That's not what happened is it? You mailed out to your sphere of influence. Your cousin decided to buy directly from the new home sales associate anyway. You sat phone duty and besides answering 15 times that, "No, that property isn't for lease," you didn't get squat except a little better at Angry Birds. Your broker hasn't given you a lead. In fact, they're asking YOU what YOU'RE doing to get leads!
How can you possibly compete with these agents? These agents are making fat bankroll. They've been here forever and all they have to do is wake up in the morning and they're getting mad referrals from every person in their path. You hear the lead agent in your office in the bathroom stall next to you talking on his bluetooth. He just landed another million dollar listing. You think "Ahhhh sh%$!" You don't know anyone, you can barely log into a website, much less understand how to update the template website the company gave you. Between your board association fees, that little black supra key that costs a fortune (but looks like a bad 1980's Knight Rider pager), the fees you paid to join your office and what you spent buying supplies and electronics to get started, you're tapped out. You can't buy an eraser for your mechanical pencil, much less pay to have leads supplied to you!
It's tough, isn't it?
So, here's my secret to how the Rookie agent can compete with the seasoned veteran agent who knows a third of the town: GET IN FRONT OF THE CUSTOMER. GET FACE TIME AND PHONE TIME.
How do you do it? Here's a few ideas:
1. Start farming an area. Leave business cards on doors with a personal, handwritten message on the back. Start a newsletter or quarterly market report. Better yet, walk the neighborhood on a regular basis and pass out viable information.
2. Send out expired listing letters on a daily basis. Or, call them. There's also nothing wrong with showing up at their door with an informational package. If you feel there's too much competition, go back a few months in the MLS and contact the past expired listings.
3. Go talk to an unrepresented seller. Here's a post that gives advice on how to get your foot in the door with FSBOs.
4. Talk to builder representatives and ask if you can market one of their homes or help hold open some of the homes. Follow up, offer to help, bring them lunch, ask for their referral if a buyer is desiring representation, ask for the opportunity to list one of their properties. Ask, Ask, Ask!
5. Ask an agent if you can advertise one of their listings or hold an open house. This gives you an excuse to invite neighbors by going door to door. You can also call owners who live in the same neighborhood as that listing to tell them all about that listing and ask if they are thinking of selling in the next 3 months. (Follow Do Not Call procedures.)
6. Preview properties. Preview listed properties, builder properties. Get out there and learn the area. You never know who you'll bump into that might want your help.
7. Blog, set up a Facebook business page, get a Twitter account and be consistent with updating these things. I'm kinda preaching to the choir here. I should be more consistent! These things are free (well, not ActiveRain, but many other blogging platforms are).
8. Get involved in your community, volunteer, talk to your neighbors. I'm not saying you should stick a business card in their face every time you see them, but reminding someone you work in real estate is ok. for example, 'Gotta run, I'm previewing properties...have a property tour...have a real estate meeting...taking a continuing education course...got a closing..."
9. Take a successful agent to lunch. Here's something you might have figured out by now: they probably like to talk about themselves. Ask them to tell you what they wish they would've known when they started. Ask them to tell you the top 3 activities you should do. Get inspiration and hear their stories of how they started. The good thing about this is they'll start getting all nostalgic and remember when they were poor and BOOM...your lunch is paid for!
10. Follow up often and immediately start a database. It doesn't matter if it's on note cards, as long as you're contacting your database on a regular basis. You have got to constantly be on the front of that potential clients mind when they go to buy, sell or refer.
If you will commit to doing these activities, consistently, you will see success. Once you start having closings you can start investing more money into marketing that leverages your time. But, for right now, you may have to pound the pavement a little bit and ACTIVELY pursue that client. Pretty soon you'll be just like the bluetooth guy in the next bathroom stall.
Thanks to Laurie Jarrett!!!
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