Whether you are a new Realtor or one of those "I've been a Realtor for 30 years honey" you probably ask yourself the question at some point where is my business coming from and how do I get more. Well, the answer to this question will depend partially on who you are trying to attract and by the way the answer to that last question is a pretty important question and unfortunately one most Realtors don't ask. I'm sorry but most agents if asked the question "who are you trying to work with?" would probably say anyone that wants to buy or sell a home. OK, I'm down off my soap box and back on point. Lets start with a brief description of Prospecting based lead generation and marketing based lead generation.
1. Marketing ---- Attracting business to you. Examples include: Web Sites, Magazines, Newspaper Adds, Bus Benches, Bill Boards, Just Sold Post Cards, Farm Mailers Etc.
2. Prospecting ----- Going out and finding business
With Marketing you are leveraging your money and with prospecting you are leveraging your time. I believe most agents would prefer marketing over prospecting. Me also by the way, who wouldn't want to sit back and wait for 10, 20 come list Me's every month. Unfortunately, if you are new to Real Estate or just on a budget (which you should be by the way) you are not going to have an endless supply of cash to dump into marketing. What is your marketing budget, do you know the answer to that question? If it's 10% of GCI and you haven't sold a home in 30 days, how do you know the answer to what is 10% of your GCI. This is sounding pretty hopeless isn't it? Now the good news, you can have a VERY SUCCESSFUL Real Estate business on a very low to zero marketing budget. Here is how.
1. Set up your business to be prospecting based.
2. Make 30 to 40 outgoing prospecting calls every day to every expired listings and FSBO in your market. By the way, that for sale by owner sign doesn't say For Sale By Owner, it says Help Wanted.
3. Ask for an opportunity to preview thier home. Yes, you should ask for a list appointment but start here and grow your skills as you go. I have been doing this for 8 years and list 20% of the properties I preview over time and I average 10 face to face appointments per week. That works out to 8 new listings every month and I have been averaging 12 new listings per month for 8 years. That's 96 listings per year at a marketing cost of zero.
4. Hold Open House's. If you don't have any listings to hold open, ask other agents in your office if you can hod an open house for them. 70% of the future sellers in your market will visit an open house before they put their home on the market. Real simple stuff here guys so listen closely, If you do not have a schedule full of face to face appointments today with a buyer or seller, go find a home to hold open for three hours. What's the worse thing that will happen, you'll have three hours of peace and quiet to read a book, write in your journal or better yet make prospecting calls while you are waiting for your next customer to walk in the door.
5. Knock on doors. "nobody does this anymore" Really, all the more reason YOU SHOULD!
Absolutely not bragging here, but I have listed 84 homes years to date and sold 64 homes with most coming from the above 5 activities. Do the math and figure out how much it cost me. You're saying, sure John, but what about the cost for all those signs and don't you have to spend money to market your homes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCnz7kFrzac
OK, great point but who wouldn't want to have that problem. "Wow, you have to buy 50 or 100 sign panels" Poor you! Hello, that's the marketing piece and what do signs equal ----- buyer calls! As far as web sites, newspaper adds and magazine adds to market your listings. You can build an awesome web site for very little to no money and I don't do any print advertising. Here's your script for when a seller ask if you are going to put thier home in the paper or in one of those pretty little magazines, "NO"
OK, lets sum this up. This is not a blog against marketing, remember in the second paragraph, I said I love come list me calls. This is simply a outline on how YOU can build a very successful Real Estate business on a very low marketing budget. If you are reading this and you have a successful business built on marketing or referrals (hello Brian Buffini) and are already doing all the business you want to do, then ignore this information or send me a comment that says you think I am out of my mind. It Will not hurt my feeling, I promise. :)
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