I posted this because this is an important part of a new agents' guide to sucess.  You have to learn to get clients coming in and out to make your business profitable.  Leave a comment on what you think could be helpful.

I think that if you are a well established agent in your community you may find that the old way works best.

But the New Agent in A New Style of Marketing called the internet will do well.  

You prospects will be those that may not be farmed from the old school

Stephen, new or old I think it takes a combination of marketing strategies and finding what works the very best for you.  The past 3 months have all been from referrals from past clients and farming.  Now it's back to the basics since things have become a little more challenging.  Door knocking, call arounds, mailers. Working very hard. 

I think that Julie is correct.  We face challenges in the coming months as we see the fallout from the mortgage industry problems.  Our team have increased our mailings, internet marketing, and calling of our prospects and our database.  As far as going back to the basics, we have made sure that each of listings have clean and straight signs and that brochure boxes are loaded. 

I wish I knew the best way to attract the most prospects but as it as been mentioned in previous posts, each of us will have to rely on the strengths that we have. 

Thank you for the post. I think that we have to find what we are good at and work on the things we are not good at. I try different things and track them to see where I have the most return.

Thanks for the post. I agree that I have pondered over both styles. If you pay attention to the news, however, you'll notice that most people want to be on the DNC list and that probably includes showing up at their door. I've done it all from mailers, personal invitations to open houses, cold calling expired leads, blogging, buying leads, going after REO department at banks and still to this day, I make most of my NEW clients by meeting them first hand at an open house. Somehow, face to face contact means more to people than the marketing material I'm sending them in the mail. Maybe being human is more important than access to Internet databases.

Thanks for the post! These are all great tips! I think it is good to be diversified when it comes to prospecting. After all each individual is different and will be reached in different ways... the one thing that remains the same, it all takes hard work and the more we are willing to give, the more we will receive.

As a new agent i do a both, i do alot more of the internet because I know that is where the future is.

99% of the time my phone rings.. It's because of something that someone saw I posted on the internet.  All because I blog here.  So, my name ends up high on the engines somehow.

I'm going to start a neighborhood marketing campaign sending out stuff to the community I live in. I'm hoping it works and people will want a "neighbor hood" expert..

Stephan -- good post. I am a new agent and as I muddle through finding what works I think that a combination of the above is definitly the ticket. I have worked hard to develop a strong (and growing) WEB presence in my area and am finding that by combining that with the old fashioned pressing of the flesh my business as started to grow.

Thanks again and keep on posting!!

www.gmacpn.com/shagee

Thank you for sharing this post!!

Being new to the business I havent had the recourses to do much of the new way of prospecting. I have been playing the numbers game, contacting at least 25 new people a day whether by phone, in line at starbucks, or just in front of people...I found that you get a lot of future business this way so you have to talk to a lot of people to get some now business.

I like how you said do the most productive thing.  I would say that old ways are just that OLD.  Using the internet you can create systems that will work for you all the time not just a few hours a day.  I do New ways and only new ways.

This is all well and good advice ...but not much to chew on.  Everyone is willing to say that their opinion is one way or another but no one is willing to tell me how to do it.  Is it a big secret? 

New agents should first, create a database of everyone they know who would do business withem or could send business their way. Then write everyone of them introducing their new career. Then, call as a follow up and then face to face with key people in that group.

Another activity is look at houses, learn the market.

Stephen, I think the old and new ways can work very well together.  The proper work ethic is a key to success.  Good post.

Interesting I can a lot from here.

It is hard to say which way is best, what matters is what works for you. so try out the old and new.

A little old and a little new is good in many cases.  Using the phone, prospecting in person and using the internet can work hand in hand. Bringing value to suspects before they become prospects makes a world of difference.

I work both sides of the fence, but BY FAR my sphere is the most powerful!  I work my sphere for referrals about 1-2 hours a day and I always have plenty of business from people that I have enjoyed working with before.  And the cool thing is, they refer me to people like them so my transactions are smoother and more rewarding!

Just getting the time in every day to prospect is the real challenge don't you think???

I think that a blend of both the new way and the old way would work best for me

I'm still perfecting my prospecting guidebook.  Right now, I think of my daily routine as planting seeds.  I'm learning the new "tech" methods which seem to rapidly or exponentially grow. 

I still receive more prospects from traditional methods but I'll let you know as my new, net skills increase!  And boy, do I owe a lot to Active Rain.

As a brand new agent I realize that the old ways are necessary to reach a segment of the market but I also think that the news ways are necessary for the same reasons. I think that one benefit of the Internet and online strategies is that you can do them when you cannot do other forms of prospecting. I can do a lot of my online marketing at 2am, when I'm home with the kids, while the family is watching TV, from a hotel while on vacation, etc... This allows me to expand my prospecting time and get in more hours in what I tend to call 'wasted hours" or down time.

Good point Stephen. To add to the, I find that the where the prospect comes from is almost less important as what you do with it and HOW you incubate it until it is a Lead with intentions to buy or sell. We get our prospects from a variety of the same locations you mentioned, but put them all in the SAME place. We use HBM's Home Buyers Scouting Report. We implimented this in December 2004 and now have a great lender partner. It IS our way to turn all these prospects into closings.

What VOW systems are others using?

Both ways can work - but I do think the internet is where the business is at!

Thanks for the post.  I agree that both ways can work.  The critical thing is that we be consistent in our prospecting.