Michael Montgomery
As a new real estate agent, getting listings can be a challenge. You are bombarded with new information, trying to get settled in your new career, and you are searching for ideas to generate more leads.
Getting listings as a new real estate agent takes work but it if you follow the steps below, you can have your name on signs in your community before you know it.
Introduction:
Working to find seller leads is a different process than looking for buyer leads. Targeting a potential client that is looking at selling their home, requires a plan and consistent effort. As with such strategies as cold calling and door knocking, it is prone to rejection as you are directly asking a home seller to trust you with the marketing of their home.
Finding the real estate listing or lead is the first step to getting the listing. You can use methods such as open houses, your sphere of influence, meeting people face to face, social media, hyperlocal marketing, and online lead generation
After this, you need to set yourself up to win the listing as a new real estate agent. You may be competing with other agents, so knowing how to communicate your value to a potential client is critical.
The Simplicity of Landing a Client as a New REALTOR®
If you have reviewed our Quick 10 Step Business Plan, you will see that real estate success can all be boiled down to the number of people in your database and how you interact with those people.
The challenge of being a new real estate agent is your sphere of influence may not be as large as experienced REALTORs®. Also, the real estate cycle is longer than most sale cycles. Tom Ferry and other real estate trainers use the benchmark of 90 days.
Therefore, what you do right now, will benefit you 90 days from now. That is great in theory but what if you need business right now? Not to worry, there are strategies to speed up the process.
The simplicity of landing a client as a new real estate agent lies in the math. In your business plan, we point out the following:
Each household in a balanced market is worth approximately $1,000 per year. That said, you will need to interact with your database on a regular basis in order to see this number come to reality.
If you contact your sphere of influence less frequently or the market is slower, each household may be worth $850 per year.
If you are a database wizard or the market is stronger then each household may be worth $1,250 per year.
Why is this important?
It’s important because real estate is math and art. The math is the number of people you need in your database to reach your income goal.
The art is how you will interact with these people on a regular basis.
So, you want more leads? You have two simple options:
Add more people to your database
Improve how you interact with your database to increase the $/household amount
Simple enough, but not easy. The following are the strategies to help new real estate agents get listings both by adding people to your database and improving how you interact with them.
Now that you know that real estate is just math and art let’s dive into how to get listings and turn those potential clients into real estate business!
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9 Ways to Get Listings as a New Real Estate Agent
Door Knocking For Seller Leads (With a Twist)
Sure, you have heard that door knocking is a great way to get seller leads, but do you struggle with what to say, and if you are being too “pushy”.
Doorking as a new real estate agent trying to get listings can be a gold mine, but it can also be rejection heavy work.
Here is the thing, with the Rev Real Estate Door knocking approach, you can easily door knock and virtually avoid any rejection.
In real estate, we do need to understand that when prospecting we will be interrupting people’s day. There is no way around that, but before you select your approach, ask yourself if the approach you are using would be of value if you were in the client’s shoes.
Rule number 1 in The Go-Giver book by Bob Burg is The Law of Value and it states that “your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment”.
We should remember the importance of this law when proceeding with prospecting efforts and we should lead with value when we are trying to get a listing.
This strategy is simple.
Pick approximately 250 that you can door knock on consistently.
Design postcard sized market reports for that area. (You can always use a free tool like Canva)
Make sure your face is on the market reports.
Door knock the 250 homes saying the following.
***Knock, Knock***
“Hello?”
“Hi, here is your monthly market report”
“Thanks”
“Have a great day”
Turn around and leave
Continue with this hitting the same home every month for the next 3 months. After 3 visits, step it up and ask if they have any questions. The answer will likely be “no”, so you move right along.
This listing lead generation strategy is pure gold because you are building up your familiarity, establishing yourself as a professional, and not making the potential client feel uncomfortable.
Engage in a conversation when the time is right and you will have a client for life.
Write a Short E-Book or Guide on The Selling Process (Joe Nickleson - Smart Agents.co)
Joe Nickleson comes from a value first mindset and recommends that you take the time to prepare useful content.
He recommends having a quick e-book ready for expires titled “Tactics To Sell Any Home Fast”. Here you can provide useful information to expired listings plus he uses the word “Fast”, which was one of the main problems when they had their home listed last.
His other recommendation is an e-book directed towards for-sale-by-owners titled “How To Sell Your Home”.
I know what you are thinking, why would they hire you if they already know how to sell their house? Chances are they are going to be blown away by the value of this item and they are going realize the value in having you as their agent. Also, they will have a better understanding of what you do and why you are worth your fee.
My barber could give me a manual on how to cut my own hair, but the last thing you will see is me at home with a pair of scissors in one hand and a mirror in the other.
Lead with value and you will be very successful in real estate.
Annual Real Estate Evaluation
This strategy should form part of every new real estate agent’s plan. It is a simple task that helps solidify yourself as the expert with people in your sphere of influence.
Plus it can quickly add new names to your database and can lead to you getting a listing fast.
Simply, you do offer to do an annual CMA for every person you know.
