his website. The stories are interesting, unique and are an authentic representation of his brand. The best part? People help support what they create. Feature your clients in a positive light and turn them into your brand ambassadors! We believe that if you tell more stories, you’ll sell more homes.
Find hidden sellers. –It’s no secret that generating buyer leads is much easier than attracting the ever-elusive seller lead. The common mistake we see many savvy real estate agents miss is they forgot to ask their buyer leads one very simple question. “Do you need to sell your home before you buy a new one?” Buried in your database of thousands of buyer leads are hundreds of sellers. These homeowners need to sell their home before they buy a new one, they are just waiting for you ask the right question! Here’s the tip: Update your automated action plans that go out to include a question about their current living situation. “Do you own a home, and do you need to sell it before you buy a new one?” You can tweak this script to your liking but whatever you do, don’t forget to ask!
Update your referral network. –This is actually a two-step tip: first up, it’s time to update your list of approved and recommended vendors. Finding reputable people that you trust is the hard part, so take this question to your email database and your followers on Facebook. “We’re updating our list of approved vendors. Who do you love and recommend?” Be sure to let them know you’ll be publishing your list publicly.
Re-earn their business. –One of the biggest mistakes we see people make is mistaking delivering a great experience for earning a customer’s business for life. For some, sure, a job well done means you’ll go back to the same agent the next time you have a real estate need. But some consumers treat transactions like exactly that: You do a service for them, they pay you for that service, end of transaction. That’s why it’s important to stay on your past clients’ minds, but not be intrusive or obnoxious about it. We’ve crafted an email for you to send that can help achieve both.
Subject Line: What’s your plan?
Here’s the message we wrote: Hi [name], It’s sometimes hard to imagine a day when you’re going to want to sell your home, but that day eventually comes. 1 year, 3 years, 5 years? It’s hard to say because life has a way about being unpredictable.
I wanted to make sure you knew I was here for you when that moment came. My job is to help develop a plan: There are things we can be doing now and, in the future, to help maximize your profit when you sell. This includes your mortgage payment schedule, what home improvements to make or avoid, and, of course, timing. All these factors (and many more) have a dramatic impact on what you should do between now and when the time comes to sell.
Incentivize loyalty. –You’re probably familiar with loyalty cards and VIP programs. You probably even do some form of one, with the occasional gift and past client appreciation events. VIP experience enhances the whole process. Make past clients and referrers feel special with one-time perks like free movie tickets and dinner at local restaurants, but she also formalizes it with quarterly gifts, recurring coffee, and tea, and more.
Speak to their pain points. –People have a hard time believing you can solve their problems if you haven’t made it clear you understand what those problems are. Many avoid writing discussing the potential pitfalls, not wanting to appear to be a fearmonger. But there’s a lot of space between “everything is awesome” and being a Negative Nelly – space that real people occupy and need guidance through. So don’t be afraid to acknowledge those pain points in your ads and emails. Speak to issues like not knowing whether it’s the right time to list, whether they’ll be able to afford a new home, the complications of the home selling process, and more. Then point them to the Seller Services page we recommended you build back in Tip #10 and stake your claim as the expert who can help through all the challenges.
Level up your just sold posts and home value ads. – There was a time when simply publishing a good looking “Just Sold” post on Facebook was enough to be a differentiator. That time has passed. It’s time to get back ahead of the curve. Everyone’s doing them now. So how do you make yours stand out? This data can be presented as the dry, public record that it is, or you can make it connect with your audience by framing it in a specific, timely way. Which of these are you more likely to click?
OPTION A: Just Sold ABOVE Listing Price: 2 bed, 2 bath condo in the North End
or
OPTION B: Another North End Condo Sells ABOVE Asking Price: Find out how this impacts your home’s value.
The best opportunity you have now is to turn these “Just Sold” moments from general awareness campaigns that showcase your overall prowess into direct opportunities to help individuals who will do business with you.
Give away your secret sauce.There is a general fear in real estate that if we give away our information, our competition will steal our ideas, or our consumers will realize that they don’t need us. But the truth is this: Consumers have proven time and time again they are willing to pay for convenience. Instacart, Dollar Shave Club, Quip Toothbrush — all charge a premium to remove the hassle from the process of buying or using the product. By giving away your trade secrets, you elevate your brand and become the authority. It’s counterintuitive but it’s true. Creating a well-designed, comprehensive, useful piece like “40 Top Tips for Selling Your Home is a big step in earning the trust of the consumer.”
Use your current bona fide buyers. –Ask for help and humanize the message by sharing first names of buyers and what they want to buy and spread the word. Email your database or post on your social media channels who is looking and what they need. If safe you can door knock or leave a door hanger, mail a flyer or postcard, or just post a video asking for help for you buyers and see if that triggers a listing appointment response.
Mail or drop off unsolicited CMA packages to all your past clients.Just put together all the listings and sales in the last 6 months that are relative them and their home. Don’t give them your opinion of value and call them a few days later asking them if they got it? Any questions? See if this will trigger a listing appointment response for you as well.
So, there you have some more creative of ways to be proactively generating appointments for listing opportunities in a market that we all need to be proactive versus reactive to get that product and inventory back up again. Feel free to reach out and share any other great listing appointment generators you may be having success with today!
