Gain Real Estate Leads In 2021 Without Cold Calling

The real estate business is a tough market at all times. It is always in flux. It requires a tremendous amount of hard work to make it in this highly competitive field. However, the pay-offs are equally great too. You have flexible hours, a better work-life balance, and you get to pick the clients or the specific area of real estate to work in.

Now it does not matter whether you are a battle-hardened real estate veteran with many years under your belt or a newly minted agent with a new and shiny real estate agent license there is one aspect that is troublesome for everyone — cold calling.

Yes, cold calling seems to be the most challenging aspect of real estate lead generation. As a real estate agent, you have a fair idea that you need to be on top when it comes to lead generation, and cold calling is one of the most common approaches that many real estate agents resort to. But what if we told you that you do not have to necessarily have to rely on cold calling alone to build your real estate leads pipeline? What if we told you that there are other ways for you to accrue quality real estate leads and that too with lesser time investment in comparison to cold calling, wherein you might spend hours on the phone with nothing much to show at the end of a workday? We have outlined here a few ways for quality real estate leads generation without the need for cold calling.

Sending Emails:

The first is an obvious one — sending emails. Now you might be someone who is already sending out mailers to your contact list and are probably not getting much response. After all, sending an e-mail is just another form of cold calling. Is it not? That's not true. When we say e-mail, we mean sending properly designed, target-specific emails. Not one common email that you can dash off to your entire contact list. Prospective clients want to see that you have taken the time to understand their needs. These mails have to be relevant and reflect the changes in the real estate market. What is equally important is to send follow-up emails. On average, it takes at least 5 to 6 emails before you may get a response. Yet this is one of those methods which pays off in the long run. Even if the client does not wish to engage your services immediately, they might approach you after a few months.

Increase Online Visibility:

In this day and age, you do not have a choice but to have an online presence. You could be the savviest agent in town and yet miss out on opportunities if you fail to use the internet to reach people. Unlike cold calling, having and engaging through an online presence is less intrusive from a client's perspective. You could have a personal real estate website. On this site, you can showcase your track record, services provided, free advice, etc. You must also try to contribute to blogs and real estate columns. If your articles get enough reach, your clients will approach you themselves. You can even consider registering on trusted lead generation platforms such as Dorrmat to increase both your online visibility and gather more quality real estate leads.

Build Relationships With Small Businesses:

A real estate agent does not exist in a bubble. You need to build, nurture and develop relationships with people who are engaged in businesses related to real estate. Businesses such a local banks, financing agencies, plumbers, building contractors, electricians, etc can help you get quality referrals. This is possible because most house owners would approach these businesses before they are ready to list their homes. So, you stand a good chance at getting an inside track, and as you are being recommended by someone they already trust, you are in an advantageous position.

Leverage Social And Professional Circles:

Networking is the key to be a successful real estate agent. Extensive networking plays a key role in getting you quality leads and referrals. Now, you certainly should not be the person whom everyone avoids as you always tend to talk shop. What you must do is build honest relationships with people and then seek referrals. Whether over dinner, sports, or even a simple coffee, casual chats can point you in the direction of good leads. Building a relationship also ensures that you are the first person your contact thinks of when any acquaintance of theirs is looking for an agent.

Target FSBOs Through Soft-Sell:

Most real estate agents prefer to give a wide berth to all the FSBO (For Sale By Owner) listings. Agents tend to believe it is a waste of time trying to convince FSBOs, and they are right to a certain extent. However, almost 8 in 10 FSBOs eventually end up hiring a real estate agent. What most agents do not realize is that switching from a hard-sell approach to a soft-sell approach may help convert the hard to please FSBO leads. Do not opt for a straightforward approach to obtain the listings. It may devolve into an argument with the homeowner. Instead, offer assistance in the form of online marketing or getting professional photographs clicked. This helps lay a foundation for future opportunities. Once the homeowner realizes that they would not be able to sell the home on their own, they are bound to give you a call.

Revisit Past Clients:

You should have a separate list of both clients with whom you had successful deals as well as clients with whom you worked, but for various reasons, the deal did not reach the stage of completion. It is highly important to keep in touch and send regular emails to both sets of people. Remember, you have already laid the groundwork in establishing trust and building a relationship with these old clients. It would be a sheer waste of your time and efforts not to devote energy to maintain these relations. From clients for whom you closed a deal, you can expect quality referrals and great testimonials. Whereas, from clients for whom the deal did not go through, you can expect them to approach you again when their issues have been sorted out. Therefore, you must be in regular contact, through the holiday and seasonal greetings, real estate update emails, or even friendly emails inquiring about their well-being.

Summary:

These are some of the ways in which you can skip cold calling and yet have a good lineup of real estate leads. Remember, to make it in the real estate business you need to constantly evolve with the times. That is why it is important to realize that cold calling is almost on the wane, and most prospective clients would prefer you to approach them in one of the ways that we have mentioned above.