If what you have planned this week does not include prospecting and marketing for new leads, then you should rework your plan. Nothing you do during your business week is more important than adding new names to your contact management system. The ways to generate real estate buyer and seller leads have not changed very much over time. Floor duty, open houses, just listed and just sold cards and letters, calling expired listings, calling FSBO, calling family and friends, advertising in the newspaper are several of the tried and true ways to increase your business. Today savvy agents are also taking advantage of the internet through blogging, personal website and lead generating companies to increase their business.

Make this week less about the non important stuff and more about lead generation and you will reap the benefits!

The simple answer is that buyers can be found everywhere.

Potential home buyers can be found all along your daily schedule. The clerk at the local convenience gasoline store could be a buyer or know of a potential home buyer. The person busy making you your morning bagel may be thinking of buying a home. The teller at your local bank taking your deposit or cashing your check may have thought about purchasing a house. How about the waiter or waitress at lunch? It is possible that they are now ready to buy. As you pull back into your drive way at the end of the work day, the neighbor you wave to as you enter your home might have a name of a relative looking to purchase a home.

Home buyers are scattered all through your busy day. The question you should be asking yourself instead of where can I find buyers, is do the buyers I encounter daily know I can sell them a home?

Did you hand your card to any of those potential buyers mentioned above? Did you invite them to check out you business Facebook page? Do they receive your monthly email newsletter?

My answer to new agents is that they already know hundreds of buyers; they just need to know you.

You may want to try writing about something else. People go to the internet to find things, places, or events in their community. These are the same things, places or events that you already go to or have found.

• Where can you get take out Chinese?
• Where can I find a cheap used car?
• Where can I find a clothing donation drop off box?

Those are 3 examples that showed at the top of my Google search when I typed in; “Where can I find Kissimmee”. It just so happens I know where there is good Chinese take out in the area, I know a couple of honest reliable used car salesmen in the area and I can point you to 2 or 3 different drop off locations for your donations.

With this local information, I can write a short, informative blog post that others will find useful. I’ll provide directions, perhaps post a picture or two, offer a review and anything else that matters to me, because there is a good chance it will matter to the reader of my post as well.

“Helping people find things” blog posts are a good way to brand you as a real estate agent who knows the local community. Over time people who visit your blog will see you as a great source of information, not only about where to find things, but about the community in general, including the real estate market. The next time you are stuck on what to write, give this a try. I think you will find that sharing of this type of information is much easier to put on paper.

•  How about spending the morning uploading your most recent contacts to your contact management system and then create a new drip email campaign or newsletter? 
• The early hours are a perfect time to add something new and interesting to your Facebook business page. 
• Blogging in the a.m. is a perfect time to let people starting their day know how the market is or where the best coffee can be found in town. 
• Thank you cards can be written while the sun is rising, just remember to ask for the referral. 
• Visit Twitter or local community forums and see if there are area specific questions from the night before left unanswered. 
• Finish up your neighborhood newsletter while eating your bagel.

Any of these task could result in a new buyer or seller for you and can be accomplished at the crack of dawn.  It is a great way to get a head start on  your competition and will set the course for a productive day!

What are some of your suggestions for prospecting at the crack of dawn?

What is working, what has not produced any results and what have you been meaning to try?  Those are thoughts that should be a part of your Monday.  Will you spend the week calling your center of influence?  Will you be spending the majority of your time this week prospecting for new buyers, new sellers or outgoing referrals?

My suggestion for this Monday is to plan on spending time each day this week contacting 5 new people.  Start a spread sheet that lists the 5 people you talked to, their phone number, email address, and a brief description of the contact made.  Follow up by adding these 5 people to your contact management solution and send them a personal hand written card.  

It’s Monday, you do know where your customers and clients are, go contact them!

Hello Mr. Distressed, My name is Greg Staker and I am with Watson Realty Corp. I will assume that you are busy so I will be brief.

I am calling homeowners in our area to talk about the benefits of short selling their home.

Are you familiar with how a short sale works? I have found that many people are not aware of this option when they find themselves upside down on their mortgage. Simply put, a short sale is the process where the owner can sell their home for less than what is owed to their lender.

Is this something you would be interested in learning more about?

