6 Easy Ways New Real Estate Agents Can Get Their First Listing
I am regularly approached by new agents who will ask me: “How did you get your first listing and how long did it take?” The long and short answer answer is that it really depends on your efforts and your efforts alone. I can tell you EXACTLY what to do, but there is no guarantee that you’ll have the same results-especially without the same work ethic. I tell everyone around me that, “You need to have an active and passive marketing campaign in place at all times.” My definition of active marketing to me is prospecting that can provide NOW business. This might be cold calling, warm calling, door knocking, hosting open houses, advertising, or buying leads. Passive marketing is SEO, Blogging, Vlogging, and content creation. Both are required in order to succeed. In this blog post, I’ll share with you the six fastest ways to get a listing in the next 60 days.
1. People You Know
This is also known as your Sphere Of Influence and is your single most untapped resource. There are two types of new agents: those that contact their sphere of influence and those that don’t.
Those that do usually experience a euphoric high that I like to call “Ignorance on Fire.” These agents are so new and green and they don’t know it. All they know is that they are excited and they tell everyone they know about their new profession. Many an agent will experience success early just based on this energy and enthusiasm. It’s contagious. You OWE it to everyone you know to let them know that you are a Real Estate Agent. After all, who better than You to take care of the people you love?
Those who do not approach their sphere of influence usually don’t because they are embarrassed of their past or because they fear judgement. Here’s the deal: no one cares about your mistakes because they’re too busy beating themselves up over the stuff they themselves failed at. In other words, your past failure don’t occupy as much (if any) space in their head, and you spend valuable time avoiding making contact with them.
You want immediate success? Contact your sphere of influence immediately. You want to suffer the embarrassment of being invited to your best friends housewarming party at the new house they bought with someone else? Keep being a ninja secret agent.
2. Expired Listings
Expired listings are the low hanging fruits. These are the listings that were once on the market, and for whatever reason didn’t sell. Typically, a listing expires because the listing was overpriced, but rarely it may fall in the shoulders of a bad agent. Either way, expired listings are a gold mine. I would make it a daily ritual to prospect the expired listings from the day before. Call them, door knock them, mail them. Do whatever it takes to get a hold of them.
“But Paul, isn’t every other real estate agent calling expired listings too?” As someone who was used to cold calling expired listings and for sale by owners for hours and hours a day, I was used to having to compete against other agents for business. I knew that some people would relate to me better than others and that if I spent more time worrying about who was calling my leads versus me just getting on the phone, I’d never succeed. Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. The only thing you can control is You. If you are persistent you will have luck with expired listings despite everyone else calling them.
Make sure you know your scripts! I can’t emphasize this enough. If you get a hold of an expired listing who is on the fence but still motivated to sell, it is paramount that you know what to say and how to overcome the objections that include, but aren’t limited to, “Why didn’t you show my listing when it was on the market?” or “What are you going to do to sell my home differently?” or “I’m going to stick with the same agent.”
3. FSBOs
We all know why people choose to sell their property themselves-to avoid paying commissions to real estate agents, but did you know that 90% of all For Sale By Owners eventually list with a real estate agent? Even the guy who created the website ForSaleByOwner.com (which is now owned by Rocket Homes / Quicken Loans) sold his own condo with the assistance of an agent after not being able to sell it on his own site.
FSBO’s have access to all the same tools you and I do. Many a website can give them an instant valuation on their home, although the accuracy of these sites can be questioned. They don’t need us to give them values. Their success will depend on the economic climate, and more importantly, their ability to separate themselves from their emotional connection to their house. Think of it like performing surgury on your house. Allow me pontificate; there are many hospitals that forbid surgeons from operating on family members. The reason is obvious: the relationship with a patient, especially a loved one, can cloud one’s judgement.
Winning FSBO’s is really a matter of wearing them down with your enthusiasm so it will take patience and organization. Every Monday I want you to call your list of FSBOs to find out if they are active and available as you are “Keeping track of all the homes that are available for sale in your market territory.” Every Friday I want you to call your list of FSBOs to find out they are still available, and if they will be held “OPEN” the upcoming weekend as you’d like to pop by. If the FSBO is in fact holding an open house, you NEED to pop by. Guess what? The following Monday you’re calling back again in the most excited voice you’ve got with the following script, “Hi John/Jane – Paul Argueta here – I popped by the open house over the weekend! I’m sure it went well. Did we get any offers? Is it sold yet?” Most FSBO’s don’t underprice their home. They overprice their home, and it’s pretty safe to assume it didn’t sell UNLESS, it’s an accelerating market, and I as write this post, we are navigating into a Buyer’s Market.
Wear them down with your enthusiasm.
4. Buy Internet Leads
You don’t need a lead generation company, but utilizing a lead generation company is an excellent way to scale your business up. Remember, you are an Entrepreneur first and a Real Estate Practitioner second. Think like a business owner not a hobbyist. Treat your profession like a bonafide business and it will pay you back like one. This means you will have to accept the reality that you will have to invest money into your business in order for it to grow. When a restaurateur opens up a restaurant, he or she invests thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, and potentially millions of dollars into their business before they see a dime of return on their investment. You need to adopt the same mindset and practice investing in your business early on.
There are many different lead generation companies and solutions available for real estate agents. All of which have different prices and solutions. Most importantly, not all provide quality leads or results, which is why we created a list of the “Best Real Estate Lead Generation Companies”. Instead of researching hundreds of options to meet all your needs, we’ve compiled a list of the highest quality lead generation solutions with the most robust features, that are actually affordable and easy to use.
5. Door Knocking
Another great strategy to get listings is to canvass (door knock) the neighbors of a new listing or in neighborhoods that have the most listing activity. In other words, the minute a listing hits the market in your service area, door knock the 5 neighbors to the left, the 5 neighbors to the right, and the 10 houses across the street. “But Paul, won’t the listing agent talk to those neighbors first?” The truth is, most Real Estate Agents don’t canvass their own listings. I’ve been guilty of the same exact thing only to get upset when I see a house for sale 5 homes down the street. Door knock EVERY new listing in your service area. Every. New. Listing.
6. Host an Open House
I know what you are thinking, “But Paul, isn’t an open house designed to get buyers?” Yes, that is true, and we have also discovered that neighbors love to snoop. It isn’t uncommon for a neighbor to pop by a neighboring open house for one of two reasons, 1) to be nosey and/or 2) to scope out the competition. That’s right, home sellers love to compare their home to those on the market in an effort to gauge their asking price. So now that you know that neighboring home sellers might pop by your open house, shouldn’t you be using these open house opportunities as your mobile offices? If I was brand new, I’d be working at a different open house in my service area every day for 2-3 hours.
If I had to start my career all over again, I would follow this game plan to a T. It is the perfect combination of active marketing strategies that will get you results. These results might not happen the first day, nor the second day, and maybe not even the third day, but I guarantee that if you apply yourself, and diligently do the things that I listed out here, you will get a listing in your first 60 days.
Talk soon!
– Paul
