Real Estate agents do much more than posting advertisements and opening the door for prospective tenants or buyers to visit the property. In some areas where the competition is high, the small details count a lot and someone that comes with unconventional ways of finding new leads will definitely have an advantage. This guide goes deep into 4 often overlooked strategies for high-quality lead generation in Real Estate. They require some effort in education, research, and proactivity but if developed properly, these measures have a lot of potential of yielding good results.
1. Convert old customers to new lead generators
One of the most successful mindsets for a real estate agent is to understand that a happy client might be one of the most prolific lead generators. If someone had a very good experience with you and your services, they are quite likely to recommend you to friends and family. This type of recommendation is unique. In order to ensure that customers are deeply happy with your services you have to go beyond what a real estate agent normally does and help a client in those instances where they might feel less prepared, well-versed, or proficient.
Create an investment strategy in every deal
It is clear that real estate deals are investments. However, most people do not know how to put this into practice. This is an area in which even a lot of real estate agents lack knowledge of and showing proficiency can make all of the difference. Educate yourself. You do not have to go back to school. Take advantage of online courses in the area of Real Estate Finance and Investment by renowned institutions: Fundamentals of Analyzing Real Estate Investments and The Real Estate Financial Modeling Bootcamp (Udemy), Commercial Real Estate Analysis and Investment (MIT), and Increasing Real Estate Management Profits: Harnessing Data Analytics (Duke University and Coursera).
Help landlords or owners screen potential tenants or buyers
Another important point in every deal is minimizing the risk that something goes wrong. One of the most effective measures one can take for this is doing background checks on potential tenants. This should be a transparent process in which both parties are informed that the background check is being performed. According to the Federal Trade Commission Consumer Information, landlords are entitled to perform background checks to know future tenants’ credit score, criminal record, and rental history with or without asking for their permission. However, future tenants must be informed in forehand so they can refuse to undergo the process. Acting as an objective mediator and explaining both parties that this is a standard procedure will give you an aura of impartiality and professionalism. Nuwber offers complete background check reports that will provide your clients will all the information they need to make their decisions.
2. Plan and take part in lifestyle events
Networking is key to a real estate agent. However, it is critical that the events that you attend to are not merely real estate related. A lot of research is needed in this area to figure out the type of activities that are particularly hot in the region that you operate in. Whether it is hiking, gardening, wine tasting, book clubs, the possibilities are endless. Here, of course, stay true to your interests. If you do not enjoy taking part in the activities, people will notice it, and this might end being counterproductive. To find some activities taking place in a particular neighborhood you can use Facebook, or platforms like Eventbrite and Nextdoor. They both let you use filters to find events according to location and type of activity.
3. Immerse in situations where buying or selling property is likely to happen.
There are certain situations in life where it is quite likely that a person is looking for a new property. For example, after people get divorced, it is quite clear that at least one of the parties will need to find a new place to live. Partnering with a divorce attorney could lead to very promising clients. Being recommended by someone that is helping them go through that phase will add bonus points.
Another one of these instances is offering to do a “broker price opinion” (BPO). This happens when someone that borrowed money starts missing payments, the lender will order one of these in case it comes to a short sale, loan modification, or foreclose. If someone is in financial trouble, it is quite likely that they might be considering selling the property. Your advice will be quite valuable for them and you might end up with a new client.
4. Find your real estate niche
Creating a niche is always a good option for any business. Clients with special needs or characteristics will prefer someone that is a specialist. Especially for real estate agents in cities and in places where competition is high, this type of specialization might be crucial to success. Some parameters that you can consider in order to find your niche are:
- Specializing in one type of property (condos, offices, houses, farms)
- Concentrating in a particular region
- Concentrating in a particular type of client (sellers, buyers, landlords, people looking for properties as an investment vs living)
- Specializing in budgets (high-end properties, economical properties)
- Concentrating in particular situations (people in economical need, houses that need to be repaired, people after divorce)
The advantage of specializing is that real estate agents will be able to tailor their communication strategies to fit their niche. This might even influence the name of your company (for example, you might choose something like ‘XY Condo Real Estate’ which will immediately make you sound like an expert in that type of property). Communication will be deeper and will sound more honest since you will automatically be the specialist in this niche. This will also make personal recommendations more valuable and more likely since your expertise is more special.
These four strategies are not something that you can implement in one day. They require you to do some brainstorming, educate yourself, and do some research. However, creating a meaningful strategy will most likely lead to your real estate business working smoothly.
