For most new realtors generating qualified buyer and seller leads are the equivalent of cracking The Da Vinci Code. Cold Calling has been a tried and true method since the time of dinosaurs and many Realtors generate tons of business through them. Although it is effective, not everyone has the skill set and fortitude to crush phone calls like the Wolf of Wall Street. So, here are 5 methods of building your book of business without cold calling. 

1. Host a Networking Event For Other Entrepreneurs and Business Owners

Networking is one of the most effective ways of building massive rapport with individuals from different industries. But Alex, I thought we were looking for clients. Most business owners and entrepreneurs are into investing and real estate is one of the best investments you can make. Also, Business owners and entrepreneurs who network probably have friends, associates, and business partners that might need your services. Building a book of referral partners is a must! It is a well that never goes dry. If you are good at making and maintaining friendships this might be an amazing way of drumming up new clients. 

2. Attend Local Meetups and Government Events

This one may sound a little boring if you're not into your local town halls and political scene. However, attending these events will put you in direct contact with homeowners and people that care about the neighborhoods you are working.  

These events will not only help you rub shoulders with potential clients, developers and business owners, it will also help you understand your community niche market that much better. Imagine being able to tell your potential client about developmental projects that will be popping up around them. 

3. Join a Club

I have a realtor friend who loves baseball! He joins a bunch of softball leagues every year and makes tons of connections. The best part about it is that you are doing something you love and prospecting at the same time! I mean what is more of a win-win situation. 

4. Create a "Business Spotlight" Series on Your Social Media Platforms  

If you are the reporter type, don’t mind being on camera and have a taste for an adventure this is an amazing way to meet clients. The method is relatively simple: you go to a restaurant, festival, event, etc, and vlog the experience. Your goal is to meet locals, managers, and owners. Let them know that you want to share their business with your audience. Boom! The cross-pollination process begins. You talk about their venue, get people's positive reviews, and let people know about the housing market the attraction is near.  

The business is very likely to share the video with its audience, which is usually full of local fans. Share it in local Facebook groups. With a little consistency, you will become a voice in the community. Your real estate business will thank you for it! 

5. Open Houses with Purpose

Open houses are still proven to be the best way of finding new business hands down. Most people who show up at a house are usually interested in real estate. However, most agents leave a lot of money on the table when it comes to open houses. Your goal with an open house is to get into the community and find other people who want to sell as well. 

Every Open House should be planned 1-2 weeks in advance and requires you to blow the marketing out the roof: Send out flyers, make calls, door knock, run a Facebook ad, and push this listing as if it were your last one. Your efforts will get you in contact with many homeowners who need your marketing expertise to get the most money for their house. 

Cold calling isn’t dead but it isn't the only way to build a solid pipeline of business.

The age old adage couldn't be more true “Where there is a will there's a way.” If you “will” yourself to go out there and build relationships and be of service to people the “way” will present itself. Now go out there and meet some people! 

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Wow, 8 years in real estate! I went from working a part-time job at Michael Kors as a stock boy supporting my "real estate habit" to running a team of 34+ agent partners, and co-founding an e-commerce business with the love of my life. I’m blessed to have made it this far and I know I have ways to go, but in the last 8 years I have learned principles and lessons that I would love to share with you. 

I wish someone shared these lessons with me back in 2013 when I got started. Some of these lessons I’ve learned the hard way. Some of them were taught to me through mentors and other amazing people that I have met along my real estate journey. Here we go:

1. YOU SHOULDN’T WORK WITH EVERYONE 

This one I learned the hard way. I’ve worked with clients that were rude, unrealistic and down right straight rotten. (This exists...let’s not pretend everyone is your ideal client…) As a new agent we are so happy for ANY opportunity to list a property. I get it! However, once my mindset shifted from scarcity to abundance, and once my marketing and prospecting strategies got more strategic – I was able to pick and choose my clients. 

The joy of working in this industry can easily be sucked away by people who show you no respect. We all know that extremely grumpy agent who’s been in the business for 25+ years. I’d bet they didn’t start off so grumpy. Over time I learned to simply avoid them and only pursue my ideal clients or people who really need the help. This change in mindset made the last 8 years way more enjoyable than had I continued to stress myself out with non-ideal clients. 

2. YOU NEED TO DO MORE THAN JUST BUY AND SELL HOMES 

Real Estate is quickly changing and the everyday consumer is becoming more empowered by the internet. Almost 90% of real estate agents fail in their first 2 years in the business purely because they think all a Realtor® does is help people buy, sell and rent properties. If you think that is all you're going to provide and be successful you are very wrong. 

You need to become a real estate resource. You need a network of professionals that you can provide to your clients at the drop of a hat. You need Investors, Lawyers, Accountants, Roofers, Plumbers, Contractors, Security Systems, and Financial Advisors on your team. You need to be a plug of business. This will lead to more conversations, more appointments, more trust, and a larger network. 

You also need multiple income streams, but that’s another lesson.