Why do nearly nine out of every 10 agents fail and quit the real estate business? I’ve worked with and studied real estate professionals for 3 decades, and this week I am sharing some of the biggest reasons why agents fail. Avoiding these pitfalls will help you join that elusive “Club 13” — the 13 percent of agents who survive and truly succeed in this business.
Being Interested vs. Committed. Just being interested in your real estate career isn’t enough. Liking houses and liking people isn’t enough. When you’re interested, you do things when they’re convenient. Success in real estate is all about being fully committed, which means doing whatever it takes as long as it takes to achieve your goals. Are you all in? If you’re not fully committed, it’s time to reassess your career choice. It is too easy to get in and even easier to get out.
Being Strategic. Can you explain your market trends easily? Do you truly know your market? What’s selling? What’s not? To survive in real estate, you need to look at your marketplace from a strategic standpoint. You must look at the hot sheets every day, the stats every month and know what is trending every quarter. You must own that knowledge and become the knowledge broker in your market. It’s not enough to simply like houses and enjoy working with people. Take a step back, analyze your market and make sure you know it, and you know your place in it. Now the numbers, trends and truth about your local market and share it!
Fear of Making Mistakes & Desire to Look Good. There’s a lot of vanity in real estate, which can lead to people shying away from anything that might paint them in unflattering light. But you can’t be afraid to make mistakes. Mistakes are how wisdom is gained. Mistakes are how we learn and grow. Accept it’s okay to make mistakes or not know the answers to everything. Try new things, see what works, learn from what doesn’t, and always keep moving forward. The more mistakes you make, the more you’ll bridge the gap between knowing and not knowing.
No (or Wrong) Role Model. Having someone to look up to, to aspire to, to model your behaviors on is a hugely critical step to help you reach that “next level” in real estate. Far too many agents have no role model for their business. Or they have the wrong one. To accelerate your ascent in this business, find someone who is successful in both life and business and model your behaviors on theirs. We all smell like those we rub up against.
Your Gas Station is Only Open One Day a Week for an Hour. Once a week you try something once and can’t figure out why nothing is working. As a real estate agent, your No. 1 priority is attracting customers. It’s not a part-time pursuit. Don’t get me wrong it is not 7 days a week 24 hours a day. Far too many agents do just a little bit of marketing once a week and hope for the best. Lead generation and lead conversion need to be your primary focus. If there was a way to teach every new agent this philosophy and force them to live up to it, that 87% failure rate would decrease dramatically. Focus on the “Core 4″… Database. Open Houses. Geographic Farming. Online Presence.
Job vs. Business Owner. Monday-Friday, 9:00-6:00 Mentality. Being a real estate agent isn’t a job. It’s a business. It’s YOUR business. You need to become and act like a business owner. You’ll get out of it what you put into it. Especially if you’re new, you absolutely must put in the time and effort. All the money is made before 9:00am and after 6:00pm. If that doesn’t work for you, you might be in the wrong business.
No Sales Swagger. Long ago NAR released a report that said most new agents come into real estate with no sales experience, no marketing experience, and no negotiation experience. What are the essential skills of succeeding in real estate? Sales. Marketing. Negotiations. Hmmm. If you haven’t mastered these three skills, you need to be working on them constantly. Put yourself in situations where you learn the objections, get hung up on and gain that experience. Putting yourself in those situations repeatedly will break down those fears of calling FSBOs, expired and the like. I often encourage brand new agents to work with FSBOs and expired to break them in with “the most challenging” clients. When you know what to say, everything becomes easier.
It’s Math. No Goals Broken Into Numbers That Get Measured. When you know your numbers, you put yourself in control. On average, how many leads does it take you to convert one sale? 30? Great! 162? Great! “I dunno.” Not great! If you know your numbers, you know what you must do. If you don’t know your numbers, you’re just hoping for that winning lottery ticket. Knowing your numbers makes your business predictable. Being predictable leads to success. Know your numbers!
No Schedule, Weak Habits, and Routines. If you’ve followed me for a long time, you’ve heard me say it a million times: “Show me your routines and I can predict your future.” If your schedule isn’t aligned with your goals, instead of achieving your goals, you’ll end up wherever your schedule takes you. The key is figuring out the specific activities that will lead to the achievement of your goals. Then you schedule those activities. The role of discipline in your success cannot be underestimated. Schedule everything and find a way to hold yourself accountable.
Lack of Financial Management. Lots of people get into real estate thinking it’s a low overhead business with an opportunity to make big, giant paychecks. Those days are long gone. This business is so competitive, you need a funding plan not only to survive, but to invest in your business and build it in an efficient way. Make sure you’re managing your money smartly to avoid that 87% failure rate. Profit is not a bad word.
Now that you have a better idea of the causes for failure the next decision is what are you going to do with this information? What action are you going to take? Feel free to comment below what you plan on doing next to ensure you’re a member of the 13% Club!
AI tools will not replace the real estate agent but help the agent with working on their business, like we have never seen before!
Do you want to know my must have A.I. tools for all real estate agents in 2024?
As real estate agents, we are constantly on the go and overwhelmed with so many tasks and skills required of us. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a tool to expedite and simplify work?
