So you’re a real estate agent and you want to grow your business, and you want to grow it quick. Long term, this would just be part of building your business, but you’ve decided, “Hey, I need some transactions right away. I need to help some folks right away.” What are the best strategies for you?
- Go after expired listings. I know no one likes doing it, but you’ve just said to me you need to grow your business today. So, the best place to go is expireds. These are people who have put their home on the market with the expectation of getting it sold, and it didn’t work out for whatever reason. Most likely it was price or lack of exposure. Sometimes both of those reasons together, hopefully not. But at the end of the day, these people want to sell their home. They chose the wrong agent to get it done, or they’ve priced the home incorrectly the first time.Regardless, they have a problem. You have the ability to solve it. So, number one, expireds. How you get those, that’s talk for another day, but that’s the first place, right?
- Open houses. I know nobody wants to do open houses. I get it. I do. But, it’s where you meet people; 5 people come in the door, 10 people come in the door, 50 people come in the door. That’s up to you and how well you market the property, and where of course, you’re doing it. Are you doing a million dollar home in a secluded area? Are you doing something that may be a price point in your market that turns $250,000-300,000? Are you just putting up signs? Are you doing digital advertising? Are you calling the neighbors to let them know you’re going to be there? If you’re doing all the things, all of the things necessary to get as many people to the house and you’ve chosen the house well, you have an opportunity to meet people. When you meet people and you have genuine conversations, these people are, not all of them are looking to buy today, but at the right price, the right home, they might be. And so it’s all about meeting people. You want to meet buyers, do open houses.
- Connect with your database. It’s simply calling people. If you don’t want to pick up the phone and call, you’re in the wrong business. You could also Facebook message people. What if you spent four hours simply messaging people with meaningful information? “Hey, how’s your dog doing?” “Hey, congratulations on Johnny’s great season in football.” Or, “Michelle’s had a great season in softball.” If you spent four hours connecting with people, eventually those conversations you’re having with those connections will be conversations and they always say, “So, how’s the market?” And then from there, you can have a conversation about helping them buy, sell, whatever it is their needs are. Those are the three best and quickest ways to grow your real estate business.