Six Powerful Prospecting Strategies for Agents

As a real estate professional, sometimes you get lucky with a very responsive potential client and the journey from initial contact to winning the listing is seamless. On other occasions you’ll have to do some digging and chasing, making it easy to lose concentration.

Fortunately, there are some simple prospecting strategies that are incredibly powerful, and bring plenty more value than saying, “just calling to touch base.” Use the following tips to keep your prospective clients consistently moving forward on their property journey:

1. Really Get to Know Your Target Client

Understanding your potential seller is one component that is often overlooked. In order to captivate their attention with your pitch, you need to know some information about them. In fact, you should never call a new potential seller without doing your research first; you can’t establish trust when they think you don’t care.

Determine factors such as age group and preferred method for receiving information, whether Internet, direct mail or other as a starting point. Figure out their personality type, goals and desires, and know what is important to them so you can show how they’ll benefit from your services.

Just as sellers will research local agents using Google and other digital profile services you should do the same. Are they active on social media and/or within the local chat groups on Facebook? A quick check can give you a real insight into the person who you want to attract as a potential client.

2. Use Your Real Estate CRM Effectively

What is the most awful thing you can do when calling a new homeowner and asking if they’d want to sell their house? It’s also doing it more than once. If you constantly scribble potential clients’ information on sticky notes or whatever scrap paper you can find, you will lose or forget leads.

Start by recording the following information whenever you reach out:

• Full name
• Home address
• Email address
• Phone number

Then, take advantage of your CRM system to organise your pipeline of potential clients, track effort, schedule follow-up reminders and record your contact history. Every data point you can add helps develop a more complete profile of your prospective client and helps you spend your time more effectively.
And alway remember to keep your data as clean as possible. Up to date records are far more usual if you want to deploy lead qualification and nurturing technology products such as RITA.

3. Focus on Quality and Not Quantity

Real estate prospecting has a lot more to do with quality than quantity. In other words, the effectiveness of your strategies depends on what you’re doing and with whom, as opposed to how many times you’re doing it.

Focus your efforts on qualified potential sellers and create a consistent process around your prospecting activities to use your time efficiently. Don’t make the mistake of ignoring your buyer data either, your next listing might be a buyer looking at your current inventory of sale stock.

4. Share Success Stories

Share stories about how you’ve helped other customers to highlight your expertise and passion for real estate. Consider creating a section on your website for clients to share their experiences with others, and use the best to share across your social media accounts to engage prospects.

Your online agent profile is a powerful resource. Prioritise directing people to digital assets that you control (such as your website, your business profiles) rather than 3rd party websites when you are building relationships with potential clients.

5. Encourage Customer Testimonials

Word of mouth is an excellent way to generate more leads and engage potential clients. When your clients send you letters of praise or emails, ask for permission to use it within your marketing or to share on your social media accounts. Doing so allows you to provide a targeted testimonial when you run into a potential seller that has similar needs.

6. Be a Resource and Get Personal

Some of the best prospect strategies are often overlooked, and this is one of them. Subscribe to newsletters and industry publications to stay current with the latest news and information. When you find an article that talks to a specific potential seller’s situation, send them a copy. Then, follow up with a call. This shows your potential clients that their needs, concerns, and desires are of priority, which creates customer loyalty.

Align with the principle of quality over quantity and move your mind-set to building long-term relationships. By creating truly personalised and custom experiences you start to think about your potential clients beyond just the prospect of a single property transaction. It is well known in modern marketing that personalisation increases conversion, improves customer retention, and makes your marketing more useful.

Effective prospecting strategies can make or break your business. Implement these strategies and invest your time more efficiently, while generating more leads.

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