This is why exploring and using these tools will be a game changer for so many of you, and why the tools I am going to recommend to you in this article are so important. The best part is that almost all these AI tools I’m going to recommend below are FREE or have a free trial option. So, without further ado, here are my best AI tools for real estate agents.
Real Estate Marketing Tools to Boost Your Sales – AI Marketing Hub enables real estate professionals to generate original, persuasive content & digital assets for property listing promotions in seconds.
Visit styldod.com to check it out
Productive.Ai Call Assistant – Ai summaries of your Mobile Calls, Tasks automatically logged to your Calendar, Automated CRM Call Logging
Visit productive.ai to check it out
Write custom real estate listing descriptions in seconds
Visit listingai.co to check it out
Virtual Staging AI – Virtual staging with one click. Upload a picture and our AI will add furniture within seconds
Visit virtualstagingai.app to check it out
Turn ideas into videos – invideo AI – Create videos with text prompts. Enter any topic, and invideo AI gets to work.
It generates a script, creates scenes, adds voiceovers, & tweaks the video at your command.
Visit invideo.io to check it out
Presentation Software – Smart templates give your team a blueprint for making presentations.
Visit beautiful.ai to check it out
Powering Dreams – Access your broker, concierge service, and other agents from across the company, send instant messages and get help anywhere, whether you’re at home, in the office, or at a showing.
Visit epique.cloud to check it out
AI personalized videos at scale – The human cloning company. Step into the future with our cutting-edge AI and create a digital version of yourself to make your life easier.
Visit bhuman.ai to check it out
Repurposing content for social media the easy way – Create once, publish everywhere.
Quickly build your omnipresence by repurposing your content directly from TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Zoom, Google Drive, Dropbox, and Audio Podcast into unlimited pieces of content optimized for each platform.
Visit repurpose.io to check it out.
Consistency is key when it comes to any business venture, especially real estate. It can be tempting to switch up your business strategies when things aren’t running smoothly, without giving your original plans time to shine.
Establish your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) – these should be specific, attainable numbers that you know you can reach every week.
Track your goals with the Prospecting Tracking Sheet – use this sheet to log your prospecting efforts and monitor your progress regarding your KPIs.
Have someone hold you accountable – find a colleague, friend, or family member who can push you toward your goal.
Stay focused!
Don’t overspend!
Think about what you want your future to look like
Maximize your time!
Apart from putting in consistent effort, you also need to focus on only doing the actions that have proven to generate success for your business. If you concentrate on only these things and do them consistently, you will see almost immediate results.
You can adapt this Prospecting Tracking Sheet depending on your business and your own goals. It will look different for everybody since each agent has their own plan for their business. But as long you track your weekly in the Prospecting Tracking Sheet, you will increase your success. Below, I’ll show you the goals that I track for my own business and break down how I use the Prospecting Tracking Sheet.
1. Establish your KPIs – One of the first and most important things you can do as a real estate agent is set up a real estate business plan to outline your goals. Once you’ve set goals, you can then establish your KPIs to measure the progress towards those goals every week.Focusing on your KPIs allows you to easily get an overall diagnostic of your business plan, so you can analyze patterns in your business and make any necessary adjustments. Real estate KPIs might track metrics such as the number of transactions, face-to-face appointments, buyer presentations, listing presentations, or lead generation for the week.
Your KPIs are also important tools for calculating your monthly or yearly conversion ratios. Be careful not to choose KPIs that are unattainable for you. You want your KPIs to be achievable so that you stay motivated. Eventually, you’ll want them to become a weekly habit that isn’t challenging for you to keep up with.
2. Use The Prospecting Tracking Sheet. – Now that you’ve come up with the KPIs that are important to your business, you can customize the categories in the Realtor Prospecting Activity Tracker to fit your specific needs. My Prospecting Sheet is set up to track all my metrics on a weekly basis. The goals on this spreadsheet don’t necessarily have to be your goals as well. You can change them to better fit your business since everybody will be a little bit different. Whatever your goals are, consistency is the key.
In addition, as mentioned above, don’t choose unreachable goals. On the contrary, you want these to be easily achievable so that they become like a habit to you. This should be a number that you know you need to hit each week, no matter what. Remember, you can always raise or lower the goal to fit your business. The goals I use personally for my business are:
Events. – One of the metrics I’ve found helpful to track in my business is the number of events I attend. Attending events is a great way to get in front of people, and in turn, foster a relationship with potential clients. You should strive to attend at least one event every week, such as a training, marketing event, or social gathering. Strive to attend at least one event every single week. What you consider an event is up to you. This could be a training, a marketing event where you’re trying to get more business, or it could be a party or social gathering.
Lead Generation. – Another metric I’ve found helpful in my business is tracking lead generation. Here, I’m looking to add at least three new leads per week to my database. This number includes leads from any source; I don’t go into details of the breakdown on this sheet.
Hours Prospecting. – Tracking the amount of time, you dedicate to prospecting every week is important since it should have a direct correlation to your productivity level. When it comes to prospecting, a good KPI to aim for is about 10 hours per week.
Conversations. – Good prospecting should generate meaningful conversations with the people you are reaching out to. Use this space to document your conversations in more detail. Jot down the names of the people you have conversations with within the cells provided, then go back and tally the names at the end of the week.