3. GIVING BACK IS THE KEY TO GROWTH 

If you stop viewing your clients as prospects and start focusing on connecting and building relationships your business will change dramatically. Being a resource and connecting people is 90% of the battle. 

Your job is to find people to build relationships with and grow your Sphere of Influence. You can do this in many ways: attending community events, educating at a seminar, social media, making calls, sending out mailers, etc. Just make sure that whatever you decide to do you come from a place of giving. Provide value and give more without expecting anything in return. Things will naturally come back to you. 

4. YOUR STORY AND YOUR WHY ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR IQ 

This business for sure has a learning curve and is filled with rejection. You're going to need more than just grit to make it to the Promised Land. Obviously, you are going to need to learn skills and fundamentals but one the biggest issues that I see in this industry is over training and over thinking. 

At the start of my career I shared openly how I was a brand new agent. I shared openly what my WHY was. This meant that the people around me could become part of my story and participate in my business’s growth! It allowed me to connect on a deeper level with my sphere of influence, new prospects and my community.

The person who connects with more people does more business than the person that has all the answers. Remember that. 

5. IT ALL WORKS, YOU JUST NEED TO DO SOMETHING. 

Most agents are looking for the magic marketing/prospecting strategy that is going to blow up their business overnight. The truth is almost every strategy works! Mailers, Cold Calling, Networking Events, Standing on the Corner with Flyers, Social Media Ads, Organic Social Media Posting, Wearing a Buy. Sell. Invest. Hoodie… As long as you consistently do something, that's what really matters. 

6. FAIL, IMPROVE AND FAIL AGAIN. 

Again, rejection and failure are going to be a part of your journey as a real estate entrepreneur. Sometimes you come up with amazing ideas and they don’t perform as well as you hoped. The listing presentation hit on everything, or so you thought, and the prospect wanted to see some statistics on the effectiveness of facebook advertising and you didn’t have it...

You can take it as a failed attempt or add some facebook ad statistics to your presentation for the future. Your business should always be in some type of growth. In the wise words of Tony Robbins if you are not growing you're dying.  

7. THE VALUE YOU BRING DETERMINES THE VALUE YOU GET. 

I quickly learned that the reason why so many realtors fail is because they do everything the same way as everyone else. What you think is “value” is just the things that everyone else is providing. If you are trying to justify your commission because you provide professional photos, professional drone footage, and you throw it up on the MLS and 350 real estate websites...I’m sorry, but everyone does that. 

You need to become a specialist, and provide services and value that most agents can’t provide. Once you have proven methods you can justify your commission and investment to your clients without a problem. Be different, and you’ll stand out. The competition isn’t as over saturated as you think.

8. IT DOES NOT HAVE TO COST YOU AN ARM AND A LEG

I used to pay so much for leads through websites like Zillow, Streeteasy and Realtor.com. I then decided to learn how to obtain leads for a fraction of the price through different sources. With a combination of KvCore, Landing Pages, Facebook ads, Google ads, and Organic Social Media posts I was able to up the amount of leads I could obtain and save money doing it.  

WANT TO LEARN HOW I DID THAT CLICK HERE FOR FREE TRAINING>>> 

9. OVERTRAINING AND OVER THINKING WILL DESTROY YOUR PRODUCTION  

Taking what you learn and applying it to your business practices is a skill that everyone should master. I know many agents who train 30 hours a week and actually work almost 5 hours a week on non-money making tasks. They know what to say and how to say it, but they just don’t take enough action. 

I was guilty of this as well. I felt I needed to know everything before I could get started. Sometimes it's just better to get on the job training. Go out there and build the courage and resilience you will actually need to succeed. The knowledge will come. 

10. PSYCHOLOGY IS 90% OF THE BATTLE 10% IS SALES 

Mastering the space between your ears is really what will make you successful in real estate. Understanding your motivations and the motivations of others will put you 2 steps in front of the competition. Learning empathy, The DISC profiles, body language and social cues will really allow you to build rapport, and find leverage as a sales person, and as a resource in general. Knowing what to say and how to say it is great and it will help you sell. Knowing how to provoke emotion and connecting with someone on a deeper level will grow your business 100x.  

Robin Arzon, the VP of Fitness Programming at Peloton said it best, “It doesn't get easier but you get stronger.” In this business you are going to go through ups and downs before finding the fortitude and skill to maintain a steady growth. Just remember that your journey is your own and you are a master of your own faith. 

Real estate will teach you more about who you are. It will help you create a stronger mentality and help you develop skills that will make you a better person overall whether you stick with it or not. I hope these 10 principles help you scale your business faster and avoid some of the pains that I have gone through. 

As always I wish you many happy clients and closings! See you in year 9. 

At Designed For Agents we've hosted many online lead generation trainings and every now and then we hear an agent say, "...well online leads don't work. The leads are trash." This is an especially common misconception when it comes to Facebook Ad Leads. 

Yes, we said "misconception" on purpose. 

