Established real estate agents might have the luxury of being picky about their leads. In fact, their leads might even come to them, or they’re just so used to generating them that they don’t even think about it anymore.
Generating leads is at the forefront of responsibilities for new real estate agents, aiming to establish themselves firmly in the industry. It’s essential for agents to employ proven methods and strategies to enhance their lead generation efforts, ensuring consistent growth and success in their real estate careers. Distinguishing oneself as a competent and reliable agent is paramount, and being recognized as one of the Elite 100 agents is a testament to an agent’s exceptional capabilities and profound understanding of the real estate market’s intricacies. Explore more about the essential factors that contribute to becoming a remarkable and highly effective real estate agent in a comprehensive guide.
If you’re starting out, you don’t have these luxuries, yet, but you can if you use techniques proven to generate real estate leads.
Engage Your Sphere of Influence
Your sphere of influence when you first start out likely encompasses three different groups:
- Professional Contacts: This would include fellow agents but also possibly contractors and home inspectors.
- Clients and Prospects: Buyers and sellers you work with are part of your sphere of influence, but they might also know others looking for an agent.
- Your Personal Life: Friends, family, and acquaintances can be sources of leads.
You never want to be overbearing or pushy with any of these groups, but you should also be ready to mention your availability if the topic comes up in conversation with anyone.
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Post Frequently on Your Social Media Platforms
Do a bit of market research into what the preferred social media platforms of local buyers and sellers are. Older individuals might lean towards Facebook, while younger people might go more for Instagram, Twitter, and even TikTok.
Establish accounts on any platforms that matter to your target group, and post regularly. Remember that most of your content needs to be valuable to them just as is, so keep it informative and entertaining. Make them aware of certain things that help them, and you’ll establish yourself as a trusted authority and source about all things real estate.
Start an Email Newsletter
Make sure every email you send, forum post you make, or social media content you share has a signature or way for people to subscribe to your email newsletter. The more subscribers you can get, the more people you have as a potentially captive audience.
Send out email newsletters on a regular basis, but don’t hit their inboxes up on a daily basis. As with social media content, make it useful to them. Earn their trust, and when they’re ready to buy or sell, they’ll think of only you.
Geo Farm a Neighborhood
Geo farming is short for geographic farming. It’s basically picking one specific neighborhood and targeting just it with your attention for a while.
When you do geo farming right, you can accomplish many things all at the same time. For starters, you can boost your brand awareness. Second, you should be able to capture leads. This should all lead to gaining listings and then earning referrals you can use for even more business.
It all starts with figuring out which neighborhood is the best one to farm. Much of what you need to know you can look up via a regional or local MLS database.
Given that, you should aim for an area or community that you are personally familiar with. Somewhere you live or close to it works well. The commute is easy, so marketing the area is something you can do economically and consistently over a long period of time.
Marketing any area where you have traction is useful because people might know you or at least about you. You can reference a neighbor’s house you sold down the street, for instance.
The big thing about knowing an area is that you will know its selling points. You understand the folks that live there, but you also know what people are looking for who would like to live there.
Look hard into home selling prices since you work on commission. Luxury homes might make you the most money, but the marketing will take longer and be more expensive. Starter homes might prove easier to sell, but you’d have to do a decent volume to make ends meet. Look for a good average home price to justify your time and effort.
Also, look at the turnover rate. How many homes sell per year gives you a good indication of your own potential sales volume, especially when you factor in agent saturation.
To start geo farming an area, get your hands on any mailing list you can get. Send out holiday cards, birthday materials, brochures, and any other marketing materials that someone might find valuable at the time.
Postcards work really well because people don’t have to open them. They’re going to look at them before they throw them away, so your marketing message will get through more often.
Also, join local community organizations. So much of what you do is word-of-mouth. That means spending time talking to as many people as you can. Hosting your own client or sponsor events is also a good idea.
Attend Network Events
Networking events are designed for professionals and people to meet one another and form connections and relationships that are mutually beneficial. Don’t discount the possibilities of networking with other real estate agents.
Local veterans who already have the kind of success you aspire to might be looking to mentor newcomers. They can burnish their industry credentials as experts, and you can enjoy learning from them and possibly getting access to their overflow or backlog of clients looking to buy and sell.
You should also get to know other professionals you can turn to, be it home inspectors, general contractors, lawn care crews, or just interior designers and stagers who can help you make a home look its best.
Key Takeaways
When you’re just getting started out as a real estate agent, you need to build your own wheel instead of reinventing it. Develop and generate leads using techniques that are already proven to work, including:
- Working your current sphere of influence
- Utilizing social media
- Sending out email newsletters
- Geo farming a neighborhood
- Attending network events
Once you master these fundamentals, you’ll find where your strengths truly are so you can make the most of them. Of course, you always want to work on your weakest points, too, so you can keep generating leads like never before.
