Why do some agents seem to just get listings easier than others?  What is their secret?  If I had a nickel for every time an agent asked me how another agent seems to get so many listings so consistently year over year, then, well you…  The truth is very simple but there isn’t a single answer.  After 21 years in real estate and almost 15 in leadership/coaching, this is what I have discovered;

-Some agents success is the result of many many years of consistent hard work, prospecting, lead follow up, and incredible customer service ethics that have resulted in an accumulation affect that now results in consistent referral business year over year.  When I’m asked “What does Jane Superagent do to be so successful?” and the agent they are asking about has been in real estate for 20+ years, I make it really clear that the way they get their business will not be the way they get their business…. YET.   Like any established business with a book of clientele over a long period of time, like a good restaurant, doctor, or lawyer, they likely don’t have to prospect as much as someone brand new in the business with zero or much fewer clients.

-Some agents who are extremely successful and only in the business a short period of time, and seem to have come out of  “no where” with huge production, were either very well connected with a strong SOI, or created and are following a very disciplined business plan with someone in place to hold them accountable.  They adhere to a schedule and focus most of their time and energy on activities that will yield them the highest return.  Those activities are proactively prospecting for new business, follow up with leads/prospects, and being in front of clients doing presentations.

It’s that simple.  There isn’t a magic bullet or “secret”.  In 21+ years, I have never met a top producer who attributes their success to the internet, social media, or some piece of technology,  yet some do utilize the internet, social media, and technology to support their business and assist in becoming more efficient and effective in their efforts.  In short, this is a people business, and therefore proactively TALKING and CONNECTING to PEOPLE as much as possible with a genuine motivation to help them with their real estate needs, is the “secret” to success in real estate sales.

Now, with all of that said, times have and are constantly changing!  And it is becoming more and more necessary to be open minded to utilizing tools like social media, blogging, video, to CONNECT to more and more people in the way that THEY wish to connect to you.  It is becoming more and more important to adapt and learn what your customers are using to stay connected nowadays.  While Facebook is considered a “time waster” by some, it’s hard to ignore that there are currently 500 million users on Facebook with 250 million logging in each day, and with 317,227,000 people in the U.S., it might a little absurd to be the guy or gal that says “oh, I don’t use Facebook in my business”.   This is a tool that cannot and will not replace your need to reach out and TALK to your prospects.  But rather it is a phenomenal way to CONNECT with your prospects and clients in a place that they are very comfortable with and already using DAILY.

Let’s imagine for a second… You have a great appointment with an expired listing prospect, they decide to wait another two months before listing, but tell you that they “will stay in touch and will likely list with you”, you leave and add them to an email drip campaign and “plan” to call them in a few weeks and “follow up” consistently, now after the first follow up call they tell you “we will call you when we are ready” basically nudging you to “don’t call us, we’ll call you”…  now what???    You know they won’t read your emails, and will very likely NOT call you.   Let’s now connect with them on Facebook!  Now you can learn all about their lives, like their posts, “get to know them”, and they can “get to know you”, your follow up calls can be much more “WARM” and you can jump right in with “so I just saw your post about your son making honor roll, congratulations! So, I wanted to touch base and just say hi and see if you had any questions about the market?”.  You can also send a handwritten note now and say the same thing.  Also, every single time you “like” one of their posts, they are reminded that you are there in the least intrusive way.

Start thinking of all of the other ways that you could use this strategy to bridge the gap between being a “pushy” sales person, to simply becoming their “friend” in a way that they are comfortable with.  For Sale by Owners? Past Clients?  Open House prospects?

I know, I know, some of them may not accept your friend request, this is true, but MOST will, and as long as you don’t overwhelm them or come off like a stalker, then they will not only accept you but they will start liking your posts too!

We won’t get into this yet, but once you get a solid group built of prospects that you are “friends” with, I can show you how to unobtrusively advertise to them right in their news feed!

Keep an open mind and embrace the new exciting tools available to us as Realtors, while continuing to stay in touch with the good old tried and true strategies of the past, with just a few tweaks for good measure!

Is your manager or coach sharing cutting edge strategies with you? Is your business just not taking off as fast or strong as you’d like it to?   Remember, a manager/coach can and should have a significant impact on your business.  Keep checking back on this blog for tips and strategies that will help your business grow, and never hesitate to call me (Brad Pearson) to sit down and have a free coaching session to get your business on track!