Keeping it short and to the point on the telephone reduces the stress the home owner might experience talking to a complete stranger about their personal financial situation. Getting to the point and offering to explain a potential option for them, should result in more face to face meetings with distressed homeowners in your area.

 Once every other month or so a 4^th quartile producer in my office will tell me about a contact they made through some form of print media they are using.  Their update will almost always include them telling me the new contact proves that print advertising still works.

 But will it lead to success?

 The 2010 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers completed by NAR reports that only 2% of buyers use print media when starting their home search.  2%.  The same amount of buyers who utilize the very productive “home buyer seminar”. (Insert sarcasm)

 It is important to identify and learn how to use the right tools if you wish to succeed in the real estate sales business.  With the majority of home buyers starting their home search online, an obvious tool you should be using is the internet.  You do not have to be an internet celebrity to enjoy success through your efforts.  You just need to know where buyers and sellers are and then be there.  That sounds similar to the way this business has always been done successfully, even prior to computers.

All of this being true, it would seem wise to have an online presence to substantiate your belief. As crazy as it seems, as agents reduce the amount of money they spend on print advertising, they are not as quick to invest in online advertisement resources.

I would encourage each of you to spend the next several months building up your online presence. There are many avenues available in which you can start building your own online identity including; Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, company provided website, online contact management services and Realtor.com.

For those who want to take their online marketing a step further, you should consider having a professional website created that include an IDX solution for customers to search for homes at your site. You might also want to consider investing in marketing and branding ads on sites such as Yahoo.com, Trulia.com or Zillow.com.

Here are a few links that provide instruction and tips that will help you get started on this new path to business!

Building a blog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnploFsS_tY

Start Facebook account: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-New-Facebook-Account

Field guide to effective online marketing: http://www.realtor.org/library/library/fg203

Jar opener

The jar opener is a common promotional item used by associates of my company. The benefits of the jar opener are its many uses, and relatively inexpensive cost to brand and purchase. We keep boxes of jar openers on hand and encourage the associates to pass them out when the meet a customer for the first time, in office or while canvassing a local neighborhood. Several years back I offered, via my website, to send anyone who emailed me a request, a free jar opener. Within the next few days after making the offer I received hundreds of requests from people throughout the world.

Other promotional items

There are many different types of marketing pieces you can choose from besides key chains, calendars and magnets. You have a better chance of your item being kept and your name remembered if you put some time and thought into what you decide to use. You should try and tailor the item to your niche or area or expertise.

• Umbrellas
• Coolies
• Mouse pads
• Pens
• Stress toys
• Tote bags
• Mugs
• Hats or visors

Of course none of these items will help you or your business if they stay stuffed away in a closet or storage area. You have to get yourself in front of as many people as possible to pass out your freebie and hopefully add another name to your business network.

photo credit by oskay

What can you do to not have this happen to you? Reintroduce yourself.

Reintroduce yourself to your family and friends

One of the first tasks I assign a new agent in my office, which may seem odd to them, is to mail out a handwritten card to their circle of friends and family. This is such an important step at my company that we provide cards to the new agents. This simple note is great way to say hello and to introduce your friends and family to their new real estate professional. Notice I said, “…their new real estate professional”? They already know and hopefully like you. People like dealing with people they know and trust so as long as you do your part and regularly remind them that you are a real estate agent, they will view you as theirs when they need one.

The note should be hand written. It should be short and sweet and include a business card. You might want to write a note similar to this:

Hi Uncle Jim,

If you have not already heard let me be the first to tell you I am now working as a full time real estate agent! The good news is I am working with a company that provides great training and education plus I can help anyone sell or buy a home anywhere in the world!

I am really excited about the future and would like it if you keep me in mind should you hear of anyone wanting to buy or sell a house.

I’ll call you in a few days to say hi.

All the best,

Mary NewAgent

It can be that simple. This note is going to people who already know you so there is really no need to cram many details into that first “professional “contact. You can share all of the exciting things you are learning about the services you provide in the follow up phone call and subsequent letters and emails.

Reintroducing yourself to your family and friends and maintaining contact with them on a professional level is a must if you want them to think of you as “their real estate agent”, otherwise you may find out, well after the fact that they never knew or forgot you were a real estate salesperson.

Photo credit by saiberiac