Ways to Prospect Expired Listings

Here’s how to figure out the expired approach that works the best for you. There are 13 different approaches.

You can cold call.
You can leave voicemails. We don’t recommend it. But, it’s an option.
You can send them a text message.
You can mail them a letter. We’ve done a lot of this.
You can mail them a self-published book. Or, drop it off on their front door.
Warm calling.
You can door knock. You can knock on their front door and offer them your book or other separating materials you have.
You can have your assistant call them.
You can mail a FedEx package.
You could ship them a balloon. Just an idea. (I haven’t tried it. Yet.)
You could ship them a big box. Another idea
You can advertise to them on Facebook.
You can send them an email.

Those are the different approaches that are available to you.

Now, we’re going to talk about some of the pros and cons of each approach.

Cold Calling.

Pros: It’s very low-cost, BUT you have access to the contact information and getting the contact info of the sellers can be time consuming. We recommend using tools like Vulcan7 or Mojo which are autodialers that connect you directly to the home sellers. The cost for these tools is typically under $300.00 per month.

Cons: You get a lot of rejection.

Who should do it: If you are good at person-to-person sales, then you might want to try cold calling. Cold calling is a good way to master dialogue that will come up during in everyday real estate conversation.

I’m not against cold calling. But if you’re going to cold call, remember it is very competitive, and you need good phone skills in order to be successful.

Leave Voicemails.

Pros: You can call and just leave a Voicemail. Or, you can scale it up and leave Voicemail Drops on hundreds of voicemails all at once. Apps and websites like “Slydial” can do this.

Cons: The Do Not Call List. When you do this, you risk getting a complaint. I’ve never personally tried voicemail drops.

I’d try it with 50 numbers to see if anyone gets angry. Then, I’d scale it up to 100 numbers and maybe even more.

Who should do it: People who like to try new things and are willing to take risks.

Send a Text Message.

Pros: We’ve listed many a house from texting the sellers. So, we know it works. You get less rejection with a text message than a cold call.

Cons: The Do Not Call List. When you do this, you risk getting a complaint. But, the odds of this are small when you aren’t texting a lot of people.

Who should do it: This is best used when you combine it with cold calling.

Mail A Letter.

Pros: We’ve gotten a lot of listings from direct mail. Direct mail works because you can do your best sales presentation in an effective manner- without getting a lot of rejection.

You can draw attention to your past successes of houses that other expired with another agent… that you were able you were able to sell.

Cons: It’s expensive. And today… we get better results from mailing out self-published books.

Who should do it: Agents who are getting good results from their other marketing and want to supplement that.

We have found that when you combine direct mail with cold calling… you multiply your effectiveness.

We know from personal experience that it triples the results you get from cold calling. Why?

Well, when you cold call… they know who you are… and so you get better results.

An even better alternative to direct mail is mailing them a self-published book.

Mail A Book.

Pros: This is what many agents do today and it works. Mail them a book that you’ve self published on how to sell a home. If their house is near my office, then try and drop it off.

It’s the best way to stand out from your competition. It really elevates your status. It has been a huge boost for many agents. These days it is far easier to purchase pre-written content, slap on your personalized hard or soft cover and self publish a book than it was years ago. No one can deny that the perception of authority still exists the minute you hand over a book with your name on it.

Cons: It costs money. At least from an expense standpoint. It can cost you three to five bucks to print out books depending on how many you order.

But, the return on investment is great. An agent we know invested about $2,000 into books and postage… and made $40,000 in commissions.

Who should do it: Anyone who wants more listings and has some extra money to spend.

Warm Calling.

Pros: We’ve tried all the different strategies. Today, we use a hybrid approach. It’s a hybrid of cold calling – combined with self published books.

Here’s how to do it. Mail a copy of the book to the Expired. Then, follow up 4-5 days later. This is an effective way to get listings.

You are more likely to get two to three times as many listings as you would from just cold calling… or just mailing out a book… and leaving it at that. Why?

Well… a lot of people will read your book and procrastinate on calling you back. So, when you call after they get the book, you get a lot of listings.

Cons: It costs money. At least from an expense standpoint. It can cost you three to five bucks to print out books depending on how many you order.

But, the return on investment is great. An agent I know invested about $2,000 into books and postage… and made $40,000 in commissions.

Who should do it: Anyone who wants more listings and has some extra money to spend.

Door Knocking.

Pros: Knocking on the door is very powerful. We have gotten listings from knocking on people’s doors.

You can have the opportunity to make a good face-to-face impression. If you and the person hit it off, then you can get great results.

One of our agents, knocked on a seller’s door and walked out with the listing.

Cons: It takes a lot of time. It can take five to 10 minutes to drive from one house to the next house.

Who should do it: Most of the people who get listings from door knocking are good at cold calling. If you can get results from cold calling, then do door to door. It’s a more efficient investment of your time.

Have Your Assistant or VA (virtual assistant) call them.

Pros: Obviously, you have to make sure you’re following all the licensing laws.

But sometimes you can have your assistant call and just say, “Hey, do you still want to sell your house? Would you be interested in talking to the realtor that I work for?”

Cons: It costs money. Plus, it takes a lot of time to find and hire a good assistant. And then you have to find the time to manage them.

Who should do it: Someone who has lots of extra money to spend and is good at managing people.

Mail a Fed-ex Package.

Pros: You’ll stand out from everyone else.

Cons: It’s expensive.

Who should do it: Nobody! We just don’t recommend it. For the same cost as an expensive Fed-ex Package, you could mail a book to them. And that will work much better.

Advertise to them on Facebook.

Pros: You can contact people using a medium that most other agents don’t know how to use. Plus, you’ll look technologically savvy.

Cons: It takes some time to figure out the technical side of it and figure out how to run the Facebook ads.

Who should do it: Techies. If you’re not naturally good at technology, I wouldn’t recommend doing Facebook ads.

If you’re not a techie, then do this instead. Message the sellers on Facebook. I don’t personally see any downsides in that. It just takes a little bit of time to use Facebook.