As a new real estate agent, your database may only be a few people. That is perfectly fine! After a few real estate evaluations with those in your database, you will be introduced to more people.
I recommend making this quite simple. Pulling 3-5 comparables and putting it in your CMA software. Then, I pop it in the mail.
Meeting them face to face is preferable, however, I know people are busy and I don’t want them to feel compelled to meet. So, I let them know I’ll put it in the mail unless they would rather go over it in person.
After the annual real estate evaluation, I ask them if they know of anyone else that would be interested in receiving one.
If you are a beginner REALTOR®, here is a quick script you can use.
“Hi, {Name}, as you may know, I’m now in real estate. Business is going well and I’m loving my industry. Just to let you know, as a service to my trusted current and future clients, friends, and family, I offer a quick annual real estate evaluation. Most people love receiving this as they find out the value of their home every year. If you would like, I can put one together for you and sent it by mail, or we can meet in person if that is preferred. Would this be of value to you?”
Who could say no to that killer offering, right?
After you send it.
“Hi, {Name}, thanks for allowing me to prepare your annual real estate evaluation. Do you know if there is anyone else who would benefit from this? I love doing them so it’s no sweat. No worries if not, just if you pass anyone that could use one, feel free to pass on my info”
Easy peasy!
Facebook Ad to Automated CMA
If you are purely looking for leads, currently, Facebook is the way to go on a cost per lead basis. Those clicking on a Facebook ad for are usually in the very early stages of selling… if at all. They could just have an interest in the value of their home.
“Great, well what am I going to do with a lead that is not interested in selling their home?”
This is where long-term thinking comes in. A lead is a person and this person is interested in knowing what the value of their home is. You are in a people based business where it is all about relationships and adding people to your network.
In the math above, you will recall that every household in your database is worth approximately $1,000/year. If you connect with these lead and they enter your database as someone who knows, likes, and trusts you, then you have yourself another household.
Here are our current best-performing ads
Pro Tips:
Use emoticons to increase your visibility and click through rate.
Test different images. Use people in some and properties in some.
Line one: Use the word “Instant”. People don’t want to wait for a full evaluation
Line two: Be area specific. This helps people understand it’s just for their community.
Line three: Let them know they can do it quickly again. Also using the word “Free” increased our click-through-rate
Copy and Paste
✅Instant Home Value Reports
🏡Renfrew, Bridgeland, Crescent Heights
💻One-Click [FREE]
Play the long-term game.
Another solution comes from Beatty Carmichael. Beatty recommends running Facebook ads to generate leads from those that are in the buying window. His ad copy filters out those that are just interested in the general value of their home.
Ad Copy Example
✅Looking to sell in the next 12 months? The first step is a one-click [FREE] home evaluation
🏡Renfrew, Bridgeland, Crescent Heights
This selects for those that have selling intent.
Chances are your cost per lead will be higher but your conversion rate should also be higher.
The online CMA software that I use is Cloud CMA. They have worked well for me and the cost is reasonable but there are a number of other options out there.
Facebook Ad to Buyer Lead
Here is the thing about sellers, when they see homes for sale in their neighborhood, they want to the price. If they have thoughts of selling, they usually start on MLS trying to find out how prices are looking.
Buyer ads work perfectly for both buyers and sellers.
This is usually well before they engage a REALTOR® to get a home evaluation. Therefore, your buyer lead ads will also attract seller leads. Especially if they are community focused.
When running buyer lead ads to a specific community, your follow-up should not assume they are buyers.
Here is our highest performing current ad copy for buyers.
Pro Tips:
Use emoticons to drive more attention.
Use nice images of current listings (no listings with poor photos - even if it is listed with another company, the ad reflect you)
Catch them with a hook” “Best Priced Homes”
Be area specific. This will drive both sellers and buyers.
Use words like “Now”, “Quick”, to increase click-through rate.
Copy and Paste
💥JUST LISTED - BEST PRICED HOMES💥
📍Evanston, Sage Hill, Nolan Hill, Kincora, Sherwood📍
➡️✅$450,000 AND BELOW✅⬅️
Download a list of all the single-family homes priced under $450,000 in NW Calgary.
Search Now ⬇️⬇️
Increase Your Conversations
If real estate is math and art, then if you improve either of these variables, you get a better result.
For math alone, if you would like to receive more leads, then increase the number of people you talk to and more leads will flow in. This is a simple concept, but not always easy.
Our last couple strategies where online focused, now let’s improve our face-to-face conversations.
Sammy Harper from the Realvolve Blog suggests getting out from behind your computer and meeting new people in the following great ways.
Volunteer - Jump on a cause that is important you and try to go on a continuous basis. This improves the chances of you forming a relationship with someone through volunteering.
Join a Meetup group - Meeting people has never been so easy. Just jump on a platform like Meetup and start attending Meetups that interest you.
Join your chamber of commerce and attend events - We have received a lot of business over the years from our local chamber of commerce. These are business minded people that value networking and getting to know other business owners.
