Real estate prospecting is the lifeblood of a successful career in real estate sales, and yet many agents just don't want to do it!
Some cite the cost - thinking that prospecting means either placing expensive ads in newspapers or homes magazines, or paying the high cost of postage to mail to a large number of people who may or may not be interested in their services.
Some say they just "don't have time." And for busy agents, time is a factor. The trouble is, without ongoing prospecting efforts, those agents will wake up some morning with all of their transactions closed and no new transactions that need their attention.
Some fail to realize that they can be doing one form of prospecting as they move throughout their day. They can keep a pile of business cards in their pocket and hand them out to the people they talk with. They can remember to wear their name tags or that little "R" pin on their lapel - so that people interested in real estate will see it and strike up a conversation about real estate. They can put magnetic signs on their car doors if they can't afford or don't want advertising painted on their cars.
Many others don't recognize the value of creating automated systems to do their prospecting while they're busy doing other things.
It takes a little time and a little money to set up, but once in place, an automated system can keep right on pulling in business, 24 hours a day.
It starts with having a website. Hopefully, all agents who are serious about making a living already have their own website. If not, that's the first step. And, while some agents spend many thousands hiring web designers, huge expense is not necessary. You can start with a simple WordPress site that even the technologically challenged can use.
The primary cost will be about $10 to purchase a domain name and a few dollars a month for hosting.
The website does need to have good copy, but that's a subject for a different article.
To create an automated prospecting machine, an agent needs to make one more expenditure: an autoresponder service. I prefer GetResponse because it allows me to set up separate mailing lists and separate "capture boxes" for each of them. Autoresponders cost between $15 and $20 per month.
Next, he or she needs a special report of some kind to give away in exchange for site visitors leaving their names and email addresses. The autoresponder will capture that information so the agent can mail to them over and over again. And that, of course, is the next step.
Auto responders allow you to set up as many follow-up letters as you like - all pre-set to go out at specific intervals after a new prospect opts in. These letters should all offer some good information - so that recipients will be glad to get them and will read rather than delete. And of course, each should contain the agent's offer of service.
Different prospects need different messages
Agents who serve only buyers or only sellers need only one autoresponder. Those who serve both, or who serve specific niche markets, need one for each type of buyer or seller. For instance, an agent might offer special information for homeowners whose listings have expired unsold and completely different information for FSBO sellers or homeowners who need to consider a short sale.
Agents can also set up auto responders for past clients and those in their sphere of influence - so they can connect regularly with those people who are most likely to send referrals.
Marte Cliff is a Freelance Copywriter who specializes in writing for real estate and related industries.
She'll help you with one letter, or an entire marketing plan. For Real Estate agents and brokers who are ready to get full value from their websites, she'll be happy to put together an entire package - from the web copy to the lead generation packages that make an agent's phone ring.
A cruise around the Internet looking at real estate websites reveals 3 kinds of websites:
- Chamber of Commerce Sites
- "It's all about me" sites
- Customer focused sites
The most common is the "Chamber of Commerce site." This one shouts out the reasons why a consumer would want to live in the community. It sometimes offers details about different subdivisions, or if the agent serves a wide area, about different communities within the area.
On the Chamber of Commerce site you'll find information and links to local attractions, schools, transportation, and more.
Usually, these sites offer more good information than the local Chamber of Commerce site. Really - the Chamber should be helping pay for web maintenance, they're so good.
But... quite often it is difficult, if not impossible, to even find the name of the agent who presented that site to the world.
The site sells the location, but not the agent. And I often wonder just how effective these can be. Many of the agent's prospects already live there. Many others are searching for an agent in the community because they already know they're going to need a home there. They aren't shopping for a community because that's already been decided.
The second site: "All about me" is just the opposite. Often the first word on the page is "I," and it goes on from there. You'll learn that this is a top listing agent, that he belongs to the Million Dollar Club, that she has 17 "Alphabet soup" designations, that he's been selling real estate for 20 years, that she's an absolute whiz with all the latest technology, and on and on.
These sites are an ego trip. They offer little, if any, good information for consumers.
The third site - the Customer focused site - is the one you'll see least often, even though it is the best.
This site addresses the concerns of the buyers and sellers who visit. It demonstrates that the agent knows what they're worried about and seeks to alleviate those worries.
It goes into specifics about how the agent treats buyers and/or sellers. It explains some of the details of real estate transactions and gives good advice. It includes the agent's philosophy of doing business and perhaps offers a mission statement.
And then, this site includes an "about me" page that lets prospects have a peek into who the agent is as a person. It lets prospects find a connection via a shared interest in a hobby or a mutual commitment to a cause. It reveals a bit about past experiences such as education or previous careers.
For some, the "about me" page is the most important of all, because it allows prospects to see that the agent is somehow like them.
What kind of real estate website do you have? Does it need some changes?
