Their is an excellent post here on Active Rain by Kat Palmiotti about here first year as a Real Estate Agent. You may have read it already, and it is something you can probably relate to.
In her post she says,"finding leads takes a lot of work. We have to talk to ~100 people to get 2 or 3 real clients. And we need to do a ton of activities to find those 100 people – send out marketing materials, build an online presence, make phone calls to everyone we know, volunteer at community events, talk to people in the grocery store, conduct open houses, work “floor” time and on and on. Meeting people at the exact moment when they are considering buying or selling a home is very tricky."
You may feel the same way.
From the 140 comments on the post it is easy to see that there are a lot of agents in this community who do. Since I come from the lead business, this got me thinking.
What happens with the other 97 or 98 people who don’t become clients, and how about everyone else you talk to who is not in the market to buy or sell a home?
That’s a lot of effort and it shouldn’t be wasted.
I did a little research and found that those who are not ready still represent a huge opportunity. Listen to this.
Experian reports, “Nearly 20 percent of Americans move every year.”
Now think about all the people you are meeting each day. They may not be ready to buy or sell right now, but a significant percentage of them will be soon.
Here is another stat that is of interest to anyone who wants more listings.
NAHB’s Economics and Housing Policy Group Conducted a study that found “The average buyer is expected to stay in a home for 13.3 years”
That equals an average turnover rate of 7.5%
7.5% turnover on 1,000 homes = 75 homes per year
Using Realtor.com's search tool I took a look at turnover rates in my area by zip code and found it averages closer to 5%. Even at 5% that is an average of 50 homes per year that will be on the market out of 1,000.
Do you see the potential?
If you developed a follow up system and were able to effectively engage with just 1,000 homeowners, you could potentially get 75 - 50 listing opportunities each year. Even if you got only half at 5%, that would be 25 listings each year.
Let's say the turnover rate in your area is extremely low at just 2%. Half of a 2% turnover rate would give you 10 listings per year. Not to mention referrals.
This is something that can bring you listings year after year. Plus the opportunities would increase as the number of people you put into your follow up system increases.
With all the tools and technology we have available at our finger tips, staying in front of a large audience and keeping them engaged is not too difficult. Of course it has to be done right to get the results, yet the payoff can be huge.
This idea of building a large audience and getting them to know like and trust you with technology is what I call building a Digital Farm™.
The concept is similar to working a typical farm in the area you want to represent, but this allows you to do it digitally which will save you time and money.
Right now we are developing a platform to assist agents with this. So stay tuned for that. Your insight and comments are always appreciated.
If you would like to read Kat's original post, you can do so here
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