Personally, I aim for 60 meaningful conversations per week. These are more than just quick phone calls; this number represents substantial conversations or text dialogues with the people I want to keep in touch with. Statistically speaking, only about one-third of the phone calls you make will turn into a meaningful conversation. This means that if you make 180 phone calls in a week, only about 60 of those will be truly meaningful conversations. The same idea applies to text messages or emails.
Face-to-Face Appointments. – At the end of the day, the ultimate goal of your conversations is to set a face-to-face meeting with the person you are talking to. Depending on your situation and comfort level, this could be grabbing coffee, meeting at a neutral location, or going out to lunch.
I would recommend a KPI of 10-15 face-to-face appointments per week. Try and do this with your top 50 closest people. These are people you want to be going out on a regular basis with to lunch, parties, or getting coffees with. These could also be people you want to add to your top 50 list, maybe someone you think could make a good referral partner for your business. Use your great conversations to get face-to-face appointments with these people.
Buyer and Listing Presentations. – From there, the goal is to transform your face-to-face appointment into a subsequent buyer or listing presentation. This is important because buyer and listing presentations are your bread and butter as a real estate agent. Aim for at least two a week.
That means eight per month, which is a huge opportunity to increase production. Remember, you won’t get a client out of every buyer or listing presentation. For this reason, aim to set up enough presentations to meet that eight per month goal.
Signed Up. – Here you’ll track the number of people who have taken the next step and signed a buyer’s representation or listing agreement with you.
Your KPI should be to get at least one new listing agreement or buyer’s representation signed per week. Ideally, if you put the effort in, 50% of your buyer and listing presentations will result in some kind of agreement. If you set eight appointments per month, this translates to four new clients every single month.
While having the buyer’s representation or listing agreement signed doesn’t guarantee you will close a transaction, the more you schedule, the greater opportunity you have to close a deal. This means that 50% of the time that you go to an appointment, you should be coming back with an agreement.
This translates to around four new clients every single month. Not every single client you take will actually buy or sell a home with you, but even if just two of them do, that’s a great opportunity for your business.
Thank You Cards. – Another great way to get in front of people and stay top of mind is to send thank you cards on a consistent basis. Try sending at least six thank you cards per week. If you attend six face-to-face appointments every week, then you have a reason to send six thank you cards.
Commit yourself to sending a thank you card after each listing appointment or buyer consultation, whether or not they sign up to work with you. Or send them to people you haven’t talked to in a while to get back in touch with them. Sending cards really do make a difference, and it makes you memorable as an agent. A great tool to use for this is Mailbox Power. Remember, you don’t have to track these KPIs in your own Prospecting Hack Sheet. You can follow all the goals I covered above, add your own, or adjust the numbers to fit your own business better.
3. Find Someone to Hold You Accountable. -T he third tip on how to be consistent is finding someone who can hold you accountable for your goals. Being accountable to someone else means they know the goals you are working toward, and they encourage you to reach those goals.Establishing accountability helps to maintain your focus and motivation because now you have to answer to someone else if you don’t follow through with your plan. For more motivation, check out the post I made here on the top real estate quotes. A good accountability partner might be a friend, family member, or colleague you can depend on to give you an honest evaluation of your business efforts.
Or you can also partner up with a fellow agent who is in the same position as you, and then work to hold each other accountable to your goals. Working with someone who understands where you’re at and shares many of the same problems as you can help motivate and inspire you.
4. Stay Focused.– A key part that goes hand in hand with being consistent is staying focused on the goals you have outlined in your business plan. For this reason, you need to make sure the goals you set are achievable. You can adjust them if needed to make sure you can meet them consistently over the long term. When your goals are achievable, it makes it easier to stay focused and not get burned out.This also means not adding any new goals to your list, and instead of making sure you stay focused on your current goals. If you keep adding new goals, you will likely end up spreading yourself too thin and get overwhelmed. When this happens, it will be hard to maintain consistent action and achieve your desired outcome. So, develop a plan, and then stick to it strictly for at least six months or even a year before you start making changes. But staying focused also applies throughout your workday.
For example, if you are easily distracted by social media and find it’s cutting into your work routine, then come up with ways to limit that distraction from your life. In the case of social media, many smartphones let you set timers to limit how long you can spend on different apps. As a real estate agent, social media is part of our business. But if you find it distracting you, find ways to stay focused on your work.
5. Don’t Overspend. – Related to staying focused is not to spread yourself too thin when it comes to your finances. In the beginning, especially as a new real estate agent, it can be tempting to purchase several different tools or services for your business.However, this usually isn’t the best strategy for success and can actually have the opposite effect. You might end up hurting your business in the long run. While it seems like you can’t go wrong buying the latest tech platforms, it can hurt you by distracting you from actually putting in the work to grow your business. This also goes for purchasing leads.
When you’re just starting out your real estate business, it’s best to focus on generating leads and growing your sphere of influence within your market, rather than throwing money at internet leads. Ultimately, you should be conservative with your money if you want to develop habits of consistency as a real estate agent. Stick to the tried-and-true methods that you know for a fact are bringing success to your business. Only once you are consistent with these should you start building off of that foundation and trying out new tools in your business.
