Whether it’s refining your business model, mastering new technologies, or discovering strategies to capitalize on the next market surge, Inman Connect New York will prepare you to take bold steps forward. The Next Chapter is about to begin. Be part of it. Join us and thousands of real estate leaders Jan. 22-24, 2025.
This post was updated Dec. 9, 2024.
Is it possible to grow your business without buying leads? Absolutely, and in this article Heidi Harris with the Home Sweet Heidi Team out of Raleigh, North Carolina, shares the five core strategies she uses to consistently grow her business.
1. ‘I love paying a referral fee’ notes
Harris began her career in real estate shortly after moving to Raleigh, North Carolina, in her twenties. Being new to the area, she knew very few people, meaning she had a non-existent sphere of influence. Based on her limited budget, she knew she had to be creative to find clients when she was starting out.
“I knew a lot of the local buyers had existing relationships with agents they knew, so I began to think about ways to find buyers that were moving to Raleigh. One of our biggest “feeder markets” (places where buyers move to Raleigh from) was Charlotte, North Carolina. I began to wonder, who knew these buyers that were moving from Charlotte? Then I realized agents were selling these buyers’ homes in Charlotte before they moved to Raleigh,” Harris said.
This led her to a Google search of top Charlotte real estate agents. Once she had a list of the top agents, she began sending a group of handwritten notes each day to that list of top agents. This is an example of the type of handwritten notes she would send.
Dear [Agent Name],
I love paying referral fees, and one of the main areas people are moving to Raleigh from is Charlotte. I found you by looking on Google for the top agents in your area. I would love the opportunity to earn your referral business for any of your clients moving to Raleigh.
Please know that I will treat them like family, and I’ll be glad to pay you a 30 percent referral fee for sending them my way.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
“I sent about 50 of these out with a little bit higher than normal referral fee offered, and two months later I got a call out of the blue from one of the agents I sent a card to. They had a client coming to my area later that week and they asked if I could help them. That buyer ended up being a cash buyer who closed in eight days. That original group of handwritten notes has consistently generated a few referrals every year,” Harris said.
2. Buy lunch, not leads
Buying online leads does provide a way to have a steady flow of leads, but could there be a better way? This is the question Harris asked herself as she evaluated her business. “I was spending $1,500 per month for online leads that I just didn’t enjoy following up on. Yes, we had a positive ROI, but the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze for me and my team,” Harris explained.
Harris spent some time evaluating her business and, specifically, where the transactions she enjoyed the most came from. Most of these transactions came from repeat customers or her sphere of influence. This led to her decision to stop buying online leads and start buying lunch, as she put it.
“I’m a relationship person, and these lunches are so much fun. I get to deepen relationships and find ways to support whatever it is that they are doing. It always seems to circle back at some point during lunch to them asking how they can help me. This has led to a natural flow of referrals and repeat customers,” Harris shared.
3. Thanksgiving pie day
Harris shared one of the most impactful things she does for her business each year is a Thanksgiving pie giveaway. “Our clients seem to love our pie giveaway at Thanksgiving, and I love the way it gives us a chance to say thank you to our most valued supporters,” Harris said.
They have a local restaurant that makes a locally famous pie that Harris and her team give their clients on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. They use SignUpGenius to send out an invitation the day after Halloween. The people sign up to pick their pie up in a 15-minute window on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving by pulling into the cul-de-sac Harris lives on.
She said some people pull through, roll down their window, say hello and leave. Some people park their cars and catch up for a few minutes with her and the rest of the team. Others bring lawn chairs and hang out for a while. The magic is in the community it creates with their clients and having the ability to let them know they are appreciated.
4. The ultimate girl’s night out
“Our ultimate girl’s night out party started out small and has grown into a huge event where we’ve had as many as 350 women at the event. The first one I hosted was not nearly that large and I would suggest starting small. The idea is that each woman attending brings two bottles of her favorite white wine. The point of the party is to see who can bring the best or group favorite wine of the night,” Harris explained.
The women are seated at tables of eight. One of the two bottles brought by each guest is set aside. The other bottles of wine are wrapped so no one can see the label, and the women are given a card to rate each wine. Samples from each numbered bottle are given, and the women rank the wine after sampling them. After the eight bottles are sampled, the ranking cards are tabulated, and the person who brought the winning wine is awarded all eight of the second bottles the ladies from that table brought.
“There are no icebreakers needed. As the women at the table sample from the eight bottles of wine, the comments about the wine are the icebreakers. By the end of the night everybody is in such a good mood. They’ve got a little bit of wine in their system, and they seem to all have a good time. We’ve watched friendships of ladies develop at these parties that have lasted years,” Harris explained.
The cost for this is minimal because the ladies bring the wine and utilizing sponsors if you desire can make the expense practically nothing. She said these events continue to grow and the community of supporters it has helped her develop has been tremendous for her business.
5. Be where the people are
“I’d love to tell you I increased my average sales price on purpose, but it happened by accident. Now that it happened, I want to make sure everybody knows how to do this,” Harris explained.
Harris shared the story of how her husband worked in his teenage years as a bag boy at a country club. While working there, he told himself that one day he wanted to join a club like the one he worked at. After telling his wife this, Heidi told him that she didn’t think she was the country club type.
She knew it would probably generate business and probably give her the ability to increase her average sales price. After asking a friend his opinion on whether he thought she and her husband should join, her friend told her if you’re joining for how it will benefit your business, then no. But if you’re doing it for you and your husband’s enjoyment, then yes, you should.
They did join the club, and she even decided to take tennis lessons with a group of other ladies just to have fun. She got involved with other activities with ladies at the club as well and quickly made new friends.
The relationships she built by not having an agenda and the referrals those new friends have sent her have led to her average sales price moving up from $248,000 to $998,000 in two short years. That wasn’t her intention, but by getting involved, those around her wanted to support her and her business.
The moral of this story is to understand that people want to do business with and refer business to people they know and like. It may not be a country club for you, but it may be a local charity that you get involved with. It may be the PTA at your children’s school. It may be a local service organization that you’re interested in.
The key is to get involved somewhere and to do it without an agenda. The more people you are around, the more business you will do.
Buying leads is not the only way to do more business. Get creative. Engage your sphere of influence, and get involved in your local community. By implementing these ideas, your business will grow naturally and with ease.
Heidi Harris can be found on Instagram.
