In todays Agent Insights post, Beth Atalay - a Florida Real Estate Broker and Owner of Cam Realty and Property Management - provides tips for how to follow up with real estate leads and explains how to use successfully them.
Here's Beth:
If you are in the real estate industry, chances are, you’re in it to make money. If not, I’m happy you chose this profession as a hobby as you won’t have a single day without an event that make you laugh or cry… think, scream, or dance.
Our goal should be to generate leads, follow up, then close. Sounds simple? Well, it does sound simple but it’s not. See, if you’ve been in the business for some time you probably have a large database and your business comes from referrals. This is our dream position!
What if you’re a brand new agent without a lead generating database or don’t know anyone. What do you do? There’s more than one way to generate business, but you have to feel comfortable with your preferred method, learn it and execute. No matter what you do, you’re not going to get ten listings within a month. It’s work!
I caution you not to pay attention to those who would tell you certain activities are useless and they don’t generate any business.
Here are examples of what “some” say doesn’t work for lead generation:
You’re wasting your money and time blogging on ActiveRain:
When someone tells you this, ask to see their blog posts, their interaction with other members or whether they’ve been consistent or not. I guarantee, they haven’t been active, they haven’t blogged, didn’t comment or didn’t interact with others. Becoming an ActiveRain member was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made and wish I had done it sooner.
Facebook is preventing me from working:
That’s not Facebook’s fault - is it? Limit the time you spend on Facebook and be strategic about how you spend it. I am active on every single Neighborhood group for my area. I am also a member of Facebook groups that have anything to do with “moving to Florida”. I am talking to others who live right here in my community and develop a relationship FIRST - business will come. I started posting Florida related posts on my business page and started getting calls. These are just some examples, there’s a lot more.
Landing Pages are just a waste of money:
Show me which platforms you used and failed. Landing Pages do work if you know what you’re doing. There’s a great resource right here on ActiveRain - check out Brivity.com Be sure to use demographics under FacebookAds when you run ads with your Landing Page. My last one had 26 Seller Leads. That is HUGE. It works folks, you just have to know how to use it.
Calling Expireds:
Can you see me cringe?? This is not on top of my faves at all. If there are 5 Expireds in my local market, they’re probably receiving calls from 50 Realtors. Yikes!! Do I call Expireds? You bet. But not to ask for the listing and not as soon as they come on the market. I may wait a week, a month, two weeks… but mostly, I go back 1-3 years and when I call, I engage in a conversation updating them on the market.
Door Knocking:
Ask me to eat cardboard or do 200 crunches… better yet, I will fast for a week. Who likes knocking on doors of people they don’t even know? I have some ideas, but this is about real estate. I do pop-bys in my farm area and knock on FSBO (For Sale by Owner) doors to give them a packet full of information they could use. Again - come from a place of contribution rather than be a pest.
Direct Mail:
I’ve heard many say that this is old school and doesn’t work, but it depends on what you mail and what the content is. Do it every 3 weeks for a year, then tell me it doesn’t work. It won’t work if you do it once or twice before you give up.
This may be local and also depends on the quality of your Open Houses and marketing efforts. When done right, they work. This is your chance to announce to the neighborhood you just listed a house. Why would you give that up?
Circle Prospecting:
Here we go again, talking about getting on the phone. Call your just listed or just solds to let neighbors know and follow up with a handwritten card thanking them for talking to you.
SOI:
I’m guilty of this. If I don’t put it on my schedule, months will go by before I contact my past clients. Like many of you, I have them in a category A/B/C/D based on how many referrals I received from them.
There are many methods of generating leads from your website to landing pages, phones, newspaper ads, blogging, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Direct Mail… but the key is in the follow up. Stay in front of potential buyers and sellers or nothing will work.
Pick one or two real estate lead generation activities, do them well, and don’t pay attention to those who say it won’t work. I was told by a Realtor from another state just last week that ActiveRain doesn’t work, but he’d never even tried.
This is your year to overcome obstacles, but you must first make a decision to reach your goals. Once you have the right mindset, the rest will come with hard work!
To view more from Beth, visit wheretoliveinorlando.com.
Want More Leads?