There is a very real reason as to WHY many Real Estate Agents struggle to convert Online Based Leads – both buyers and sellers. Let's break down the top 5 reasons why real estate agents struggle to convert online buyer and seller leads.

#1 You Don't Understand The Lead Generation Source

Here's a Cheat Sheet:

Zillow Premier Agent Leads – Relatively Warm, but will cost you a premium because Zillow's Call Centers filter out the wrong phone numbers/emails and pre-screen the leads. It's important to understand that these leads CAME TO ZILLOW (from a Facebook, Google or YouTube Ad actually...) and so they are indeed browsing real estate actively. Whether or not they're ready to buy or sell is the question of course.

Facebook Ad Leads (To Website) – Room Temperature, but will likely be a cost effective option because you will be the one "pre-screening" them (unless you can afford a Call Center like Zillow Premier Agent). It's important to understand that these leads were served your Facebook Ad and many may be several months out from purchasing or selling. You're catching them at the browsing phase, but remember, this gives you loads of potential for long-term relationship building.

Facebook Ad Leads (Lead Form direct) – Room Temperature, but will likely cost you a bit more money than sending them to your lead conversion real estate website. The reason is that Facebook pre-populates the lead's information into the form and all they have to do is click submit. Unfortunately, this means they can easily hit that submit button with outdated information. (Example, my Facebook info is a phone number and email from the past...what's yours?)

Google PPC Leads – Relatively Warm, but may cost you more than Facebook and possibly less money than Zillow Premier Agent. The reason being that, depending on how you run the ads, you should be getting leads based off of individuals who literally typed in keyword search terms that signal they want to buy or sell in that market soon. 

There are so many other online lead sources and lead generation services, but we wanted to break down this point: You must understand the potential mindset and filtering requirements for the online lead sources you choose to use.

#2 You're Waiting Too Long To Contact The Lead

Now let's say you're a Real Estate Agent who has either (a) mastered generating online leads through advertising or organic social media content marketing; or (b) has paid for a reputable online lead generation service.

How do we solve the problem of leads not converting when you have them in abundance? Simple. You're not contacting them fast enough. An online lead should be contacted within the first 2-5 minutes of submitting their information. The longer you wait to call/text/email them (yes, all three) the longer it will take to get them on the phone and convert them to an appointment.

#3 You're Not Contacting the Lead Enough Times

Now let's say you do actually call your online leads within the first 2-5 minutes, but you're still having trouble converting them into appointments and then sales. The problem may be that you're not contacting them enough times. It can take 9-18 touches/contacts (and some sources say 35 touches/contacts...) minimum to reach out to and convert an online lead. This means you must try calling, texting, and emailing the online lead 18-35 times before you have success. Are you currently doing this, or forgetting about the lead after 1-3 touches?

#4 You Don't Have Enough Leads Coming In (C.R.)

When it comes to online lead generation, your C.R. (Conversion Ratios/Rate) matter. A relatively average real estate agent will have a 1% Conversion Rate with Online Leads. This means that for every 100 Online leads received by that average agent, only 1 will convert.

If we scale that math, it would mean that if the average agent would like to close 12 Sales in 1 year, they would need to generate 1,200 Online leads in those 12 months.

Take this information into consideration when deciding what your advertising budget will be. If you're netting at $5/per lead you'll need to spend $6,000 for the year. If you're netting at $25/per lead you'll need to spend $30,000 for the year. If you're netting at $2.50/per lead you'll need to spend $3,000 for the year.

#5 You Haven't Practiced Your Scripts Enough

The final piece to consider is your individual skill set. Real Estate Scripts exist for a reason! Top Producers practice them via role play for a reason. Let's say you have an abundance of leads coming in, you call them right away, and you even have a CRM that automatically follows up with them for 1,070 days and YOU STILL are not converting them into sales.

The solution is simple. Work on your scripts. Find a role play partner, find a role playing group, find a team leader who role plays – and just do it. Practice! You'll see a difference within a few days if you do. 

Did you find this article helpful? Let us know in the comments and share it with your real estate friends.

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This 100% FREE training with Alex Fazleani ( @alexfazelani ) covers how real estate agents can covert more buyers and close more deals

What You'll Learn:

• Where to Find Buyers
• Straight Line Selling
• How To Qualify a Buyer
• Booking the Buyers Presentation/Appointment
• Conducting the Buyers Presentation/Appointment
• Post-Buyer's Presentation Protocol

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How To Convert Buyers & Close More Deals

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This 100% FREE training with Alex Fazleani ( @alexfazelani ) covers how real estate agents can utilize Real Estate Sales Funnels in order to generate more leads, nurture their database, close more deals and grow their business. 

What You'll Learn:

• What is a Sales Funnel
• Who should you put on a funnel
• Necessary Funnels for Realtors
• Generating Leads for your funnels
• Tools and Systems
• Details of building out your funnel
• Automation and empathetic nurturing

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Real Estate Agent Sales Funnel Secrets

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