Talk to your neighbors - Instead of just putting your head down and walking by, spark up a conversation.
Take your dog to the dog park - Most pet owners love talking about their furry friends. Dog parks are a natural way to meet new people and have organic conversations.
Join a gym - Get your workout on plus meet new people! Awesome combo.
Take an art class - Taking a class is a great way to explore your interests outside of real estate and meet new people.
Talk to strangers - Awesome article on how to talk to strangers!
She points out the importance of just getting out and talking to people and with just genuine interest.
Pro Tip: If you want to increase your production, increase your conversations and the production will follow.
Open Houses
As with clicking on Facebook ads about real estate, future sellers will attend open houses in their community to get a read on the market.
Open houses can be great for picking up buyers, but, if you host them properly, you can also meet potential seller leads.
When hosting an open house with the intention of finding seller leads, make sure that your preparation is on-point. They are much less concern with the open house than they are with the market.
Every open house you conduct, make sure you have the following to attract sellers.
Community Market Report (Shows you know the neighborhood)
Short Sellers Guide and/or Marketing Guide (Shows you are a strong listing agent)
Detailed Market Statistics (Shows that you know your numbers. Knowing your numbers is very important for sellers)
Area Comparables (Shows that you are prepared)
Pro Tip: For area comparables just print out one copy. That way when they ask for it, you can say you can send it to them by email after the open house.
Also, make sure you are presenting the home and you are driving traffic to the open house with signs, Facebook ads, and door knocking before the open house. It is all about getting the contact information.
What you are doing is showing potential sellers in the neighborhood the extent you will go to sell a property.
The Tried and True
There are some lead generation methods that have withstood the span of time and have lasted for a reason. Because they work!
Marketing to expireds and FSBO is still one of the best sources of sellers leads, especially if you have a smaller network.
There are two important factors to bear in mind when working expireds and FSBOs, you need to develop persistence and you need to lead with value.
Persistence is understanding that it will be rejection heavy work and you need to continue to follow up in different ways in order to land the client. Persistence is making another call to that FSBO even though you don’t want to. Persistence is sending a handwritten note even after the FSBO hung up on you. As the old adage goes,
The fortune is in the follow up
Leading with value is providing these people with information they require and meeting them where they are at. As you will see in the second tip above, you can draft a guide for expires and for FSBOs. These guides are a value first offering and will help you cut through the competition.
Just Ask - The People Prime
Out of all the strategies, “just ask” is the simplest, but rarely executed on. Asking for business means that we may be rejected and our primate instincts tell us to avoid rejection at all costs.
When you ask for business, most people will be happy that you asked and as long as you are doing so tastefully, being thought of as “off-putting” is unlikely.
The problem with asking for business is most strategies are too pushy. Asking someone if they know of anyone who is looking to sell then asking that person to provide their cell number so you can call them is too much.
Use a soft approach to asking such as The People Prime. For The People Prime, you are floating the concept over to the person so their eyes are open to potential leads for you.
Most people don’t even think of referring us and it’s not because they don’t like us. It’s because we haven’t primed them to look for business for us. This method just primes the person to turn on their radar.
At the end of the conversation:
“.....Well [NAME], it’s been great chatting and if you ever come across anyone needing real estate advice, feel free to pass on my information”
Here you are not asking someone to divulge their friends/families info or phone number. You’re just priming them to look for business for you.
Bonus: Be Enthusiastic and Be Different
Enthusiasm and differentiation are key in sales. Especially when you are in a competitive industry, you need to stand out.
Enthusiasm should be used when you are trying to land a client and when you are making phone calls. Showing excitement for real estate and sales is palpable and it also gives an impression of confidence.
Confidence and real estate go hand-in-hand, but this can take some time to build, especially if you are new. A top hack we use is just to increase your enthusiasm in a conversation and you will appear more confident. Simple and highly effective.
You will also need to know what makes you different. This is a hard one for most real estate agents to define. The reason most agents struggle with it is they are trying to come up with some elaborate new way of doing real estate.
For sellers, I find saying that you “do things differently” really interests them. The real estate marketing is thought of as antiquated in many sellers eyes. That is partially why for-sale-by-owners have no problem trying to sell themselves; they believe they can market just as well without having to pay fees.
Ask yourself this simple question: Why would a seller choose you over the next agent? (Simple but not easy) Your answer to this is one of your major differentiators.
Conclusion:
There are a number of ways you can drive sellers leads as a new agent. You can use social media, face-to-face, conversations, annual evaluations and more.
When determining your strategy for getting a listing as a new real estate agent, make sure you understand that real estate is math and art. You need to know a certain number of people and you need to interact with them on a consistent basis.
Finally, know that confidence, enthusiasm and differentiation will take you a long way in this business.
Follow Up Reading:
Top 10 Habits for Successful REALTORs®
10 Step Business Plan
15 Prospecting Ideas for New REALTORs®
43 Real Estate Lead Generation Ideas
Question:
How did you land your first listing? What are your favorite strategies to get listings? Let me know in the comments below
-Michael Montgomery
