Can your real estate farming strategy benefit by following the FedEx business model for delivering packages? It worked for real estate agent Kenny Klaus who took what he learned as a delivery driver for FedEx and applied it to his real estate farming strategy and overall business model.
Check out some of the real estate geographic farming tips Klaus shared with Pat Hiban below.
To hear exactly how Klaus uses his hyper-focused farming strategy for real estate success, make sure to listen to his interview on the Rockstar Real Estate podcast.
Your real estate geographic farming route
When Klaus was a FedEx driver, he had a regular delivery route, which not only helped him become more efficient at his job, but also got him regular exposure to all the homeowners and business owners in the geographic area he served.
His face was seen everywhere. He understood the inner workings of the area and the daily schedules and activities of it’s inhabitants. He was known as the local expert and more importantly, everyone on his FedEx route knew his name.
After becoming a real estate agent, a light bulb went off, and Klaus realized that to achieve success in real estate, he needed to create a hyper-focused geographic farming area much like he had with FedEx. The same applies to your real estate geographic farming route.
Start with an area, and get to know anything and everything about your neighborhoods, businesses, schools and the people who live and work in that area.
Just as important, make sure people see you everywhere — adopt a highway signs and give out water bottles at youth sports events. Focus on building your brand and building relevancy in a geographic area and become the local expert that everyone knows by name.
Why do you need to become like the FedEx driver who everyone recognizes and knows by name? Consider this: one of the highlights from the 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers from NAR was that 72 percent of homesellers contacted only one real estate agent before deciding on who would list their home to sell.
If you are the face and name that pops into everyone’s head when they think real estate along your farming route, who do you think will most likely get contacted for that interview?
Building a real estate geographic farming area from scratch
Real estate agents — new to the business or veteran agents — who need to refocus their energy on real estate farming will find the following tips helpful.
Keep in mind, Klaus goes much more in depth on the exact steps to follow when creating a geographic real estate farm from day one in his podcast interview. We’ll just touch on the basics below:
Consistency is key: You will not become the local market expert, who is known on a first-name basis, overnight. You must stay consistent with activities in farming your area for months (it took Klaus seven months before reaching the tipping point) until you know your route, and your route knows you.
Create and fund a marketing budget: Set aside real estate marketing funds for at least 12 months, and build a marketing plan with that budget. This will help you stay consistent and focused for the long haul.
Research ZIP codes from a business point of view: How many homes are in the ZIP code you wish to make your hyper-focused real estate geographic farm? What is the turnover rate and average sales price?
Is there a dominant real estate agent already in the area. You must look at your choice for your route from a business perspective as this route must provide a good enough return to support you for years to come.
Klaus shared many specific, successful real estate farming techniques that you can implement into your real estate business immediately, and see a big return on investment.
He also touched on a few other subjects and strategies that helped him become the go-to, local market expert in his real estate geographic farming area. Listen to the entire podcast here.
Pat Hiban is the author of NYT best selling book “6 steps to 7 figures – A Real Estate Professional’s Guide to Building Wealth and Creating Your Destiny” and the host of Pat Hiban Interviews Real Estate Rockstars an Agent to Agent Real Estate Radio Podcast with Hiban Digital in Baltimore, Maryland. Follow him onInstagram or Twitter.