6. Maximize Your Time. – Staying consistent will be easier if you make use of every minute of your time. Create a set schedule that you can easily stick to. Have dedicated times for work and leisure and have enough self-discipline to stick to your schedule strictly. A great way to maximize and track your time is by time blocking.This is a technique where you break down your entire day into time slots so that every hour in your day is put to use. A big part of maximizing your time and developing consistency is getting rid of any bad habits that are taking up time in your day.
If you already know what these habits are, make a list of them and then try to monitor your behavior with a habit tracker to make sure you are avoiding them. As long as you know what’s holding your personal development back, you can make an effort to avoid doing those things and replace every bad habit with positive behavior.
As American author and leadership mentor John Maxwell said, “Small disciplines repeated with consistency everyday lead to great achievements gained slowly over time.” And it is true. Being consistent is at the foundation of any successful business. Consistency is a commitment you make in the realization of your goals.
Of course, the goals listed here on the Prospecting Hack Sheet shouldn’t be everything you do for your business. These are just the activities that you know for a fact you have to do every single week. If there are other activities that bring success to your business that you want to track, you can add them in as well.
The important thing to stay consistent is writing everything down and tracking your progress. Now, you don’t have to hang on to these sheets forever. You can eventually transfer your numbers into a database, like a CRM system or spreadsheet. This way, you can add them to your monthly or yearly numbers to see how your business is growing. You’ll be able to see your conversion ratios and other KPIs and track the number of touches with your leads.
Do you have any tips to help you stay consistent in your own real estate business? Let me know in the comments below!
Traditionally best source of free leads has been Cold calling and Door Knocking, but let’s be real. When I first started in the early 90’s you grabbed the phone book or the criss cross directory and my managing broker told me to start “dialing for dollars”.
In this day and age, those aren’t the only methods to choose from. (And honestly, they may not even work as well as they once did.) I want to share with you 20+ tried and tested low or no cost real estate agent marketing ideas for generating free leads that actually result in revenue and work for many of my coaching clients today!
Let’s start with a complete checklist of free lead gen ideas broken down by must-haves and nice-to-haves. How many of these are you already using?
Which ones would be the easiest to integrate with your current lead management system?
The Must-Haves:
Past clients
Sphere Of Influence
Referrals – Agent and Client
Reviews
For Sale By Owner
Expired ( If Permitted )
Partner with a lender and attorney
Open House
Use landing pages + Drip email sequence.
The Nice-to-Haves:
Phone duty
Video content
Virtual tours and open houses
Volunteer, speak at, or attend free community events.
Moving companies
Marriage announcements
Start a blog.
Connect on social media.
Answer questions on Quora
Door knocking
Cold calling
Housewarming party
So Where to Get Real Estate Leads In 2024?
#1. Office On Call Phone Duty – Great for Warm Buyer Leads. Sometimes old school is the best school. Most agents never considered it because it seemed old school. I know that agents hate traditional phone duty because they have to sit in the office and answer the phone. One reason agents become agents is so that they’re not chained to a desk But, the results are undeniable.
Agents found that people that call in want to talk with an agent right now. They don’t want to talk to a receptionist, or a Client Concierge, they want to talk with a knowledgeable agent. Since you are immediately satisfying that need, your conversions go through the roof. We were converting around 1/3 receptionist call-ins in the past.
We’re now converting almost 100% of the qualified inbound calls. It’s been a massive success. Set up a virtual phone duty with your broker. Follow simple rules like ‘don’t schedule an appointment’ and ‘pull over to talk if the call you take is a lead. Record all of the calls to identify opportunities for improvement.
#2. Video Content – Best Way to Consistently Generate Free Leads. Video is quickly becoming a winning formula for real estate marketing. Shoot a video titled Why You Should Move to (your town) that introduces you as your town’s ambassador and will bring you two to five property deals over time.
So, what’s the secret formula for creating irresistible video content? Everyone should have a YouTube channel and create playlists that focus on the community, sellers and buyers and quick tips. create both professional and iPhone videos. I know that not everyone is comfortable with staring into the camera, but the way she sees it, we’ve already spent most of 2020 living through an uncomfortable reality.
We have to get comfortable being uncomfortable, right?
#3. Housewarming Party – An Instant Source of Free Warm Leads. As a token of your appreciation, you are the event planner for your client’s housewarming event as their thank you gift from you. Ask them for their guest list and take care invites, food, beverage etc. All event long you are being introduced to their friends and family attending the party. It’s a great way for the agent to bring additional value to their client and meet the client’s potential referrals for additional business.
#4. Smile, Dial, Email – Timeless Lead Gen for Unprecedented Times. No secret sauce, just consistently smiling and dialing. Your goal comes to get 5 nurtures a day minimum and to keep building my weekly email. One coaching client closed 10 transactions 30% of my business from a weekly email this year. 10 transactions from an email newsletter? Send a survey asking if they have any real estate plans the coming year. Don’t ask you don’t get! There’s literally no reason not to do this.
#5. Client & Agent Referrals – Best Way to Get Quality Leads, Totally Free. According to the NAR, 64% of sellers found their agent through a referral from a friend, neighbor, or relative—or used an agent they had worked with before to buy or sell a home.
