The goldmine isn’t online. Everyone is looking to the Internet for their next lead. I’m as guilty of it as anyone. I was one of the first real estate trainers to offer online classes, I was the absolute first to do a podcast, and I have taught a lot about how to build relationships on the web. But over the years, I’ve seen something happening. A little over a decade ago in 2004, when I started my training company, people were on the web, but the noise factor of interruptions and text messages and messenger and countless other apps weren’t there. You could get through to people with online messages. They actually paid attention long enough to hear what you had to say. But those days are gone.
Too Much Noise
Today there is simply too much noise online for anyone to really get your message. If you doubt this, think about the last time you got online to do something and then got off again an hour or more later and realized that you never did the thing you set out to do. It’s crazy distracting out there!
Old School is the Way to Go
The fact is that you can’t sell a house online. You have to get in person with someone to list or sell a property. That means that if you can start the conversation when you are face-to-face, your chances of closing a deal are exponentially greater than trying to follow up on some anonymous Internet lead.
But It Doesn’t Mean That You Have to Go Low Tech
Do you want to build a market AND use technology? No problem! Here are some great ideas that give you both the tech edge and the ability to look people in the eye.
- Start a Meetup Group about Real Estate: You can run events once a month about different aspects of the real estate business. People who are looking to buy or sell are the ones most likely to attend. You can even get people started repairing their credit so they can afford more.
- Find Classes Held by Financial Planners, Attorneys, and CPAs: People with money attend these workshops. Often they will have real estate needs as well. You can learn something from the class, network with the people running the program, and potentially pick up some clients along the way. That’s a triple win!
- Hold a House Cooling Party for Your Sellers: Instead of buying a closing gift, host a party for the sellers to say good-bye to their house. Then make a video for the sellers by asking the guests to tell stories of good memories they have from the house. Tell the guests that this video is going to be your closing gift for the sellers. Everyone you talk to will be so impressed that you care that you will immediately become their agent of choice when they look to buy or sell.
- Run a Home Staging Class at Your Local Home Depot: If you live near a Home Depot, offer to come in and teach a class on staging your home to sell. Homeowners who are in the pre-listing, fix-it-up stage will come out and you can get some good leads.
- Custom Landing Pages for Listings: Put a rider on each listing you own with a custom landing page for that listing (I know – this isn’t new) but as a pop-up before they get to the page, make a video talking about the home-buying process and why it’s important for a buyer to have an agent working for them. Then suggest that they call you to set up an appointment. And have an app that offers to call you right now if they just click the button. (Remember, the goal is to get to talk to them!)
- Go to Corporations in the Area and Offer to Be Their Real Estate Expert: Corporations are always looking for low or no-cost ways to offer additional perks to their employees. Offer to answer questions, provide insight, and generally be on call to their people for all their residential real estate needs. You can even take your blog posts and offer them to the corporation as content for their in-house newsletter – thereby giving all of their employees an introduction to you.
Each of these ideas uses technology without leaving you hiding behind it. And this is what technology is meant to do: provide leverage to make sales. So turn off your computer and go make some sales!
Kelle Sparta is the author of The Consultative Real Estate Agent and a leading real estate coach and trainer nationwide. To build a life and a business you can love visit www.SpartaSuccess.com.
