A favorite question is “How do you get leads”? or “Where do Real Estate listings come from”? I know many people are looking for a scientific or rehearsed answer, that would make them feel like they are learning a little bit about my business that no one else would be able to discover. But that’s not the case. My system for gaining new business and listings is a combination of old-fashioned relationships, a ton of hustle and great social media. Here it is….
1. Relationships: I really like people and sincerely work to make new friends and contacts. As people get to know me they realize how my business operates and what my model is. I will never be able to push or convince someone to do business with me, but I will be glad to share with them the value I bring to a deal. People want to do business with people they trust and not with people who sell to them. I listen to a lot of my friends selling and thinking that they are convincing someone to use their services, but in reality the majority of people can see right through that. And it’s annoying. They want to know they are in good hands and as they begin to see you continually treat your customers well, they want that kind of service. In Real Estate customers want to trust you before, during and after the project and they will go elsewhere the second the smell phony.
2. The Hustle: I study successful people and especially local Realtors that have knocked it out of the park. You know what each of them do? They hustle!! They work a lot and are always poking around. They are curious and want to dig a little to figure out an approach. Finding a target and trying to persuade them is worthless. This is why the success of Realtors is so terrible and kind of embarrassing in my local market. Everyone wants to sell their aunt a house and then they sell the neighbor’s house, but real soon the friends and family are gone and they do not know where the next property deal is going to come from. The full-time, career minded Realtors already know this and don’t mind the lob balls but are really focused on that long term marketing plan. Realtors today have to be smart, current, experts, friends, full-time, committed and service oriented. If you are waiting for a phone to ring or don’t have pro-active plans working, keep that resume handy because you will never gain the business you will need to be a success as an agent.
3. Like Me: Social Media gets talked about all of the time. But are we really using it? We post pictures of houses, we check in at our best listing and we even publicly thank our clients for making us another 3%. But is it calculated? Here is the deal I made a decision a few years back to have an identity and to work diligently to push just that. I am a Local, Family Driven Broker that refuses to take himself too seriously. I want to do business with a certain type of client as well. So I use my social media sites to promote what I am and do, to them. I don’t chase national buyers or sellers so I never tweet to Applebees. I want retail listings and Westfield home listings and SR 32 business. And I would challenge anyone to climb out of the cave that is not sure about what I am selling. So we have to be direct and sincere, but we can not be a re-posting machine. Just because your office provides you a newsletter does not mean you have to share it. We must identify with our targeted customers and entertain ( educate) them. You must also have a comfortable reputation that people want to associate with. I can have 5000 followers but if they are just watching for me to screw up, its pointless. Plan and protect a targeted marketing plan.
So where am I going with this? It is important to me to understand where my business starts and finishes and if you are wondering why you struggle to create a real, busy pipeline, it is probably because you’re not understanding how yours works. People are smart and we have a lot of competition but I will never give up on thinking that humans want to work with hardworking, trustworthy and savvy people who understand their market and needs, which in turn they pick up the phone and ask us to list their home or office space. They tell their friends who we are. And they share our information with their followers. See?
-curt