Referrals cost you nothing—all you have to do is stay connected with the people you know and make sure that you’re top of mind when they or someone they know decide to transact. What could be easier (or cheaper!) than that, right? Repeat and no fee referrals are always the most profitable and reliable. All my coaching clients generate 50-85% of their business from this source.”
#6. The Property Neighbors’ Sphere of Influence – A Completely Original Source for Trusted Referrals. Everyone talks about taking advantage of your sphere of influence, but have you ever considered reverse engineering the sphere of influence of a neighborhood to get new listings? Here’s how you do it:
When your buyer looks at a property in a neighborhood but doesn’t buy the property, statistically a new listing is going to come up in that neighborhood in the next 30 days and you’ve got what the potential seller wants…buyers. This is when you should send out a letter to the neighborhood and call the neighbors with the same message/dialogue.
“Hi (neighbor), My name is (Agent Name) and I work with (Brokerage Name) and I just wanted to let you know that I showed your neighbor’s property over at (Address) the other day.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t a perfect match for them but as I’m sure you are not surprised, they absolutely loved the neighborhood!” “What they are looking for is (describe just about every house in the neighborhood).” “Can you do me a favor? If you or anyone you know is even considering selling, could you please let me know right away?
I may be able to sell your house without it ever even hitting the market.”
Brilliant, right? Use the same template when they have a buyer looking for a house. The student records a video that lets their audience know what the buyer is looking for but with a specific ask – reach out if the audience or anyone they know is considering selling, because they may be able to sell their house without it ever hitting the market.
Then the agent promotes that video to the target town/city so that everyone sees it and reaches out to them if they are thinking of selling or if they know anyone that is.
#7. Third Party Reviews – The New Word of Mouth for Real Estate Leads Targeting millennials or younger buyers? Reviews are the way to go. According to Consumerist, almost 70% of consumers check online reviews before making a purchase. But just like everything else, it’s all about your level of commitment.
Millennials make up a third of the buying population. A millennial goes to 8 to 12 different sites before they pick up the phone and talk to an agent. What do they do when they get to 8 to 12 of those sites? They read the reviews.
Watch people coming to your site in the analytics—they log in, and then they go to the review page and read every one of your reviews before they even pick up the phone and call. The conversation on getting reviews starts on day one when you meet the client.
#8. Blogging – Best Way to Attract Quality Leads. One of the best decisions I ever made in my real estate career was to start a real estate blog. Blogging is one of those free lead gen unicorns—when you’re blogging the leads seem to magically drop from the sky.
But free doesn’t mean easy. It all comes down to intention and commitment. Provide a wealth of knowledge to buyers and sellers to help make sound business decisions. Buyers and sellers love working with knowledgeable real estate agents. By having a recognizable blog, you can readily show off your expertise to those who are buying or selling a home. Over the years my blog has brought a substantial amount of yearly business. In fact, it is one of my top lead generators.”
A blog as a top lead generator? Believe it. Real Estate blogging is certainly not for everyone. Like anything else, it takes time and dedication. It is not a magic bullet that will bring significant amounts of business unless you put in the effort. This means you need to have exceptionally good content combined with a strong grasp of both search engine optimization, as well as solid social media promotion.
Without proper digital marketing your blog will be lost in the shuffle. Alternatively, you could try a tool like Keeping Current Matters or CityBlast that automatically publishes blog and email content, creates downloadable guides and posts personalized updates on your social media accounts for a set monthly fee.
Another option is to hire a real estate VA with marketing or blogging experience or look for an affordable content writer and marketer on sites like Fiverr and Upwork. You’ll still need to set aside time to generate relevant content ideas, proofread and promote the work but a great freelancer can significantly cut down on the time you spend researching and writing, making it way easier to stick to a consistent publishing schedule.
Finally, if you’re determined to make a go of blogging, make sure you set up a drip campaign to capture and nurture any leads that come in via the blog.
#9. Niche Marketing Websites – An Amazing Organic Source for Ready-to-Convert Real Estate Leads. Thanks to various changes in Google’s search algorithm, building a niche website is now another surefire approach to rank higher on search engines than non-targeted sites.
Best of all, it’s completely organic through and through. Buy the domain moveto (your town) .org .com .ca then hire a full-time content writer to write or write yourself to gain enough traction and generate leads and a robust pipeline. Create a local guide on all things (your town) and start attracting some seriously motivated leads. Agents are getting about 10-15 leads monthly. That’s not much but they are much more likely to convert.
Target organic leads by targeting topics like ‘rent vs. buy (your town)’, ‘Master Planned Communities’, and ‘Reasons to Move to (your town). Then retarget to landing pages that have property listings or other information about choosing a Realtor.
#10. Thank You Card & Handwritten Notes. Most Beautifully Simple Source of Free Leads. You know, as a new agent you’re blindsided by a million other things. You just need to talk to a lot of people and get over the fear of cold calling. After talking go drop off a simple thank you card and those changes everything.
In the age of automated everything, Brandon’s all about keeping the personal touch. And at $1 per card, the ROI on this lead source can’t be beat. Just write a handwritten thank you card like, ‘Hey Jill, great talking to you. Thank you so much for your time. I look forward to the opportunity to work with you. And then I put your business card in there and seal it up. Easy!
