If you were to ask a roomful of real estate agents what the toughest part of their occupation is, most of them would probably say that getting and converting leads takes the cake. If you are brand new to real estate, work with a smaller brokerage or work with a brokerage that doesn’t float quality leads to agents on the regular, we’ve got some helpful tips for you.
Below are tactics that will help you increase your leads and close a higher percentage of sales.
1. Use your website to build leads
To start, you should have your own website to help generate leads. If you specialize in certain types of properties, your website is where you would let potential clients know exactly what you do.
Your website is also the perfect place to list testimonials as well as show consumers the amazing deals you’ve negotiated.
Contact information is a necessity, so have it prominently displayed to make it easy for people to get in touch with you. Also have a link to the multiple listing service (MLS) that current clients can log into. The MLS gives a real-time update of homes on the market so clients can find a home that is not yet listed on sites like Zillow.
These logins expire after 90 days so you will not have to worry about clients faking interest just to receive a login.
Also make sure that your website has a reasonable hosting option because you don’t want your site to crash if you begin generating heavy traffic as a result of your marketing efforts.
2. Employ digital marketing
Your website is the first place to market your knowledge of the homebuying or selling process. Educating clients is important because educated clients are often much easier to work with than clients who have zero idea of what is going on.
A blog is an easy way to educate clients. You can start by taking your most commonly asked questions and answering them in a blog format. If you’re really brave, you can record your answers on video. Video has the added bonus of people feeling like they know you before they even meet you.
If you need a little help coming up with topics, click here or here or here. And for video ideas, click here.
Aside from just snagging clients, creating content that serves as a high-quality resource for clients (and that other industry publications will want to link to it) will help search engine rankings — and in the real estate industry, rankings can be the difference between closing multiple sales weekly and struggling to find clients.
Create great content for the site and for relevant sites to start climbing these rankings for your local area or area of real estate expertise.
3. Be open minded
Be open minded to cutting your commission if it’s going to cost you a sale. This one might be a little controversial, and there are definitely arguments to both sides.
There are going to be sellers and buyers who are going to try to squeeze out every last dollar and argue about it all. This is not the time to hold steady as you and the other agent can cut your commission percentages in order to make both parties happy.
Writing up new offers and contracts hoping a buyer will close on another house is not the best use of your time. Getting the other agent to agree to cut their commission can be difficult if it is your client that is being difficult in negotiations.
The time spent finding a new home is time that can be spent with a new client who might be eager to buy. Do not lose a sale due to a small amount of money. Take a percent less in commission so the sale closes rather than watching the entire selling process restart.
4. Partner with a lender
The last thing an agent wants to do is spend days setting up showings for a client just to find out said client won’t qualify for any type of loan let alone a mortgage.
Finding a lender to partner with can be extremely advantageous as the lender can qualify a client so a realistic budget can be formed. Showing people homes well out of their price range is a waste of time for you as well as your clients.
Lenders often get clients through sites like Zillow when buyers try to get pre-approved for a loan, and lenders want to partner with agents who have high closing rates when it comes to leads they have generated for them. It’s a win-win for both parties, not to mention the homebuyers.
As you can see, there are ways to take your homeselling abilities to the next level. Try these tips to help you thrive as a rookie agent or an agent working with a small indie brokerage.
Emma Olivia is a freelance writer with Formula Internet in Los Angeles, California. Follow her on Google-Plus.