As agents, we all know that our sphere of influence (SOI) is our top resource for leads. People work with you when they know, like and trust you. Your friends and family already know like and trust you so the biggest hurdle is already overcome. That being said not everyone has a sphere that they can lean on for business opportunities. Maybe you’ve moved to a new area, your sphere is younger and they’re not purchasing homes yet, or you’re an introvert and don’t have a ton of people that you know well. 

Maybe you’re rocking your SOI and they’re providing you with business and referrals but you’re looking to grow beyond what they currently provide. Whatever the reason, it’s always a good idea to be lead generating alongside working with your sphere. As well as providing you with the business now, prospecting and lead generating are what will keep your business afloat when the next market shift happens...and market shifts always happen. 

Almost every method of lead generation works. The reason that many agents get frustrated is that they’re spreading themselves too thin doing many different forms of lead generating. The key to lead generation is not so much WHAT you do but HOW you do it. The best thing to do is pick one or two types of lead generation that you think will fit well with your personality and lifestyle and stick to it. 

Every form of lead generation takes time. If you try open houses one weekend and don’t get any viable leads and then give up and start cold calling the next week you’re not giving your chosen method of lead generation enough time to bear fruit. If you choose to work open houses (or whatever option) you need to give it your all for at least 3-6 months to really see the power of your consistent focused effort. 

That’s the second main key. Whatever method you choose, you need to give it a consistent and focused effort. Take your failures and learn from them, as well as learning from your successes. Become the best that you can within your chosen method.

I go back to the open house example. If you choose this form of lead generation you’ll focus all of your marketing and prospecting efforts around this. A week may involve finding an open house to host on Monday or Tuesday if you don’t have any listings of your own yet. Marketing on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday by calling neighbors of the property, door-knocking 50-100 doors with open house flyers, and creating a Facebook ad to target the area. Then on Saturday and Sunday, you hold the open house making it an event. 

What you’ve done in that week is spoken to many of the neighbors, shown neighbors your flyer with your name and logo, and possibly met some leads face to face with the door knocking and at the actual open house. If you do this every weekend in the same general area the whole neighborhood will know your name and have your information when they’re ready to sell. They’ve seen that you work hard for your clients time and time again. The buyers that have been looking in that area will see you every weekend and know that you’re the expert in the neighborhood. All of this builds trust and name recognition and is exponentially more powerful than just a simple open house would seem. 

All of the lead generation options listed below have the same potential for exponential power and growth when done consistently. I’ll write blog posts going into depth for each one but for the sake of writing a blog post and not a book, I’ll list them here with short descriptions and why they work. So, I’ll quit babbling and get to the meat of this post. 

1. Open houses. We’ll start with the example above. They can take a few hours on the weekends but when you hone in what works for you and what doesn’t they become second nature and you become the expert in the area to potential buyers and sellers. Many mega agents have built their businesses off of open houses. Focus on meeting people and making connections. Have purposeful conversations with people while prospecting and while at the open house. This method encompasses manny of the following methods and gives you a reason to call and knock on doors. Check out this post that goes into detail on making great connections at open houses.

2. Farming. There is traditional farming where you focus on an area and there is prospect-based farming where you focus on a group of people instead of a specific area. The main point of farming is to get people to see your name over and over again so that when they think real estate they think of you. This can be done with postcards, events, toy drives, phone calls, etc.

3. Circle prospecting. You get numbers and you cold call. This is a time-efficient way to prospect and works well over time. This is another form of lead generating that has created many mega agents. The key is in the follow-up because you’re not likely to find too many people that pick up the phone and say please come sell my house. You can call people to tell them about a new listing in the area, a buyer that you have that is looking to get into a neighborhood (only if you actually have a buyer or this is disingenuous), update people about changes in the local market by letting them know prices have gone up X% and now is a great time to sell, etc.

4. Hold seminars. Informational nights for new buyers tend to be the most well attended and give you reasons to reach out to people in your community and establish you as an expert to the attendees. This is often a long game as many people are not ready to buy that day, but occasionally some are. My first seminar landed me with a buyer that was already pre-approved and they wrote an offer with me 2 weeks later. You never know who may show up. Cold calling and cold emailing apartment complexes and other renters in the area, as well as hanging flyers in establishments that allow it, are great ways s to advertise your seminar. Enlist the help of a lender and other vendors that you feel would be appropriate to help with marketing reach and give them a chance to market themselves with you.

5. Create a social media group. This is often done on Facebook since it is still the Goliath of social media platforms, especially when it comes to localized groups. If there is not already a page for a community that you live in or farm create that community page. If you want it to be real estate specific, invite your buyer leads to it for “previews” of homes as they hit the market. You can even invite your vendors such as a lender to provide lending market updates occasionally. Post events, listings, open houses for the weekends, and seminars all to the group. This keeps you top of mind and shows that you’re an expert in the area.

6. Last but not least is grow your sphere of influence. This one is by far the most fun and long term it can be very profitable. Go out and do something that you like or have wanted to try. Be purposeful while you’re out by making new connections and friends. You don’t need to yell from the rooftop every time you meet someone that you’re an agent, it will come up in conversation. And, if it doesn’t, just ask them what they do...they respond in kind. So go join a hiking or knitting group, volunteer, canvas for your favorite politician. Participate more and become a leader in the community that you’re already in such as kid’s school or sports, church, SCA, whatever that looks like in your life. Make work fun!

Don’t be a secret agent! Choose one or two of the above and really put your all into it. Once again, it’s not what you do but how you do it. Consistency and focused effort are what’s most important when choosing how you’d like to find new clients for your real estate business. If you work your business consistently and get busy consider hiring a transaction coordinator and check out my post on the right questions to ask a TC to make sure they’re a good fit for your business. Best of luck on this exciting adventure!