#11. Craigslist, Kijiji, Classifieds – Great for Free Diamond-in-the-rough Leads. Never take a lead for granted and that includes leads from Craigslist. Some of my coaching clients most reliable source of free leads has been another source that most agents or people sometimes no longer feel is relevant or also frowned upon or thought of not to be the savviest… Craigslist.
#12. Open House – Golden Opportunity to Get Buyer & Seller Leads. Most agents have been programmed to think that it’s a waste of time. Like all marketing, if they do one and don’t get much out of it, they generally fall into that bucket. To me, it’s the easiest and least expensive way to get people in front of you.
However, you need to have a system like everything else to make it profitable. Systems = profits. The best tip for bringing in free leads via open houses is don’t advertise open houses and use lots of signs. This way if someone walks into your open house and they would like to look at property, I just close the door.
You need to make sure you have every possible cross street covered with an open house sign. The more signs the better. But what if you can’t meet for an in-person open house? Agents have sold houses with digital open houses and virtual tours and use Calendly to capture the lead info, then plug them into your CRM for focused follow up.
#13. Internet Community Pages – Perfect Source of Free Buyer and Relocating Leads. There’s a little-known content marketing tip that only the best of real estate marketers typically take advantage of: Community Pages. Often, any buyer looking to move into a new area is going to do some extensive research. By setting up community pages on your website YOU become the local go to expert. Here’s what makes a great community page:
Community pages are filled with information buyers would love to know about. Things like the quality of the schools, area attractions such as lakes and parks. Where people do their shopping, etc.
They can be filled with an endless amount of information. The best community pages are crazy detailed! These kinds of pages should be optimized so they come up in search for things like “Realtors (your town)” and “Top Real Estate agents (your town)”. Consumers who are searching in Google with terms like these may be looking to hire an agent immediately!
#14. Quora – Most Untapped Source of Leads. A huge untapped online community like Quora is one of the top respondents for all things real estate, for getting you name, face and web link in front of thousands of online buyers every day.
With over 200 million monthly unique visitors, Quora’s Q&A entries regularly show up on Google’s page 1, and some are re-published by major sites like Forbes and Inc.
Plus, it’s completely free. All you need is an email address and you’re in. Start by looking for questions that have been asked repeatedly. If a question has been asked more than once, chances are the answers (both on Quora and Google) aren’t that great.
#15. Wear Your Company Name Badge – Easiest Way to Get Free Leads. Ever take every cushion off your couch hunting for your glasses, only to realize they’re right on top of your head? Sometimes the most obvious things are hidden in plain sight. The simple name badge is one of those things.
Here’s a great tip… An often-overlooked way to generate leads is to wear your name badge or company wear such as a hat or polo shirt. When people ask, ‘Oh, you’re in real estate—how’s the market? Be prepared with a concise answer about how much inventory is on the market, how much prices are increasing or declining, and offer to send them a free report on their property.
Agents can use a Realtors Property Resource (RPR) to gather this data quickly and of course, you need their contact information to send them the report. Name badges have long been used by maintenance service companies to establish a connection with the client and develop trust. So, why not real estate?
#16. For Sale By Owner (FSBOs) – Excellent Lead Source for Agents with the Right Approach. There are those who shake their fists at FSBOs and there are those who go out and convert them into free sources of multiple millions in revenue. FSBOs are one of the best and most reliable sources of free leads out there. “Literally millions in commissions!” can be made.
The trick as usual is to start the conversation by listening and offering value. Remember, there is a good chance this seller has been burned by an agent before, and that’s why they’re attempting to go it alone. Start the conversation by asking why they’re selling.
Take time to listen, get to know their motivations and build a personal connection. Offer advice or insight on the market wherever relevant. Once you feel like you’ve truly heard them and offered them some genuinely helpful info, ask if they want any help finding a buyer.
They might turn you down flat the first time. That’s ok. Ask if you can check back in on them in a few weeks then add them to your CRM for simple, friendly follow up. Sometimes it can take a few quiet weeks (or months) in the market before they come around to the idea of working with you.
#17. Ask Engaging Power Questions – Most Powerful Way to Get Free Listings. Leveraging for rent by owners and FSBOs, calling expired listings and nurturing your SOI are all classic (and classically overlooked!) ways to bring in tons of free leads. But sometimes what matters most isn’t which lead source you choose, but how you choose to approach those leads. The best way to bring in more free leads is to simply ask questions: Ask questions – How can I help your business? What does your perfect client look like? Focus on providing service and coming from a spirit of contribution – the leads will come.
#18. Farmers Markets, Swap Meets and Flea Markets – Don’t be afraid to take free leads where he can find them. That includes local swap meets, flea markets and farmers markets. The craziest ideas for lead generation are sometimes the least wanted or the most frowned upon or things that people might think don’t work.
If you do frequent swap meets, flea markets and farmers markets. It totally works even though many agents feel it’s an undesirable type of method. There’s something to be said for getting out there and networking with real people. Remember, when it comes to free lead gen, it doesn’t matter what’s popular. All that matters is that it works for your unique real estate business.
#19. Social Media (Evidence Of Success) – Great Way to Get Real Estate Leads Who Already Like You. You didn’t think we were going to leave social media off the list, did you? Depending on how you approach it, social media can either be a major time drain or a brilliant way of nurturing your connections.
Here’s his awesome advice for using your social media to nurture your SOI without feeling salesy or sleazy: Your sphere of influence is still an extremely overlooked source of business. The key is to not bombard your network with boring, worthless “asks” for business. Instead, you should simply be reminding your network that you’re a real estate agent, and that you’re a local expert.
Posting on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat is a great way to do that, as long as you’re providing something of value to your network (education, humor, etc.), along with the occasional humblebrag if you receive an award, or some recognition for something. Even a sincere humbled, gratitude post for helping a buyer or seller buyer or sell versus bragging I just sold, or I just listed. I’m talking maybe once a month, or less.
But if done tactfully, those humblebrags help your network see that you’re good at what you do. You heard it from the pro. Relax and have fun on social media. It can lead to some great free leads. BONUS: Use inktr.ee tool to capture leads off social media content!!!
#20. Instagram – Easiest Source for Warm Organic Leads. It’s all organic, with posts that are more lifestyle posts and less about sales. We want people to follow us because they like our post then reach out to us for help because they like our brand and how we do things. It’s been working well and that’s exactly what happens. Leads come in from the posts and stories. From there, you follow up via DM to connect and convert. It’s easy, organic and extremely cost-effective.
#21. Shock & Awe Marketing – Funniest Way to Get Free Real Estate Leads. Every so often, it pays to go a little rogue with your marketing. The most innovative idea I ever heard of was an agent had a house that was zoned for commercial use that was located in an area where there were a lot of attorneys.
She created a marketing piece that looked as if the attorney she was sending it to was being served in a lawsuit. The strategy generated leads and she sold the property. I love the expired listing paper towel tube in the mail that looks like a stick of red dynamite with the expired letter inside. Sometimes it pays to think outside the box (or zone in this case) and do what you’ve got to do to grab the attention of your local market. Don’t be afraid to get creative.
#22. Knock on Doors – Most Classic Way to Get Real Estate Leads The level of “craziness” of this free lead gen idea is debatable. Some die-hards in Facebook groups will claim this is the best way to get free leads, but you have to wonder, do they actually get out there and do it? Tip!
Knock on doors in a neighborhood where you have a qualified buyer that wants to buy and say ‘Quick question: do you want to sell your house? My buyer wants to buy here. Not sure? Talk to the Family and call me tomorrow.’ Yes. It worked. If nobody is home, then leave a door hanger with the same written message and they will call as well off the door hanger! Sometimes you just never get, until you ask.
While it may seem old school, knocking on doors is still a proven way to get free leads. If you’ve got the guts, go for it.
#23. Serving & Give Back – Most Fulfilling Way to Get Buyer and Seller Leads. If you focus on service like some agents do the business will come simply by connecting with the community. Serving the community and throwing great social events creates an amazing amount of people that want to reciprocate by working with you.
Get involved in at least one non-profit and build your spheres through acts of charity and service. You’re meeting people in your community who want to do good. It’s not really service to transaction, it’s service to relationship. We want to build a network that people want to be a part of.
#24. Become a Community Catalyst – Crazy Simple Way to Get a Long-lasting Source of Leads. Your commitment to becoming THE go-to expert in your community. As real estate develops, knowledge is what makes agents more valuable to buyers. Buyers don’t want to spend time learning. As an agent, you’re the catalyst—the connector between the buyer and their new community. It’s your job to open that door and make it as easy as possible for them to walk through it.
So, there you have it, a ton of great ideas for generating free real estate leads. Before you run off, we want to give you one last piece of advice. When done right, free lead gen can bring in a ton of revenue for your real estate business, but if you go into it with the wrong intention, it can backfire horribly.
Don’t do this: Go to a friend’s wedding, and “sponsor” the gift bags for guests… and put your business cards, branded pens, and other absurd, unimpressive swag in the gift bags! Do not put out signs around the gift bag table promoting you and your business. Why not? Well, how would you like it if you went to a wedding and were bombarded with advertisements from some random business? You’re hijacking your friend’s wedding to get more business.
But what you’re really doing is making people angry and ensuring that they’d never hire you in a million years. How tacky and inappropriate. Next time maybe you should sponsor the punch bowl at a funeral! Leads can get pricey and real estate is a high-pressure business, but the moral of this story is to ALWAYS check the situation and environment before attempting to grab leads.
Leads might not cost money, but you’d better be giving something meaningful and valuable in return– and prospecting ethically! The most reliable source [of free leads] for our clients is giving great service and then implementing a great Database/CRM Value Add Plan with regular contact in a variety of ways. Feel free to share with me ways that you are generating legit leads without spending any money, would love to add them to 2024 list.
Every year is filled with highlights and “not so high-lights”.
As a real estate agent and in your personal life I hope your 2023 had many highlights.
2023 was another great year for AgentsBoost thanks to you our readers. Again, we had thousands of visitors from countries all over the world checking out our new and seasoned posts.
Out of our years of contributions the 10 Ten read post by our agents for the year are shown below.
Browse through the list and click on any you missed or want to check out again.
We all have needs. We all have bills to pay, mouths to feed (in my case 5 mouths to feed – I know, it is not easy!), and some have university to pay for. I get it. Today, I want you to consider setting that aside, and instead start working in a vision. Ask yourself, “Is my real estate business driven by my vision or my needs“?
